Toxic

A little while ago, I submitted a story to an anthology called Toxic. They wanted tales about real world poisons and (surprise!) toxic materials.

I wanted to do something a little different than usual. You know those "cozy mystery" books? The ones that usually feature a busybody amateur sleuth going about some quaint township and solving a dastardly murder at the local cookie shop? Other staples of the genre include helpful animal sidekicks, often a big, fluffy cat, and an extra quaint pun in the title that makes you want to vomit knitting yarn and freshly baked cookies. I'm pretty sure that it's legally mandated that all grandmothers have a few cozy mysteries sitting around.

That's where my story "Miss Blinkers Solves the Case" comes in. It starts out as a super cozy mystery. However, some fun facts about strychnine means this journey on the Orient Express derails somewhere in the deep, dark woods south of Ookyspookyville.

It's available for purchase in physical format here. So far, that's the only place and format it seems to be available in.

Here's the official blurb for the book straight from Migla Press:

Beware what you eat, beware what you drink, yes, even what you touch. Danger can lurk where you least expect it. All it takes is one mistake and what awaits is an agonizing death. One sting, one bite from the most innocuous creature and before you know it your breathing becomes shallow, your heart erratic. Your mind clouds, everything becomes feint. Death is the result, you lowered your guard. This is the epitome of these covert substances which exist within the world. Whether in nature, or made by man, toxins exude the mystique of danger, of a silent horror which can infect and destroy from the inside out. However the real question is whats to fear more, the substances themselves, or those willing to use them?

 

 

 

 

Private Eyes, Monsters, & the Egregious Misuse of a Steam Shovel

Hey there boils and ghouls,

Guess what? WRONG. Also, wrong. Wrong and kind of weird. Are you even trying?

My novel, SUBSTRATUM, is now out courtesy of the fine people at Grinning Skull Press. It's currently available on the Kindle and Kobo, with hard copies and other formats coming out soon.

With fine cover art from Jeffrey Kosh

This is a special book to me. It's the first novel  ever wrote, after cutting my teeth on short stories for a few years. I wrote it in 2013, during my second year of law school, finishing it on December 7th. Three years and a week later, here it is. Getting it to print was a considerably journey.

Here's the official back of the book blurb:

Deep beneath the streets of Detroit, someone — or something — is picking off the miners of the Detroit Salt Combine. The company appears to be more concerned with the protection of their equipment than with the safety of their employees, so the miners take it upon themselves to approach the Attican Detective Agency to find out what's happening to their co-workers. Jasper O'Malley, an agent with a reputation for getting things done (at great cost), is assigned to the case.

Teamed with Sadie Dupree, a geological expert, and Amelia Rio, an ace driver for one of the Organized Crime families, Jasper ventures underground to investigate the fate of the miners. But there's another factor operating within the labyrinth of tunnels, a factor that would kill to keep its illegal operations undiscovered. And still another factor has infiltrated the hired detective's own group. Yes, there's a Judas working with Jasper, a traitor who knows the secret of the mine, and who will stop at nothing to keep the mine's secret. Can Jasper track down whom or what is responsible for the miners' disappearances, or will he and his one true ally suffer the same fate as the unfortunate workers?

Fun fact: A lot of the story takes place in the Detroit salt mines. These are, in fact, a real place. Before the city of Detroit became a massive manufacturing hub in the early 20th century, one of its main industries was salt mining. Massive shafts dropped 1,200 feet below the city's surface. I took some liberties with their layout, but the mines are a fun little piece of lost history and a great setting for monsters to stalk our protagonists. Until recently, you could even take tours of the mines. Check them out.

It's Coming

My next novel, SUBSTRATUM, will be available around the end of the month from the good folks at Grinning Skull Press. Mad cover design scientist Jeffery Kosh whipped up the cover.

"Mr. Buck, why would I want to tear my gaze from the swirling maelstrom of  vomit-encrusted lost souls that is election coverage and being forced to spend time with my weird family members during Thanksgiving to read your book? Oh my God, I need to build a doomsday bunker."

These are the questions you may be asking yourself right now. Well, now that you're thinking of reading material to stock your bunker with so that you do not go mad during the long, slow march to the End Times, allow me to tell you why SUBSTRATUM is the book for you.

It has:
- Stop at nothing private detectives
- Ravenous monsters
- Cursed diamonds
- Fisticuffs
- Mutated zombies
- Adventure, mystery, and suspense
- Tommy gun totin' gangsters
- Mysterious forces determined to keep a secret
- The egregious misuse of a steam shovel
- All set against the backdrop of glorious 1920s Detroit and written in glorious Smell-O-Vision

It's the perfect novel to distract your mind from the hordes of the post-election undead scratching at the door to your shelter and/or talking to your weird uncle over the holidays.

Already hankering to get your mitts on a copy? It's not quite available yet, but you can always satiate your hunger for out of control pulp mayhem with my other currently available novel, CARRION SAFARI. Find it here.

Obey the Skull

It's time for news, news, and more news.

As of a few days ago, you can find my short story "Darwin's Ravens" in Cranial Leakage: Tales From the Grinning Skull, Volume II. That anthology is now available as an ebook or paperback from Amazon and other ebook retailers.

Private investigator Jasper O'Malley is tasked with guarding the mining operations on a remote island only to discover a quirk of evolution. Pirate treasure, monsters, and psychopaths await. 

What's more, another of my short stories will soon appear in Fossil Lake IV: Sharkasaurus. That's right. Sharks. Dinosaurs. Shark-dinosaur hybrids. Sharks and dinosaurs conquering the world together. Sharks vs. dinosaurs. It'll be like that one scene from West Side Story.

 But, you know, with dinosaurs instead of Jets.

And best of all, drum roll, please, in a few days I can reveal the cover to Substratum, a Jasper O'Malley novel. The good folks at Grinning Skull Press have whipped up something very cool for the cover, and I can't wait to show you once the final details are in place.

There is one final bit of news to share. I've been working on a secret project. The first draft should be done in a couple of weeks. Once that's done, you're going to hear me trumpet about it here. Stay tuned for that and more.

And be sure to pick up a copy of my currently available novel Carrion Safari here.

It's Alive! IT'S ALIVE! Carrion Safari is Here.

Good news, those of you who meandered onto this blog. You can purchase my very first novel, CARRION SAFARI, right now. It's just gone live from the fine folks at Severed Press. It's available as an ebook or a paperback. Help me fund my twisted, unethical experiments that go against the laws of man and nature by purchasing a copy from the link below the cover, won't you?

Look at this cool cover. I have no idea who the artist is, or I would credit them. 

You can purchase it on Amazon right here.

Wait, what's that? Oh, right, I also signed another contract to have another of my novel's published with Grinning Skull Press. SUBSTRATUM will be available sometime in the not too distant future. 

Good News

I just signed a couple of contracts, so two more of my short stories will be seeing print. 

The first is "Valley of the Cyborg Dinosaurs From Planet X." You'll be able to find it in the upcoming ATTACK! Of the B-Movie Monsters: Alien Encounters. You'll be able to find it from the fine folks at Grinning Skull Press whenever they get around to publishing it.

The second is "Darwin's Ravens." That will also be coming at you from Grinning Skull Press, and it will appear in Cranial Leakage: Tales From the Grinning Skull Volume 2.  You can get that in your greasy little mitts, uh, sometime. Nobody's told me when this hits the printer.

Here's some lovely cover art, though.

 

Praise for GHOST IN THE COGS

It would seem that the good people over at The Horror Fiction Review recently got their claws on Ghost in the Cogs, an anthology featuring my tale "T-Hex" and other steampunk ghost stories. You can read the full review here, but they liked "T-Hex." How much did they like it? It tied for first place with Liane Merceil's "The Lady in the Ghastlight" for first place.

Not to toot my own horn, but I probably deserve at least six Nobel Prizes in Literature. Maybe a Pulitzer, too.

Interested in Ghost in the Cogs? You can get a copy right over here. 

Not only can you read "T-Hex," but twenty-one other steampunk ghost stories from some enormously talented people.