One of my recent discoveries is a web comic called Curvy. Warning: it is not safe for work!
Curvy tells a fairytale story of candy world and travel between our world (boring world) and this wonderful other realm. Unlike children’s stories along these lines, Curvy is filled with graphic and deviant (in the best sense of that word) sex. Pretty much somebody is having sex on every page. If that sounds like something you would like, check out Curvy.
I’m very pleased to have been invited to the Spring Fling Book Fair. I’ll be there from 11AM till 12:30 signing paperbacks of my books. This is my only signing event of the year. Stop by and say hello!
The Clark County Spring Fling Book Fair is coming March 25, 2016. See the flyer for details. This is my only book signing event for the year, and I will be there from 11AM till 12:30. Hope to see you there.
Read an ebook week is coming in just two days. March 5-11 at Smashwords.com, you can find thousands of books for free and many more on sale. Watch this space for information on my books going on sale.
This was another part of the city that Terrence Dechantagne knew well. It was known to the rest of the city as The Bottom and to those who lived there as Black Bottom. It was a section of the town built on land sloping down toward the River Thiss and it seemed as if it was perpetually falling into the green waters. Besides thousands of two and three story houses that all seemed to be either leaning toward the river because of the sloping land or leaning in the other direction in hopes of countering the slope, there were countless seedy pubs, sordid meeting houses, and hidden drug dens.
Terrence drove his sister’s steam carriage down Contico Boulevard, past the ancient stone buildings of the Old City and past the sea of tenement apartments, turning off into the dark and winding roads of Black Bottom. His vehicle was the only powered one on the road here. Foot traffic predominated, though there were quite a few horses, either pulling carriages or being ridden. There were enough of them that there was a two foot tall embankment of horse manure that ran down either side of the road. Flies filled the air almost as thickly as did the stench.
Following a series of alleys that would have confused anyone not intimately familiar with the area, Terrence brought the vehicle to a stop in front of a nondescript house. He peeled off his driving gloves and tossed them onto the seat next to him, and then he climbed down. The only light came from the dim headlamps and the tiny sliver of moon, but Terrence didn’t need either to detect the three men coming toward him from the shadows between two houses on the other side of the street. The foremost had a knife. The second carried a cricket bat. The third one was a big man. He didn’t seem to have a weapon; probably thought he didn’t need one.
“Hey blue coat. You can’t park here unless you pay the…” The man stopped talking when Terrence shoved the barrel of his .45 into the man’s mouth.
“You’re not going to talk to me anymore,” said Terrence. He looked at the other two. “Either one of you talk?”
“Put that away,” said the second man.
“I’m not taking orders right now either. This fellow a friend of yours?”
“My brother.”
“Then I take it you don’t want me to splatter his brains across the street.”
“You won’t. People like you follow the law.”
“People like me are the law,” said Terrence. “Your brother and I are going inside. When we come out again, I’ll pay your toll or whatever you want to call it. But. Anybody touches my car, bothers me, or brasses me off in any way, and I make you a little closer to being an only child.”
Terrence guided the man, still sucking on the barrel of his pistol and now walking backwards, around the car and to the door of the building. He rapped the door three times and it opened an inch.
“I’m here to see Blackwood,” said Terrence.
The door opened and Terrence pushed himself and his unwilling companion through. Inside was a large dark room. The fellow who had let them in turned out to be at least as large as the muscle in the street. He loomed over both of them and most people would have been intimidated. There was no furniture in the room and the dozen or so people there in various states of unconsciousness were sprawled out across the floor.
“I’m here to see Blackwood,” said Terrence again.
“Nobody sees him unless I say they do,” said the big man, his deep voice just as menacing as his physical presence.
“’Salright, Teddy. Dechantagne’s an old friend.”
Blackwood came down the stairs at the far end of the room. He was a small man with a head of thick, curly, red hair and a cigar clenched in the corner of his mouth. His appearance and his attitude reminded Terrence of a bantam rooster.
“’Dja bring a friend with you, Dechantagne?” he asked in his thick brogue.
“A fellow I picked up on the street.”
“Would’ja mind lettin’m go?”
Terrence pulled the barrel of his .45 from the man’s mouth, and wiping it on the fellow’s shirt, he tucked it back into his belt.
“You’re dead mister.”
“Shut your damn mouth, Mika. Don’t go thinkin’ that because Dechantagne here is a pretty boy he won’t kill you dead. He will. On the other hand, if you give him any trouble, I’ll kill you and your whole family.”
The man—Mika went white.
“Now get on outa’ here.”
“Thanks,” said Terrence blandly, after the other man had hurried out the door.
“You know I’m not sentimental, Dechantagne. You’re just worth a lot more alive to me than he is. That changes; you’ll be the first to know. Now what can I do for you, as if I didn’t know.”
Like several other of my books, the Astrid Maxxim books came about through my attempt to recapture the pleasure I had as a kid. In this case, it was from reading Tom Swift Jr. books. I set out very deliberately to create a cast of characters for my story.
Astrid Maxxim: Astrid was my star. Her name literally means Major Star. She would be my youthful inventor. She’s intelligent, brave, honest, and a tiny bit insecure, at least at first. The one thing about Tom Swift that I didn’t want in my own story was his lack of growth. He was always the same. Astrid grows older with each book, a bit wiser, and a lot more self-confident. She’s on her way to becoming a remarkable woman.
Toby Bundersmith: Toby is Astrid’s boyfriend and confidant. He’s always steady and reliable, really the male version of Astrid. Instead of science, he leans toward politics. Though clearly the heroic type, he never steals the limelight from Astrid. She’s the real hero in the end. I liked the idea of this handsome, nearly perfect guy, with a slightly funny last name.
Denise Brown: One of Astrid’s best friends, Denise is brassy and in your face. She says what she means, and can be pretty self-centered, but she’s still got a heart of gold. She is the child of gay parents and has an older brother named Dennis. She probably didn’t get as much attention growing up as the other members of her family.
Christopher Harris: Christopher is super smart and is constantly competing with Astrid to be the future valedictorian. Christopher is African-American, but doesn’t fall into the stereotype of being an athlete. Although strong and resourceful, he is extremely poor at any game that involves a ball. He’s a computer expert, and though he hasn’t really done any hacking, we get the impression he would be good at it.
Valerie Diaz: Valerie is shy, sweet, and a bit fearful. She’s beautiful, with a head of thick black hair that is her pride and joy. Her hispanic heritage is a strong part of her character.
Robot Valerie: Valerie is a copy of Regular Valerie, programmed with her thoughts and memories. I knew I wanted a robot as a main character, but for a long time, I thought it was going to be Robot Denise. I guess Denise had enough on her plate.
Austin Tretower: Austin starts out as the new kid in school. He’s awkward, and kind of goofy. He’s closer to a real kid than any of the others, and as the only one who didn’t grow up in Maxxim City, he is our way to compare life there with the real world.
Astrid Maxxim, brilliant teenage inventor returns. Astrid is looking forward to racing against a professional driving team to prove her electric racecar can take on the gas-guzzlers. Then without warning, she wakes up in the hospital with partial amnesia. What could have happened to her? Now everyone treats her like she’s brain-damaged! What if her IQ really did drop to 184? What a nightmare!
Astrid Maxxim and the Electric Racecar Challenge is available on iBooks for just 99 cents.
A group of about a dozen designers and engineers sat around the conference table and upon the table’s surface was a variety of different devices. Mrs. Maxxim stood nearby. After giving her daughter a hug, she waved for the designers to present their efforts. Astrid, her mother, and Mr. Brown were shown next year’s tablets, phones, notebook computers, and pocket computers. Finally a young woman with red hair and large glasses stood up holding a small object on a key chain.
“And this is our fob,” she said. “You can use it not only to unlock and remote start your Maxxim Motor Cars, but also to control its sound system, security alarm, and wifi base station.”
“Isn’t that redundant?” asked Astrid.
“What do you mean?” the woman wondered.
“We can do all that by putting an app on your Maxxim Phone or on your watch.”
“Maxxim Carpé,” added her mother, giving the official name of the company’s computer watch.
“But not everyone has a Maxxim Phone or a Maxxim Carpé,” said the designer.
“But we want them to,” said Astrid. “In fact, we should include a Maxxim Carpé with the purchase of one of our cars. Keep the fob simple, for people to use as a backup.”
The woman looked crestfallen, but nodded and sat back down.
“What’s this?” asked Astrid, picking up a device the size of a deck of cards. “A new portable data drive?”
“This is our latest solid state drive,” said another engineer, this one a tall blond man.
“What’s the capacity?” asked the girl inventor.
“Three terabytes,” answered a shorter, dark-skinned man.
“No cables?”
“No, it connects by wifi,” the first engineer said, puffing himself up.
“It should be smaller, maybe half this size,” said Astrid, looking first at him and then at the other designer. “Make it smaller.”
“You don’t understand,” said the second engineer. “This is the culmination of a year’s work.”
“No,” said Astrid. “I understand perfectly. It’s you who apparently don’t understand.”
She walked across the room and tossed the device into the aquarium, eliciting gasps from the gathered engineers.
“See the bubbles?” said Astrid. “The bubbles mean there was air inside of that device—air means space. Make it smaller.”
As I’ve been going through Astrid Maxxim books doing excerpts here on the blog, I’ve been thinking “Wow! These are some great covers!” I am so pleased with them. They were of course done by Matthew Riggenbach at Shaed Studios, whom I can’t say enough about. He is a true professional and a joy to work with.
Here is another look at the cover he did for the next Astrid Maxxim book: Astrid Maxxim and the Secret of Dolphin Island. Right now, it’s still in outline form. Look for it some time in 2017.
Astrid and her father gathered their dishes and took them to the kitchen, placing them in the dishwasher. Then they walked into the family room. Dr. Maxxim started to sit down, but Astrid waved for him to follow and led the way into the living room beyond.
“Now would be the time to talk,” she said.
They stood in the center of the formal living room that was almost never used. Astrid pointed to the doorway that led from the room, down a long hallway. That hallway was lined with small rooms that had once been servants’ quarters.
“So, what’s the deal?”
“Have you ever noticed how strange this house is?” asked her father, seemingly taking them onto a different subject.
“Um, sure. Especially since there are big parts of it we don’t even use.”
“This house was old when my grandfather bought it,” explained Dr. Maxxim. “I don’t know what it was exactly, but he liked it and bought it. It was all the way back in New York State then. When he moved out west, he brought it with him. He had it taken apart and reassembled right here. Then over the years, he began modifying it, changing it around. My father made a few changes. Both of them were happy to have a house full of servants taking care of them. I never felt comfortable with all these people living among us, and us acting like they were invisible.”
“Mom’s right, Dad. People don’t act that way anymore.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “You’ve looked in those rooms before?”
“Sure. They’re mostly empty, but a few of them have some furniture in them. They’re not too bad. Aren’t they about the same size as my bedroom?”
“No. Your bedroom is about fifty percent larger. And these rooms are only as large as they are, because they were intended to hold eight household staff in each one. They had their own dining room and common room at one time. They were right here, as a matter of fact. Your mother and I turned it into the living room. When we first got married, we went on a building spree, you might say.”
“You created my bedroom by dividing up a larger room, right?”
“Yes. We did the same thing with our bedroom. We added bathrooms. We put in the pool. We had the kitchen remodeled and created the breakfast room. Then we sort of ran out of gas. At least I did. We just closed off the rest of the house that we didn’t use.”
“Have you thought about doing anything else?”
“I guess I just figured that I would leave it for you when you grow up,” he said.
“Well, I have a lot of ideas,” said Astrid. “Some of them, I think we need to start on right now.”
City of Amathar 