Amber Hansford: It Ties Back to Music

I met Amber Hansford recently at a Middle Georgia Book Festival. She is a writer, designer, and Dragon Con track director living in Atlanta, Georgia. A former UX Director turned full-time creative, she’s currently focused on stories, strange hobbies, and sharpening her Apocalypse Skills™.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent work is The Veil of Takhsha, Book Two of The Emari Chronicles, an epic fantasy series inspired by pre-Islamic Persian history and mythology. The series is a quartet, and the second book leans harder into political fracture, divine silence, and the personal cost of power. While the first book establishes the world and the magic, Veil is where things start to crack and the reader sees how the darkness and rot are revealed from a different perspective.

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

Looking through my work in general, both published and not, I’d say that I tend to come back to what it means to be strong, especially when it comes down to the difference between being strong for others and being strong for yourself, and what that choice costs.

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

I have always been a storyteller, ever since I was little. I have around twenty books in some state in a digital drawer that I worked on for years before I realized, at 50, that I needed to decide what I wanted to do with my writing. The Hand of Mashyana became my debut novel, published a month before my 51st birthday.

What inspires you to write?

Almost everything I write ties back to music I love. Emari started because of a few lines in a song that I couldn’t get out of my mind because of the image that it created for me. While it may not be obvious within what I write, I always have a song, or sometimes even an album, that has inspired it. There will always be a playlist, usually best played on shuffle, that will give you the vibes of what I’ve written.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

The Hand of Mashyana will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my debut, my baby. It gave me my first published book and the world I’m building this quartet in. I think there are more stories outside of this series in Emari, but this quartet is the solid foundation.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

I once heard an author say that you hope your first book is your worst book. I have that digital drawer of things I’d love to revisit now that I’ve gone through what I have with Emari.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Oh, so many… and the list does change depending on what I’m writing and where I am at the moment, but for Emari in particular, R.F. Kuang, Brandon Sanderson, V.E. Schwab, and L. Penelope were all highly influential in shaping Emari into what it is.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

For me, it’s very hard to separate the two when it comes to writing. The art is the story, and the science is telling it well. And in that balance, you find that great book that is someone’s favorite book.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Outside of balancing a full-time job and building an author career, I’d say that it’s trusting that the work will come together before all the pieces are visible to me. I tend to see pieces of a story before I understand how every part connects, and sitting in that uncertainty can be uncomfortable, and honestly? A blocker when I first started getting serious about writing. While editing isn’t the easiest, it’s still so much easier for me than drafting.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

I fell for the whole ‘authors work alone’ trope myself for years, but my writing, both craft and career, finally found its footing when I found my current writing group. We all met via a writing workshop, and once the workshop wrapped up, we kept meeting every week since, now for over two years. They’ve been huge for camaraderie, critique, and support.

What does literary success look like to you?

Stability. Being an author, especially an indie author, is a long game. Your backlist is your superpower, showing that you’re not just here for a little while. I only half-joke about the fact that writing is my retirement plan, given the state of everything else.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I’m currently wrapping up work on Book 3 in the Emari Chronicles, The Embers of Tamidh (working title, may change), with a release scheduled for mid-year 2026, and I’m also working on the final book in this series to release around the end of the year 2026. After that? I have a few things that wouldn’t let go of me until I got a beat sheet together, so now it’s just a matter of choosing what comes next.

For more information, visit:

My website, amberhansford.com, includes information on upcoming events, social media links, book details, and my direct sales shop if you’d prefer to buy directly rather than through major retailers.

Motivational Monday: Paper Breaths

[Link] There’s a crisis in non-fiction book sales. What’s to blame?

We’re buying 17 million fewer factual books than six years ago. Is the rise of podcasts to blame? Or publishers’ obsession with celebrities and influencers?

by Ceci Browning

Inside the world of books there are always a few things that everybody knows about but nobody can bring themselves to say out loud. Much of the present whispering is that something has gone seriously wrong with non-fiction. When did the big magisterial titles so common on late 20th century bookshelves disappear? Where did they go? Is there anything left to read for those who aren’t interested in ghostwritten celebrity memoirs or self-help manuals?

Unfortunately those fears are backed up by facts. Fiction sales might be swelling – underpinned by the rise of romantasy and a strange new demand for dragon-based love affairs – but according to Nielsen, sales of non-fiction books in 2025 were down 6 per cent compared with 2024. It was the lowest yearly total since 2017, the sorry end point of years of painfully consistent decline.

And the books that did sell well in 2024 weren’t “big ideas” titles like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens or charming travelogues like Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling that elbowed their way into the charts a decade or so ago.

Read the full article: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/what-happened-non-fiction-books-publishing-industry-trends-gd9snqwjz

Anna Holloway: Don't Forget to Wave

Anna Holloway spent her teaching and administrative career of forty-six years all at one HBCU (historically black college and university). I have written about my experience, especially the early part, and I’m still in the process of learning more about black people’s experiences. Originally from the Midwest and now in the South and the mother of two interracial sons, Anna writes about her life-changing experiences as a white instructor at a black college during the time of the Vietnam War, voting reforms, and public-school integration. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

Be Sure to Wave: An Interracial Family in Rural Georgia takes place 1978-92 in very rural Macon County. We experienced a gunshot in our house and a local church reacting against our three-year-old son's attending Sunday school, and we were even touched by the KKK, it appeared. But we came to like most of our neighbors, our two sons loved being in the country, and we lived seeing the wildlife. We did work and took the boys to school in Fort Valley.

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

In my memoirs and many of my poems so far, I reflect on real-life differences between being a Southerner and being a Midwesterner, and this is through my lens of coming from the Midwest in 1968 to teach at Fort Valley State, where I spent my career of 46 years.

Motivational Monday: From the Brain to the Heart

[Link] 5 Great Claustrophobic Crime Novels

by Matthew F. Jones

I’m not sure that the term claustrophobic crime novel is a genre unto itself. If it isn’t it should be. Claustrophobia, whether of the physical or mental kind, is the engine that drives some of our best novels. Thrillers and crime novels in particular.  This is because every well-done claustrophobic novel is also a psychological character study told entirely or, almost entirely, from the point of view of the novel’s protagonist; and being inside someone’s mind in a claustrophobic situation – whether of their own making or created from external circumstances – can’t help but be thrilling, tense and unpredictable. In several of my own novels I have found it most effective to write from a single character’s perspective – whether from the first or third person point of view. What’s interesting for me as their conduit in a sense is to observe through a character’s mind how they will react as the situations/encounters I put them in become tenser and/or more fraught. Who of us can say who we really are – the heroic, or anyway upright, person we want to believe we are or something less – until we’re in a crisis situation? That unpredictability and sense of a protagonist revealing to me their truest nature at the same time that I am writing the story that is forcing them to do so, for me defines the art of writing and is what makes doing it exciting.

Read the full article: https://crimereads.com/5-great-claustrophobic-crime-novels/

Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers: 26 Works of Order and Chaos (Horrific Scribes Anthologies)

Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers: 26 Works of Order and Chaos 

by L. Andrew Cooper, H.J. Dutton, Sarina Dorie, et al

Format: Kindle 

Which is more terrifying, the imposition of order that might involve stifling limitations and repugnant values, or spiraling into chaos as order splinters or disappears? The 26 authors in Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers have 26 answers, each with the potential to shatter you. Prepare for works by Sam Arlington, Raymond Brunell, Harley Carnell, Emmie Christie, Nicholas De Marino, Sarina Dorie, Eric Fomley, Douglas Ford, Matt Hollingsworth, Douglas Kolacki, Christine Lajewski, Devin James Leonard, E.J. LeRoy, Susan L. Lin, Mavrik McMeekan, Jason Frederick Myers, Lena Ng, Dimitry Partsi, Nick Porisch, Nilay Kumar Sarker, C.M. Saunders, Briar Shannon, Steve Toase, Mark Towse, Fendy S. Tulodo, and Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

"A terrific mix of 26 short stories, all on the theme of rule use and abuse. They're all engrossing, though some in that peering-between-your-fingers way, and a few are downright disturbing. I particularly liked the banality of "The Basement" and the bizarre "The Reflection's Strike, " but my favourite was the possession story "No Vacancy." A great anthology, just right if you want to have disturbed sleep!"

          --L.N. Hunter, author of The Feather and the Lamp

Available on Amazon

Open Skies (new poem)

From my upcoming second volume of poetry, Brunch with the Obelisk.

J. Brice Odom: Becoming an Older Kid

J. Brice Odom was born and raised in the great state of Georgia and now resides in the beautiful city of Macon. Since he was a young child, he has enjoyed creating stories and investigating history. He has been writing stories of all shapes and sizes since he was in elementary school. As he has gone through high school and college, and out of and back into a teaching career, that desire to create worlds of words and explore the ideas of literature and history remains undiminished. He has been telling stories since he was a young kid and intends to be telling stories as he becomes an older and older kid.  

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent book is hard boiled detective novel called Moonlight in the Tombstones. I tried to channel the feeling of the old film noir stories like The Maltese Falcon. The detective is wearing a fedora, the dialogue is often quick and sarcastic, there is a beautiful woman who we have no clue whose side she is really on, plenty of twists and turns, and a couple good gun fights along the way! 

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

I am a pretty eclectic writer in terms of genre. I have a detective novel, fantasy novel, short story collection that has various genres, a little poetry book, and a history book. Ultimately, what I like to usually say is most often I write of the fantastic, whether that is fantasy, science fiction, southern lit, or any other genre.

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

I can't think of a time I have not enjoyed telling stories. I remember, when I was little, my Granny typing as I told her a story about a lava monster on her typewriter, and then putting it in a little plastic page protector thing. I got to make a cover and in some ways it was my first book. But I was writing stories all through elementary. I like to describe myself as an older kid still just telling stories...and I don't think I will ever grow out of it!

Motivational Monday: A Whole New Book

[Link] The Unexpected Benefits of Reading at Random

Elspeth Wilson on Becoming a Literary Omnivore

by Elspeth Wilson

As someone who has spent much of the last half-decade trying to “make it” as an author—an increasingly slippery ideal, I fear—it feels bizarre to admit that for much of my adult life I didn’t read fiction at all. Sacrilegious, even. Like so many other writers, I’d loved books as a weird, shy child, finding them refuge, friend and escape all wrapped into one. But as someone who’s a very slow reader, I just couldn’t keep up with the volume of reading that was demanded of me as I progressed through school and then university.

If we had to do assigned reading at home for English, it would take me ages and sometimes I’d have to cram pages in breaks before class. By the time I was studying for my undergrad, reading felt like a chore I couldn’t keep on top of. I stayed up late to finish articles and usually only managed a couple of chapters of books that were assigned in their entirety. When I had any free time, the last thing I wanted to do was struggle over more reading.

Then, in a quintessential story of reconnecting to reading, I moved to a new city at twenty-four. I was lonely and often very sad. I was in a long-distance relationship, I hated my job, I had an undiagnosed disability that sometimes caused me such agonising pain I couldn’t leave the house. It turns out circumstances such as these will push you back to considering novels as your friends. To reading in bed when you can’t do anything else. To imagining yourself in different worlds.

I used to feel stressed about reading all the hot, trendy books, getting caught up in the emphasis publishing puts on newness, but now I’m much more likely to read an older book than one steeped in hype and discourse.

At first this rediscovering of reading was delicious. I read on my way to work, distracting myself from the dread of going into the office. When it felt impossible to see friends or go out in bleak London weather, I had a cozy activity to do at home. I found my own taste, reading a lot of heartbroken free verse poetry by young women, plenty of queer romcoms and what the industry might describe as “contemporary women’s fiction” like Big Little Lies.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/the-unexpected-benefits-of-reading-at-random/

Captain Science Goes to Oz! (New from BEN Books)

Science and fantasy collide in the merry old land of Oz in the new digest novel, Captain Science in Oz! available in paperback and ebook at Amazon worldwide with more retailers to follow. The author will also have autographed copies for sale soon.

When his old enemy, the Beast Men of Rak, invade Oz, Captain Science answers Oz’s call for aid. BEN Books presents Captain Science in Oz!, a pulpy action-thriller by Bobby Nash featuring the return of the 1950’s super-science hero, Captain Science. Cover illustration by Jas Ingram.

Currently in Progress -- Movie Reviews for Writers!

 Movie Reviews for Writers: 75 Movies About Writers and What You Can Learn from Them​

Movies matter. As long as movies are about people—even people like Marvin the Manic Depressive Robot or a monster like the one created by Victor Frankenstein—they will matter. Movies, like books and radio dramas and tales around the fireplace or campfire, introduce to people, some like us, some vastly different, some good, some bad, and some in those wonderful shades between the two (my favorite people, hands down).

     —From the Introduction

Movies  include:

1. A Fantastic Fear of Everything
2. House
3. Paris When It Sizzles
4. Stories We Tell
5. An American Ghost Story
6. Kill Your Darlings
7. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
8. Tatami
9. The Haunting of M.R. James
10. The Adventures of Anais Nin
11. Playhouse
12. They Live Inside Us
13. Authors Anonymous
14. Peripheral
15. The Nesting
16. Dead Poets Society
17. Shadowlands
18. Howling IV
19. Finding Forrester
20. Valerie on the Stairs
21. The Owl and the Pussycat
22. Scare Me
23. Wodehouse in Exile
24. The Shining
25. The Eclipse
26. Secret Window
27. The Haunted Hotel
28. Cold Ones
29. The Bat
30. Tenebrae
31. Grace
32. The Girl in the Book
33. Nightbooks
34. Shortcut to Happiness
35. Agatha and the Truth of Murder
36. Hush
37. The Darkness
38. Ubaldo Terzani Horror Show
39. In the Mouth of Madness
40. Throw Momma from the Train
41. S‏hirley
42. The Black Press—Soldiers Without Swords
43. Flannery
44. Conjuring Spirit
45. I Spit on Your Grave
46. 1408
47. Christmas in Connecticut
48. Amuck
49. Alegoria
50. You Are My Vampire
51. The House Across the Lake
52. Half Light
53. The Medusa Touch
54. Velvet
55. Skin Deep
56. Horrors of the Black Museum
57. Salem’s Lot
58. Dirty Work
59. She Makes Comics
60. Another Man’s Poison
61. Writer’s Retreat
62. Ghost Land
63. Kiss of the Damned
64. Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark
65. Fantastic Britain
66. Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane
67. House of Long Shadows
68. The Norliss Tapes
69. Snowed Under
70. If You Believe
71. Killer Book Club
72. Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
73. The House of Marsh Road
74. The World According to Garp
75. Trumbo

[Link] Ray Bradbury’s favourite books of all time

by Rachael Pimblett

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about a future where books are banned and burned, and a darkness rules over everything, noting, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”

Before the author passed away in 2012 at the age of 91, he left behind a list of his favourite books of all time, which is a culmination of sorts because Bradbury began writing stories as a child, in reaction to the Great Depression, and at the age of 18, he was already publishing short stories in fan zines, which were enshrined in a slippery sci-fi sensibility.

While Shakespeare’s Hamlet lauds “Words, words, words”, both in and out of his madness, we might picture Bradbury meandering through the great hall of life, smiling, sighing, ‘Books, books, books’. The first of his very favourite works was The God of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs; forget the book, for he deemed Burroughs’ entire oeuvre “the most influential” of any “writer in the entire history of the world”.

Bradbury has similar tastes to the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Nelson Mandela, who have all recommended The Grapes of Wrath. Though we deem it today as one of the great American novels, Bradbury thinks differently: “every other character is a description, a metaphor, prose poetry, it’s not plot…”

Ernest Hemingway is known for a sharp writing style, depicting his adventurous life with a fruitful sourness; however, less than a decade before the end of his life, he penned the beautiful novella, The Old Man and the Sea, which follows an ageing Cuban fisherman in a solitary struggle to catch a giant fish in the Gulf Stream.

Bradbury and his friends read the mature work the very day it was published in Time Magazine, reminiscing, “We carried them off to a bar that was still open, and we sat and read The Old Man and the Sea, and we talked about Papa and how much we loved him."

Read the full article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ray-bradbury-favourite-books-of-all-time/

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PROUDLY PRESENTS JEZEBEL JOHNSTON VOL. 10—NO QUARTER

Airship 27 is excited to offer the tenth chapter in the Jezebel Johnston Pirate Queen saga that has become one of the most popular New Pulp series in print today. Having won her own ship and crew, Captain Jezebel Johnston returns to her home island of Tortuga to find her friend, the Lady Antonia and her mother, Mosifa, in need of help to survive. Antonia’s husband, a landed businessman, has died, and to maintain his trading goods operations, she must procure new goods. Which is where Jezebel sees an opportunity for her pirate crew. By raiding the fat Spanish galleons, they can keep Lady Antonia’s shop supplied indefinitely. It is a simple plan, but one that will ultimately test her new crew in the ways of piracy.

 Meanwhile, in another part of the lower Caribbean, her old ally, Walter Armitage, has made a deal with the very devil himself, Captain Henry Morgan. In return, he will be given his own ship and command. But to do so means betraying Jez and leaving her and the Revelation to hunt alone. Once again, writer Nancy Hansen delivers a fast-paced, suspenseful chapter in the life of the daring queen of the high seas, Captain Jezebel Johnston. This is the adventure loyal readers have long been waiting for, and it does not disappoint.

 Award Winning Airship 27 Art Director Rob Davis provides the interior illustrations, while Michael Youngblood the gorgeous color cover.

 AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – NEW PULP FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 Available now at Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Currently in Progress -- My Barbaric Yawp!

In this follow-up to Giddy and Euphoric: Essays on Reading, Writing, and Ray Bradbury, Sean Taylor continues his fascination with the nuts and bolts of the writer's life. 

Essays include:

1. Introduction by October Santerelli
2. The Sweaty-Toothed Madman: Reading Is Becoming; Writing Is Telling Who We Are
3. The Great White Savior (Or Why It's Way Past Time To Retire Tarzan, Sheena, and The Last Samurai)
4. Visceral Writing + Nostalgia = Effective Writing Every Time
5. Envy and Imitation
6. Help! I'm Stumped and I Don't Know What To Write!
7. 15 Action/Adventure Tropes That Need To Die a Painful Death
8. This Week's Theme Is, Well, Theme
9. Bono and Flannery: Harder to Believe Than Go Crazy Tonight
10. What I Learned from Dead People (Mostly)
11. Do, Do, Do, Da, Da, Da: The Day The Police Taught Me About Character Dialog
12. The Centre Is Not Central—Normal Heroes Among Dragons
13. The Description Toolbox: 3 Tools Every Writer Needs
14. Close to the Vest—Embracing the Mystery in Your Fiction
15. Writing for Comics—A Basic Primer for Newbs
16. O' Captain, My Captain: Taming the Writers' Group Monsters
17. 35 Books (Almost) Everybody Should Read
18. My Backstory Story
19. The ABC (Plots) of Ongoing Storytelling
20. Wrote Rage
21. Hard to Market, But It's Okay
22. Paying Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain, or Ruining the Magic Trick for All the Right Reasons
23. Tightening the Tension
24. Creating Religion in Your Stories
25. Geek Culture: Leading the Way AND Pulling Us Back?!
26. The Editing Onion
27. My Diversity Soapbox (Or Don't You Throw That "Woke" Shade at Me)
28. It’s the End of the Literary World As We Know It (But Don’t Be Afraid—It’s a Good Thing)

[Link] Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time: Essential Reads That Changed the World

by Kamal Shukla

Non-fiction literature possesses a unique power to transform perspectives, educate minds, and inspire action. Unlike fiction, these works ground themselves in reality, offering insights into human nature, historical events, scientific discoveries, and personal triumphs. The greatest non-fiction books transcend their original publication dates, remaining relevant across generations.

Why Non-Fiction Books Matter

Reading non-fiction expands knowledge while developing critical thinking skills. These books provide windows into experiences beyond our own, whether exploring distant cultures, understanding complex scientific concepts, or learning from the triumphs and failures of remarkable individuals. The best non-fiction works combine rigorous research with compelling storytelling, making difficult subjects accessible and engaging.

Read the full article: https://www.classicpages.in/blog/best-non-fiction-books-of-all-time-essential-reads

Sunday Funnies: Genetic Disorder

[Link] Three Life-Changing Books to Transform Your Reading Journey

by Ahaqir

Many people read to escape reality and forget about their problems. And some people read because they want to change their lives for the better. Which is why we have created a list of three life-changing books that you need to read!

Books are magical and they are also educational. Many books will have a life lesson that will stick with the readers. And people will take different lessons away from a book. With that said, we decided to list three books that changed our lives and the lives of many readers.

And no, this isn’t a list of self-help books that changed people’s lives. Instead, we chose novels that impacted the lives of readers by making them fall in love with reading, astound them with an incredible fictional tale, or give them life lessons that changed the direction of their lives. You can see the full list below!

Read the full article: https://booksofbrilliance.com/2025/12/24/three-life-changing-books-that-you-need-to-read/

Barry Reese's The Peregrine Returns in The Gasping Death!

Teasy Weezy (not final covers)

Coming in 2026!

New Printing Coming in 2026!

Coming in 2027!

Coming in 2026!

[Must Read] The ugly truth about using AI to create images

A lot of people using AI to create images don't understand how it works and they need to so they understand the legal risk every image potentially represents.

by Linda Caroll

When Jean-Léon Gérôme died in 1904, his maid found him slumped over one of his paintings of Truth. He painted her over and over. She was always naked. The Naked Truth. Stepping out of a well, or holding up a mirror to humanity.

Or dead at the bottom of a well, like the painting above, from 1895.

Naked truth, killed by falsehood, he called it.

I love to use classic art on my posts. There’s just such an endless supply of it, and there’s always something that fits. Plus, it allows me to celebrate the work of an actual artist in a world where actual artists are appreciated less than ever before.

Jean-Léon Gérôme was a painter and sculptor whose work was so widely reproduced that by 1880 he was called the world’s most famous living artist. 145 years later, most people don’t even know his name. They know the phrase “naked truth,” though, even if they don’t have any clue what the hell the naked truth is anymore.

I’m an editor of four publications on Medium. Here’s what people tell me.

They tell me they create AI images because they couldn’t find anything to properly capture the essence of their writing.

Self-delusion at its finest. I’m sorry, the internet is filled with public domain images. Hundreds of thousands of them, and you want me to believe that? Gerome alone painted over 300 paintings. And he’s one of thousands of artists whose work has moved into the public domain. Absolutely free to use. No strings attached.

No, you’re using AI-generated images because it makes you feel like you can do something you couldn’t do before AI existed. It’s really that simple.

And they think “they” made the end result. Which is also not true.

A while ago, I saw a Note that made me laugh. I wish I’d re-stacked so I could re-find it, but I’ll get the context right, if not the exact details.

A fellow said someone (a friend? a teacher? I forget) showed him something he’d made with AI and proudly said, “Look at this! Before AI I couldn’t do this.”

So he laughed and said, “You low-key still can’t.”

The person looked at him, closed the computer, and said, “You’re low-key not wrong.”

I had a little laugh and moved along.

A few days later, I’d read a story that brought that Note back to mind.

I ran across the story of a designer who had truth shoved in his face in the most stark and shocking way and still failed to see the truth because of his own delusion.

Read the full article: https://borked.substack.com/p/the-ugly-truth-about-using-ai-to

Motivational Monday: Hard Times Are Coming

Sunday Funnies: That's the Point, Greg

[Link] 10 books whose first line is enough to convince anyone to read them

by ETimes.in

A strong opening sentence can offer much more than a mere introduction to a story. It can establish the mood, raise interest, and hold a promise of something unforgettable. There are authors, of course, who are successful in hooking the reader right from the opening sentence. In fact, the reader might not be able to put the book down. These are the ten books whose opening sentence is enough to convince anyone to continue with the story, without hesitation.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

First line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Read the full list: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/10-books-whose-first-line-is-enough-to-convince-anyone-to-read-them/photostory/126190537.cms

TWO-GUN PHOENIX PUBLISHING DEBUTS WITH FOUR TITLES-Crime Noir, Alternative History Adventure, Forgotten Books, and A Beloved Sailor

PRESS RELEASE

Two-Gun Phoenix Publishing, a company formed by a group of publishers, editors, writers, and fans, announces its existence with four books available now for purchase via Amazon and soon via other venues.

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MACAVITY by Barry Reese

Macavity. A name whispered around the world - feared by police and criminals alike. When the underworld mobs of New York go to war over a mysterious object, the elusive rogue possesses guaranteed to help the victor claim ultimate power, an unlikely duo unites to bring Macavity to justice: a British inspector and a gorgeous moll. With betrayals, lies, and deaths accumulating, Macavity threads the needle between success and defeat... with a shocking secret that no one can predict!

Known for his mind-blowing and prolific New Pulp work with characters like The Peregrine and Lazarus Gray, award-winning author Barry Reese takes on a genre unlike any he’s tackled before. Equal parts noir, crime, and adventure, MACAVITY has everything a good mob war story…and heist tale…and hard-boiled actioner needs!

Cover by Dana Black

Paperback-$14.99  

Ebook-$3.99

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A COWBOY IN CARPATHIA: A BOB HOWARD ADVENTURE (AUTHOR’S EXPANDED EDITION) by Teel James Glenn

In 1936, Robert Ervin Howard, the creator of Conan the Cimmerian and countless other legendary characters, took his own life after the death of his beloved mother.

But…what if he didn’t?

Teel James Glenn’s A COWBOY IN CARPATHIA: A BOB HOWARD ADVENTURE won the 2021 Pulp Factory Best Novel Award and kicked off a series of alternate history adventures for one of the most beloved Pulp authors of all time. In this new Author’s Expanded Edition, Glenn takes Howard beyond his own history. First, Bob finds himself under the Big Top in New York City taking on corruption and betrayal the only way he knows how; two-fisted. Then, crossing the ocean, he finds depravity of a whole other sort in England, which carries him to far-off Carpathia. To save a woman dear to him, Bob sets out to take on a legendary, immortal evil boot to boot- the undead beast incarnate known as Dracula.

Cover by Dana Black

Paperback-$16.99

Ebook-$4.99

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OFF THE DUSTY BOOKCASE by Aubrey G. Stephens

Stories of wonder and adventure once filled bookshelves instead of phones and e-readers. Books you held in your hand that, in the right place, acted as portals to worlds and lives you could live over and over. All you needed was a little money to buy a passport to wherever or a library card to borrow passage for a while.

But some of those journeys, many of those far-off places and the people who created them have been forgotten to time. While we still watch movies based on some of them or read tales most definitely inspired by them, works from authors that maybe were even well household names have been lost in the past.

But not for Aubrey G. Stephens.

OFF THE DUSTY BOOKCASE is a collection of reviews and reminiscences written by Stephens, a teacher, writer, and fan of reading since his early trips to a Mississippi library. Beginning in that very building, OFF THE DUSTY BOOKCASE from Two-Gun Phoenix Publishing introduces readers of all ages to forgotten works of genre fiction while also touching on cinema, history, and more. This collection of essays is more than just a reminder of authors and their works. It's the love and passion of one man for the written word and all that it means to everyone.

Paperback- $15.99

Ebook- $3.99

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TALES OF THE SAILOR MAN by Jim Beard, Aubrey Stephens, and Brian K. Morris

Ahoy! The world’s most popular sailor springs to new action-inspired life in TALES OF THE SAILOR MAN!

Created by E. C. Segar as a part of his ‘Thimble Theatre’ comic strip, Popeye sailed into newspapers in 1929, and his voyages have continued across every known medium! With arms like tree trunks, a squint that makes pirates quake and quiver, and a unique take on what passes for the English language, Segar’s one-time supporting character quickly planted his flag as the lead for not only the comic strip, but also a whole host of cartoons, comics, and more.

Join Jim Beard, Aubrey Stephens, and Brian K. Morris as they take the two-fisted mariner both back to his roots and into a new style, even for him. Three tales that draw from Popeye’s earliest days in ‘Thimble Theatre’ with their eyes squarely set in the direction of high-octane adventure!

So, enjoy a generous helping of Oyl, not Olive, and rub the Whiffle Hen for luck as you set sail with the roughest, toughest swab ever to walk a deck!

Paperback-$9.99

Ebook- $2.99

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To follow Two-Gun Phoenix Publishing, go to www.facebook.com/TwoGunPhoenixPublishing. Much more to come!

Creating Religion in Your Stories

Let's talk about religion. No, not let's argue about religion or discuss the viability of religious though and action and defense. Let's talk about religion as it relates to your fiction. 

Religion can be a powerful way to say something about your characters and about the world they inhabit. It can be a vital part of your setting culturally. Or it can even be a foil against which your protagonist rebels. 

Ignore It at Your Peril, Writer (Oh Life Is Bigger)

Let's be honest. Religious affections or reactions to religious dogma are a part of life. They are part of what shapes much of the world. They are the very reason for so many of our holidays, for example and any story that revolves around a holiday should have at least a cursory understanding of it. Sadly, so little of that makes its way into a lot of fiction. Granted, this is looked at more in literary fiction than Summer beach reading, but every empty spot is a missed opportunity. 

To be fair, we're not talking about using fiction to evangelize one religion over another (unless that's your character's, well, character -- after all, it worked for Hazel Motes in Wise Blood even if it didn't make him a nice person). 

Nor are we only talking about Western or Christian religious viewpoints. The world is much, much bigger than American and European history, and we should as writers be open to exploring as much of it as we can. 

Additionally, when we talk about religious viewpoints here, let's be sure to include the viewpoint of disbelief. Although atheism or agnosticism would never be considered a religion, they are religious points of view that choose not to believe rather than believe. 

What we're really talking about here is religion as part of a character's background, what goes into the development of that protagonist, antagonist, or bit character as a person (albeit it a fictional person). Religion can be as effective as race, location, education, hobbies and interests, and goals when it comes to creating a three-dimensional character.

Also, we're going to address religion as it relates to world-building. So much of Ursula LeGuin's work couldn't exist at the same level or excellence if she had ignored the religious inclinations of the worlds her researchers visited. The same goes for Dune, and for a lot of the writing of Asimov and Bradbury and Shūsaku Endō and Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston.

But, as said earlier, so many contemporary writers avoid any mention of religion, most likely (just my opinion here) due to the bad taste the merger between religion and politics has left in the mouths of so many folks nowadays and the fear of being labeled a "religious writer" instead of a writer using religion to build characters from words. 

There are several ways to go about this, and we're going to look at each of them. 

• Religions based on real-world faiths
• Dogmatic/theological religions
• Mythological religions
• Human as God religions

 

Building My Religion (I Thought That I Heard You Laughing)

It's far more common for writers of fantasy and sci-fi to create elaborate religions than it is for writers of mystery and romance. Now, that primarily happens because of the differences between a real-world and a not-tied-to-the-real-world (except maybe only tangentally) setting. Fantasy and sci-fi writers have the freedom to explore really out-there ideas or lock their created religions into more established norms. Writers who work in something based on the real world have less freedom (at least without becoming urban fantasy or romantasy). For them, the thousands of faiths across the globe are their base for research. 

My Backstory Story

I was once asked by a fellow writer: How much of your character's back story do you know before the story begins? Do you know everything or just the basics? 

I love the question. 

There are two opposing ways of thinking about this, as opposite as democrats and republicans are politically -- at least in my experience of meeting and talking with writers. The members of one group tend to make it all up as they go along, reinventing their characters almost willy-nilly with every twist and turn or plot and nuance of the story. On the other hand, the members of the other group keep their folders of notes and printouts and family tree diagrams handy near their computer desk or (for the tech-obsessed authors) in a spreadsheet on the cloud so they can't lose the information at home and can have it readily available even when they're not at home.

Many, however -- and I'm certainly one of them -- fall somewhere in the middle. I like to know the basic personality and major life experiences for my core characters, but I tend to fill in the details for other things (like what college he attended, who was her first boyfriend, is he allergic to gluten, where did her tattoo come from, for example) as I'm writing and as the story dictates. It's funny, though, how often some of those minutiae of details can become key plot points in a story or triggers for a new story for a future volume featuring the character in some cases.

A real-life example: When I came up with the Victorian detective for my story "Death with a Glint of Bronze" in Dreams of Steam II: Brass and Bolts (story now available in this collection -- direct or Amazon). I knew that within the scope of my 20 or so pages, I wouldn't need to dig so far into McKendrick's past to know about the facts and dates of his previous marriage or how long his time as a soldier in India was exactly. But I did need to know all the details of the accident that took one hand, and the childhood malady that left his other hand palsied. Those were the important back story details. Those were the ones on which the story hinged and swung.

I used to do questionnaires about my characters, and I think those kinds of details are good to know, and I still recommend them as character exercises for beginning writers. However, after writing for nearly 35 years now, the questions that lead to those kinds of details have become internalized, and I no longer have to make a conscious effort to fill out questionnaires or apply for jobs as my character. As the characters become real in my head, those specifics become automatic, and sometimes even just held in my subconscious until such a time as they are needed for the story. 

A caveat -- the longer the work, the more information I've learned that I need to know upfront about the back story. Why? Because I've found that those are the kind of details that help carry a story beyond the simple plot point A leads to plot point B leads to plot point C, etc., kind of story. Those are the things that take a story (at least for me, your mileage may vary) from a mere skeleton to a flesh and blood living being.

Motivational Monday: Roomful of Weapons

Sunday Funnies: The Secret to Writing Well

[Link] 100 Writing Prompts in the Crime Genre

by Jason Hellerman

Sometimes when I can't decide what I want to watch, I just run to any crime movie I have never seen before. I love the crime and gangster genre and think it contains some of the best movies of all time.

That's why I am so happy when I hear about a new version of these kinds of movies and TV shows being made.

But to get more movies and TV shows like these, we need scripts, and it's so hard to write them. I wanted to help give you a leg up. Use these prompts to jumpstart your creativity and get the pages flowing out of you.

If you’re staring at a blank page, here are 100 writing prompts categorized by crime subgenre to help you find your next "Big Score."

Let's dive in.

100 Crime Writing Prompts

The Professional Thief & Heist

• A retired safecracker is forced into one last job when his grandson accidentally steals from a mob boss.
• An elite heist crew discovers their getaway driver is a deep-cover FBI agent.
• A group of magicians decides to rob a casino using only "old world" stage illusions.
• The heist was perfect, but the "diamond" they stole is actually a high-tech tracking device.

Read the full list: https://nofilmschool.com/crime-gangster-writing-prompts

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS SOLITAIRE 2 – THE AGENDA

When the son of a wealthy aviation corporation is kidnapped by a vicious South American gang, the family turns to the mysterious entity known as Solitaire to rescue him. In the process, the female master of disguises soon uncovers a personal vendetta against Andrews Aviation. The gang’s goal is not only to ruin the family but also steal their experimental new drone that the U.S. Military is hoping to purchase. Once again, Solitaire will have to rely on her many roles to confuse and defeat a fanatical enemy.

Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to present pulp scribe Lee Houston, Junior’s second fast-paced thriller featuring his original, amazing new heroine, Solitaire. This one is filled with exotic locales, cunning bad guys, and non-stop action.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1969285060/

Tighten the Tension

You know that feeling when your gut constricts and your brain starts thrumming. Your heart might even pound a little. When it happens in life, it can be terrifying. When it happens in a story, it means the author did something right. The author affected you in a real, emotional, visceral way. The author made you react.

That reaction is called tension. 

And if you can do it consistently as a writer, you’ll never fail to sell your work. 

What It Isn’t

If you research this stuff on the ‘Net, you’ll often hear this topic discussed closely with the idea of suspense. Some folks might even try to tell you that tension and suspense are the same thing. 

Don’t listen to them. They’re not. 

Tension vs. Suspense

Tension is an immediate feeling of discomfort or stress. Tension is the knot that suspense can create inside you. Tension is the uncomfortable feeling you get because a situation isn’t optimal, or even something you can cope with. Tension is the tiger roaring on the plains near your camp. 

Suspense is the feeling of anxiously awaiting a future event. Suspense is the buildup or increasing tension over time. Suspense is taking those uncomfortable feelings and combining them with anticipation. Suspense is the tiger’s roar getting louder every few minutes, making you look around for when its head eventually appears at the edge of camp. 

Tension vs. Conflict

If you have an absence of conflict, you will never have tension. However, just as tension and suspense are related but not equal, the same applies to conflict. Without conflict, there may be no tension, but tension isn’t conflict. 

It grows out of conflict. 

Which conflicts? Well, all of them. You can have great tension with a person vs. nature story (2012, 28 Days Later, The Poseidon Adventure). You can create tight tension ina person vs. society story (A Clockwork Orange, The Awakening, The Crucible, Their Eyes Were Watching God). The same holds true for a person vs. person plot (The Bourne Identity, any Bond novel, Kramer vs. Kramer). Even a solid person vs. self story can keep a reader all wrenched up inside (Hamlet, Fahrenheit 451, The Old Man and the Sea). 

A well-established conflict for your characters, particularly your protagonist and antagonist, builds a solid floor from which to create tension. 

2025 Pulp Factory Awards open for nominations!

On behalf of the Pulp Factory Awards committee, we're pleased to announce that it's time to submit your nominations for this year's awards, recognizing the best in new pulp writing and art. Full details posted below:

Every year, fans gather at the Westin Hotel near Yorktown Mall in metro Chicago to celebrate the best in classic and New Pulp literature. As part of those celebrations, nominations for the Pulp Factory Awards are open. The 2026 awards will cover works published during the calendar year 2025.

The nomination process will be as follows:

• Members of the Pulp Factory Facebook group have through Monday, February 2, to submit their initial nominations for the Pulp Factory Awards. Any work published in print in 2025 can be considered for nomination. (Digital-only books are excluded.) Reprints are not eligible for individual awards such as Best Short Story but may be included in collections if those collections feature stories published for the first time in 2025.
  
  
• Nominations (by members of the Pulp Factory only) should be e-mailed directly to PulpAwards@gmail.com, with choices in any or all of the following categories. (You may nominate as many works in each category as you wish.)
  
  
• BEST PULP NOVEL
  
  
• Any novel published in 2025 in print format
  
  
• BEST PULP COVER
  
  
• Best cover produced for a pulp novel or anthology. Any final artistic product produced by AI app/server/machine will not qualify for any PF awards.
  
  
• BEST PULP SHORT STORY
  
  
• Best short story published in 2025 in print format
  
  
• BEST PULP INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS
  
  
• Best interior illustrations for a novel or anthology, produced by a single artist for the book. Single illustrations or books with illustrations by multiple artists are not eligible for the awards. Any final artistic product produced by AI app/server/machine will not qualify for any PF awards.
  
  
• BEST PULP ANTHOLOGY OR COLLECTION
  
  
• Any anthology or collection featuring multiple stories by a single author (a collection) or stories by a variety of authors (a normal anthology). The book must have been printed in 2025 and must have contained at least one new story. In the case of a new story plus reprints, the book is eligible for Best Pulp Anthology but only the new story is eligible for the Best Pulp Short Story category.
  
  
• Members are encouraged to discuss their choices on the Pulp Factory Facebook group but note that your nominations must be emailed directly to PulpAwards@gmail.com to be included.
  
  
• After February 2, the committee will tally and craft a final ballot for voting (deadline to be scheduled), and that ballot will be submitted for fans to vote electronically for the awards. Awards will be handed out to winners during the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention on Friday, March 27, 2026.

Questions and nominations should be directed to PulpAwards@gmail.com. This will ensure a more prompt response than reaching out to individual committee members.

Thank you for your interest, and we're looking forward to your nominations!

Some pointless drivel about my fave sci-fi and fantasy films...

My Fave Sci-Fi Films

1. Alien

2. Outland

3. The Fifth Element

4. Star Wars: A New Hope

5. John Carter

6. Planet of the Apes 1968

7. The Bride of Frankenstein

8. Forbidden Planet

9. Metropolis 1927

10. Children of Men

11. Ex Machina

12. District 9

13. The Matrix

14. 2001

15. Blade Runner

16. The Iron Giant

17. John Carpenter's The Thing

18. Akira

19. The Fly 1986

20. The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951

21. Planet of the Vampires

22. The Andromeda Strain

23. The Martian Chronicles

24. Aliens

25. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

26. Metropolis (anime)

27. Sleeper

28. Under the Skin

29. 12 Monkeys

30. Splice

31. The Bride

32. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

33. The Invisible Man

34. Demon Seed

35. This Island Earth

36. Heavy Metal

37. A Scanner Darkly

38. Titan A.E.

39. Predator

40. Robocop 1987

41. Transformers: The Movie 1986

42. The Thing from Another World

43. Slaughterhouse Five

44. Fahrenheit 451

45. 2010

46. Star Wars: Rogue One

47. Armitage Dual Matrix

48. 9

49. Ghost in the Shell 1995

50. The Day of the Triffids

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My Fave Fantasy Movies

1. Pan's Labyrinth

2. Princess Mononoke

3. The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

4. Time Bandits

5. MirrorMask

6. Labyrinth

7. Ladyhawke

8. Orphée (Orpheus, Cocteau)

9. The Seventh Seal

10. The Princess Bride

11. She 1935

12. La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, Cocteau)

13. Lost Horizon

14. The Wizard of Oz

15. The Hobbit animated

16. Spirited Away

17. I Married a Witch

18. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

20. Big Fish

21. Jason and the Argonauts

22. The City of Lost Children

23. The Never-Ending Story

24. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

25. The Dark Crystal

26. Thale

27. Spring

28. Mary Poppins

29. What Dreams May Come

30. The 13th Warrior

31. Reign of Fire

32. Willow

33. The Company of Wolves

34. Army of Darkness

35. The Lure

36. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

37. Highlander

38. Wizards

39. Legend

40. Coraline

41. Stardust

42. The Beastmaster

43. Clash of the Titans 1981

44. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

45. Conan the Barbarian

46. The Brother's Grim

47. The Shape of Water

48. Fire and Ice

49. The Black Cauldron

50. Horns