I’m going to be launching a new novel amid the political storms of October. It’s not a great time to bring out a book, but I don’t want to wait until next year. I hope you’ll subscribe to my newsletter, for info and a first look!⚡️🌴

Here’s a roundup of three titles I recently recommended in my newsletter:

I almost never read horror. It’s just not my thing. But Stephen Graham Jones’s new novel The Only Good Indians received such excellent reviews that I couldn’t resist, and preordered it. It’s the story of four Blackfeet friends who grew up together and now find themselves paying in a shocking way for an incident that took place in their youth. It’s an engrossing story, with excellent characterizations.
Find it at Amazon (affiliate link) or at your favorite bookstore.

I also recommend Recursion, by Blake Crouch — a time-travel story with a unique-to-me twist. When someone goes back in time and changes the future, the original future is not lost, but continues to exist as “dead memories” in the minds of those affected by the change –memories that are less than real but not forgotten. Recursion starts off feeling like a standard thriller, but along the way it evolves into a complex, thoughtful, and fascinating read.
Find it at Amazon (affiliate link) or at your favorite bookstore.

And for audiobook fans…
Back in April I recommended the audiobook edition of River of Darkness by Buddy Levy, the story of conquistador Francisco Orellana’s voyage from the headwaters of the Amazon River, to the sea. Last month, I listened to Labyrinth of Ice, the story of the Greeley Polar Expedition of 1881 to 1884. It wasn’t until I was nearly done that I realized Buddy Levy had also authored this book. It’s another excellent story of exploration, endurance, and survival. Highly recommended.
Find it at Amazon (affiliate link) or at your favorite bookstore.

My dog is small and has a knack for getting in trouble, so when she asked to go out at 3:45am this morning, I went with her, as always.

The sky was clear, filled with brilliant stars. The motion of a shooting star instantly drew my gaze up. That’s when I noticed a jet, approaching from the west with a trajectory that would take it directly overhead.

The jet appeared as three lights, arranged in a triangle. The weird and interesting thing about it, the reason it’s worth writing up in a blog post, is that the jet appeared to shift slightly back and forth as it passed across the stationary star field. Well, that’s interesting! I thought. Obviously an optical illusion — one that ceased as the jet passed overhead and continued east — but it made me think of the occasional report of a “UFO”** moving back and forth as if unaffected by momentum.

Two other odd bits about this incident: What was that jet doing flying west to east directly over the island at ~3:45am? That is not a usual route. And why was it flying so low? It was low enough that I could easily see the triangle of lights. Also, the sound of the engines very closely tracked the position of the plane, instead of being widely offset (due to lag in the speed of sound), as happens when a jet is flying at a more usual cruising altitude. My guess is it was a military plane, part of RIMPAC maybe, or maybe the crew just needed some hours in the air.

Anyway, this is the sort of thing that occupies my mind at 4am, and makes it hard to go back to sleep. 🙂

** As we all know, UFO stands for “Unidentified Flying Object.” It does not stand for “alien spaceship.” I cringe every time someone assumes the latter. When I was a teen, my dad was licensed to fly small planes. When I flew with him, it was my job to help look out for other planes and helicopters. When you’re in the air, you want to identify all the flying objects in the vicinity, the better to avoid a mid-air collision. 😉

Every now and then I join other authors in a shared promotion. It’s great for readers because it’s a chance to discover new authors and new books. It’s great for writers, because with luck, we’ll find new readers. The crew at Sci-Fi Bridge is hosting this one. All you have to do to participate is signup for the Sci-Fi Bridge newsletter, which goes out two or three times a week with announcements of bargain science fiction ebooks.

You’ll receive five free ebooks just for participating.
Plus, 5 randomly chosen winners will receive 30+ sci-fi ebooks and one grand prize winner will receive the ebooks and a $100 Amazon gift card.

You’ll also have the option of signing up for the newsletters of any or all of the participating authors.

The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be
by J.B. MacKinnon

This book was given to me by a reader who thought I might be interested. He was right! The topic is one of my core interests, and it’s even more timely as I begin the process of pondering my next novel.

The Once and Future World begins with a startling look at the former abundance of both plant and animal life on Earth — and how much things have changed since humans came on the scene.

Around the world, our ancestors tended to wipe out megafauna whenever they found their way to new lands. In the modern world, the process of extinction goes on. The past centuries of global exploration and exploitation have caused wildlife populations to plummet everywhere, with many species lost forever. However, this book is not only about loss. MacKinnon looks ahead, asking how and to what extent we might be able to admit nature back into our highly industrialized lives, and what benefits such an effort would bring, not only to us, but to the health and to the intrinsic wonder of our world.

A few years ago I read Charles C. Mann’s 1491, about the civilizations of north and south America prior to the arrival of Columbus. Its descriptions of human interactions with the environment profoundly changed the way I see the natural world and our place in it. The Once and Future World engages in similar ideas, accepting that humanity will shape nature, while insisting we do not need to continue destroying the diversity and abundance of life here on Earth.

If you go looking for The Once and Future World, be aware there are at least three different covers. The one I’ve used here is, honestly, the ugliest of the trio, but it’s from the American edition, so it’s the one most of you will see. (Readers in Canada get a charming fox instead.)

Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers came out last summer to rave reviews. I put off reading it because of its length — 775 pages! I’m not a fast reader, and that felt like way too much of a commitment. But I finally gathered my courage and read the opening chapters — and I was hooked. I was also surprised at how fast I got through it. This book is so well written, and the story and characters are so engrossing, it doesn’t feel long.

Wanderers is set in the present day, as random people begin to “sleepwalk” across America. No one knows why, though an intrepid team of scientists strives to figure it out. Meanwhile, this being America, other factions develop highly charged opinions based on nothing, and seek to exploit events to further their own immediate interests.

Except for the sleepwalking, that summary could probably describe a lot of thrillers, but this one is different. It’s brilliant! It’s a combination of horror, science fiction, and political fiction that adds up to a terrific novel. I’m amazed it didn’t appear on more award ballots.

Highly recommended.

The new ebook boxset edition of Stories of the Puzzle Lands is now available, for the introductory price of just $2.99.

Or, if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you can read the ebook for free.

The boxset includes two gritty fantasy novels—The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher—plus the short story, “A Moment Before It Struck,” originally published in Lightspeed Magazine.

These books are dark—and darkly humorous. I wrote them when I was returning to fiction after a long hiatus, and I had a lot of fun with them. They’re very different from anything else I’ve written. I do hope you’ll give them a try.

Here’s the blurb for the duology:

His name is Smoke, though some know him as the Demon Dismay. He’s a charming, well-armed young murderer who is not altogether human. Smoke’s purpose in life is to mete out the stern justice of a vindictive goddess, and he is pleased to do it—that is, until he finds other things to live for. A woman, a child, a quiet home deep in the forest. He is so far from anywhere he can no longer hear the haunting prayers of those who would ask him to deliver them vengeance. But the quiet life is not Smoke’s fate.

Stories of the Puzzle Lands is available only at Amazon.

Get it now! The introductory price ends June 10, 2020.

I’m pleased to announce that Edges (Inverted Frontier #1) is now an AUDIOBOOK!

Far better late than never, right?

Edges is read by Nicole Poole. The publisher is Tantor Media.

Find it at Audiobooks.com…

Or click here to find it at Audible.

Silver is scheduled to release on June 16.

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ve already seen the cover to the forthcoming edition of Stories of the Puzzle Lands — and if not? Well, here it is!

Artist is Agata Broncel of Bukovero.com

click to see it big

Stories of the Puzzle Lands is a boxset edition of one of my existing series. It includes the two novels The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher, along with a prequel short story, “A Moment Before It Struck,” originally published in Lightspeed Magazine.

For at least the first three months, the new boxset will be available only at Amazon. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited reader, you’ll be able to pick it up through your subscription. If not, you can just buy the ebook.

The ebook is available now as a preorder at a 50%-off promotional price of just $2.99! The publication date is June 2.

Here’s the cover copy:

Two gritty dark fantasy novels and a bonus short story:
His name is Smoke, though some know him as the Demon Dismay. He’s a charming, well-armed young murderer who is not altogether human. Smoke’s purpose in life is to mete out the stern justice of a vindictive goddess, and he is pleased to do it—that is, until he finds other things to live for. A woman, a child, a quiet home deep in the forest. He is so far from anywhere he can no longer hear the haunting prayers of those who would ask him to deliver them vengeance. But the quiet life is not Smoke’s fate.

Right now, there’s only an ebook edition, but a print edition will follow, possibly in late summer.

Follow this link to find it at Amazon.

Oh! And please subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t already. Sign-up form is over there -> in the right column.

What The Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes

My last book recommendation was River of Darkness by Buddy Levy, a nonfiction account of Francisco Orellana’s voyage down the Amazon in 1541-42. What The Wind Brings offers another look at the fallout of Spanish conquest in South America, this time in the form of a novel.

Matthew Hughes has based his story on a historical event: the shipwreck of a Spanish galleon on the unsettled coast of Ecuador.

Aboard that ship are African slaves. They survive the shipwreck and escape to freedom — but can they stay alive? And can they stay free?

The story is far-ranging, touching on the expanse of the slave trade, the depredations of disease in the new world, life among the tribal peoples of lowland Ecuador, and the Spanish takeover in the highlands.

I often find books intellectually interesting for their ideas or manner of storytelling, but it’s easy for me to take my time reading them. I rarely find a novel so compelling that it’s hard for me to put it aside. This is so different from when I was young, and books could possess me — and I miss that! What The Wind Brings began, for me, as one of those interesting, admirable stories, but I am delighted to report that along the way it became so compelling that I shifted my daily schedule around to find more time to read.

Here’s the cover copy:

Out of the fires of Caribbean revolution, shipwrecked onto the shores and jungles of Ecuador, a slave, a captive, and a shaman fight Inquisition-era Spain for freedom. In times like these, when power spends blood like pennies, what chance do these disparate underdogs have to create an independent nation?

Highly recommended.

If you decide to take a look at What The Wind Brings, let me know what you think. The ebook edition is only $6.99 at Amazon.

Find it at Amazon ~~~ Also at Kobo ~~~ and Barnes & Noble