Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Dragon 2025

 This has been a long time coming.

Funny enough, I am largely writing this out on a laptop in a doctor’s parking lot while my wife is being scanned for … something. It’s really freaking cold out in Texas today. I was hoping to get this done early on Wednesday, and you see how well that’s turned out. As I write, there is no internet, and I’m doing most of this from memory. So if I miss some details, please pardon me. My mind is like a steel trap—it’s rusty and requires WD-40.

But, yeah, the Dragon awards. I really had to give it up the previous two years. Dad died. There was the move from New York to Texas. I was trying to finish off Honeymoon from Hell. And life wasn’t getting any easier, really.

So, that’s why there wasn’t a lot from me about the Dragons in 2023 and 2024.

But, like every Dragon Award post, this is going to be a long one. Brace for impact.

So, the Dragon Awards.

Votes FOR NOMINATIONS are due ON JULY 19TH

Vote here

Please remember that eligible nominees came out AFTER JULY 1, 2024, and up to the end of June 2025.

The Dragon Awards

If you’ve been hanging around me a while, you know I often talk about the Dragon Awards from January to July. They’re the largest fan-voted awards out there. It’s free to vote in them. You don’t even have to register attending the convention.

It also gives me an excuse to talk about books at large. Not that I really need an excuse. But it helps me from looking like a monomaniac.

And if you want to vote, trust me, I’m going to be investing WAY more time than you are. It should take you a few minutes on your phone / computer to do.

Nominate here

Again, the nominations are already open! I'm not even joking.

Yes, I have a list of who I’m voting for. Here, for you folks, I’m also going to give you my reason for why I’m voting for each, and why I think it’s important.

But first…

My thought process

  1. I'm not nominating anyone who already has an award. Most of those who have won already have the attitude of “Oh, I don’t need more dust collectors.”

  2. I’m trying to leave out Big Name Authors. Frankly, if you're Jim Butcher or Timothy Zahn, you (a) probably don’t want another nomination and (b) you sure as Hell don’t need my help.

If I leave the categories blank, it means I STILL got nothing.

You may wonder why I’m not having a full, massive, months-long discussion, gathering up every eligible author and product.

Been there, done that. It turned into an unmanageable mess. Authors would come by, skip straight to the comments, leave their book, and disappear. It was especially funny when they were already on my list, but they never even looked to see.

Clearly, you can feel free to drop a suggestion in the comments. But please read the bloody post first, okay? THanks.

Voting happens here

Again, please remember that eligible nominees came out AFTER 7/1/24, up 6/30/25. So double check before throwing something into the ring.

Let’s get into the nitty gritty of each category.

Best Science Fiction Novel

Tsunami of Turmoil (LAND&SEA Book 8), by Blaine L. Pardoe

How does one write military SF War and Peace and make it readable? Simple, you read Blaine Lee Pardoe’s Land & Sea series.

Book 8, Tsunami of Chaos, is intense, covering aspects of the war on multiple levels, from geopolitical, to local politics, to ground warfare, to chapters of just character-driven events that build up to a climax I didn’t see coming. It, of course, ends on a cliffhanger that drives me nuts. Aside from that…

Well, one does have to keep them coming back for more. (And book 9 is already at the editor, I hear.)

If you have not read the Land & Sea novels yet, humor me and just read the first three. If you’re not hooked by the end of book one … I don’t know why you wouldn’t be, but I don’t know you… you will be hooked by the end of book three.

As for Tsunami of Chaos, I’d definitely give it a shot.

Buy Tsunami of Turmoil

If for some reason, you don’t trust me, or don’t want to give Blaine Pardoe a read, okay then. I can come up with two alternatives.

The first, of course, is Space Pirates of Andromeda. I have read it, but have not reviewed it. You can check out the Upstream Review over here, and I largely agree with it.

Upstream Reviews
Review: Space Pirates of Andromeda by John C. Wright
It's not often you get to read a real homage, one in which the writer loves the source material and extends it. Here, John C. Wright asks "what if the Star Wars sequels were good?" Space Pirates of Andromeda gives us a very satisfying answer…
Read more
4 months ago · 22 likes · Daniel M. Bensen

The second alternative is The Icarus Needle, by Timothy Zahn.

You can read my review over at Upstream.

Upstream Reviews
Book Review: The Icarus Needle, by Timothy Zhan
With the Icarus novels, Timothy Zahn apparently decided that Leverage and Mission: Impossible were just playing on easy mode… and Le Carre was only medium difficulty…
Read more
24 days ago · 13 likes · 4 comments · Declan Finn

If you look at all the adulation I heap upon Zahn, you may be wondering why I haven’t put Zahn in the top slot. That answer is simple: Zahn has a Dragon award.

I didn’t think he’d want another dust collector. Being Timothy Zahn is pretty damn awesome already, don’t you think?

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

Toil and Trouble, by Daniel Humphreys.

You want epic fantasy, I got your epic fantasy right here.

Yes, I’m a little behind in reviewing the Paxton Locke series. In part because I will probably want to start the series over from the beginning, and I don’t have to worry about anything like cliffhangers, now that the Paxton Locke series is finished.

But yeah, this one went all out. Deranged magic school, check. Society of wizards, check. Dimension hopping. All out warfare. Magic rules and regulations. Outsider monstrosities. This book has pretty much everything. It’s literally the best urban fantasy not written by Jim Butcher. I’m serious. Should anyone, God forbid, need to finish The Dresden Files for Butcher, Dan is my candidate to Brandon Sanderson that end. Toil and Trouble gives Battle Ground a run for its money.

If you don’t want to vote for Humphreys, fine. But I implore you to at least give the Paxton Locke series a chance. I’d bet money that you will be hooked.

You might notice a certain Bestselling author isn’t here. I will refer you back to my thought process on no previous winners if we can avoid it.

If you don’t want to vote for Dan (please, vote for Dan) I suppose you could always plug in a Honeymoon from Hell novel if you wanted. But at least give Humphreys a try first.

Buy Toil and Trouble

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel

I have nothing.

Literally, nothing.

Any suggestions?

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

…. Never mind. Dragon Con killed this category.

Best Alternate History Novel

1919: The Romanov Rescue

I put out an entire review on this one.

Upstream Reviews
Review: 1919: The Romanov Rising
Some time back, we reviewed The Romanov Rescue, by Thomas Kratman, Kacey Ezell and Justin Watson. The premise was relatively straightforward: a German General repents unleashing Lenin and Communism on Tsarist Russia, and devises a plan to send Russian POWs back to Russia in order to save their homeland from this new barbarism…
Read more
20 days ago · 19 likes · 8 comments · Declan Finn

You can even read the review of book one.

Upstream Reviews
Review: The Romanov Rescue by Kratman, Ezell & Watson
While there have been many people who have played "What If" games around World War I, most of them have been academic…
Read more
3 years ago · 13 likes · 5 comments · Declan Finn

But only book two is eligible. I highly recommend it.

Best Media Tie-In Novel

Oops, never mind.

DragonCon killed this category too.

Best Horror Novel

The Neck Romancer, (Honeymoon from Hell #1), Declan Finn

You probably saw this coming. I do not read most of the horror genre, mainly because I don’t do slasher porn. The closest I have ever come to reading horror is Michael Gallagher’s Body and Blood, and that was a few years ago. I have little problem with “monster” books, and if you consider something like Monster Hunter International as horror … okay. Fine. We disagree on that.

However, I will write horror… only because The Dragons don’t have an urban fantasy category. Even though it should have been a genre category any time after Jim Butcher. (Yes, I could argue that it goes back to Fred Saberhagen, if not Bram Stoker, but we’re coming perilously close to being lost in the weeds.)

So, yes, I’m going to vote for The Neck Romancer in best horror … largely because the prequel series, Love at First Bite was nominated for best horror—twice. Once for Honor at Stake and once for Live and Let Bite. So, really, why not?

The Neck Romancer has … a lot, really. It has the fae at Area 51, a wendigo in a hospital, zombies at a wedding, a necromancer who is a Chicago alderman (write your own joke here), an IRA vampire from the 1920s, demons, a Tolkien elf on a rampage, and a final smackdown in the Chicago Museum of Natural history. And looking at the cover, you can tell something about what’s going to happen there. But don’t worry, it’s not exactly what you think it is.

Granted, if you want to be silly, you could probably plug in all five of the Honeymoon from Hell novels into a slot if you want. But I wouldn’t recommend that unless you had literally nothing else in the category (And, of course, if it fits. Wouldn’t want to plug Blood Country into best comic book, that sort of thing. And no one can plug anything other than Wyverns Never Die into science fiction, because that one has the most mad science)

Buy Neck Romancer

Best Illustrative Book Cover

Wyverns Never Die, cover by Vanessa Landry

Look at this cover, isn’t it nice? The lighting is great. The lightning effects are nice. You have to love the little touches of the electrical Wyvern in the background. The model used to be blonde and is now a redhead. The male model used to be dark haired and is now blond.

The most important element: it’s a cover created by my wife. So do me a favor and vote for it, even if you vote for nothing else. Okay? Thanks.

Best Comic Book

Land & Sea Paradise, by Blaine Lee Pardoe

Land & Sea Paradise isn’t out yet. But it’s my contender based on the showing of the previously released novels. I’ll give this another look over once the comic comes out. It’s not like I’ve been reading a lot of other comic books.

I’ve heard good things about Kamen America and Frieren (am I spelling that right?). But I haven’t read them. Right now, this spot will need a placeholder.

For the record:

No. I’m not getting into whatever current ComicsGate nonsense is going on between Mister July and Mister Scrivener. I neither know what the fracas is about, nor do I care to know. Unlike certain online personalities, when I say I want no part of internet drama, I mean I want NO PART. I am actively avoiding internet drama like it’s one of the freaking Ten Plagues of Egypt.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet

I don’t know. I really mean it. I don’t know.

Nothing comes to mind outside of two shows. First of all, there’s One Piece. It’s been on forever, and will probably be eligible next year. It’s clearly beloved, or it would have run out of steam by now.

There is also Pokemon. Why do I suggest it? Because I hear that it’s finally come to a conclusion. There is no more. It is over. It is an ex-series. Which means it’s also the final year to vote for it. (Yes, I will have to double check to make certain that the last episode falls within the eligibility window.)

The Daily Wire is threatening to air an adaptation of the classic Stephen Lawhead Arthurian novels, but so far, they haven’t delivered. (Meanwhile, the books are being reissued by Baen with new covers.)

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

I can’t remember the last film I saw in theaters. Hell, I can’t remember the most recent film I saw.

But I’ve heard good things about three films.

  • Transformers One

  • Sonic 3

  • Deadpool & Wolverine

So, maybe one of them?

Best Digital Game

Only two games really stand out from last year.

  • Warhammer: Space Marines 2

  • Stellar Blade

Suggestions welcome.

Best Tabletop Game

Suggestions anyone?

And that’s it. That’s all I got for right now. With luck, I’ll have some more next time.

Please remember to vote.

If you could, please share this as well.

The nominees need all the circulation they can get.

Vote here

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Posted by at 4:34:00 PM 0 comments

Book Review: "Just Stab Me Now" by Jill Bearup

 This review will be a little different today. Because we’re going to show you the whole book … because the author started by making this a comedy routine on YouTube.

Jill Bearup is a YouTuber whose hobbies include the art of staged combat. Many of her videos center around fights in media, as well as armor and weaponry.

A few years ago, she made a series of shorts that lampooned fantasy romance tropes … all the romance tropes. The series focused on the discussion between the author, Caroline, and the heroine, Rosamund.

This is the series in one video, assuming YouTube doesn’t do something stupid. Again.

The series was so popular, fans of the series demanded that Jill Bearup write a novel.

The result is Just Stab Me Now.

Buy This Book

The Story

I will assume you have not watched the above video. If you have, please bear with us.

Caroline Lindley is a mid-tier author who tries not to let her day job as a database administrator get in the way of her writing career. Mostly, Caroline writes about cozies centered around a coffeeshop. But now she is going to write fantasy romance!

If only the characters would cooperate.

The nineteen-year-old heroine has turned into a thirty-six-year-old widow named Rosamund. Captain Leo Collins, the “Hot Enemy” in this enemies-to-lovers trope, looks suspiciously like Caroline’s editor. And they are all giving Caroline lip.

While in the book, Rosamund and Collins are on a mission to get a peace treaty signed… if only their author would stop appearing in their book and meddling.

When Jill Bearup tried to get this book traditionally published, the universal reply was “We like this book, we just can’t market it.” While the Amazon description hearkens to Terry Prachett, I would argue that Just Stab Me Now has more in common with The Princess Bride novel. Like William Goldman’s original novel, there is our fantasy story, and there’s the meta-universe.

Unlike The Princess Bride, Bearup created a fictional author with her own character arc to go through, differentiating it from Goldman’s meta-fiction that he himself is a part of.

You would think Caroline popping in and out of the narrative would be a distraction, or that Bearup’s multiple-font system to convey point of view would be a pain. They both work.

One of our modern-day concerns is that if the author is a woman, and the main character is a woman, the female lead in the story will out-fight, out-think, and be superior to her male counterpart in every way, making the reason for his existence to be a punching bag for her. That is not a problem here. They each have different strengths that balance out the narrative. Rosamund is no bitch girl boss here, perhaps more what John C. Wright referred to as an “action girl.” She gets into three fights in the entire story, and it’s all surprisingly realistic melee combat, utilizing a sort of sword judo at one point (read it, it’ll make sense). In fact, there is a scene where Rosamund spends half a page contemplating how, if she gets into a fight, she will get her butt kicked—and I can’t help but wonder if Jill Bearup deliberately put that scene in to deliberately counter the trend of catering to “modern audiences.”

Interesting thing about Just Stab Me Now is where it deviates from the original series of shorts on YouTube. very few sections are just cut and paste, much to my surprise. It treats the original series as an outline. All to the book's credit.

Another difference is how Caroline interacts with her characters. She's not limited to interacting with just one. Funny enough, Bearup does capture writer character problems— when the characters develop free will and make choices on their own, and having two problems solve each other even if it wasn’t in the outline. It's good enough to explain writer schizophrenia, even if it doesn't capture it perfectly. (My personal experience with writing never sees me having a direct conversation with characters, their random events and independent choices just sort of … happen.)

The Characters

As I alluded to above, this has an interesting four person rotating POV.

We have Caroline, the author, who is fighting with her characters, struggling under an overbearing boss who makes both of her jobs difficult, and has unresolved feelings for her own editor. She has work to do.

The editor, Henry, is a relatively minor character in this novel, but he has an amusing perspective that highlights parts of the story we wouldn’t otherwise get. Bearup tells the story through a strict third-person personal perspective—we see things through the character’s eyes, and we are severely limited to what what know, and no more. Henry’s view on Caroline help shape her more.

Our two romance characters are also well-developed. Part of the joke is that they are too well-developed to be trapped in the tropes Caroline wants them to be in.

Rosamund is recently widowed with two children, her husband murdered less than a year ago. And if she thinks she’s having a bad time of it now, just wait until she learns while he was killed. She is logical, she overthinks problems, she is bound by duty … which leaves little room for romance, driving Caroline crazy. While she carries more knives on her than a Ginsu outlet story, she isn’t getting into fistfights, and she well knows her limitations.

Captain Leo Collins is taciturn, has no skill in diplomacy, and is quite bemused by the games the aristocracy play. He has other layers to his character, but those are spoilers.

The World

The fantasy world is interesting. The geopolitics is as serious as Game of Thrones (lacking the sexual perversion and murder porn) with enough social etiquette to make for some comedy on par with h Jane Austin. There are two warring kingdoms, our two leads are from opposite sides of the conflict, and they act as couriers.

I find it interesting that Bearup went through a lot of trouble to insert a religion in the book. It’s clearly “Christianity with serial numbers rubbed off” and I’m not sure she scrubbed very hard.

There is a little bit of magic thrown in there, and fantasy medical remedies, but the entire thing is fleshed out just enough to get the plot going. This isn’t Tolkien. But it has slight similarities to David Weber orders a pizza.

Politics

There are no modern politics in here. At all. Zero. There is none of “the message.” There’s no rewriting for “modern audiences.” It’s just a simple fantasy romance … with the authors personal problems thrown in for good measure.

Content Warning

The harshest I think this gets is PG-13. It helps that “Caroline” is squeamish about certain scenes, and prefers they fade to black.

Who is it for?

Frankly if you like The Princess Bride, I think you’ll like this one. Unlike Goldman’s work, the characters get paragraphs of backstory instead of pages, but it’s the closest work I could accurately compare this to in my experience.

Why buy it?

Is this a heartbreaking work of staggering genius? Nope. But it’s fun.

Buy This Book

Posted by at 4:11:00 PM 0 comments

Book Review: The Icarus Needle, by Timothy Zhan

 With the Icarus novels, Timothy Zahn apparently decided that Leverage and Mission: Impossible were just playing on easy mode… and Le Carre was only medium difficulty.

In The Icarus Needle, Zahn has gone to full Kobayashi Maru.

Buy The Icarus Needle

The Story

Gregory Rourke and his partner, the Kadolian named Seline, have been working for the Icarus group for a few years, looking for the Icarus gates—long lost technology developed by an ancient civilization. It’s the only way to break the transportation monopoly of the competition—the Paath.

Unfortunately, all that has changed. The human part of the Icarus group has taken over, and started a purge of everyone else. The new General in charge was responsible for pulling Rourke’s backup in The Icarus Changeling, and wants Rourke to fall in line, take orders without question… because Rourke has played so well with others. But Rourke’s solutions in previous encounters have led to one too many Paath victories.

To smooth over the transition to the new status quo, they’ve hired a renowned fixer, Nicholas Rourke—Gregory’s father. (When I thought that Rourke’s father would show up in the series, I always believed he would be a punchline to the series, not a main character. I still want him played by James Garner.)

The General has a new mission for Rourke and Seline: go down to a planet and seek out the codex of gate addresses Rourke surmised back in The Icarus Twin. The General has a plan that includes a one-way trip for Selene.

Now, Rourke and Seline have to circumvent their own allies, in a plan that amounts to a suicide mission. And that’s just the first hundred pages.

If they survive that, there’s just one other problem: the locals used to work for the ancient aliens Rourke calls the Icari … and the former employers would like to become the masters. The key to their plan: using Seline.

And all that is before the Paath show up.

Once again, I find I cannot say enough good things about one of Zahn’s Icarus novels. Every Icarus book is a smart, snappy thrill ride with no slow moments, or time to breathe. While I am a fast reader, I generally do not consume 400-page novels in under four hours, as I did here. Each Icarus novel has more twists than a bent corkscrew designed by MC Escher, and they all move at the speed of a Larry Correia Monster Hunter novel.

Normally, Rourke has to tangle with an 8-sided chessboard—be it with multiple branches of organized crime, the Paath, law enforcement, environmental factors and the guest star of the week (sometimes an assassin, sometimes a con man, etc). Now, he has a new side to worry about: his own.

I guess Zahn thought Rourke didn’t have enough problems. It gets bad enough that Rourke actually has to take up arms and open fire—something he has largely avoided up to this point in the series.

On top of all that, The Icarus Needle brings multiple plot threads to a head. The mystery of the Icari has been built up throughout the series, and many of them come together here, tying together multiple threads. Once again, Zahn shows off that he has mastered the art of playing perfectly fair with the reader. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, the reader sees everything Rourke sees, making the conclusions self-evident and obvious … but only after Rourke explains it.

The conclusion of the book is truly unexpected, and seriously changes the board and the players in this game.

The Icarus Coda is the next and final book in the series, and I can only imagine what twists Zahn has in store for us next.

The Characters

One of the nice things with Zahn is that he doesn’t believe in dumb characters. No one here is stupid. Seline knows how Rourke’s mind works (sideways, with WD40). Even among the Paath, there are people who are at least Rourke’s equal, and they have more resources at their disposal.

The fun part of The Icarus Needle is watching Rourke and Seline play off of each other, their enemies, and the competition.

As usual, Gregory Rourke feels like a spy who has been raised by Bret Maverick. Gregory Rourke never gets lost in the wilderness of mirrors, since he grew up there. And putting him up against his own father truly makes this two chess players who know their moves from the beginning.

Seline is truly Rourke’s partner, and if she’s not his equal, she can certainly keep up with him.

We also see the return of the Paath Director Naask and his minion, the expeditor Huginn (Muginn appears later). They are truly enjoyable to watch as everyone spars with each other, and one never knows which way the characters are going to jump next. I haven’t seen a relationship like this, with characters this smart … maybe ever. The alliances seems to shift like sands in an earthquake. It is a joy to watch competitors team up against an external threat, all the while, everyone is playing their own game. And while Naask and the Paath are still the competition, The Icarus Needle makes it clear that they are not exactly “the enemy.” But what else can we expect from the man who created Grand Admiral Thrawn?

The World

Usual, there is just enough world-building to make the plot work, building upon the layers of we’ve seen in previous novels. This time, Zahn is continuing to build on multiple worlds at once: there’s Rourke’s day-to-day existence, the new world being landed on today, and the world of the Icari, thousands of years ago, in an effort to piece together why the Icarus Gate network fell apart in the first place.

I may have to reread this series again just to take notes.

Politics

The only politics of this book are the interpersonal.

Content Warning

It may be PG. At worst.

Who is it for?

This is for anyone who likes the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes, the spycraft of John Le Carre, the action of an Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the complexity of only the best caper novels.

Why buy it?

This series Timothy Zahn at his best. Unlike certain authors who get lazier and more long-winded with success, coasting on their prior reputation, Zahn just keeps getting better as an author. If there is justice in this world, Zahn will be made an official grandmaster of science fiction, just for the Icarus series alone.

Buy The Icarus Needle

Posted by at 4:10:00 PM 0 comments

"And then it spiraled."

 In my novels, it is not unknown for me to use an idea at the tail end of a novel, and decide that “You know, I could build an entire novel around this idea.”

For example, at the end of Infernal Affairs, the ultimate villain was a warlock, and he used living shadows for a weapon.

It occurred to me that I could build an entire book where living shadows are a threat. What if they were slowly consuming an entire city?

The next novel…. City of Shadows.

I never said I was subtle.

Usually, I stress that I really am the opposite.

In the case of Honeymoon from Hell, I had a thought, and it turned into a series.

In this case, the thought started with Deus Vult. After the events of that novel (think back to The Finale) multiple things happened. The biggest ramification was that anyone with satellite technology saw that “Damn. The Supernatural is real. And effective. And a weapon.”

Along the way, I touched on the idea of supernatural weapons, and countries trying to develop them.

What if countries weren’t the only ones developing them?

Then we get to the books.

Book 1: The Neck Romancer, for example, was going to have a necromancer as a villain. In this case, the title came first. (Thanks Rob.) So, how was I going to build a necromancer as a villain?

Obviously, he’s got to be a Chicago politician. Just as obviously, he had to be an Alderman, in order to have real power.

And what’s a villain without minions? It’s Chicago, so he either has to have “the Outfit” or gangbangers on the payroll. I went with gangbangers.

I wanted the gangbangers to have supernatural weapons for their drive-bys. It finally allowed me to use cremation diamonds for necromancer-lasers.

Now, I could finally slam together genres to make these weapons. Swords that throw lightning and cutting edges that set things on fire.

And a weapons-dealing network makes for a great ongoing threat.

So The Neck Romancer deals with weapons on a street-level.

What’s the next step up from the people who buy the weapons? The arms dealer.

Funny enough, I had heard of a certain arms dealer in real life… who was also a state senator in California. He was such a comedy routine, I had to make him a character.

Welcome to Blood Country.

Of course, you have to elevate the threat. The Alderman was one level of threat, with his gangs. But now this is wine country / Napa / San Francisco. We can have Triads and Yakuza and even more and varied weapons. There’s a reason that one chapter title is “Big Trouble in Little Napa.”

Then, there’s book three: Wyverns Never Die.

What’s the next level above the arms dealer? The weapons designer.

What do I do about an arms maker?

Well, Amanda is a 100-year old vampire who used to be a spy. I’m sure I could come up with somebody. Heh heh heh.

But yeah, all in all, I can take this one concept and run with it.

Yes, there are two other books in the series.

But Wyverns Never Die comes out in February. One book at a time.

The next book is March ... and It's called Cross over.

And it’s gonna be fun.

Buy my books

Posted by at 4:08:00 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Honeymoon From Hell, a refresher

 As book three of Honeymoon from Hell comes out tomorrow, (2/5/25) I feel like I need to have a refresher course… for me, not necessarily for you, dear reader. Keep in mind, these are relatively recent for you. I’ve been juggling these books through my father’s death, my move to Texas, so it’s been busy.

What is Honeymoon from Hell? Well, do you remember my Love at First Bite series? It featured a vampire who goes to confession, and a human college student who had certain bloodthirsty proclivities?

I sold it largely as my “Catholic vampire” novels. I took some microbiology, some metaphysics, some theology, threw them into a blender, and came out with a vampire world that (I’m told) is on par with Vampire the Masquerade. (No. I never played Vampire the Masquerade, but my wife was a GM / DM for a Vampire the Masquerade LARP back in the day. She informs me there is some overlap.)

Anyway, if you don’t remember the Love at First Bite books, they were:

Honor at Stake

Demons are Forever

Live and Let Bite

Good to the Last Drop.

The series ended with everyone walking off into the sunset … everyone who was still ambulatory, anyway.

Since I was bringing the series to a close, I was fairly free with the character deaths.

What comes after happily ever after?

“Until death do you part,” obviously.

However, before my heroes, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt, can get to the church on time, the have to survive the engagement. There’s a running battle through a hospital, Area 51, fae armies, and a Panda with a machinegun… because of course he eats, shoots, and leaves.

Then the fun starts.

If you’ve followed the rest of my books, you know who some of those people are.

Yes, there will be cameos from even more characters.

Part of the joy of sub-publishing is that it’s all my IP, I can do what I like. Otherwise, there would have been a Saint Tommy Novel three years ago called Cross Over.

Now, there’s a Honeymoon from Hell novel of the same name. Funny that.

My wife has worked on the covers

A few years ago, Robert Kroese joked that “Why don’t any of these vampire romance books have a title like The Neck Romancer?”

Challenge accepted, Rob.

And here it is.

Many, many years later.

I had a lot of requests for a sequel series for Love At First Bite.

And I wrote a short story here and there. One of which got published in Storming Area 51.

Then Rob opened his mouth.

I started developing a new plot. And of course it needed a necromancer. And it had to be a Chicago Alderman. If you don’t get that joke, I feel like you must be new here. (Think about it. What can a necromancer do? Why would he be a Chicago politician?)

Then I was off to the races.

Especially when the zombies attacked the wedding.

Buy The Neck Romancer

As The Neck Romancer takes place in Chicago, The next part of the journey comes in the form of a more traditional honeymoon location.

Wine country.

Which is funny, as Amanda does not drink … wine.

And then the dragons arrived.

One of the reasons I like the look of this cover is that in context, the exchange of looks is like “What Fresh Hell Is this?”

This one involves triads, a corrupt state senator named Roland Li, and supernatural weapons.

Yeah, it’s amazing what happens when you come into a book with an actual plan.

Granted, I came in with a plan, not an outline. Marco and Amanda are hard to outline. They didn’t want to play. They were 100% going to do what they wanted and when they wanted, and if I had any other ideas, to heck with me.

Buy Blood Country here.

By book three, Marco Catalano has not cared where he’s been on this honeymoon, as long as he’s been with Amanda.

Amanda wanted to see Chicago, they saw Chicago.

She wanted to visit wine country, they visited wine country.

Now, they’re going somewhere of interest to both of them: WyvernCon, in Atlanta.

Hence the title of this one is…

Not gonna lie, I think I like this cover the best.

Anyway, all’s well, until someone tries to kill them on the train—a human assassin who is prepared for both of them. The vampire nest that’s promised them sanctuary has turned on them. Merle Kraft’s brother is in town. Cyber zombies walk the con. Werewolves stalk the parade.

Then a nightmare comes back to haunt them both.

Buy Wyverns Never Die

Ah, book four. A novel five years in the making.

Look familiar?

Yeah. I’ve been hinting at it for years. But now, we finally have Thomas Nolan meeting Marco and Amanda in Rome.

And the fun … oh, yeah. This wasn’t exactly the revenge tour that I had back in Destiny, but I enjoyed myself.

Oh, yeah, while I think about it? There’s one additional guest player. He’s a one mister Ryan.

So, we’re going to have a party.

As for the title… I never said I was subtle. I’m pretty sure I’ve been pretty clear about being the opposite.

Buy Cross Over

Clearly, this one is on pre-order for the moment, but it’s coming out next month, so there won’t be a long wait.

Now, book five.

You can see that the cover took some inspiration from … well… any Thrawn novel. My wife likes more complicated covers. Book three is a great example of this.

Fae'd To Black

Book five took a lot of building, and a surprising amount of planning. If you can guess what happens in this one, you’re better at this than I am.

I had an idea of what was going to happen, here and there, but this took me largely by surprise.

Now, obviously, I knew what the final shootout was going to look like. I knew just how bad it was going to be for those fighting it. But yikes, I did not expect half of this book to be pure shootout. I didn’t expect some of the character deaths. I didn’t expect some of the reactions to the character deaths.

Again, it’s hard to anticipate these characters. I generally can’t. Sometimes, I expect them to go right, they go left, and sometimes they just plow straight down the middle.

And yes, the title is a terrible pun. But I had to go there.

Anyway, if you haven’t yet, maybe buy some books, leave some reviews.

In any event, I’ll see you later.

Non illegitimi carborundum, y’all.

Buy my books

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