Titanshade coming from DAW Books

I couldn't be happier to announce that my novel Titanshade has been accepted for publication by DAW Books. 

Titanshade is a noir fantasy thriller.  It infuses classic detective tales with sorcery and strange creatures, all set in a world where 8-Tracks are state of the art, and disco rules the radio.

DAW is a terrific home for this book, and for the sequel that's currently under construction. They're an established company who've managed to maintain a family feel, and it's a joy watching this book become a reality. I'm immensely grateful to Sheila Gilbert at DAW and to my agent, Nat Sobel at Sobel Weber Associates for believing in this project. 

Check back for updates on release dates, cover art, and more.

Agents & Spies and "The Hula-Hoop Heart"

The Hula-Hoop Heart will be reprinted in a hard cover anthology entitled Agents & Spies, forthcoming from Flame Tree Press.

I've worked with Flame Tree before, and I'm delighted that this story will get another day in the sun, along with a collection of classic tales and modern authors.

The Gothic Fantasy line is a series of beautifully designed, hard cover volumes that mix a genre's foundational stories with newer voices. I'm always happy to add another of these editions to my shelf, and can't wait to get my hands on this volume when it releases in October..

When You Need a Hand...

Fun project I finished up over the weekend. 

The dismembered hand is plaster, from a lifecast of myself. Additional scultping for the rotted flesh, etc. Super cheap to complete, the most expensive item was the $6 glass container from Target. 

I used Douglas & Sturgess moulage for the lifecast. Moulage isn't the most popular product these days, but it has the admirable trait of being reusable for future molds. This is great for a hobbyist who tends to screw up molds, like I do. Just break it down and remelt it, and you're ready to go. 

If I do something similar again, I'll likely tint the plaster when I pour the cast, but it took the paint pretty well. (The photo in the grass shows it getting a clear coat halfway through the painting process.) 

I used some tinted resin for the base, and craft-store moss for a bit of decoration. The resin gives a cool dingy look while also holding the hand firmly in place on the uneven bottom. I spritzed the inside of the glass jar a poor quality clear coat to give the appearance of grime and condensation, and topped it off with a coffee-stained and dusty label.

It's not exactly camera-ready, but it was fun to make, and a good project for a backyard propmaker. I'm sure someone with better chops could really make something like this shine. 

These Books Made Me: "The Han Solo Adventures"

As a kid, I loved everything Star Wars. The characters, the drama...  Those movies planted seeds for the expanded adventures I had with Han, Luke, & Leia wherever my stubby little legs could carry me and my Darth vader helmet full of Kenner action figures. 

But just as much as I loved the movies, I loved the books. That's right, the books.

"Han Solo at Star's End" and its sequels ("Han Solo's Revenge" and "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy") blew my little kiddie mind.

First released in 1979, they were windows into full adventures just like the ones that I'd had with toys, but fully fleshed out, and introducing a full cast of characters beyond the ones I'd grown to love through the films.

The trilogy covers Han & Chewie's adventures before the films began. It'll probably come as no surprise that they're depicted as smugglers with hearts of gold. They may complain along the way, but when push comes to shove, they always set aside their own interests to help out those less fortunate than them. 

I can't objectively say how well these books are written, as I haven't revisited since childhood. But I can say this: as a kid, they were friggin' magical. I read and re-read them, bringing them along on family vacations and into all my favorite secret reading spots tucked away in the backyard, where I felt I was in a world of my own.

Today, I cite these books as the reason I have a goal of some day writing tie-in fiction. As a kid thrilling along to Han and Chewie's adventures, the author's name didn't mean anything to me -- I had no idea who this "Brian Daley" guys was -- but I did know that he had the coolest job ever.

The chance to play in someone else's sandbox is pretty irresistable. To dive into the thoughts and feelings of your favorite characters, to tell new stories that explore deeper questions... and then to share them with other fans? That's like having the best action figures ever.

And I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Brian Daley's Han Solo novels were embraced by the later Star Wars writers, leaving a thumbprint on the wider "expanded universe" of novels, comics, and short stories. Later books made mention of the events in this trilogy, and their influence has trickled down to the current batch of films and stories. 

Not too bad for a few books about a smuggler and a wookie up to no good.