SPECULATIVE FICTIONEER

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Standard eBooks

When I received word that Amazon would no longer be supporting Gizmo, my 16-year-old Kindle, my first thought was, "What support?" It's not like the device has ever received a software update of any kind (unlike my Chromebook, which seems to have one every other day). The only "support" I can think of was the ability to send eBooks wirelessly to Gizmo and the ability to borrow eBooks from the public library. No more.

But Amazon was real nice about it. They offered me a discount on my purchase of a NEW Kindle as well as a gift card to put toward buying a few new books. And if all the millions of unsupported Kindle owners decide to take them up on their offer, they'll make millions in the process. It's almost like Amazon suddenly realized, "Uh-oh... We made those old Kindles too well. They won't be going kaput anytime soon. Time for Plan B."

No thanks! Gizmo still works great, and I have no desire to replace it. So what if I can't purchase new eBooks from Amazon? I rarely did that anyway. And so what if I can't borrow eBooks from the library anymore? I've got 70 classics on Gizmo that I haven't even read yet (including War and Peace; that one should keep me busy for a while). Furthermore, I can keep side-loading eBook files onto my old, unsupported Kindle via a USB cable. Good thing there are so many alternatives to Amazon out there.

On the topic of classic books, I've recently discovered a great site with quality offerings: Standard Ebooks. They're a "volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain ebooks that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of U.S. copyright restrictions, and free of cost. Standard Ebooks takes ebooks from sources like Project Gutenberg, formats and typesets them using a carefully designed and professional-grade style manual, fully proofreads and corrects them, and then builds them to create a new edition that takes advantage of state-of-the-art ereader and browser technology."

How cool is that? I've started reading a collection of Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard, and I can confirm that the formatting is much more pleasing to the eye than most of the atrocities I've downloaded for free in the past. All this to say, I'm glad Gizmo and I still have a future together—until it decides on its own to go kaput at some point.

Friday Freebie

Meet Captain Quasar, a cross between James T. Kirk and Dudley Do-Right—except in Quasar's case, things seldom ever go right...

Join Captain Bartholomew Quasar and the crew of the Effervescent Magnitude in this hilarious collection of short stories as they confront bands of nefarious space pirates, cantankerous bandits, exotic aliens, devious powers of persuasion, mysterious ghosts from the past, deep space identity crises, a runaway hyperspeed train, an insidious computer virus, and a villain with the fastest thumbs in the quadrant.

*Includes the action-packed prequel novella The Bounty Hunters from Arachnxx Three

Free eBook

Audio Re-Release

In case you missed it the first time around (six years ago), the audio version of my novel After the Sky is now available (again) wherever audiobooks are sold. When the rights reverted, my former publisher pulled it from retailers as part of our agreement; but the producer was amiable to the idea of a re-release, so here we are. Steve Campbell did an incredible job bringing this story to life. If you haven't heard it already, be sure to check it out:

Amazon Apple Audible

The meek have not inherited the earth.

The world isn't how they left it. When the bunker airlocks release them after twenty years in hibernation, the survivors find a silent, barren landscape outside. But they are not alone. There is a presence here, alive in the dust—spirits of the earth, benevolent and malicious as they interact with the human remnant.

Milton is haunted by a violent past he's unable to escape, despite the superhuman speed the spirits give him. Not interested in bearing the next generation, Daiyna is determined to destroy the flesh-eating mutants lurking in the dark, pierced by her night-vision. Luther is a man of conviction who believes the Creator has offered humankind a second chance, yet he's uncertain they deserve it—and he's perplexed by the talons that flex out of his fingers. Willard is a brilliant engineer-turned-soldier who refuses to leave his bunker, afraid of becoming infected and willing to destroy any obstacle in his way.

As their lives collide, the mysteries of this strange new world start unraveling, culminating in the ultimate life-or-death decision one survivor will make for them all.

Release Day

Third time's the charm?

With Detective Vic Boyo, anything's possible.

1933, New York City: Prohibition may be over, but that doesn't mean things have cooled down any for our intrepid hero—even when a massive blizzard strikes the Big Apple hard. Good thing Boyo's always got his trusty heater.

When an old flame shows up on his doorstep seeking help, Boyo promises to do everything in his power to protect her. Problem is, she's not telling him the whole story, and before Boyo knows it, he's caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between powerful political and underworld forces who aren't playing pattycake. No, they're playing for keepsies.

Now Available:

eBook Paperback

100% Human

My writing has always been human-generated (by me). No AI used at all. Not for any stage of the process: brainstorming, outlining, researching, or editing. Not to make my writing flow better (that much should be obvious). Not to write myself out of corners I've written myself into. Not to write taglines or synopses or blurbs. None of that.

But I've used AI-generated cover art on a dozen of my books over the past few years. Until last week, that is, when I gave them a major overhaul with human-generated images instead.

Why'd I make the change? Because I want to be able to say that my work is 100% human. I'm not a big fan of AI, particularly not the deluge of AI-generated books currently crowding the marketplace, and I want my work to stand apart. I don't want my books to have the same style of cover art as AI slop. Plain and simple.

Now when I look for suitable artwork on sites that offer free, commercial-use images, I filter the search to exclude anything generated by artificial intelligence. Sure, the pickings are slimmer. And yeah, I have to work a little harder to make the images fit the themes I'm going for (thankful for Canva). But overall, I'm pleased with the results.

We'll see if readers notice. From what I've heard, thousands of unsuspecting types have been burned by soulless AI garbage. Hopefully they'll be able to tell at first glance that my stuff is about as diametrically opposed to that as you can get.

May Reading Deals

Check out these multi-author book promotions. You're sure to find something you like:

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Novel #26

Third time's the charm?

With Detective Vic Boyo, anything's possible.

1933, New York City: Prohibition may be over, but that doesn't mean things have cooled down any for our intrepid hero—even when a massive blizzard strikes the Big Apple hard. Good thing Boyo's always got his trusty heater. When an old flame shows up on his doorstep seeking help, Boyo promises to do everything in his power to protect her. Problem is, she's not telling him the whole story, and before Boyo knows it, he's caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between powerful political and underworld forces who aren't playing pattycake. No, they're playing for keepsies.

Buy Direct or Pre-Order

Eight years ago, when I released the first Vic Boyo novel Double Murders Are Twice As Bad, I thought it was going to be the only Vic Boyo novel. Well, the joke was on me. Because last year I took a look at a novella I wrote during the olden days of my misspent youth, and I decided to flesh it out into something novel-length. Thus, Less Than Meets The Eye was born. That's right: the sequel nobody asked for. And since it left a couple plot points up in the air with regard to Boyo's personal life, of course I had to write the threequel. So that's what I did, and a fun time was had by all.

While the official release date isn't until May 5, you can grab a copy of the eBook today at my Payhip store. I would say chuckles guaranteed or your money back, but I have no idea how the logistics of that would work. So if you laugh, then laugh out loud. And maybe a few somebodies within earshot will desire a copy of Witless Protection for themselves.

2nd Editions

It's re-release day, and that means every novel in my Spirits of the Earth trilogy and Captain Quasar Chronicles has officially been unshackled from its former publisher + Kindle Unlimited and is now available everywhere books are sold. Click each cover for a direct link to my Payhip store as well as links to Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and Kobo:

It's tough to pick favorites among all the stuff I've written, but these are definitely at the top, right up there with AGROTHARN, Charlie Madison, and the rest. I wrote Spirits of the Earth over the span of 10 years, so that trilogy is pretty special to me. And, come to think of it, the first Quasar short story was published a decade prior to the trilogy's release. So these characters were living in my head for quite a while!

Home Stretch

The 50K mark went flying by this past week, which makes my current work-in-progress officially a (short) novel. If I had to guess, I'd say it's maybe 10K away from the finish line. And I'm planning to complete the first draft over the next week because...Spring Break!

With a May release looming on the horizon, now's as good a time as any to share the cover art and blurb with you. So here they are, in all their glory. No pre-order option yet, but if you subscribe to my newsletter, you'll be the first to know when Vic Boyo's Book 3 is released into the wild.

Third time's the charm?

With Detective Vic Boyo, anything's possible.

1933, New York City: Prohibition may be over, but that doesn't mean things have cooled down any for our intrepid hero—even when a massive blizzard strikes the Big Apple hard. Good thing Boyo's always got his trusty heater. When an old flame shows up on his doorstep seeking help, Boyo promises to do everything in his power to protect her. Problem is, she's not telling him the whole story, and before Boyo knows it, he's caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between powerful political and underworld forces who aren't playing pattycake. No, they're playing for keepsies.

Short and Direct

All of my short story collections are now available wherever eBooks are sold, so that means I've got a new section for them in my Payhip store. When you buy direct, more of the purchase price goes to the author instead of a massive megacorporation, and the author gets paid immediately instead of having to wait a couple months to see those royalties. You also get an actual EPUB copy of the book to keep instead of just a license to view the content on your device. Sounds like a real win-win, don't you think?

But since I like giving my readers all sorts of options, you'll also find these collections on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Kobo and everywhere else. A few of the books are even free. How about that?

Over Halfway There

I've passed the 30K mark on my current work-in-progress, and things are shaping up nicely. Been doing a lot of plotting on this one. Not sure if that means I'm getting old and scatterbrained or just more organized. I don't know how I used to draft 100K manuscripts without notes. This one will probably end up being between 50-60K, and I've had to outline almost every scene in order to keep track of what I'm writing about. But it's turning out well, and that's what matters. Slow-going, as seems to be the case lately, but every step in the right direction is progress.

In other news, all of the eBooks in my Captain Quasar and Spirits of the Earth trilogies are formatted and ready to go. Next up will be the paperbacks. I'm planning to release them all at the same time, most likely in April to coincide with my turning half a century old. Something to celebrate.

Next week, each of my short story collections will be dropping out of KU and going wide, so they'll be available wherever you buy such things—including my Payhip store. Coyote Cal has new cover art, which might be my favorite so far. I also tinkered around with BackTracker's cover again (since I was in cover-tinkering mode), and I'm thinking this one's a keeper.

Now to plant myself in the study and see if I can churn out a thousand words or so...

Bookshop.org

I found out this week that all of my novels are now available on Bookshop.org, an alternative to Amazon that has raised more than 45 million bucks for independent bookstores over the past six years. I'm all for selling my work wherever I can, and that includes Amazon. But I'm not a big fan of monopolies, so giving my readers another viable option to buy books is always a good idea.

There are a couple of ways you can support your local bookstore with Bookshop. First, you can search for a participating bookstore, order your book through them, and Bookshop acts as the distributor / online retailer, with the bookstore earning the full profit from your purchase. The second option is to make your purchase directly through Bookshop with 10% of the profits going into a pool that is then distributed to indie bookstores all over the country. Pretty nifty, eh?

Something else I like: signing up for an affiliate account earns me an additional 10% on every book I sell through a Bookshop link. For example, the Chronicles of AGROTHARN. Instead of making only $3 on a $4.99 purchase, I'll make $3.50. Yahoo!

So, if you're interested in buying books without supporting a megacorporation, give Bookshop a try.

Rights Reversion

Looks like I'm getting the rights back to my Captain Quasar and Spirits of the Earth trilogies sooner than anticipated. When I signed my contracts five or six years ago, I thought I'd have to wait 10 years before the publication rights would revert. But since the quarterly royalties have been steadily dwindling (down from four figures at the start to only two), I decided to take another look at my contracts.

Come to find out, there's a termination clause that allows me to request the reversion of all rights after a set period when royalties have fallen below a certain threshold over the course of a calendar year. Yep. So I submitted my request, and they were cool about it. The books are gradually dropping off Amazon, and after their Kindle Unlimited enrollment ends in April, I'll be able to release them myself.

The publisher did a great job of promoting the first book in each series for a week or two, but after that, they didn't put any effort into marketing. According to them, the ongoing marketing strategy consisted solely of keeping the books in KU. So, I'm looking forward to publishing both trilogies wide for the first time, introducing these books to readers who exist outside of the Amazonosphere.

Stay tuned for an April re-release of both trilogies with new cover art, available everywhere books are sold. It'll feel pretty darn good to officially have the rights to everything I've ever written. Going forward, I'm planning to keep it that way.

Off to a Good Start

I just hit the 10K mark in my latest work-in-progress: the third and final installment in the Vic Boyo, Doofus Detective series. I've got most of the story outlined in broad strokes, and I'm plotting each chapter before I draft it. This is the first Vic Boyo novel that isn't based on a wild and crazy manuscript from my misspent youth, so it's a little nerve-wracking (but fun) to be venturing into unknown territory. The first two books were maybe thirty percent original framework with plenty of twists and turns added to flesh things out; in book three, I'm building on the characters and relationships introduced thus far and amping up the conflict. Right now Boyo has trouble flying at him from three different directions, and if you know him half as well as I do, then you'll know that's just the way he likes it.

Year in Review: 2025

Another year bites the dust. It wasn't too bad, all things considered. Didn't write as much as I would have liked, but I accomplished what I set out to do, and I tried a few new things along the way.

The first half of the year was all about wrapping up the Dome City Investigations trilogy. I'd already written 35K of Angels & Androids and had another 55K to go. The process was slow, but I got there eventually. Around the same time, the rights to Madame Antic's Hotel Grotesque reverted, and I proceeded to quick-release the Interdimensionals trilogy over the summer months. By the time school started, I was halfway through drafting Less Than Meets The Eye, and by the end of November, it was ready to greet the world.

When I wasn't writing or formatting, I figured out how to sell my books directly to readers. No billion-dollar mega-corporation necessary. I decided to keep my short story collections in Kindle Unlimited for the time being, but I went wide with everything else. In so doing, I tried out Kobo Writing Life to see how their promotions work, but the jury's still deliberating. I'll give it some more time.

I sampled Substack for a few months, but it was too much like social media, so I called it quits. I also experimented with Amazon ads and learned a lot in the process—and managed to recoup my losses after pausing the campaign. I may have participated in too many Bookfunnel promos to count, but I'm planning to scale back on those since returns have diminished.

My goals for next year: Stop checking sales numbers every day and just let the royalties trickle in. Find ways to free up more head space. Enjoy writing, and enjoy God's blessings.

Novels Written:

Angels & Androids (55K of 90K total)

Less Than Meets The Eye (55K)

Vic Boyo, Book 3 (4K and counting...)

Books Published:

Madame Antic's Hotel Grotesque

Monsieur Moule's Subterranean Casino

Peter Gideon's Aeroship Extraordinaire

Angels & Androids

Less Than Meets The Eye

Blog Posts: 26

Release Party

Detective Vic Boyo returns

in the sequel nobody asked for!

1932, New York City: When a good pal needs help rescuing his kid sister from a speakeasy run by a psychotic mobster, Boyo knows he's up to the challenge. What he doesn't know is by agreeing to lend a hand, he's placed a big red target on his back. The mobster in question is a dangerous predator who likes to play with his prey, and what follows is an unhinged cat-and-mouse game unlike anything Boyo has ever encountered.

Only one thing stands between Vic Boyo and saving the day. Well, maybe a few things. But with a little luck and a whole lot of gumption, anything is possible—even for him.

eBook Paperback

The big release day was officially this past Tuesday, but it's never too late to celebrate, right? Now's a great time to grab your copy while the low introductory price is in effect. Next week, it'll be $4.99, same as the sequels in my other series.

Speaking of series, I'm in the process of outlining the third and final installment in the Vic Boyo, Doofus Detective trilogy. That's right. Unlike the seven-year gap between Books 1 and 2, Book 3 should be out sometime next year. I've got multiple sources of conflict I'll be tossing Vic's way, loose ends from the series in need of resolution, which should make for an entertaining ride along. After a bit more plotting, I'll be able to devote some time to drafting. Who knows, maybe by the end of Christmas break, I'll have a few thousand words typed up. 5K? 10K? We shall see.

How to Gift an eBook

Ever wondered how to send a friend or family member an eBook as a gift? Look no further. Here's the easiest way to go about it on Amazon:

Let's say you wanted to gift a copy of Double Murders Are Twice As Bad because your pal or loved one is sorely in need of chuckles. Once you've clicked the book link, scroll down on the right side until you see the "Buy for Others" or "Gift Kindle Edition" option (located an inch or so under the orange Buy now with 1-click button).

Once you've selected "Buy for Others" or "Gift Kindle Edition", you'll have two options: 1. Amazon will email the redemption link directly to your recipient. 2. Amazon will email you the redemption link, which you can then send to the recipient yourself.

Next, enter the recipient's email address. Type a personal message like "Hope you enjoy this hilarious book!" Pick a delivery date. Then place your order. You'll be charged for the eBook, and your recipient will be able to read it on any device, thanks to the free Kindle app.

Easy, right? The process on Barnes & Noble and Apple is a similar one, but as far as I know, Apple eBooks can only be read on Apple devices, while B&N's Nook app, like the Kindle one, can be installed on any device. As of now, there is no way to gift eBooks on Kobo, but gift cards are available.

I hope you found this to be informative and helpful. Let the eBook gifting commence!

Novel #25

Detective Vic Boyo returns in the sequel nobody asked for!

1932, New York City: When a good pal needs help rescuing his kid sister from a speakeasy run by a psychotic mobster, Boyo knows he's up to the challenge. What he doesn't know is by agreeing to lend a hand, he's placed a big red target on his back. The mobster in question is a dangerous predator who likes to play with his prey, and what follows is an unhinged cat-and-mouse game unlike anything Boyo has ever encountered.

Only one thing stands between Vic Boyo and saving the day. Well, maybe a few things. But with a little luck and a whole lot of gumption, anything is possible—even for him.

Buy Direct or Pre-Order

I'm trying something new with this one. While the pre-order option is available for folks who like to buy their books via the regular sales channels and can wait until the December 16 release date, I'm also making it available right now for readers interested in buying direct. Order it today from my author storefront, get it today. No wait. Cool beans, right?

First Draft Done

Mission accomplished: I managed to finish the first draft of the Vic Boyo, Doofus Detective sequel before the end of the year. Feeling pretty good about that. The last two chapters are still rough, but I'll polish them up next week. Then I'll give the whole manuscript a once or twice over before I start the formatting process. As long as all goes according to plan, a mid-December release date should be doable. Just in time for Christmas.

Stay tuned for the cover reveal, blurb, pre-order window via the usual retailers, and pre-release availability, which I'll be trying out on my author storefront. I'm planning to make the book available to buy direct (at a reduced price) a week before it releases wide. And unlike a traditional pre-order, where you have to wait until the official release date to get your copy, when you buy direct, you'll get it the same day you order it. Spiffy, right?

Writing Update

I'm halfway through my current work-in-progress, a sequel to Double Murders that I started drafting during the summer. That's right, Vic Boyo the doofus detective is back in action, just as confident and clueless as ever. Hard to believe it's been seven years since the first book came out. Guess I've had other trilogies to work on in the interim. But now it's time to give Boyo his due.

Like the first book, I'm using a manuscript I wrote back in high school as the framework and fleshing it out as I go. So far, the first 25 pages of the original novella have swelled to over 100 in the latest iteration. That ratio won't continue; otherwise, the final draft will be 400 pages. Book 1 is under 250, so that's the sweet spot I'm aiming for.

It's been fun bringing back characters while adding new ones, and Boyo's internal monologue is unlike any of my other protagonists'. Half Sam Spade, half Michael Scott. Hard-boiled screwball crime noir that doesn't take itself too seriously, but where the good guy always wins in the end.

I was making pretty good progress on it—three chapters a week—before the school year started. Now I'm averaging about one chapter a week. But progress is progress, and if I can get the first draft done by end of year, I'll consider that a win.