New books by me!

homefront-horrorsThis is a collection of horror short stories published in Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada during World War One. There are some classics in the collection, but also some stories that people won’t be so familiar with, but should be.

  • Algernon Blackwood’s “The Wings of Horus”
  • M.P. Shiel’s “The Place of Pain”
  • W.W. Jacob’s “The Three Sisters”
  • M.R James’ “An Episode of Cathedral History”
  • E. Nesbit’s “The Pavilion”
  • Barry Pain’s “Not on the Passenger List”
  • Phyllis Bottome’s “The Liqueur Glass”
  • May Sinclair’s “The Pin-Prick”
  • Lord Dunsany’s “Thirteen at Table”
  • Thomas Burke’s “The Bird”
  • Max Beerbohm’s “Enoch Soames”
  • Hugh Clifford’s “The Ghoul”
  • J.D. Beresford’s “Powers of the Air”
  • Stacy Aumonier’s “Old Fags”
  • Ethel Coburn Mayne’s “The Separate Room”
  • Clemence Dane’s “The King Waits”

You can buy it here.

stagecoach-maryYou know about Mary Fields, I assume? I’ve written a collection of weird western short stories about her. “Weird westerns” are those westerns which verge into the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and especially horror. My take on this is a set of eight stories starring Fields set on the Montana frontier in the mid/late 1890s, involving ghosts and the like. They’re pulp-influenced, but with a modern sensibility, if that makes any sense.

  • “The Hitchhiker”
  • Omahksoyisksiksina
  • “Stagecoach Mary Outwits the Devil”
  • “The Madness that Overtook Cascade”
  • “The Phantom Airship of ’98”
  • “Cool Hand Liú”
  • “The Blizzard”
  • “Stagecoach Mary’s Last Ride-Out”

You can buy a print version of it here or an e-book version of it here.

prester-johnThis next one is a historical fantasy. Back matter text:

“In the year 1200 everything was going wrong, all at once, around the world. Once-mighty empires were on the verge of ruin, crops were failing, previously-legendary monsters were suddenly commonplace. In the West, some of the mighty remembered the letter they had received, thirty-five years ago, from “Prester John,” a mighty emperor in the far East. In the letter Prester John had claimed to rule 72 kingdoms, many magical, and have over a million men under arms. Naturally, those in the West believed that Prester John could aid them and stave off the dark forces threatening them. Even the Muslims of Sultan Al Adil I in Damascus came to believe that Prester John could be the source of salvation for the Faithful. So the Sultan called a great conclave, inviting the great empires of the West to send representatives, all with the purpose of choosing envoys to go to Prester John. Those representatives came, but so did many other men and women, from empires in the East, in Africa, and in the Americas, men and women drawn to Damascus by their gods’ messages or by dreams or omens. The conclave, when it finally came, had men and women and others from all the major powers of the Earth, and all agreed that an embassy to Prester John would be the best way to bring help to the beleaguered kingdoms of the world. But no one, not even the wisest of the attendees, could have anticipated what happened next, nor the many obstacles and unpleasant surprises which lay in wait from the on the road to Prester John.”

You can buy it in print here or an e-book version of it here.

datongThis one is alternate history steampunk espionage. Back matter text:

“It’s 1914, in the China of another Earth. On this Earth, the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was the Boxer War, and ended with a complete defeat of the Chinese and the occupation of China by the Eight Nation Alliance. On this Earth, steam-powered dirigibles prowl the skies, and steam-powered mechas are a part of every advanced nation’s army. On this Earth, in its Shanghai, the head British spy is Anthony Hall, an aging widower. Assisted by his local aide-de-camp, Li, Hall runs the British spies of the middle of China, carrying out schemes against the Russians and the Japanese, the two main enemies of the United Kingdom. Hall’s best friend is Evelyn Featherstone, a half-Chinese freelance spy. Their lives irrevocably change when one of Hall’s best agents is murdered, sending Hall on a long chase to discover the murderer, and when Featherstone is blackmails a business executive into betraying a secret. This brings Featherstone to the attention of the Japanese government, which hires her to carry out a very special job. Hall and Featherstone find their professional lives intersecting and their professional goals clashing, and against the backdrop of impending war they must find a way to survive what the Fates throw at them while also preserving their friendship.”

You can buy it in print here or as an e-book here.

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *