Journal

WMG Publishing has allowed me to share my Holiday Spectacular story. Come check out “An Embarrassment of Id’imps.”

  Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/67td6y1hi7 —–  Sixty-year veteran superhero Tamiko Miller—known worldwide for her elasticity—never thought she’d be suspended from hero work. All because of the recent militarized uniform policies. On administrative leave, Tamiko treats it as a vacation. Relaxing with a strawberry margarita in Miami, a speeding, physics-defying van screeches plumes […]

Thrilled to renovate the classic Monroe house, Gene Gibbs responded to Brenda Patton’s personal job offer with great gusto.Gene pours tender love and care into the terribly neglected house. But the house had no interest in those emotions. Not from him.Now Gene must find a way out before the horrors behind the walls claim him. […]

Patrons, get the novel via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ikgakuk263  Non-patrons can purchase here: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/f2pm9f91w0 —– If you can read this, HELP! I’m stuck in this mother f’n children’s game and I can’t find a way out. Every time I die, I restart in the f’n towns quare with only vague chopped up memories of my past runs. […]

The latest in a long line of service industry jobs, Tricia Fisher washes hair at the Nails N’ Thangs beauty salon.A typical day gets derailed. Her abusive ex shows up and makes her late for work. Again. If Tricia gets fired, her father marches her down to the military recruitment office.With her job already on […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/clc21dp3lf —– Being immortal, Jamal always has trouble keeping friends. Most times it seems like he just gets to know someone when then hit their expiration date. They shuffle off to whatever is after life, leaving him scratching his head. Only this time, after being buried, his friend Newt–a […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/xo1rnsekoi —– After a fight with another know-nothing commanding officer, John Snider finds himself reassigned into the real deep shit. During the Viet Nam war, joining up with any advanced forward unit promised death.  Thinking his troubles with commanding officers were behind him, John gladly reassigned to Boudraux’s Bad […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/chmp5poafw —– Tired of artificial intelligence dongles making life harder then necessary at work camps, Boudreaux signs onto the crew of the Tuscan Sun.  For the first time in his life, Boudreaux has a place to call home. Yet, life on the Tuscan Sun presents a whole new set […]

A vampire couple do their best to keep their son from making the biggest mistake of his unlife. —–   —–   —– Gateway Blood by Ezekiel James Boston “Pa?” Mother called. Dressed for the ball, she hiked her long baby blue dress carefully as to not cause wrinkles. “Pa?” Still in my smoking robes, […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/tr0iwdy7pe —– Born into a line of super villains with ironclad power, fourteen-year-old Evil wants nothing more than to escape his legacy and give up the last name Overlord forever. He accidentally draws the attention of the Power League–heroes working to topple the Overlord regime. Evil’s hopes and dreams […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/uogq8ul79e —– In a world of black ink on a white background resides the fictional town of Good Ol’ Days. Born and raised in the divisive comic, college student Curious Negro finds his way to the boarder of his world. With his curiosity driving him, Curious leaves behind the […]

Patrons, get the story via Bookfunnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/apau3n5nze —– Centuries old, Chuck knows war. More importantly he knows there are always casualties on all sides.  In a world where vampires and shape shifters have established peaceful terms, only the most egregious of insults could pit them against each other again.  A sacred beast disappears. All signs […]

Ultrahumans A Boy Named Evil Born into a line of super villains with ironclad power, fourteen-year-old Evil wants nothing more than to escape his legacy and give up the last name Overlord forever. He accidentally draws the attention of the Power League–heroes working to topple the Overlord regime. Evil’s hopes and dreams come crashing down, […]

It is a pleasure to report that my short novel A Boy Named Evil, Ultrahumans has been collected into the Sins Of The Fathers Bundle. Time passes. Teenage sidekicks grow up. Heroes and villains settle down and start families. The bundle is themed around the next generation of kids taking over the family superhero/villain business. […]

Part of my work style is to toil away in private until I have something to offer. This time, I come with a chance to receive my first “superhero” novel ‘A Boy Named Evil’ before it’s available anywhere! The book is done and scheduled to go live on November 20th. I am looking for readers to join my Edge Advantage reading group. In […]

When I first heard of this project, I thought my usual sequel / prequel thought, Hollywood’s after my wallet again! and instantly put up my guard. I’m not alone. Many fans of classic films and amazing single title outings go directly into resist mode, and given some of the train-wrecks we’ve experience, can you blame […]

It is a pleasure to report that my short story Soul Survivor has been collected into the Duty, Honor, Country: 8 Tales Of Bravery And Heroism Bundle. There are eight titles:       — Return to Honor By Doug Beason       — For Her Dark Eyes Only By M. L. Buchman   […]

Being immortal, Jamal always has trouble keeping friends. Most times it seems like he just gets to know someone when then hit their expiration date. They shuffle off to whatever is after life, leaving him scratching his head. Only this time, after being buried, his friend Newt–a non-binary skeleton–rose from the dead with a problem. […]

After last month’s self-indulgent story, here’s a tale that takes place in the same humor/horror universe as Gateway Blood. As a warning, this story contains profanity. Being immortal, Jamal always has trouble keeping friends. Most times it seems like he just gets to know someone when then hit their expiration date. They shuffle off to whatever […]

Hello. After last month’s short, stark story (Soul Survivor), I want to get back to a world that I thoroughly enjoy playing in and a length with with I’m more comfortable. While Benjamin Baxter is in this ‘Starwise’ novelette, the tale is more about the building and diviner from the Census Agency. This should be […]

Hi there. After last month’s lighthearted free short story (Gateway Blood), one of the readers asked for something darker. Well, below is Soul Survivor, a short story I believe fills that request. Fyi, it’s a supernatural tale set in my Cause Beyond Reasonable Control universe slated to debut in 2018. After a fight with another […]

A writer-friend gave her stamp of approval to this movie that would’ve missed my radar. I took a look at the preview and closed the window in the first few seconds. FYI, that’s a good thing. I’m not a big fan of watching previews because they can spoil the movie for me. (Too much to […]

The Adventures of Benjamin Baxter Yuletide Yield The darkness within Benjamin keeps growing. Since losing control to it last month, not a day goes by without a struggle against it. Tasked by his school to go with some schoolmates to a dangerous traveling bazaar, Ben finds himself under mystic attack by an unknown assailant. Worse, […]

When I saw this Scouting Party piece by Aaron Miller, I instantly thought about an NPC from an old D&D campaign that was quite the hit with my players. Some disliked him, but they paid him for his guide services through The Wet Forest. While I enjoyed the character, this is the first time he […]

Here are three different openings that I did as an exercise about a magic shop. I really liked how they turned out and am thinking about how to use these three in a novel. Not sure what roles they would play, but I think the main character would be Bart with Sadie–in some way–playing into […]

Taking in all the detail, I studied this image from Jonas De Ro for about ten minutes. I wanted to write something from within the scene and what I ended up with is something that’s going to show up in one of my science fiction stories. Jonathan will probably be a primary character with Jamaal […]

Here are three different openings that I did as an exercise about assassins experiences a hotel room where their target is going to be. It was good fun writing how three different character could/would perceived the same room.   Violette Simms Violette Simms tried to blinked the past away. She had heard the Numi Hotel […]

With automation being the future, there will probably be one or or two things humans will still want/need to do themselves… And that’s only because it’s tied to your survival as a species. Since this inspiration is based upon real people, I’ve decided to remove it. You know, just to be on the safe side.–EJ– […]

This is the ‘now’ part of a then and now challenge completed by artist Ian Llanas. The challenge is to take a piece of art done several years ago and “redo” it with your current skill level. The idea behind the challenge is solid and brings to mind a story I wrote a few years […]

With what is going on in my life right now, I need to go with something a bit more serene. Temple Lagoon by Jonas De Ro has everything I’d look for in a place to unwind: beauty, water, and hints of a simple life amid a small community. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. […]

In honor of the tax season that just passed, I present to you Patience by Ian Llanas. Having known a couple of people who had issues with their taxes, I advocate knowing the rules and playing by them.   I became a made man so I had ‘made’ tattooed on my hand. Every time I […]

Work had been rather busy, but this piece by Jonas De Ro washed the real world away as Jerus Dragonfriend–at a later stage of life–popped into my head. I’m not so sure of him as a main character, but he definitely has all the qualities of being a story’s catalyst.   Aduk snatched the halved […]

Hey All, Just a quick note to say that my short story Gateway Blood has been accepted by Digital Fiction Pub for their website and for their anthology Quickfic Anthology 1: Shorter-Short Speculative Fiction. My story is live on their site (link) and the anthology is set to go live on Amazon on April 15th. […]

What I needed for a visual was a close up of someone who could be part fae telling a story. Though she had a book in her hands, this piece by Shende-Bende did the trick. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. Sorry. –EJ– ©2013-2016 shende-bendeYou can fine more by shende-bende at: http://shende-bende.deviantart.com/

Not sure why, but I’ve always like gnolls. LIke so many other DMs, I sued them to fill in the ranks in lower tiers of armyies without giving them much of their own agenda. Perhpas it’s the atypical hyena look that gnolls typicall have… Don’t know. Though this piece by CG Felker is called Kobold […]

Talk about your epic fantasy… This piece by Jonas De Ro establishes so much about the world in which this kind of formation grows. As soon as one thinks about how it came to be, a true exercise in world building begins. Jerus Dragonfriend stopped at the crest of Aver Hill. The giant iron oaks […]

Hey All, Just a quick note to say that my short story Between Kings has been accepted by Mirror Matter Press for a Dark Fantasy project they are putting together. More information on when/where it can be found as the publication moves forward. Take care, —Zeek (EJ)

There are precious few projects out there that makes the subject look massive, powerful, coming right at you. This piece by Ian Llanas does it beautifully. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. Sorry. –EJ– ©2014-2016 ianllanasYou can find more by Ian Llanas at: http://ianllanas.com http://ianllanas.deviantart.com https://www.facebook.com/IanLlanasArt

I went looking for a heroine and found this piece by shende-bende. While not exactly what I was searching for, the art sparked a scene with Chuck Garcia, an undead enforcer of sorts. Like the Syrup and Butter private conference halls attached to The Big Biscuit Night Club, the Gravy hall was large enough to […]

*Jump to the assassins: 1, 2, 3.* At the beginning of August, I created a hidden part of this blog to use as a journal with a way to show only one entry at a time. A place where I can share a bit of myself and my journey with friends without it being readily […]

I have been looking for alternate orcs that takes a step away from the usual green high fantasy guys. This pieces by CG Felker did both the best. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. Sorry. –EJ–

I came across this pieces by Ian Llanas on hist page at Deviatart.com. In the description, he wrote, “Fresh portfolio piece just in time for GenCon. This was targeted specifically at M:TG. Cheers! If you have a cool name for this dude, drop it in the comments. Right now I’m going with my working title, […]

When compared to the other art I’ve feature during Inspiration Tuesday, this piece (The Den) by Jonas De Ro seems kind of bland. However, there was nothing bland about the hacker/activist scene that I set here. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. Sorry. –EJ– ©2014 www.jonasdero.beYou can find more by Jonas De Ro at: […]

I sat down to write a bit more about Carmen, Xul, and their adventuring gang. Given that they would be heading toward an area once ruled by undead, I started to give thought to what kind of problems they would run into there. Once ruled by undead lends itself to “no longer ruled by undead.” […]

Last November I saw a piece that inspired me to write about Carmen. In writing about her, I imagined a group of adventures that she had banded together to brave perilous dungeons for riches. This art by JasonTN pulled that party of adventures right back to mind as this looks exactly like the kind of […]

So I have a writer-friend who thoroughly enjoys Lewis Carroll’s Alice tales. This smoking hedgehog, not to be confused with a hookah smoking caterpillar, looks like it could be right at home in that universe. Well, not there precisely, but somewhere in my imagination that is not very far from there.   Drawing a puff […]

I recently wrote a short story about an islander taken as a slave to a city on the edge of a large continent. While the tale did well as a stand-alone, I’ve wanted to do more with the character. Just to be clear, I don’t mean as a sequel to the resolved storyline. You know, […]

In scanning around, like I do, I went back to see what else Ian Llanas has and found several excellent works that characterized goblins. I’ve always had a soft spot for goblins. Not so much a “Hey, I want to play in a PC goblin campaign.” More of a “Boy do I have a campaign […]

The Adventures of Benjamin Baxter Samhain Shenanigans After the strange events on his birthday, Benjamin Baxter finds his magic growing at an alarming rate. With the surge, the dark energy within him becomes even harder to control. Putting his recent struggles behind him, Ben takes his school faire winnings to the local Samhain festival to […]

Another piece by Jonas De Ro. This one is entitled Solace and, upon seeing it, a scenario popped in my head.   The distant hiss-squawks of azure ravens registered on Okatu’s ear over the gentle flow of the Akira River. These reclusive birds only nested in the mountains around the Tanaka monastery where he had […]

This piece entitled C9rcle by Ian Llanas of a raving nightclub hit the same target as Payoff from last week. Thanks to this work, I now know that there will be at least one pivotal club scene in the hi-tech science fiction story brewing on the back burner. Here’s to hoping the story doesn’t start […]

Least. Productive. Weekend. Ever. Things were going so well. I had just been sent a rough concept of what the cover of book three will look like, had a nice talk with the proofer over my choice of repeatedly jamming two words together, and–having already hit my weekly goals–had a clear schedule going into the […]

So, I’ve had this hi-tech science fiction story pinging around my head for the past few years. While I have a solid grasp on the main character and conflict, I haven’t moved forward with it because a time travel element kept trying to force its way in. Thing is, the main idea doesn’t need time […]

Talk about an excellent (and really fun) movie! Several of my friends raved about this adaption, a couple even paid to see it in 3D on subsequent visits. They prompted me to go. I didn’t have the time. They promised to buy my ticket if I went and didn’t like it, which was a nice […]

Hello, There’s a thing called Cyber Monday… So, one product (Birthday Bedlam), three codes: — Code 1buckoffabb saves a dollar. — Code 2bucksoffabb saves two dollars. — Code abb4free grants a free copy. If coupons strike your fancy, feel free to use whichever one make you feel the fanciest. –Zeek (EJ)

The Adventures of Benjamin Baxter Birthday Bedlam Technomacy shortcuts the decades of drudgery it takes to master the arcane. Neophytes can cast fireballs, and summon monsters with the tap of an icon. A young technomancer, awakens to a world once beyond his awareness to find the very foundation on which he learned magic slipping away. […]

In honor of the upcoming trailer of Star Wars: Episode VII coming out this weekend, I present Clinton Felker’s take on the Imperial Throne Room if the scene (or franchise) were set in Feudal Japan. When I stumbled upon this piece, I (shamefully) didn’t see the Star Wars connection. My eyes soaked in the set […]

So far, while doing Inspiration Tuesday, I’ve only used worked that has inspired me on a personal level that felt like they were pried from my own brain (though we all know thats not possible (right? (right?))). This week, I’m adding a piece I came across playing Hearthstone. Grand Window Faerlina proved to be a […]

All right! The One Horn to Rule Them All anthology is now live! With cover art by James A. Owen, within are stories by Peter S. Beagle, Todd McCaffrey, and seventeen other talented authors (including yours truly). From the back cover: Unicorns, with their single ivory horn, are elusive and magical creatures of myth… First […]

Discovered another piece by Jonas De Ro. While the House of Spikes proved perfect brain candy for ABB #6 (currently being outlined), this’ll serve as inspiration for a different nearby location. Will Ben go here? Don’t know. Maybe. Might be too soon… #8 on the other hand… Yeah, almost a given. ©2014 www.jonasdero.beYou can find […]

I’ve always been a huge fan of art and have found my imagination spinning out of control when masterful work is found. …and so continues Inspiration Tuesday. Inspiration removed for use in my fiction. Sorry. –EJ–    ©2014 aconnollYou can find more by Adam Connoll at deviantART (links below): aconnoll.deviantart.com/art/Super-7-sideview-413148307 aconnoll.deviantart.com/art/Zombie-Grader-7311-426401302 aconnoll.deviantart.com/art/Long-John-454234502

Discovered this piece by Jonas De Ro… which is precisely what I needed to see to establish the next main setting for–soon to brainstormed–ABB #6. There is so much I would like to say about this piece, but (to bottle my creative lightning) will have to let it stand on its own fantastically eerie merit. […]

Something about this skeletal champion really speaks to me as a lead villain. Perhaps it’s the rich purple robe and almost lich like qualities. I’ve used this piece for reference during a short story and plan on coming back to it in a few months to fold it into a larger project. As noted by […]

Since I’ve started this blog for my fiction, I’m going to follow a bit of advice to include stuff that interests me and might intrigue my readers. Well, I’ve always been a huge fan of art and have found my imagination spinning out of control when masterful work is found. …and so this marks the […]

With Project 1 (Working Title: Baxter’s Birthday) in the hands of my first readers, I’ve cracked open Samhain Surprise (Formerly Project 2). This will be a direct follow up to Baxter’s Birthday and, even though it continues with the same character, will stand on its own. In other news, James Artimus Owen–the cover artist for […]

Files have been sent to the first readers. –Zeek (EJ)

Closing out the fourth serious revision. About to dive into the next. –Zeek (EJ)

* A vampire and his wife do their best to keep their son from making the biggest mistake of his unlife. Anthology: One Horn to Rule Them All Due out by WordFire Press September 2015. *This is a place marker image created for Gateway Blood which has been picked up for publishing. It is not […]