Re-paginated for your reading pleasure! 287 pages of literal Earth-shattering fun, fun, fun! The interiors look… decent. The art falls where it should and the text is much more pleasing to the eye. Functional/appropriate gutters, too. So, yes, constant reader; I urge you to go forth and purchase DOOMTROOPERS.
Art by Christina Chen
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Ye Gods! So proud of Drax Childe Prime! Now if I could just convince her to change her major. Social work. Jesus. But I am hardly in a position to complain! I am rightly chuffed by my precious witch-powered charge. Onward!
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More soon.
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…but no so much on the inside. There are formatting errors and the type in the novels is so small as to be unreadable. But we are far from discouraged! We will get it right. In the meantime, don’t buy them.
(Well, you can. If you really want to. I can’t un-publish them at this point. But I’d warn draxfans against it. They can’t be un-published, but they can be improved.)
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… you will be the ruin (or glory) of me, oh Button, Button.
(This is of course not the real revamped edition, not this:
… and the “Collected Serial Edition” will probably not be for sale.)
Probably.
But you never know…
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What button, you ask? Why, this button, right there on the amazon KDP control panel.
“Create paperback.” So innocent. We’ll get to The Button soon enough. But first…
Entry! It’s not only the last day of the year but the last day of the decade. Many folks on the web are creating best-of lists, as well as lists of accomplishments and lands visited, books published and goals attained. (I see nary a list of BIGGEST REGRETS or WORST MISTAKES, etc. Just sayin’.) Anyway, I’m not going for any of that. I’m just offering a few snaps of December 31 2019, like The Sun, above, and my current bureau shelf, below.
My kids are glorious, yes. But boy, the extant hardcopy Drax library is woefully thin, even when spiced up with the Barsoom Design business card (like, big deal). Which brings us to the…
Entry! Button, Button. Oh that damn button.
No, it’s not black and red on the Kindle Direct Publishing control panel but that damn button sure burned a fiery red mark in my brain for the last week and a half, during which I prepped files for paperback editions of no less than three of my books, second time around for DESCENT and first-ever for DOOMTROOPERS and the poems, ALWAYS APOCALYPSE.
The reason? Well, pure vanity, obviously. But also the simple desire to produce physical copies of works that still matter to me, physical copies that I can give to my kids, maybe kind and indulgent friends. I simply miss making books. And evil amazon’s print on demand service is stick-stone-stupid; clumsy, but easy to use and each copy costs only pennies to produce. Besides, as much as it might seem I’m looking backwards, I really am inspired to move forward…
… and complete unfinished major works…
…so, Entry! Here’s to the 2020s, here’s to The Future.
So mote it be.
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SABBATH | Nick Mamatas | A Tor Trade Hardcover | $ 27.95 | 304 pages
Though I’m uncertain super-scribe Mamatas would agree (given that he mentions in the acknowledgements of his latest novel that he should thank the “meatheads in heavy metal t-shirts” but he won’t), it is however this reviewer’s belief that all true and authentic metal is deeply entrenched in matters of philosophy. I’m thinking of the thunderous epics of Zeppelin and Maiden, real bone-crunching operas that shake fists at cruel fate and indifferent skies. Thus so with SABBATH, with its titular hero Hexen Sabbath, an 11th century warrior who questions nearly every jab of his weighty blade as he cuts a bloody swath through modern day Manhattan in his quest to “track down and kill the living personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins before they bring about Armageddon!” Whew! Sabbath is aided by an “Angel of the Lord” who niftily keeps our hero 21st-century savvy with instant mental downloads, as well as a way-cool illuminated tat of NYC streets that directs Sabbath to his prey. Along for the ride are two perky art scene lasses, Jennifer and Miriam who thankfully “keep things real” and offer not so dry commentary on the mayhem and gore. Mamatas treats this admittedly ludicrous scenario with a deft hand and never allows the material to slide into dreaded tongue-in-cheek, thank god. It’s a heady—and heavy—trip that gallops to blistering heights, and Mamatas pulls it off with a master’s technique. Four out of five stars.
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… the paperback edition of DOOMTROOPERS is now available via Evil Amazon. You know you want one! Assuming you don’t mind a few glaring pagination goofs, that is. Repeat after me: “Thank you Amazon Robot Typesetter.”
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ALWAYS APOCALYPSE ALL THE TIME is now available in paperback!
Makes the perfect (sort of) Hexmas gift!
ALWAYS APOCALYPSE ALL THE TIME now in paper
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Peace on Earth, and all that jazz.
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