Book Release: The Fire and the Anvil

A new science fiction novel, The Fire and the Anvil, was just made available on Amazon. It is book three in the Secrets of the Elements series. This book builds on the various narratives from the first two books in the series and also pulls in the narratives from the short stories, Dust in the Whirlwind and Firebugs.

From the back cover:

Storm researcher John Sayers sets out to interview one of his heroes, Dr. James Ferganut, a reclusive inventor of robotic insects and a pioneer in storm research. As Dr. Ferganut's enigmatic past comes to light, the hills around them ignite and the fire sparks a tornado.

John soon discovers the fire is no accident. A rival inventor, Dr. Julius Minton, emerges and declares he is merely finishing a game started years before. It is a game played with thousands of lives at stake and weapons that can alter the weather in an instant.

The book can be found here. It will also be available in paperback at Lulu.com and elsewhere shortly. If you haven’t had the chance to check out the first two books, they can be found here and here.

The short stories can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo.

Book III Update: The Fire and the Anvil

Just a quick update today...editing is progressing on the third installment of the Secrets of the Elements series, The Fire and the Anvil. The book should be done, along with the cover art, sometime around the middle of December. The book will pull together the story lines set up in the first two books, Race the Sky and The Hammer of Amalynth, as well as bits from two short stories, Firebugs, and Dust in the Whirlwind.

I'm still considering plans for books four and five, but it really depends on how things go with the release of book three. I'm also working on an outline for a "Tron-like" trilogy of novels set in the future as well as a work of non-fiction and another short story collection.

In the meantime here are some articles that are tangentially related to The Fire and the Anvil.

Firebugs in the Whirlwind

A few years ago when we visited Yosemite National Park in California, the area was struggling with extreme drought conditions. On our drive into the park, several wildfires were already ongoing in the region and one was burning near the entrance to the park. As the day went on, the temperatures climbed and the sky remained cloud free. Around mid-afternoon, I noticed a huge cloud just over the trees. At first I thought it was just smoke from one of the fires. Upon closer study, it turned out to be a towering pyrocumulus cloud. I had heard of these types of clouds before but never witnessed the creation of one. This occurred around the same time as I was pulling ideas together for the third book in the Secrets of the Elements series, The Fire and the Anvil.

As time passed, and after doing further research, it became clear what this particular novel needed to be about. All of the various narratives from the first two books in the series (Race the Sky and The Hammer of Amalynth) needed to converge in the third. At the same time, it also needed to pull in elements from the short stories Dust in the Whirlwind and Firebugs. Despite the complexity, I think I have arrived at a satisfactory outline and am now working on the first draft of the novel.

The book is built around the framework of John Sayers (the storm researcher from the first two books in the series) writing a research paper about an enigmatic professor named Dr. Ferganut and the man’s numerous inventions. The novel will delve into Dr. Ferganut’s past and his escalating rivalry with a fellow scientist, Dr. Minton. Previously, Dr. Minton made a brief appearance in the short story, Firebugs, but in this novel he will be a major character. With this novel the stakes will be higher and the technology battles between the two characters will escalate rapidly.

Together, these three novels will form a complete narrative arc. I'm leaving open the possibility of adding more books to the series, but that depends on how things go with this one. I'll post more updates as the publication date draws near.

Book Release: Windows Out

My new science fiction short story collection, Windows Out, is now available on Amazon. It will also be available soon in paperback on Lulu.com and elsewhere. This is a collection of twelve tales that took several years to write. From the back cover:

Two rival robotics engineers visit an abandoned Martian battlefield and discover they are not alone. A scientist flies an electric crow through time to steal a breakthrough device only to find his moves are being countered by a future version of himself. A reporter doubts a scientist’s claim of teleportation until he meets the scientist’s son over a cup of strange tea.

From the edge of space to the depths of the sea, these tales are windows to worlds beyond our own. These worlds are bounded only by the drive and imagination of those who inhabit them.

I'll also have more updates soon on the third book in the Secrets of the Elements series, The Fire and the Anvil.

Windows Out Update

As promised, I have another science fiction short story collection on the way. This one is titled Windows Out and has a dozen short stories that span a variety of subjects...everything from self-replicating machines to time travel corporate espionage to an apartment populated with unruly appliances. Although there will be some older stories included, such as "The Everbloom Factory" and "Fermat's Last Theorem of Robotics", most of the content will be new. I hope to have this collection done by sometime in February.

What's next after this book? The third novel in the Secrets of the Elements series, The Fire and the Anvil. It will round out the trilogy and will also pull in elements from short stories such as "Firebugs" and "Dust in the Whirlwind". I will have a lot more to say about that in the coming weeks.