RJ Sullivan Signs to Seventh Star Press

Congratulations to one of our very own Sci-Fi Guys, RJ Sullivan, for his new four book deal with Seventh Star Press! Labeled as a writer of Paranormal Thrillers, here's the full press release as per Seventh Star's site:

Seventh Star Press proudly announces a four book deal with author R.J. Sullivan, making him the seventh author to come aboard the publisher's main roster.

The addition of R.J. Sullivan comes close after Seventh Star Press' strongest year yet, during which titles such as Jackie Gamber's Redheart and Michael West's Cinema of Shadows received excellent critical reception, and the artwork featured by the press also received increased recognition, as Matthew Perry recently won Top Cover Art in the 2011 Tor.com Readers Choice Awards for his cover art on Stephen Zimmer's The Seventh Throne.

The first title to be released by Seventh Star Press, Haunting Obsession, tells the story of Daryl Beasley.  Daryl collects all things Maxine Marie, whose famous curves and fast lifestyle made her a Hollywood icon for decades after her tragic death. Daryl's girlfriend, Loretta Stevens, knew about his geeky lifestyle when they started dating, but she loves him, quirks and all.

Then one day Daryl chooses to buy a particularly tacky piece of memorabilia instead of Loretta's birthday present. Daryl ends up in the doghouse, not only with Loretta, but with Maxine Marie herself. The legendary blonde returns from the dead to give Daryl a piece of her mind—and a haunting obsession he'll never forget.

A member of the Indiana Horror Writers, R. J. Sullivan resides with his family in Heartland Crossing, Indiana. His first novel, Haunting Blue, is an edgy paranormal thriller about punk girl loner Fiona "Blue" Shaefer and her boyfriend Chip Farren.

R.J. is hard at work on the next chapter in Fiona's story, Virtual Blue, which will be released in 2013, followed by two more novels over the course of 2013 and 2014.

"I was with Michael West at several events last year, and I couldn't help but notice the slick marketing materials he was handing out," R.J. Sullivan commented as to why he wanted to bring his work to Seventh Star Press.  "I saw how Seventh Star had a personal presence nearby to assist at the cons. I realized that having the publisher at those events changes the convention vibe, which can otherwise be an isolated experience. I love that they produce interior artwork as part of their product--it shows an understanding of the genre and its readers.  It's clear Seventh Star understand the modern publishing world, and does everything they can to open up opportunities for the author to succeed."

Bonnie Wasson, whose cover art and illustrations are featured in Seventh Star Press titles such as D.A. Adams' The Brotherhood of Dwarves series, will be creating the artwork for the R.J. Sullivan novels.

Haunting Obsession will be released in limited hardcover, softcover (trade paperback), and several eBook editions, including versions for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, and Sony-compatible devices.

For further information on R.J. Sullivan and the upcoming releases, please visit www.seventhstarpress.com or the author's site at www.rjsullivanfiction.com

Again, congratulations to Sci-Fi Guy RJ Sullivan!

~Rodney

Sci-Fi Guys³

Today, I'm happy to announce a new addition to the Sci-Fi Guys crew. In order to produce more reviews for all you lovely readers, and to get all those delicious books in your hands, I've asked my good friend Philip Maultbay to join the Sci-Fi Guys crew as a regular reviewer.

Don't worry, though, author RJ Sullivan will still do his guest book reviewing as much as possible. By adding Phil, however, it'll help to lessen the reading weight load of all parties (hopefully).

So, without any further ado, I'll leave it to Phil to introduce himself:

Hey Fellow readers! I'm Phil and I'm 21 years old, married, and a soon to be father to a baby boy. I grew up all over the world since my father was in the army, but I now have settled down with my wife of 2 years and am starting a family. I love creativity through music, art and Literature. I can listen to and enjoy any type of music, and I have a broad specturm of favorite artists (Rodney can testify to that statement). I do a good amount of drawing, mainly anime/manga style in my free time and play the guitar. As far as reading goes, I'll give anything a chance. My favorite genres include thriller, alternate history, steampunk, and mystery. I can't say I have a favorite author, but if I had to choose it would have to be Dean Koontz. I'm new to reviewing so I'll try my best to not let my high school career make them into book reports. I love feedback and learning new things, so feel free to shoo tme any suggestions or questions!

Look for Phil's first reviews in the coming week!

~Rodney

King Maker Book Review

Title: King Maker (Book 1): The Knights of Breton Court

Author: Maurice Broaddus

Publisher: Angry Robot

Pages: 400

ISBN: 9780857660527

The legend of King Arthur tells of humanity’s universal desire to see a hero rise, deliver the people from their helpless existence and create a “Camelot”, where all are safe, were the possibilities are endless, and where everyone matters and makes a difference. It also tells how all such utopias are short-lived, must fall, and that chaos must return while the ordinary people wait for the cycle to begin again. (Anyone who flags this as a possible spoiler has much bigger problems culturally than my over-share review.)

The story of hope combined with inevitable tragedy make the King Arthur Legend one of the Greatest Stories Ever Told. As such, it has endured more than its fair share of variations and interpretations on stage, literature, television and movies—a few good and mediocre, and most of them incredibly bad.

The invisible baggage attached to King Maker Book One by Maurice Broaddus cannot be ignored. It’s impossible to approach a new version of the timeless tale without asking, “Do we really need this version?” I’m pleased to report that Maurice Broaddus provides many compelling answers to this question, answers which led me to conclude with a resounding yes.

Broaddus sets his tale among the very real rundown slums of west-side Indianapolis. The homeless huddle under streets that Hoosier natives can point to on a map, but would rarely drive through by choice after dark. While reading this book, I’ve stumbled upon mixed online comments regarding this choice—why not New York or Los Angeles or some other, more recognizable ghetto? I applaud the decision, and not just because I recognize the area he writes about (and clearly, so does he). By refusing to relocate his tale, he reminds the reader that poverty knows no geography. The poor are as equally trapped in Los Angeles as Pittsburgh. To massacre Shakespeare: A gang shooting in any other city would be as dangerous.

With every sentence, Broaddus traps the reader in the slums with his characters. He paints a bleak picture of warring gang members born without a chance, stuck in a school system that’s given up on them. We see kids raised by drug dealers and hookers whose only options are to escape through drugs or to “rise up” through the gang system, only to discover, too late, the lies inherent in those promises.

This is the world of King James White. We begin with the betrayal and fall of his father. Frm there, we’re quickly introduced to the gang and residents of Breton Court and their rival, the crew at the Phoenix apartments. We meet their leaders, Night and Dred, their lieutenants, and the various peddlers, pushers and police caught in the middle. By the time King answers his call to destiny and assembles his posse of “knights” at the modern “round table” (an all-night greasy diner), you can think of few places in greater need of a hero than the modern-day slums of Indianapolis.

The strengths of the novel put a spotlight on what many will consider its weaknesses. King Maker tells a sweeping tale with no less than 20 important characters. In hot, tragic splashes of episodic vignettes, we meet them all, we learn their story. We visit long enough to understand their motivation; we experience their pain and entrapment. In many cases, we learn their fate, and then we move on.

Readers who prefer a more intimate tale, who expect to spend time with our hero King as he broods, ponders and finally accepts his destiny, may be frustrated with this “hit and run” approach. I had my favorite characters: the homeless Merle, King, his girl Lady G. the oddly delightful bigoted police officer Lee and his black partner, the eternally patient and understanding detective Octavia.

Other readers will find much to love and may prefer the company of the ogre twins Machaela and Marshall, or the mysterious and lethal Omarosa, or others, but the result is the same. Your favorites are sharing screen time (page time?) with a large ensemble. Even King occupies less than a quarter of the novel.

I must also admit some frustration with the contrivance of renaming the classic heroes with recognizable variations. Did Guinevere have to be named Lady G, Merlin the Magician “Merle”, along with the similarly dubbed Luther, Lott, and Wayne? But to Broaddus’ credit, he owns the contrivance, and over time, makes the reader see these characters as individuals beyond their archtypes.

This is a world where gangsters kill and mutilate at the first hint of a neighborhood snitch. Where bumbling flunkies meet merciless death in graphic and bloody ways that may traumatize witnesses—that would be the reader. This is a world where the downtrodden pedestrian ducks gunfire on a daily basis, and runs the other way to avoid witnessing an assault.When King and his crew confront the trolls, demons, and dragons, you can absolutely believe an apartment building can be assaulted in broad daylight by a horde of supernatural beasts, and that no one is going to question or even notice the more fantastic elements.

Though not everything works exactly as you might expect, King Maker is a triumph. The book works much better than any jaded reader who has “seen it all before” should have any reason to expect. So while I started Book 1 with doubts, I find myself anxiously awaiting the release of Book 2, and give Book 1 a score of 9 out of 10 TARDISes.

–R.J.

Putting the (s) back into Sci-Fi Guy(s)

In the first post of 2011 I wrote that I would be adding guest bloggers to the site as the year progressed. I'm happy to announce the newest addition to the Sci-Fi Guys family, is RJ Sullivan, author of the novel Haunting Blue. After much discussion, RJ will be offering a monthly review.

For the month of January RJ will be reviewing Maurice Broaddus's King Maker.

Look for it within the next few days.

~Rodney

Guest Blog: We love it! We can't use it! What is it?

It was a long, strange journey from my final draft of Haunting Blue, my first novel, to its eventual publication through Damnation Books. Nothing proved stranger than the series of rejection letters and emails the book collected during the hectic three years my then-agent (she’s such a sweet woman) sent it off to pretty much every major publisher on the planet, and seeing the various “reasons” for its rejection. What follows is a fictionalized conversation with a character representing all these various publishers.

Pub: Haunting Blue is well-written, tightly plotted, and I couldn’t put it down until I finished. We love it!

Me: So you’re going to publish it?

Pub: We don’t love it THAT much!

Me: Oh, sorry for being presumptuous.

Pub: I love the book, I just don’t love it…for our readers! You understand me?

Me: Yes. Uh….no.

Pub: For us to use it, you’d have to change it.

Me: What parts?

Pub: Well…all of it. We wanted an edgy thriller for young adults.

Me: I can edit the adult language if that’s the….

Pub: No, we can do that. The biggest problem is that it gets too exciting at the end.

Me: I was going for mundane, but I got a bit carried away.

Pub: Look, kid, books with strong female protagonists are flying off the shelves, but then your punk girl’s not girly enough. The tweens won’t relate to her.

Me: You want me to make Blue a girly rebel punk?

Pub: And what’s with all this arguing with the parent? What teenager can relate to that?

Me: When you’re right, you’re right.

Pub: And if you alienate teenagers, who’s going to read it? Our marketing clearly shows that adults won’t read books about teenagers.

Me: What about Carrie and Christine?

Pub: Are you comparing yourself to Stephen King?

Me: I’m sure it would be career suicide to compare myself to Stephen King.

Pub: Besides, this is a supernatural thriller, but all this “stuff” happens before it gets supernatural.

Me: it’s a slow burn. Like Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. The town itself is kind of a character.

Pub: So this is like Ray Bradbury?

Me: I’m sure it would be career suicide to compare myself to Ray Bradbury.

Pub: And what the hell is up with your structure? You swap back and forth between first person and third person. That’s going to confuse the reader!

Me: William Faulkner did it in As I Lay Dying.

Pub: Who? Listen, is this Bill Fauker or Folker or whoever a current bestseller?

Me: I defer to your expertise.

Pub: I was so excited when this hit my desk.  Teenage girl! Monster! Like Stephanie Meyer with a ghost instead of a vampire! Now she knows how to write bestsellers!  Why’d you make that face, kid? Don’t you like Stephanie Meyer?

Me: It would be career suicide to compare myself to Stephanie Meyer, but for a vastly different reason than the other two.

Pub: Look, you’ve written a young adult too dark for tweens, but not dark enough for  horrorreaders, a chick lit novel not particularly girly and a southern gothic that takes place in the Midwest. Who the hell cares about Indiana, anyway? What exactly is this thing you’ve written?

Me: It’s a damn good story, sir. I’m sure we’ll find a terrific home for it elsewhere.

And eventually, my agent punted it back to my control with her regrets, and I found a terrific home for it through Damnation Books. Please enjoy this edgy urban punk chick-lit Midwestern gothic Hardy Boys for Big Kids ghost story novel, also known as Haunting Blue.

R.J. Sullivan and his family live in Heartland Crossing, Indiana, south of Indianapolis. He’s published short fiction in Midnight Graffiti and Strange Weird and Wonderful eZines. He’s composed dozens of articles for local magazines and newspapers, and “ghost” writes newsletter content for several companies. Join the R.J. Sullivan fan community at www.rjsullivanfiction.com 

Haunting Blue Book Review

Title: Haunting Blue

Author: R.J. Sullivan

Publisher: Damnation Press

Pages: 300

ISBN: 9781615722747

Haunting Blue is the debut novel from author R.J. Sullivan, published by Damnation Press.

Where to begin with this novel?

It was so much more than I expected, in so many ways.

Haunting Blue is the story of Fiona, a goth chick from Indianapolis, who is forced to move to a small town in the northern part of Indiana, when her mother takes a new job. From the very beginning of the novel, the reader begins to learn about Fiona, and her life, as the newest chapter in her life unfolds. Immediately she's thrown into small town drama, that's right: high school. She quickly realizes what it's all about, making friends and enemies as she goes. Including Chip, a geek/nerd/dork who loves all things computer related. The two soon strike a friendship, until it turns in to something more serious. As the story progresses Chip explains to Fiona -- who Chip nicknames Blue (the name stuck) -- that there's buried treasure at the local theme park, and he wants her to help him.

While Blue's story is unfolding, Sullivan does a remarkable job with flashbacks, taking the reader all the way back to 1973, to when the buried treasure had been stolen, and the group of men involved with the armed robbery.

I found the storytelling in Huanting Blue to be surreal at times, and often frustrating, and here's why: with a title like Haunting Blue, I kept finding myself wondering when the haunting part was going to occur. It wasn't until the very last second, and the most unpredictable moment that it happened. It kept me on the edge of my seat, from there on out, until the last sentence was read.

I'd like to say that I knew what I was in for when I first picked up Haunting Blue. At times I thought I was reading a coming of age story, or a romance. At other times it felt like a thriller, or maybe it was a ghost story after all.... I'm still unsure.

If you're looking for a good read, pick up a copy for yourself or a loved one. That way you can argue with them after you've both finished it.

Because Haunting Blue kept me guessing on the edge of my seat, it's earned 8.5 out of 10 TARDIS's.


~Rodney

Apex Day 2010.

Saturday, December the 11th was Apex Day.

For those of you who don't know, Apex is a Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Publisher, based out of Kentucky, and owned by the awesome Jason Sizemore. Some of Apex's authors include: Alethea Kontis, Lavie Tidhar, Fran Friel, Maurice Broaddus, Jerry Gordon, R, Thomas Riley, Wrath James White, and Gary A. Braunbeck. They also produce Apex Magazine, (Issue 19 for December, 2010 just came out).



To Each Their Darkness

December the 11th was also the release date for Gary A. Braunbeck's non-fiction book: To Each Their Darkness, a reworking of an earlier account on writing that had been published several years ago, called Fear in a Handful of Dust: Horror as a Way of Life. Braunbeck has stated many times in the past, and in the introduction of To Each Their Darkness, that at the time of writing Fear in a Handful of Dust, he hadn't lived enough in order to pull off the things that he wanted to convey. And that's why To Each Their Darkness was written.

Although I plan on doing a full review for To Each Their Darkness for the blog sometime in the future, the best way I can explain To Each Their Darkness, is this: take Stephen King's On Writing and amplify it by 12.

Yeah, it's that good...

Saturday was an early day for me, having to get up and meet the rest of the IHW (Indiana Horror Writers) so that we could carpool to Lexington, Kentucky. On the way down, I inquired as to where Apex Day was going to be held, to which I was told: Joseph Beth Booksellers. I had never heard of the bookstore, but was excited to find out that it was a two story bookstore, filled to the roof with books of all kinds. As soon as I walked into the store, I was blown away. The Architecture of the place was absolutely gorgeous!

They even had an escalator!

Overall, my first impression of Joseph Beth Books was one of awe. However, on closer inspection of their books, I found just about every Lansdale book that I didn't want to have to order from my local B&N (that means a lot). But, because of finances, I had to talk myself out of picking them up, much to my chagrin. And when I looked lost and (I'll admit it, still awestruck with the place) confused, a nice sales-boy stopped to help me find my place before the IHW would have to send a search party to find me.


Chatting with the guy (unfortunately, his name escapes me as of the moment, I'm sorry) I was surprised to find that he knew, and had read almost as many horror books as me, including Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, John Skip, Joe Hill, and even, yes, you guessed it... Joe R. Lansdale!

I digress... Back to Apex Day.



Gary reading from To Each Their Darkness, Apex Day 2010.

 Coming in late, we (the IHW) found some seats and sunk into them to absorb the second and third readings that Gary was giving from To Each Their Darkness. Afterwards there were giveaways... lots and lots of giveaways. In fact, everyone who came in before and during the reading ended up landing a book. However, only the first ten or so actually landed a book either by, or with Gary in it. Those who received a Braunbeck prize, also received a burnt copy of a short film called One of Those Faces, which was based on Gary's short story "Rami Temporalis." I happened to walk away with a copy of Future Net (look for a future review of this book as well), and a copy of One of Those Faces.

Future Net and a DVD copy of One of Those Faces

After Gary's reading it was time to buy books and get things signed, and time to just chill out and talk with people. Outside of the Apex authors in attendance, there were several other authors there as well, including: Michael West, RJ Sullivan, Stephen Zimmer, Michele Lee, Debbie Kuhn, Lucy A. Snyder, and Nicole Cushing.

After my explorations of the store, I returned to find that I had more books than what I had originally intended to pick up, which shouldn't have been a surprise, considering it happens to me every time. There were several titles I had been looking for, that I knew would be my only chance to pick up for a while, most notably Braunbeck's In the Midnight Museum (Tansmaniac Publications), and Lucy A. Snyder's Sparks and Shadows (HW Press).



From left to right: The Exodus Gate, To Each Their Darkness,
Sparks and Shadows, and In the Midnight Museum.

 I also managed to pick up To Each Their Darkness by Gary, and the first book in Stephen Zimmer's Epic Urban Fantasy series: The Exodus Gate (Seventh Star Press). I also received a bunch of promotional items for The Exodus Gate, including a couple of cover flats and two bookmarks, thanks to Stephen who was kind enough to give them to me.

December 11th, 2010 is one of those days I won't soon forget. Call it an early Christmas... Okay, one of many. Look for reviews for these titles to pop up within the coming months. And if you can't wait for the reviews, might I suggest going out and picking up a copy of one, or all of these titles for yourself, or maybe add them to your Christmas List... it's never too late for Santa!

~Rodney