Van Dyne’s Vampires

A writer is a little bit like a god. Gods in all religions are creators. They are responsible for the world as we know it, and for the world we cannot see.

Writers create worlds, both seen and unseen, every day, along with myriads of people. Like gods, writers are creators.

The act of creating is, for me, exhilarating. It is the most exciting part of writing. Someday I hope to have enough money so I can hire someone to do all the other aspects of the writing business so I can just write.

The first audience of a writer is himself. If the story doesn’t interest him, it won’t see the light of day. And it might not even see completion. After all, writers basically write about what they know and they write a story they find interesting. That’s what keeps them going. I suppose the same can be said of deities: they do what pleases them.

Yesterday was supposed to be the official launch day of Van Dyne’s Vampires (Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigations, Book 4). However, Amazon is having hiccups in their KDP processing. Consequently, Van Dyne isn’t showing up on the Pierce Mostyn series page and the price (as of this writing) is still listed at 99 cents, which is what I offer as a special deal to my reading list folks. However, since the book is still 99 cents — grab a copy before the Zon finally gets its act together and raises the price to $2.99.

The Pierce Mostyn stories have been a joy to write. More and more I’m growing to truly love Mostyn and company. I’m anticipating a long relationship with him and his world.

Van Dyne’s Vampires is a bit of a departure from the previous three stories, where I riffed on a story by HP Lovecraft. Van Dyne is my own creation. Although characters of his ilk abound. Van Dyne is the Moriarity, the Zeck, the Fu Manchu of Pierce Mostyn’s world. The human evil genius. Never mind that Mostyn also has Cthulhu and his buddies to contend with.

Cthulhu and friends, however, don’t care about us. We are to them as ants on a sidewalk are to us. That is the horror of the Mythos: in the vastness of the universe, we don’t matter. We are nothing. Whether human beings and our little world continue to exist doesn’t even register in the minds of entities greater than ourselves.

The true horror of our quest to meet other intelligent life is that they will be superior to us and not care if we live or die. And maybe for them, things would be better off if we were dead. Be careful what you wish for.

However, for some, the fear of the Mythos might be a bit remote. So I created someone we all can relate to: namely, the bully; the person who uses others to satisfy his or her own needs. Valdis Damien van Dyne is that bully on a mega-scale. He is that egotist who thinks nothing of others — other than how they can best serve his needs.

We’ve all been bullied. We’ve all dealt with users. And when that bully or user has power over us, there is fear we feel deep in our gut. It is far more visceral than the fear of being nothing.

And just as we hope someone will come to our rescue, there is Pierce Mostyn and the OUP. A little bit of the cavalry coming over the hill just in the nick of time. And we like that.

You can get Van Dyne’s Vampires at Amazon, or read it for free if you are a KU member. Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome; and, until next time, happy reading!

Pierce Mostyn Investigates Again

Pierce Mostyn fighting inter-dimensional beings. Photo from a secret OUP file.

Pierce Mostyn came into being, as with most if not all of my fiction, out of thin air. Like Athena springing fully formed from the forehead of Zeus.

Technically creatio ex nihilo is reserved for gods; and since I’m not one, there were embryonic thoughts and influences swirling around in my mind which eventually coalesced into Pierce Mostyn. I mentioned a few last week.

Mostyn is a professional paranormal investigator, employed by the Office of Unidentified Phenomena; which is a dark and shadowy and mysterious federal agency. The office’s director, Dr Rafe Bardon, is an equally mysterious and shadowy character.

The X-Files, Twin Peaks, and Stranger Things were undoubtedly the immediate stimuli for Mostyn. Before those shows there was, of course, HP Lovecraft. The federal government’s interest in suppressing what was going on in that ancient seaside town of Innsmouth is a key factor in lending the story an air of authenticity.

Many of Lovecraft’s stories are written as an exposé of suppressed truth. A device The X-Files, Twin Peaks, and Stranger Things all made use of. And since I grew up in the 50s and 60s, I’m very familiar with accounts of government suppression of information some bureaucrat thought was too dangerous for us to know. That theme even found its way into Indiana Jones.

Of course, Mr Snowdon helped us realize that the government is in fact actively suppressing the truth, lying to us, and spying on us. In spite of what the socialists, and big government liberals and conservatives say — government is not our friend. A theme I allude to in Van Dyne’s Vampires.

Next week, if all goes well, Van Dyne’s Vampires, the fourth Pierce Mostyn paranormal investigation, will be available for your reading pleasure. Mostyn and company will encounter some new enemies. There is also plenty of action, and a healthy dollop of humor, along with that good old-fashioned paranormal horror.

If you haven’t yet discovered Pierce Mostyn, take a look at the series page. Some good reading awaits you!

Comments are always welcome; and, until next time, happy reading!

The Paranormal Investigator

Last week we took a look at the paranormal phenomenon in literature. The week I want to focus on the occult detective. Or in today’s parlance, the Paranormal Detective.

Edgar Allan Poe created the detective genre with his amateur sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin. It can easily be said that mother and son writing team, E. and H. Heron created the occult detective sub-genre with their Flaxman Low stories.

After Low’s introduction, a steady steam of occult detectives appeared on the literary scene. Some of them are:

Dr John Silence, created by Algernon Blackwood

Thomas Carnacki, created by William Hope Hodgson

Aylmer Vance, created by Alice and Claude Askew

Moris Klaw, created by Sax Rohmer

Jules de Grandin, created by Seabury Quinn

Steve Harrison, created by Robert E Howard

John Thunstone, created by Manly Wade Wellman

Dr Alex Caspian, created by Joseph Payne Brennan

Dirk Gently, created by Douglas Adams

Repairman Jack, created by F. Paul Wilson

The occult detective has also appeared on TV in shows such as Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Penny Dreadful, Twin Peaks, Angel, and, of course, The X-Files.

Twin Peaks and The X-Files gave a little twist to the occult detective genre by having the investigators FBI agents. The government was now involved, one way or the other, in the investigation of supernatural occurrences.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. The UFO scare and the talk of government cover-ups was news. I remember reading of sightings, or watching reports on TV, along with the usual government “explanation”. I read books on UFOs “proving” their existence. Circumstantial evidence to be sure. But if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck…

Consequently, since writers write mostly about what they know, it was only a matter of time before my Muse gave me Pierce Mostyn and the Federal Office of Unidentified Phenomena. A Federal uber-secret agency whose purpose is to investigate and determine the threat level of those things that go bump in the night, and eliminate them if need be.

And what greater terror can there be, the greatest of those things that go bump in the night, then the Great Cthulhu and his ilk?

Lovecraft, in The Shadow Over Innsmouth, intimated that the Federal government was indeed interested in and sought to cover-up the existence of The Great Old Ones.

Pierce Mostyn and the Office of Unidentified Phenomena are a natural riff on Lovecraft and the government investigations and cover-ups alluded to in Lovecraft’s stories, Twin Peaks, and The X-Files. Along with being more action-oriented than those three predecessors.

Today, if you search Amazon, you’ll quickly see that the current crop of writers use the terms paranormal detective, or paranormal investigator.

The occult and supernatural are out, and the paranormal is in — at least as far as being a category identifier is concerned. So if you’re a writer writing about the occult and supernatural, just call it the paranormal and you should be alright.

Before I go, I do want to shine a spotlight on two excellent paranormal investigator reads. They are Herkimer’s Nose and Tony Price: Confidential (which is all three Tony Price volumes in one book). Richard Schwindt is an amazing storyteller. You won’t regret spending the 3 bucks to get these books.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

The Paranormal

Emblem of the Office of Unidentified Phenomena

I’m taking a bit of a break in our series Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of to talk about the Paranormal. Mostly because later this month I’ll be publishing the fourth Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation. And I want to share with you some thoughts regarding this category.

Back in the dark ages when I was growing up, we didn’t use the word “paranormal” all that often. We used “supernatural” and “occult”. I’m still inclined to use those words rather than “paranormal”. But I also want to sell books. And if the “in” word is paranormal - then, so be it.

Hence the series is about Pierce Mostyn’s Paranormal Investigations and not his Occult or Supernatural Investigations.

The times move on and language with them.

Today, we have paranormal everything. Just key the word paranormal into the Amazon search box. You’ll get paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, paranormal dating agency, paranormal cozy mystery, paranormal police department, paranormal PIs, paranormal reverse harem (what????), and all those shifter romances.

The paranormal, with or without magic, is hot. One of the reasons I started thinking about writing my own paranormal series last year.

A writer basically has two options when it comes to deciding what to write. Either write about what you love. Or learn to love what you write about.

I tried the latter approach a few decades ago with romance novels. What I learned was I was not going to learn to love writing about love. In fact, I hated it! And subsequently gave up on the idea.

Today, I write what I like or love to read. And that works for me. 

I enjoy writing. And I make some sales and get some KU page reads along the way. Which is also nice.

I probably won’t get rich from writing because what I like to read isn’t what is hot. I’ve accepted that. But I haven’t yet thrown in the towel on the idea that I can make some kind of livable income from writing. Which for me is basically a nice supplement to my retirement income. After all there are lots of writers who aren’t on the bestseller lists who make some decent money from their pens.

The idea for Pierce Mostyn came about while I was watching the first season of The X-Files on Netflix. The thought came to me what if there was an uber-secret government agency whose mission was to save us from… From what? I like the Cthulhu Mythos, so why not those bad guys?

The more I thought about it, the more I decided the concept worked for me. And thus Pierce Mostyn and the Office of Unidentified Phenomena was born.

My first inclination was to call the investigations “occult”. Then I told myself, No, they have to be “Paranormal” if you want a chance to make some coin. And so the series became the Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigations.

Occult and supernatural literature - or paranormal in today’s parlance - has been popular from the beginning. Stories of monsters, demons, and ghosts. And we are still telling these stories today.

It’s great fun working in an ancient storytelling tradition with a modern twist.

If you haven’t read the Pierce Mostyn series, I urge you to give them a try. I’m quite proud of the books. As one reviewer noted, they’re, “…entertaining and action packed.” And if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you don’t have to pay a cent. Such a deal!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Steve Bargdill

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of - Part 6

Okay, Steve Bargdill is not a book. He’s a writer. A doggone good one, too. To date, he’s self-published four books and they are all winners. He’s also shopping a novel around to agents. I read a draft and it’s dynamite. I wish him much success.

I’ve read all of his books and I’m waiting for more. His only fault, as far as I’m concerned, is that he doesn’t write fast enough.

Banana Sandwich

Banana Sandwich was my first foray into the fictional world of Steve Bargdill. I noticed his tweet that his book was more popular than Moon Pies. And that got us talking and got me reading his book. I’m glad I saw that tweet.

The book is a dark and gritty rollercoaster ride of mental illness and emotions. There is enough comic relief so that the book isn’t oppressively dark. Bargdill knows pacing. And the ending… Well, it will blow you away.

As an aside, I’ve seen people rip the cover. Personally, I love the cover. It says everything about the story. And being lit fic, what else can the cover say? It’s perfect. 

Banana Sandwich is a fabulous book. Don’t pass it by. You’ll regret it. Truly, you will.

Wasteland: The Complete Series

Wasteland is a compilation of 6 separately published novellas. Here’s the review I posted on Amazon:

Six novellas. One novel. People bound, chained, imprisoned by the warden of their minds to views of what is and isn’t possible.

Steve Bargdill takes us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, delirium, sanity, and insanity. People who are trapped and feel they have no other choice but to do what they are doing. People who feel hopeless and helpless. Crushed by life.

And yet because the only constant is change, new people and new dynamics intersect with the lives of the main characters. What seems to be a life without purpose and without hope, very often isn’t. It all depends on what we think is possible.

Dark. Gritty. Surreal. Absurd. Wasteland by Steve Bargdill is the 21st century Our Town and Winesburg, Ohio. This book is a must read.

I can’t add anything more. Get Wasteland. It could be life changing.

Color of Hope

Color of Hope is a very short collection of poetry and flash fiction. Every single poem and story is good, with some being truly superb. Definitely the kind of collection to keep handy for when you have five minutes to spare and want something far more enjoyable then that old magazine in the mechanic’s waiting room, or the dentist’s office. Or while you’re waiting for the rain to pass.

It’s a wonderful little book and it’s only a buck. You can’t go wrong.

Neighborhood Mums

Neighborhood Mums is a short story — and an excellent one. Because it stays with you long after you’ve finished the story — and that’s the mark of an excellent writer.

The narrator and his dog, Sebastian, are on a neighborhood search for a couple of mum plants that were stolen from his yard.

What we are treated to in this simple story, is picture after picture of people. People going about their business. It’s a look into ourselves, and those around us.

Neighborhood Mums is a short story you will definitely remember.

Please do yourself a favor and read Steve Bargdill. His work is entertaining and thought provoking. He’ll make you cry and laugh. And you’ll remember his books long after you’ve read the last word.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!