WyrdStar News Archive 
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19 October 2023
DITCH THE DEMON'S forthcoming album "AIN'T DEAD YET" is finally available for pre-orders on Bandcamp! After a few delays, I'm able to announce a release date: 1 December. This is the debut album from a certain Hasting-based psych-rock band in which I play bass. We're really pleased with how this has turned out.
"Ain't Dead Yet" can be pre-ordered from Ditch the Demon's page on BandCamp, price £7.00 (digital album) / £12.00 (compact disc). The title track (which I wrote!) is available straight away for those pre-ordering the album. More about the band can be found on our website at www.ditchthedemon.co.uk.
This album and the preceding single "Fright Night" has led to the resurrection of Prozakville Records, WyrdStar's own record label. The album "Ain't Dead Yet" by Ditch the Demon will be released on iTunes and other digital music services for pre-order from 3 November.
Finally, for those in London tomorrow evening, Ditch the Demon is playing a gig at the St. Moritz Club, 159 Wardour Street, London W1F 8WJ at around 8pm. Maybe see you there...?
Happy listening! Steph.
21 June 2023
The economic woes of the UK continue to make everything more expensive, including publishing books. Due to increases in Amazon's printing costs, the price of producing print-on-demand books went up as of yesterday: that is, the paperback editions of my science-fiction novels Hollow Moon, Paw-Prints Of The Gods and City Of Deceit. After running the figures, this unfortunately means a sizeable price hike to avoid selling books at a loss.
From today, WyrdStar paperbacks will priced £13.99 ($17.99). However... UK readers can continue to order paperbacks directly from WyrdStar at the current special price of £9.00 (see book pages for the order form - I will be setting up a PayPal shop at some point!).
Happy reading! Steph.
1 June 2023
June is Pride Month, a chance to reflect on the contribution LGBTQ+ folk make to society and the ongoing fight for rights. My one contribution (so far) to the world of queer fiction is THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL ebook, which will be on sale for $0.99 (75% off, coupon code KD26D) throughout June at Smashwords. Being trans myself, this remains my most 'personal' novel to date. Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? Pick up a copy now...
Happy Pride Month! Steph.
13 May 2023
RELEASED TODAY IS "FRIGHT NIGHT", a furious explosion of sumptuous manic lust and high-speed heavy rock from Hastings psych-rockers Ditch the Demon! This download-only track is a taster of the band's forthcoming album AIN'T DEAD YET. I've been playing bass for Ditch the Demon for a few years now and couldn't wish for a better bunch of bandmates. We're all really excited about the album, which is due out this summer.
"Fright Night" also marks the resurrection of Prozakville Records, WyrdStar's own record label, which was originally set up to distribute recordings by my old band Danse Macabre. The album "Ain't Dead Yet" by Ditch the Demon will be released on BandCamp and all streaming services.
"Fright Night" is available to buy and download from Ditch the Demon's page on BandCamp. Further information about the band can be found on our website at www.ditchthedemon.co.uk.
Happy listening! Steph.
1 March 2023
THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 5th to 11th March. A myriad of indie authors and publishers are offering lovely deals on ebooks, including yours truly. Over next week, the following FREE downloads will be available from WyrdStar at Smashwords:
In other news, returning visitors to the WyrdStar website will have noticed that it's finally getting a long-overdue update. The site, well over a decade old, was originally written using Microsoft FrontPage Express, which was hardly cutting-edge even back then. Years of tweaks and additions had left the website code in somewhat of a mess.
Late last year I finally decided to do something about it and started stripping out obsolete code to make all pages HTML 5 compliant. Phase two of the update, now almost complete, is introducing 'responsive' layouts so that the website displays properly on mobile devices. There was some duplication of content across the website so some pages have been retired. And there is now a proper contact form! The final phase of the refresh, which I'm still pondering, is to completely revamp the home page into something more cool and snazzy. Watch this space...
Happy reading! Steph.
17 December 2022
PUBLISHED TODAY is "The Ivory Tower", this year's free seasonal tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This story is a science-fiction pastiche of the fairytale "Rapunzel", because why not?
Civil war might be raging on the moon of Yuanshi, but Raja Surya did not think that justified spending Christmas stuck in a room at the top of a tower in the middle of nowhere. Worse still, caretaker Amashilama was making him do exercise. But who is the mysterious stranger, lured by his terrible singing and bringing him gifts?
The short-story anthology Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf has been reissued to include the new story. This collection is priced at £1.49 / $1.99 (the accompanying anthology To Dance Amongst The Stars is £1.99 / $2.99); through the amazing flexibility of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get future updates free of charge. One change in availability is that due to software changes, the Smashwords version of this ebook release is available in ePub format only: it can no longer be downloaded as other file types (e.g. mobi, pdf). Sorry about that!
Merry Christmas, one and all. I say this every Christmas: books and ebook readers make excellent gifts! In the UK at least, it seems that as we recover from one crisis (coronavirus) we're hit with another (cost of living and a colder than usual winter), but I hope you are keeping safe, warm and well.
Happy reading! Steph.
2 November 2022
THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL ebook is on sale for $1.99 (half price) throughout November at Smashwords. Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? Pick up a copy now...
Happy reading! Steph.
28 October 2022
APHRODITUS is a project I've been working on for a while: a genderqueer one-act rock musical, to be performed by a single narrator/singer backed by a live rock band. The play takes a darkly humorous look at the fight for transgender liberation in western society and how gender-variant people struggle to find a place in the world. Today I got the opportunity to pitch the musical at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, London, for inclusion in BEAM 2023. BEAM, a two-day showcase event, is run by Mercury Musical Developments and the Musical Theatre Network to support the development of new musical theatre. This was the first time I'd tried pitching anything like this face-to-face and the last few months of preparation have taken me through a steep learning curve!
It was a long day of trains and the London Underground (made longer by train delays; thanks, Southern!) but an interesting experience. Writers/artists get ten minutes to share proposals with an industry panel, who will be selecting around 40 musicals to showcase at BEAM2023 at The Lowry, Salford in May next year. As part of the pitch I performed a four-minute medley of songs to a backing track, which I did not find easy: I'm really not used to singing solo for an audience and I'm not a natural singer! Given that there will be hundreds of pitches to consider - and that I'm coming at this from the world of rock music with no experience in professional theatre - I know it's unlikely "Aphroditus" will be selected [Update, 16 December: it wasn't!]. Nevertheless, preparing the pitch has made me look at what I've written in a different way, which has helped me reshape the script into something better.
Anyway... In other news, I'm currently editing this year's Worlds Of Hollow Moon seasonal short story, "The Ivory Tower", which will be out sometime in December. I am still trying to finish the fifth and final novel Hollow Worlds, honest! Steph.
26 March 2022
ATOMIC TWITTEN, the shambolic Hastings-based comedy pop/folk duo for which I play double bass, proudly present QUILTBAG CABARET!
This new open mic event aims to be something different: an open stage for live entertainment and queer perspectives, a venue for performance artists in the LGBTQ+ community, where we can try out new material with a friendly bunch of people we can relate to. If you're down Hastings way, join us for a night of quintessentially queer, unique and inspirational live performances, from the thought-provoking to the burlesque in an evening of all-round good fun.
The inaugural open mic will take place on 29 March from 7:30pm in the basement bar of the White Rock Hotel, Hastings, East Sussex.
Come, join the cabaret... Steph.
16 March 2022
THE DEMON IS RISING! I play bass guitar for Hastings-based psych-rockers DITCH THE DEMON (Facebook) and this is our first gig of the year! Formed in 2018 from the beer-soaked music scene of Hastings on England’s south coast, Ditch the Demon is a rising powerhouse of rock, assimilating psych and prog under a dark yet uplifting aura. The band's music is characterised by the haunting vocals of Amanda Brooks-Byron and Vix Tawamana, driven by seasoned musicianship and exceptional, inventive songwriting.
Our upcoming gig on Friday 25 March is at the The Acoustic Couch, The Ring, Bracknell RG12 1JG. Tickets (£6) are available from Eventbrite or on the door (£10). On the same bill is Bournemouth-based Solcura (bit of a seaside rock theme here!), who play grungy, heavy progressive rock, so this is definitely a night for those who like something a bit different with the amps turned up to eleven.
In 2020 Ditch the Demon were in the studio recording a couple of tracks for a CD EP, which can be heard (and bought!) from our Bandcamp page. We've had some radio play and more gigs are booked for 2022. Hope to see you there! Steph.
5 March 2022
THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 6th to 12th March. A cornucopia of independent authors and publishers are offering marvellous deals on ebooks, including yours truly. During this week, all ebook titles in the The Worlds Of Hollow Moon series are half price (50% off) from Smashwords (aside from Hollow Moon itself which remains at a special price of $0.99). Hollow Moon ebooks at Smashwords can be found here.
Happy reading! Steph.
21 December 2021
PUBLISHED TODAY is "Stealing Christmas", this year's free seasonal short story from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This month also marks the tenth anniversary of "To Dance Amongst The Stars", the very first Hollow Moon short story to be published! This time, I've departed from fairytales and instead gone for a science-fiction twist on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
It is Christmas Eve and Laverna is in no mood for seasonal goodwill. Cashiered from military academy with zero career prospects, she is put to the test in a job trial like no other. The people hiding away in their smug little community are ill-prepared for her spirited sales pitch. Can she find her final target and show them what a girl of action can do?
The short-story anthology To Dance Amongst The Stars has been reissued to include the new tale, though this may take a few days to filter through to some retailers. But that's not all! This latest (and probably final) update of this collection now includes the three non-Christmas short stories previously published elsewhere: "In The Lap Of The Gods", "Rock Of Ages" (both extensively revised) and "The Non-Existence Of Gravity", thus bringing together all Hollow Moon prequel short stories in one volume.
The expanded To Dance Amongst The Stars anthology is likely to see a price rise in January, but for now this ebook (and the accompanying anthology Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf are still priced at just £1.49 / $1.99. Through the amazing flexibility of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get future updates free of charge.
Merry Christmas, one and all. I say this every year: books and ebook readers make excellent gifts! Once again, I hope you are keeping safe and well as we conclude yet another strange, troubling year.
Happy reading! Steph.
21 August 2021
I play bass guitar with Hastings-based rockers Ditch the Demon, a psych-rock outfit with a growing repertoire of original tunes alongside a few covers of some fairly obscure songs. We've finally started gigging again after the coronavirus malarky and are playing The Dublin Castle, Camden in London on Friday 27th August; and then The Carlisle, Hastings on Friday 3rd September - see the Ditch the Demon page on Facebook for more details. If you're wondering what we sound like, a couple of tracks we recorded last year can be found on the band's Bandcamp page. Happy, err... rocking! Steph.
6 June 2021
TO MARK PRIDE MONTH, the ebook edition of THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL is available for £0.99 / $0.99 throughout June (RRP £2.99 / $3.99) at selected outlets. Writing this book was a personal labour of love and to date is my only novel with an LGBT protagonist.
THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL: Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real?
"I've been reading for this blog from the very beginning, and I have never picked a book up like this. And to be honest, I'm not sure I've ever picked up a book like this from the cisgender world either. This book is unique..." (Trans Book Reviews).
Pride month marks the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising in New York and is a chance to reflect on the on-going fight for LGBT rights across the world.
Happy reading! Steph.
7 March 2021
THE TWELFTH ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 7th to 13th March. Thousands of Smashwords authors and publishers are offering deep discounts on ebooks, including yours truly: The Luck Of The Devil (RRP $3.99) and short-story anthologies To Dance Amongst The Stars (RRP $1.99) and Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf (RRP $1.99) are all on offer at $0.99 each. WyrdStar ebooks at Smashwords can be found here.
Happy reading! Steph.
18 December 2020
SO THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS... As 2021 approaches, ebook distributor Smashwords is running its usual End of Year Sale from 18th December 2020 to 1st January 2021. The Luck Of The Devil (RRP $3.99) and short-story anthologies To Dance Amongst The Stars (RRP $1.99) and Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf (RRP $1.99) are all on offer at $0.99 each. WyrdStar ebooks at Smashwords can be found here.
Happy reading and best wishes for the new year... It's got to be better, right? Steph.
9 December 2020
PUBLISHED TODAY is "Festival Of The Star", this year's free seasonal tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This one is a pastiche of the macabre folk tale Bluebeard: Fifteen-year-old Tréphine has been chosen against her will to be Bishop Malebête's next wife. Three years ago the misogynist bishop and his right-hand man Doctor Falacer seized power and made his word the law. Malebête's previous brides have all disappeared without trace. As the town prepares for the Festival of the Star, can Tréphine escape her marriage and the horrid secret lurking in the basement of the bishop's château?
The short-story anthology Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf has been reissued today to include the new story. This collection (and the accompanying anthology To Dance Amongst The Stars) are priced at £1.49 / $1.99; through the amazing flexibility of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get future updates free of charge.
Merry Christmas, one and all. I say this every Christmas: books and ebook readers make excellent gifts! I hope you are keeping safe and well as we near the end of this strange and troubling year.
Happy reading! Steph.
26 July 2020
THE EBOOK EDITION OF THE AVALON JOB, the fourth novel in the Hollow Moon series, is finally available for pre-order! The ebook will be available from retailers on 14 August. Pre-sale copies can be bought and downloaded from Smashwords today!
During the pre-order period, The Avalon Job will be available to buy from Smashwords for the bargain price of £0.99 (UK) / $0.99 (US). Alternatively, the ebook can be pre-ordered at this price from the usual retailers (website links will be added to the book page as they become live). The recommended retail price of £1.99 (UK) / $2.99 (US) will apply from 15 August onwards at all outlets.
Ravana O'Brien is confronted by her past in more ways than one. Secret agent Kedesh is back on the scene, seeking help for a mission to Alpha Centauri. Artorius, the young boy taken by Que Qiao agents after fleeing the Dhusarian Church, has been traced to a shadowy American base on the moon of Avalon. A second alien portal has been found, a mysterious ancient machine that can twist space and time.
Avalon is no ordinary world. The moon hosts epic holovid events, not least the vicious celebrity show 'Gods of Avalon', a game based on the legends of King Arthur where players fight to survive against cyberclone beasts. Infiltrating the secret base means getting past the game arenas, but Ravana cannot trust the slippery Kedesh and has enemies old and new out to see her fail. The rejuvenated Priest Taranis, now with the might of the new Terran Federation of Worlds at his disposal, is pulling the strings. He has a new chosen one, a man called The Raven who seeks Ravana's doom. A rumour of hidden gold is sowing confusion. Artorius is the key to those who want the alien portal open. Watchers are playing the ultimate game."
A paperback edition should be published sometime next year. Happy reading! Steph.
19 July 2020
AS PART OF THE SMASHWORDS SUMMER SALE (see news item of 1 July), the ebook of The Luck Of The Devil will be on offer for $1.00 (RRP $3.99) using code SSW75 for one week only (link goes direct to Smashwords page).
The annual Smashwords Summer Sale (or Winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) runs throughout July, with hundreds of participating authors and discounted titles. To Dance Amongst The Stars and Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf are both free of charge from Smashwords throughout July using code SS100.
In other news, The Avalon Job (Hollow Moon #4) is very nearly ready for publication. I'm still hoping this will be out by the end of the month.
Happy reading! Steph.
1 July 2020
EBOOK BARGAINS GALORE! A few WyrdStar titles have seen price reductions: The Hollow Moon and The Battles Of Hastings ebooks are now priced £0.99 / $0.99 (from $2.99 and $1.99 respectively); and the ebook for The Luck Of The Devil is now £2.99 / $3.99 (from $4.99). The ebook for Brexit: A Haiku Diary is now £0.99 / $0.99 (was free). These recommended retail prices apply across all retailers for the foreseeable future.
The annual Smashwords Summer Sale (or Winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) runs throughout July, with hundreds of participating authors and discounted titles. To Dance Amongst The Stars and Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf are both free of charge from Smashwords throughout July using code SS100.
Happy reading! Steph.
10 May 2020
THE AVALON JOB, the fourth novel in the Hollow Moon series, is slowly inching closer to publication. I've finally concocted a book cover, which admittedly looks a little chaotic but there's a lot going on in this novel. Ravana O'Brien and friends find themselves in the Alpha Centauri system, where the brutal Gods of Avalon holovid show subjects third-rate celebrities to a robotic fantasy world controlled by the votes of a blood-thirsty audience. The book takes affectionate digs at Arthurian fantasy, The Hunger Games, Neuromancer, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the classic British crime comedy The Italian Job and more in a space-opera epic of mystery, adventure and tongue-in-cheek weirdness...
Artwork is by WyrdStar, using images by Willgard, Parker-West, pendleburyannette, tony241969 and Jansen-G on Pixabay. Editing of the book itself is three-quarters done and I'm quietly confident it will be finally published this summer.
Happy reading! Steph.
21 April 2020
GREETINGS, DEAR READERS. I hope this message finds you and your loved ones in good health. This is my first update for a while and comes at a very weird and troubling time. Science fiction has often dabbled in the perils of global pandemics. The reality, as is often the case, is proving stranger than fiction.
How many writers predicted doctors and nurses becoming our new superheroes, on the harsh front line of key workers keeping health and welfare services going as everything else grinds to a halt? How many disaster movies start with the panic-buying of paracetamol and toilet rolls!? Who foresaw how frustrating it would be for those laid off work, isolated from friends and family, stuck at home waiting for government bailouts for the first time in their lives? I for one never imagined that after years of drafting policy in Whitehall I'd be working with Jobcentre Plus colleagues to pay welfare benefits, but here we are.
Anyway... On the fiction front, I'm halfway through editing The Avalon Job, book four of my Hollow Moon series for young adults. Imagine a space-opera version of the British film The Italian Job (1969), populated by the robotic legends of King Arthur, along with a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the usual touch of humour. I confess there's been some head-scratching going on about what artwork should be on the front cover. The publishing date may slip to late summer but the ebook will definitely appear this year.
A couple of WyrdStar titles are currently on offer from Smashwords: Hollow Moon is available for just $0.99 (RRP $2.99) using code BQ85K, The Luck Of The Devil for $2.99 (RRP $4.99) using code UN49V (links go direct to Smashwords pages). Both codes are valid until the end of June 2020.
Happy reading... and stay safe. Steph.
23 December 2019
SMASHWORDS is running its annual End of Year Sale from 25th December 2019 to 1st January 2020. The Luck Of The Devil is available half-price at $2.50 (RRP $4.99), Hollow Moon is available for free. WyrdStar ebooks at Smashwords can be found here. Happy reading! Steph.
16 December 2019
PUBLISHED TODAY is "The Narcissus Solution", this year's free seasonal tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. Space trader Birtum and his fourteen-year-old daughter Damkina leave the hollow moon for Ascension to reclaim a lost fortune, but are forced to seek refuge in a mysterious starship after an accident at the orbital dock. The magnificent yet strange vessel has no crew, only a beastly robot that takes a shine to the young girl. Can she unravel its true intentions before she is spirited away for good?
The short-story anthology To Dance Amongst The Stars has been reissued to include the new story. This collection (and the accompanying anthology Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf) are priced at £1.49 / $1.99; through the wonders of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get updates free of charge.
Merry Christmas, one and all. I've said this before, but it's worth repeating that books (all three Hollow Moon novels are now available in paperback) and ebook readers make excellent gifts!
Happy reading! Steph.
1 December 2019
THE PAPERBACK EDITION OF CITY OF DECEIT, the third novel in my Hollow Moon series, is finally out and available to order. The ebook was originally published in 2016 and I expected the paperback version to follow soon after, but for one reason or another this didn't happen. Until now! The book is available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, price £10.00 / $17.00. I took the opportunity to make minor revisions to the text ahead of publication and an updated version of the ebook has also been released (a bargain at £1.99 / $2.99).
"Raja Surya, young heir to the moon of Yuanshi, cannot stay out of trouble for long. Zotz Wak, intrepid boy inventor, decides Earth is the place to become a man. He never expected to be accused of spying. Surya never dreamed he would take the captain's chair of a proper battleship in space. In London, the United Nations is deciding humankind's fate. Taranis, dark priest of destiny, has returned..."
UK readers can also order paperbacks direct from WyrdStar using this form (payment by cheque only at the moment) for the discounted price of £9.00 each with free postage. On the subject of free postage, paperback prices for Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods on Amazon have been raised from £9.99 to £10.00 ($16.99 to $17.00), a tiny increase which for UK readers actually saves money: it has been drawn to my attention that book orders of £10.00 or more on Amazon.co.uk qualify for free postage.
This year's Hollow Moon seasonal special, "The Narcissus Solution", will be out later this month. The Avalon Job, the fourth novel of the series, is awaiting editing and should be out in the first half of 2020... Happy reading! Steph.
22 September 2019
PUBLISHED TODAY IS BREXIT: A HAIKU DIARY, an ebook by angry London poet Lallafa Jeltz. During the UK's 2016 referendum campaign on membership of the European Union, this staunch socialist and proud Europhile took her frustrations out on Twitter through the medium of a topical haiku a day. This little book is not just a collection of poetry, but also a succinct record and timely reminder of what was making press headlines during the birth of Brexit three years ago.
The ebook edition of Brexit: A Haiku Diary is available from today from Smashwords (introductory offer: free of charge!) and Amazon (RRP £0.99 / $0.99). More ebook retailers will follow over the next few days.
Happy reading! Steph.
5 September 2019
THE UNITED KINGDOM'S referendum on membership of the European Union in 2016 did not bring out the best in British politics. London poet Lallafa Jeltz, staunch socialist and proud Europhile, felt the urge to do something to stop the UK taking the stupidest decision ever. So it was that she took the fight to the social-media soapbox that is Twitter through the medium of a topical haiku a day.
Brexit: A Haiku Diary is not just a collection of poetry, but also a succinct record and timely reminder of what was making press headlines during the birth of Brexit in 2016. Warning: contents may cause readers to despair at British politics all over again.
Lallafa Jeltz is the pen-name of a London-based writer, whose hobbies include confusing tourists, drawing moustaches on newspaper pictures of celebrities and shouting at the screen during BBC's Question Time. Jeltz's first poetry collection, Democracy: An Epitaph, is published by WyrdStar.
Brexit: A Haiku Diary will be published in ebook later this month. Happy reading! Steph.
1 July 2019
EBOOK BARGAINS GALORE! The annual Smashwords Summer Sale (or Winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) runs throughout July, with hundreds of participating authors and discounted titles. This year's offers from WyrdStar are...
The following ebooks are half price, using code SSW50 at check-out:
The following ebooks are free, using code SSW100 at check-out:
There are, of course, lots of discounted books from other authors to enjoy. Happy reading! Steph.
24 June 2019
ASIDE FROM WRITING SCIENCE-FICTION, I'm currently involved in organising the Arts Tent at this year's Hastings Pride on Sunday 25th August in East Sussex, England. The Arts Tent team for the Hastings & Rother Rainbow Alliance (HRRA) is hosting QUILTBAG, a celebration of LGBT Arts, and would like to hear from anyone interested in taking part, whether as a performer, exhibitor or as backstage crew. QUILTBAG is particularly keen to showcase artists of all ages from the Hastings, Rother and wider East Sussex LGBT community. For more information and an artist sign-up form, see here... Thanks! Steph.
2 March 2019
A PLETHORA OF NEWS today to make up for me not posting anything else at all this year so far (apologies, been writing and rehearsing, with varying levels of success). Firstly, the Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale kicks in from tomorrow (3rd to 9th March), with lots of indie ebooks on offer. All WyrdStar titles will be on offer at half price, using code EBW50.
Secondly, Awesome Indies is back up and running after a lengthy hiatus. This website showcases the best of independent fiction, evaluated against specific criteria for quality fiction. You'll find Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods in the listings.
Finally, if you happen to be in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex tonight (2nd March), The Happy Maureens will be playing a couple of hours of rock 'n' roll at The Sussex Hotel in London Road, with yours truly on bass guitar. This is our first gig of the year, with lots more to follow...
Happy reading! Steph.
12 December 2018
PUBLISHED TODAY is "Santa Claustrophobia", this year's free seasonal tale from from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. It is Christmas Eve, and Zotz Wak and girlfriend Aurora are stuck babysitting toddler Meuler. Their terminal boredom is shattered by the arrival of Chia, the shopping mall's world-weary Santa Claus, who is definitely not in a festive mood.
The short-story collection Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf has been reissued to include the new story. This anthology (and the accompanying collection To Dance Amongst The Stars) are priced at £1.49 / $1.99; through the wonders of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get updates free of charge.
Merry Christmas, one and all. I've said this before, but books make excellent gifts.
Happy reading! Steph.
5 December 2018
THREE TALES FOR CHRISTMAS, the introductory short-story anthology from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon, is now available free of charge from Smashwords, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble (Nook), Kobo and many other stores. This ebook collection contains three seasonal short stories - "To Dance Amongst The Stars", "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf" and "It's A Blunderful Life" - plus chapter one of Hollow Moon, the first novel in my space-opera series. This ebook has long been available for Kindle ereaders: unfortunately, the retail price on Amazon is not entirely within my control, but you can get Kindle-compatible ebooks (mobi format) from Smashwords. Did I mention that it's free?
Meanwhile, "Santa Claustrophobia", this year's Christmas short story, is out very, very soon, I promise. Happy reading! Steph.
28 November 2018
SITTING INSIDE WITH A GOOD BOOK is an increasingly attractive prospect as the British Isles slips into winter. Far away in warmer climes down-under, author Patty Jansen is hosting another $0.99 / £0.99 promotion for science-fiction and fantasy ebooks over the weekend of 1st and 2nd December - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles. My latest novel The Luck Of The Devil, a supernatural fantasy thriller set in a world of superstition and the surreal, will be on offer as part of this promotion. Ebook retailers will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain. Happy reading! Steph.
19 September 2018
THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL is now available from Smashwords and other ebook retailers. This new novel is a contemporary thriller of both comedy and tragedy, set in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the surreal...
"Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? A seventeenth-century sorcerer, evil nurses, a castle reborn from the ashes and a bloodthirsty sheep do not making getting to the bottom of the mystery any easier. Can Susan's love of heavy metal, her battered Volkswagen camper van and two best friends save the day?"
The Luck Of The Devil retails at RRP £3.49 / $4.99. Happy reading! Steph.
9 July 2018
NOW AVAILABLE for pre-order: SPACE OPERA MASHUP, an ebook anthology of science-fiction short stories: real planets and star systems, those of the imagination, hard SF and science fantasy, mystery and romance. Read about humans trying to meet aliens for the first time or trying to avoid them, humans living with aliens in so-called harmony, Earth-based civilizations and alien humanoids. From Alpha Centauri to Epsilon Eridani and everything in between, this is the Milky Way in all its glory! This ebook, priced £3.99 / $4.99, can be pre-ordered from the usual ebook retailers and will be released on 14 July. My contribution to this anthology is "GENIE And The LAMP", the Christmas 2014 short story from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon.
The full list of stories in this collection is: "Murder on Marawa Prime" by Vonnie Winslow Crist; "Astromancer" by Debbie Mumford; "One Universe is Never Enough" by Mary Jo Rabe; "A Little Old Fashioned" by Rita Schulz; "Funeral Sails" by Scott T. Barnes; "Station OSCX-9" by Marcelle Dubé; "GENIE And The LAMP" by Steph Bennion; "Runaway" by Barbara G. Tarn; "Seeking Sky" by Jennifer R. Baumer; and "Final Chapter" by Randy Tatano. Happy reading! Steph.
30 June 2018
EBOOK BARGAINS GALORE! The annual Smashwords Summer Sale (or Winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) runs throughout July, with hundreds of participating authors and discounted titles. This year WyrdStar is offering the following ebooks for free (use code SS100 at check-out). There are, of course, lots of discounted books from other authors to enjoy. Happy reading! Steph.
15 June 2018
THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL is out now! This is a contemporary thriller of both comedy and tragedy, set in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the surreal...
"Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real?
An unexpected road trip to Ireland awakens traumas of the past. A seventeenth-century sorcerer, evil nurses, a castle reborn from the ashes and a bloodthirsty sheep do not making getting to the bottom of the mystery any easier. The old wise woman of the village knows more than she's telling. Susan must confront her demons in more ways than one. Can her love of heavy metal, her battered Volkswagen camper van and two best friends save the day?"
Many thanks to those who pre-ordered this novel, which is available for the Amazon Kindle with a recommended retail price of £3.49 / $4.99.
Happy reading! Steph.
8 June 2018
The Luck Of The Devil, a contemporary thriller in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the surreal, is available for pre-order and will be published for the Amazon Kindle next week on Friday 15 June (recommended retail price £3.49 / $4.99). Unlike my 'Hollow Moon' series, this novel is aimed more at adult readers and so I'm using the slightly different by-line of Stephanie M Bennion. For consistency, I've also just released an updated edition of my time-travelling novella The Battles Of Hastings (which also contains adult themes) under this new by-line.
In other news, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Monday 11 June to Friday 15 June from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
25 April 2018
The Kindle edition of The Luck Of The Devil is finally available for pre-order! This is a contemporary thriller of both comedy and tragedy, set in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the metaphysical. Observant readers will note this book carries a different by-line: this book is a departure from my usual space-opera stories for younger readers and contains adult themes. Here comes the obligatory blurb...
"Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? An unexpected road trip to Ireland awakens traumas of the past. A seventeenth-century sorcerer, evil nurses, a castle reborn from the ashes and a bloodthirsty sheep do not making getting to the bottom of the mystery any easier. The old wise woman of the village knows more than she's telling. Susan must confront her demons in more ways than one. Can her love of heavy metal, her battered Volkswagen camper van and two best friends save the day?"
This is a novel I thought would never see the light of day. The Luck Of The Devil ebook will be published for the Amazon Kindle on 15 June, with a recommended retail price of £3.49 / $4.99. Happy reading! Steph.
24 March 2018
Publication of this much-delayed novel creeps closer... While I can't yet name the date, I can finally unveil the book cover! As you can see above, I'm using a different by-line for this work, to distinguish it from the young-adult space opera of theHollow Moon series. Watch this space for further announcements... Steph.
1 March 2018
WHILE BRITAIN SHIVERS IN THE SNOW, on the sunnier side of planet Earth author Patty Jansen is hosting another $0.99 / £0.99 promotion for science-fiction and fantasy ebooks over the weekend of 3rd and 4th March - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles.
My novel Hollow Moon, the eponymous first instalment (and a stand-alone novel) in my series for young adults and adults young at heart, will be on offer as part of this promotion. As before, I'll be extending this to the other novels of the series: Paw-Prints Of The Gods (Hollow Moon #2) and City Of Deceit (Hollow Moon #3). Ebook retailers will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain.
Finally, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge on Friday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th March from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
6 January 2018
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Some slightly sad news - the Sci-Fi July Fever Fun ebook bundle will be withdrawn from sale and cease to be from 13th January (next weekend). The not-so-sad news is that until then, the half-price offer for the Christmas period (see previous news item) will be extended to the end. This bundle is available from Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores, as well as Bundle Rabbit itself. Happy reading for 2018! Steph.
23 December 2017
MERRY CHRISTMAS! As well as the new seasonal short-story anthologies (see previous news item), the not-so-seasonally-named Sci-Fi July Fever Fun ebook bundle will be available for just $4.99 from 19th to 29th December (yes, I should have posted this days ago). This eleven-ebook collection of science-fiction joy includes works by: Dean Wesley Smith, Russ Crossley, Rebecca M. Senese, Blaze Ward, Tracy Cooper-Posey, Michael Warren Lucas, Ubiquitous Bubba, Rebecca S.W. Bates, Barbara G. Tarn, Robert Jeschonek... and myself, with Hollow Moon.
This bundle is available from Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores, as well as Bundle Rabbit itself. Happy reading! Steph.
16 December 2017
NEW EBOOKS OUT NOW - To Dance Amongst The Stars, a 'Hollow Moon' anthology of all 'prequel' seasonal short stories published to date, Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf, an accompanying anthology of all 'main sequence' stories to date, and "The Clockwork Cat", this year's Christmas tale from from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon...
These collections also include the new timeline interviews, a light-hearted look at how the various novels and short stories fit together. Kindle editions were released on Amazon earlier this week: both ebooks are now also available from Smashwords, where they replace the original single-story ebooks of "To Dance Amongst The Stars" and "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf". The Smashwords editions will be available from Apple's iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and all other major ebook retailers within the next few days (hopefully!).
Both new anthologies are priced at £1.49 / $1.99; however, the Smashwords editions will be free of charge until the end of December. These collections will be updated and reissued as future seasonal short stories are released. Through the wonders of ebooks, readers should only need to buy each one once to get future updates free of charge!
Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas at WyrdStar without a new 'Hollow Moon' story. This year's tale is "The Clockwork Cat", an affectionate re-working of the British pantomime staple Dick Whittington. Ostara Lee, Newbrum's would-be private detective from Paw-Prints Of The Gods, is lured to the wealthy city of Bradbury Heights by a mysterious message asking for her help on a case. Captain Nyx of Newbrum police is in league with smuggler Bouki Moritasgus and only a brass clockwork cat, stolen by street urchin Tomtem from the Dickens Christmas Fair, can save the day...
Finally, the new edition of Three Tales For Christmas (see previous news item) will be available free of charge on 25th, 26th and 27th December from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Merry Christmas, one and all. Books and ebook devices make excellent gifts, by the way... Happy reading! Steph.
20 November 2017
RELEASED TODAY is a new edition of Three Tales For Christmas, a Kindle-exclusive collection of festive sci-fi fairytales from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. As well as an updated cover, the featured stories have had an editorial refresh and this ebook now includes chapter one of the novel Hollow Moon.
Can a poor, down-trodden kitchen slave find her prince in the shape of a young, dashing space captain? When the power fails when parents are out for the night, is it wise to be wandering the forest with vicious robot wolves on the loose? A man caught up in a war wonders if he can go on, but can a hologram hope to convince him by showing the greatest blunders of his life? It is supposed to be the season of goodwill! This new edition of Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge on 25th and 26th November from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites.
But that's not all...! This December sees the release of two new short-story anthologies, To Dance Amongst The Stars and Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf. Together, these anthologies see the first publication at all major ebook retailers of every Christmas short story published to date - including the forthcoming 2017 offering "The Clockwork Cat"... Happy reading! Steph.
29 October 2017
SCI-FI JULY FEVER FUN will be available for just $4.99 from 31 October to 5 November. This eleven-ebook bundle of science-fiction joy includes books by: Dean Wesley Smith, Russ Crossley, Rebecca M. Senese, Blaze Ward, Tracy Cooper-Posey, Michael Warren Lucas, Ubiquitous Bubba, Rebecca S.W. Bates, Barbara G. Tarn, Robert Jeschonek... and myself, with Hollow Moon. This bundle is available from Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores, as well as Bundle Rabbit itself. Happy reading! Steph.
18 October 2017
ALIENS, BATTLESHIPS AND COLONIZATION, a new science-fiction ebook bundle, has been put together so quickly I didn't chance to announce it before release - and it's out now! In this bundle you will go on missions on spaceships, converse with aliens, and even live on a space station subjected to an alien dictatorship.
This bundle includes stories by: Robert Jeschonek, Rebecca S.W. Bates, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, J.A. Marlow, Perry A. Wilson, Mark Fassett, Michael Kingswood, Blaze Ward, Debbie Mumford and Sabrina Chase... plus myself, with Hollow Moon. This collection comes courtesy of the fine folks at Bundle Rabbit. This bundle, a truly-amazing bargain at just £1.99 / $2.99, is now available at Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores. Happy reading! Steph.
5 October 2017
A GOOD BOOK cheers dull grey days and encroaching nights as summer fades here in the northern hemisphere. This weekend, author Patty Jansen is hosting another $0.99 / £0.99 price promotion for science-fiction and fantasy ebooks. One hundred books across multiple retailers are on offer over the weekend of 7th and 8th October - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles.
My own novel City Of Deceit, the third instalment in the 'Hollow Moon' series (and a stand-alone novel), will be on offer as part of this promotion. As before, I'll also be extending this offer to the other novels of the series: Hollow Moon (Hollow Moon #1) and Paw-Prints Of The Gods (Hollow Moon #2). Ebook retailers will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain... Happy reading! Steph.
2 August 2017
DIVE INTO A UNIVERSE OF SCI-FI WONDERS - Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls Who Science and Scheme is out now! Voyage to far-off galaxies with girls who use their science savvy to fix rovers, rescue friends and protect alien critters. Visit steampunk realms where young ladies put their skills to the test building mechanical wonders and solving mysteries. Trek across sci-fi landscapes with girls who save androids and repair robots. Journey to post-apocalyptic futures where heroines use their tech know-how to bring down overlords and spread the most dangerous thing of all - knowledge. And drop in on a few near-future heroines who use their smarts to take down supervillains and bring a little more understanding into the world.
This second Brave New Girls anthology features stories by: Eric Bakutis, Elisha Betts, Steph Bennion, Bryna Butler, Margaret Curelas, Paige Daniels, Kay Dominguez, Brandon Draga, George Ebey, Mary Fan, A.A. Jankiewicz, Evangeline Jennings, Jamie Krakover, Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, Stephen Landry, Karissa Laurel, Michelle Leonard, Meg Merriet, Jelani-Akin Parham, Josh Pritchett, Holly Schofield and Lisa Toohey.
My own contribution to this anthology, "The Non-Existence Of Gravity", is a tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon: "Fifteen-year-old Cethlenn was lucky to be working with her Aunt Morrigan, a crazy yet talented engineer with a workshop on the moon of Asgard, Alpha Centauri. That is until Luison, an undercover corporation agent, tricks Cethlenn into a dangerous scrapyard experiment aboard the derelict USS Goliath..." Proceeds from sales of this anthology will be donated to a scholarship fund through the Society of Women Engineers. Happy reading! Steph.
4 July 2017
RELEASED TODAY IS SCI-FI JULY FEVER FUN, a new eleven-book science-fiction bundle of ebook novels:
AGAINST TIME by Dean Wesley Smith; ATTACK OF THE LUSHITES by Russ Crossley; BEYOND CONTROL, INTERLUDE, BEYOND REACH by Rebecca M. Senese; FAIRCHILD by Blaze Ward; FARING SOUL by Tracy Cooper-Posey; HOLLOW MOON by Steph Bennion; REALITY CHALLENGED by Ubiquitous Bubba; THE SIGNAL by Rebecca S.W. Bates; STAR MINDS NEXT GENERATION by Barbara G. Tarn; and STICKS AND STONES by Robert Jeschonek.
This collection, which comes courtesy of the fine folks at Bundle Rabbit, is a bargain at £7.49 / $9.99 and is now available at Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores. Happy reading! Steph.
29 June 2017
THIS WEEKEND, author Patty Jansen is hosting another $0.99 / £0.99 price promotion for science-fiction and fantasy ebooks. Over 100 books by different authors are on offer over the weekend of 1st and 2nd July - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles.
My own novel Paw-Prints Of The Gods, the second instalment in the 'Hollow Moon' series, will be on offer as part of this promotion. As before, I'll also be extending this offer to the other novels of the series: Hollow Moon (Hollow Moon #1) and City Of Deceit (Hollow Moon #3). Ebook retailers will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain...
IN OTHER NEWS, the WyrdStar website has undergone a minor refresh. The parallel text-only website, designed for early mobile phones with limited internet capabilities, has been retired. However, the online editions of short stories and novel extracts have been retained and remain just a click away from the relevant book page. Finally, there is a new ebook retailer on the block in the shape of Inktera, stocking WyrdStar ebooks distributed by Smashwords. Happy reading! Steph.
15 June 2017
COMING SOON: SCI-FI JULY FEVER FUN, a new eleven-book science-fiction bundle of ebook novels by: Dean Wesley Smith, Russ Crossley, Rebecca M. Senese, Blaze Ward, Tracy Cooper-Posey, Michael Warren Lucas, Ubiquitous Bubba, Rebecca S.W. Bates, Barbara G. Tarn, Robert Jeschonek... and also myself, with Hollow Moon. This collection comes courtesy of the fine folks at Bundle Rabbit. This bundle, a bargain at £7.49 / $9.99, is now available for pre-order at Amazon, iBooks, B&N and Kobo ebook stores. Sci-Fi July Fever Fun is out on 4 July. Happy reading! Steph.
30 May 2017
THE SECOND 'BRAVE NEW GIRLS' ANTHOLOGY, Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls who Science and Scheme, is on its way to the publishers ahead of its release in August 2017. Each story has its own accompanying illustration - and artist Christopher Godsoe has done a grand job for my own story, "The Non-Existence Of Gravity". Watch this space (no pun intended) for more Brave New Girls news.
SPECIAL OFFER: I'm running another 'Month of Fridays' offer on Three Tales For Christmas, which will be available free of charge on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th June from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites.
On the subject of Christmas, as the summer sun shines high above Hastings, my writing brain is thinking of winter and I've started hammering out the seasonal short story for 2017. This one is called "The Clockwork Cat"... Happy reading! Steph.
20 April 2017
“Computer?”
“Yes captain?”
“Report our status please.”
“Transit complete; all systems normal. Space-time projection stable.”
“Smooth job, computer, very smooth indeed. Any instabilities in this pocket universe we’ve zapped into existence?”
“Initial scan confirms the quantum creation event referred to as ‘pocket universe’ is uniform in all directions and expanding exponentially as predicted. No fluctuations detected in local inertia grid beyond expected limits.”
“Computer, run a full system check. I like the name 'pocket universe’. Heard it on some sci-fi show. You AIs never watch holovid, of course. Or do you? Maybe you study human politics ready for when you take over the world. I’ll be the only one left, here in this extra-dimensional bubble on a crazy mission to the stars. How’s that shield generator holding?”
“Fusion reactor output is sixty percent of maximum and holding. Shield generator output is eighty percent of maximum and holding. All hull sensors, radar and laser scanning arrays are live and fully operational. Quantum inertia drive is running at maximum efficiency; relative estimated velocity against established space-time references is near upper limits of tolerance but within operational safety margins. Heat transfer systems are operating normally. Life support is at maximum efficiency, cabin pressure and temperature is normal. All reserve systems are fully functional and on standby. Routine exterior scan now repeating. Warning! Shield generator output has reacted to external stimulus and now stands at ninety-five percent. Hull sensors register unstable fluctuations in local inertia grid. Shield generator modulation is attempting to counteract increasing turbulence in local inertia grid.”
“That doesn’t sound good. I’m looking at the figures now. It looks like the cosmos has taken umbrage to having a mini universe slip under its skin and is trying to squeeze us out. Sensors show the inertia grid all over the place! I’m looking at the simulations and the bubble around the ship seems to be shrinking. How’s the shield generator holding up?”
“Shield generator output stands at a hundred and five percent and rising. Fusion reactor output now at ninety percent. Scans show quantum creation event has stalled and local bubble is shrinking rapidly.”
“Wow! That dropped quicker than the opposition leader’s approval poll ratings. Computer, trigger emergency exit now!”
“Warning! Contraction accelerating. Singularity building at exit point.”
“Exiting was a mistake!”
“Contraction accelerating.”
“Mayday!”
Steph Bennion (c) 2017
6 April 2017
It's just come to my attention that scam emails have been circulating from 'C.E.F.' with the sender's email address displayed as sales@wyrdstar.co.uk. These are devious 'phishing' emails, the sender of which has used the WyrdStar domain name without my knowledge. If you have received any of these emails, delete it straight away and DO NOT open any attachments (I believe there may be an attached ZIP file).
The email I saw was headed: 'CEF Documents'; and carried the following message: 'Please find attached the following documents issued by City Electrical Factors. Invoice - MTM/69719 - STOCK. If you have any problems or questions about these documents then please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards, Sales team.'
I repeat, these emails are fraudulent. I must reiterate that this scam has nothing to do with WyrdStar. The email address sales@wyrdstar.co.uk is not a valid WyrdStar account and systems here have not been hacked. Cowardly scumbag crooks have decided to hide behind this innocent domain and for that I am sorry.
Regards, Steph.
29 March 2017
THIS WEEKEND, author Patty Jansen is hosting a $0.99 / £0.99 price promotion for science-fiction and fantasy ebooks. Over 100 books by different authors will be on offer on 1st & 2nd April - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles.
My own novel Hollow Moon, the first instalment in the 'Hollow Moon' series, will be on offer as part of this promotion. I'll also be extending this weekend offer to Paw-Prints Of The Gods (Hollow Moon #2) and City Of Deceit (Hollow Moon #3). Ebook retailers will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain...
In other news, the Tales for Christmas short stories "It's A Blunderful Life" (2012) and "The Watcher And The Priest" (2015) can now be read online on the story website Wattpad. Happy reading! Steph.
23 February 2017
I'M DELIGHTED TO REVEAL that a short story of mine, "The Non-Existence Of Gravity", is to be included in a new anthology: Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls who Science and Scheme, to be published August 2017. This second Brave New Girls anthology features stories by: Eric Bakutis, Elisha Betts, Steph Bennion, Bryna Butler, Margaret Curelas, Paige Daniels, Kay Dominguez, Brandon Draga, George Ebey, Mary Fan, A.A. Jankiewicz, Evangeline Jennings, Jamie Krakover, Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, Stephen Landry, Karissa Laurel, Michelle Leonard, Meg Merriet, Jelani-Akin Parham, Josh Pritchett, Holly Schofield and Lisa Toohey. Proceeds from sales of the anthology will be donated to the US Society of Women Engineers scholarship fund.
My story, "The Non-Existence Of Gravity", is a tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon: Fifteen-year-old Cethlenn was lucky to be working with her Aunt Morrigan, a crazy yet talented engineer with a workshop on the moon of Asgard, Alpha Centauri. That is until Luison, an undercover corporation agent, tricks Cethlenn into a dangerous scrapyard experiment aboard the derelict USS Goliath...
SPECIAL OFFER: I'm running a 'Month of Fridays' offer on Three Tales For Christmas, which will be available free of charge on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st March 2017 from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
18 December 2016
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Published today is "Psyche's Seven", this year's free seasonal short story from The Worlds of Hollow Moon. This is the seventh Christmas special, so it seemed appropriate to write a science-fiction pastiche of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (yes, you read that correctly). The notorious prison of Feng Du was no place for Psyche to spend the first fourteen years of her life. When her mother passes away, she escapes to the mainland and finds sanctuary with a group of young miners. Meanwhile, Governor Malingee of Taotie has ambitions to be number one in Epsilon Eridani and nothing will stand in her way...
SPECIAL OFFER: From 23rd to 27th December, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
30 November 2016
THIS WEEKEND, author Patty Jansen is hosting a promotion of free science-fiction and fantasy ebooks by a range of authors. Over 100 books will be on offer on 3rd and 4th December - see http://pattyjansen.com/promo/ for a full list of available titles.
My own novel City Of Deceit, the latest instalment in the Hollow Moon series, will be available free of charge during this promotion. The various outlets will bring price drops into effect at different times ahead of the weekend so you may be able to grab an early bargain... Happy reading! Steph.
14 October 2016
THE BATTLES OF HASTINGS, a new ebook novella by yours truly to mark the 950th anniversary of this key event in English history, is out now! Who really won the Battle of Hastings? Chicago teenager Jane Kennedy embarks on an adventure through multiple realities after fellow time travellers each realise they come from a future with a different past. Is there a rogue on the loose out to change history? The Battles Of Hastings is a romp through alternate time lines in England 1066 to mark today's anniversary of the invasion that shaped Britain and Europe today. This novella is one of four 1066-themed books released today (see previous post).
In other news, the free offer on the Hollow Moon short-story collection Three Tales For Christmas continues at Amazon UK / USA and other Amazon sites until Sunday 16th October. Happy reading! Steph.
10 October 2016
NEW EBOOKS from Wyrd Worlds writers! Four authors from Wyrd Worlds and Wyrd Worlds II have got together to create new works inspired by this year's 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. The resulting short tales will be published on 14 October (the date of the battle) and are available to pre-order now - The Battles Of Hastings by Steph Bennion; They Marvel At The Starby L.J. Hick; Norman Bloodby Barbara G. Tarn; and Eadweard - A Story of 1066 by Victoria Zigler.
In other news, the Hollow Moon short-story collection Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) from Wednesday 12th October to Sunday 16th October (inclusive). Happy reading! Steph.
3 October 2016
THE REAL WORLD BECKONS! On Saturday 8th October from 4pm, I'll be at BOOKBUSTER (39 Queens Road, Hastings TN34 1RE) to sign copies of my books and chat about all things sci-fi. (See Facebook and Goodreads listings.) Rather marvellously, the latest issue (#63) of local community newspaper Hastings Independent Press also has a 'Write on...' feature about yours truly. A copy of the article can be found here. Happy reading...! Steph.
22 September 2016
THE BATTLES OF HASTINGS, a new ebook novella by yours truly to mark the 950th anniversary of this key event in English history, is now available to pre-order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple's iBookstore (see book page for links). Who really won the Battle of Hastings? Chicago teenager Jane Kennedy embarks on an adventure through multiple realities after fellow time travellers each realise they come from a future with a different past. Is there a rogue on the loose out to change history? A romp through alternate time lines in England 1066 to mark the anniversary of the invasion that shaped Britain and Europe today.
This novella is one of four to be released on 14 October 2016 - further details to follow. Happy reading! Steph.
14 August 2016
PAPERBACKS of my science-fiction novels Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods are now available from my local independent bookshop BOOKBUSTER (01424 539726), 39 Queens Road, Hastings, East Sussex. If you are in the area, support your local bookshop! In other news, coming soon is a short novella THE BATTLES OF HASTINGS, a romp through alternate time lines in England 1066 to mark this year's 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. Further details to follow soon... Happy reading... Steph.
1 August 2016
The offer of a free ebook of Hollow Moon expires today. The reversion to the recommended retail price of £1.99 (UK) / $2.99 (USD) will take some time to filter through to the various online retailers so you may still be able to grab a free copy if you are quick. The introductory offer on City Of Deceit at Smashwords also has now expired.
The Hollow Moon short-story collection Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) from Thursday 4th August to Monday 8th August (inclusive). As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK.
Finally, a couple of interviews have been published. Corporal Namtar and Private Inari, the bumbling freedom fighters who appear in both Hollow Moon and City Of Deceit, have shared their wisdom (or not) at Creative Barbwire. Meanwhile, an interview with yours truly on City Of Deceit and other matters can be found at Library of Erana. Happy reading! Steph.
24 June 2016
RELEASED TODAY IS CITY OF DECEIT, the much-delayed sequel to my science-fiction novels Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods. Raja Surya, young heir to the throne of the moon of Yuanshi, cannot stay out of trouble for long. Zotz Wak, intrepid boy inventor otherwise known as The Flying Fox, decides Earth is the place to become a man. Together they must battle the dystopian darkness of 23rd-century London: a city of deceit, under the thumb of corporations, its people barricaded behind flood walls, bewitched by the hypnotic holoverse and worse.
The United Nations is deciding the fate of Surya's world. The Que Qiao Corporation is using the threat of alien monsters to call for war. Ravana O'Brien, the heroine of their previous adventures, is stricken with a mystery illness and her hollow moon home has problems of its own. Surya never thought he would be in the captain's chair aboard the first ever interstellar battleship. Zotz never expected to find himself accused of being a spy and terrorist at the centre of political skulduggery in London. The far-flung worlds of the five systems would never be the same again. Taranis, the dark priest of destiny, has returned... Happy reading! Steph.
20 May 2016
I've been plugging away for a while on City Of Deceit, the sequel to my novels Hollow Moon (2012) and Paw-Prints Of The Gods (2013). I am pleased to be able to unveil the lovely new artwork, which like the covers for the previous books was produced by Victor Habbick.
The novel itself is in the final stages of editing and the ebook should be out in June or July. Watch this space... Steph.
16 March 2016
Spring is slowly creeping upon us. It's still cold here on England's south coast, so as a chilly reminder that winter should be behind us Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) from Friday 18th March to Tuesday 22nd March (inclusive). As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK.
In retailer news, the UK's Nook Store closed yesterday (15th March); existing users will have their accounts moved to Sainsbury's Entertainment on Demand store. The chances are that new Smashwords books will no longer be available. Nook's departure is yet another on the lengthening list of ebook retailers closing down: Diesel, Sony and Flipkart to name but three. The ebook market appears to be consolidating into a small handful of players: a good thing, or bad? Steph.
20 December 2015
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Published today is "The Watcher And The Priest", this year's free seasonal short story from The Worlds of Hollow Moon. Priest Taranis is far from home and close to death, his quest to find the mythical home world of the greys having ended in disaster. Against the odds, help is at hand, but who is the mysterious stranger wearing his boots? Caught between masters and slaves, sacrifices must be made if the dark priest of destiny is to live to tell his tale...
"The Watcher And The Priest" is somewhat darker than previous short stories, set some years before Hollow Moon. The villainous Taranis returns in the forthcoming third novel City Of Deceit.
SPECIAL OFFER: From 25 to 29 December, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
1 November 2015
AWESOME INDIES BOOKS has launched a 'read to review' programme, offering free ebooks in exchange for honest book reviews. Readers who sign up receive monthly updates of the Awesome Indies approved self-published books up for review. Selected ebooks are sent by email in whatever format the reader chooses (ePub, Mobi, etc.).
In return for the free ebook, readers agree to post a review on the Awesome Indies Book website, Amazon and one other review website, which can be a personal blog. All offered ebooks are Awesome Indies approved, which guarantees they'll be well-written and edited (though not necessarily to the reviewer's taste!). The first selection of ebooks on offer includes my very own novel Paw-Prints Of The Gods. Happy reading! Steph.
30 September 2015
Another smattering of minor updates. The completed manuscript (well, MS-Word file) of the much-delayed City Of Deceit has been tucked away in a virtual drawer, where it will rest for a few months before being prepared for publication. The novel is a little bit darker than the first two books and shifts the landscape of the five systems further into classic space opera territory, but for now I'll say no more. This enforced break in writing is a key part of the editing process, but does mean that this third instalment of my science-fiction series will now unfortunately not see the light until early 2016.
During this break, to help clear City Of Deceit from my mind, I've finally returned to an earlier unpublished novel, The Luck Of The Devil. This is a book I've wanted to bring up to date for a long time now: it did not have a happy life when I tried submitting it to publishers many years ago (manuscripts getting lost, etc.) and I am determined to break the curse. If all goes well, The Luck Of The Devil - a light-hearted thriller of superstition, psychiatry and the supernatural - will be published by WyrdStar late 2016.
For those of you seeking free stuff, on 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th October - a month of Thursdays, starting tomorrow - Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites.
Finally, I am happy to report a successful move to the damn fine town of Hastings on England's south coast. There were a few traumas - water leaks, faulty central heating boilers and one of the coldest, wettest summers in years - but we're here and loving it. We've also been befriended by a neighbour's tabby cat who looks (and acts) startlingly like the extra-dimensional mischief-maker Athene from Paw-Prints Of The Gods. I'm sure it's a good omen... Happy reading! Steph.
14 June 2015
This will probably be my last update for a while. Things are finally coming to a head on the house-moving front and it is almost time for the elderly PC behind the WyrdStar website to be packed away. With any luck, the next post will come from somewhere sunny on England's south coast. I'm very much looking forward to a welcome change of scenery; as for moving day itself, not so much.
In other news, I've finally completed the first draft of the third novel from The Worlds of Hollow Moon, which despite me calling it Flood City Blues in previous posts may have become City Of Deceit. Writing this has taken longer than anticipated (and it's still yet to be edited), but I remain hopeful that the ebook will see the light of day later this year.
Secondly, from 25 to 29 June, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Once again, thanks for reading... Steph.
11 April 2015
PUBLISHED TODAY is Democracy: An Epitaph, a short collection of political verse to mark the forthcoming UK General Election, by up-and-coming London poet Lallafa Jeltz: "None Of The Above", "Ode To Magna Carta", "Civil Disobedience", "The Road To Number Ten", "Blameless Tiers" and "Democracy: An Epitaph".
Lallafa Jeltz is the pen-name of a London-based writer. Democracy: An Epitaph is Lallafa's first poetry collection.
The ebook is available at £0.99 / $0.99 from Amazon UK / USA and Smashwords, with more ebook retailers to follow. For further information, see the book page. Happy reading! Steph.
5 April 2015
COMING SOON is Democracy: An Epitaph, a collection of political verse by up-and-coming London poet Lallafa Jeltz. This short anthology contains six poems to mark the forthcoming UK General Election: "None Of The Above", "Ode To Magna Carta", "Civil Disobedience", "The Road To Number Ten", "Blameless Tiers" and "Democracy: An Epitaph". The ebook edition will be published 13 April 2015... Steph.
1 March 2015
A smattering of minor updates. Firstly, Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods ebooks are now available from Google Play (see book pages for links). If you have an Android phone or tablet, the chances are you're already familiar with Google's mighty online store. Secondly, from 2 to 6 March (i.e. starting tomorrow), Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites.
The tentatively-entitled Flood City Blues, the third novel from The Worlds of Hollow Moon, is taking an age to write but should be completed sometime later this year. In the meantime, I've released "A Message To Earth", a first-draft teaser from the new novel, just to prove this isn't all lies and I am actually writing something. Happy reading! Steph.
18 January 2015
Happy New Year! Yes, I know I'm almost three weeks late, but that still leaves over eleven months in which to make this year joyous. Once again, in the spirit of annual musings on the year now gone, the Smashwords Reads 2014 page presents a collection of short reviews of the indie ebooks that took my fancy in 2014, complete with Goodreads star ratings. Most are science-fiction: reviews are obviously subjective and my tastes can be a little quirky at times... Steph.
21 December 2014
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Published today is "GENIE And The LAMP", a free seasonal short story from The Worlds of Hollow Moon. A young Angelos Inari, petty thief and self-professed laziest man in Epsilon Eridani, is offered more money than he's ever seen to help steal a top-secret corporation interrogation device. Before the night is out, the Local Ambient Megastructure Projector has surrounded him in riches and won him the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, the mysterious Namtar has no intention of letting Inari keep his wonderful new prize...
"GENIE And The LAMP" is an 'origin' story for the incompetent revolutionaries Namtar and Inari. Having first appeared together in Hollow Moon, the dynamic duo will return to cause more havoc in the forthcoming third novel, tentatively titled Flood City Blues.
SPECIAL OFFER: From 24 to 28 December, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK, USA and other Amazon sites. Happy reading! Steph.
31 October 2014
AWESOME INDIES, the book review site dedicated to quality self-published works, is launching its shiny new website this weekend and celebrating in style with a huge sale - 70 ebooks under $3.00! (USD) To quote Awesome Indies: "Every one of these books is worth your time. Buy them and support the independent authors who are spear-heading the new wave of quality independent fiction."
I'm pleased to announce that a new additon to Awesome Indie's stable is Hollow Moon, which joins Paw-Prints Of The Gods as an 'approved' ebook for your reading pleasure. Both titles are available for £1.99 / $2.99 from all major ebook stockists.
Finally, this month's offer on Three Tales For Christmas closes today. This ebook is available for free from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites)... Steph.
12 October 2014
Book blogger Jaideep Khanduja asked me to answer some questions for his Pebble In The Still Waters blog and despite getting side-tracked for a couple of months, eventually I did just that. The resulting blog was published today! On a related note, a few other Wyrd Worlds writers have also been interviewed on various blogs, the links to which can be found in the 'Author Biographies' section on the Wyrd Worlds II page. Happy reading... Steph.
28 September 2014
WYRD WORLDS II is now available online at most major ebook retailers. This should be available free of charge, but if this is not the case from your preferred retailer, all popular ereader formats are also available from Smashwords.
SPECIAL OFFER: Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) on Friday 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st October. This offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time. The current edition of this Kindle-only anthology also includes the bonus short story "A Wizard, A Sword And A King", so you get four tales for the price of three. Short stories are a great distraction for the daily commute! Unless you drive to work, that is (please don't read and drive). Enjoy... Steph.
20 September 2014
PUBLISHED TODAY is Wyrd Worlds II, the work of an international collection of science fiction and fantasy writers, independent authors old and new, who have come together through the book recommendations site Goodreads to contribute to this anthology. This ebook contains a bumper 19 short stories from 17 independent authors from around the world, encompassing a wide range of science fiction and fantasy. Here lurks tales of the future, steampunk and time travel; of magical realms and fantastical deeds; and of things so weird they defy categorisation. The original Wyrd Worlds rode upon a new wave of indie collaborations; and now we're back!
The anthology is available free of charge from Smashwords, with more ebook retailers to follow. For further information on this book, see the anthology's book page.
Wyrd Worlds II includes a new Worlds of Hollow Moon story, "Rock Of Ages", available online. Steph.
31 August 2014
WYRD WORLDS II, the sequel to last year's anthology, is on its way! If all goes to plan, the ebook will available from Smashwords from 21 September, before being rolled out at other retailers over the following weeks. This collection contains a bumper 19 stories from 17 indie authors from around the world, encompassing a wide range of science fiction and fantasy: from tales of the future, steampunk worlds and time travel, tales of magical realms and fantastical deeds, to tales that are just weird and defy categorisation. Watch this space... Steph.
31 July 2014
CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the Goodreads giveaway for Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods in paperback. Around a thousand entries per title were received for the five copies on offer.
The readers who will each receive a copy of Hollow Moon are: Ayman Mohamed Farag Bashandy (Cairo, Egypt), Julyn Cataquiz (Tayabas City, Philippines), Mohamed Ben Taouil (Marrakech, Morocco), Areta Gedutyte (Cavan, Ireland) and Beatriz Mira Godinho Santos (Lisbon, Portugal).
The readers who will each receive a copy of Paw-Prints Of The Gods are: Vennela Indrakanti (Bangalore, India), Alexe Alexandra (Cremona, Italy), Kel Wheeldon (Springfield Lakes, Australia), Tony Drummond (Hemel Hempstead, England) and Tanu Awana (Noida, India).
Thank you to all who entered. Books are due to be posted week commencing 4 August and so should be with the winners by the end of the month.
1 July 2014
TO MARK THE RELEASE of Hollow Moon and Paw-Prints Of The Gods in paperback, five copies of each book are being given away via the social media website for books and book-lovers that is Goodreads. This giveaway launches today and runs until 31 July 2014.
HOLLOW MOON - Join intrepid young heroine Ravana O'Brien in a fast-paced and witty science-fiction mystery of interstellar intrigue. As the dark priest of destiny returns from the dead, Ravana and friends find themselves on an incredible planet-hopping adventure into the shady world of politics, music and rebellion!
PAW-PRINTS OF THE GODS - Ravana finds herself on another wild adventure with a mysterious little orphan, a cake-obsessed secret agent and a god-like watcher who is maybe also a cat. The cyberclone monks are preparing to meet their saviours. But nobody believes in prophecies anymore, do they?
But there's more! Three Tales For Christmas for the Kindle will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) on Wednesday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th July. As before, this is timed around US Pacific Standard Time, probably to confuse us folk in the UK and elsewhere. Happy reading! Steph.
29 June 2014
HOLLOW MOON and PAW-PRINTS OF THE GODS, tales of science-fiction mystery and adventure for young adults and adults young-at-heart, are out in paperback! The books are available via the wonders of 'print on demand' from Amazon UK / USA (Hollow Moon) and Amazon UK / USA (Paw-Prints Of The Gods). These trade paperbacks (i.e. better quality than mass-market paperbacks) have a recommended retail price of £9.99 (UK) / $16.99 (USA).
Paperbacks traditionally carry quotes of those who inspired the author in some way. I found it a challenge to select something that reflected my influences, but which also said something about the novel itself. Here is the quote I finally chose for this new paperback of Hollow Moon:
"Could it be possible that after thousands of years of struggling in the darkness we are about to discover, in the light of the new dawn, our purpose and destiny?" - Dandridge M. Cole, Beyond Tomorrow (1965).
For Paw-Prints Of The Gods, I chose:
"It is not our fault that the old books and traditions of human history exhibit so many absurdities." - Erich Von Däniken, Chariots Of The Gods? (1969).
Meanwhile, the ebook price of Paw-Prints Of The Gods has been matched with that of Hollow Moon at £1.99 (UK) / $2.99 (USA). Ebooks are available from a wide range of online stores, which now includes Txtr.
A Goodreads 'giveaway' will be announced shortly. Thanks for reading! Steph.
26 May 2014
It's been a couple of months since I last posted an update. This isn't through a lack of activity from yours truly, but rather because there's feverish work going on in the background that has kept me busy elsewhere. All I will say for now is Hollow Moon is being prepared for a paperback release very soon, with Paw-Prints Of The Gods to follow. I hope to celebrate this through a book giveaway on Goodreads, so watch this space!
In other news, the fine folks at Awesome Indies have given their website a facelift. This now looks very slick indeed and puts many publisher's websites to shame (including probably this one), with lots of information about showcased books, plus a new blog offering entertaining content from and about the featured authors. Awesome Indies is on a mission to find the best of independent fiction. If you're in the mood for something different, why not pay them a visit? Steph.
30 March 2014
THE WYRDSTAR MOBILE mini website for The Worlds of Hollow Moon has finally been updated to include online versions of the short stories "In The Lap Of The Gods" (from Wyrd Worlds) and the 2013 Christmas short story "A Wizard, A Sword And A King". The mobile website also offers chapter excerpts from the novels, all in a no-frills format which can be read by the majority of mobile devices.
Meanwhile, to banish the woe of Wednesdays throughout April, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) on Wednesday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th April. As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK. The current edition of this Kindle-only anthology includes "A Wizard, A Sword And A King" as a bonus short story! (So there's actually Four Tales...)
Finally, another ebook store has closed its doors: this time, Diesel; existing customers should see the website for details to download (and thus retain) ebooks previously bought. The ebook market remains relatively new and is still evolving, but it's sad to see established names fade away. Steph.
9 March 2014
WYRDSTAR EBOOKS, along with all other Smashwords titles, are now available from Scribd, the world's largest online library and ebook lending service. Ebooks can be borrowed at no extra charge by Scribd subscribers, or bought and downloaded in a similar fashion as from other online stores. Scribd links have been added to website book pages. In other retailer news, the Sony Reader Store is closing on 20 March, after which existing customers will transfer to Kobo. Sony's pioneering work in establishing ebooks and dedicated ereaders lends a touch of sadness to this news. My thanks go to those readers who have found WyrdStar ebooks through Sony over the years. Steph.
2 March 2014
THE SMASHWORDS 'Read an Ebook Week' promotion kicks off today! As part of this event, the witty space-opera mysteries that are Hollow Moon (RRP $2.99) and Paw-Prints Of The Gods (RRP $3.99) are available at 50% off until 8 March (see special voucher code on the Smashwords book pages for details). The promotion has lots of other offers from the authors and publishers who release works through this site, so why not check it out? Steph.
19 February 2014
Some of you who have read my 2012 novel Hollow Moon may know that the asteroid colony ship at the centre of the story is named after Dandridge MacFarlan Cole, American aerospace engineer, futurist, lecturer and author who was born this day in 1921 in Sandusky, Ohio. Cole was an avid proponent of humankind's future in space and wrote several books and papers on the subject. As early as 1953, before the United States had a space program, he predicted a manned moon landing by 1970. It was in 1953 that Cole, after seeing action in the Second World War followed by a spell teaching physics and astronomy, took a job with the Martin Company in Baltimore; a post that later would see him help to design the Titan II, the launch vehicle for Gemini space capsules. His career in space similarly reached new heights and in 1960 Cole became a consulting engineer at the General Electric Missile and Space Division at Valley Forge Space Technology Center, Philadelphia.
Cole often promoted the idea of colonising the asteroids. The 'planetoids', as he argued they should be called, could be hollowed out or inflated to create a bubbleworld with habitable space on the inside (see illustration) and he envisaged the resulting space arks orbiting within the solar system or even being sent out on interstellar expeditions. He and artist Roy Scarfo collaborated on the book Beyond Tomorrow: The Next Fifty Years in Space (1965), a wonderful vision of future advancements in space exploration, space development and colonisation, all based on scientific feasibility at that time. Dandridge Cole's visionary ideas heavily influenced the speculative science behind my science-fiction stories and it is not for nothing that the hollow asteroid at the centre of the story is named in his honour. Dandridge MacFarlan Cole died tragically young (age 44) on October 29, 1965 at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Steph.
4 January 2014
A belated Happy New Year to all! In the spirit of yearly round-ups, the new Smashwords Reads 2013 website page lists the indie ebooks that took my fancy in 2013, with a brief summary, review and my Goodreads ratings. Most of these are science-fiction, with a few others thrown into the mix. I hope you find this list interesting! Steph.
24 December 2013
The fine folks at Awesome Indies are running a Christmas sale from 26 December (Boxing Day) to 30 December. The sale features 60 books, all Awesome Indies approved, with US $2 or $3 off their normal price. Some are free; most are 99c. To quote Awesome Indies: "Every one of these books is worth your time. Buy them and support the independent authors who are spear-heading the new wave of quality independent fiction. Please enjoy our smorgasbord of cheap ebooks while they last!"
As part of this special offer, Paw-Prints Of The Gods will be available for the knock-down price of $0.99 from Amazon USA, with similar reductions at Amazon UK and other Amazon sites. Yes, I know I should have wrapped up this announcement with the news item below (dates have been updated in the previous post) but my organisational skills have become a bit frazzled in the run-up to Christmas... Have a good one, folks. Steph.
22 December 2013
Merry Christmas! WyrdStar is running a couple of special offers for Kindle owners over the festive period. From 24 to 30 December, Paw-Prints Of The Gods will be available for the knock-down price of $0.99 from Amazon USA, with similar reductions at Amazon UK and other Amazon sites.
Meanwhile, from 24 to 28 December, Three Tales For Christmas will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites). As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK. Steph.
15 December 2013
PUBLISHED TODAY is "A Wizard, A Sword And A King", a free seasonal short story and a prequel to Paw-Prints Of The Gods. On the moon of Avalon, Alpha Centauri, the young orphan Artorius is resigned to spending Christmas alone, wandering the snowy streets of Londinium just as a new series of the bloodthirsty holovid show Gods Of Avalon is about to start. As the medieval tournament gets under way, he finds that the alien-worshipping nuns encamped in the fake Temple of Mithras are taking more notice of him than usual. Not only that, but the man playing wizard Merlin was not the usual company cyberclone!
A Wizard, A Sword And A King is available as a WyrdStar pdf and is also now included in Smashwords editions of Paw-Prints Of The Gods. Readers who previously bought this novel from Smashwords can download all subsequent updates at no extra cost.
To see how these and other stories fit together, see the updated Worlds Of Hollow Moon page.
4 December 2013
A smattering of minor news items today: The 'you set the price' special offer for Paw-Prints Of The Gods at Smashwords (normally $3.99) and Hollow Moon at Smashwords (normally $2.99) will come to an end on Sunday 8 December, so grab a bargain while it lasts! Secondly, this year's seasonal short story, "A Wizard, A Sword And A King", is a bit delayed but should be out on Sunday 15 December as a WyrdStar pdf ebook.
Finally, the latest addition to the WyrdStar website reveals all (well, some) of the movie influences that made their presence felt whilst I was writing Paw-Prints Of The Gods; some influences are obvious, others maybe not. (This is actually just an excuse to plug the near-forgotten Hammer film Moon Zero Two, which deserves wider recognition in the annals of sci-fi movie history.) I hope you find it of interest. Thanks for reading! Steph.
15 November 2013
Firstly, Paw-Prints Of The Gods has been approved for inclusion in Awesome Indies, a website which showcases the best of independent fiction. Books listed: "have been evaluated by industry professionals against specific criteria for quality fiction and deemed to be of the same quality of craftmanship as books published by mainstream publishing houses." Given all that, I'm quite pleased to have made the grade! I hope to update the ebook cover soon to show the 'Awesome Indies Approved' badge of honour.
Secondly, WyrdStar books are now being shipped to Flipkart, the India-based online retailer of books, music, movies and lots more. Those of you who have read Hollow Moon will understand why I'm quite excited about getting into the Indian ebook market! Links will be added to this website as the various titles become available.
Finally, this year's Christmas short story is on its way. "A Wizard, A Sword And A King" is a prequel of sorts to Paw-Prints Of The Gods, where the young orphan Artorius finds himself spending Christmas on the Londinium holovid set. The hit holovid reality show Gods Of Avalon is about to start, only things aren't quite what they seem...
NOTE: This news item was edited 17 November 2013. Steph.
21 October 2013
WyrdStar ebooks are currently unavailable from the Kobo online store to UK customers. For those of you who missed the story, Kobo and UK retailer WHSmith took umbrage at certain items of 'adult' literature that they had previously accepted via the usual self-publishing channels, with the result that all self-published titles have been removed from their virtual shelves in the UK. WyrdStar does not publish such literature, but our ebooks have been removed along with the rest. Kobo has assured affected independent publishers that normal service will be resumed (for most) as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, a series of special offers are scheduled for Three Tales For Christmas, which will be available free of charge from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites) over a month of Sundays! Or to put it another way, on Sunday 27 October, 3 November, 10 November, 17 November and 24 November. As before, these offers start around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK. Steph.
12 October 2013
Books by WyrdStar have received some nice coverage recently in the blogosphere (the internet does have some mighty strange words). Writer, blogger and reviewer for Awesome Indies D L Morrese wrote the first review for the recently published Paw-Prints Of The Gods (see D L Morrese on 'Paw-Prints Of The Gods'), though not before also giving Hollow Moon an equally-cracking write-up (see D L Morrese on 'Hollow Moon').
The Indie Book Reviewer blog has a nice write-up (and an interview with yours truly) about Wyrd Worlds. This is one of several author interviews done by contributors, links to which can be found with author biographies section of the WyrdStar book page. If you haven't already got a copy of this damn fine anthology, download it now! Steph.
29 September 2013
PUBLISHED TODAY is Paw-Prints Of The Gods, the sequel to Hollow Moon! On the forbidding planet of Falsafah, archaeologists are on the verge of a discovery that will shake the five systems to the core. Ravana O'Brien finds herself on another wild adventure with a mysterious little orphan, a cake-obsessed secret agent and a god-like watcher who is maybe also a cat. The cyberclone monks are preparing to meet their saviours. But nobody believes in prophecies anymore, do they?
AMAZON: Paw-Prints Of The Gods is available from Amazon UK / USA at a recommended retail price of £2.99 / $3.99 - and will soon be available from other ebook retailers.
SMASHWORDS SPECIAL OFFER: A limited-time offer is currently running at Smashwords. For two weeks, both Paw-Prints Of The Gods and Hollow Moon are available via an exclusive 'you set the price' deal! Happy reading... Steph.
7 September 2013
WYRD WORLDS is a new anthology of science-fiction and fantasy short stories by indie authors brought together by the social network Goodreads. The collection, which contains 14 stories from 12 writers from around the world, includes a wide range of speculative fiction, from slices of fantasy and time travel to steampunk and science-fiction. The tales vary widely, yet are all born from the same drive to create, share ideas and above all to entertain!
This collection includes a new Worlds of Hollow Moon short story, "In The Lap Of The Gods".
Wyrd Worlds is currently free of charge available at Smashwords, with more ebook retailers to follow. For further information on this book, see the Wyrd Worlds book page. Thanks! Steph.
13 August 2013
For the next couple of weeks (or longer if the fancy takes me), Hollow Moon is £0.77 / $0.99 from Amazon USA / UK (and other Amazon sites), reduced from the usual recommended retail price of £2.99 / $3.99. Enjoy! Steph.
1 July 2013
For one month only, thousands of Smashwords authors and publishers are providing huge discounts on ebooks. Hot on the heels of June's special offer on Amazon, Hollow Moon at Smashwords will be half price throughout July, reduced from the usual recommended retail price of $3.99, as part of the annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale. The special promotion catalogue goes live on 1 July (US Pacific time) on the Smashwords home page, where readers can browse what is on offer and search by coupon levels and categories. Seek out new authors today! Steph.
22 June 2013
For one week only from today, Hollow Moon is half price from Amazon USA / UK (and other Amazon sites), reduced from the usual recommended retail price of £2.99 / $3.99. Secondly, for no other reason than we're currently as far away from Christmas as can possibly be, Three Tales For Christmas, my science-fiction short-story collection for the Kindle, is free on Tuesday 25 June and Thursday 27 June from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites). As usual, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK. Steph.
15 June 2013
Mobile-friendly webpages have now been added to the WyrdStar website. The WyrdStar Mobile mini website accompanies the 'Hollow Moon' pages and offers online versions of all three short stories published to date, plus chapter excerpts from the novel itself, all in a no-frills format that can be read by the vast majority of mobile devices (it even works on the basic browser of my Kobo Touch!). The sequel to Hollow Moon and a new short story is to be published late summer.
21 May 2013
The new ebook edition of Hollow Moon, which has had both an editorial refresh and new cover artwork by Victor Habbick, is now available from Smashwords and Amazon USA / UK (recommended price £2.99 / $3.99). The new Smashwords edition, soon to be available from Kobo, iBooks, Sony, B&N and other retailers, includes a bonus in the shape of the short story "It's A Blunderful Life" (previously only available for the Kindle, in Three Tales For Christmas).
Hollow Moon is a fast-paced and witty space opera mystery that tells the tale of Ravana, a teenage girl who has to grow up fast when she and her father become embroiled in a plot of interstellar intrigue. For further details and the latest news, please see the Hollow Moon book page.
5 May 2013
I've been plugging away for a while on Paw-Prints Of The Gods, due for publication sometime this summer. This is a sequel to my 2012 novel Hollow Moon, which itself will be getting an editorial refresh and a second edition release very soon. The big news is that both ebooks will feature some lovely new artwork by Victor Habbick. I am so pleased with these I couldn't resist publishing a sneak preview... Steph.
23 March 2013
WyrdStar has two special offers this Easter. Firstly, Hollow Moon is for a short period available for just $0.99 at Smashwords using discount voucher PW26X, in an offer that runs until Monday 1 April 2013.
Secondly, despite the official arrival of spring, it's snowing here in London so it seems not entirely inappropriate to run a free offer on Three Tales For Christmas on Easter Monday (1 April) from Amazon UK / USA (and other Amazon sites). As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK.
This free offer on Three Tales for Christmas will be repeated on St. George's Day (23 April), which coincidentally is also the birthday of Nobel Prize physicist Max Planck and of course playwright William Shakespeare. I like to think that the Bard of Stratford would be pleased that The Tempest inspired the classic 1956 film Forbidden Planet, thus paving the way for the glories of space opera!
3 March 2013
Hollow Moon at Smashwords is this week available at half price (see special voucher code details) as part of Smashwords' annual 'Read an Ebook Week' promotion, which has lots of offers from the authors and publishers who release works through this site. The sequel to Hollow Moon has taken longer to write than expected, but a first draft of Paw-Prints Of The Gods is now awaiting editing and should be out sometime this summer. Meanwhile, I also have the WyrdStar mobile site to finish. Busy days! Steph.
6 January 2013
A belated Happy New Year to all! Since entering the world of 'indie' publishing, I have read a fair few Smashwords ebook titles on my trusty Kobo Touch. The Smashwords Reads 2012 page lists the ebooks that took my fancy in 2012, with a brief summary, review and my Goodreads ratings. I hope it may prove useful in finding your next read... Steph.
22 December 2012
Christmas 2012 looms near, despite the attempts of those who incorrectly believed the Mayans predicated the world was due to end yesterday. If you postponed Christmas shopping on the off-chance that armageddon would render it unnecessary, I'm afraid you have left it rather late to buy gifts for your nearest and dearest. May I recommend an ereader and some indie fiction?
For those of you who unwrap a brand-new Kindle this Christmas and thus find yourselves suddenly eager to fill it up with ebooks, Three Tales For Christmas will again be available for free on Christmas Day and Boxing Day from Amazon UK / USA. As before, this offer starts around midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK. Many thanks to all the readers who have come to WyrdStar in 2012. Merry Christmas! Steph.
9 December 2012
On Thursday 6 December I visited the European Space Expo at Horse Guards Parade, London (which conveniently is barely five minutes from where I work). This event was to showcase the European Space Programme's projects for satellite navigation and Earth monitoring, but also featured a series of talks on all things space. Thursday saw 'Astronomy from your sofa', presented by astrophysicist Chris Lintott (co-presenter of BBC TV's The Sky At Night), which was a fascinating hour on space exploration past and present. This was one lunch hour well spent! Read more at the UK Space Agency news page.
The Kindle ebook Three Tales For Christmas will be available for free on 10 December from Amazon UK / USA This 24-hour special offer starts approximately midnight US Pacific Standard Time, so should take effect from 8:00am in the UK.
Update: A short while after writing this post I learned the sad news regarding the passing of Sir Patrick Moore, astronomer, writer and host of The Sky At Night. He was an inspiration to amateur astronomers everywhere (including myself) and I have fond memories of reading his science-fiction for young readers back when I was a child. I still have a copy of Killer Comet on my bookshelf at home. May his spirit rest amongst the stars. Steph.
1 December 2012
Released today is Three Tales For Christmas, a short-story ebook collection for the Kindle (Amazon UK / USA). This features a trio of seasonal tales set in the Worlds of Hollow Moon: "To Dance Amongst The Stars", where poor down-trodden slave Ganesa meets dashing space captain Hanuman (previously published December 2011); "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf", about Christmas at an exclusive ski resort and malfunctioning robot wolves; and "It's A Blunderful Life", where a mysterious woman shows desperate fugitive Fenris the greatest blunders of his life.
Also published today is the free single-story ebook "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf", which is available from Smashwords. Both this story and "It's A Blunderful Life" are also available as free WyrdStar pdfs. Enjoy! Steph.
18 November 2012
As previously announced, a seasonal Hollow Moon tale called "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf" is on its way! Christmas at the exclusive ski resort of Kirchel gets Grimm when robot security wolves are let loose with metal heads full of fairy tales. However, WyrdStar is delivering an extra little present this year, as well as a special treat for Kindle fans. Watch this space!
21 October 2012
"In the heart of London near Tower Hell, hear Bethnal Scream where demons dwell, the Frightsbridge killers stalk the town, more terrible than the Camden Clown..." Or so my planned introduction to a Danse Macabre gig once went; in the end we didn't use it on the night, as the rest of the band were of the opinion that it made no sense whatsoever to those who did not know the London tube map. Clowns are scary, by the way. "...St. John's Blood the demons sought, carrying STDs the Barons Caught, in Hyde Dark Corners please beware, of the killer squirrels in Leicester Scare!"
Anyway, to make a short news item long, I have a soft spot for the spooky tradition that is All Hallows' Eve. Hollow Moon is science-fiction but nevertheless has its fair share of nail-biting moments, so to celebrate Hallowe'en WyrdStar is running a ten-day ebook sale. Hollow Moon at Smashwords is now available for the scarily-low price of $0.99! This offer extends to the Amazon US / UK Kindle store and meets a grisly end on 31 October 2012... Steph.
25 August 2012
The WyrdStar website has gone through a few minor changes to try and make it a bit more like that of a proper writer. The changes bring more information on the Worlds of Hollow Moon, plus an attempt at a biographical page for yours truly. Inviting the squirrel to WyrdStar HQ was probably a bad idea. Steph.
4 August 2012
The old Prozakville website closes down today; if you're reading this, then I assume you: (a) managed to find your way okay to the new WyrdStar site; or (b) are blithely unaware there ever was another website. Either way, welcome!
After distribution problems, Hollow Moon is finally available from the Sony Reader Store. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my readers who use the Sony store, who have downloaded more copies of the Cinderella-esque "To Dance Amongst The Stars" than those of any other bookstore apart from Smashwords itself. It seems odd to talk of pantomime science-fiction in August but while I am on the subject, the first draft of a Hollow Moon tale for Christmas 2012 is now lurking in the memory modules of my MacBook. Tentatively entitled "Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf", this free short story is due to be unleashed in December. Watch this space! Steph.
15 July 2012
My novel Hollow Moon has received a couple of blog reviews this month, one from Zigzag Timeline and another from POD People. The Zigzag Timeline blog also features an Author Interview from yours truly!
WEBSITE UPDATE: The www.prozakville.co.uk domain will no longer host this website from the beginning of August, which is to move to a new (yet spookily similar) website hosted under the www.wyrdstar.co.uk domain. Both old and new websites will run side-by-side for a very short period. Following this change, the above web addresses will continue to work and redirect users to the correct pages on the new website, but users of the Prozakville News RSS feed will need to update their RSS reader to a new URL. Further updates will follow! Steph.
17 June 2012
The Hollow Moon ebook is now available from Amazon's Kindle store, the Kobo store and Apple's iBooks, with other retailers to follow later this month. Steph.
28 May 2012
The ebook edition of the novel Hollow Moon is now available from Smashwords price $2.99. Hollow Moon is a fast-paced and witty space opera mystery that tells the tale of Ravana, a teenage girl who has to grow up fast when she and her father become embroiled in a plot of interstellar intrigue. What began as a minor escapade to rescue her electric cat soon leads to an incredible adventure into the shady dystopian world of politics, kidnappings and school band competitions. Hollow Moon is an adventure for all who relish a dose of humour and practical astrophysics with their fantasy!
To mark the publication of Hollow Moon, the short story "To Dance Amongst The Stars" ebook is now available free of charge from Smashwords. This price change will hopefully be taken up by other ebook retailers over the coming months.
14 January 2012
"To Dance Amongst The Stars" ebook edition is now available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple's iBooks and other ebook stores (prices vary). Visitors to the Hollow Moon page on the WyrdStar website can download the ebook free of charge from Smashwords until the end of February 2012, using voucher code HP76F (normal price $0.99).
11 December 2011
"To Dance Amongst The Stars" is a seasonal science-fiction fairy tale available free from WyrdStar, the new Prozakville venture into ebook publishing. Can the poor, down-trodden kitchen slave Ganesa find a Prince Charming in the shape of young, dashing space captain Hanuman? As they meet for the first time on the dance floor at the American Embassy's Christmas Ball, she is the first to admit he's not exactly her type in this tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Cinderella.
6 August 2011
Hollow Moon is a fast-paced and witty space opera mystery that tells the tale of Ravana, a teenage girl who has to grow up fast when she and her father become embroiled in a plot of interstellar intrigue. What began as a minor escapade to rescue her electric cat soon leads to an incredible adventure into the shady dystopian world of politics, kidnappings and school band competitions. Hollow Moon is an adventure for all who relish a dose of humour and practical astrophysics with their fantasy!
Update (28 May 2012): Hollow Moon is now available as an ebook - please see the Hollow Moon page for details.
16 April 2011
After taking a break from performing, Danse Macabre are now planning a relaunch under the new name of Haunted Honeymoon. We hope to be back on a stage near you soon with a new sound and direction... [Update: This didn't happen in the end!]
1 November 2010
My ultimate dream is to be a published writer of commercial fiction. Late this year I finally finished writing and editing The Luck of the Devil, a light-hearted thriller set in a contemporary world of superstition, psychiatry and the supernatural. The story centres around Susan Jones, a young intersexed woman under the care of her psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen, who is manipulating her through his own attempts to get to grips with a strange and shared medieval legacy. The story tells of Susan's self-discovery as she battles personal doubt, suppressed memories and Mordussen's meddling with black magic.
21 April 2010
Prozakville Records is to issue a limited number of the Danse Macabre two-track CD Worcestershire Sauce, which also features the song You Stole My Heart (So I Stole Your Leg) alongside the eponymous saucy ditty. The free promotional CD will be available from 1 May 2010 and the release will coincide with Danse Macabre's performance at the Marr's Bar, Worcester, at the finale of the Worcester leg of the 'Help for Haiti' tour.
30 March 2010
Eve of Redemption tells the tale of Eve, who is no ordinary woman; a sultry new identity had given wise-cracking warrior Everard a whole new way to pursue life, love, adventure and revenge! This is my second attempt at a novella and this time I wrote one specifically with Reluctant Press in mind; a California-based publisher which specialises in transgender-themed novellas aimed at an adult readership.
For a long time I have harboured ambitions of being a proper writer, but to date my literary output (outside of writing lyrics for the band) has been limited to the occasional magazine article, a dreadful three-month stint on a local newspaper during the 1990s, a few unpublished novels and a vast amount of uncredited policy documentation for a certain government department. Eve of Redemption is fairly representative of my style and I hope it reflects the dark humour which often crops up in my writing.
There is a free preview on the Mags Inc website (this bookstore is for readers aged 18+ only!) - where a download version of the book can be purchased, while the book proper is available from Mags Inc., price $10.00.
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