Catholic Reads reviews Love At First Bite

So, over at Catholic Reads, they reviewed the entire Live at First Bite series.

Honor at Stake

Declan Finn is proving himself to be the go-to guy for the campy fun adventure book that is just smart enough to completely subvert your expectations in ways that never fail to delight....

One of the strongest features of the novel and one of the most Catholic is how it establishes a sense of reality by a great balance of sincerity and dramatic irony. Finn has a way of making things look one way, and then revealing things to be exactly the opposite.... It reminds me of Jesus saying he came to turn the world upside-down, and in a way, Finn seeks to do just that for Brooklyn via the lenses of vampire romance action horror (with light sci-fi and espionage elements). I loved its masterful use of dramatic irony and it’s a great portrayal of a young masculine perspective....

On a more technical level, the novel’s action scenes are well-thought out and epically described. The dialogue is sharp and witty, almost Whedon-esque. And throughout the novel, Finn takes any chance he can get to make fun of anything and everything about vampires, old books, and the strange, otherworldly, nearly undead world that is the culture of Brooklyn.

This is the first review that has ever, even slightly, ever compared me to Jesus.

Obviously, you can read the entire review here.

You can buy Honor at Stake right here.

Demons are Forever

Formerly known as Murphy's Law of Vampires

It’s a new day for horror....

.... if you haven’t read the [first] book yet, go do that; you’re missing a genuinely good time.

....All in all, Mr. Finn provides his readers with another fun ride through a world in which vampires, good and bad walk, among us while developing character relationships from the previous book and build even more on the distinctly Catholic mythology of his creation.

....Now, get yourself to Amazon, pick up Murphy’s Law of Vampires and set aside a weekend to sink your teeth into a genuine, page-turner.

The rest of the review

Purchase link for Demons.

Live and Let Bite

For those who read (Warning! Spoilers ahead) the previous books in Declan Finn’s Love at First Bite series, you know there has been no small amount of romantic tension... 

Someone is a master of understatement.

[The introduction of minions] results in things like a massive gun battle in the middle of San Francisco, a battle that introduces them to Nuala.... a very old vampire, powerful enough to handle direct sunlight for short periods and has an evil enough reputation that they are actively worried about her manifesting soul fire, which is pretty much the peak of a vampire’s destructive abilities. During the battle, she almost single-handedly takes out the whole crew in hand-to-hand combat, something no one has come even close to doing.

Barely surviving this initial encounter, Marco has to use everything and everyone at his disposal to develop a plan capable of taking down Nuala. Merle and his gang are included, along with the Vatican’s own team of vampire hunters, referred to my Marco and Amanda as the “Vatican Ninjas”. I won’t spoil the details but the intricacy of the plan further cemented my impression of Marco as basically this world’s Batman. He may not have any powers, but he is the last person that you want mad at you....

In the end, Finn gives readers another fun, vampire-slaying romp through the underworld that expands the lore, makes better use of some secondary characters, and trims some of the fat that the previous book suffered slightly from. With one more book left in the series, the question you should be asking is, “What could be sent after Marco that would be worse?”

The Rest of the Review

Purchase Link

Good to the Last Drop

In Good to the Last Drop, Declan Finn brings the story of Love at First Bite to its epic, if not unexpected, conclusion.....

Things really get kicked off with a werewolf attack on Marco, an attack that leaves him infected with the werewolf virus..... [which] increases the host’s personality traits. Given Marco’s own intense and often violent personality, one can see how this might be a problem.

I do like the reviewer's use of understatement.

The story comes to its conclusion .... with a massive battle between Misha’s army of vampires and the Vatican Ninja’s along with the rest of Marco’s allies. It comes down to a one-on-one battle between a fully revealed Misha and Amanda who at last is manifesting her true potential.

....Whatever the author’s future plans, I look forward to them and seeing my favorite Catholic vampire hunters at work again.

The Rest of the Review

Purchase Link

I look forward to their review of Hell Spawn

Vampires in Legend, Folklore, and Fiction, DragonCon 2018

So, this panel was described as follows

Description: Long a staple of urban fantasy, vampires first appear in folklore, often unrecognizable from the versions contemporary readers and viewers are familiar with. Our panel explores how those early stories have influenced the fictional depictions they create, and others they admire.

Time: Fri 10AM Location: Chastain 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

Melissa F Olson, E.J. Stevens, Declan Finn, Clay and Susan Griffith, J.F. Lewis, Dacre Calder Stoker

This is the complete panel   

For those of you who might want my parts, as for some reason, they have the best audio, right here:

For those of you who are new here and wanted to see the video, we have the complete Love at First Bite Collection

Love at First Bite

OR

Click here, and support the kickstarter so you can get a sample of the first 50 pages of my next Dragon Award nominated project, Hell Spawn right this minute.

Honor at Stake: The Paperback Edition

Honor at Stake is back!

.... Again.

For a third time.

The 2016 Dragon Award finalist for best horror is finally back in Paperback.

And we are ready to kick some ass! Yee haw...

Anyway...

The paperback is out just in time, really. It gives everyone time to purchase one of these snazzy new covers for DragonCon. Heck, it gives me time to get some for DragonCon. Either way, it works.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is ready for the upcoming rerelease of the novel Good to the Last Drop. The grand finale of the series should be fun.

Heh heh heh.

Also, coming soon: Silver Empire is nearly ready to unleash something massive. I'll discuss that when there are more details.

But right now, here's Honor at Stake, in paperback.

Honor at Stake  Demons are Forever

Live and Let Bite

The Dragon Award nominated Honor at Stake is Undead Once More

You'd think with all my experience on Twitter, I'd have more pithy titles.

Anyway, yes, Honor at Stake is back. The Award nominated book is possibly the best thing I've ever done. If you don't believe me, look at the sixty-seven customer reviews.  That's right, sixty-seven. Screw you, Goodreads.

This is, of course, just the beginning as we build up to the release of Good to the Last Drop in August, to (hopefully) dovetail with the Dragon Award nomination.

I figure that after book one got nominated, and book three got nominated, book four is a shoe-in. But here's hoping. (You can make that a reality by clicking here and filling out the nominations ballot).

If you're new here and you're wondering "What the heck is he boasting about?" ...

The first thing I should tell you is that I'm not boasting.

• I've got old school Dracula vampire rules meets Thomistic Philosophy and microbiology.
• I've got the psychology of combat, good versus evil, moral grey areas and a little bit of Original Sin just for kicks.
• Nothing sparkles unless it's on fire.
• Flame throwers
• Holy water squirt guns
• Exploding stakes
• Bouncing Betties for vampires
• Death by underwire mesh
• Decapitation by rosary
• Communion wafers as suicide pills
• Vatican ninja commando units.

We won't go into the street gangs, minions, the mafia, cops versus vampires, or when the FBI and the CDC get involved.

And that's just the first half of the first book.

I won't even mention what happens in the second half.

The official write-up.

A 2016 Dragon Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel!
One is a heartless, blood thirsty killer. The other is a vampire.

College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus...and most people stop after the first adjective.

Then she finds Marco Catalano in her fencing class. He is tall, attractive, and very intense. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people. Except Amanda.They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. They must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness is rising. Bodies are turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires is closing in on all sides.

They have only one hope ... each other.

And of course, it gets better. Coming in June, Demons are Forever. Formerly called Murphy's Law of Vampires.

Why the name change? Because it fit better on the cover, fit better with book three (Live and Let Bite), and because it's cooler.

The only reason that this wasn't nominated for a Dragon Award was that I asked everyone to fire for effect on book three, Live and Let Bite (which will come back in July)

This is going to be awesome, and we are going to kick so much ass this isn't even funny.

After you buy Honor at Stake ($.99 for the rest of today, Tuesday, May 8) to see the awesome rewrites and edits made to it, as you wait for it to download, vote for Good to the Last Drop in the Dragon Awards.

This will be epic.

Love at First Bite will be DOA on Monday

Dang, this has been a busy week. Venus came out this week. A Pius Stand came backthis week. I almost forgot to mention what was going away next week.

Just a friendly reminder, but my Dragon Award nominated series Love at First Bite will be temporarily off the shelves as of this Monday, February 19th. Please remember, my friend and publisher Russell Newquist will be rereleasing them over the summer.

There are several good reasons to buy these books. First and foremost being that Silver Empire may not release them in paperback. I'm sure you're thinking "Duh, why would they? No one buys hard copies anymore."  Well, I do, and so do some of my readers. So if you care about such things, you should probably grab them why you can.

Not to mention that Silver Empire will be redoing the covers. So, as of Monday, these will all be collector's editions.

Finally ... well, the Dragon awards for 2018 are open for voting. If you've voted for the previous editions to make it to the Dragon awards, and want to read Good to the Last Drop before it becomes unavailable, this is your last shot.

Honor at Stake

This is the first one, the Dragon Award nominated work. It also took second place in Sad Puppies 4, for whatever that is worth. I figured I would do ... a lot of smartass routines around vampires, playing games with the lore, while staying as true to it as I could.

I suppose you could say I weaponized my degree in Catholic philosophy. Who knew that it could come in handy?

One is a blood thirsty monster. The other is a vampire.

College freshman Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus...and most people stop after the first adjective.

Then she finds Marco Catalano in her fencing class. He is tall, attractive, and very intense. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people. Except Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. They must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness is rising. Bodies are turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires is closing in on all sides.

They have only one hope ... each other.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN MAY. PERFECT SUMMER READING.

Murphy's Law of Vampires

It was amusing when I saw that one of the biggest criticisms of book one was that the vampires were too easy to dispatch in the final battle. I thought that given the artillery I brought down on them was fairly sufficient.

But I also laughed my ass off for one very good reason: Mister Day.

I won't say I'm particularly proud of this villain. Finding a way to kill him was the biggest problem, especially considering his various and sundry powers and abilities.

.... But I managed.

After saving Brooklyn from a nest of vampires, Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano are a little banged up. He's been given a job offer to deal with vampires in San Francisco, and it's a tempting offer – it would get him away from Amanda, his feelings for her, and get her away from the darkness inside him. When a death in the family compels Marco to move to the West Coast, they're both left to fend for themselves.

But when a creature known only as “Mister Day” leaves their world in tatters, they must once more join forces against the darkness. Only "Day" is no vampire, but a creature beyond their experience. It will take the combined might of Marco, Amanda, and all of their allies just to slow it down. They have no weapons that can kill him. They have no ways to imprison him. To even fight him is death.

But they have to try, or face the end of everything they love.

Only slightly melodramatic. Largely, I think this underplayed the threat.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JUNE 2018.

Live and Let Bite

I had to use the title. I really did. I didn't have much choice in the matter. I love me some puns ... if you didn't realize that from the Pius trilogy.

This is the other book in the series nominated for best horror. I'll say again, I'm not entirely certain that I see how these are "horror" novels, though there are several reviews that make me thing I scare the bejeezus out of more than a few.

Then again, I did show much concept of minions...

I also had an off page, vaguely implied lesbian rape sequence...

Okay, maybe there were one or two vaguely scary things here and there.

Merlin "Merle" Kraft has been fighting the darkness for months. He left San Francisco in the capable hands of Marco Catalano and his anti-vampire team to defend them against vampires. With special operators at his command, Kraft has been killing every vampire he can find in the Middle East. After clearing out a nest in Tora Bora, he is finally brought back to New York, and the investigation that led him to vampires in the first place.

Marco is starting to spiral. He knows it. His team knows it. Everyone around him can see that he's just a bomb waiting to explode. The only woman who can bring him back from the brink is also the woman who lit his fuse.

Ever since "Mister Day" tried to murder Marco, Amanda Colt has been hunting down every lead to find the ones ultimately behind the attempt. After months of investigation, she learns that something in the dark is colder than the dark. It is a vampire assassin that Amanda has faced once before .... and last time, Amanda lost. This assassin is stronger than anything they've face before, and it isn't alone.

With Marco ready to self-destruct, and the armies of Hell ready to descend, the three of them must come together and stop a thousand-year-old assassin that has never been stopped, and has never failed to kill her target.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JULY 2018.

Good to the Last Drop

In all honesty, I suppose I could just ask every reader on this page to go forth and vote for this book in best horror, or even fantasy, but ... eh. Not really. I'd much rather people read it, like it, and vote for it.

I'm figuring that this year or next year is going to be my last shot at even getting nominated for the Dragons. There were over 8,000 people who voted in last year's Dragon Awards. If all of them vote to nominate this year? I may have all the nominations I'm going to get

But I'm going to keep trying. This works for horror this year, and I have a horror novel coming up that was supposed to be Urban Fantasy ... I kinda wrote a horror novel by accident. Oops.

Anyway, this is your last shot to get it before the Dragon Award nominations. The good news is that if I do get a nomination, the book will be back on the shelves just in time.

The final war is about to begin, in this conclusion to the Dragon Award Nominated series

Merle Kraft, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt have battled against the mythical Council, a supernatural conspiracy that monsters fear. This war has brought them up against vampires, minions, and demons from Hell.. Along the way, they have accumulated allies among the police, the military, the mafia, college students, lowly street gangs, and even other vampires.

Marco and Amanda have overcome their biggest terror -- their passion for each other.

But now, they face the final threat, one that is the culmination of every threat before them. This creature from Hell has powers beyond anything they've ever seen before, and has allies of his own: including SpecOps minions, an army of vampires, and packs of werewolves.

And that was before Marco got bit.

AS I SAID, IT'S COMING BACK IN AUGUST.

And, while I think of it, enjoy the Dragon Award nominations.

Love at First Bite, part 4, is Coming

Book 4 of my Love at First Bite series is coming. It might be titled Good to the Last Drop, but I have a few other suggestions going the rounds. 

Here's the only problem I have.

I need a title.

I've already started a survey in my group on Facebook, as well as on my Facebook page, asking for suggestions. And I've gotten a lot of feedback.

I'm actually surprised, especially with some of the ones suggested for me.

Good to the Last Drop is currently winning, and I didn't even suggest this one. It's pulled ahead, and I can't believe it didn't occur to me. My family has been making this joke AT blood banks for years.

Greenwich Village of the Damned -- one of mine, and suggested by a chapter title.

Final Blood -- Book 4 will be the end to the main arc of the series. So "final" in the title has a good ring to it. Also, it's a take on First Blood -- you know, the novel that started John Rambo on his career.

Shadow of Murphy -- I originally suggested this because there are elements of Murphy's Law of Vampires that resonate in this novel. I won't say what, because that might spoil the surprise.

Certain Parts of Brooklyn -- This is actually taken from an exchange in the film Casablanca.

Major Strasser to Rick: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris? ....How about New York?

Rick to Strasser: "Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."

Bloody Love -- a original title, suggested by on of my acquaintances.

Murphy's Shadow -- another suggestion, and probably better than "Shadow of Murphy," if only so the cover artist can have most of the cover dedicated to the image.

Army of Light -- I've always liked the imagery of the term, used in Babylon 5. No one else does, apparently.

Shadows of Day -- This works for reasons.

At the end of the day, I suspect most of the titles will be used. Why? Because I'll stop needing titles after I run out of novels.

If you've missed any of my novels, click some below.

And if you haven't, ask yourself, have you reviewed them?

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

The Last Crusade: In the Kingdom of Witches

John C Wright posted an article called The Last Crusade: In the Kingdom of Witches, part of his series on what's wrong with Western Civ.

The only takeaway from this that the usual crowd had was "JOHN C WRIGHT BELIEVES IN WITCHES TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD."

They have, once again, missed the point.

I have taken it upon myself to translate a great essay into small words, to be understood by small people. I hope I am stupid enough to live down to the task.

The following, believe it or not, contains spoilers for Love at First Bite.

Leftism as it stands today has always been a religion. Don't believe me? Modern Leftism bases most of their beliefs in your basic, boilerplate socialism of the Russian kind. And, since the Russian revolution took  a lot from the French revolution, there is a lot of blood as part of the Leftist faith, and a lot of anti-theist secularism.

Leftism has kept up this tradition, perhaps even better than the Soviet Union ever did. Communism killed a hundred million people in the last century, over the course of 70 years.

Just to highlight this one more time. That's a hundred million. 100,000,000 dead.

In the United States, we're up to, what, fifty million aborted children and counting?  Over the course of less than fifty years? We keep that up, abortion will have wiped out more people than Communism along the same amount of time.

What what do you want to consider a group of people who are hip deep in blood and want to dive in some more? I think witches is a good summary, don't you?

But JCW wants to go deeper.

But the essential nature of a witch, as she was portrayed in fairy tales (which contain a good deal more sense than newspapers) was of a withered, childless spinster: a woman with nothing to offer the community, but whom age and curiosity had opened the secret properties of plants and stars and other things easily turned to venom.

Welcome to Leftism. Nothing can be good and pure and simple. 

Maleficent cannot be an evil psychotic killer who will take deadly retribution over minor slights; she must be rewritten over a backstory where she's actually the heroine. 

Gaston and his henchman cannot be Alpha and lackey, but there must be a homosexual component to it. We don't even go into how many people tried to make Samwise and Frodo's relationship as gay. Or Holmes and Watson. Or Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. Because good pure and simple friendships can't exist in their world, it must be sexual, because sex is everything, right?

Do we even want to get into the freaks that have been on parade? I refuse to call any of them protesters, or people who marched for Civil Rights, because, sorry, that's Martin Luther King Jr leading a parade of people down the street wearing their Sunday finest, because they all just wanted to join the main stream. I don't care if you look at the Occupy rioters living like animals and defecating on the streets and businesses of New York City, or if you want to look at the "womyn" in gynecological garb wandering around a few weeks ago, these are people who very clearly don't want to be maintstream. They want the mainstream to accept THEM, condone, bless, and accept whatever the BS du jour is -- and no, I don't mean "tolerate," as toleration means to put up with something that is abhorrent to you. "I don't care" is not allowed -- you will be made to care. You will be made to accept it and bless it, and kneel before whatever bull is being force fed you, the culture, and whatever else they can get their hands on.

And no, their isn't a mystical, black-helicopter "they." They're in plain sight, after all. Marching in the circus garb they call "a statement," when it's really more like a thousand clowns.

Witches subvert. Witches turn things that are good and pure into poison. THey turn children into child sacrifice. They turn the feminism of Susan B Anthony into genitalia on parade. They turn Christian Charity into entitlement programs to buy votes. They promise a great society and deliver a broken culture and destroyed family. 

Leftism has its own altars in the abortion clinic, and its own sacrifices called children. They have their own public displays of faith called riots, only disguised as "protests."

Leftism. Witchcraft. Subversion. Alinsky. Same Stuff, Different Decade.

And if you want more application of faith brought into a world like this, check out the Love At First Bite Series

Live and Let Bite is ALIVE (Also, 1 dollar deals)

All right.

It's published. 

Live and Let Bite is, at long last, live and ready to go. Or at least it should be if Amazon is reliably still working on PST, instead of EST.  (Stupid Amazon. Give us OPTIONS for time. Thanks.)

Thank God.

Everyone here knows by now that the third novel in my Dragon Award nominated series is now out and live. 

And, for a special bonus for all of those people who are new here -- you can get all 3 books for less than $7.

That's right, my Dragon Award nominated novel Honor at Stake, as well as Murphy's Law of Vampires are both live today -- and today only, midnight to midnight -- for $0.99 each. 

And then there's Live and Let Bite for $4.99.

... Why, yes, that is a little more than Honor at Stake was in December, but not only is this a new release, I'm taking my cue from a survey of several other authors in my general range.

... No, that does not include the price point on Jim Butcher's books ($9.99 a book? Really?). I may be insane, but I'm not quite that delusional.

Now, for the record, this is not a trilogy. This is a quartet. Why? Because I have an inability to let things go at merely 3 novels. Especially when I had a lot to cover in book 2 and 3. I mean, I have emotional subplots, the overarching plot, the primary plot of the individual book

In short, these are busy little books.

Also, I've been making the villains tougher and tougher to beat every novel.

The first one involved our three heroes tag-teaming the one bastard.

I had those three, plus the San Francisco team, a team of Vatican ninjas, and a REDACTED to take out Mister Day.

Just wait until you see what it takes to drop our villain in Bite. 

Hell. Just wait until you see what I do to everybody in book 4.

Anyway, here are the books du jour. 

Enjoy.

And, if you like, feel free to spread the word around about today's deal.

    

Sad Puppies 5 suggestions

EDIT: FOR THE READING BEREFT -- APPARENTLY, THE USUAL CROWD AT FILE 770 CAN'T READ -- I MUST PUT IN AN EVEN BIGGER NOTE HERE. I'M NOT IN CHARGE OF SP5. THE FOLLOWING IS, IN PART, A GUIDE FOR MY RECOLLECTION, SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE VOTING,  AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO GUIDE MY VOTING. APPARENTLY, SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO HAVE FIGURED THIS OUT FROM THE BELOW. THAT IS ALL.

Happy new  year. Time to start considering what should be done for Sad Puppies 5.

Yup,  you didn't forget, did you? We only have a few scant months to start getting together nominations for The Dragon Awards.

If you care about The Hugos, yeah,  that too. Though I suspect that's more Rabid Puppies than come to my blog.

I'm not sure about the Hugos, but I think I'll take a Dragon Award, thanks.

First things first. I'm going to put this initial list in a format similar to the Hugos  ..... for now. This is for two reasons: one,  I don't know how SP5 will be laid out, so the Hugo format is easiest.

Second reason?  If there are Rabids who stop here, they still care about the Hugos. So this will serve the dual purpose of catering to them. I'll do a separate list for a Dragon Award version. But the SP5 list is up first, mostly because the potential nominees are locked, as they go by calender year. Now that the scurge of 2016 has passed, let the games begin

To start with, remember that the rules of this game say that you can nominate 5 items per category. Though to be honest, I prefer the Dragon Award version, that nominates by genre. SP5 Might as well, we'll have to see.

THIS LIST WILL BE UP FOR REVIEW LATER ON. Why? Because I still have books left over from last year that aren't read yet (there are books from THREE years ago that aren't read yet) and there are some where I didn't remember the original publication date. I'm compiling this in December, while I'm sick, so we'll see how this goes.

If you are one of the authors mentioned here and you actually DO give a flying f*** about the Hugos, comment, I'll edit and note it

Best novel

Again, I'm going to have to treat this with the same restrictions as the Hugos.

1. John C. Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory. Please read the review, then buy the novel. IN THIS CASE, then vote in the Hugos. Why this case?  1) This blew away everything else I read last year, really. And (2) it does mean something to John, so if it were in my power, I wouldn't deny him that joy for all the world. Iron Chamber should win a Hugo, if there's any justice left. But there is no justice left in the Hugos,  so I'll keep going with SP5 nominees.

2. Marina Fontaine, Chasing Freedom. Why? Because it was one of the best scifi works I'd read last year. And Marina made a dystopia I could read, enjoy, finish, and not want to slit my wrists over. That's a major accomplishment. Words can't even express how good you have to be to pull that off. Please read the review, then buy the novel.

3. Robert Kroese, The Big Sheep. I really did enjoy this book. It's another one that made a dystopia readable. The mystery, he characters, the world building, all of them were stellar. And yes, for those who really care, I know, it's published by MacMillan, which also owns Tor books. If I were you, I wouldn't hold that against Robert.  Please read the review, then buy the novel.

4. Declan Finn -- Yes, I published three eligible novels this year. Funny enough, they're within the time frame for the Dragon Award as well .... which, come to think of it, I have Vox Day to thank for that. But, yes, I have Codename: UnSub and Murphy's Law of Vampires that can be nominated for a SP5 best novel. Huh. Throwing my hat into the ring is just padding the list.

5. No Award. Yes. Really. I got nothing. I can't recall anything that I'd really submit (more on that below). I haven't read a Terry Goodkind in years (I'm saving them for when they stop ending with "To be Continued"). There are no Jim Butcher books out this year.

Notable books for consideration:
Karina Fabian's Discovery.  I read an earlier draft of this book many, many years ago (five years ago, to be precise), and I have yet to read the latest edition. But if the editing cleaned up the problems I remember, this is easily in slot #4 .... yes, slot #4, bumping me down a slot.

Brian Niemeier -- because he was up against The Martian last year, and that's hardly fair. Brian came out with two books last year, Souldancer and The Secret Kings. Read them, enjoy, and flip a coin as to which one you vote for. If Brian has a preference, I'll edit it and add his pick. It's "Notable" ONLY because I haven't read them yet. And I'd want to read Nethereal first .... which means by the time I get to them, the whole series will be out.

NOTE: Yes, I had considered John Ringo's books from last year, but I think Ringo would rather burn his books than let them be nominated for a Hugo -- though I'll have to see if he cares about Sad Puppies, he may not mind that. So ... perhaps Black Tide Rising, or Grunge, or Sinners? Larry may care about SP5 if they preclude a Hugo nomination, so expect to see Son of the Black Sword, which also came out last year, but I would rather nominate another Monster Hunter book.

Best related

Set to Kill -- I've made no secret about my ambition to make people pissed off about this one. If I were to have a serious horse in the Hugos, it would be here. I would want this just to see people's heads explode. If we're talking Hugos, yeah, shoot for best related in Rabid Puppies (Attn: Vox Day).

However, we're talking SAD Puppies, and Sarah mentioned adding genre categories, specifically mentioning mysteries.

Insert big freaking grin here. If that happens, count me in on this one.

If it doesn't happen ... well, throw this into the ring with Rabid Puppies, see who gets pissed off.

Best Novella

Marina Fontaine, The Product -- Yeah. Sorry. That's about all I can think of off hand that would really fit. I'm sure more will come to me when my brain reboots.

Best Short Story

Pick something from Black Tide Rising .... though I would recommend Kacy Ezell's story.

Now, I'm certain that there is a slew of short stories from Lou Antonelli, and Brad Torgersen, and even John C. Wright. Just don't ask me to remember them.

EDIT: Lou has been kind enough to comment what came out last year.

1. “Captain of the Clouds” – Aurora Wolf, January 2016

2“Higher Powers” – Sci-Phi Journal, February 2016


3. “The Milky Way Dance Hall” – Decision Points anthology. May 2016

4. “Lone Star, Lost Star” – Fiction on the Web, July 31, 2016

5. “The Yellow Flag” – Sci-Phi Journal, August 2016

6. “And He Threw His Hands Up in the Air” – Siren’s Call, No. 28 August 2016

7. “Time Like a Rope” – Silver Blade magazine, October 2016

8. "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" - 3rd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, Oct. 31, 2016

9. “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” – Gallery of Curiosities podcast, Dec. 26, 2016
My preference would be to include this,  This is golden from the get-go ... though it might be considered a short form Drama presentation. I'm not certain.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form

Captain America: Civil War.

Doctor Strange:

Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent.  Oh yeah. This is going to be hilarious. This is only an audio book, so I think it works for a dramatic presentation. Now, in suggesting this, I know, obviously, that Larry wouldn't stand for this as a nomination for the Hugos, I'm certain about this, so if you're interested in the Hugos, DO NOT NOMINATE LARRY ... but I'm also a trouble maker, and this work was funny as hell. I would put this up for an SP 5 nomination ... and a Hugo, but not for Larry. Why? Because if Larry Correia doesn't want the Hugo for it, can we give it to Adam Baldwin? I'd consider flying over to Helsinki to see him give THAT acceptance speech.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form

Daredevil, Season 2 -- One Batch, Two batch.

No, seriously, did you people see this episode? This was powerful and heartbreaking, and the best treatment of Frank Castle, The Punisher, that I have ever seen. I don't care if you never watch another episode of Daredevil, watch this episode. Jon Bernthal carries this entire episode, and even most of the series.

After that ... Sorry, I binged on iZombie, and couldn't tell you what came out when without a cheat sheet. Something for Luke Cage? I haven't finished that one, so I couldn't tell you what episode would be best offhand.

Best Editor – Long Form (Rabid Puppies)

..... Huh. Yeah. Never mind. This is here just for the Rabids. Because if SP5 turns out to be all about the books, SP5 will probably not even have this section. If that's the case, assume this will be the Rabid lineup

Toni Weisskopf – Baen
Jim Mintz – Baen
Tony Daniel – Baen
Vox Day, Castalia House, if only because he did Iron Chamber of Memory

Best Fancast

Geek Gab
The Catholic Geek
Superversive Roundtable

Yes, three ... all that I've been on ... don't judge me. I'm happy when I manage to make my own podcast, don't start asking me to start hunting down other people's podcasts. I don't have the time lately.

But yeah, this is as best as I can figure until Sarah has up the rest of the rules and regulations.


Do you have suggestions? Please, but all means, leave them here. Like with SP4, leave a title, an author, and a reason why it should be in SP5. If you think it's worth a Hugo, or a Dragon ... I'll suggest that this is a different conversation. 

 

Live and Let Bite, Best Horror at the Dragon Awards

In 2017, I'm going to be getting one of these.

Nice, huh? They look nifty, right?

Here, let's pull back a bit.

Yeah, I'm pretty much going to lay my cards on the table and say this is going to win the second annual Dragon Awards in 2017.

This is not actually a boast. It's just logical.

No, seriously. Follow me around the windmills of my mind.

Live and Let Bite is everything you loved in Honor At Stake and Murphy's Law of Vampires, and then doubles down.

There were a lot of people who liked the romance in Honor At Stake. Oh, we have that. Beta readers read one of the chapters in Bite about six times.

Did you like the bad guy in Murphy's Law of Vampires? Remember how some people had an issue in Honor At Stake, with the bad guy being too easy? I fixed that with Mister Day in Murphy's. Now, we have a supernatural assassin with a whole deck up her sleeve. Remember the film Underworld? Yeah, they're pansies in comparison to what I'm going to do.

The premise?

Merlin “Merle” Kraft has been fighting the darkness for months. He left San Francisco in the capable hands of Marco Catalano and his anti-vampire team to defend them against vampires. With a special operators at his command, Kraft has been killing every vampire he can find in the Middle East. After clearing out a nest in Tora Bora, he is finally brought back to New York, and the investigation that led him to vampires in the first place.

Marco is starting to spiral. He knows it. His team knows it. Everyone around him can see that he’s just a bomb waiting to explode. The only woman who can bring him back from the brink might be the only woman who can bring him back from the edge is also the woman who lit his fuse. 

Ever since the demon Asmodeus tried to murder Marco, Amanda Colt has been hunting down every lead to find the one ultimately behind the attempt. After months of investigation, she learns that something in the dark is colder than the dark. It is a vampire assassin that Amanda has faced once before, and Amanda lost. This assassin is stronger than anything they’ve face before, and it isn’t alone.
 
With Marco ready to self-destruct, and the armies of Hell ready to descend, the three of them must come together and stop a thousand-year-old assassin that has has never been stopped, and has never failed to kill her target. 

"Over the top violence"?  Heh. Oh yeah. Covered.

At the end of the day, there's a reason I think this is the Dragon Award winner, even though Murphy's Law of Vampires is also is also eligible. This has everything of Honor At Stake and Murphy's Law of Vampires, adds more to it ...

And it has one more advantage over the first two: Resolution.

Yes, resolution.

Now, it's not the end of the series. As it is, there is at least one more novel for the main story arc, and a few other novels I have rolling around in the back of my brain. But let's say that the continuing cliffhangers of Honor At Stake and Murphy's Law of Vampires are resolved, with another, different type of cliffhanger this time.

I also blow up three buildings, and shoot up two more.

And I don't do graveyards this time.

And oh, yeah, there's also the daisy cutter in act one.

If you thought the first two were fun, then brace for impact.

So, I've got everything that everyone enjoyed in book 1 and 2, and then compress it all together.

Logically, I should take Best Horror.

But, then again, let's see if I can get anyone to hear about the book.

Heh.

Yeah, considering how shy I am, you'd never guess, huh?

Anyway, the book is en route, and the excerpts start, on the blog, this Monday, January 9th.

You can nominate here.

Might want to buy and read Honor At Stake and Murphy's Law of Vampires before the excerpts becomes spoilers.

Enjoy.

REVIEWS ARE IN

So, yeah, new reviews, for a little bit of everything.

And they are incredible.

Item the first, Daniel Humphreys really liked Honor at Stake. How can I tell?

"....with Declan Finn’s “Honor at Stake” we have a vampire book that not only hearkens back to the old school, it adds some interesting new twists on the science and mythology of the vampire plague while still remaining firmly focused on the cast of characters who inhabit Mr. Finn’s world.

....Marco has a bit of Mary Sue syndrome to him at first, though Finn does an excellent job of slowly drawing out deeper aspects of his personality, and leaves us with an interesting cliffhanger at the end that will leave you wondering what lies beneath in terms of the character.

....If you’re looking for a great entry point in a new series, ‘Honor at Stake’ is highly recommended. Five stars."

So ... yeah, I think he liked it You can buy the book here.

And then there's Lori Bird. You might remember that Lori originally reviewed Honor at Stake for The Catholic Geeks last year.

This year, it got more interesting. This one goes on for a bit, but here's the most interesting part of the review on Murphy's Law of Vampires, for me.

"Actually, I decided about halfway through that if Larry Correia had been smart, he wouldn’t have asked John Ringo to write Monster Hunter: Grunge.  He’d have gotten Declan to do it, because when it comes to writing about badass, almost-bad-guy good guys with exceptional loads of snark, Declan Finn completely outran John Ringo.  No joke.

He was running so fast, it was like John Ringo was encased in cement and being dragged in the other direction by a freight train.

I would pay a small fortune to have read the Declan Finn version of Monster Hunter: Grunge.  Sorry, Ringo."

Wow. She even went out of her way to compare me to Ringo, and deemed me better.... huh.

So, yes, she liked it.

And then, there are these two reviews on Set to Kill, one by Dragon Award Nominee Marina Fontaine, and the other by the Injustice Gamer.

Marina's thoughts...

Take an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Make it THREE murder mysteries. 

Replace the middle-aged Inspector with a security expert who happens to be a martial arts guru/all-around killing machine ....

Stick it into the naturally insane environment that is the world's largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy con (fictionally renamed WyvernCon).

....Oh and also make it funny enough to qualify as satire.

OK, so maybe it's nothing like an Agatha Christie mystery after all. But it is a darn good read. The reason I was thinking of Christie is because, underneath all the fun and goofiness and inside-baseball sci-fi literary community references, there is a solid plot worthy of an old-fashioned detective novel.....

The pacing is good....The violence is not as plentiful as Declan Finn's fans might expect, but there's still sufficient to keep the adrenaline flowing. The fully fictional characters are well enough developed that you can go into the story cold and still care about what happens to them; and those inspired by real life are easily recognizable while changed up just enough to still fit into a satirical fiction environment.

And all that for only four stars. Heh.

Alfred Genesson, The Injustice Gamer, even broke character for this review.

Ah, I'll drop the facade a little. This book hooked me harder than anything he's written yet, and I really like his previous stuff. The pacing was amazing, all the slow parts had purpose, and the action didn't let up until bodies fell. I didn't feel like there wasn't a wasted word in this book .... I went and read very late when I finished, and I have to get up EARLY for work.  .... I was amazed at what Declan spun out of the cloth of Sad Puppies bite back and Sean Ryan.

So .... wow. Yeah.

These are some amazing reviews. I'm kinda surprised. As usual.

Anyway, you can buy any or all of these here

Honor at Stake
Murphy's Law of Vampires
Set to Kill

And enjoy.

Murphy's Law of Vampires: Chapter 1, Physical Therapy

On Friday, I described just how much of an evil, bad ass SOB Mister Day is.

Today, I decided that today's the day to show you his introduction.

As the chapter suggests, Marco needs to get some work done after being beaten up at the end of Honor at Stake.

Enjoy

*****************************

Marco didn’t think about Amanda. He had to make certain he didn’t think about Amanda. Because if he did, he would probably fall into his thoughts and never fall out. After all, he wasn’t easy to love, and didn’t do much loving himself. He even surprised himself how deeply he fell into love once he was there.

And there was just so much to focus on. She fought like a professional, but was as intimidating as a chipmunk. And as sexy as the one that got away—yes, that one—only better looking. Her 5’6” height made her a perfect fit when he hugged her, and her long red-gold hair went to the small of her back in a golden fall – he just wanted to run his fingers through it.

Though with my luck, he thought, I’d find the only knots in her hair and pull them out.

And her eyes – a warm, liquid Frangelico brown with her Siberia-pale skin. Her dress was casual, covering everything, but it didn’t matter, she looked good in everything. It all seemed to be form-fitting, no matter the size. Jeans and a sweater should have covered her thoroughly, but somehow managed to be quite snug. Granted, it was a very nice form with curves that a Volvo would hug.

It gave him a warm feeling just thinking about her.

Yes, I have to stop it. Damnit.

After all, he was fully-healed, his bones knitted together, he had something else to focus on.

Staying alive in front of a half-dozen vampires.

Step one was easy. After the first three bodies were discovered around one construction site, Marco had no problem doing that math. He had contacted one of his people on the construction crew, and had them lay the groundwork for his attack.

But, hey, there are only six of them.

Marco was crouched on an I-beam twenty feet up from where he had set his trap.

This is going to be so easy.

There had been some concern about staying hidden against vampires, but apparently, vampires were just as stupid as everybody else – nobody looked up.

* * * *

This is going to be so easy. No one ever looks up.

On the top floor of the unfinished building stood a short, dark man, swathed in Armani and Prada. He was slender and unthreatening… until you looked at his eyes. The eyes were the tell – they were empty. Look at them too hard and too long, one could almost swear that they were lidless eyes of fire, straight out of Lord of the Rings, but most people never held his eyes that long.

The creature that looked like a human being gave a very tiny smile as he eyed his prey, Marco Catalano. It was strange to imagine that this child, this 19-year-old, had been such a threat. He wasn’t even that big – a 5’9” blond dancer. That was it.

The creature that commonly called itself “Mister Day” chuckled to himself. Dance of death, maybe.

But now, it was time for him to die. And Marco would never see him coming.

Marco opened with a salvo of glass phials filled with holy water. As the holy water burned them like acid, Marco dropped down onto another vampire he missed, taking his head off with a knife.

Marco moved before that vampire turned to dust. He threw his entire weight into the next vampire, and slammed a stake into the vampire’s chest, like a hammer blow. The vampire disintegrated into a pile of dust and clothing.

Marco spun, took the recently emptied jacket out of the air and hurled it at the third vampire, covering his face like a net.

Marco threw the stake in his hand, and it landed, point first, in the eye of the fourth vampire. Since the stake had been soaked in holy water, it not only penetrated the back of the eye socket, it lodged in the brain and started eating away at the gray cells. Undead or not, it was hard to focus when something was eating one’s brains.

Three down in a matter of seconds, Mister Day thought. Nicely done. The creature lowered itself into a crouch, studying his prey with admiration. Marco was mostly human; the only improvement that Day could perceive was some residual after effects of a vampire’s bite, but even that seemed to be mostly for healing fractures.

Fascinating. But, sadly, time to end it.

Day dropped from the I-beam of the top floor, and landed with a hard thud right behind Marco.

If you found this interesting, click here to buy the book and read the rest.