Rhonda Parrish, editor of the highly anticipated Fae anthology, interviews contributor Adria Laycraft.

What was the inspiration for your Fae story? 

I wanted to write about the lesser-known native people of the American southwest, and the Kawaiisu gave me the perfect history and setting for the story I had in mind (desert, water shortages, stories of the Otherworld, and belief in spirits).

What is it about fae that appeals to you?

Stories of magic, fae, and all things Otherworld have fascinated me my entire life. What appeals to me is that sense of more going on than we are aware of. I always want to remind myself to look beyond my assumptions and limited vision

Rhonda Parrish, editor of the highly anticipated Fae anthology, interviews contributor Liz Colter.

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

The primary inspiration for "The Last King" was my fondness for the ancient "Ballad of Tam Lin," though I had a lot of fun throwing a variety of other characters from fairy into this story as well.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

Not at all. My unpublished novel, "Thiery's Sons," is about the uneasy coexistence of elves and mortals. To summarize the novel: Eighteen years ago an Elven woman's seduction left Tristan with a half-blood son and a ceaseless yearning for her. Her return reveals the rest of her plan, one which traps Tristan and his realm between two deadly armies

If yes, is this a subject you think you’ll be likely to write about again?

Definitely! I'm currently shopping a short story with True Tom as the main character where Tam Lin makes an appearance again. I find it interesting that some scholars believe Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin were the same character in the earliest versions of the stories.

Introduction by Bascomb James.

The first story in the anthology Far Orbit, “Open for Business” could have been ripped from today’s headlines. As I write this, humankind has reached a turning point in space exploration—a point where funding for big government space projects is decreasing and private funding for practical, goal-driven business ventures, like the one in this story, is increasing. Recent headlines have touted the successful launch and recovery of SpaceX’s commercial launch systems, the onset of space tourism, and Golden Spike’s plans for profitable commercial flights to the moon. In contrast with some of these more grandiose space business plans, two companies, Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, have announced measured initiatives to begin asteroid prospecting operations using small CubeSats and off-the-shelf technologies. “Open for Business” floats effortlessly on this sea of current events. The story reads like mid-century science fiction of the Grand Tradition, but there is a twist: Rather than following the steely-eyed lead scientist, the author provides a more human approach by telling the story through the point of view of a slightly neurotic attorney.

Sam Kepfield was born in 1963, and raised in western Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University in 1986, and received his law degree from the University of Nebraska in 1989. He practices law full-time in Hutchinson, Kansas, in order to support his writing habit. His work has appeared in Science Fiction Trails, Aiofe’s Kiss, The Future Fire, and a number of anthologies. His first novel, Magic Man, Gold Dust Woman, and the Dream Machine, was published in March 2013.

Open for Business
by Sam S. Kepfield

“This is what ten trillion dollars looks like,” Terry Raines said. I was into my second beer at Hannigan’s, an upscale restaurant in downtown KC, with several dozen other yuppies. The Power and Light District was a renaissance neighborhood in the 21stcentury, after falling to the hookers and drug dealers in the 1970s. The lighting was low, the music was soft jazz, the beer was Boulevard (brewed right here in KC), and the food was, of course, barbeque. It was a great venue for a weekend get-together by three old college friends, one flown in from out of state and two others who’d driven up on a Friday afternoon.

Beyond Fate cover art has arrived! The epic conclusion to the Fate of the Gods trilogy by Amalia Dillin is coming September 2014.

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When Adam left Eve, abandoning his wife and their newborn daughter Elah, he thought he was saving the world. But he hadn't counted on the influence of Michael, twisting Elah's love for her parents into paranoia, or the slow, leaching death of the world she rules. How could he have known the blame for the world turning barren would fall on Eve?

Eve only had two years to teach her daughter love, to cement Elah's sense of morality and ensure the safety of all Creation. Even with the help of Raphael, Elah is becoming her father's daughter, a master manipulator, and she's determined to have her way, even if it means betraying her own mother's trust.

With Loki and the Aesir gone, Thor thinks he’s protected Eve from the ravages of Ragnarok, but there are forces in play even the gods can’t see. When Thor arrives in Eve's next life, offering her everything she ever wanted from Adam, and more—eternity without death or rebirth, and the freedom to live outside of her daughter's reach—Eve is more than tempted. Being part of the world has grown physically painful. If she can escape to Asgard, maybe she can live again. Maybe she can love again.

But can the world survive with only Adam to protect it?

Publication date: September 16, 2014

Susan Abel Sullivan, author of The Haunted Housewives of Allister Alabama and The Weredog Whisperer talks about her Southern fried paranormal mystery series on the TV program East Alabama Today.

By Jenn Lyons.

I can’t tell you how wonderful today feels (although I’m a writer, so I’m darned well going to try.)

There’s a funny story to this too.

Some time ago, I was stuck in writer's block hell. I had two books that I couldn't finish in spite of personal pacts made with any number of private demons. I was trapped waiting for inspiration to strike, but any muse of mine was going to have a hard time reaching me past that brick wall, reinforced as it was with excuses and denials.

In hindsight, it must have seemed like an odd decision to start a third book.

I certainly couldn't have predicted that Blood Chimera would be the one that forever changed how I approached writing: the last book I started and the first book I finished. Blood Chimera is the book that showed me I could actually do this, which is funny because it’s also the book that everyone told me I shouldn’t write.

"Vampire books are so over," I was told. "After X? Forget about it. Everything's been done." (The identity of X is an ever-changing variable of popular authors, each one’s success proof that the genre is 'finished.')

I didn't listen. I had to write this book. 

Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats and a lot of opinions on anything from Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be found debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops. 

• Website: JennLyons.com

Kristina Wojtaszek, author of Opal a novella that retwists the classic Snow White tale, writes:

Snow White is one of the most stunning fairy tales.  It is at once highly visual and suspiciously cryptic.  One can easily describe the drops of blood on snow in the ebony window frame; the poisoned apple that is half red, half white; the disguised stepmother with her dyed face and stooped walk as she feigns old age… but so much is left out as well.  It's a beautiful mystery.  The original queen tells us in her own words what she wishes for in a child, but her dream is purely physical, based on the colors she sees before her.  We know nothing of this queen, whether she is a beauty herself or if she is kind or careless.  She doesn't even give us a name for her child before dying in birth, and so we are left with an unusually pale, squalling babe in the hands of what would appear to be an unstable or perhaps apathetic father.

She is simply called Snow White in the Grimm version of the classic tale we know so well, an odd name for a beloved daughter, I would think.  Among other versions of the story, we can find some actual names; Maria, Margarita, Lisa, Anna and Ermalina are a few.  Like the names, this cross cultural tale is quite diverse in the telling.  Our maiden can be cast in roles from someone akin to Mother Mary all the way down to a supposed harlot.  And her assisting characters vary as well.

By Kristina Wojtaszek.

Starting on Friday, August 1st, all net profit from the sales of my novella, Opal, will go to a very special cause: Raptor Rehabilitation!  Recently, I was very fortunate to meet Diane Myers, a woman with a passion for raptors, at a presentation put on by the Black Swamp Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Ohio.  She and her volunteers presented birds of prey that had been injured and taken in by the center for rehabilitation and educational showings.  The birds present included a peregrine falcon, red tailed hawk, turkey vulture, short-eared owl, barn owl and a bald eagle.  Seeing the owls brought back wonderful memories of my time spent working at a nature center, where I got to hold a big, beautiful barred owl on my arm and show her off to groups of children; perhaps one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had!

Blood Chimera cover art has arrived. A noir urban fantasy that will have you redefining the word "vampire," first in a series by Jenn Lyons.

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Some ransoms aren’t meant to be paid. Kidnap and Ransom negotiation used to be straightforward. The bad guys kidnap someone, and K&R expert Jackson Pastor negotiates their release, skillfully traversing a maze of bloodthirsty monsters: criminals, terrorists, police, and especially the FBI.

But that was before he met real bloodthirsty monsters.

When Jackson Pastor arrives in Los Angeles to help a new client recover his kidnapped wife, he finds himself dropped in the middle of a 500-year-old war between rival European and Mexican vampire clans, a conflict that threatens to escalate into a full-on public gang war. Worse, Jackson hasn’t been brought to Los Angeles to be a negotiator.

His new boss wants to turn him into an assassin.

With Jackson about to be caught in the middle of a clan war, his only hope of escape may lie with a secret FBI monster-hunting task-force led by a very dangerous, eccentric wizard.

Which could be a problem, since Jackson’s a monster himself.

Blood Chimera is a gritty, noir-style mystery of paranormal proportions where nothing is as it seems, not even the term “vampire.”

Publication date: August 12, 2014