I'm proud to announce the publication of my novella UNDERCITY. This is cyberpunk/future noir SF set in the universe of the ANDROID game, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'm pleased with how it came out. You can check it out here:
NISABA JOURNAL: ISSUE 1 is now available! This is an anthology of stories set in the worlds of Green Ronin Publishing and includes my story "The Prisoner," a MUTANTS AND MASTERMINDS superhero tale.
https://www.amazon.com/Nisaba-Journal-Issue-Michael-Matheson-ebook/dp/B07JNGZGT7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542316434&sr=8-1&keywords=nisaba
https://www.amazon.com/Nisaba-Journal-Issue-Michael-Matheson-ebook/dp/B07JNGZGT7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542316434&sr=8-1&keywords=nisaba
BLACK CROWNS, my second full-length novel about the Black River Irregulars, is now an audio drama from Graphic Audio. This is sword-and-sorcery with a steampunk overlay set in the Iron Kingdoms universe of Privateer Press. If you like my Forgotten Reams work, the Selden stories collected in THIS SWORD FOR HIRE, or any of my other heroic fantasy, I think you'll like the Black River Irregulars as well.
GraphicAudio's audio drama version of my fantasy novel BLACK DOGS is available now! (BLACK DOGS is my first full-length novel about the mercenary company the Black River Irregulars. It's sword and sorcery with a steampunk overlay set in Privateer Press's Iron Kingdoms universe.)
I just found out that the audio play version of MURDER IN CORVIS is now available. You can check it out here:
https://www.graphicaudio.net/the-black-river-irregulars-murder-in-corvis.html
https://www.graphicaudio.net/the-black-river-irregulars-murder-in-corvis.html
On this Independence Day, could anything be more patriotic than buying a fantasy novel by an American writer published by an American publisher?
Okay, sure, but will those things score you a sword-and-sorcery yarn to read? I think not.
Just one caveat: An earlier version of this novel was published as THE GHOST IN THE STONE. If you allready bought GHOST, I wouldn't want you to buy this one thinking you were getting something 100% new.
Although if you want to see the series continue relatively quickly, you could buy a copy for a friend or post a review. Just a thought.
Anyway, see what the critics are saying.
"Loved the scenes where creatures ripped people apart! My editor always cut that stuff out." -- A. A. Milne
"The hero is a fisherman's son. There should be more fishing!" -- Slade Gorton
"The depiction of the specter character is problematic. #NotAllGhosts" -- Jacob Marley
It's not easy to come up with a fresh approach to sword and sorcery fiction, but thanks to my chance discovery of the book cover image below, I'm ready to offer something innovative. Enjoy this taste of my forthcoming trilogy starring Borgar the Boppin' Barbarian:
Borgar glared across the smoky coffeehouse at the cloaked and hooded form of the sorcerer known as Zarzanides the Hellborn. Setting down his bongos and drawing his broadsword, the mighty-thawed barbarian growled, "Focus your audio, Daddy-O, 'cause I'm only going to warn you once. No hoodoo cat sacrifices a chick to the Demon Lords of Outer Dullsville while I'm around, you dig?"
For me, in modern adventure/thriller storytelling, no trope feels trite, predictable, and frequently downright silly more often than the revelation that the protagonist has a deeply personal and preferably tragic connection to the story problem.
In the remake of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (which I watched last night and that got me thinking about this), it turns out that Sam Chisholm is helping the beleaguered townspeople because Bartholomew Bogue's men previously raped his mom and killed his sisters.
In SPECTRE, it turns out that Ernst Stavro Blofeld has engineered all the world-shaking threats James Bond has faced through four movies because he's really Bond's resentful foster brother.
Do these revelations really strengthen the stories, or do they just seem contrived? I think the latter. I also think you can have a satisfying story where the protagonist does what he does simply because his sympathies have been engaged, he wants to get paid, or it's his job. Take, for example, the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN or a whole lot of other 007 stories.
Now, with all that said, aspiring writers, there are clearly many agents, editors, and producers who believe the protagonist's deeply personal connection is exactly what a story needs to sing, so, hey, apply what I've said here with extreme caution. But, readers, I pledge to you that if I ever write a serious story about an Allied soldier fighting in World War II, he won't be on the battlefield because Hitler stole his bicycle when he was a kid.
The complete 2019 Gen Con Writer's Symposium schedule is now available. Just in case there's someone who wants to make sure of seeing me in particular (in the words of Judy Tenuta, "It could happen!"), here my personal WS schedule:
Thursday 1 PM = Writing Convincing Aliens
Friday 3 PM - Light Troops, the Small War, the War of the Outposts
Saturday 11 AM - Be Different, But Not Too Different
Saturday 1 PM - Stories Without A Villain
Gen Con event tickets become available at noon on Sunday. You have to be a badge holder to "buy" them. WS seminars are typically free, but it's still a good idea to get a ticket in advance just to make sure you'll get in.
Some people have asked when a print edition of THE HEP CATS OF ULTHAR AND OTHER LOVECRAFTIAN TALES would be available. The answer is, as of today!
This book from Macabre Ink (an imprint of Crossroad Press) collects many of my best Cthulhu Mythos and cosmic horror stories including three never before published. The tales range through the Middle Ages to the future and from Lovecraft's New England to the stars, and while the predominant vibe is of course horror, there's also some humor as well as some swordplay for heroic fantasy readers.
Bottom line, this is a book I'm quite proud of, and if you haven't already, I hope you'll check it out.
