Another Round @ The Crow Bar #15 March 2018

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 15th newsletter: March 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 “Panic! Horror In Space #2”, book 2 in Panic! Horror In Space Series!

Hello!

February was hectic – both because of work and other projects I have going on the sidelines, most importantly our handfasting which is taking place on the 10th of March! I will be including more about that and some photos in the next newsletter!

As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I’ve been busy with some of my dad’s books. My dad, Theo Engela, was also a writer, and he left a couple of unpublished works lying about when he punched out 33 years ago. I’ve decided to pass the first couple of months before our handfasting by working on these and getting them ready for publishing, which I will be doing via Lulu.com, alongside my own works, as editor. The first is finished and just about ready to go up, but I doubt it will happen before the big day – there’s just too much to do and focus on right now.

On the less happy side of recent news, on the 6th of March, I also tendered my resignation as a member of the Executive Committee of the South African Pagan Rights Alliance. I will leave you to read that separate item on your own rather than bring down the mood of the whole newsletter.

But before I waffle on too much, let’s get on with the newsletter! 🙂

New Releases

None for the moment! I’m busy with final arrangements for our handfasting on the tenth and I’ll get back to writing and publishing as soon as I can!

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!

[UPDATE 20190825 – in 2019, volumes #1 and 2 were combined into “Static“, and volume #3 and “Lange’s Legacy” (formerly “Space Vacation”) were combined into “Life Signs” – both became the new volumes 1 and 2 in Panic.]

On A Personal Note

• Fan Mail & Honorable Mentions

Noticed in the past month by my long-suffering PA and fiancé, Wendy K. Gloss, were the following honorable mentions:

1. “Christina Engela’s books are full of adventure and funny situations. The sci-fi is not too overly technical and the characters are quite unique. The writing is done with wit and funny repartee. If you are a novice at sci-fi, hers are good series to read. Her short stories left me waiting with bated breath and giddy anticipation for the next one. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Her talent and imagination are quite something to behold!” – Dina Gloss (on my fan mail page)
2. Alain Redcliffe, a friend of mine currently working in France to teach English, asked me if he could use one of my short stories in class – so naturally I agreed and promptly sent him my short story “Little Green Men”. The assignment was to see how his 10th grade students would interpret the description of a scene from a 15 or 20 line excerpt from a piece of sci-fi literature – in a quick drawing or artwork. He sent me a photo of some of his students’ interpretations – included below – and said they would be reading this newsletter – so let me take this opportunity to thank and congratulate you all on a job well done! Here’s a wave and a big, big smile for you all the way from South Africa! 🙂

I display my Fan Mail & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You are always welcome to have a look.

• Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

February 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!)

1. This turned up in my Facebook filtered inbox and I only saw it in February. I’m not sure what this guy’s cerebral malfunction was… Perhaps sending women he has never known nasty little emails helps him to get it up. Who knows? Anyway, here’s your five minutes of fame. Enjoy.

(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: “Panic! Horror In Space #2”

“Christina Engela proudly presents the next two episodes in a series of horror misadventures in deep space with the crew of the I.S.S. Mercury.

This is the second title in Panic! Horror In Space, a new sci-fi horror series by Christina Engela. To read more about the settings and characters of this series, visit About Panic! Horror In Space and Characters & Plot Devices.

[UPDATE 20190825 – in 2019, volumes #1 and 2 were combined into “Static“, and volume #3 and “Lange’s Legacy” (formerly “Space Vacation”) were combined into “Life Signs” – both became the new volumes 1 and 2 in Panic.]

Dead Center: Some people enjoy watching paranormal TV shows – but not Stuart Flane, captain of the Terran starship Mercury. Having just narrowly missed being a ghost – or worse, himself – after a weird incident involving reanimated corpses and alien nanobots, Flane wanted nothing to do with playing host to a bunch of paranormal investigators for a popular TV show called ‘Specter Adventures’. Neither did he fancy a 12 hour jaunt on Floridia-7, which was described by some as ‘the most haunted abandoned Terran outpost in the galaxy’ – but since he owed Commodore Peters for covering his ass after he lost nearly his entire crew to the zoms, he reluctantly agreed. And that, pretty much, is where things started going off the rails.

Through A Dark Glassy:  Haunted paintings. Possessed dolls. Nightmarish accursed items that leave messy trails of misery, horror and death behind them through the pages of history. Regular folk would run a mile if someone offered them such a terrifying object, so what sort of person would want to actually collect them? More importantly, why would anyone think it was safe to transport these items via a courier service with only a poorly printed paper sign reading “WARNING: ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN” stuck on the box? What if someone did? Even more of interest to Captain Flane of the intrepid starship Mercury, why did it always have to be his ship that drew the short straw?”

Synopsis:

Christina Engela proudly presents the 2nd volume in a series of horror misadventures in deep space with the crew of the I.S.S. Mercury. In “Dead Center”, to repay a debt, Captain Flane accompanies the crew of the cult TV show “Specter Adventures” in a “lock-down” of the most haunted abandoned Terran outpost in the Galaxy, while “Through A Dark Glassy” explores the creepy consequences of placing a paper note reading “WARNING: ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN” on a crate containing some of the most dangerous haunted items known to humanity – and sending it away via a space courier service – and not in a hypothetical way either.

Well, that’s it, folks! 🙂

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction! Until next time,