Pre-Order, NEW RELEASE: Clerical Error

So it's time to talk about a new release.

No, not something from Silver Empire -- much to my publisher's relief. 

This is something from the distant past, brought to you by someone who was there.

Obviously, any similarities between real persons or events is completely coincidental. Wink. Wink.

Enter: Clerical Error.

And, I have a new co-author.

Dr. John Konecsni is a veteran of academia for decades. Primarily teaching philosophy or shuffling papers in a college office.

Who is this man and why is he important?

First of all, he's my father.

... What? You thought I magically managed to have been born with as cool an author name as Declan Finn?

Second of all, he is my co-author on Clerical Error.

Clerical Error is what you might call a "cozy." It's a nice, laid-back murder mystery, without a lot of running around and shooting. In fact, more of the book is almost a comedic historical set piece, back in the sands of time that were the 1970s.

Let's just say that Dr. Konecsni spent a lot of time in Bedford-Stuyvesant, aka, Bed-Sty, hanging out with a college classmate of his.

The classmate happened to be the pastor of a church.

And the "hanging out" meant becoming an assistant pastor for the entire parish.

Take all that together, add a dead body, and you have the plot of Clerical Error.

James is a college philosophy professor with too much time on his hands. When an old classmate asks for a favor, he drops in with little notion of what’s ready for him.

The year is 1976, during the dark times – for both the Catholic Church and New York City.

James’ college classmate is Father Gus Sadowski, the pastor of Saints Gabriel, Columcille, and Rocco church in the middle of Bed-Sty, where there drive by criminals are on one side of the parish, and the mob is one the other. Father Gus is all alone to run the parish, and needs some help – because the live-in priest in the attic, Father Timothy A. Lessner, is worse than useless.

When Lessner takes a tumble down the stairs in the middle of the night, the casual favor has turned into a nightmare.

Can James solve the mystery of who killed Lessner before he finds himself the main suspect?

I came along, edited the book, added a few touches, and thought it was more than good enough to publish.

Clerical Error is up for pre-order.

And anything else I've got up for sale can be found here.

Publication Schedule: Planetary Anthology, Superversive #PulpRev, and Silver Empire

It is only recently that it occurred to me that I have a busy year. While I have the occasional urge to succumb to depression, I realize now that I don't have the time.

Walk with me through the scheming. (Yes, Babylon 5 reference, for anyone who remembers that episode)

Superversive

First of all, I have submissions to Superversive SF's Planetary Anthology series. It's simple enough: they have one book per theme of each planet. You know, like Holtz's "The Planets."

To be specific, the themes are

Mercury: journeys and messengers
Venus: love and romance
Earth: Discovery and daring deeds
Mars: conflict and war
Jupiter: power, authority and leadership
Saturn: time, age and endings
Uranus: New beginnings and creation
Neptune: High seas and knowledge
Pluto: Wealth and death
Luna: Madness and (despair or isolation or loneliness)
Sol: Nobility and righteousness

To which I asked, "How about Mercury, the Trickster?" They said "Why not?"

I'm in the Mercury Anthology. Yay.

I've submitted one to Mars, edited by Jon del Arroz. And I've submitted three to Venus, edited by Jagi Lamplighter Wright and her friend AM Freeman, from Forbidden Thoughts.

Remember the Tales of the Once and Future King? It was first announced on my radio show, and brought to you by the man who edited God, Robot? I'm in that too. The title is "Arresting Merlin." Heh heh heh. I had fun.

I'm told I will also be in the Pulp magazine, brought to you by Superversive Press, Astounding Frontiers. The story, as of now, is "According to Culture." Imagine if Pulp SF did Taken.

Silver Empire

I've had people ask me what happened to The Pius Trilogy. It's what started the blog. It's what started my writing career (after a fashion). And it was the single most driving force in my entire life for over a decade. So where the hell is it?

I'm having a launch party for the rerelease of book one, A Pius Man at LibertyCon, brought to you by Silver Empire.

Yes. It's coming back. It'll be polished up and edited and shiny and everything, complete with a new cover.

Expect A Pius Legacy to come out by year's end.

Meanwhile

So, I have as many as three anthologies, a magazine, and probably two Pius rereleases upcoming, and I've already released Live and Let Bite already. Not bad, huh?

But wait, there's more.

Book 4 of Love at First Bite is coming, and it's called Good to the Last Drop, and it will be The End. It will hopefully come out in August. I'd like for it to be out in time for a Dragon Award nomination ... but let's see if I even have a Dragon Award nomination, shall we?

Meanwhile, I'm going to start editing some older mysteries of mine. They're more traditional cozies, and set pieces in time. Because they're very much elements of their time. I'll be a coauthor on them, but really just the editor. Why? It's a long story, and I'll get to them when I can.  There will be three of them. Depending on the publication schedule, I might release them all this year, or next year.

And I'm working with Dawn Witzke on a novel she wants to work on, Called Dark Court. We might submit it, we might self publish. Who knows?

So, for those of you keeping score, thus far, according to my schedule, I will probably have four shorts out in the wild, and perhaps as many as seven novels out this year.

And I have two more conventions to to go.

I'm not really that busy. Honest I'm not.

And, while we're at it, I'd really like a Dragon Award, which are open and ready for nominations, and I have a list of suggestions you might want to take a look at. If you already  have a good idea of what you want, just click here to go and vote for them immediately. The instructions are right there.

Or: sign up for my mailing list in order to get free stuff.

Be well.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

Follow That Clue! The Making of a Great Mystery, RavenCon, 2017, 4-29

As promised, I have video from my time at RavenCon.

The description of this panel is

Part of the fun of reading mystery novels is to discover the clues and figure out the resolution before the detective reveals what happened. As an author, how does one make sure the clues are planted properly without falling into the Holmesian trap of keeping the main clue hidden from the reader.

With
Jeanne Adams (Moderator)
Declan Finn (Yellow Jacket)
Jack McDevitt (on the far end)
Darin Kennedy (in the middle)

Enjoy.

For those people who like a good mystery, here are two I suggest.

The Dragon Awards are open and ready for nominations, and I have a list of suggestions you might want to take a look at. If you already  have a good idea of what you want, just click here to go and vote for them immediately. The instructions are right there.

Or: sign up for my mailing list in order to get free stuff.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

Rumors Bargains and Lies

Yes, I stole the title from Babylon 5. I'm due.

I'm going to start by thanking File 770 yesterday. Or at least one of its readers, who goes by the name Migly. When I put in the disclaimer yesterday, I mentioned File 770 commenters who harassed me in my email. Which happened. Migly found that strange and pointed out that no one on the File 770 website mentioned me until Mad Genius Club mentioned me first.

Which was nice. No one had told me I had appeared at MGC.  Sadly, I still don't have the time to read it. So, no, I won't be addressing it, since I want to keep this one short.

It has been interesting, though, that I've had an entire alternate biography show up in the past 12 hours that I never knew I had.

Apparently, I'm a sexual deviant who will sleep with anything....

Because, you know, looking like this means I get all the chicks.

.... All of the color blind chicks....

No, let's just stick with all of the literally blind chicks.

This was the one where I laughed my ass off for ten minutes. Really, ten minutes. It was wonderful. It was joyous. It was insane.

I've had lots of rumors on me over the years. Some of them, at least, are based on reality. Am I nuts? There's an argument that can be made for that. Am I violent? Only in my rhetoric. Or if I need to defend myself.

But this? This is such total, complete, and utter BS I can't really even begin to describe it.

And that's when I laughed off all the rest as well. Because they were just as deranged to anyone who talks to me for five minutes. This one? this was the rumor that saved me an awful lot of time. I spent most of Tuesday stressing out over what "people will think."

You know how stressed I was yesterday? I didn't even know how stressed I was until I saw this

"Reality Couldn't Have Done This to Him" ~ A review of Declan Finn's "Set To Kill"

Yup. You read that right. JD Cowan is back, and he's got another review of another one of my novels. And I'm really kinda blown away by how much better this book sounds than when I wrote it. He actually makes me think I could win an award ... any award, really.

I will only excerpt some parts. I really want you to read this one. And if I highlight every part I liked, I'd just copy and past the whole thing.

What you're in for is a story filled with action, mystery, and more than a bit of comedy....

If there is one thing Mr. Finn excels at (there are a few) then it would have to be the action scenes. I'm hard-pressed to think of an author with so many details in their action scenes. Everything flows, the events are described clearly and fit together, and they are usually quite surprising. And funny....

This is a hard book to really nail down. Would it be correct to call it something like if Dashiell Hammett wrote an episode of Murder, She Wrote thinking it was a sequel to Commando? I'm just not sure. If you enjoyed the previous book in this series, It Was Only On Stun!, then you should enjoy this one more. Whatever it is, Set To Kill accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

Should you read this book? Only if you like wanton destruction and humor popping up in strange places. And, really, why wouldn't you like those things?

I can't wait to read the sequel. Surely by then Sean Ryan will have enough of a handle on the con experience to run his own. I could just imagine.

You can read the rest here.

Yeah, this is a really good day.

Anyway, if you liked what you read and want to click on the book, here you go, it's below

And if you've read these, a review would be nice. Thanks.

 

Movie Night: Murder by Natural Causes

This is another Levinson and Link ... mystery, for lack of a better term. It's a murder from the murderer's point of view. And it shouldn't be a shock -- after all, they did it dozens of times with every episode of Columbo.

This is, in essence, a 5-man play. Hal Holbrook stars as a mentalist with a bad heart. His younger wife has taken on a younger lover, played by Barry Bostwick.  And they have a cunning plan to make certain that she doesn't need a divorce: a murder with no fingerprints.

But anyone who has ever seen The Mentalist tv show knows that playing games with a mentalist is never as simple and as straightforward as anyone thinks it is.

Also, if you haven't already, check out some of the books below.

Movie Night: Rehearsal for Murder

This was a made for TV movie from the 80s that was a star-studded mystery, from the actors to the writers.

The writers are Levinson and Link, the men who created Columbo and Jessica Fletcher,

The lead actor is Robert Preston (The Music Man), starring as a writer who suspects that his wife's suicide was really murder. A year after her death, he has assembled the men and women of his wife's final performance in order to not only prove she was murdered, but also prove who did it.

This stars Lynn Redgrave (yes, one of those Redgraves), William Daniels (1776, Night Rider) as the producer, Patrick Macnee (Steed of The Avengers) as the last leading man she worked with, as well as a very, uh, uh, very, uh, young uhhhhhh, Jeff Goldblum.

This is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing you will ever see. And I know it's not Christmas-themed, but I'm not able to post Die Hard on the blog.

Also, if you haven't already, check out some of the books below. You might see some similarities in the writing. Heh heh heh.

Movie Night: Death of a Doxy

Another Nero Wolfe novel adapted for A&E many moons ago, Death of a Doxy went a little dark. But then, Nero Wolfe started dark, just look at Fer de Lance.

It also ties in, after a fashion, to A Family Affair, the very last Nero Wolfe novel.

How? Well, read both of them, and find out.






Also, if you haven't already, check out some of the books below.

Set to Kill is out, and ready to be Best Related at the Hugos

Heh, yes, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

However, SET TO KILL IS OUT NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW! Enjoy it.

Though, believe it or not, when I was finished with Set to Kill back in ... March, I think? My first thought was, "Maybe I should give it to Vox Day, and it becomes a Rabid Puppy nominee at the 2017 Hugos. Ha!"

That led me to thinking I should run it past Castalia in the first place, which led to a six month oddity ... or odyssey, depending on who's writing it.

Though I must admit, I would be amused if someone decided to nominate this for Best Related anyway. Lord knows that Sad Puppies 4 was an acid trip I didn't anticipate at all.

Heads exploding, though?

That I expected.

Let me allow you in on my plan for the next year. In fact, I'll let you in on what my plan for the publishing schedule is like.

Then he got an idea. An awful idea.
A wonderful, *awful* idea!

Codename: UnSub was published when it was because ... I wanted it off my plate. I wanted it gone. It was around for four years. It was going to happen with or without the Castalia House acceptance of my books.

I wanted Set to Kill released this year because I want it up for Sad Puppies 5 ... Read it, you'll see why.  It is awesome. It is hilarious. And it will be one of the better things I've ever written.

Yes, really. It's that good. It's that awesome. And I'm not even worried about building it up too much. I don't think this one will let down anybody. For the Puppy crowd, they'll get some laughs out of it. For the non-puppy crowd? I think they'll still be rolling in the aisles.

And the Anti-Puppies? That requires that they think of me at all. And I can't imagine that they would. Really.

And yes, I think this is one I want up for consideration. No, I won't be up for a Hugo. I'm not even entirely certain if I'm going to be up for Sad Puppies 5. But either way, I want to see heads explode. And go BOOM. Bwahahahahahaha.

However, what about Murphy's? Don't I want that up for the Hugos?  Well, sure, if someone else wants it, who am I to say no.

But, with my Dragon Award Nominated novel for Best Horror, you'd think that I'd expect another award domination. At least for the Dragon.

Remember, though: books eligible for the Dragon Award go from the start of August to the end of July.

However, while the four reviews all like Murphy's Law of Vampires ... just wait until you read Live and Let Bite (book 3). It is going to be ...

You know what? Live and Let Bite will be so flipping epic, if it doesn't get best Horror at the Dragon Awards, I'll be surprised. It will be the payoff for everything set up in Honor and Murphy's.  Think I'm kidding? Heh heh heh.

You haven't seen anything yet. You think Mister Day was a pain in the ass to kill? You thought he was a threat when he blew up REDACTED buried REDACTED alive and turned into a giant freaking man-eating REDACTED?

Just wait until you meet Nuala.

This? This is going to be AWESOME.

Live and Let Bite should be coming out in early February. The 2017 Dragon Award nominations should be out a few months later, so everyone can soak in the amazing aspects of the book, and vote it for best horror novel.

Yes, that's right. This time, I know what I'm doing. There will be horror. There will be blood.

And, yes, I blow up San Francisco. A lot.

.... Though, now that I think of it? I do have a dystopia novel out ... and there is a best dystopia category...

Well, it's something to think about.

Why not Sad Puppies Bite Back the book? Based on the original blog post from 2015. Not eligible anywhere, I think.

Anyway, as you're reading the following, just consider for the moment....

Murphy's Law of Vampires .... not really up for any awards, unless you think it should be best novel at the Hugos. Which, also, would be hilarious. Though, like with Set to Kill, I can't imagine it happening, and I wouldn't force the issue....

Though, come to think of it, I can't recall any novels this year I would put down as best SF or best Fantasy. Dang it. I know I should. Huh. It'll come to me.

Set to Kill for best related at the Hugo Awards. Just because. (I can't wait to see some read the name Charles RR Martinez. Their heads will explode, even though that's actually the name of a friend of the family ... AND his son. Heh.)

Anyway, there's Codename: UnSub, for best dystopia at the Dragon Awards. I can't think of any opposition, actually ... which would mean something if I actually, you know, READ dystopia as a matter of course.

Then there's Live and Let Bite for best horror novel at the Dragon Awards.  What's that you ask? Why not nominate both Murphy's and Bite at the Dragons? Because that would split the vote. And I can't see winning best fantasy, if only because Jim Butcher might release a novel in the next few months, and I'm just assuming that won't be a 2-ton gorilla, it'll just be King Kong. Nominate Murphy's all you like for best fantasy. It won't win up against Butcher .... but having the name out there would be awesome.

So, that's the plan for Murphy's Law of Vampires ... sort of ... and Set to Kill .... and Live and Let Bite ...  and even UnSub, I guess.

Don't say I can't plan for the future.

2017 will be the year that Declan Finn .... gets a few nominations. I can't promise anything other than that.

You know what? Once more, just for old times sake.....

UNLEASH THE PUPPIES.

The Timing of Codename: UnSub

As I mentioned the other day, Codename: UnSub ate the original book one of The Last Survivors.

Part of that devouring included the missionary priests who came to San Francisco, trained in hostage negotiation and the conversion of the newly disarmed. While we had considered parts of it -- mostly with how to get these people into San Francisco -- we never really talk about where we put them. How do they relate to the rest of the city? How do they make their mark? How do they deal with the Children of Thanatos?

Also, in Codename: Winterborn I made a mention of "the Burners." They set people on fire. That was it. It's the general shallow thinking of every other thug in San Francisco ... and most thugs in real life. It's taken from the concept of Bum Burning. However, most of these burners do not generally gather and operate in gangs. While they were in a throwaway scene in Codename: Winterborn, they are an entire subplot in UnSub as well as a major plot point.

While Codename: Winterborn ended with the beginning of 2094, literally at 12:01 on January 1, that's because I just wanted to end on a high note. Sure, I could have stretched it out with an additional three chapters, but... no, why? The arc in Winterborn's second half was to show exactly how Kevin's actions are the butterfly effect on acid. I established that when the priests showed up en mass. The priests and their side effects are another story.

So, since the chapters I had down were all about the priests and their introduction to San Francisco society, I would use them to introduce the readers to the society. It's a cheap maneuver, basically the Alice in Wonderland effect (or the X-Men film effect, pick one), but it works.

So Codename: UnSub backs up a bit. The prologue takes place right before Kevin meets the priests at the docks. It shows Kevin having a long conversation at arrow point with some burners, setting them up a little better. Chapter 1 takes place just after the priest pickup that is shown in Winterborn. And then we have a heartwarming Christmas chapter....

And then we have a dead body show up down the block from Kevin Anderson's place that's been beaten to death. Because San Francisco.

Why, yes, I have been to San Francisco, and I've had it swarmed by vampires in one series, and a distopian nightmare in another. Why do you ask?

But all in all, the main action in UnSub takes place a few months after the arrival of the priests. They'll be more of an established force within the city by the time the main action kicks into gear.

And then, the stage is set, and we're ready to nuke the entire city straight to hell. BWAHAHAAHAHAH.

Movie Night: The Doorbell Rang (Nero Wolfe)

I am a fan of Rex Stout's original novels, the A&E show they had broadcast a few years ago, and of Timothy Hutton.

Guess what I tripped over on YouTube lately.

Movie night is BACK.

But if you don't have time for a movie, here, have a new review of Codename: Winterborn.

Movie night: The Detective

So, item one, obviously, the radio show did not go off as planned. I couldn't log into the system, and by the time it was up and running, the show would pretty much be done with.

Anyway, just to make my life easy for five minutes, I'm going to show you a movie. For free.

If you've never heard of GK Chesterton's Father Brown ... have you been living under a rock? Before there was Father Dowling (and you've at least heard of that one, haven't you?) there was Father Brown, created by Chesterton out of thin air.

While there have been some attempts at Father Brown (the most recent evoking the most homicidal reaction from me), this is probably the best. Not because of the accuracy of the scripts to the stories (for that you want the Father Brown as done by Kenneth More) but because of the best execution of character, done by Alec Guiness.

And it's for free on YouTube.

Enjoy

#TBT Flashback Blog: Interview with Ann Margaret Lewis on Murder in the Vatican

Yes, I know it's not Thursday yet, but, well, shut up. It fit the schedule.

In April of 2011, I interviewed the awesome Ann Lewis for the release of her book Murder in the Vatican.

Since then, I am proud, and blessed, to call Ann my friend.

Anyway, I will probably be meeting her as this blog goes live, as I will be in the Catholic Writer's Guild Conference this week. No, I'm not staying away from home. It's only New Jersey.

Also, this Sunday, at 7PM, EST, the awesome, amazing, and wonderful Ann Margaret Lewis will be my guest on The Catholic Geek. And then we're going to have a party.

* * * *

After yesterday's guest blog by the very generous author of Murder in the Vatican, Ann Margaret Lewis, you didn't think things could get better, did you?

Well, they did.

Today, Ann Margaret Lewis has willingly submitted to questions from the A Pius Man blog.

You will notice that some of the questions are numbered differently.  These are questions that came with the press packet that I believed readers of this blog might be interested in.

The questions I came up with are plainly numbered, with no additional lettering ... you'll see what I mean.

So, if you just want to skip to those quesitons I asked, you can ....

Here we go.

Review: Specter

NOTE: I WILL HAVE MY OWN RADIO SHOW, THE CATHOLIC GEEK, STARTING JUNE 7TH.

In Bleeder, by John Desjarlais, we were introduced to philosophy professor Reed Stubblefield, who thought in Aristotle quotes. During a bit of R and R in the countryside, in a quiet, sleepy little village right out of a Miss Marple novel, he meets a priest, the local stigmatic. When the priest is murdered, Reed becomes the primary suspect.

What follows is an intricate, brilliant work that Agatha Christie would have been happy with.  Desjarlais' prose is tight, erudite and powerful. His vocabulary is well-used. He knows how to engage the reader, and is very good with turning a phrase.

I enjoyed this book, and I was surprised by the villain-reveal at the end. Five stars all the way.

In Viper, new names appear in the local church's book of the dead.  Except, none of these people are dead yet. When the names on the list begin to correlate to the fresh homicides in the neighborhood, it's clear that this is a hitlist.  At the bottom of that list is the former undercover DEA agent Selena De La Cruz. Selena's passions are guns, shoes, fast cars, and kickboxing, so if someone wants to kill her, it's going to be a fight they're going to regret. It was more of a thriller than Bleeder, though it's set in the same universe -- Selena is even dating Reed. This was a fun, solid ride from start to finish.

My only problem with the book was the unrealistic character of a DEA agent who was not only racist, but whose solution to everything was a SWAT team breaking down the front door (Seriously, how did the guy not get fired? Did he have a relative in the hierarchy? Was he a nephew to the AG?).  Even that only knocks it down to a 4.5 star rating.

Finally, we come to Desjarlais' third book, Specter.

In our opening prologue, a Cardinal is murdered in an orchestrated hit that looks like the end of a brilliantly executed caper movie ... only with an assassination.  The incident is loosely based off of the death of Cardinal Ocampo in 1993, which was presumed to be the worst case of timing and luck on the planet Earth.

But what if it wasn't?

16 years later, former undercover DEA agent Selena De La Cruz (of Viper) is about to get married to Reed Stubblefield (of Bleeder), and then the Vatican comes by and says "Hi, we think your family was in on the hit, and you were in town at the time."

Desjarlais

And we're off to the races.

A fun part of this is the dynamic between Reed and Selena.  Bleeder was very much Reed's book, where Selena first appeared. Viper was all Selena, with a few cameos by Reed.  Specter is their book. Even the alternating points of views (third person personal) are very distinct. Their chemistry is very much a part of the narrative as it is part of their relationship.  She's very a very tough, outgoing modern woman who has little problem with a shootout, and he's a quiet, bookish, old-fashioned gentleman who thinks in Aristotle quotes. And I really like these two together, even though we hadn't seen much of their developing relationship.  Looking at the two of them deal with the trials of dealing with the wedding is more than enough evidence for why these two belong together.

There's even one entire conversion that sums it up quite nicely.

Him "We're incompatible. I'm North Side, you're South Side. I'm Cubs, you're white Sox .... I'm publicly-employed pro-union Democrat for gun control and you're small-business owner-Republican with a gun....I drive a Volvo, you drive a Charger."
Her: "My godmother is very traditional and is having a hard time thinking of me as Selena Perez de La Cruz Stubblefield."
"You don't have to adopt my last name..."

See what I mean? They work so well together, I'm surprised more of this wasn't a romance novel.  I would have read it twice for banter like that.

Okay, the fact that John Desjarlais has a female badass teamed up with the nerd just like I did in The Pius Trilogy really doesn't have anything to do with my enjoyment of the book. Honest. It just works really well.  It's like Baldacci's King and Maxwell series -- they just have this great dynamic together. And if you don't like Baldacci, don't worry, that's the only overlap I can think of.

As for the rest ... if you're thinking that this is going to be exactly like Bleeder or Viper, it is and it isn't. The overall plot feels like an excuse to watch Reed and Selena on screen, which, frankly, I'm happy with. If you read Desjarlais' books for the intricate puzzle solving (like Bleeder), you're going to be disappointed. If you're in this only for a knock-down shootout (like Viper), you're going to enjoy the second half of the book a lot.

There is also the best look at supernatural phenomenon I've seen in years.  Even little conversations like "ever have a seance or use a ouja board? Those things attract all sorts of nasty things." Awesome.

However, if you want to read this book to follow Reed and Selena, dive right in.  As far as I'm concerned, these two are right up there with Nick and Nora Charles. And, from what I've heard, Chesterton Press wants more books in this universe from John Desjarlais, despite that it's "just" a trilogy.

Frankly, I own all six Nick and Nora Charles movies, so I'm perfectly happy with the idea that we'll see more of these two.