Book Bag

I used to have a book bag, a cloth receptacle for hauling my loot back and forth from the library, either when I walked or when I rode my bike there on a Saturday. Nowadays, we have digital bookbags — Kindles or Nooks or other e-reading devices — that are much lighter and more compact than the paperback-stuffed backpacks of yesteryear.

Here are a few suggested additions to those book bags:

1) The Big Shutdown by John Whalen

The Big Shutdown. An entire planet is about to be made obsolete. Chaos rules as Nomad gangs terrorize what’s left of Tulon’s cities. Jack Brand, ex-Army Ranger, semi-retired Tulon Security Officer, searches for his missing sister, Terry. His journey takes him from desert wastelands to a domed city, and beyond. Along the way he meets the unforgettable Christy Jones, But love will have to wait until Brand finds his sister, and soon the last ship will leave for Earth.

“The Big Shutdown” is a new, revised edition of “Jack Brand,” a space western classic first published in 2010. Out of print for two years, Flying W Press brings it back with an introduction by Johne Cook, Overlord of Ray Gun Revival, the e-zine where the stories that became a novel were first published. Also included is an additional story from Whalen’s “This Raygun for Hire.” series, featuring Frank Carson, a futuristic trouble shooter for hire.

2) The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly by various authors, and compiled by the editors at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly magazine.

Tales gathered from frozen pre-history, sweltering jungles, and smoky mead halls, legends of this world and whispers of other worlds briefly glimpsed — here then are gathered works of adventure and danger, love and fury, seventeen of the best from the early days of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

Fiction by Richard Marsden, James Lecky, William Gerke, R. Michael Burns, Christopher Wood, Robert Rhodes, Dariel R. A. Quiogue, Jesse Bangs, P. Djeli Clark, and David Pilling.

Poetry by Danny Adams, Joshua Hampton, W. E. Couvillier, John Keller, Megan Arkenberg, Joshua Hampton, and David Sklar.

Introduction by John O’Neill of Black Gate Magazine.

3) The catalogue of books available at Oghma Creative Media, which publishes a wide variety of genres, including this recent offering:

Is Blood Thicker Than Water?

Three years ago Aubrey Fox’s husband, a Pittsburg County Undersheriff, was discovered in a remote pasture, dead from an unknown assailant’s bullet. With few clues and even fewer leads, his case went cold. Aubrey was left to mourn as best she could, a loss made even greater for lack of closure. Who killed Mark and why? Meanwhile, life went on with two teenagers and a herd of cattle to feed.

When the local sheriff pays an unexpected visit and hints that someone higher up has reopened her husband’s case, Aubrey begins her own investigation. What she finds on his computer casts a wide net of involvement, but who pulled the trigger? Who would believe the results would render the face of organized crime in the United States as wearing a Stetson and hand-tooled Lucchese boots.

4) And, although this book has been out since the end of January 2015, it is now available on Kindle Unlimited, and is free for a few days (until Saturday, November 14):

 

Captain Gaerbith is heir to a secret: the location of a lost sword he cannot touch. In a village far from the battlefield, Kieran the blacksmith remembers nothing before the day when, as a young boy, he was found beside a dead man, a dagger in hand. Maggie is a healer’s apprentice, and earns her way as a laundress. Her shadowed past and crippled hand make her an object of suspicion and ridicule.  Far to the north, the king’s daughter—Yanámari—plots to escape the royal city and her father’s iron control.

King Morfran seeks a Kellish blacksmith who can recreate the lost sword, false proof of Morfran’s right to the throne. However, the true sword is made of etherium, the only metal capable of harming Dragons, and it can be wielded only by a descendent of Kel High King.

Forces are aligning, old prophecies are fulfilling, and in the east a fire glows in Dragon’s Rook.

Note: Apologies for the varied sizes of the book covers. No favoritism or slight is intended.

 

Clint & the Gang

Took this photo at the Hollywood Wax Museum in Branson, Missouri, last summer:

classic Clint Eastwood
Hollywood Wax Museum
Branson, MO (c2013, KB)

Makes me downright nostalgic.

So does this, although the artistry is somewhat less than that performed on ol’ Clint:

classic Star Trek crew
Hollywood Wax Museum
Branson, MO (c2013, KB)

Maybe Westerns and outer space, mashed together, is why I love Firefly so much, and why I can’t escape the Old West influence in my writing, whether that be space opera, modern fiction, or even medieval fantasy.

I was raised in the West and the South — I live on the cusp of the West even now — and that independence of spirit and manner of speech creeps in, even when I’m not aware. Not gonna fight it. Just gonna embrace it.

 

Cowboys and Vampires

The newest story by John Whalen is a dandy yarn, a Western-horror mashup that could shoulder up to Stephen King and Louis L’Amour with equal comfort, and yet maintain stature as a creature all its own.

I like a good mashup, especially when it involves my favorite genres. Westerns and science fiction, for instance — Firefly, Cowboys and Aliens, Jack Brand. A mashup is a hybrid, a crossover, the combination of two or more types of stories in order to create something fresh, interesting, fun.

Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto is just that. It makes no apologies, doesn’t wait for the reader to catch up or get used to the idea, but dives right in with classic vampire lore conventions in an Old West setting.

Don Pedro slays a vampire — his beloved daughter Theresa — then hires hunter Mordecai Slate to find Kord Manion, the undead seducer who turned her.

The twist? If he wants to be paid, Slate can’t kill Manion. He must bring him back so Don Pedro can execute Manion.

Not recommended, and Slate says so, but the rancher insists, and so begins the hunter’s journey that eventually leads him to Rio Verde, a town that is anything but verdant ever since the drought came and sent most of the citizens in search of greener pastures. A passing cowboy with a dark sense of humor nicknamed the town Rio Muerto, and the appellation stuck.

When evil is unleashed, innocents die, a despairing alcoholic reverend regains his faith, a dishonored doctor displays how honorable and skilled he really is, a long-separated young couple find one another, and people take stands they never expected. Whalen doesn’t drop the reins of either genre: There are gunfights and fangs, wagons and coffins, townfolk and bloody necks, and one fast-paced tale that doesn’t turn in directions the reader might expect.

There’s more to the story, a few small yet powerful twists at the end that deliver enough surprise to keep the action interesting all the way to the last line.

Although readers of the first printing of Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto might encounter a couple perceived anachronisms — the use of slang terms BVDs and reefer — these are actually plausible for the times. The first term is the abbreviation for the name of a company (Bradley, Voorhees & Day) founded in 1876, and known for manufacturing men’s and women’s undergarments. Now, however, they only produce men’s underwear.

When I asked the author about the use of “reefer”, he responded with this bit of interesting trivia:

I included marijuana in a couple of the scenes because it was in use in Mexico back then. If you want a reference here is a discussion by an expert, Isaac Campos, who appeared on a PBS show in 2010. He says it was in use in Mexico starting in 1850. Sources indicate the term “reefer” wasn’t in use until the 1920’s. But I figured since the word is a corruption of the Mexican Spanish Grifa it was probably used down there back then by the hip and the lowdown. Maybe not but I think it adds a nice surrealistic touch to the scene.

There is another anachronism, but it may have been corrected by the time this review posts, so I’ll not list it here. In addition to being a writer, I’m a book editor, and have a difficult time turning off that part of my brain while reading for entertainment. However, the writing and the story were so strong, even the unnamed anachronism couldn’t spoil the ride.

Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto is the latest story featuring Mordecai Slate, Monster Hunter. Other titles and summaries can be read here.

For more about the author and his inspiration for this story and the character of Mordecai Slate, read the interview at The Western Online, a webzine featuring artwork, articles, fiction, and all things Old West.

Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto is currently only available as an e-book, but Whalen is considering issuing a paperback version, as well.

Visit Flying W Press on Facebook, or keep up with Whalen via his blog.