Tag Archives: Robert E. Vardeman

Wrangling Brazen Sharks

The Brazen Shark

Last year, I announced that I’m updating and releasing new editions of my Clockwork Legion novels. Today, I’m proud to announce the release of the second edition of book three: The Brazen Shark. This novel picks up right where book two left off. Ramon and Fatemeh have just married and their friend, a one-time pirate captain Onofre Cisneros, has swept them off for a romantic honeymoon in the South Pacific. However, once they reach Hawaii, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Of all the Clockwork Legion novels, this was arguably the most challenging one to write. Whereas the first two novels were set in locations I know well, this one is set largely in Japan and Russia. I had to do quite a bit of research to make sure the culture and settings felt right. I had several beta readers who knew the novel’s places and cultures. They helped me check my research and my assumptions. In the end, I was pleased with the result. Robert E. Vardeman, a Hugo-nominated author and recipient of the Western Fictioneer’s Lifetime Achievement Award wrote the following: “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

Although this is book three in the series, I did strive to write this so it could stand alone. In fact, Robert E. Vardeman wrote his review blurb based on this book alone. He hadn’t read any of the earlier novels. So, if a story about a one-time New Mexico sheriff and a Persian healer teaming up with one history’s greatest chemists to combat samurai air pirates sounds like a fun ride, you can jump right in. That said, you can learn more about the series at: http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#clockwork_legion

The chemist of the story is Dmitri Mendeleev, best known for his work developing the Periodic Table of the Elements. Historically, Mendeleev did dabble in airship design and, in fact, went up in a hot air balloon to observe the solar eclipse of 1887. In the Clockwork Legion series, he’s responsible for designing the Russian airships. Other historical figures who appear in the novel include Katsu Kaishu and Okubo Toshimichi who were important figures in Japan’s Meiji restoration. What’s more Katsu Kaishu was a naval engineer, so the novel’s steampunked alternate history allowed me to imagine him unleashing an array of innovations on the world, including the mechanical man on the novel’s cover.

The Brazen Shark is available as follows:

The Valley of Gwangi

Last month, Robert E. Vardeman mentioned that he’s a fan of the Ray Harryhausen film The Valley of Gwangi in a post on his Patreon site. A couple of weeks later, when I was on a panel discussing Weird Westerns with Jeff Mariotte at the virtual CoKoCon, the film came up again. Although I had been aware of the film and had seen clips, I’d never watched the whole thing before, so I took this as a sign that I should finally sit down and watch it.

Cowboys and dinosaurs meet in The Valley of Gwangi

The film starts off looking like it’ll be a pretty ordinary western. T.J. Breckinridge runs a struggling rodeo on tour through Mexico in the early 20th century. Her former boyfriend, Tuck Kirby, wants to buy her out, but she doesn’t want to sell. T.J. has an ace up her sleeve. Gypsies brought her a tiny horse from Forbidden Valley and she expects it will be a great attraction. A paleontologist named Horace Bromley, recognizes the animal as no ordinary horse. He declares it’s the prehistoric horse, Eohippus. The leader of the gypsies say the little horse is cursed and convince Bromley to capture the horse and return it to Forbidden Valley. Bromley, of course, is interested to see what other creatures might live there. To get the horse, the gypsies have to knock out one of T.J.’s men, Carlos.

Tuck sees the gypsies leaving and discovers they’ve taken the Eohippus. He sets out after them. Unfortunately, Carlos saw Tuck and thinks he’s responsible for the theft. T.J., Carlos, and several of the rodeo riders set out after Tuck. They all soon arrive just outside the Forbidden Valley. After sorting out what’s going on, Tuck nearly recaptures the Eohippus, only to have it disappear into a cave in the cliff face. T.J., Tuck, Horace, and the rodeo riders set out after it. It turns out the Eohippus didn’t go into a cave, but entered a passageway leading to the Forbidden Valley. The rodeo men clear out some rocks and soon our band goes riding into the valley.

Once in the valley, our heroes discover that Eohippus isn’t the only prehistoric creature living there. They’re soon attacked by a pteranodon. After dealing with the flying creature, they encounter a small plant eating dinosaur. The rodeo riders decide it would make an even better attraction than Eohippus, so they chase it, only to have the dinosaur snapped up in the jaws of Gwangi, an Allosaurus. From this point on, the movie becomes full-on cowboys versus beautiful Ray Harryhausen dinosaurs. Our rodeo riders take refuge in a cave that foreshadows the Land of the Lost TV series I watched as a kid. Eventually, the cowboys capture Gwangi and take him back to town. In a finale reminiscent of King Kong, Gwangi breaks free and rampages through the town where he corners T.J. and Tuck in a cathedral.

All in all, the movie is great fun and a terrific example of a Weird Western story. As always, Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion monsters are a marvel to behold. There’s a scene where the rodeo riders attempt to lasso Gwangi and Harryhausen seamlessly blended the live-action and stop-motion photography. The only real problem with the effects happened because the film’s post-production was rushed and Harryhausen was never allowed to color correct his footage. As a result, the dinosaurs have a tendency to change colors from purple to gray to green from scene to scene. While I’m not generally a fan of tinkering with old movies, I wouldn’t mind seeing a color-corrected special edition of this film where the dinosaurs are each a consistent color.

You can find Robert E. Vardeman’s Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/robertevardeman

As a friendly reminder, this blog is supported and kept ad-free in part by my Patreon, which is at: https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Remembering David B. Riley

I was saddened to learn last week that my friend and long-time Hadrosaur Productions contributor David B. Riley passed away unexpectedly at the beginning of the month. I first discovered David’s work when he submitted his story “The Brother” for publication in Hadrosaur Tales 2 way back in 1997. It told the story of a vampire monk, an idea I loved and I remember being pulled in by his clean, unpretentious prose.

Although David’s first submission to me involved a vampire monk, he soon started submitting stories featuring the character I believe will be his most enduring, Miles O’Malley. Miles was a down-on-his-luck cowboy in the old west who managed to get caught up in a feud between Nick Mephistopheles (AKA Satan) and Ah Puch, Mayan god of death. These stories were a lot of fun and David ultimately turned them into a novel called The Two Devils. I edited the first edition for LBF Books.

David continued to submit to me over the run of Hadrosaur Tales and his work appeared in many issues of Tales of the Talisman starting with issue 2 of that journal. From the time David first started submitting to me, I became aware of his interest in weird westerns. I knew he ran a zine called Trails: Intriguing Stories of the Wild West. I submitted a couple of stories and I was pleased when David liked them enough to publish them. This zine was just a few sheets of paper stapled together. In 2006, he decided to put together a nice, perfect bound anthology of the same name. I was delighted to appear in the anthology alongside such friends as Uncle River and Robert E. Vardeman. Not only did that prove a nice anthology to appear in, that was the first appearance of my characters Ramon Morales and Fatemeh Karimi who would headline my Clockwork Legion novels.

Although I had been corresponding with David since 1997, I first met him in person at MileHiCon in Denver, Colorado. I think that would have been in 2002. We would see each other at many conventions after that. Often we would be on panels together discussing the weird west, how the weird west intersected with steampunk, or a topic of common historical interest such as observations of Mars in the nineteenth century. David and I didn’t always agree on panels or in personal conversations, but I think we both came away from our conversations with something to think about and we took those opinions to heart.

I appeared in a few other books David edited, including Six-Guns Straight From Hell. David continued to write stories featuring characters he introduced in his Miles O’Malley Stories. I published two of his novellas in this world. One is Fallen Angel, which features Miles and the Angel Mabel. I also published his novella “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” as part of the collection Legends of the Dragon Cowboys.

After David retired from working in the hotel business, he moved to Tucson, Arizona. I was pleased to give him and his family a tour of Kitt Peak. Also, David became a regular speaker at Wild Wild West Con. While passing through Tucson one time, I decided to stop at a movie theater to see the latest remake of The Magnificent Seven. I was surprised when David came in. He joined me and we had fun discussing the movie afterward. I was especially gratified when David Boop, who also appeared in Tales of the Talisman and Six-Guns Straight From Hell dedicated the collection Straight Outta Dodge City to both David and me.

I’ll miss David and our discussions about the weird west. I’ll miss his comments on this blog. If you haven’t discovered his writing, I encourage you to look him up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you buy books.

Revisiting the Revolution

Back in 2012, after the release of my novel Owl Dance and while I was still in the early planning stages of the sequel, Lightning Wolves, author Robert E. Vardeman asked if I would like to contribute a novella to a series he was assembling. The series was called “The Empires of Steam and Rust” and it was set in an alternate 1915. Queen Victoria was still on the throne and growing younger. Teddy Roosevelt was still president of the United States and growing an empire. The Russian Revolution had failed and the Czar was still in power. The Meiji Restoration had not happened and there were still samurai in Japan. Bob had already written a novella in the series about an adventurer and an aeronaut who travel into a world where all metals have turned to rust. The novella also featured Albert Einstein’s scheming brother, Ernst, as an antagonist. Stephen D. Sullivan had written a novella set in the Russia of this world.

While seeking inspiration for a story, I happened on a photo of Pancho Villa in a pith helmet dated March 1916. At that moment, I knew I needed to write the story of the Mexican Revolution as it happened in this world. Bob had provided a detailed bible for this world. One notable aspect of the world was that while airships existed, airplanes had not yet been invented. What’s more, the American Expeditionary Force’s real life incursion into Mexico in 1915 was the first American military action to utilize airplanes. That gave me the story. What if the Americans had airships, but Pancho Villa discovered airplanes in another world and brought them to his?

While researching this story, author Jeffrey J. Mariotte invited me to participate in an author event being held in Douglas, Arizona at the Gadsden Hotel. Douglas sits right on the Mexican border and Pancho Villa had been a guest at the hotel along with General John J. Pershing. In fact, the two dined together at the hotel restaurant. The Gadsden Hotel is one of the biggest buildings in town. You can’t miss it and I decided I should find a way to use it in the story.

The Hotel Gadsden in Douglas, Arizona

The hotel has a beautiful lobby where I set some of the novel’s action.

Lobby of the Hotel Gadsden

That amazing, marble staircase in the center of the photo has two chips in it. There’s a story that the chips came about because Pancho Villa rode his horse up the staircase. Again, that was a real life event too good not to use. I have a scene where Pancho Villa rides full tilt at the hotel, hollers to open the door and rides right into the lobby and up the stairs to wake his men. In the photo below, my daughters and I are sitting on the steps by the chips said to have been made by Villa’s horse. The chips are right by my feet.

Stairway at the Gadsden Hotel

Of course, while I was in the area, I also drove around some of the surrounding countryside. This was a story about Pancho Villa and air power. He had to hide his plane somewhere. I found the washes around had lot of growth and would provide good cover for whatever Villa planned to do from his headquarters in Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Mexico.

Can you see the hidden airplane?

The Tucson Steampunk Society’s virtual book club has chosen Revolution of Air and Rust to be their selection this month. They will be discussing the book from 4:30-5:30 Mountain Standard Time (Remember, Arizona does not switch to Daylight Savings Time, so that’s 5:30-6:30pm if you’re on Daylight time) on Sunday, October 18. I’ll be on hand to discuss the book as well! You can get more information about how to join the discussion at the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/671206483480544

You can learn more about the book and find all the places it’s available by visiting http://davidleesummers.com/Air-and-Rust.html. There are also links to all the other books in the Empires of Steam and Rust series if you want to continue your explorations of this world.

Steampunk StoryBundle

Today, I’m excited to stoke the boilers and build up steam for a brand new StoryBundle filled with exciting books by several good friends and authors I’ve had the privilege of appearing alongside in anthologies over the years.

Kevin J. Anderson has assembled a baker’s dozen titles of gears and zeppelins, mechanical dragons, lost cities, frock coats, and tea, the best books from indie authors, all for whatever price you choose to pay. A portion of the money directly benefits the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education, and the earnings support indie authors.

Headlining the storybundle is Anderson’s own Mr. Wells & the Martians. Join H.G. Wells and his professor, T.H. Huxley, on an urgent mission to Mars to prevent the war of the worlds. Also, specially created for this StoryBundle, the Clockwork Boxed Set includes both of Anderson’s steampunk fantasy adventure novels coauthored with Neil Peart, the late, legendary lyricist and drummer from Rush—Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives.

Anthea Sharp’s The Perfect Perfume shows you the Victorian era like you’ve never imagined it before! Twelve enthralling alternate-history tales featuring intrepid heroines, hidden magic, and rollicking steampunk adventure. Marie Andreas brings Vampires, aliens, and tea—oh my! to A Curious Invasion.

Clockwork Gears and Magic Swords by Louisa Swann is a StoryBundle exclusive! Magic and gears and a taste of the weird—seven grand adventures that tickle the soul and tease the imagination. Imagine moving from New York to California on a steam-powered horse with a giant for a companion in J.R. Murdock’s Golden West: Westward, Ho!

Kristen S. Walker puts on steampunk lenses to show the truth about a pop singer’s dark past in Amena’s Rise to Stardom. Kevin McLaugliin’s Midnight Visitors: When her person becomes the target of assassination, what’s a poor cat to do? Solve the problem with tooth, claw, and brains!

In Mechanical Dragons: Fire and Water, Bobbi Schemerhorn warns that mixing inexperience with magic may cause dragons! Gun magic fuels an epic adventure in Tenlyres by Timothy Niederriter. Stroll through Tracy Cembor’s Gaslight Carnival, where fancy and freak walk hand in hand. And my friend Travis Heermann has a steampunk-horror novella, Where the Devil Resides—a supernatural Apocalypse Now. With alligators.

Last but not least, Robert E. Vardeman’s Gateway to Rust and Ruin shows a world that was used up. Now they want ours, steam and all.

You can get all 13 books in this StoryBundle for just $15 until Friday, March 13 by visiting: https://storybundle.com/steampunk

Not only does this StoryBundle feature books by writers I admire such as Kevin J. Anderson, Travis Heerman, and Robert E. Vardeman, I also have a book in the same series as one of the books in the bundle. That book would be my steampunk novella Revolution of Air and Rust. It tells the story of what Pancho Villa was up to in the world set up by Bob Vardeman in Gateway to Rust and Ruin. There are four books in all in the Empires of Steam and Rust series. You can learn more about my novella in the series and find links to all of the books in the series at: http://www.davidleesummers.com/Air-and-Rust.html

Bubonicon 51

Bubonicon 51 will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico this coming weekend, Friday August 23 through Sunday August 25. The guests of honor are Allen Steele, author of Arkwright, and Ursula Vernon, artist and author. The toastmaster is Darynda Jones, author of Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave. The guest artist is Greg Spalenka, who designed the logo you see in this post. The science speaker is Dr. Harrison Schmidt, the Apollo 17 astronaut, geologist, and former senator from New Mexico. The convention’s theme is “The Future is Now.” I will be there all weekend as both a guest author and a vendor. Bubonicon 51 will be held at the Albuquerque Marriott Uptown at 2101 Louisiana Boulevard. You can get more information about the convention at http://bubonicon.com.

My schedule is as follows:

Saturday, August 24

11am-noon. Main Room. Space Cowboys: Where Westerns and Space Opera Collide. Malcolm Reynolds hauled cattle on his spaceship. Captain Harlock strode through batwing doors into a few dusty saloons. Captain Kirk’s show was originally described as “Wagon Train to the Stars.” And then there’s the animated BraveStarr. At what point does the hero of a space opera become a space cowboy? How “retro” can you make your space opera before it becomes fantasy or steampunk? I’ll be moderating this panel that includes such luminaries as Robert E. Vardeman, Craig Butler, Susan Matthews, and Allen Steele.

4-5pm. Salon A-D. Surveying the Universe. Traditionally, astronomers made a hypothesis, applied for time on telescopes, took their data and examined it. That model is being replaced by large scale surveys being conducted by organizations such as the Department of Energy and NASA. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing astronomy, and science in general, by large scale survey as opposed to small teams working on their own questions? I’ll be moderating this panel which includes John Barnes, Loretta Hall, Kathy Kitts, and Cathy Plesko.

5:25-6:40pm. Main Room. Mass Autographing. All the Bubonicon guests will be happy to sign your books, art, or whatever you happen to bring. If it has the property of mass, I’ll do my best to sign it!

Sunday, August 25

2:45-3:30pm. Salon A-D. 45 minutes with David Lee Summers. I will read from my recent work. I’m thinking a sample of the revised version of The Pirates of Sufiro, but I may include a surprise or two if there’s time.

If you’re in Albuquerque this coming weekend, I hope you’ll drop by Bubonicon and check out a few of the many panels going on over the course of the weekend. Please drop into the “flea market” where Hadrosaur Productions will be set up. You can preview our wares, or shop online, at: http://www.hadrosaur.com.

Commodore John Grimes

I remember going to the public library when I was in elementary school and discovering that many of the people who wrote Star Trek episodes also had novels on the science fiction shelves. I discovered many great writers that way including Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, and Norman Spinrad. At one point in high school, a friend asked me if I read any science fiction written by people who didn’t write for Star Trek. I admitted there weren’t many. A few days later he gave me a book by A. Bertram Chandler. It was really two books, an Ace Double that combined Chandler’s novels The Road to the Rim and The Hard Way Up. Both were science fiction stories featuring Chandler’s hero, John Grimes.

Bertram Chandler was born in England and worked as a sailor aboard merchant ships. When World War II broke out, he joined the British Navy. During the war, he was stationed for a time in New York, where he met editor John W. Campbell Jr. of Astounding Stories Magazine. Campbell encouraged Chandler to write science fiction stories for him. After the war, Chandler immigrated to Australia and served in the merchant navy.

Chandler’s science fiction, especially the stories featuring John Grimes, are strongly influenced by his own life experiences. The upshot is that John Grimes is very reminiscent of C.S. Forrester’s famous hero Horatio Hornblower, except that the stories are set in the distant future instead of being set during the Napoleonic wars. Of course, another character I’d heard described as a Hornblower in space was none other than Star Trek’s Captain Kirk. As such, it’s perhaps no surprise that I found the John Grimes stories appealing.

That said, there was a big difference Kirk and Grimes. Captain Kirk rarely made a bad decision. Every now and then a red shirted security officer would die and he would mourn for a moment on screen before solving the mystery or defeating the villain. Grimes sometimes screwed up. Sometimes he did the right thing and people took advantage of him. Grimes often did things that had life-altering consequences. He started out as an officer for Earth, got booted out of the service, became a privateer, and ultimately made a new life out to galaxy’s rim. This less-than-perfect hero appealed to me and I liked the people he met in his adventures.

I took a lot of lessons from Chandler’s John Grimes stories when I sat down to write space opera. I created a world that wasn’t too perfect for my characters to inhabit. I created a captain with a moral compass, but who could be pushed into extreme action by his circumstances. I saw a universe where most of the wealthy moved to other worlds leaving Earth somewhat destitute, relying on privateers to fight for economic superiority. This is the world of Captain Ellison Firebrandt and his ship, the Legacy. The first novel I wrote featuring Captain Firebrandt was The Pirates of Sufiro. However, a little over a decade after publishing that first novel, I started exploring the character before he was stranded on the planet Sufiro. As time marched on, Firebrandt’s Legacy was born.

With all of this background, you can imagine that I was thrilled when Robert E. Vardeman, who wrote one of my favorite Star Trek novels, The Klingon Gambit, said, “Commodore John Grimes move over. Captain Ellison Firebrandt is coming at ftl to take away your claim to best space opera. Firebrandt’s Legacy by David Lee Summers combines explosive space battles with political intrigue, conniving alien races and the human need to love and belong and serve. The Firebrandt universe is complex and wrapped up in astronomy with careful thought about human expansion and out of this world cosmic science. Join the privateer and his crew on their journey of adventure.”

If you want to take Bob’s advice, you can pre-order Firebrandt’s Legacy right now! The ebook will be released on Monday, January 28. The print edition should appear about the same time. Here are the places where you can pre-order the book:

MileHiCon 50

Next weekend, I’ll be attending MileHiCon 50 in Denver, Colorado. For its golden anniversary, MileHiCon is inviting all of its guests of honor back. Among the guests of honor I’m looking forward to seeing are Mario Acevedo, Paolo Bacigalupi, Steven Brust, Liz Danforth, Chaz Kemp, Jane Lindskold, James Van Pelt, Robert E. Vardeman, Carrie Vaughn, and Connie Willis.

The convention will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel – Tech Center in Denver on October 19, 20, and 21. You can get all the details about the convention at MileHiCon.org. Who Else Books, Massoglia Books, and Wolfsinger Publishing are all scheduled to be in the dealer’s room. Each one is likely to have a stock of books with my stories in them.

My schedule for MileHiCon is as follows:

Friday, October 19

  • 3-4pm – Wind River B – Group Reading and Discussion: Space Opera. With me are Carol Hightshoe, J Alan Erwine, and John Barnes. Alastair Mayer will be moderating.
  • 4-5pm – Mesa Verde A – Discovering New Worlds. Twenty years ago, we knew about one planetary system. Now we know about thousands of them. Author and astronomer David Lee Summers discusses how planets are discovered around other stars, what kinds of planets are being discovered, and the prospects for life on those planets.
  • 7-8pm – Mesa Verde C – On-Watch Parenting vs. On-Demand.  Technology is in our lives, including the kids. What tools and steps can parents use to keep their kids’ media consumption age-appropriate? On the panel with me are Karen Bjorn, Kim Klimek. Emily Mah will be the moderator.

Saturday, October 20

  • 1-2pm – Mesa Verde A – MileHiCon Poetry Reading. Stace Johnson, Carina Bissett, J.D. Harrison and I along with other poets attending the convention will read a selection of our poetry.
  • 4-5pm – Grand Mesa – Mass Autographing. All the authors at the convention will be on hand to autograph books.
  • 8-9pm – Bristlecone – Roundtable: 50 Years of Zombies. 
    From Night of the Living Dead to iZombie, let’s talk about a shambling half-century of fear, blood and braaiiiins. On the panel with me are Melissa Olsen and Travis Heerman, who will be moderating.

Sunday, October 21

  • Noon-1pm – Wind River A – Creatives Parenting: how as the creative process impacted your parenting?  How has your creative involvements impacted your parenting, for good or awkward? If you make your kids be creative, will that turn them off? If you don’t, will they be mad at you later? How much does the age of your kids have an impact on their interest? On the panel with me are Jennifer Campbell-Hicks, Fred Poutre, Vennessa Robertson. Ian Brazee-Cannon will be moderating.

Chronicles of the Planeswalkers

This week, several of us who contributed to the anthology Straight Outta Tombstone continued our conversation with David Afsharirad at the Baen Podcast. I’m there along with editor David Boop and fellow authors Robert E. Vardeman, Nicole Givens Kurtz, and Peter J. Wacks. In this week’s installment, we discuss our stories and what inspired them. You can download and listen to the podcast at: http://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3/baen-free-radio-hour-2017-07-21-Tombstone-2-Feldspar.mp3

This week I continue my series on books I edited for LBF Books a decade ago with a book I didn’t edit, Chronicles of the Planeswalkers, Part Zero by B.T. Robertson. Although I didn’t edit this book, I enjoyed the series and I took over as editor with the second book, Chronicles of the Planeswalkers, Part One: Alliances. Like the other books I’ve featured in this series, I have a stock of the books available and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the series’ first book.

The first book tells the story of a world plagued by an unseen evil and growing chaos, where a Krayn elf will search for his destiny. Aerinas, son of Tristandor, journeys to lands far beyond those he has ever traveled before. A group of elves, giants, men, and other beings must uncover the mystery locked within the secrets of the Planes. Aerinas and the others alike face challenges that will affect them physically, emotionally, and psychologically, and ultimately they face an enemy that taunts them from beyond the borders of the physical realm.

The second book in the series is Chronicles of the Planeswalkers, Part One: Alliances.
This is the first one I edited. New York Bestselling Times author David Farland said, “B.T. Robertson’s Planeswalker series provides wondrous, exciting adventure that every fantasy reader will love.”

In Alliances, an unlikely band of elves led by a wizard formerly of the Order of Light treks across foreign lands and seeks a mysterious mirror hidden within the ruins of El-Caras, the place where the final battle between good and evil took place during the Calaridis Wars many years before. They find great evil stirring, and a plan to shatter the fragile peace. Now, alliances will be formed and battle lines drawn across the plane of Vaalüna. Aerinas, a rebellious Krayn elf, continues to discover the power of the magic inside him, but after finding an ancient text penned by a long-dead wizard it becomes clear that he must grow up and face his worst fears, or perish.

I was honored that B.T. Robertson dedicated the third book in the series to me. In Chronicles of the Planeswalkers, Part Final: Alignment the Planar Alignment is at hand and a powerful being named Hydrais awaits his return from banishment on the Dark Plane of Zamas. Meanwhile, on the Plane of Vaalüna, Aerinas, along with his friends and allies, struggle to prevent Hydrais’ return. To do so, they must battle the forces of evil while Aerinas confronts truths about himself and the cold, calculating intelligence that dominates all life and destiny.

David Farland continued his praise of the series saying, “With each book in the Planeswalker series, B.T. Robertson writes with greater power and ease. With this installment, he proves himself to be a master of the craft, on par with the best fantasy writers of the day.”

This is an awesome series and here’s a little secret. I only have one complete set of the series available for sale and each book is half off the cover price. First come, first served! To order copies, visit http://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.html#cotp-zero

Coming Soon – Straight Outta Tombstone

As of today, we’re just about six weeks from the release of Straight Outta Tombstone, a weird western anthology edited by David Boop. I’m excited about this anthology for several reasons. First of all, I was able to bring two of my favorite worlds together in one story. Larissa and Billy from the Clockwork Legion series encounter Marcella and Rosen from my Scarlet Order Vampire series during the historical Albert Fountain disappearance. What’s more, this story appears in an anthology including several people who I admire, many of whom I’m lucky enough to call friends, including Jim Butcher, Jody Lynn Nye, Phil Foglio, Robert E. Vardeman, Nicole Kurtz and more!

People who have read both the Clockwork Legion novels and the Scarlet Order novels may wonder how I can bring the two together. I only briefly mentioned vampires in Owl Dance, and more as a literary concept than a reality. Also, savvy readers will notice that I killed off one of the Clockwork Legion characters in Vampires of the Scarlet Order. The way I could make this work was to realize that the Scarlet Order novels are essentially a “secret history.” They’re set in the shadows of our world. However, the Clockwork Legion novels are set in a distinctly alternate history. So the Scarlet Order vampires you meet in my story “Fountains of Blood” are the ones who exist in my Clockwork Legion world!

I’m not the only author playing with a world of my creation in this book. Larry Correia explores the roots of his best-selling Monster Hunter International series in “Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Killers.” Jim Butcher reveals the origin of one of the Dresden Files’ most popular characters in “Fistful of Warlock.” Kevin J. Anderson’s Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., finds himself in a showdown in “High Midnight.” Alan Dean Foster brings us a new Mad Amos Malone story in “The Treefold Problem.”

Here’s the complete table of contents:

  • Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Killers by Larry Correia
  • Trouble in an Hourglass by Jody Lynn Nye
  • The Buffalo Hunters by Sam Knight
  • The Sixth World by Robert E. Vardeman
  • Easy Money by Phil Foglio
  • The Wicked Wild by Nicole Givens Kurtz
  • Chance Corrigan and the Lord of the Underworld by Michael A. Stackpole
  • The Greatest Guns in the Galaxy by Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Ken Scholes
  • Dance of Bones by Maurice Broaddus
  • Dry Gulch Dragon by Sarah A. Hoyt
  • The Treefold Problem by Alan Dean Foster
  • Fountains of Blood by David Lee Summers
  • High Midnight by Kevin J. Anderson
  • Coyote by Naomi Brett Rourke
  • The Key by Peter J. Wacks
  • A Fistful of Warlocks by Jim Butcher

Hope you’ll join us for ride out to an old west far stranger and scarier than the one your granpappy told you about. This one includes soul-sucking ghosts, steam-powered demons and wayward aliens. The book will be released on July 4. You can preorder it right now at Amazon. You can also visit the book’s page at Baen Books, where you can get a sneak peak of the entire first half.