Hey readers! So, I’ve fallen off on keeping some updates sent out, but I’m working on getting back into it. I’ve got some updates this month, some professional changes, etc. First off, let me say welcome to anyone new. I had some new signups come over from Twitter and TikTok. Hopefully, you read this newsletter and gain something.
Over a God’s Dead Body - FREE on Kindle 5/26 - 5/31
Over a God’s Dead Body is a humorous urban fantasy tale about the violent collision of humans and gods on a small college campus. At the very opening, it starts with two gods, Seth and Loki. Seth is an Egyptian god of chaos and war. Loki is… well look if you don’t know who Loki is at this point, you’ve been hiding under a rock. Seth is, historically from mythology, a very arrogant, micromanaging, power hungry being. He’s portrayed with the head that looks like a fennec fox and in this book is very focused on wanting to rule over the rest of the Egyptian deities or claim he has the right to do that. Horus, who does have that right, went missing and is assumed dead for a long time. Before Seth can claim that crown he needs the corpse, because the last time he attempted that, Isis managed to get enough from the chopped up body of Osiris to have a son. So, it’s a pretty direct title, Seth can rule ‘Over a God’s Dead Body’.
Loki in this story is less like the Disney/MCU character. He’s based off the same mythological trickster god, but he picks up his history from mythology. In the myths, after he kills a Norse god named Balder (AKA Balder the Beautiful). To recap it shortly, Balder is a brother to Thor, son of Odin and Frigg. Frigg is so concerned that something can kill Balder that she makes every single thing in nature (the plants, the water, rocks etc) promise that it won’t kill Balder. She manages to get everything to promise, except mistletoe, because she thinks it’s harmless. All the gods get together and have a party. They celebrate the fact that nothing will kill Balder now and have fun trying to kill him with rocks, knives, spears, etc. Loki realizes the mistletoe loophole though. Loki makes a small dart of a sprig of mistletoe, finds the blind god Hod, and tricks him into throwing the dart at Balder. The mistletoe kills him and Loki is hunted for punishment. He is then imprisoned, bound and laid beneath the fangs of a great serpent that drips acidic venom in his eyes til Ragnarok would come.
That’s where Loki diverges for my story. Ragnarok doesn’t happen. Centuries of torment go by, until Seth decides to buy Loki as a prisoner from Odin. An exchange is made and Loki is now indentured to Seth for as long as he pleases. So, by this point in his life, Loki gets little breaks for a few years or here and there from Seth, but overall he’s pretty beaten down for a trickster.
Seth sends Loki to a small college town in Indiana that is rumored to have some very strange occurrences and artifacts in its collections. Loki discovers that not only could they have the body, but two people working for the college are related to him. His great-grandchildren, Esmy and Jake Hansen, work as an IT/Network Support person and a librarian. Loki looks to reconnect with newly found family, teach them how to take advantage of their gifts and hopefully find a way out of working for Seth.
In typical Loki fashion, this means some people get screwed over, some people get manipulated, some people die. What will happen with Esmy and Jake? Or the tenacious and melodramatic Canadian student that has a major grudge against the local Girl Scout den mother that uses voodoo to find the best places to sell cookies? Or maybe it will be the local amateur band DJ Dirty Stache and the Inappropriate Boners?
Pick up a copy of Over a God’s Dead Body to find out! Available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback and Audiobook on Audible/iTunes. Don’t forget, the Kindle edition is free from 5/26-5/31, so to US users all Memorial Day weekend!
Currently working on…
Last issue, I talked about writing Dead Ringer, the sequel to Over a God’s Dead Body. I’m going to confirm that I am still working on that. It’s going really well. Current word count is up to over 20,000 and I’d wager I’m about a quarter done now. There are a ton of fun ideas I have for this novel, and it’s definitely a work in process. Everyone has their own unique writing process, and mine can be a bit hectic at times.
Since the last issue, I came up with another fun independent novel that I’m working on writing. The tentative title is The Vampire and the Smiths. As the title leads you to believe, it’s about a family and a vampire. It may share some similarities with Dark Shadows, but it differs in a lot of aspects. Basic premise is it picks up at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. A town’s mayor has decided to sell a derelict old Victorian home online for $1 and a family from a big city decides to head to a rural setting and just buys it online. What no one knows is there’s a vampire living in the attic that’s been sleeping. Craziness and funny arcs occur as the family of mom, dad and a daughter learn to live and share space with a creature of the night. Very early development, but going to use this newsletter to hold me to working on it.
Aside from writing, I’ve recently started working at a new company. I’m now a Front End Software Engineer with Collibra. That changeover is exciting and fun.
What am I reading?
The most recent book I’ve finished was The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. I may have never finished his Old Man’s War series, but I’ve always been entertained by his stand alone novels like The Android’s Dream or Redshirts. This has been no different of a novel.
The story centers around a recent college grad that joins a company that is in the same space as Grubhub and Uber Eats. Following his firing from his main role at the company, the poor guy is forced to become a delivery person for that same food service app just to keep his rent paid during the start of the pandemic. This actually helps him reconnect with someone he went to college with and leads to his new job as a “guy that lifts things” for the KPS (Kaiju Presevation Society). What follows is a thrilling story of his initiation into the society, how the alternate Earth and Kaiju work, and an intricate arc with a sometimes predictable but nevertheless entertaining villain.
It was a great story, and I’ve learned since that it’s been optioned for TV.
Speaking of optioned for TV, another book I picked up was Fat Vampire by Johnny B Truant. This indie novel was picked up by NBC/Universal and will be on SyFy sometime this year as Reginald the Vampire. It was a sometimes hilarious tale of Reginald, a fat guy working for a nutrition company and his inadvertent transition to becoming a vampire. Traditional vampire society makes attempts to shun and even kill Reginald, with interesting and very apt results. I recommend picking up this indie publishing effort and can’t wait to see how they’ve adapted it to screen.
We’re heading on vacation in June, so I’m taking a few titles to the beach with me. Looking to finish up Monster Burger by DM Guay, Undead as a Doornail by William F Aicher, and Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. Tune in next month to hear more about those titles.
Creature Feature!
This month’s creature feature shows off the family’s newest puppy, Kratos. Kratos comes to us from the same parents as Medusa. So this little guy is actually a full sister to Medusa, just from a different litter.
Kratos is about 9 weeks old now, and like Medusa is a Mastiff-Poodle mix. He’s been mixing well with all the other animals, the cats have gradually accepted him into the house. The other dogs have accepted him as well, and Medusa is giving him plenty of play options. He’s even been making friends with the ferrets.
Need more?
That wraps up this month’s newsletter. Keep an eye on that inbox for future editions. In the meantime, if you want to find out more, read any of my books or just can’t wait for the next Creature Feature, here’s how!