Writing Series

Okay, your writers of epic series and continuing sagas that stretch across multiple books, let's pick your brains to see how to make that magic happen.

How much do you know going into a series, or does the bulk of the world and lore grow as you write it? 

Bobby Nash: When I start a series, I have an idea of where the overall story is going. I usually have loose plots for at least two books when I start on book one. My series tend to be stand-alone A plots with subplots and character bits that move from book to book. I want readers to get a beginning, middle, and end in each book. Then, I tease the next one at the end and hope it brings them back for more.

Ef Deal: I began with characters and a setting. I had not planned a series; I just researched a rich vein of history, science, and music. As I researched, ideas for conflict/plot emerged, and I found myself with too much for one story. I mean, these women had lives to live, too much for a one and done. I’ve always believed that a story needs a future, so my characters conceivably could go on for another 70 years. Sadly, I may not be able to write it all.

Kevin McLaughlin: I write SF&F, which is utterly dominated by series, so pretty much everything I write is created with a series in mind. Over 100 titles, and I think like two stand-alone books? Going in, I generally know where I want the story to start, and roughly speaking what I want the arc of the series to look like. My Satori series began with the premise: "team of people use a rebuilt ancient alien starship to have Stargate-style adventures across the galaxy." I didn't have an endpoint in mind. For my Intrepid series, however, I know roughly the beginning and end - it opened as basically "Battlestar Galactica, but it's happening to Earth," and will continue until book 24 (or so), when humanity essentially flips things around on the bad guys.

All worldbuilding always happens as part of the writing process. If I need to know something about the world, I make it up. I am basically discovering the universe at the same speed the reader will.

Rosemary Claire Smith: I thought I knew so much more than I actually did. Important characters walked onto the stage midway through. For some, their ultimate fate changed in small or large ways as I worked on it.

Dan Kemp: I did not know much, but since my thriller series (Athenaeum, Inc) happens in our 'real' world, I don't have to build much. Reality supplies the weirdness.

Jay Peterson: Only got the one series, but I knew it was going to be one the moment it started showing up.

Sara Hinson Bond: In order to keep everything straight across multiple books. I start a series Bible and the second lore gets added to a book I start expanding on it. I have notes on magic systems, character bios and political history, etc. I don't know all the details, though, and they come up as they are relevant to the story.

When I started the first book of my Iron and Earth series, I just had a vibe and a character. By the time I fished draft one I knew my entire story arc over five books. I had a mythos, a magic system, and a mystery to uncover over multiple books within a few pages, and by the end of the first book I knew exactly where it was taking me.

Sam Kelley: I learn as I outline and write and expand upon that info during rewrites & edits.

Julia Benson-Slaughter: When I started writing The Littleton Chronicles, I’d been collaborating with my writing partner on a series that he started several years ago. We’d spent two years expanding his beginning story bits and building the world for that series (Chronicles of the Covenant) when we each got the urge to venture off into a separate, but connected, universe. So there was a basic foundation in place for all three universes, dealing with their creation and early evolution. A big part of the story in all three is how they diverge into different worlds, but will, LONG into the future, all converge back to the same point.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS NOWHERE ON EARTH: A PANTERELLA NOVEL

American tycoon, E.C. Endicott wants to develop hundreds of acres of the Amazon jungle to fatten his own commercial empire. He thus threatens the lost Kingdom of the Mouku, a magical tribe whose people possess shape-shifting abilities.

One of these is Panambi, who works in the port town of Rocinante as a barmaid in her role as Miss Mariposa. When she learns of Endicott’s arrival and the threat he poses to her people, she enlists the aid of two big-game hunters, Patrick MacDonald and Ji-ho Chio. Theirs is an almost impossible task unless Panambi can recruit the aid of the Onkas, the magical black jaguars of the hidden jungle, at the same time keeping her own secret.

Writers Michael Panush and Charles Santino offer up a fresh, exciting jungle adventure set against the mysterious backdrop of the Amazon Jungle. Here are strange characters, exotic animals and danger everywhere. It’s a pulse-pound tale illustrated by artist Ron Hill with a dynamic cover by Ted Hammond.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Motivational Monday

Sunday Funnies: Once Upon a Time

Sunday Funnies: Death Be Not Ready

[Link] Six Retellings That Pull Apart Fairy Tales and Stitch Them Back Together in New and Wondrous Ways

by Bar Fridman-Tell

My love story with fairy tales—and with myths, their sometimes cousins, sometimes siblings, sometimes one and the same (depending on who you ask, and quite possibly the weather)—is long and convoluted. I was enthralled by them pretty much from the moment I learned to read, thanks to an early diet including Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, and Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, and the fascination lasted throughout (and in many ways, shaped) my years at university.

And the older I got, the more fascinated I became by the way these stories change. Here is what I think: that change is essential to myths and fairy tales, an inherent quality that makes them what they are; and that the way they change functions as a mirror to us—revealing the assumptions that we take for granted, and the ones that no longer fit.

My favorite retellings are ones that take a well-known fairy tale, and unravel it just enough to look at the norms and expectations hiding beneath it, the system of values and morality that designates some characters as wicked and others as good, and—perhaps most of all—dictates what a happy ending looks like.

These are six books that do exactly that: take a fairy tale and pull one thread loose, to see what happens next, or tip the story on its side and see what new shape emerges. Coupled with lush, magnificent writing, these stories stitched themselves into my heart—making me smile and cry and, most importantly, question—and forever changing the way I see each of the fairy tales they retell.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/six-retellings-that-pull-apart-fairy-tales-and-stitch-them-back-together-in-new-and-wondrous-ways/

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS UNDER A CROOKED STAR

In the far distant future, Neroy Sphinx is a professional thief operating on Old Earth. He keeps alive by taking on dangerous jobs for various mob bosses and then drinks his profits away in local dive bars. Neroy is missing ten years from his life. What he recalls is being out among the outer worlds when a galactic catastrophe of unknown origin destroyed many of the transfer wormholes forever cutting off entire colony planets from the mother world. Neroy survived, but without his memories of his life or experiences prior to the event.

Back on Earth, he begins having flashback images in his mind of something he sees as a wall of Black Glass. Instinct tells him behind that barrier he will find his past. Obsessed with finding the answers, Neroy escapes a sadistic gang leader and flees on the first off-world shuttle. Thus, he begins his journey back to the ice world where he first regained his consciousness. Along the way, he senses that his personal quest is somehow connected with the cataclysmic wormhole destruction. But if so, how? And if he is successful in regaining his lost years, what horrors will they relive?

Writer Daniel Whiston whips an old fashion sci-fi adventure wonderfully illustrated by artist David Thomson who also delivers a beautiful color cover. “Reminds me of those old Ace Paperbacks,” says Airship 27 Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “This is fun sci-fi with great characters.”

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now at Amazon and on Kindle.

Sunday Funnies: Times Are Bad

[Link] 10 Must-Read Books That Reimagine Characters and Stories From Classic Literature

by Nicole Briese

These modern retellings breathe new life into our all-time favorites by Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, and more.

We’re all for a good classic novel. The literary canon has stood the test of time for a reason, after all. Undoubtedly, their prose and powerful stories have resonated with and influenced readers and writers alike for over a century. But beyond putting their stamp on the craft, some classics have inspired authors so much so that they've given contemporary updates to well-loved books.

The best books that reimagine iconic novels take a story from one of the all-time greats, from Jane Austen to Emily Brontë, and retell it in a modernized setting, from another character's perspective, or update the tale with a unique, inspired spin. Essentially, these recent hits and cult favorites scratch the itch for the traditional while stimulating your mind in a whole new way.

So, whether you wish the books you read in high school could be seen through a feminist lens, or you were able to spend more time with the subsidiary characters, these reimagined classics deserve to be on your bookshelf. Here's which ones to read (after you've devoured the originals, of course).

Read the full article: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/books/best-literary-classic-retellings-books/

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS CALIFORNIA WOLVES

A Bigfoot P.I. Novel by Michael Panush

Arlo Patches is a bigfoot private investigator living in the Northern California community of Sarsaparilla Springs. His brother is the town sheriff. When a well-known environmentalist goes missing in the surrounding woods, he’s hired to find her. Talk in the area is that the government is looking to reintroduce wolves into the county, and the woman’s disappearance may be connected.

As he begins to investigate, along with the help of a few Florida skunk apes, Arlo finds himself caught up in a brewing confrontation between animal lovers and local ranchers who see the wolves as a threat to their livelihood. He suspects outside forces are manipulating both sides, and unless he can uncover their motives, the woods may soon be filled with sounds of bloody combat.

Writer Michael Panush weaves a truly original adventure in which fantasy and reality merge to the delight of pulp readers. Award-winning artist James Lyle provides cover and interior illustrations.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now in paperback from Amazon and soon on Kindle.

Stellar Fest Panels *Updated with Locations and Times*

 

Come and visit me and so many other fantastic folks at Stellar Fest from April 24–26, 2026, at Sonest Gwinnett Place in Duluth, Ga. While there, I'll be taking part in the following panels.

Saturday, April 25

Old Time Radio... On the Spot

Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Saturday 1:00pm – Deep Space Diversions

Blood in the Gut: Visceral Fiction 

Panel discussion on how to make your writing engage the guts and not just the brain.

Saturday 3:00pm – Literature/Science Track

Creative Cussing and Other Writing Hacks 

A panel discussion on ways to write better swearing so the reader doesn't get buried in f-bombs but does get quotable sass. Samples provided. 

Saturday 4:00pm – Literature/Science Track

40 Years of Howard the Duck

Forty years ago, the genius behind Star Wars gave us something SO BOLD that many audiences just couldn't handle the awesomeness. If you love Howard the Duck, come join us as we look back at Quack Fu, Dark Overlords, and love conquering all like no one had ever seen before. If you're a hater, you're welcome too, but be warned: you might walk out a changed person!

Saturday 5:00pm – Other Worlds One

Sunday, April 26

Self-Publishing and Writing: Horror Stories 

Panelists will describe the writing, editing, and publishing processes along with mistakes that almost got published as self-published authors. The audience will be encouraged to contribute things they’ve read that horrified them. 

Sunday 10:00am – Literature/Science Track

Old Time Radio... ReRun

So much fun, we're doing a second day! Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Sunday 12:00pm – Deep Space Diversions

New Poem -- I, Too

I, Too

I, too, know why the caged bird sings,

But I only know it second hand

Like so many other histories

I can only experience in newsreels

And in books and in podcasts.

I, too, realize my arm's too short

To box with God, but instead of striving,

I concede and step out of the ring.

Where James Weldon Johnson

Chose to stand and fight.

I, too, select my own society,

But I keep it on the down low

Try not to fret about it in verse

As if doing so might legitimize

The act of hiding into saintliness.

I, too, have learned that April

Can indeed be the cruelest month

But I have a front door with a lock

So April has to stay outside

Where it can't come in and harm me.

I, too,  know the explosive power

Of deferring a dream past its sell date,

Of watching good meat spoil

All the while aware that my dream

Is a far different, far more entitled, one.

But, I, too, continue to write

Because of the little bits of all I've read

That remain to live in me,

Even if those remnants mutate

Into something less like the original

And more like me.

Free Horror eBooks Written By Trans Authors (Trans Rights Readathon 2026)

I know I'm a bit late with getting this organized and posted, but in my defense, I forgot. Anyway! Better late than never, right? So, starting right now and ending at 11:59PM CST on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, we have made a bunch of our titles (published by Ghoulish Books and, in one instance, published by Apocalypse Party) free for folks who wish to add them to their 2026 TransRightsReadathon. Also feel free to download and read some other time if you wish. Whatever is cool with us.

All that we ask is that if you do read them, consider leaving a review somewhere when you're finished? Tell people about what you read? Every review helps spread the word. Also we have a bunch of patreon and kofi and charity links below that we'd love for you to consider supporting, too. But first! The books...

Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror edited by Sofia Ajram

A manifestation of ecstasy, heartache, horror and suffering rendered in feverish lyrical prose. Inside are sixteen new stories by some of the genre’s most visionary queer writers. Young lovers find themselves deliriously lost in an expanding garden labyrinth. The porter of a sentient hotel is haunted within a liminal time loop. A soldier and his abusive commanding officer escape a war in the trenches but discover themselves in an even greater nightmare. Parasites chase each other across time-space in hungry desperation to never be apart. A graduate student with violent tendencies falls into step with a seemingly walking corpse. Featuring stories from Cassandra Khaw, Joe Koch, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Robbie Banfitch, August Clarke, Son M., Jonathan Louis Duckworth, M.V. Pine, Ed Kurtz, LC Von Hessen, Matteo L. Cerilli, November Rush, Meredith Rose, Charlene Adhiambo, Violet, and Thomas Kearnes.

Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason

Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror brings together 13 trans and non-binary writers, using horror to both explore the darkest depths of the genre and the boundaries of flesh. A disgusting good time for all! Featuring stories by Hailey Piper, Joe Koch, Bitter Karella, and others. Edited by Lor Gislason.

Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason

When Stevie starts seeing floating orbs, they call a spiritual pest control company for guidance. Harriett and Marcy—two queer, punk lesbians—welcome Stevie into a world of otherworldly creatures, tree people, and something called the bone spider. Equal parts slice-of-life, queer romance and body horror, Cosmic Dyke Patrol is a story about how everyone is worthy of love, no matter how weird.

Decrepit Ritual by Valkyrie Loughcrewe

Decrepit Ritual is a second-person narrative about a suicidal protagonist who has gone up into the wilds of Norway to take their own life. While there, they happen across a mysterious VHS tape that contains a bizarre film like nothing they’ve ever seen before.

The Flesh Inherent by Perry Meester

On a hot summer night, something enormous screams down from the sky and pierces into the desert not far from the small town of Farchapel. The stories that trickle back from the crater are strange indeed—those who find it and return claim to be forever changed, transformed into the better, ideal versions of themselves they’ve always wished to achieve.

Jamie, a recent mysterious visitor in town, is a man on the run, all too eager to escape his current form no matter the cost. Sidney, local drunk, would rather face a hole in the ground than the things he’s done. As the two men venture into the desert canyons in search of their better selves, they soon discover that what hides there is much more terrible—and eager to lure them in.

Familiar by Jeremy C. Shipp

Two sisters hunt down killers and collect body parts, all the while complicating their lives with volatile magics, bizarre visions, and a mysterious mouth in the wall that may or may not be altogether trustworthy.

I Believe in Mister Bones by Max Booth III

The email’s subject line reads: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES?

The recipient: Daniel Addams, one half of the Texas small press known as Fiendish Books, co-run with his wife Eileen.

Despite being closed for submissions, curiosity gets the best of him, and he takes a look at the anonymous author’s bizarre manuscript—only to find himself obsessed with the titular Mister Bones, a mysterious entity rumored to steal your bones as you sleep, one by one, until he’s replaced your entire skeleton with an unknown substance.

But is Mister Bones real, and has Daniel unintentionally summoned him?

​Or, as Eileen suspects, has he finally cracked from stress and lost his mind?

From the writer of WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING and ABNORMAL STATISTICS comes Max Booth III’s I BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES, a harrowing exploration of indie horror publishing, internet curses, and the universal terror of the human skeleton.

Maggots Screaming! by Max Booth III

THE FAMILY THAT DECAYS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER

On a hot summer weekend in San Antonio, Texas, a father and son bond after discovering three impossible corpses buried in their back yard.

We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III

A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.

Ghoulish Tales (issues 1-4)

A magazine of short fiction and essays. Not every contribution is written by a trans person, but a good majority of them are; additionally, the main editor is a trans woman.

You can find FREE eBooks of all of the above titles in the following Google Drive Folder (free access will be revoked on April 1st). Additionally, you can purchase physical copies of the books via our webstore or wherever else books are sold.

If you'd like to further support these authors, and also trans organizations, please continue reading:

• Trans Rights Organizations in the United States (and Beyond)
• Sofia Ajram's Author Website
• Lor Gislason's Ko-Fi
• Val Loughcrew's Patreon
• Jeremy C. Shipp's Patreon
• Max Booth's Patreon

Originally published at The Ghoulish Times.

New Poetry Collection Trigger Warning: The Formative Years Exposes the Quiet Realities of Trauma and the Lifesaving Power of Having a Voice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sean Taylor (www.taylorversebooks.com)

New Poetry Collection Trigger Warning: The Formative Years Exposes the Quiet Realities of Trauma and the Lifesaving Power of Having a Voice

Atlanta, Ga. — March, 2026 — In a genre often associated with softness, comfort, and lyrical beauty, poet Brittany Wilcox breaks the mold. Her new poetry collection, Trigger Warning: The Formative Years, is not gentle—and it isn’t meant to be.

This electrifying debut leans into the uncomfortable truths of trauma, emotional suppression, and survival. It is raw. It is dark. It is unflinchingly real. And for Wilcox, it is the story of how poetry became her safe space.

“Poetry is supposed to be subtle, soft, cozy, and make you feel good, right? Wrong,” publisher Sean Taylor asserts. “The best poetry challenges… The best poetry crawls into your brain.”

Wilcox didn’t choose poetry to be an artist. She wrote it to survive.

“I don’t really know that it affects my voice as a poet so much as it is the only voice I had for the first 30-plus years of my life,” she explains. “Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to express my own emotions, thoughts, or feelings.”

Through therapy, she learned that what she endured was trauma—an experience that left her suffering in silence.

“My perspective in this book is as someone who had nobody to save them and yet so desperately wanted at least one adult to notice,” Wilcox says. “I don’t think I would be alive today without this outlet I discovered as a child.”

Poetry became her sanctuary: “Poetry was safe because it was something my mother couldn’t decode. Or if she did, I could lie about what the poem was about. In this way, I was able to secretly express my grievances without getting into trouble.”

Writing the book was one emotional challenge; releasing it into the world is another.

“It’s a very vulnerable experience because this is my life for the past 30 plus years that I am releasing out into the wild,” Wilcox says. “People can interpret it however they want and criticize it however they want.”

But for the author, indifference is far more frightening than criticism.

“I’m okay with you hating it. But ignoring it? Not being interested at all? That’s isolating in the most soul‑crushing way.”

Wilcox, a professional nanny and passionate equestrian originally from North Georgia, has been writing poetry since childhood as a means of emotional expression. Now a mental health advocate, she still navigates life with a dissociative disorder—something that complicated the writing process.

“When I rediscover something sad or traumatic that I wrote, it can be deeply upsetting or jarring,” she says. “I had to put myself through a lot to get this thing together, so I hope it’s not in vain.”

A portion of proceeds from the sale of all books in the Trigger Warning series will be split between two different charities: Crossnore Communities for Children and 15/10 charity. 

About Trigger Warning: The Formative Years

This collection is not simply poetry—it is testimony. It is the record of a child surviving in silence, a teenager learning to hide truths in verse, and an adult finding the courage to unveil decades of unspoken pain. Though the poems confront trauma head-on, they also offer something unexpected: the possibility of healing. Trigger Warning: The Formative Years is not a manuscript of wounds—it is a roadmap out of them.

Available from Amazon (print, ebook) and from Taylorverse Books.

About Taylorverse Books

Taylorverse Books brings readers exciting adventure stories, contemporary and charged poetry, and non-fiction books about writing and reading. For more information, visit www.taylorversebooks.com. 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS THE ADVENTURES OF RADIO RITA VOL. 2

She’s back, pulpdom’s newest high-flying queen of adventure, Radio Rita. And as her first collection, once again presented in four different guises as envisioned by the story writers. Whether piloting a Howard Hughes racer, dealing with a gangster’s ghost or saving Albert Einstein. Regardless of the time or setting, Radio Rita is battling her way through thrills and spills, always on the side of the good Old USA.

 In this volume, she’s aided by writers Curtis Ferlund, Gene Moyers, Glen Held, and Samantha Lienhard. Art Director Rob Davis provides the black-and-white interior illustrations, plus lots of bonus pieces, while the action-packed cover is courtesy of Michael Youngblood. So buckle up, pulp flying bans, Rita is about to take off again.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 Available now in paperback and on Kindle.

Bear with me... (guest column by Nikki Nelson-Hicks)

This might all be horseshit

by Nikki Nelson-Hicks

Today, I hit a wall of disappointment.

Way back in October, a friend sent me info on an open submission call to an anthology that, if I were to get into, would really skyrocket my writing career.

“This is so up your alley, Nik!”

So, I wrote a story. I put everything on hold and worked on this mamajama for months and months. Sent it to friends who read it, gave me editing input, rewrote the whole goddamn thing again and again until it was finished.

And I submitted and waited. Every day, I’d check to see if my story had been accepted.

That was the perspective I used. ACCEPTED. Not, ‘Hey, has it been rejected yet?”

ACCEPTED. Putting out positive vibes into the Universe. Just like all the Motivational Posters tell me to do.

Today, I got the email: Thanks, no thanks. REJECTED, ya loser.

I swallowed my bile and went on with my day. I’m a busy bitch. I ain’t got time for none of that.

But it was still there. No matter how much I ignored it. The hurt. The shame. The OH FUCK, I SUCK.

But I went on with my day.

Until... a little voice in my head piped up, “Look at you, grinding your teeth. Why? Because of one little rejection?

Fuck those guys.

Look, let’s settle this, right now. Answer this question: What are you writing for? Why? Who are you writing for?

Because, sweetpea, here’s the real deal.

If you are writing for publication, then you need to study the market, see what sells, and write to please the Market.

If you write to tell a story that you want to share with the world…well, sweetpea, you just write what you want. Publish it. Put it in a sock drawer, fuck. It’s yours to do with as you wish.

What do you want?

If you want possible financial success, popularity, literary stardom, pursue the Marketing Path. It’s a Whore’s path, but accept it if you want. I’m not judging. You do you. Nothing is real, anyway.

If you want to have fun making up stuff and writing stories that you find challenging and might entertain a handful of friends, then pursue the Artist Path. It’s gonna suck. You’ll probably die alone, unknown. Your kids will inherit boxes and moth-eaten journals of all your stories, finished and unfinished, and probably throw the whole thing into a rubbish heap, but them’s the breaks, sweetpea.

Both paths are fine in their own way. Just, for the love of the moon above, decide where you want to walk, stop moping about one stupid story and get to work.

Damn.”

Yeah. My Guide is a tough broad.

(Originally published on Nikki's Substack.)

Panels I'll be doing at Stellar Fest!

Blood in the Gut: Visceral Fiction 

Panel discussion on how to make your writing engage the guts and not just the brain.

Creative Cussing and Other Writing Hacks 

A panel discussion on ways to write better swearing so the reader doesn't get buried in f-bombs but does get quotable sass. Samples provided. 

Old Time Radio... On the Spot

Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Old Time Radio... ReRun

So much fun we're doing a second day! Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

40 Years of Howard the Duck 

Forty years ago the genius behind Star Wars gave us something SO BOLD that many audiences just couldn't handle the awesomeness. If you love Howard the Duck, come join us as we look back at Quack Fu, Dark Overlords, and love conquering all like no one had ever seen before. If you're a hater, you're welcome too, but be warned: you might walk out a changed person! 

Self-Publishing and Writing: Horror Stories 

Panelists will describe the writing, editing, and publishing processes along with mistakes that that almost got published as self-published authors. The audience will be encouraged to contribute things they’ve read that horrified them. 

I'll update with dates and times as the final schedule is done.

Sean Taylor Announces New Poetry Collection, Brunch with the Obelisk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Atlanta, Ga. — March, 2026 — Sean Taylor Announces New Poetry Collection, Brunch with the Obelisk

Acclaimed fiction writer and poet Sean Taylor unveils his newest poetry collection, Brunch with the Obelisk—a bold, unflinching exploration of the forces that have shaped both his voice and his worldview. With a blend of lyricism, candor, and razor-sharp introspection, this collection pulls readers into the complicated crossroads of personal history, politics, and the American mythos.

In Brunch with the Obelisk, Taylor grapples with the inheritance of a conservative religious upbringing, the illusions of nostalgia, and the widening divide between American ideals and realities. Through this deeply personal and often provocative work, he confronts a world that feels increasingly chaotic—and the role of poetry as a stabilizing, truth-telling force within it.

“Be warned. It’s probably not what you first think,” Taylor says of the collection, which draws inspiration from a strikingly diverse set of influences—ranging from Bob Dylan, Langston Hughes, e.e. cummings, and T.S. Eliot to Annie Dillard, Marilyn Monroe, and Susan B. Anthony. Their presence echoes throughout the book not as imitations, but as threads woven into a distinctive, evolving voice.

“As proud as I was for When We Had No Flag, my first book of poems, I think I’m even happier and prouder of this one," says Taylor. " I feel like my influences are becoming more a part of me rather than something I wear on my sleeve.”

Taylor does not shy away from the tensions at the heart of American life—the sometimes volatile interplay of politics and religion, the selective storytelling of national memory, and the lingering scars they leave behind. If that makes him an angry poet with an axe to grind, the author notes with self-awareness, he owns it completely.

“Poetry comes from a very personal place inside me, even more so than my fiction. I may use a lot of the same narrative-type tools in it, but the poems are often far closer to the surface truth than my stories are allowed to be.”

Currently available at www.taylorversebooks.com and on Amazon:
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT1G84ZN
Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT87R1FH

For media inquiries, review copies, or interview requests, please contact:
www.taylorversebooks.com

About Sean Taylor:
Sean Taylor writes short poems, nonfiction, stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, and comic books. In his writing life, he has directed the “lives” of zombies, superheroes, goddesses, dominatrices, Bad Girls, pulp heroes, for such diverse bosses as IDW Publishing, Gene Simmons, and The Oxygen Network. Visit him online at www.thetaylorverse.com and www.badgirlsgoodguys.com or his video writing tutorials at www.book-talk.us .

About Taylorverse Books:
Taylorverse Books brings readers exciting adventure stories, contemporary and charged poetry, and non-fiction books about writing and reading. For more information, visit www.taylorversebooks.com .

NEW FROM TEEL JAMES GLENN! ON PREODER--PUBLISHING MARCH 31!! GET IT NOW!!!

Tecumseh Scott, a disabled former Marine, lives in a Manhattan apartment above a year-round haunted house attraction at 42nd St., because the screams from below drown out the cries of his dead comrades in his head. Trying to blend in with the emotionally damaged haunt actors and having a rough time dealing with civilian life, his fragile balance is upset by new violence when he saves a young woman from a mugging.

Drawn into a whirlwind mystery when suddenly attacked by a cadre of hired killers, Tecumseh calls upon members of his old unit. Soon they are all targeted for extinction as they try to keep a final promise to a brother-in-arms. Tecumseh attempts to honor the memory of the lighting symbol, their unit mark, and dodge withering live fire at the same time.

Will Tecumseh stop the bad guys before his own inner demons tear him apart? Can he survive a horrible betrayal that threatens to destroy all his hopes for a future?

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Joshua Fordyce: Pursuing What Molds Us

I met Joshua Fordyce recently at the Middle Georgia Literary Festival. You need to meet him too. He is a retired American Navy veteran who loves writing stories, songs, and movie scripts. He found inspiration to finish one of his hundreds of incomplete projects in the wake of his mother’s passing in 2022. Being a huge fan of both Westerns and Fantasy, he decided to merge the two genres to create Black Sleeve, his premiere book, completed in 2023. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I am currently working on Book 3 of the Arms of Malar series called Rune Sleeve. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

Growth through suffering. There is a tendency in today's society to say that suffering is bad, but in all honesty, our suffering is what truly molds us into who we are. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

My mother passed away in February of 2022. After that, I wrote my first book. There was an article about it published here.

What inspires you to write?