Tag Archives: Owl Dance

Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure

My 2011 novel Owl Dance, and really the entire subsequent Clockwork Legion Steampunk series, grew out of three short stories. In “The Persian Witch,” I introduced Ramon Morales, a sheriff from New Mexico, and Fatemeh Karimi, a healer from Persia as heroes with complimentary skills. They stood for right, even if they had to stand up to authority to make the right choices. In “Electric Kachinas,” Ramon and Fatemeh have their first brush with a visitor from the stars called Legion, an alien interested in all life and perhaps a little too willing to intervene with that life. Legion would go on to inspire humanity to develop new technologies to see where it would lead them. Finally, in “The Clockwork Lobo,” I introduced Ramon and Fatemeh to Professor Maravilla, an itinerant genius who had created a mechanical wolf to study real wolves. He showed how humans themselves often came up with ideas that hadn’t always reached fame and notoriety. It was interesting to see several of these ideas reflected in Bill Willingham’s graphic novel Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure, which was comprised of seven comic books that began publication in 2013.

Featuring art by Sergio Fernandez Davila, Legenderry imagines a number of Dynamite Entertainment’s heroes and villains converging in a steampunk world. The book opens when a woman named Magda Spadarossa takes refuge in a club owned by Vampirella. Magda is being chased by a mysterious group of men in armor. However, Vampirella is able to quickly dispatch them. She and her friend, newspaper owner Brit Reid, soon discover the men are all identical. We also learn that Magda is searching for her sister, Sonja, better known to those of us who’ve read comics for a while as Red Sonja. Realizing something very dangerous is afoot, Brit disappears and reappears in his Green Hornet persona. Along with his partner, Kato, the Green Hornet spirits Magda off to an airship commanded by Captain Victory, so he can take her take her to the city of Landing, where she might get help from the famous Flash Gordon.

Meanwhile a cabal of villains including the likes of Ming the Merciless, General Tara, and Doctor Moreau have gathered to summon a demonic entity who will help them take over the world so they can divide up the spoils. Indeed back on Captain Victory’s airship, some of Doctor Moreau’s creations escape their crates, attempting to get their hands on Magda. Fortunately, test pilot Steve Austin is aboard with his pal Oscar Goldman. Steve was wounded in a heliogyro crash, but Oscar has built amazing prosthetics for him and dubbed him the “Six-Thousand Dollar Man.” The resulting battle destroys the airship and our heroes survive and make their way to a mysterious island, but are separated. Fortunately Magda is found by the mysterious Phantom and his sidekick, a mechanical wolf named Devil.

As Magda continues her journey, we learn that long ago, Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless were locked in battle and crash landed on a primitive world. Ming had just taken a potion to give himself long life and disappears to contemplate what to do next. Flash started carefully sharing technology in hopes of advancing the world enough to build a rocket ship to return to his own world. He would portion out some technology, then go to a cryogenic container and sleep for a decade, then wake and portion out more technology. As such, it’s Flash Gordon who makes this a steampunk world.

All in all, Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure proved a satisfying and action-packed tale that reimagined some familiar comic book and TV heroes in a steampunk milieu. My only disappointment is that it seemed to end on the penultimate battle. It felt like we needed two or three more issues for our heroes to finally come together and confront the cabal of master villains in an ultimate battle. Alas, this is sometimes the nature of comic books.

If you would like to check out my Clockwork Legion series, you will find epic heroes and villains, including some familiar faces from history such as Billy the Kid, Dimitri Mendeleev, and even Doc Holliday in a world altered by a creature from the stars. There will even be some chapters with a mechanical wolf! Learn more at http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#clockwork_legion

Beasts in Velvet

After an enjoyable time in New Orleans and a pleasant time signing my Scarlet Order Vampire novels at the Boutique du Vampyre Apothecary in the French Quarter, I thought it might be a good time to return to the third novel in the Vampire Genevieve Warhammer saga by Kim Newman. Before I proceed, I should explain that I purchased the Vampire Genevieve novels in a collected edition and the novel Beasts in Velvet is, indeed, the third novel in the collection. That said, it soon became apparent that Beasts in Velvet is chronologically the second novel in the Vampire Genevieve saga. After performing a quick check, I learned that it was also the second Vampire Genevieve published. As such, I’m a little confused about its third-place appearance in the collected edition. The only explanation I can think of is that the Vampire Genevieve only has a cameo in this novel and the curators decided they should open the collection with two strong appearances by the title character before including this novel for completeness.

Still, I’m glad they included this novel, because despite Genevieve’s near-absence, it’s a good novel. A killer of women stalks the fog-shrouded streets of the Empire’s capital, Altdorf. A savage murderer known as the Beast leaves behind a trail of mutilated corpses and the City Watch is unable to find any clues or stop the murders.

Baron Johann von Mecklenberg has recently returned to Altdorf to serve as a tutor to the emperor’s heir. The assignment also allows him to check on his younger brother who attends Altdorf’s university. This brother, Wolf, however is a shapeshifter who had been captured and corrupted by the forces of evil. Although he redeemed himself, Johann is naturally suspicious that he may be the beast. Because of this, Johann turns to Harald Kleindeinst, a disgraced ex-copper, for help. The baron offers to use his influence to reinstate Kleindeinst, if he can help capture the beast. These two are joined by Rosanna Ophuls, psychic scryer. Her scrying gift will help her uncover information about the killer. In doing so, she has to live the last moments of the killer’s victims to gain clues to the beast’s true identity.

Even as Johann fears that his brother is the beast and uncovers several clues that seem to indicate his fears are correct, unrest mounts in the city’s streets. A populist leader named Yefimovitch is stirring up dissent against the Empire’s elite. As trouble begins to brew and an uprising begins to well, other suspects come to light

For a book set in a gaming world, the story feels very realistic. Altdorf felt like a real Victorian-era city. The story is told through multiple points of view, so you get to see the concerns of many of Altdorf’s citizens. Although Newman does slip us into the viewpoints of many of the suspects, he never tips his hand about who the real beast is until near the end. That said, there is one clue near the end that seemed to baffle Harald, Johann and Rosanna a little more than it should have, especially since I figured it out right away. Still, it was a dandy murder mystery that avoided being too cozy.

This story’s multiple points of view and multiple plot threads along with its Victorian-era setting reminded me of my Clockwork Legion series in general and my novel Owl Dance in particular. What’s more, Owl Dance feature’s a cameo by the vampire Mercy Rodriguez from my Scarlet Order Vampire series. You can learn more about Owl Dance at: http://davidleesummers.com/owl_dance.html

In light of these brief vampire cameos, if you want to learn about a novel where the vampire takes center stage, drop over to the Threads that Bind site, where I discuss Dacre Stoker’s sequel to his great granduncle’s novel Dracula.

Join the Owl Riders!

The Clockwork Legion series came about from three things happening around the same time. While walking through my neighborhood, I happened upon a family of burrowing owls. Each day I passed, I lingered a little longer and crept a little closer—I knew I started to get a little too close when they whistled at me and grew agitated, moving from foot to foot, almost like they were dancing. Right around that time, my neighbor told me the story of a witch, supposedly buried in one of the local cemeteries. I knew that in New Mexico owls were often associated with witchcraft and dark magic, so I began to think about what would happen if the woman accused of witchcraft associated with the burrowing owls like I did. Finally, David B. Riley invited me to submit a story to an anthology called Trails: Intriguing Stories of the Wild West. That final act prompted me to actually write the story I’d been thinking about. That first story went on to become the first chapter of Owl Dance and that novel went on to become the first book of my Clockwork Legion series, which tells the story of the formation of the Owl Rider corps, an alternate universe version of Billy the Kid’s Regulators.

This month, I have an extra special deal on the series. The first book is absolutely free. The second is only 99 cents. The third is half off and the fourth is 25% off. I hope the first book will draw you in. If it does, be sure to return before the end of the month and get these great discounts on all the titles. Sound like a great deal? If so, read on and learn about the books and how you can get them!

Owl Dance

Owl Dance is set in 1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of airships from Czarist Russia invades the United States?

According to Richard Harland, the author of Worldshaker and Liberator, “Owl Dance has everything. Airships, owl-ornithopters, a clockwork wolf, a multiple alien entity, a fast-shooting sheriff, a Russian plot to conquer America, and a very sexy, eco-aware, Bahá’í Persian healer-woman – I mean everything! Heaps of fun!”

You can pick up a copy of Owl Dance for free at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1116949. Coupon code SS100 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Lightning Wolves

Lightning Wolves is set in 1877. The Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Seven Exalted Orders says Lightning Wolves depicts the “…Old West as we wish it had been. Full of adventure and crazy inventions but with some honesty about the prejudices and mores of the day. This is as much alternate history as adventure tale, with an ethnically diverse cast fighting battles that never were. Appearances by a few historical figures, like Geromino, add spice. There’s a poignant undercurrent on how inventions meant to lift humanity up can draw us into the same old quagmire of ambition and greed, plus an intriguing alien race trying to find its way through First Contact with humans. Nicely done.”

Lightning Wolves is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119716. Coupon code SSW75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

The Brazen Shark

In The Brazen Shark, pirate captain, inventor, and entrepreneur Onofre Cisneros sweeps his friends Fatemeh and Ramon Morales off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Once there, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Robert E. Vardeman, author of The Klingon Gambit and Gateway to Rust and Ruin says, “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

The Brazen Shark is available for half price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1139224. Coupon code SSW50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Owl Riders

When Fatemeh Karimi married Ramon Morales, she neglected to share one small detail. She was already betrothed to a merchant named Hamid Farzan. She had no interest in Hamid or an arranged marriage. She wanted to live life on her own terms. Eight years after marrying Ramon, she assumed Hamid had long forgotten about her, as she had him.

Owl Riders finds Ramon and Fatemeh settled in New Orleans. Ramon works as an attorney, Fatemeh owns a pharmacy, and they’re proud parents of a precocious daughter. Out west, Apaches armed with powerful battle wagons have captured Fort Bowie and threaten Tucson. Businessmen with an interest in a peaceful solution ask Ramon to come west and settle the conflict. Meanwhile Hamid arrives in New Orleans and he has not forgotten Fatemeh or her vows to him.

Now, the famed Owl Riders must assemble once again to reunite Ramon and Fatemeh so they can tame the Wild West.

Pick up Owl Riders for just $2.99 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148595. Coupon code SSW25 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Arkadi and the Lost Titan

A little over ten years ago, my daughter and I decided to see the movie Jodorowsky’s Dune at the local theater. This entertaining documentary told the story of how Chilean-French filmmaker and writer Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a film of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune back in the mid 1970s. Along the way, he gathered up a team of writers and artists such as Dan O’Bannon, H.R. Giger, and Moebius to develop a script and designs. While the film never happened, many of these people would continue to collaborate and create their own iconic films. The documentary also made me curious about Jodorowsky’s comics, especially The Incal, which he created with Moebius. This in turn led me to Jodorowsky’s English-language publisher, Humanoids. I have been following Humanoids ever since and this past year, they ran their first ever Kickstarter campaign to fund an English-language translation of the French graphic novel Arkadi and the Lost Titan by Caza.

While I wasn’t familiar with Caza, I had read other books Humanoids had published and thought Caza’s work sounded intriguing, so I took a chance and supported the campaign. My digital copy of the book arrived just before Christmas and I’ve now had a chance to give it a read.

Arkadi and the Lost Titan is set in the distant future, more than 10,000 years hence. The Earth has become phase-locked in it’s orbit around the sun, so one side always faces the sun and the other always faces away. The catastrophe that changed Earth’s rotation also shattered the moon, leaving it a ring around the Earth. Over the millennia, what little human and animal life that survived the catastrophe has mutated and evolved. As the graphic novel opens, we meet a tribe of survivors living near the terminator between the day and night sides of the planet. Among them is the brave, young warrior Arkas. As the sleep cycle comes upon the villagers, Arkas is assigned guard duty. Having grown complacent, Arkas allows himself to be distracted by his lover. Meanwhile, the village leader’s wife and child are kidnapped by creatures who live just over into the planet’s night side. This leads Arkas to begin a quest to get them back. When he fails, he’s forced to live a life in exile. Years later, he falls in love with a witch and has a son named Arkadi. The witch has a “magic mirror” which shows Arkas his life’s purpose. Through it, he learns about a bastion of humans and gods in the center of Earth’s nightside called Dis and leaves to seek it out.

In the meantime, Arkadi is raised by his mother, Albe. Unlike his father, Arkadi has a mutation, a vestigial head on one shoulder that has its own faint intelligence. In the culture that has developed, a mutated human can still be treated as an ordinary human through a right-of-passage ceremony. Although Arkadi is strong and willful, he fails the right of passage and is thrown into conflict with the other young people of the tribe. As he attempts to flee, he’s saved by a warrior woman named Pan-dra, sent from the city his father had left to seek. Pan-dra is on a quest to find the lost Titan, Or-phe, whose job it was to provide dream images to the people of the lost city of Dis.

It turns out Dis was built as a shelter to protect humans and technology when the great catastrophe hit the world. The Titans are great robots and cyborgs named for the Greek Titans, each tasked with jobs to help humanity survive. Pro-me was tasked with developing nuclear fusion. A-Tlas is the literal foundation and support structure of Dis. There’s the mysterious Legion, an army of robots who have a job long forgotten but of great importance. In this pantheon, Or-phe provides the content for the “dream screens,” devices that allow the few remaining protected humans to have proper REM sleep, necessary for survival.

Arkadi and Pan-dra’s quest take them on an odyssey around this changed Earth. They are eventually swallowed up by a land whale where they find a paradisiacal world, which at once tempts them away from their path even as it leads them to the object of their quest. In the end, they learn how catastrophe came to the Earth and must find a way to put it right while also assuring that Or-phe’s dreams are restored to the world.

I gather Caza wrote and drew this 510-page graphic novel over the span of some 20 years. I love the way it blends its science fiction story with themes from Greek mythology and numerous literary sources. The art in this volume is breathtaking. While I didn’t quite buy into the story’s explanation for the catastrophe that struck the world, I really appreciated the metaphor and story points that humans have a real responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth, or else suffer grave consequences. I found Caza’s epic both thought-provoking and beautiful to look at and I’m sure I’ll seek out more of Caza’s work as well as returning to Arkadi and the Lost Titan for another read. Arkadi and the Lost Titan is available for pre-order from Humanoids at: https://www.humanoids.com/book/1471

Caza’s Legion robots brought a particular smile to my face given how they reminded me of Legion, the interstellar nanites that turn up in the wild west in my novel Owl Dance. You can learn more about my novel at: http://davidleesummers.com/owl_dance.html

A Quest Worthy of the Angels

I hope you’re having a delightful holiday season! The title of today’s post is inspired by a scene in the first book of my Clockwork Legion series. In it, Fatemeh Karimi asks Ramon Morales how he celebrates Christmas. He mentions that his family sings songs and she asks him to teach her a song worthy of the angels. This is near the start of series of quests that will ultimately take them around the world in hopes of bringing peace and healing where they can. Ramon and Fatemeh aren’t always angels, but they do their best to do good. What’s more, the Clockwork Legion series also crosses over with my Scarlet Order vampire series. In book one, Ramon helps none other than the vampire Mercy Rodriguez on the Day of the Dead. In book four, you’ll meet the Lalande family, who feature in Ordeal of the Scarlet Order. If you like one of these series, you’re bound to enjoy the other.

This month, I have an extra special deal on the novels. I’m offering all four novels for 75% off at Smashwords for their End of Year event. That means you can get all four novels for the price of one at regular price. Sound like a cool deal? The coupon code should be applied automatically at check out, but if you need it, it’s SEY75 If so, read on and learn about the books and how you can get them!

Owl Dance

Owl Dance is set in 1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of airships from Czarist Russia invades the United States?

According to Richard Harland, the author of Worldshaker and Liberator, “Owl Dance has everything. Airships, owl-ornithopters, a clockwork wolf, a multiple alien entity, a fast-shooting sheriff, a Russian plot to conquer America, and a very sexy, eco-aware, Bahá’í Persian healer-woman – I mean everything! Heaps of fun!”

You can pick up a copy of Owl Dance for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1116949

Lightning Wolves

Lightning Wolves is set in 1877. The Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Seven Exalted Orders says Lightning Wolves depicts the “…Old West as we wish it had been. Full of adventure and crazy inventions but with some honesty about the prejudices and mores of the day. This is as much alternate history as adventure tale, with an ethnically diverse cast fighting battles that never were. Appearances by a few historical figures, like Geromino, add spice. There’s a poignant undercurrent on how inventions meant to lift humanity up can draw us into the same old quagmire of ambition and greed, plus an intriguing alien race trying to find its way through First Contact with humans. Nicely done.”

Lightning Wolves is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119716

The Brazen Shark

In The Brazen Shark, pirate captain, inventor, and entrepreneur Onofre Cisneros sweeps his friends Fatemeh and Ramon Morales off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Once there, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Robert E. Vardeman, author of The Klingon Gambit and Gateway to Rust and Ruin says, “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

The Brazen Shark is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1139224

Owl Riders

When Fatemeh Karimi married Ramon Morales, she neglected to share one small detail. She was already betrothed to a merchant named Hamid Farzan. She had no interest in Hamid or an arranged marriage. She wanted to live life on her own terms. Eight years after marrying Ramon, she assumed Hamid had long forgotten about her, as she had him.

Owl Riders finds Ramon and Fatemeh settled in New Orleans. Ramon works as an attorney, Fatemeh owns a pharmacy, and they’re proud parents of a precocious daughter. Out west, Apaches armed with powerful battle wagons have captured Fort Bowie and threaten Tucson. Businessmen with an interest in a peaceful solution ask Ramon to come west and settle the conflict. Meanwhile Hamid arrives in New Orleans and he has not forgotten Fatemeh or her vows to him.

Now, the famed Owl Riders must assemble once again to reunite Ramon and Fatemeh so they can tame the Wild West.

Pick up Owl Riders for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148595

Meet the Clockwork Legion

The Clockwork Legion series came about from three things happening around the same time. While walking through my neighborhood, I happened upon a family of burrowing owls. Each day I passed, I lingered a little longer and crept a little closer—I knew I started to get a little too close when they whistled at me and grew agitated, moving from foot to foot, almost like they were dancing. Right around that time, my neighbor told me the story of a witch, supposedly buried in one of the local cemeteries. I knew that in New Mexico owls were often associated with witchcraft and dark magic, so I began to think about what would happen if the woman accused of witchcraft associated with the burrowing owls like I did. Finally, David B. Riley invited me to submit a story to an anthology called Trails: Intriguing Stories of the Wild West. That final act prompted me to actually write the story I’d been thinking about. That first story went on to become the first chapter of Owl Dance and that novel went on to become the first book of my Clockwork Legion series.

This month, I have an extra special deal on the series. The first book is absolutely free. The second is only 99 cents. The third is half off and the fourth is 25% off. I hope the first book will draw you in. If it does, be sure to return before the end of the month and get these great discounts on all the titles. Sound like a great deal? If so, read on and learn about the books and how you can get them!

Owl Dance

Owl Dance is set in 1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of airships from Czarist Russia invades the United States?

According to Richard Harland, the author of Worldshaker and Liberator, “Owl Dance has everything. Airships, owl-ornithopters, a clockwork wolf, a multiple alien entity, a fast-shooting sheriff, a Russian plot to conquer America, and a very sexy, eco-aware, Bahá’í Persian healer-woman – I mean everything! Heaps of fun!”

You can pick up a copy of Owl Dance for free at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1116949. Coupon code SS100 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Lightning Wolves

Lightning Wolves is set in 1877. The Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Seven Exalted Orders says Lightning Wolves depicts the “…Old West as we wish it had been. Full of adventure and crazy inventions but with some honesty about the prejudices and mores of the day. This is as much alternate history as adventure tale, with an ethnically diverse cast fighting battles that never were. Appearances by a few historical figures, like Geromino, add spice. There’s a poignant undercurrent on how inventions meant to lift humanity up can draw us into the same old quagmire of ambition and greed, plus an intriguing alien race trying to find its way through First Contact with humans. Nicely done.”

Lightning Wolves is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119716. Coupon code SSW75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

The Brazen Shark

In The Brazen Shark, pirate captain, inventor, and entrepreneur Onofre Cisneros sweeps his friends Fatemeh and Ramon Morales off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Once there, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Robert E. Vardeman, author of The Klingon Gambit and Gateway to Rust and Ruin says, “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

The Brazen Shark is available for half price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1139224. Coupon code SSW50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Owl Riders

When Fatemeh Karimi married Ramon Morales, she neglected to share one small detail. She was already betrothed to a merchant named Hamid Farzan. She had no interest in Hamid or an arranged marriage. She wanted to live life on her own terms. Eight years after marrying Ramon, she assumed Hamid had long forgotten about her, as she had him.

Owl Riders finds Ramon and Fatemeh settled in New Orleans. Ramon works as an attorney, Fatemeh owns a pharmacy, and they’re proud parents of a precocious daughter. Out west, Apaches armed with powerful battle wagons have captured Fort Bowie and threaten Tucson. Businessmen with an interest in a peaceful solution ask Ramon to come west and settle the conflict. Meanwhile Hamid arrives in New Orleans and he has not forgotten Fatemeh or her vows to him.

Now, the famed Owl Riders must assemble once again to reunite Ramon and Fatemeh so they can tame the Wild West.

Pick up Owl Riders for just $2.99 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148595. Coupon code SSW25 should be applied automatically at checkout.

The Battles of Mora

When I wrote my novel Owl Dance almost fifteen years ago, I had the idea that the protagonist, Ramon Morales, would meet a Captain Nemo-like character who I called Onofre Cisneros. In the novel, he attacks ships with his submarine, the Legado, in an attempt to show its worth as a weapon. In the years since, I’ve realized that Cisneros also was something of a response to Ragnar Daneskjöld from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, a pirate who robs from the poor to give to the rich. Cisneros basically was an engineering genius who wanted the world to recognize his abilities, but because he came from Mexico, investors in the United States and Europe didn’t take him seriously. In Owl Dance, Cisneros gets turned onto a better path and he ends up playing a major role in three of the four Clockwork Legion novels along with my parallel-universe novella Revolution of Air and Rust, where an older Cisneros teams up with Pancho Villa.

When Danielle Ackley-McPhail invited me to write a story for the anthology Other Aether, I wanted to investigate the circumstances that made Cisneros who he was when he’s introduced in Owl Dance. All I had really written was that he was introduced to the work of Spanish Inventor Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol and improved on his submarine design. I hadn’t really put a lot of thought into his childhood and how he came to his adopted home of Ensenada, Mexico, which wouldn’t have existed at the time of his birth. While reading and thinking about my story, I was struck by how many armed conflicts took place on Mexican soil between the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries. There was the Mexican War of Independence, Spain’s attempts to reconquer Mexico, the Mexican-American War, the French invasions of Mexico, and the Mexican Revolution, just to name a few. It would be hard to grow up in Mexico in that period and not be touched by warfare.

I realized that Onofre Cisneros would have been just about the right age to have been a boy during the Mexican-American War and I also realized that an important battle happened in Northeastern New Mexico, not far from the town where my parents lived when first married, which is Las Vegas, New Mexico. In 1847, the United States government had claimed New Mexico as U.S. Territory, but no treaties had been signed and the Mexican-American war was still in progress. Word had reached the U.S. Army that over 150 men had gathered in the village of Mora to strike U.S. forces. For reasons not entirely clear, Captain Israel Hendley decided to strike the Mexican militia in Mora with a force of only 80 men and no artillery support. The U.S. force was driven off and Hendley was killed. Despite that, the army took fifteen people prisoner and killed 25.

A little over a week later, the U.S. Army returned to Mora under the command of Captain Jesse Morin. This time they brought over 200 men and two Howitzers. They literally razed the village of Mora to the ground. Those who weren’t killed fled to the nearby mountains. I imagined that Cisneros was one of those who fled with some of his family while the screams of uncles and aunts rang in his ears. This is only a small part of the story, but it plants the seeds of Cisneros’s bitterness. What’s more, the area around Mora is familiar to me and, for a time, I even served on the board of the New Mexico Center of the Book with a librarian from Mora.

There are likely a few more chapters in Cisneros’s life to connect the dots between the events of “No One Alone” and Owl Dance. The whole story could possibly be a novella. It’s certainly something to think about, especially since Tangent Online gave my story in Other Aether a nice review. The reviewer described the story as “beautifully heartbreaking” which was exactly what I was going for. You can read the complete review here: https://tangentonline.com/print-other/other-aether-tales-of-global-steampunk-ed-by-greg-schauer-danielle-ackley-mcphail/

Other Aether was funded as part of eSpec Books’ Picking Up Steam campaign and copies should be shipping soon. If you missed the campaign, you can pre-order the anthology at: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Aether-Tales-Global-Steampunk-ebook/dp/B0CW1FRMR5/

A major part of the Clockwork Legion novels is showing the healing journey Onofre Cisneros undergoes. The series starts in Owl Dance, which you can learn about here: http://davidleesummers.com/owl_dance.html

Finally, if you want to see Cisneros’s adventures with Pancho Villa, check out the novella Revolution of Air and Rust: http://davidleesummers.com/Air-and-Rust.html

A Journey Worthy of the Angels

I hope you’re having a delightful holiday season! The title of today’s post is inspired by a scene in the first book of my Clockwork Legion series. In it, Fatemeh Karimi asks Ramon Morales how he celebrates Christmas. He mentions that his family sings songs and she asks him to teach her a song worthy of the angels. This is near the start of a great journey that will ultimately take them around the world in a quest to bring peace and healing where they can. Ramon and Fatemeh aren’t always angels, but they do their best to do good. What’s more, the Clockwork Legion series also crosses over with my Scarlet Order vampire series. In book one, Ramon helps none other than the vampire Mercy Rodriguez on the Day of the Dead. In book four, you’ll meet the Lalande family, who feature in my forthcoming novel. If you really want to be ready for Ordeal of the Scarlet Order, you should read these books as well!

This month, I have an extra special deal on the novels. I’m offering all four novels for 75% off at Smashwords for their End of Year event. That means you can get all four novels for the price of one at regular price. Sound like a cool deal? The coupon code should be applied automatically at check out, but if you need it, it’s SEY75 If so, read on and learn about the books and how you can get them!

Owl Dance

Owl Dance is set in 1876, Sheriff Ramon Morales of Socorro, New Mexico meets a beguiling woman named Fatemeh Karimi, who is looking to make a new start after escaping oppression in her homeland. When an ancient lifeform called Legion comes to Earth, they are pulled into a series of events that will change the history of the world as we know it. In their journeys, Ramon and Fatemeh encounter mad inventors, dangerous outlaws and pirates. Their resources are Ramon’s fast draw and Fatemeh’s uncanny ability to communicate with owls. The question is, will that be enough to save them when a fleet of airships from Czarist Russia invades the United States?

According to Richard Harland, the author of Worldshaker and Liberator, “Owl Dance has everything. Airships, owl-ornithopters, a clockwork wolf, a multiple alien entity, a fast-shooting sheriff, a Russian plot to conquer America, and a very sexy, eco-aware, Bahá’í Persian healer-woman – I mean everything! Heaps of fun!”

You can pick up a copy of Owl Dance for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1116949

Lightning Wolves

Lightning Wolves is set in 1877. The Russians have invaded the Pacific Northwest and are advancing into California. New weapons have proven ineffective or dangerously unstable and the one man who can help has disappeared into Apache Country, hunting ghosts. A healer and a former sheriff lead a band into the heart of the invasion to determine what makes the Russian forces so unstoppable while a young inventor attempts to unleash the power of the lightning wolves.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Seven Exalted Orders says Lightning Wolves depicts the “…Old West as we wish it had been. Full of adventure and crazy inventions but with some honesty about the prejudices and mores of the day. This is as much alternate history as adventure tale, with an ethnically diverse cast fighting battles that never were. Appearances by a few historical figures, like Geromino, add spice. There’s a poignant undercurrent on how inventions meant to lift humanity up can draw us into the same old quagmire of ambition and greed, plus an intriguing alien race trying to find its way through First Contact with humans. Nicely done.”

Lightning Wolves is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119716

The Brazen Shark

In The Brazen Shark, pirate captain, inventor, and entrepreneur Onofre Cisneros sweeps his friends Fatemeh and Ramon Morales off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Once there, a British agent makes Cisneros an offer he can’t refuse and the captain must travel to Japan. Wanting to see more of the world, Ramon and Fatemeh ask to accompany the captain only to find themselves embroiled in a plot by samurai who steal a Russian airship, hoping to overthrow the Japanese emperor.

Robert E. Vardeman, author of The Klingon Gambit and Gateway to Rust and Ruin says, “Airships battling! Samurai fomenting war with Russia! Historical characters and powerfully drawn fictional ones mixing it up with political intrigues make David Lee Summers’ The Brazen Shark a steampunk novel not to be missed. Put it at the top of your reading list. Now!”

The Brazen Shark is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1139224

Owl Riders

When Fatemeh Karimi married Ramon Morales, she neglected to share one small detail. She was already betrothed to a merchant named Hamid Farzan. She had no interest in Hamid or an arranged marriage. She wanted to live life on her own terms. Eight years after marrying Ramon, she assumed Hamid had long forgotten about her, as she had him.

Owl Riders finds Ramon and Fatemeh settled in New Orleans. Ramon works as an attorney, Fatemeh owns a pharmacy, and they’re proud parents of a precocious daughter. Out west, Apaches armed with powerful battle wagons have captured Fort Bowie and threaten Tucson. Businessmen with an interest in a peaceful solution ask Ramon to come west and settle the conflict. Meanwhile Hamid arrives in New Orleans and he has not forgotten Fatemeh or her vows to him.

Now, the famed Owl Riders must assemble once again to reunite Ramon and Fatemeh so they can tame the Wild West.

Pick up Owl Riders for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148595

This Strange Way of Dying

This past summer, I wrote a story called “No One Alone” for the anthology Other Aether, which will be published by eSpec Books early next year. My story is set in Mexico circa 1876 and tells the story of the inventor Onofre Cisneros and how he acquired plans for a Spanish submarine and improved on it. He then embarks on a quest to the United States to try to interest an investor. Meanwhile, he’s in love with Estrella, the daughter of a fishing boat captain. Can Onofre win Estrella’s hand while pursuing his dreams for a prosperous and peaceful Mexico? To write this story, I really needed to immerse myself in Mexican culture, and particularly the culture of nineteenth century Mexico. At some level, this is easy. My mom’s family has lived near the Mexican border since around the middle of the nineteenth century and I’ve spent time in Mexico. However, I wanted to immerse myself even more. One of the places I turned was Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s fine collection of short stories This Strange Way of Dying.

The fifteen stories in Moreno-Garcia’s collection are set between the early colonial period and the near future. It’s easy to think of the stories as a mix of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, but that minimizes how life in this part of the world can have a magical quality that’s really just the way many people see the world. When reading the collection, I focused a lot of my attention to the historical stories. “Bed of Scorpions” told the story of a brother and sister who go to a remote house, hoping to convince the owner to marry the sister so they can inherit the money. This proved a wonderful Gothic tale. In “Cemetery Man,” a woman soldier during the Mexican Revolution is “rescued” by a scientist trying to bring soldiers back to life. This proved a great reminder that women in 1800s Mexico could and did stand up for themselves. “Shade of the Ceiba Tree” which is set in pre-colonial Mexico also provided a thought-provoking look at the power of women, as a young woman offers herself as a sacrifice to a “god” while hoping to find her sister. I came away from these historical tales reminded how much invasion and warfare defined much of life in nineteenth century Mexico.

Getting into the more contemporary stories, I really loved “Bloodlines” which told the story of a family of witches and looked at who holds the power among a group of siblings. The title story “This Strange Way of Dying” imagines a young woman romantically pursued by death, which was a wonderful exploration of the way death is an inescapable part of life. “Driving with Aliens in Tijuana” took us to the near future where a woman is hired to spend time with an alien and an alien’s friend. It serves as a look at “the other” from a Mexican perspective. There’s even a vampire tale in “Stories with Happy Endings” about a journalist who interviews a vampire.

The stories in This Strange Way of Dying are all quick reads and they all left me wanting to read even more by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Fortunately, she has a number of books out there to dive into.

While you’re waiting to read “No One Alone” in Other Aether, you can learn more about Onofre Cisneros in my Clockwork Legion series. He appears in all four novels, which you can explore at: http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#clockwork_legion

There Be Dragons Here

Today finds me at Bubonicon in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you’re here in town, I hope you’ll drop by and visit me in the Bubonicon dealer’s room or see me on panels. Last weekend, I got to do a convention in my home town of Las Cruces. However, travel to conventions has advantages as well. When my wife and I traveled to Denver recently for Fan Expo, we had the opportunity to listen to the latest Space: 1999 release from Big Finish Productions entitled Dragon’s Domain. These audio dramas re-imagine the 1975-1977 series, sometimes telling new stories and sometimes retelling classic tales. The latest set of three adventures featured three tales, “Skull in the Sky” by Marc Platt, “The Godhead Interrogative” by Nicholas Briggs and the title story, “Dragon’s Domain” also by Nicholas Briggs.

I discussed Marc Platt back in my review of the previous set, “Earthbound.” He wrote two of my favorite Doctor Who tales, one for screen and one for print. His story “Skull in the Sky” starts out sounding like it will be a retelling of the classic episode “The Last Sunset” in which an alien device arrives on Earth’s moon, which is wandering the galaxy, and gives it an atmosphere. In “Skull in the Sky” the moon encounters a weird glowing cloud, which unleashes a deluge on the moon and produces an atmosphere. Unfortunately, astronaut Alan Carter is lost in the process. Aside from that, this proves a happier event for the Alphans than the one in “The Last Sunset.” This time around, the moon retains its atmosphere and lakes long enough for people to move out onto the moon’s surface and cultivate plants. Unfortunately, Commander John Koenig, again played brilliantly by Mark Bonnar, falls afoul of Space Commissioner Simmonds and is exiled from the community. Six years after the moon becomes habitable, Alan Carter mysteriously reappears thinking only a couple of hours have passed. Soon after that, the beautiful Aurora Borealis-like cloud reappears. Through it, one can vaguely discern something that looks like a skull in the sky. This episode does a nice job of giving us an in-universe explanation for the differences between the audio productions and the television series. In fact, it even gives us a possible explanation for why season one and two are so different from each other.

It’s interesting to see that “The Godhead Interrogative” also starts out a little like “The Last Sunset” when alien probes arrive on the moon. Only this time, they aren’t there to give the moon an atmosphere, but to give the moon a push toward an alien world. In the meantime, computer specialist Dashka Kano, played by Amaka Okafor, is translating words on an artifact left behind by the alien Zantor in the “Earthbound” episode. Along the way, the Alphans encounter a space vessel filled with dead people. In each case, it appears something exploded from their head. The Alphans aren’t given much time to ponder this as the engines continue to push the moon toward the planet. Once there, the engines stop and a team goes down to investigate. They discover most of the population dead just like on the ship. They also find a computer that’s trying to ask a question. It’s up to Dashka to translate the question so they know how to answer. In the end, the story gives us a sly look at social media through the eyes of people who left Earth at the end of the 20th century.

The final story in this set is a retelling of the classic episode “Dragon’s Domain,” fondly remembered as one of the scariest episodes of the original series. In the audio version, the moon finds its way to a solar system where it will actually remain for a few years. What’s more, one of the planets in the system has the raw materials that will allow them to build a space vessel that might carry them back to Earth. Astronaut Alan Carter, played by Glen McCready, and spaceship designer Monique Bouchere, played by Lara Lemon, volunteer to go to the planet and supervise the work. The years progress and ultimately, they produce a ship called Ultra. After three years on the planet, Alan and Monique have fallen in love and once the ship’s ready, they volunteer to take it on its first test flight. That’s when things go horribly wrong. Fans of the original series will know they encounter a nightmarish monster that would give many kids nightmares a few years before the xenomorph would menace the Nostromo’s crew in Alien. This is a fine retelling of the original that echoes elements of the episode as originally conceived.

Dragon’s Domain is another fine audio production in Big Finish’s Space: 1999 range. I liked how this set allowed stories that spanned years. After all, given that the moon is wandering aimlessly through space when not propelled by alien engines, one might expect years to pass without much happening. I also enjoyed how they maintained the tension between Commander Koenig and Commissioner Simmonds without letting it go over the top. I was especially pleased to see Dashka Kano get a little more to do in this set than previous sets. After all, her counterpart, computer specialist David Kano from the original series was always a favorite character.

As noted at the top of the post, I’m at Bubonicon this weekend. I have almost all of my own media at our table. Two things I don’t have are the audiobooks of Owl Dance and Lightning Wolves, simply because they don’t exist on physical media! If you would like to check them out visit: