NO FEAR by Allie Harrison is now available!

Medusa's Island is the perfect vacation spot with beautiful beaches, quaint shops, friendly people...and a terrifying vampire who may be stalking the locals.

When two young women are found dead from no apparent cause, but with expressions of terror on their faces, Chief of Police James Winchester and Emma Gray, who survived a vampire attack years ago, fear a monster from the past has returned to make Medusa its feeding ground. He may be hiding even closer to home than they realize.

Passion flares between James and Emma as a storm isolates the island. They have no choice but to face the horror of a dark killer who lives off the fear of his victims.

When Emma becomes a target once again, will the love she and James feel be strong enough to save them? Will James's secret destroy them? Or will the monster finally finish what he started years ago?

Allie Harrison lives with her husband in Southern Illinois. When she isn't enjoying fun family time, games with friends, reading, crafts, music, her favorite tea, and winemaking, she's working to build fictional worlds and unforgettable characters. She also writes as Allie Quinn, and can be found at AllieQuinn.com.

NEW PULP’S GREATEST HEROINE RETURNS, GUNS BLAZING- ‘THE PULPTRESS VOLUME TWO’ DEBUTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Raised by Legends… Trained by the Best… Destined to be the World’s Greatest, Truest Hero…The Pulptress returns from Pro Se Productions in a three story collection-THE PULPTRESS VOLUME TWO!

“The Pulptress,” says Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions and creator of The Pulptress, “is near and dear to Pro Se, and to me.  Designed originally as a sort of New Pulp/Pro Se mascot, The Pulptress quickly let everyone know she wouldn’t be denied her time in the bloody action packed spotlight. The three stories in this volume clearly show the diamond like multifaceted aspects of the character and definitely add to the legend the lady in the stripes and domino mask has already built.”

The ultimate Pulp heroine comes out throwing fists, both guns blazing in her second volume of collected stories. Authors Richard Lee Byers, Nancy A. Hansen, and Ethan Nahté take The Pulptress, daughter of the two legendary heroes and a woman reared to be the penultimate fighter for justice, around the world, facing weird, wild, and dangerous evils! Using her mastery of disguise, fighting of all sorts, and the keenest of minds, The Pulptress stands in the trenches between malevolence and the unknowing world. New Pulp’s greatest defender of Justice returns to battle in THE PULPTRESS VOLUME TWO. From Pro Se Productions.

Featuring an explosive cover by Jeffrey Hayes, logo design by Sean E. Ali, and print formatting by Antonino Lo Iacono and Marzia Marina, THE PULPTRESS VOLUME TWO is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store at for 10.00.

The ultimate Pulp Heroine’s second anthology is also available as an Ebook, designed and formatted by Lo Iacono and Marina for only $2.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

The Pulptress’ first full length novel, written by Hancock, will be released from Pro Se in late 2017.

INDEPENDENT BOOK DEALERS-If You're interested in putting this or other Pro Se Books on your shelves, please contact editorinchief@prose-press.com for special dealer prices and discounts.

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies to review this book, contact Pro Se Productions’ Director of Corporate Operations, Kristi King-Morgan at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Pulp, Noir, and Hard-Boiled: You Got Your Chocolate in My Peanut Butter!

Obviously, as pulp and adventure writers we all know that Noir is a film term and that pulps helped birth hard-boiled stories, but there is no denying that the terms get sort of all mixed into the batter of a detective-ish cake -- and even by folks who are "masters" of the medium such as film critics and fiction reviewers. So, in light of that, I figured it was time to talk about why and how the grandchild of the group (Noir) reached back up the line and influenced the future of it forebears.

Pulp, Noir, and hard-boiled... Academics and casual fans alike blend them together like ingredients in the same soup. Why is that so easy to do?

Pj Lozito: "Noir" is a film term, really. Although the French had Série Noire books most of the folks who (mis)use the term never heard of that. I'm sure we all have ! Film Noir was named after it. "Pulp" was fiction-delivery system. It contained many types of fiction, Western and romance being the most popular. You could even say science fiction was the next most popular as ASTOUNDING is still with us as ANALOG. Certain pulp mystery stories were filmed and came be called "film noir" (after the fact). But other film noir, like KEY LARGO, derived from a play. I had a film professor who held HIGH NOON can be seen as flim noir. He had us go see BODY HEAT, as a modern noir. So they are noir without being pulp. Other pulp was filmed, The Shadow and The Spider, for example, and have nothing to do with noir. "Hard boiled" fiction was grown in the pulps but a hard-boiled writer like James M. Cain were never in pulps.

Scott Rogers: It's easier to blend them together - visuals are similar, character archetypes are similar, many of the stories fall under the thriller or crime category.

Gordon Dymowski: I think all three genres have the same basic ingredient: stripped-down, straight-ahead prose. All three are "gut" literature, focusing more on direct emotions than, say, their more literary cousins.

Of the three, in regard to writing prose fiction, let's talk about Noir. What allowed it to jump from film into prose? What are the elements that separate it from the other two?

Gordon Dymowski: Unlike pulp and hard-boiled, I think noir tends to be "darker", focusing on more base emotions and hard-scrabble lives. Noir also has a greater moral complexity to it - pulp and hard-boiled tend to focus on the "good-guys-must-always-win", while noir tends to have more pessimistic events play out.

The other distinctive aspect of noir is where it happens - in the shadows, in smoky out-of-the-way places, on the streets. Pulp can handle grand tableaus, and hard-boiled literature can have a wide range of settings....but noir is best kept on a "street" level, focusing on people trying to make their way in a very tough, harsh world. Writing from a more psychological perspective often leads to stronger, more atmospheric writing.

Scott Rogers: The theme of noir "no good deed goes unpunished"

What are the elements of Noir-storytelling that attract you as a writer? 

Scott Rogers: My favorite trope of noir is the voice over or narration. Although many hate it, it's my favorite part of Blade Runner and think it's what pushes it into noir territory.

Gordon Dymowski: One of the reasons why I enjoy writing noir is that it's easier to focus on character and setting rather than plot and narrative. At times, writing about people struggling and getting by can be liberating, even if the story is heading for disaster. Plus, noir allows for some nuance in character - many of the characters share some form of moral compromise, and so it provides an opportunity to explore the darker side of character.

How do those elements make you a better writer?

Scott Rogers: It helps me get into the character's head.

Gordon Dymowski: Focusing on more complicated morality and richer character exploration means that, as a writer, I have to make more of an effort to craft a three-dimensional experience. It's easy to throw in random "noir" elements (smoky bar, femme fatale, etc) - it's much harder to create and maintain a world that "feels" real. (While pulp and hard-boiled don't necessarily need to be "realistic", noir demands a form of realism.)

What works of both screen and prose would you recommend to writers looking to to develop a better understanding of and appreciation for Noir storytelling?

Scott Rogers: Dashiell Hammett, Frank Miller, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, Jonathan Latimer, Billy Wilder

Gordon Dymowski: For writing, Jim Thompson - even if the only novel he wrote was THE KILLER INSIDE ME, he would still be a noir grandmaster. However, Thompson has a great body of work that *demands* you read it...and is definitely worth reading.

Another recommendation - CLEAN BREAK by Lionel White. It's a pretty taut example of noir (it was adapted by Kubrick & Thompson into the movie THE KILLING) and not coincidentally, available for download via Manybooks.net http://manybooks.net/titles/whitelother10clean_break.html

Nugget #85 -- Always New Voices

I think the future of any kind of publishing of art is ALWAYS dependent on new voices who bring change and growth and expansion and new ideas to the medium. ALWAYS.

Let the new voices talk.

Hackneyed and Innovative Ideas for Writing Fiction

by Lucy Adams

Have you ever dreamt about releasing a book based on a proven idea? If you did, this article is just for you!

I collected the top 10 ideas I encounters in fiction. Some of them may seem too banal, but I’m sure they will move you towards creating intriguing fiction.

#1 Cloning

This is one of my favorite plot lines. Although the prevalence is not too high, the potential, in my opinion, is very strong.

The use of various kinds of reasonable copies of objects allows you to construct the devilishly twisted plot and completely confuse the reader. This is one of the most simple plot techniques to retain the clues of the story until the very end. However, this extremely effective method should not be abused. Otherwise, the audience will quickly lose interest in such unidirectional creativity.

Examples: Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, Dune by Frank Herbert

#2 Prophecy

This is a quite spread motive that often performs supporting roles and rarely lies at the core of the plot. I think stories based on the prophecy are rather one-sided (basically, in a sense that the author gives us the direction of development of the story while we are able just to guess whether the prophecy will come true or not). In my opinion, this restricts the freedom of writing and virtually eliminates any element of surprise. However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t even try. There are a lot of examples of successful novels based on different kinds of prophecy.

Examples: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

#3 Relics

These works are built around the people or other beings trapped in our time from the distant past. These are not the most spread plots, but that’s the freshness that makes them so perspective. The main challenge of this direction is that the writer must know the way of life in the correspondent epoch to the smallest detail.

Examples: The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov

#4 Robots

Here we are talking about any mechanical devices (both intelligent and managed directly by the person), which are the participants of the story. Of course, the greatest expert on robots is Isaac Asimov, an American science fiction writer. Learn from his works and then, after reconsidering, bring to the genre something new.

Examples: The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

#5 Superheroes

This is the most progressive and fast-developing subject that has recently gained enormous popularity in fiction. Alas, the consequence of the enormous popularity is a great number of clichés. From year to year, superheroes are becoming more and more similar, and their superpowers have long been no surprise.

Some authors turn off the main road of the fight against universal evil and saving the world. For example, George Martin in his Wild Cards touches the psychological issues of people with super-powers, which looks fresh and interesting against the background of ordinary actions.

Examples: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, The Dead Zone by Stephen King

#6 The Salvation of the World

That’s the classics! This direction became popular in adventure literature, and of course, now it is very difficult to come up with something new.

If you want to compete with the famous writers, you have to mobilize all the reserves and abilities; otherwise, the mediocre novel will drown in the ocean of similar opuses.

Examples: The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Dark Tower by Stephen King

#7 The Process of Maturation of the Protagonist

This is a very common way of constructing a plot, which can now be found almost under every third cover. Of course, often it is in conjunction with some other motives, but still, the question of maturing remains one of the most popular in the literature.

I attribute this to the many recommendations that insist on the fact that the main character must evolve in the course of the story. He or she needs to become smarter and more experienced, endure the hardships and make correspondent conclusions.

Examples: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

#8 Natural Disasters

That’s one of the rarest ideas, which is based on some catastrophe or natural disaster, and of course, the main character needs them to be prevented or to survive in the most severe conditions. Again, the theme of the struggle of existence plays its role as one of the most dramatically powerful tools in literature.

Examples: The Terror by Dan Simmons, Les Robinsons du Cosmos by Francis Carsac

#9 The Dark Lord

Are you afraid of a powerful villain, personifying the destructive beginning in all its manifestations? 

When we hear "Dark Lord," we first think of "Lord of The Rings." And for a good reason!

I have to note that there’s always a certain amount of predictability in such plots as the reader initially knows that the heroes will fight against a mighty antagonist, and all the events will rotate exactly on the orbit of the great conflict. Although in some cases, it may be beneficial (no need to dig deep into the core of the conflict), it sometimes hampers the author’s freedom (it will be extremely difficult to move away from the basic line somewhere to the side).

Examples: The Stand by Stephen King

#10 Psychology of the Alien Races

The problem of the psychology of alien races gives a lot of opportunities for writers. There are almost no boundaries – you can bring to light new forms of life, describing their lifestyle and inner world.

However, that’s not as easy as it may seem. So to work in this direction, you have to turn on your imagination and thoroughness in the elaboration of details and little things. Otherwise, you'll get another writer's zilch.

Examples: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Bio: Lucy Adams is a blogger from a home of essay writers. Although Lucy is a generalist able to cover a huge variety of topics, she’s primarily focused on literature and education. Feel free your best ideas with the author and soon you’ll get a grounded response. By the way, blog posts are free.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now #352 -- Depressing Holiday Stories

Why are all of your Christmas-themed stories so depressing?

But my trees don't stand up again... usually.

Well, I don't actually think of them as depressing. Dour, yes, Downbeat, of course. Bittersweet, absolutely. But depressing, never!

I also think of them as redemptive, at least somewhat. Most of my stories that take place during this season tend to feature characters who are facing some sort of crisis of faith or some decision that threatens to make them less than who they are.

In the free story from Christmas Eve Day, "It's Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home," I present a mom who isn't physically or emotionally or financially capable of taking care of her new child who is born with super powers and tends to break out in fire in times of stress, something common to babies (only in this one's case, not crying but burning down your house).

In " The Ghost of Christmas Past," I give Boom Machine (my most intentionally bad hero name) his shot are redemption after staying off the grid because he accidently killed an innocent person in one of his early missions.

Now, in "Sin and Error Pining" on the other hand, I can't spin that one into redemption at all. It's pure tragedy. Poor, poor Ms. Futuru and her scatter packages. That one's depressing, but not totally, at least not to me. To me, that one is a story about a dying woman's strength, and she owns it till the proverbial (and literal) last breath.

So, there. You say potayto, I say potahto. You say depressing, I say redemptive. Potayto, potahto, depressing, redemptive, let's call the whole thing off. (Please forgive me. I'm a sucker of old musicals.)

A Holiday Message from Me to You!

No bah. No humbug. X's allowed!

You know, it's okay to tell me happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, even if you're a fellow member of my faith. I'm not going to get in your face about how you're not "keeping Christ in Christmas."

I don't care if you use Xmas either, because I understand the history of the X (and that it precedes both Malcolm and Stan Lee).

I understand that Constantine and his ilk thoroughly mixed the birth of Christ with pagan celebrations to obtain political ends. And if people still continue that today, they're not "not keeping Christ in Christmas" -- they're just continuing the blending that Constantine started all those years ago.

I get that.

If my understanding of the holiday season is about the work of Christ incarnating into humanity in order to be a perfect substitutionary sacrifice on humanity's behalf, then nothing you say or refuse to say can change one jot or tittle from that. No dollar sign can attach to it. And you can't wrap it or stuff it on a tree.

I can celebrate Christmas as I understand it without offending you or getting in your face, because the season is not some church-ordained mass evangelism event. Nothing about the season changes how I interact with you on behalf of my faith and what I perceive as your need for salvation from original sin -- I still have the same mandate to treat everyone, believer and nonbeliever alike, with the same grace, love, forgiveness and understanding that I do every other day.

Just because the word "Christ" is in "Christmas," it does not, nor should it ever, give me carte blanche to hassle you about becoming like me. (I would love for others to find what I've found, but it's not my job to be God's used car salesman or God's Internet spammer.)

I even enjoy the game of Santa Claus and dig the idea of adding a little drummer boy to our legend version of the nativity (as opposed to the real one that smelled like animal crap and was filled with a crying -- not silent -- baby, and didn't have any -- much less three -- wise men drop by until almost two years later).

All this to say, I hope that you have a wonderful time getting together with your friends and family. I hope you take advantage of this time to share some of your wealth with those less fortunate (trust me, in comparison to the rest of the globe, you ARE bone-idle rich). I hope you experience the love of those around you and share that love with everyone you encounter.

And I hope that, somewhere, in the busy-ness of this season, you find a few moments of peace on earth to contemplate the true and higher peace the angels spoke (not sang) about when they said: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Peace on earth!

Free Christmas Short Story -- It's Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home

It’s Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home
by Sean Taylor

This story originally appeared in Cyber Age Adventures Magazine and is collected in my short story collection Show Me A Hero by New Babel Books.

The woman across the table from me wasn’t really a woman at all. She had no real skin to speak of or any kind of humanity other than the feminine shape she had forced her new body of light and energy to look like. Her arms and legs may have been covered up with regular clothes like the rest of us wore, but the way I could see through the parts of her shiny, twinkling form that weren’t covered by clothing reminded me all over again how she was no longer human.

She was something else.

Just like my baby.

Her name was Nancy Elliot, but most of the world knew her as Starlight. A superhero. A woman who had lost her body years ago and had become a freak.

“We love our little girl, Ms. Starlight,” said my husband, Chris. “It’s not like we don’t want her.” He sat beside me,  his hands gripped together in one tight fist, his muscles as tense as his mind had to be. Putting words into the air for both of us. Trying not to make us sound like monsters. “It’s just that I don’t think anymore that staying with us is what’s best for Mackenzie. I think she needs parents who can understand her situation and deal with it better.”

“It takes one to know one, huh?” asked the Elliot’s attorney, a tall man with dark hair that had introduced himself as either Tom or Thomas or Tommy.

Nancy placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure that’s not the way Mr. Brown meant it.” Her fake face looked calm and compassionate. Like a mother’s face. “I’m sure this can’t be easy for them either.”

Her husband sat beside her, wearing a dark blue suit with white pinstripes. He looked like a lawyer himself, but he kept quiet, saying everything he needed to by saying nothing at all.

“I only mean that Deidra and I aren’t really capable of taking care of someone like little Mackenzie. We’re just just not physically or emotionally prepared to cope with the responsibilities of having a child that can burst into flame at a moment’s notice.”

“No parents are ever prepared for their children, Mr. Brown,” Nancy said.

I wanted to tell her that, although she was right, this went far beyond that. That a few months of sleepless nights or constantly having to clean wet bedsheets were quite a different matter than never being able to touch a child without wearing asbestos gloves and being turned down for every homeowners’ insurance policy we applied for when they discovered our daughter’s unique talent for setting herself and her surroundings on fire whenever the mood struck her.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. She had lost a son only a few years ago. A normal son. One born to her before she became a freak. And MacKensie Elizabeth Brown, born December 17, 2003, had been my first and was my only, so what right did I have to correct a mother who had been through far more than I had?

So I merely shuffled my hands in my lap and nodded, then I smiled at her and her husband, then glanced back down into my lap.

Our attorney, or more correctly, the attorney we had hired just to take care of the adoption process, rifled through the stack of papers in front of him and cleared his throat. “If you are ready, we can sign the papers now,” he said, reaching into his pocket for a pen. He pulled out four and handed one to me, one to Chris, and one each to Nancy and her husband. “I’ve gone through the trouble of highlighting the areas to sign in yellow and marking them with an ‘X’ as well. A little overkill in preparation never hurts, I always say.”

I took a pen and looked at Chris. He forced a smile and looked back at me, then looked away toward the corner of the ceiling. I dropped the pen onto table.

“Mrs. Elliot,” I asked, trying to sound sincere.

“Yes?” she answered.

I wished then and there that some—What do they call them? Supervillains?—that some supervillain would begin a rampage downtown and Starlight would get a beep on her pager or special phone, or whatever people in authority used to contact super types, and she’d have to leave and allow me a few more moments of motherhood, a few more minutes of being a parent of a child I didn’t need and couldn’t raise.

Just a few seconds more of living without the guilt of giving up on a child I didn’t want to accept the responsibility of raising.

But there was no beep, no call, no interruption. Only her calm, understanding smile that she drew in the air with light in an attempt to make us all feel at ease around her.

“Nothing,” I said. “I thought there was something I wanted to tell you, but I guess there really wasn’t.”

She reached across the table for my hand, and I let her take it, if just to know what her artificial touch felt like. “It’s okay,” she said. “I know this has to be difficult for you.”

Her hand felt somehow cool and warm at the same time, like a weird combination of thin metal and a light bulb. I said, “Thank you,” and let go, then settled back into my chair.

Our attorney distributed sets of documents to each of us, indicating where to sign and what parts of the page we might most like to read over before agreeing to, and I signed as I was instructed, barely listening and centering my gaze on the highlighted ‘X’s on the back page of each form.

After a few minutes, he stopped passing around papers and instead gathered them all in front of him and began to sort them into three stacks. The center stack, the largest of them, for him to file with various agencies and in his off-site storage should Mackenzie ever decide to look us up once she grew up. The two smaller stacks were for us and the Elliots to keep or burn or lose or file away.

There was a lot more talk, all friendly and agreeable and tending to go along the lines of how this decision was really best for all of us, and how Chris couldn’t think of a better couple to raise our daughter, and how much Nancy and her husband had been looking forward to having another child after their youngest boy had died of luekemia. We stood up and hugged each other and cried, and the attorneys shook hands and exchanged a second set of business cards.

And it was over.

On the way outside, I followed a few yards behind the Elliots, watching as they walked to their SUV, like a normal couple. Nancy’s husband opened her door, then closed it after she stepped inside, then made his way around to the driver’s side and got in. I wondered why she didn’t just fly to pick up Mackenzie. After all, that was how they got around, right?

Chris came up behind me and put his arm around my shoulders. I pulled in close to him.

“She’ll be better off. You’ll see,” he said.

“Her hand,” I said.

“What?”

“Her hand. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“Really.”

“Yeah, really.”

And the world seemed suddenly normal again.

(C) Sean Taylor

Give the gift of books this holiday season!

Books make the best gifts, and here are a few brand new ones you should consider giving as part of your holiday celebration!

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CHALICE MOON
By Pat Sawtelle

Better the Vampire You Know

A seemingly random attack exposes Kimie and her best friend to a part of the world the girls never knew existed. A world where vampires and shape shifters shifters not only exist, but are people they know. However, when another attack nearly kills Kimie, her friends must find out why some of the magical beings are after her.

Could this simple human girl be the legendary Chalice mentioned in that old tale they found? The story said the Chalice is bound to the delicate balance between the forces of good and evil. While the part of taking from evil and giving to good didn't sound too bad to Kimie, it never said so many people would want to see her dead.

Buy it here!

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MOONLIGHT SONATA
By Elizabeth McDonald

All that can kill you is what you carry with you.

Imagine a haunted church, where the ground has turned sour and something walks in the shadows at night to the mournful hymns.

A silent covered bridge that no one dare cross, and the couple lost on the other side.

Angry spirits crying out beneath the ground of a cemetery that will not lie still.

An ageless man bound in love to a mortal woman, forever moving, forever haunted.

A police officer chasing a suspect into the woods - and suspects they are no longer alone.

A woman preparing to leave her husband, with watchful eyes in the corner of the room.

A voice that can speak only through a radio, a voice from beyond death itself.

A man haunted by an ageless face that brings tragedy to his life whenever it appears.

A girl whose imagination carries her beyond the point of no return in a future where dreams become reality - and so do nightmares.

These are the dark, ethereal songs of Moonlight Sonata, stories bound to disturb your sleep and chill your heart. A new collection from the award-winning author of Setting Suns and Nocturne Infernum, Elizabeth Donald has been called “a storytelling ability to rival that of Stephen King.”

Buy it here!

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SNOW
by Bobby Nash

“Sometimes half an inch is all that stands between life and death.”

BEN Books is pleased to announce that it has acquired the rights to award-winning author Bobby Nash’s crime/adventure series, SNOW. SNOW follows the novella-length adventures of former government agent turned do-gooder, Abraham Snow. The first story, SNOW FALLS will be re-released January, 2017. New adventures begin in 2017 with the eagerly anticipated SNOW STORM in February, followed by even more adventures in ebook and print.

“I am extremely excited to re-launch the SNOW series in 2017,” says Nash of his creation. “This cast of characters in SNOW FALLS has become quite dear to me and readers since the original release. The question I get asked most often is, ‘when’s the next Snow coming out?’ Now, we finally have an answer.”

SNOW FALLS was originally released in March 2014 by Jeffrey Weber’s The Stark Raving Group and featured a beautiful cover is illustrated by Dennis Calero with the title and author treatment handled by Bob Wynne, and edits by Gary Phillips. “I am extremely grateful to Jeff and the crew at Stark Raving for launching Abraham Snow’s adventures and introducing audiences to Snow Falls,” says Nash of the series’ origin. “Snow was created for that market originally. Without them, we might not be making this announcement today. Thank you for getting this Snow Ball rolling.”

Artist Dennis Calero’s cover art for Snow Falls will continue to grace the covers to the series.

Buy it here!


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WINGS OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON
by Barbara Doran

Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to present a brand new fantasy adventure novel that is actually the prequel to Ms Doran’s first book, “Claws of the Golden Dragon.”

“We met Barbara Doran at Pulp Fest a few years ago,” recounts Airship 27 Productions Managing Editor, Ron Fortier.  “She was interested in writing New Pulp and we passed along our Submission Guidelines to her.  A few months later we received the manuscript to ‘Claws of the Golden Dragon,’ a terrific book we were only too happy to publish.”

After the success of that initial book, Doran opted to try something different for her second novel.  “Most of the first book takes place in a fictional city on the West Coast,” Fortier continues. “And is populated by some truly wonderful characters, both real and magical. This time Barbara thought it might be fun to go back in time and explore some of their origins.  Thus the inspiration for her new prequel book.”

1930s Shanghai was a place of excitement and intrigue... and magic. It is an international hotspot where foreign agents from around the world ply their trade. Brought to Shanghai to investigate a powerful new aircraft engine, young Conall McLeod becomes embroiled in a high-stakes game between gangs, spies and immortal beings. Together with his beloved Mudan Chang and hot-shot Chinese pilot, Feng Zhanchi, Conall must navigate the dangerous waters of the city's criminal undercurrents and help free a lost immortal from the clutches of evil.

Writer Barbara Doran spins a fantastic tale of action and mystery filled with some of the most memorable characters ever conceived.  Artist Gary Kato returns to offer up nine interior illustrations and Art Director Rob Davis provides the cover to this fast paced fantasy thriller. Whether deep within the cities maze of dark alleys or high atop an ancient castle of evil, no one will be able to escape from The Wings of the Golden Dragon!

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Buy it here!

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UPSIDE DOWN: INVERTED TROPES IN STORYTELLING
By Various Authors

Apex Publications is happy to announce the release of Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli. Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poems, and essays that highlights the long-standing tradition of writers who identify tropes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror and twist them into something new and interesting. The anthology was successfully funded through Kickstarter earlier this year.
"Speculative fiction fans tired of clichés will want to grab this expectation-subverting anthology."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates. Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work.

Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more ... then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.

Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralambi Markov, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and clichés and flip them upside down.
ISBN: 978-1-937009-44-1
Release date: December 13th, 2016
Cost: $18.95 (trade paperback)
365 pages

Upside Down is editor Jaym Gates’s (War Stories) second anthology with Apex Book Company, and it is the first for editor Monica Valentinelli. The two have put together an anthology with a strong mix of fiction and essays that is sure to both entertain and educate readers on tropes and how they are used by writers.

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THE STONE COLLECTOR
By M. R. Williamson

War and Horror and Home tangle into a chilling tale from Pro Se Productions in THE STONE COLLECTOR by M. R. Williamson, the author of THE ANGEL OF HOLLOWAY, the first volume in this loosely connected digest novel series.

Billy Joe Willis had spent most of his young life trying to find the normality others seemed to enjoy. Being a Native American raised in a Catholic orphanage did little to help the young Shoshone in that direction. Upon his eighteenth birthday, however, he found a place to fit in- The United States Army. And then came Vietnam.

But this young man never knew ‘normality’ could have so many faces. After a serious wound left him dependent on a painkiller, he turned to Lin Son, the girl he fell in love with at Camp Holloway. With the Son family’s help, the addiction was overcome. But the Viet Kong were a more deadly threat. The raids on Lin’s little fishing village claimed her, her grandfather, and several of the other villagers.

BJ’s wound earned him an honorable discharge enabling him to return to Tipton County, Tennessee and purchase an old country home. Working feverishly, he was finally able to send for Lin’s parents. With them, however, came another--one that could not be seen, An Son.

Being a Shaman, An Son had the power to move between the world of the dead and the one BJ lived in. Saving and helping lost souls to move on was the grandfather’s business now, but he needed help, one who was living. Little did BJ know that he was about to fight again. But this time, the enemy was much more powerful than the Communists.

Featuring a haunting cover and logo design by Percival Constantine and cover design and print formatting by Marzia Marina, THE STONE COLLECTOR is available now at Amazon at and Pro Se’s own store for 10.00.

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PROJECT ALPHA-PROVING GROUND
By Lee Houston, Jr.

Lee Houston, Jr. showed that sometimes being a super hero isn’t a choice and is most definitely not easy in his first superhero novel PROJECT ALPHA.  Now that hero returns to show that he has what it takes to fight the good fight, even when that means protecting people who don’t trust him.  Lee Houston, Jr.’s PROJECT ALPHA-PROVING GROUND is now available in print and digital formats from Pro Se Productions.

Adrift in space, Alpha eventually awakens to the memory of his emotionally devastating defeat at the hands of Conalaric and the destruction of the planet Shambala. With his genetically enhanced capabilities, the fledgling guardian sworn to protect all who are peaceful and vulnerable in the universe flies off to find himself a new proving ground.

A hospitable planet teeming with life is dominated by a race of humanoids less technologically developed than his adopted home world was, but Alpha decides here he can be of great assistance.

However not all the people of Earth feel the same way about him.

To some Alpha is an angel of hope in a world full of danger and discord. To others he is a potential weapon of mass destruction sent by some unknown entity, and must be stopped at all cost.

Unfortunately his unusual abilities attract the attention of both governmental agencies that seek to capture and control him, and a terrorist group willing to do whatever it takes to advance their own ideals. Can Alpha find some way to fit into this very polarized world, or will he always be an outcast even amongst those he wishes to serve for the better of all? Lee Houston Junior’s PROJECT ALPHA-PROVING GROUND. From Pro Se Productions.

With a fantastic cover by Michael Hegedus and print formatting by Antonino Lo Iacono, PROJECT ALPHA-PROVING GROUND is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store.

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ORIGINS & ENDINGS VOLUME ONE
By Various Authors

A cutting edge Publisher of Genre Fiction and New Pulp, Pro Se Productions is known for publishing works that take a particular concept and push it to its limits. The latest release from Pro Se is no different, focusing on two of the most popular stories in any character’s canon-the first and the last. ORIGINS AND ENDINGS VOLUME ONE is now available in print and digital formats.

“Everybody loves a good origin story,” says Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions. “Probably equally, we all like a well done finale too, an appropriate ending to a character’s history, even if it’s the first time we see said character. ORIGINS & ENDINGS is an anthology that is a mixed bag of both. We get the birth of several stories and we get the curtain falling on others. The collection itself illustrates an interesting dynamic, showing of course the differences, but also amazingly the similarities in both types of tales. Origins and endings share a lot of thematic ties and the authors in this two volume collection show that extremely well.”

Every Story Has A Start and Finish. And, for every story, those are two different tales. One of Origin, of birth and promise. Of beginning something and the beauty of the path it will follow. And One of Ending, of finality and completion. Of laying to rest all that had been before one last time.

ORIGINS & ENDINGS VOLUME ONE set of such stories as written by some of today’s best Genre Fiction authors, including Joe Hilliard, Raymond F. Masters, James Weakley, Rob Rogers, and John Meszaros. Some tales are the opening of a great salvo, of action and adventure yet to come and others are the last note, the ringing knell of legends and secrets passing away.

Watch heroes and villains discover themselves while adventurers and explorers give their all to be who they are. ORIGINS & ENDINGS VOLUME ONE. From Pro Se Productions.

With an excellent cover by Larry Nadolsky and logo design and print formatting by Antonino Lo Iacono and Marzia Marina, ORIGINS & ENDINGS VOLUME ONE is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store for 10.00.

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LABOURS OF HERCULES
By I.A. Watson

Greek myth's greatest hero faces his greatest tragedy.

Blessed and cursed by the gods, Hercules faces twelve impossible tasks that will take him past the ends of the world, pit him against monsters from beyond imagination, and force him to defy even the deities of Olympus to save those who loved.

Classical legend meets modern adventure from I.A. WATSON, the author of WOMEN OF MYTH and ST GEORGE AND THE DRAGON Books One and Two.

Award-winning writer I.A. WATSON has delved back into the original classical sources to weave this tale of legend's greatest hero. Hercules, the archetypal monster-fighting warrior, great is passion and in wrath, is portrayed in all his flawed glory in a world where legend is giving way to history and the gods are slowly giving way to the rise of humanity.

Publication Date: Dec 16 2016
ISBN/EAN13: 1518884695 / 9781518884696
Page Count: 220
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology

Other publications from I.A. Watson are listed at I.A. Watson's Author Page: http://www.chillwater.org.uk/writing/iawatsonhome.htm

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FLARE-THE ANTHOLOGY
By Various Authors

Pro Se Productions, through arrangement with Heroic Publishing, brings one of independent comics’ brightest stars to life in prose.  FLARE-THE ANTHOLOGY is now available in print and digital formats.

“Flare is here,” says Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, “and Pro Se is definitely pleased to have her.  Not only is this anthology due to the work of author Barry Reese bringing Heroic and Pro Se together and his stellar LIBERTY GIRL novel, but it is also the second book in the Heroic/Pro Se imprint, but in no way the last. FLARE is one of our last books of 2016, but heralds 2017 in as the year where multiple Heroic properties will find new life in prose, and who better to lead the way than three fantastic authors writing about The Shining Goddess of Light!””

From the four color pages of Heroic Publishing, The Shining Goddess of Light flies into all new Pulp Adventures! FLARE features three stories starring the most dazzling and powerful two fisted beauty ever to grace a comic book page. Born as a result of an evil experiment, the electrifying Terri Feran takes to street and sky and beyond as Flare, protecting justice and carrying on a legacy of heroism dating back to World War II. Authors Lou Mougin, Brendan Jones, and M. Hadley take Flare from the comic page and thrust her into New Pulp! Enemies that threaten the entire universe! Secrets and ghosts from her past threatening the future of all! Darkness gathering to quench the light! And only FLARE stands in the way! FLARE, an anthology from Pro Se Productions in conjunction with Heroic Publishing.

Featuring a dazzling cover and  design by Jeffrey Hayes and print formatting by Antonino Lo Iacono and Marzia Marina, FLARE is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store.

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QUATERMAIN – THE NEW ADVENTURES Vol. 2
Various Authors

Airship 27 Productions announces the release of their latest title featuring a beloved action adventure protagonist. H. Rider Haggard’s classic hero, Alan Quatermain, returns in three brand new adventures all set on the Dark Continent.  Thomas Kent Miller’s novella has the big-game hunter traveling to Ethiopia to search for the fabled Library of Alexandria.  Erik Franlin pits him against an ancient cult of assassins while Alan J. Porter has the skilled tracker stuck in the middle of the Boer War trying to find the source of a diamond smuggling operation.

“This is a fun series for us,” declares Airship 27 Productions’ Managing Editor, Ron Fortier. “The response to volume one was so overwhelmingly positive. It has already been done as an audio book from Radio Archives and demand for more stories hasn’t stopped since we released that first book.”

Artist Graham Hill provides the cover to this second anthology while Clayton Hinkle, who provided interior illustrations for Vol 1 returns to add another dozen great pieces.  All under the supervision of Art Director Rob Davis.  Fortier adds, “We trusts our readers will welcome this new collection. In regards to this series, believe me, we’re just getting warmed up.”

Now it is time to enjoy three fast paced, original tales that capture the mystery and adventure of a wild, untamed land and the man who loved it above all else.  Journey with him and embrace the magic that was and remains Africa.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

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