Tag Archives: John L. French

Tell-Tale Steampunk

The weekend of April 1 and 2, I will be traveling to Baltimore, Maryland for the first ever Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival. Tell-Tale Steampunk is Baltimore’s first Steampunk Convention. It is a weekend long event and will feature workshops, vendors, entertainment, music, and educational panels. This years theme is based on the writings of Baltimore’s own Edgar Allan Poe. I recently discussed my short story “Dreams of Flight” which was written for the anthology A Cast of Crows edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail. The festival inspired the anthology and I gather there will be a scavenger hunt at the festival based on stories in the anthology. Featured guests of Tell-Tale Steampunk include Baroness Alexandra who will host tea dueling, spirit tastings and other steampunk shenanigans, leather artist Doc Stone who is the founder of Key City Steampunk and who has appeared in numerous films, and fabric artist Lady De L’Etoile who teaches fun dance classes at events that get even the most confirmed wallflower out on the dance floor. You can get all the details about the event at https://telltalesteampunk.com/

I’ll be a vendor at Tell-Tale Steampunk, a participant in some events, and there to celebrate the release of A Cast of Crows, Grimm Machinations and Grease Monkeys. At this time, all my events are scheduled for Saturday, April 1 and they’re listed below. I plan to be at my vendor table all through Sunday, April 2. If you plan to come to the event, be sure to check the schedule on site for any last-minute changes.

Saturday, April 1

  • 12:30-1:30pm – The Spectacles (Main Ballroom) – Why Do You Think Me Mad Libs. Don’t be nervous! Join our cast of crows (aka authors) for a madcap game of Mad Libs. The authors will take you on a wild ride of steampunk, Poe, and pure madness with stories that need some help from the audience to finish. Why do we insist they’re mad? Yell out [NOUN GOES HERE] while [VERB GOES HERE] the crazy, creative, and extremely [ADJECTIVE GOES HERE] mad lib game. Among the authors there will be Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jeff Young, Ef Deal, Jessica Lucci, and Christine Norris.
  • 5:15-6:00pm – Poe’s Parlor – Writing Steampunk in the Wild West and Around the World. I often sets my steampunk in the western United States of the late 1800s where many cultures were meeting and colliding. Join me for a discussion of why the region appeals to me and the opportunities it presents for telling multicultural steampunk stories.
  • 7:00-9:00pm – Rue Morgue Panel Room – Poe-Inspired Steampunk Book Opening. Come celebrate the launch of A Cast of Crows, the premiere volume in the Forgotten Lore series, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and featuring stories by Michelle D. Sonnier, Judi Fleming, Aaron Rosenberg, Ef Deal, Dana Fraedrich, Jessica Lucci, Doc Coleman, Danielle Ackley-McPhail and myself. Also launching: Grimm Machinations and Grease Monkeys. Contributing authors to the Full-Steam Ahead anthologies attending the launch will be Michelle D. Sonnier, Ef Deal, Dana Fraedrich, Jessica Lucci, Doc Coleman, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jeff Young, John L. French, and myself.

Hope to see and meet some of you at Tell-Tale Steampunk this coming weekend!

Staring Into the Abyss

I am proud to announce that my brand new story “Horsefeathers” has just been released in the anthology Staring into the Abyss edited by Patrick Thomas and John L. French. The anthology is part of the Agents of the Abyss series, which author Edward J. McFadden III, author of Terror Peak, Crimson Falls, and Quick Sands describes this way: “Imagine Universal Monsters Meets James Bond and you’d have Agents of the Abyss.”

Staring Into the Abyss asks what if monsters were real? How would the existence of monsters play out on the international stage?

The anthology goes on to explore several specific scenarios, such as Amelia Earhart working for the US government on a mission to an island in the Bermuda Triangle where prehistoric life abounds. Sherlock Holmes teams up with his goddaughter Jane Watson and the simian head of DAT, France’s paranormal spy network, to stop a dangerous hybrid of monster and machine from destroying London. There’s Adam Frankenstein working in the German resistance to stop the Nazis from creating more of his kind from the bodies of their victims. During the Cold War, Baba Yaga and the Night Witches make a stealth attack on the King of Transyvania—Dracula. A very unusual assassin works the frigid waters of the Russian sea. The Invisible Madame tries to track down her son who was kidnapped by the British MI-7. And the legendary Phantom of the Opera, now a murderous body-stealing ghost and the top French operative, may have met his match in a teenage girl.

My story in the anthology is another story of Baba Yaga and the Night Witches. I imagine them on a mission for the USSR during the War in Afghanistan during the 1980s. In this case, Baba Yaga has learned that an artifact from the 1001 Nights might really exist and might give her more power than she already possesses. She sends her Night Witches on a mission to retrieve it. Yes, my story’s name was inspired by a Marx Brothers film, but this is serious business as we learn that horses don’t necessarily need feathers in order to fly.

The other stories in the anthology are written by Mattea Orr, John L. French, Patrick Thomas, Robert E. Waters, Lee O’Connell, Rowan Dillon, and Aleathia Drehmer.

If this idea intrigues you, then stand by. The series currently has at least five planned books. Some are novels and others are short story collections. I’ve already written a novelette for a forthcoming collection called “The Cuban Monster Crisis.” This one is set during one of the most dangerous points in the cold war when an ancient city is discovered off the Cuban coast where the world’s monsters might be controlled. Special Agent Justin Boudreaux has just been assigned to Admiral Theodore Roosevelt command to keep the Soviets from gaining an edge in the worldwide monster race. You say Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919 and didn’t live to see the Cold War? Well, maybe you were meant to think that.

The eBook edition is live as I write this post. The print edition is still coming available. Amazon’s ebook link below should point to both editions once the collection is live in printed form. The “print” link points to Barnes and Noble’s page for the print edition. If it shows as “Out of Stock” when you check, just make a note to check back in a couple of days to see if its available.