Updates and More: Muscle Memory 2. Beast Within 2. Never Never Stories. Seeded. Monster Hunter Alpha. Ghost Story.

It's been a long time since last I updated with interesting upcoming titles, so, here's a new update.

Steve Lowe's continues the story to his Bizarro Novella Muscle Memory published earlier this year by Eraserhead Press, with a free four part serial which he has been posting to his blog, called Muscle Memory 2: More Memory, More Muscle. For those of you who have read Muscle Memory and enjoyed it as much as I did, you can jump on over to Steve's site HERE and read the first few serials and catch up.

The continuing story includes many of the same characters from Muscle Memory, as well as a whole new can of worms.

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On the short story front, Graveside Tales, publisher of such novels as The Wide Game by Michael West and Huffer by Michael Hultquist, have released their newest anthology. Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey includes such talented and amazing authors as: JG Faherty, Joshua Reynolds, Richard Farnsworth and Michael West.

Here's the synopsis: Predator and prey. Hunter and hunted. These aren't your usual shapeshifter stories. These are the stories of bears, tigers, spiders, birds and more. Werewolves in steampunk England. Werespiders in Japan. Werepelicans in Louisiana. Wereferrets in New York. This is an anthology that shifts the normal perceptions of who is the predator and who is the prey. Come take a walk on the wild side with the most unusual of guides and enjoy Beast Within 2.


It's out now and ready for you to purchase. Take your pick: Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, or BookDepository.com.

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Also soon to see print in trade-paperback sometime in August, is author Jason Sanford's new collection of stories called Never Never Stories. Out now in e-book, Never Never Stories is published through Spotlight Publishing.

Here's a list of the ten stories that will see print:

• The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rains
• When Thorns Are The Tips of Trees
• Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows
• Rumspringa
• Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime
• Memoria
• Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep
• Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas
• A Twenty-First Century Fairy Love Story
• The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola

For more information, check out Jason Sanford's website for details on signed and numbered editions of Never Never Stories for cheap. And if the whole signed and numbered edition thing isn't for you, have no fear, you can still order it through these fine retailers: Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and your local Indy bookstore.

Look for a review for this title in the near future.

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One of my favorite books from last year was Brine by Adrienne Jones. I'm happy to announce that Adrienne currently has another novel expected to release sometime next month. Seeded is Jones' newest novel from Mundania Press. Here's the synopsis for Seeded: 

Callum Doherty picks up a trinket from an odd jewelry dealer at a hippie music festival, "a good luck charm" the man tells him. But days after clasping the pendant around his neck, he discovers it can't be removed. After visiting every locksmith and jeweler in the city with no success, he reluctantly accepts he's stuck with the thing.

But when an overwhelming burst of success transforms him into a wealthy superstar overnight, he wonders what other sudden life changes are linked to the pendant -- like the terrifying shapeshifters he spies following him through the city slinking around his property, and watching him while he sleeps.

You can currently pick up Seeded for the kindle, HERE.

Look for a review for this title in the near future, as well.

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It's been almost a year, and fans are still clamoring for more of Owen Pitt and the Monster Hunter International crew. Well, faithful and loyal readers, have no fear: Monster Hunter Alpha just hit bookshelves. Which means that you shouldn't be reading this right now. Instead, you should be comfortably situated with your very own copy of Monster Hunt Alpha with your favorite drink and snack. For those of you who still aren't convinced, here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

Pitt never met a monster he couldn't shoot -- Except one. Earl Harbinger may be the leader of Monster Hunter International, but he's also got a secret. Nearly a century ago, Earl was cursed to be a werewolf. When Earl receives word that one of his oldest foes, a legendarily vicious werewolf that worked for the KGB, has mysteriously appeared in the remote woods of Michigan, he decides to take care of some unfinished business.

But Another force is working to bring about the creation of a whole new species of werewolf. When darkness falls, the final hunt begins, and the only thing standing in their way is a handful of locals, a lot of firepower, and Earl Harbinger's stubborn refusal to roll over and play dead.

And if that doesn't convince you that Monster Hunter International is a book you should be reading right now, then you should be slapped. You can find copies HERE and HERE.

A full review for Monster Hunter Alpha will be posted very shortly. Look for it soon.

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And finally, last but not least, is a title that geeks and nerds the world over have been waiting to get their grubby little hands on since they put down the last Harry Dresden novel. Ghost Story, after having been pushed back another several months, has finally seen the light of day. For those who don't know what it's about, here's the synopsis for it:

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unkown assassin.

But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has no body, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spireits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends -- and his own soul -- Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...

And there you go, folks. Not a lot to go off of, but enough to satiate your craving just a little longer...

~Rodney

Muscle Memory Book Review

Title: Muscle Memory
Author: Steve Lowe
Publisher: Eraserhead Press
Pages: 76
ISBN: 9781936383016

In short fiction, it takes a lot to find the right words, or for that matter the proper way to convey a story. Limitations help to prove the authors abilities, and quite honestly, short fiction is the determining factor for me when it comes to a new author. If they can successfully pull of a short story, novella, or novelette and leave me wandering, or thinking hard after finishing it, then they get my stamp of approval. And more times than not, I end up going back that authors stuff, in every capacity available.

Steve Lowe is now one of those authors. From the get-go, reading the synopsis for the novella, it just sounded awesome. In a world where it seems tropes are the common thing; overdone and horribly at that, it's nice to see an author able to take an old favorite and breath new life into it. Steve does this brilliantly in Muscle Memory, with the Ol' Switcheroo. Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Freaky Friday; Like Father, Like Son, and Vice-Versa, and then take those and flip 'em on their heads. Throw in a dash of government conspiracy, aliens, male breast feeding, and a talking sheep, and you've got Muscle Memory. 

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

Billy Gillespie wakes up one morning to discover his junk is gone. In its place is his wife's junk. Billy is now Tina, and Tina is dead. That's because Billy's dead. His lifeless body is still in bed and empty beer bottles and a container of antifreeze litter the kitchen counter. Over the next 24 hours, Billy and an odd assortment of neighbors, all experiencing their own bouts of body switcheroo, try to figure out what happened and why. Can they do it before the Feds find Billy's body? Was it aliens that caused this, or God, or the government? And did Edgar Winter really sleep with his sheep? Pro football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw has those answers in a story that asks, What Would Kirk Cameron Do? 

When he's not pulling on your heartstrings, he's making you laugh your ass off. And he does a remarkable job of both with believable characters, and a populated town that took me back in time to my hometown; very recognizable people that just added a whole other layer of down-right hilarity to the mix.

Muscle Memory was well paced; I ended up reading it in just over an hour, and let me tell you, that was an hour well spent. The plot is interesting, the characters are hilarious, and the ending, well, the ending blew me out of the freaking water. Never would I have seen it coming. Through all of the seriousness and funny that covered the pages, what hit me the hardest out of it all was the ending. Very powerful stuff.

Two things should be mentioned: First, Muscle Memory is part of Eraserhead Press's New Bizarro Author Series; one of a handful of shorter Bizarro pieces by new Bizarro authors looking to be read. Two: All throughout the month of Febraury, Steve will be donating all of the money made through sales of Muscle Memory and his other book Wolves Dressed as Men, to a local Foster Care program which he and his wife are a part of. For more details, visit his site/blog www.steve-lowe.com.

Reading Muscle Memory was an experienced for me, and if Steve's other future works are as powerful as this little Bizarro piece was, then I'm definitely looking forward to whatever he manages to write up next. The man can write short fiction, which is why I'm giving Muscle Memory 9.0 out of 10 TARDIS's.

Although I received Muscle Memory as a review PDF, you can rest assured that I'll be picking up a couple of copies of both of Steve's books, not only because it's for a good cause, but because he's one hell of a writer. So if you've got a big heart like me, why not pick up a few copies of both? With Valentine's Day just around the corner, you could always get one for the lover in your life who happens to have a messed up sense of humor!

~Rodney