Author: jmstine

The dazzling must-read classic SF novel!

An ancient god. A new technology. The future will never be the same. New technologies resurrect an ancient Aztec wizard/warrior god who hijacks the body of the one who resurrected him, running wild through a futuristic Hollywood, adapting the brave new world and getting back to his old business of creating chaos and taking control.

“...The subset of works that make up what Rudy García calls ‘Latino SpecFic’ are also worthy of greater notice. I would argue that the tools it affords an author are uniquely apt for exploring the human condition.
“Hogan’s style is both deftly self-assured and gleefully madcap, harkening to the very best of Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany. ...Steamy, explicit scenes are juxtaposed with philosophical conversations and political machinations, but the narrative flows smoothly, drawing a reader deep into this imagined world.
“And what a world! ...The shamanistic cyberpunk vibe of El Lay (Los Angeles) during this ‘trimili era’ is unique while feeling familiar, as if Guillermo del Toro had collaborated with Terry Gilliam to craft a fictional universe.”
—David Bowles, The Monitor

“A delirious mosaic of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, post-cyberpunk savvy, linguistic fun and Aztec myth. Exemplary—and exuberantly fun.”
—Claude Lalumiere, January Magazine

“If you're looking for something new and different, or just want to read something wacky with a little edge to it, then Smoking Mirror Blues is a book you should be reading right now.”
—James M. Palmer, New York Journal of Books

“the apocalypse is going to take the form of an Aztec trickster god invading cyberspace. You ready?”
—Amazon 5-star review

HIGH AZTECH, the underground cult classic, is back and ready to blow your mind wide open.

“A high-energy adventure peppered with great ideas, well-imagined unusual settings, outlandish characters, and a wicked sense of fun.” —Locus

In mid 21st century Mexico, Tenochtitlán, the metropolis formerly known as Mexico City, is the most exciting place on Earth. Stainless steel pyramids pierce the smoggy sky. Human sacrifice is coming back into fashion, especially on the new Aztechan TV channels, and everyone wants an artificial heart. Xolotl Zapata, celebrated poet, skeptic and trmrhsfr journalistr, starts receiving death threats from a cult he's lampooned in a comic book. But soon he will have much worse problems and be running for his life. The government, the Mafia, street gangs, cults, terrorists, even garbage collectors will be after him. Why? He has been infected with a technological development that will changing human life as we know it Zapata is carrying a virus that can download religious beliefs into the human brain—a highly contagious virus that is converting everyone he meets, and everyone they meet, to the Aztec religion. This is Witnessing with a PUNCH! Since he's a virulent carrier he infects a large part of the city all by himself, and the masses, filled with visions and portents, await the End of the World.

“The plot twists and turns, bouncing between the horrors of a police state with high-tech weaponry and eavesdropping equipment and the feverish hallucinations that the protagonist endures as he is captured first by one enemy then another. Those who enjoy science fiction will probably find pleasure in this book. I found the book entertaining and clever in the complexities of its plot. … an example of what might be called Latin American sci-fi magico-realism.” —Nahua Newsletter

“Cyberpunk is the combining of science fiction and technology with a future society on the brink of self-destruction. Ernest Hogan takes the concept a step further, blending in his love of the Aztec’s ancient beliefs and civilization to produce very unique and gripping stories. When it comes to science fiction of a different breed, Hogan is definitely sitting in the front row. One reviewer aptly referred to Hogan as a ‘mad Mexican Hunter S. Thompson.’” —wickedlocal.com

“Chicano writer Ernest Hogan bridges the gap between hard science fiction and cyberpunk … interweaving Pre-Colombian mythology and Spanish, Spanglish, and Nahuatl language into a humorously dystopian sci-fi context … exploring the intersection of religion, technology, pop culture … with a distinctly Latino twist.” —The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature

“…a delirious mosaic of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, post-cyberpunk savvy, linguistic fun and Aztec myth.” —January Magazine

The saga of The Six Magicians reaches its stunning conclusion!

Fardio, the Timbrul Circus Ringmaster, has decided that with Jeri in the show, playing Big Rock might be profitable. The circus heads south—just ahead of Kite and Ciara, who have been following what they hoped was a lead on finding Jeri.

Meg and Tal, traveling with The Silent One, happen to approach Big Rock from the other direction. Taritha, their aunt, has also been following the road to Big Rock, searching for the children and praying that she finds them before they get themselves killed—or before she runs into their mother.

Saritha and Reagin, along with Talisman and Red, have been following a killer’s trail through wilderness, falling farther and farther behind.

Meanwhile, Callie has been using her scrying skills to follow The Silent One. She had prepared a second map for him that she hoped would lead him to the treasure.

Droud, with an ancient weapon guaranteed to kill, waits in Big Rock for Callie to do his work for him and bring the treasure out—so he can take it from her fresh corpse.

The Silent One and the children, along with Jeri and Wolfie, descend into the warren that was inside the actual big rock that towered over its eponymous town.

The six magicians have waiting in their self imposed hell for release. Free at Last! The world would suffer.

Events begin to spin out of control as Steve Langley's landmark fantasy saga passes its halfway point...

Callie sets out to find a dragon, and sees one during her first attempt, but is unable to capture or kill it—the first in a long series of frustrating hunts. She has also reached the level of Journeyman Magus—but only unofficially, since she has never even been acknowledged as an apprentice. Even so, she begins a new role as trainer to the official apprentices.

With the help of a hunter named Ander, Callie hatches a new plan to capture a dragon by drugging it. That plan goes awry and Callie gives up the attempt, leaving Ander with the dragon's baby, Jeri. To add to her frustration, Callie's efforts to finance her dragon hunts by selling artifacts eat up all the time she would otherwise have left for hunting.

Droud, certain that Callie is hatching some plot against him (it's what he would do, after all) tries to beat her to the punch by attempting to rape her. If he succeeds, he figures, he would not only cause her terrible harm, but destroy her power as well—everyone knows that a woman can only hold magic if she's a virgin. Droud's assault is thwarted when Master Restotin interrupts them, but Restotin must pay for this intervention with his life. Droud flees, and his absence added to their Master's leaves Callie in charge of the school.

Daleran University, upon hearing of Master Restotin’s death, tries to take possession of the shop and the school—and as readers will come to expect from Callie, things get messy as a result. When the dust settles, Callie is acknowledged as ‘The Sorceress AnKimbo’.

Jeri, having left his home behind after losing everything, starts out on his new life as a solitary hunter and continues on until he comes out of the wilderness and finds a new home in the Timbrul Circus.

Kite and Ciara, in human form, continue to search for Jeri, and plan to find and kill Callie as well—in a human world that is much, much larger than they had imagined.

Steve Langley is a longtime fantasy and science fiction fan, and was one half of the team behind the pseudonym "Fredric Davies," credited as the author of the classic Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel, The Cross of Gold Affair.

The enthralling fantasy saga continues...

Callie, more than somewhat mad from abuse as a child, now healer to the poor, is discovered by Master Restotin who agrees to teach her—while making her the subject of his study, as he peers into her mind and tries to puzzle out out how a woman can touch so much magic. While Restotin may have found her in a state of near-total ignorance, Callie will use her education to advance to the threshold of Master status—and discover, along the way, elements of magic unknown even to the Masters themselves. Other would-be magi will come to her as she develops her powers; some will adore her, like the lovesick apprentice Jersit, whose abilities she will use with little thought for his mind or heart, and others will try to destroy her—like Droud, another Restotin apprentice who considers her an abomination and usurper of his rightful place at the center of the universe. As Callie grows magically, she will also build a considerable fortune to help finance a dragon hunt.

The Silent One travels north, slowly, within a much larger wagon train. His collection of adventurers—Talisman, Red, Jakob, Mathew, and Martin—will sort things out between themselves and grow to become more of a family than a band. They will discover a mystery, and find two bounty hunters, Badger and Wolf, who have been following them.

Jeri, not yet a teen, will gain more respect from Ander, as well as visibility to the townsfolk after a long period of isolation deep in the forest. But when Wolfie is poisoned, Ander murdered, and the town mob comes for Jeri yelling “monster”, that visibility proves itself a dangerous curse. Jeri will run, into a bitter winter, across the forest to become trapped atop an incredibly high cliff. But unbeknownst to Jeri, he is not alone. Kite will discover that his eggling was taken by a human. He and his sister, Ciara, who has a double reason to wish revenge on the magus who has hunted Kite, will take human form to search the world for Jeri...and their enemy.

Steve Langley is a longtime fantasy and science fiction fan, and was one half of the team behind the pseudonym "Fredric Davies," credited as the author of the classic Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel, The Cross of Gold Affair.

The Six Magicians is, first and foremost, the story of Toba: an abused child, self-named Callanan AnKimbo—aka Callie—in a world where only men can be magi.

After performing a healing on herself that accidentally removes the wall between her consciousness and her power, Callie will grow up to be the most powerful magus in her world...and the pain of her childhood will provide too great a temptation to abuse that power. Having been shown no empathy, Callie has never developed a capacity for it toward anyone else—but despite her lack of fellow-feeling or respect for life, she will manage to avoid becoming a monster.

Callie's world is earthlike, with seven moons, three of which are easily visible to the eye; its people are a mix of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and secret dragons who can change form and hide in plain sight. Magic on this world comes from the planet, and is vastly more powerful in men than in women.

Long ago, two factions of magi intended to fight to the death to determine which of them would rule the world—but instead, they have been trapped together in an artifact designed to hold its captives until the end of time. These magi are not completely powerless, however; even in captivity, they manage to subtly influence the world outside the artifact and lure in magi who might be able to set them free. Time after time they fail, only to trap others. Others who they swiftly destroy and consume.

In the first volume of this spellbinding saga, A Healer's Journey, thousands of years have passed, and the trapped magi find a new possibility of escape.

Callie, abused and broken, is given a taste of gentle love and trained as a healer...only to be plunged again into a hellish world of abuse.

Meg and Tal, a pair of siblings who grew nearly to adulthood with absent parents, are suddenly part of a whole family again. With Saritha, their mother, Domillo, their father, and Reagin, their mother’s companion, they start on a journey that will change them and their rivalry.

The Silent One, an aging sage who comes across a map suggesting the location of an ancient treasure, collects a small group of mercenary adventurers to help him in his search.

Kite and Krin, two young dragons in love, accidentally become hunted prey of an obsessed magus—and Jeri, their eggling, is born in human form and immediately orphaned. Jeri's only friend is Wolfie, a dire wolf cub who he raised from birth while living with Ander, the man who found him newborn.

These are the people whose stories, each taking place in their own time, will intertwine and grow ever closer to freeing the six who only want to destroy and rule.

Steve Langley is a longtime fan of fantasy and science fiction fan who lives in the Northwest. He was one half of the team behind the pseudonym "Fredric Davies," credited as author of the bestselling Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel.

Horror untold at Arkham's most terrifying institution of higher learning!

In this first of a chilling new series edited by horror, scifi and thriller writer M.Christian, you'll find new and classic tales of a certain haunted university's ill-fated students and faculty, including all of H.P. Lovecraft's horrifying novellas, plus six new stories!

5 THRILLING PEEKS INTO THE FUTURE FROM 5 VISIONARY WRITERS!

What will tomorrow look like? Here are five speculative answers from top science fiction authors.

"It’s clear that the authors in Five to the Future all poured their souls into their stories. Each one shines with imagination and passion. One of the wonderful aspects of science fiction is that it imposes no limits. These authors have taken advantage of that freedom to produce a book that’s both entertaining and moving." —Lisabet Sarai

Another outrageous act of science fiction by self-described “recombocultural Chicano mutant” Ernest Hogan, a soul-touching tale of furry friends and bittersweet affection by Emily Devenport, a neon-highlighted '80s love letter to a classic anime by Cynthia Ward, a multi-dimensionally kaleidoscopic tale of love beyond reality by Arthur Byron Cover, and M.Christian’s standout novelette about the Soviet-era practice of smuggling Western music impressed onto discarded X-rays.

The contributors:

M.Christian‘s published fiction includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers, erotica and even non-fiction. His fantasy and science fiction have appeared in Talebones, Space & Time Magazine, Skull Full of Spurs, Graven Images, Horror Garage, Song of Cthulhu, and other science fantasy publications. The best of his short SF/H/F has been published in the collection Love Without Gun Control. Multiple Hugo and Nebula winner Mike Resnick has hailed M.Christian’s sf as "unique and truly fascinating." In addition to writing, he is a prolific and respected anthologist whose credits include The Mammoth Book of Future Cops and The Mammoth Book of Tales of the Road (with Maxim Jakubowksi), and many more.

Arthur Byron Cover is the author of the Nebula-nominee novel Autumn Angels, part of his Universe of God-Like Men trilogy—which also includes An East Wind Coming, a novel pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. His short stories have been widely anthologized, and often selected for The Year’s Best Horror Stories and other collections. He has also written works set in the Buffyverse and in Asimov’s Foundation Universe.

Emily Devenport is the author of Shade, Larissa, Scorpianne, EggHeads, The Kronos Condition, GodHeads, Broken Time (which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award), Belarus, and Enemies. Her newest novels, The Night Shifters and Spirits of Glory, are in ebook form on Amazon, Smashwords, and more. She is currently working on a novel based on her popular novelette, “The Servant.” Her short stories were published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Full Spectrum, The Mammoth Book of Kaiju, Uncanny, Cicada, Science Fiction World, Clarkesworld, and Aboriginal SF, whose readers voted her a Boomerang Award (which turned out to be an actual boomerang).

Ernest Hogan is a six-foot tall Aztec leprechaun who was born in East LA back in the Atomic Age. Because he is the author of High Aztech, Smoking Mirror Blues, and Cortez on Jupiter, he is considered to be the Father of Chicano Science Fiction. His short fiction has appeared in Amazing Stories, Analog, Science Fiction Age, and many other publications.

Cynthia Ward has published stories in Asimov's Science Fiction, Shattered Prism, Weird Tales, Athena's Daughters (Silence in the Library Publishing), and other anthologies and magazines. Her stories "Norms" and "#rising" made the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List for 2011 and 2014. She edited the anthologies Lost Trails: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West, Volumes One and Two for WolfSinger Publications. Her short alternate-history novel, The Adventure of the Incognita Countess, is now available from Aqueduct Press.

These prescient and creative minds join forces to offer you a don't-miss anthology of the year!

Three new novellas by the creator of the Universe of God-Like Men series. Author of Autumn Angels, Platypus of Doom and Planetfall, among others, and novels in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Flash Gordon and Robot City series.

"…under near-farcical trappings, an examination of such things as love, hate, motivation, and the meaning of existence itself." (Amazon reader review)

In "Dream Weaver," a missing-persons detective on a future Earth opened to the distant places and times by dimensional gateways seeks a missing woman, and instead awakens to his own unimaginably strange destiny.

In "Stratosfear," Sarah, a celestial being who moves easily through dimensions and universes, and possesses the power to alter realities with flawless precision, discovers that intervening in the affairs of hominids is not as simple as she would have thought.

And in "Editorial Prerogative," a drugged-out screen writer in a near tomorrow, who prides himself on his unflinching honesty, unleashes societal forces he cannot control when he involves himself with issues of homogeny.

According to contemporary readers posted at Goodreads, Arthur Byron Cover's work is:

"… brilliant … takes weird to a whole new level! Highly recommended!"

"… very strange … entertaining."

"… outrageous and plausible."

"… for those who enjoy a novel which plunges you into an original sci-fi world which raises thought provoking questions …"

"… astonishingly amusing and amazingly odd … full of wonderful ideas and imagery ... excellent."

And at Amazon:

"… a feast of strangeness populated by extraordinarily exotic, and yet deeply human characters. In part satire, in part thought experiment … an exploration of the meaning of humanity … filled with enough wild images and witty dialogues to equal five books by a lesser writer. A must read … creative to the max."

"… thoughtful stuff … highly readable."

Nebula Nominee author Arthur Byron Cover returns to the Great Mystery Trilogy with this captivating novel, featuring an immortal Sherlock Holmes and a deathless Jack the Ripper in a duel through space and time!

“An East Wind Coming is a decadent smorgasbord...peppered with the thrills of various pulp fictions and comic-book universes. In a far future the iconic characters of nineteenth- and twentieth-century pop culture have been reborn, all of them referring to themselves coyly as "the consulting detective," "the good doctor," "the Big Red Cheese," etc. Imagine Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time reinvented by a chimera of Kim Newman, Philip José Farmer, and Belgian nihilist surrealist Jacques Sternberg, and you'll get an idea of the strange atmosphere of this dense and mindwarping novel. Cosmic concepts, horrific crimes, and pulp heroes . . . what more could you want?” —The Magazine of F&SF

“A dark, rich and unusual fantasy/science-fiction novel. The Golden City of the Godlike Men is haunted by a murderer — possibly a reincarnation of Jack the Ripper. As the utopian streets run with blood, the godlike men face the ultimate crisis of their aimless, drifting existence. The murders seem to expose the underlying corruption and pointlessness of their existence. And the only hope seems to be to rouse the Consulting Detective (Sherlock Holmes) from his torpor, to finally investigate a new case that could change the nature of the godlike men's world. The literary fun-'n'-games should appeal to fans of Alan Moore's LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN or anyone who's explored the Wold-Newton playground of Philip Jose Farmer. But there's a wholly unique and utterly fascinating quality to this lonely, haunted, elegiac novel. Again and again, Cover defiantly mines new meaning and hidden power from the detritus of junk, pop, pulp culture. This lost classic of fantasy richly deserves to be rediscovered.” —Amazon Review

“The book is excellent. I recommend this one very highly, with the proviso that the reader will only enjoy it if they happen to like a great number of different types of writing; from great literature to comic books, pulp magazines, penny dreadfuls, etc.” —Casebook: Jack the Ripper

Arthur Byron Cover’s work is filled with "…agile inventiveness … extraordinary salience and outlandishness … astonishing imagination … grotesque and hilarious … honest and often truly beautiful … shocking and exultant. …nothing like the usual sf fare." —A.A. Attanasio, author, Radix