We have liftoff!

I'm pleased to announce that The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny is now live in the Kindle store. I had a great time writing it, and I think you'll have a great time reading it. It's a sendup of all those old pulp SF stories with their lantern-jawed heroes and damsel-in-distress sidekicks. This time, the villainess has decided to break out of her pulp role and play for kinky keeps. Check it out and let me know what you think. Better yet, leave a review!

As a matter of fact, in case you missed or forgot about this post, here's a reminder that you can still review one or more of my books and win an autographed copy of my upcoming "Dark Spaces" anthology.

I'm already at work on the second story of that anthology ("If Wishes Were Horses"), but for some reason my Muse is driving me to do the cover before the story itself. I don't mind. I'm having a lot of fun playing with spaceships and spiral effects. Stay tuned for more on that one.

This pertains to your interests

Here you have a nude woman made of silver with creepy black eyes, lyrics about being hollowed out inside, and even a threat to hypnotize others. Plus, the song itself is just really damn great.

And watching the video above put me in mind of the faux-latex-and-nudity in the "Immigrant Song" cover from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so here's that one for you to enjoy as well.

Ten...nine...eight...seven...

It's countdown time to the publication of "The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny." With help from my contest winners (See the post just below this one for details - and join a later contest if you like), I've finalized the story; and I've just uploaded it to Amazon for pre-order.

This is another of those cases where I'm giving my blog readers a special gift. When the book goes live on March 28, it will sell for $2.99; but you can pre-order it for $0.99 here.

Here's the synopsis of the story:

Doctor Theodore Steele, the lantern-jawed hero of a thousand intergalactic adventures, is about to meet his match…in a nemesis he's beaten dozens of times before. Until now the brave hero and his sidekick have come out on top because, well, that's just the way it works. But does it have to work that way? Ursula Major has just thrown out the old rule book and written a kinky new one. In her version, the hero is vanquished, the damsel in distress isn't saved, and the villain gets the girl. It might be just crazy enough to work.

"The Final Adventure" is a send-up of your favorite old pulp science fiction stories with their blue-eyed heroes and helpless, admiring sidekicks. It includes alien life forms and heavy bondage, shiny ray guns and shinier latex, white knights in armor and bi-curious sidekicks, and a planet's worth of hypnotic spirals.

key words: hypnosis, satire, pulp fiction, lesbian, mind control, bdsm, dominatrix

Let the contest begin!

This is it, folks: your chance to win a free copy of one, two, or three of my next three ebooks – and even to get a personally autographed copy of the last one if you put in enough effort.

Here's how the contest works.

I am looking for six people to beta read an ebook and review it on Amazon. The Amazon review is critical; you don't win a free ebook until the review goes online.

Now, I need two volunteers for each of the ebooks. To keep it easy for you, I'm making three separate blog posts below this one – one for each ebook – and I'll accept the first two volunteers in the comments section for each post. If you win, you're committing yourself to beta reading and reviewing that particular ebook – not one of the other two – and you cannot volunteer in the other threads.

However, winning in one thread means you also have the option to receive a free copy of one or both of the other two ebooks, and to win an autographed anthology. You just have to review (but not beta read) those as well. And if you review all three ebooks, you'll receive all three as separate editions and the anthology will come autographed.

How can I autograph an ebook? Easy. I'll write the autograph on a piece of blank paper, saying whatever you like – within reason. Then I'll scan the autograph and put the image on the title page of the ebook I send you. Voila: a real, digital autograph.

If you need a little more explanation, here are three different examples of how to work the contest. I'll use "If Wishes Were Horses" as my example (because it has the shortest title and I'll be typing it a lot), but the same basic process goes for the other two ebooks.

• You start by going to the "If Wishes Were Horses" blog entry and typing in the comments section, "I commit to beta reading 'If Wishes Were Horses' and posting a review on Amazon." If you're one of the first two volunteers, I'll send you a Rich Text file to beta read. You send me back your comments in the requested time frame, and once the book goes up for sale, you post your review (Say whatever you like; I'm not trying to force you into anything). Let me know you've done so, and I'll send you your free ebook copy of "If Wishes Were Horses."
• Now let's say you want to beta read "If Wishes Were Horses" but you also want a free copy of "The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny." In that case, when you volunteer to read "If Wishes Were Horses," just add a second sentence telling me you'll also commit to reviewing "The Final Adventure." Then I'll send you the Rich Text file for that one too, and I'll send you the free ebook once you post your review for that one on Amazon.
• Finally, let's say you want the grand prize: all three ebooks, with the anthology autographed. In the same comment where you volunteer to read "If Wishes Were Horses," tell me you'll commit to reviewing all three ebooks separately for Amazon. I'll send you Rich Text versions of all three stories, and each time you post a review for one of them, I'll send you a free ebook copy of it. But only after you post all three reviews will I send you the autographed anthology.

I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions, post them under this entry. Don't post under the other entries unless you're volunteering to beta read/review that particular ebook. Incidentally, there's a bit more detail within each of those entries, so read them before you post any questions here.

Good luck!

This is the contest post for "The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny"

Note: Be sure you've read the original post, Let the Contest Begin!, before proceeding.

Now, here are some things you should know about this story before deciding to volunteer:

• The quick-and-dirty synopsis: This is a satire of traditional B-grade space adventures with their dashing white male heroes and damsel-in-distress sidekicks. Dr. Steele and Franny run up against a villainess who's decided to stop playing by their B-grade space adventure rules and instead to be as nasty as she wants to be. The Doctor and Franny just can't compete.
• If you want to win this ebook, you must be prepared to turn in your beta reader notes by March 24, because this is the first of the three books going to print. If you don't give me your notes, you win nothing.
• If you give me your notes in time but don't review the book on Amazon, you still win nothing.
• The story will go live on Amazon sometime between March 25 and March 31. There's no deadline for posting your review, but you don't get the free ebook until you post it.

 To win this contest, you have to be one of the first two commenters in this post, and you have to say (and mean), "I commit to beta reading 'The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny' and posting a review on Amazon."

Note: If you win in this thread, you aren't allowed to post in either of the other two threads. HOWEVER, you can still win one or both of the other two ebooks, and you can still win the autographed copy. All you have to do is tell me in your comment here which other book or books you commit to reviewing (You don't have to beta read those two, just review them).

Okay, ready…set…go!

This is the contest post for "If Wishes Were Horses"

Note: Be sure you've read the original post, Let the Contest Begin!, before proceeding.

Now, here are some things you should know about this story before deciding to volunteer:

• The quick-and-dirty synopsis: Captain Benbow has just returned from her First Contact mission with an unknown race. While she waits in her shuttle, in decontamination, she indulges in a private EMC fantasy based on one of my own personal Virtual Hypnotist files. And, not to spoil anything, what happens in decontamination doesn't stay in decontamination.
• This is the second ebook going to print. I plan to publish it in the final week of April, so I'll need your beta reading notes by mid-April. Unfortunately, I can't give you a firm date yet because I haven't polished the story yet, so you'll have to be flexible. I'll get you the story as quickly as I can.
• If you don't give me your beta reading notes by the deadline (which, again, I can't specify yet), you win nothing.
• If you don't write a review once the book goes live on Amazon, you win nothing.
• However, there's no deadline for when you post your review. It all boils down to how quickly you want your free ebook.

 To win this contest, you have to be one of the first two commenters in this post, and you have to say (and mean), "I commit to beta reading 'If Wishes Were Horses' and posting a review on Amazon."

Note: If you win in this thread, you aren't allowed to post in either of the other two threads. HOWEVER, you can still win one or both of the other two ebooks, and you can still win the autographed copy. To do so, just tell me in your comment here which other book or books you commit to reviewing (You don't have to beta read those two, just review them).

Okay, ready…set…go!

This is the contest post for the "Dark Spaces" Anthology

Note 1: Be sure you've read the original post, Let the Contest Begin!, before proceeding.

Note 2: Be sure to read the next section very, very carefully, because this third of the contest works a little differently than the other two.

Here are some things you should know about this story before deciding to volunteer:

• This anthology includes the two stories I've already mentioned in this contest, "The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny" and "If Wishes Were Horses." It also includes a third story not published anywhere else: "What to Expect from Your Alien Brainwashing."
• To win an "ordinary" copy of the anthology – meaning one with no autograph – you only have to write a review of the anthology. But since the anthology includes three stories, you have to read all three before writing the review. You don't have to beta read any of the three unless you want to. All you have to do is review the anthology on its own Amazon page and mention each of the three stories.
• You can win an autographed copy of the anthology by reviewing each of the three ebooks on their separate Amazon pages.
• I plan to publish the anthology at the end of May. I can send you an advance reader copy of "The Final Adventure" right away, but I can't send you the other two stories until I finish polishing them. That could take a month or more, so you'll have to be flexible. Remember, you don't win the ebook unless you follow through on your commitment.
• However, there's no deadline for when you post your review. It all boils down to how quickly you want your free ebook.

 To win this contest, you have to be one of the first two commenters in this post, and you have to say (and mean), "I commit to reading all three stories in the "Dark Spaces" anthology and mentioning all three stories in a review I post on Amazon."

Note: If you win in this thread, you aren't allowed to post in either of the other two threads. HOWEVER, you can still win one or both of the other two ebooks as separate files, and you can still win the autographed copy of "Dark Spaces." Just tell me in your comment here which other book or books you commit to reviewing separately. If you review all three separately, you get all three ebooks as separate editions and "Dark Spaces" will come autographed.

Okay, ready…set…go!

Before I get started...

I'm intentionally writing this post now instead of after I polish my new story* any further, or after I compose the cover. This way, I can tease you with some images that might or might not show up on the actual ebook. Meanwhile, the things I'm going to say about the story are solid facts.

I have the story in good shape now. I plan to do a couple more polishes and then ask for beta readers/reviewers. In last week's post I talked about having a sort of contest but said I hadn't figured out the fine details. Now I have figured them out. I'm not ready to spill all the beans yet, but I'll say this much: there will be six winners who'll each have the option to decide how much work they put into the project, and those who put in the maximum will get autographed ebooks of the anthology. Yes, that's right: I've figured out how to autograph ebooks.

This afternoon I'll be polishing again and then setting the story aside for a few days so I can work on the cover (and give my brain a chance to forget a little, so that I can read the story one more time later in the week with fresh eyes). If all goes well, I'll start the contest with next weekend's post.

Now, about the cover art. I've been browsing dollarphotoclub.com for images, and believe me, that's no easy task. You can't beat that site, price-wise, but they sell cheap by reducing overhead, which includes having a truly sucky search engine. But I did find the perfect picture for Franny, which you see at the top of this post (This image and the others here are comps, not the paid versions of the shots). Isn't she delectable? Choosing her didn't require any thought at all. Choosing the image for Ted Steele was a little harder, but I've narrowed it down to the two at left here.

Choosing the right image for Ursula Major, who'll be looming over Our Heroes with a hypno-spiral or something behind her, was my hardest task. I've found the right model but can't say for sure which picture will look best on the cover  (although I have a pretty good idea) until I play around with the composition. I'm pasting in a few of the best shots below, knowing already that some of them won't work, just to give you something to fantasize about.

*the awkwardly-but-hopefully-humorously titled "The Final Adventure of Doctor Theodore Steele and His Intrepid Assistant Franny"