Hello friends and fans!
Welcome to my 13th newsletter: January 2018 – jam-packed with tidbits and information about new releases and projects I’m currently busy with!
Coming up in this edition of Another Round @ The Crow Bar:
Regular updates, new releases, and a monthly spotlight on one of my books, this time “High Steaks“, book 6 in The Quantum Series!
Hello!
I’ve created a new header image for my newsletter as well as similar variations for my new forum and the website! Added to the other detail changes, I think it all adds up to the steady improvements to the whole! It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I started posting this newsletter – in January 2017!
I had a nice break through December to now, at least from my job and from the writing, and while on leave I’ve been spending time with my fiance’ and doing some home improvement, I’ve still done some promoting and marketing of my writing on social media and so forth.
In the meantime, I also drew some cartoon promotional items (which I called “Gone Quantum”) that help to explain various background aspects of some of my stories and characters – five so far, and you can view them here.
At the start of my December holiday I posted a couple of articles about the illustrations for my stories which – in case anyone had doubts that I did these myself, are to be found here:
- Illustrations!
- The Completed Images!
- From Pencil Sketch To Color Illustration!
I also posted a couple of “Fun Facts” articles, giving a little more information about various characters or aspects of my stories:
- Fun Fact: The Blood Diamonds Of Nubia
- Fun Fact: Florpavian Flame Birds
- Fun Fact: Flortians – The Real ‘Little Green Men’
- Fun Fact: Sheriff Samuel J. Yackley & The Jug Of Death
- Fun Fact: Johannes Albrecht & Albrecht’s Takeaways
- Fun Fact: All About Crabbygrass
But before I waffle on too much, let’s get on with the newsletter! 🙂
New Releases
“Panic! Horror In Space #3” was published on 18 November 2017 and is now also available cheap-cheap on Amazon for $2.99 (ebook version)!
The paperback version (pocketbook size) goes for $14.99.
The third volume in this series of horror misadventures in deep space (with the crew of the starship Mercury) features two more related short stories entitled “Miora” and “The Big Rain”. What, you may be asking yourself, is there to panic about?
You can find out here.
The Galaxii Series
The Quantum Series
About The Quantum Series will give you more background about the series, its settings and characters. To get a better idea of what the latest two titles are about, read What Readers Can Expect In “Prodigal Sun”, “High Steaks”, “Fortitude” & “The Last Hurrah”.
Panic! Horror In Space
Panic! is a sci-fi/horror series, which will have some decidedly sci-fi characters encountering some decidedly horror entities – ghosts, haunted objects, zombies, etc. along with my usual twisted brand of humor! The first two titles are available in paperback and eBook versions on various distribution platforms including Amazon and Lulu. “Panic! Horror In Space #1” and “Panic! Horror In Space #2” were released earlier this year and “Panic! Horror In Space #3” was just released on 18 November 2017!
On A Personal Note
- Fan Mail & Honorable Mentions
Noticed in the past month by my long-suffering PA and fiancée, Wendy K. Gloss, were the following honorable mentions:
- “Excellent tool to teach children to accept people who are different. I would recommend it to anyone who has children and is against bullying” – Anonymous (5 star review) on Barnes & Noble “Other Kids Are Kids Almost Just Like You”.
- Aimee Ann wrote on Jan 2, 2018: “I am a huge science fiction/horror fan and so are my readers, and when I discovered your work on Amazon I was thrilled! Your book Panic! looks wonderful, the description, as well as the preview, drew me in straight away… so did the cover also! I think every reader is guilty of falling in love with book covers!”
- FictionDB – a listing of titles by Christina Engela.
- !Indigo – a listing of titles by Christina Engela.
I display my Fan Mail & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You are always welcome to have a look.
- Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions
August was rather quiet on the hate mail front. I’m almost sad to say I have nothing new to show you this time! (I may have something to show you next time though!)
(I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review it here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking or you might choke while laughing!)
Monthly Book Spotlight [Spoiler Alert]: “High Steaks”
This is the sixth title in The Quantum Series. To read more about the settings and characters of this series, visit About The Quantum Series and Characters & Plot Devices. To find out about Christina Engela’s main writing focus, read No LGBT Stereotypes Here!
“Troubled times have come to the small backwater Terran Colony planet of Deanna – and having amusing names for its sun (Ramalama) and two moons (Ding and Dong) have not made this quaint little world immune to bad things – not even having a small moon famous for falling down occasionally… and bad things are indeed afoot.
After the shocking assassination of a visiting member of the imperial family at a public parade, Sheriff Peggy-Ann Muller’s deputies (SODs for short) are either dead, ‘off the grid’, or just plain missing. With the local government in complete disarray, there is nothing to stand in the way of a bold, sinister plan to take over the colony – and once the fascists are in control of Deanna, the stage is set. War is coming.
Meanwhile, in the offices of that mysterious and clandestine society called The Time Saving Agency, time agent extraordinaire Johnathan Scrooby ponders one of his biggest life decisions yet. To intervene… or not to intervene. And if so, how? Whatever he decides to do, you can bet on the renowned bounty hunter Beck the Badfeller and his fiancée, former Colonial Intelligence agent, Cindy-Mei Winter having a role to play.”
“Engela’s latest work is packed with humour, challenging ideas, and science-fiction on a grand scale. It transports readers to a truly original world, filled with bizarre and memorable characters. It tackles social issues while reading like a Terry Pratchett, with some western and sci-fi elements to boot.” – Matthew ‘Sand-Storm’ Fick.
“High Steaks” is the sixth title in the Quantum Series by Christina Engela – a writer described as “that rarest of authors – able to seamlessly blend together elements of dark horror and sci-fi to create stories that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.” (Mark Woods, author of ‘Time of Tides’ and ‘Fear of the Dark‘). Her writing in the sci-fi genre has been described as “one of the most unique and captivating styles I’ve encountered in science fiction.” (Alex S. Johnson, author of The Doom Hippies.)
Of her characterizations, Sarah Rutledge Fischer of Focus Mid-South Magazine said “Like many of us, Engela has been frustrated with the representation of LGBT characters in mainstream fiction, where gay characters are often nothing more than superficially portrayed plot devices or worse, the object of satire and ridicule. Engela’s work breaks the trend. In her stories, a gay man may be the anti-hero or villain, but not because he is gay. A transwoman may fall in love with a cisgender straight man, and their relationship doesn’t revolve around her gender identity. LGBT characters, in Engela’s work, follow narrative arcs that occasionally intersect with their sexual or gender identity, but are more often driven by the human characteristics shared by all people—hope, fear, ambition, humor, and love.”
Set after the fifth novel (“Prodigal Sun”) “High Steaks” continues the saga of the ‘third rate’ Terran colony on the planet Deanna, and the diverse characters the reader has no doubt by now become familiar with. Old familiar faces rub elbows with brand new characters in “Prodigal Sun”, some heroes, and some villains. Readers will remember the crotchety old military veterans of the Skegg’s Valley Dynamite Fishing Club, and of course, Fred the Arborian.
The story so far:
Following “Prodigal Sun”, troubled times have come to the small backwater Terran Colony planet of Deanna. Having amusing names for its sun (Ramalama) and two moons (Ding and Dong) have not made the people of this quaint little world immune to bad things – not even having a small moon famous for falling down occasionally… and bad things are afoot indeed.
A powerful and very well organized, er – organization has set down roots on Deanna. Its operatives have lived among Deannans for two or more years, and have slowly spread the roots and tendrils of their evil underworld movement throughout local government departments, the SOD’s, the space port – even at Atro City University while the Chancellor of ACU is taking an unscheduled break (with the braking dolphins in the depth of the Landlocked Ocean).
Suddenly people began to notice skinheads everywhere. Was it a popular new hairstyle perhaps? Or something with a more sinister meaning? A prodigal sun has returned to Deanna, to settle a score, to get even, to take vengeance on a father who spurned him. Coincidentally, Sheriff Peggy-Ann Muller notices an increase in rural lynchings and city-borne hate crimes against minority groups on Deanna – LGBT folks, local aliens – typically Jimwaian’s – and it begins to get uglier.
After the shocking assassination of a visiting Prince at a public parade in Lupini Square, the Sheriff’s Office Deputies (SOD’s for short) who are either dead, ‘off the grid’, or just plain missing, and with the local government in complete disarray, there is nothing to stand in the way of Professor MacMillen’s bold plan – to take over the colony and wrest it away from the control of the Terran Empire!
The Planetary Governor, hiding inside the Governor’s Palace while surrounded by a veritable army, is in no position to put up any fight at all – without a functioning law enforcement department, all he has to back him is a couple of dodgy old security guards, a secretary and a PA who wheezes when he walks! The Terran military has no presence on the colony – well, except for those retired old codgers who chuck dynamite in the river every other weekend while wearing assorted bits of camouflage and call it ‘fishing’.
In the meantime, in the offices of that mysterious and clandestine society calling itself The Time Saving Agency, time agent extraordinaire Johnathan Scrooby ponders one of his biggest life decisions yet. To intervene… or not to intervene. And if so, how? Whatever he decides to do, you can bet on the renowned bounty hunter Beck the Badfeller – and his fiancee’, former CIA (Colonial Intelligence Agency) agent, Cindy-Mei Winter having a role to play.
And so, with McMillen and his thugs in apparent complete control of Deanna, with the space port on lock down and hostile ships in orbit, all communications links to the rest of the Empire severed – and all the key pieces on the board primed – the stage is set for “High Steaks”.
“High Steaks” draws to a close with the formation of the Deannan militia on the Grauffis ranch, supervised by the ousted Governor Landry and the recently un-retired General Smythe, who have drawn up plans to rescue the prisoners held at Xanadu before beginning a campaign against the fascists at San Fedora, Fortitude, and then Atro City. But first, Sarge needs to provide the militia with some much-needed refresher training. And there is one more volunteer who much to his own surprise, finds himself adding his name to the list of recruits…
“High Steaks” sets the stage for the next title in the series: “Underground Movement”.
The already familiar regular characters in “the Quantum Series” continue their adventures in this latest book!
Details:
Published: June 01, 2017
Pages: 382
Binding: Perfect-bound Paperback
Dimensions (inches): 4.25″ wide x 6.88″ tall (pocketbook)
To get a better idea of what this story is about, read What Readers Can Expect In “Prodigal Sun”, “High Steaks”, “Fortitude” & “The Last Hurrah”.
In Closing
Well, that’s it, folks! 🙂
Aside from returning to work a little later in January and getting back into my writing, my fiance’e and I are facing a hectic couple of months of planning as we prepare for our handfasting (which will be in March this year)! Stay tuned for more news as things progress!
Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction! Until next time,
Cheers!
Catch me on social media!
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2018.