Dark, Twisted, and Unverving Cosmic Horror - Booklist on Burning Sky

The review has been published so I can share it now. Booklist loved my new book, which means librarians will love it, which means that readers will as well. I feel like I hit the trifecta.

Burning Sky. By Weston Ochse 

Sept. 2018. 420p. 

Solaris, paper, $14.99 (9781781085295)
The members of the Tactical Support Team (TST), army veterans turned private contractors, sawhorrifying and improbable things on their last assignment in Afghanistan. Now, six months later, these men and women are experiencing things too eerily similar to be classified as PTSD. Ochse (Reign of Evil, 2014), a veteran himself, begins his new military-horror series by unveiling the diverse and complex backstories of the TST before sending them back for the ultimate mission: a fight for their souls. This dark, twisted, and unnerving cosmic horror is framed by Middle Eastern mythology, with a sense of unease that increases with the relentless pace of the action. Without slowing down, Ochse also offers a thoughtful commentary on the human cost of war. This is an excellent example of the emerging genre of military horror, combining details of army life and technical jargon with a well-constructed supernatural thriller. Perfect for readers of Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, and Ochse's writing finds the beauty in the language of brutality, which will appeal to fans of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985).  — Becky Spratford for Booklist

Here are some gems that I urge FOWs to share with their own people.

"This dark, twisted, and unnerving cosmic horror is framed by Middle Eastern mythology, with a sense of unease that increases with the relentless pace of the action." - Booklist on Burning Sky

"Without slowing down, Ochse also offers a thoughtful commentary on the human cost of war. This is an excellent example of the emerging genre of military horror, combining details of army life and technical jargon with a well-constructed supernatural thriller." - Booklist on Burning Sky

"Ochse's writing finds the beauty in the language of brutality, which will appeal to fans of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)." - Booklist on Burning Sky

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.

Indie Bookstore Link

Barnes and Nobles

Amazon Link

Kobo

Kindle

iTunes

Book Review - Every Wicked Man

OUT TODAY!!!

Every Wicked Man by Steven James is the 11th book in the Bowers Files, where a criminal mastermind’s chilling terrorist plot forces FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers to the brink. 

Approaching the second or third book in a trilogy or a book in an existing series has always been an act of trepidatious yearning. The cover snaps your head or the title intrigues, but you wonder: Will I be lost? Will I feel like the new kid in high school listening to the indecipherable shorthand of the popular kids thus multiplying my feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, or will I be embraced and feel immediately at home? Diving into Every Wicked Man and slipping across the first few pages was an organic experience in reading something that feels fresh and new and beautiful.

Every Wicked Man is the 11th book in the Patrick Bowers franchise, so you can maybe see why I was worried. But never did I feel lost or not part of the in-crowd. What connections there were to past experiences—which were few, and you will see the reason why in a moment—intrigued me.

Patrick Bowers is an FBI agent specializing in environmental criminology. I wasn’t even aware the specialization existed, but this interested me because of my own love for the environment. Why does the FBI need such a specialization? What sort of criminals does Special Agent Bowers come into contact with? As it turns out, he’s not that kind of environmental criminologist...

*     *     *

To check out the rest of the review, please pop on over to Criminal Element.  Bottom line is that it's a great book.

Appearances and Signing Tour for Burning Sky

My publicist and I set up a few appearances for Burning Sky. If you are in the Southwestern United States and are a bookstore, library, or reading/writing group, I can make an appearance. If you want me at your fav bookstore library, help me set it up. For now, here's what I have. Mark you calendar.

29 Sep - 1400-1500 Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
30 Sep - 1600-1700 Dark Delicacies, Burbank, CA
01 Oct - 1700-1600 Space Cowboy Books, Joshua Tree, CA
05 Oct - 1700-1800 Barnes and Nobles East Side, Tucson AZ
06 Oct - 1200-1300 Poisened Pen, Scottsdale, AZ
13 Oct - 1300-1430 Dusenberry-River Library, Tucson, AZ
09 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
10 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
11 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
17 Nov - 1400-1530 Himmel Park Library, Tucson, AZ

I'll update this as new dates and times appear, but for now, plan on this.

And if you have tons of cash and tons of money, I will fly anywhere at anytime and appear anyplace. 

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.

Indie Bookstore Link

Barnes and Nobles

Amazon Link

Kobo

Kindle

iTunes

Sea Lords of the Columbia and my Homage to Fritz Leiber

When I was asked to write a story for an anthology of rockabilly horror, I only said yes because I was asked by Eric Guignard, my former mentoree and now peer. I had no idea what I was going to write until I was in Astoria, Oregon last summer and saw the Desdemona - a bar made from the remains of an old frigate that was shipwrecked on the Columbia Bar. Then it came to me. And as I began writing the story, I realized that my characters had a startling resemblance to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Part of me said to stop and change them, but another part, a louder and more obnoxious part told me to roll with it. I not only did, but I intentionally paid attention to Fritz Leiber's creations and tried to get them to inhabit my characters of Hemmo and Doogie.

Growing up playing Dungeons and Dragons and reading any fantasy book with swords and sorcery, I was very familiar with these scourges of Lankhmar. One hulking and one small and both deadly, like a bad ass version of Gilligan and the Skipper but without the slapstick. I saw in Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser the sensibilities I needed for Hemmo and Doogie. 

Then came the story. I needed an epic sword and sorcery tale in the vein of Leiber but set in 1950s Astoria right after the Korean War. So what did I do? I have sentient talking sturgeon and prostitute mermaids and all sort of fun monsters to inhabit our real world. I think that was the most fun, and the sort of things I like to read -- magic in real life.

Here's a snap of the first page:

Sea Lords of the Columbia appears in Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror which is up for pre-order at Dark Moon Books.

This isn't the only time the Sea Lords will make an appearance. I can hear them calling. They want a new adventure. Soon, I think, I will give one to them.