Hello, friends and fans!
“Terror In The Outblack“, book 4 in the Panic! Horror In Space series is now available on Amazon in eBook format (with the paperback still pending publishing)! I’m very excited about this, but then again, I’m always excited about releasing a new book!
About the book:
Space exploration is no piece of cake, and neither is the paranormal.
The Outblack: that treacherous swathe of under-explored space at the fringes of the Terran Empire, the very cutting edge of civilization – also known as the ass-end of space… a place where good fortune is almost as common as death, and the dead don’t always stay that way. These are the stomping grounds of Captain Stuart Flane and the crew of the starship Mercury – a shipload of jaded cynics who know from experience that there’s more to life than meets the third eye.
Braver than the harshest skeptic, Flane, his EXO, Vic Chapman, and Dr. Fred Killian, must face all sorts of terrors, from paranormal possession, to shadow figures from the lost starship Jacoby, to mysterious alien life-forms that ate the scientists at the research station on Tangerine-178, and a mysterious force that lobotomized the colonists on Ramus-12. Will they succeed? Or will they succumb to the terror of the Outblack?
“The ‘Panic! Horror in Space’ series is well worth a look for some awesome Halloween spooky goodness.” – Lee Hall, UK writer & reviewer in “Spooky Season Book Recommendations 2“, Oct 26 2020.
Buy now:
A few “behind the scenes” notes about Panic! Horror In Space and “Terror In The Outblack”:
- In 2017, I wrote a standalone short story called “Mercury Rising” which had a cliff-hanger ending where it looked like the end for Captain Flane and his trusty sidekick, Vic Chapman. It was my wife Kay who inspired me to write a sequel to that short story called “Mercury Resurgent” and to turn it into the foundation for a series. The rest, as they say, is history. Terror In The Outblack is the fourth book in the series.
- Aside from the oft hapless Captain Flane who repeatedly finds himself at the center of one paranormal maelstrom or another, his long-suffering best friend, side-kick and executive officer, Vic Chapman inevitably goes along for the ride. Vic is an incurable optimist, amateur historian, romantic and tech-wizard, who tends to wax romantic over nearly every unexplained mystery they encounter in deep space… whether it’s an abandoned space vessel full of dead people, or a long-dead alien world with just one life sign on the surface!
- While most of the characters in Panic! tend to come and go, it is a small handful of regular characters – chiefly Vic and Captain Flane, and the Mercury’s CMD, Dr. Fred Killian who tend to be regulars. Every new story in brings with it new characters, new settings, new threats – and new terrors! The rest of the ship’s crew is, unfortunately, fairly expendable and tend to vanish, die or become casualties of whatever terrifying paranormal experience happens to be the flavor of any particular episode of Panic! Horror In Space!
- Commodore Peters, the CO of Starbase 43 – one of the Mercury’s regular haunts – on the other hand has a far more direct method of venting her anger at him. One time she chases Flane halfway across her Starbase with her nine-iron after he’d ‘lost’ her favorite nephew (a presenter on a popular paranormal TV show) on a special assignment on Floridia-7 – a planet which earned a reputation for being the most haunted place in the known universe, and well-deserved it is too!
- One of Vic Chapman and Stu Flane’s key phrases when faced with some or other mind-boggling para-whatsit mystery, is either “Well… shit!” or “Well… fuck!” In case you’re wondering, I never indulge in gratuitous swearing in my writing. Every time I do use profanity it’s to lend a particular energy to the story – and what could be funnier than a well-spoken, well-mannered officer and gentleman faced with a situation that reduces their vocabulary – somewhat appropriately – to a four-letter word?
- Panic! is science fiction, things like zombies, ghosts, haunted or cursed objects as well as assorted kinds of paranormal activity are likely to feature in a variety of settings such as deserted space colonies or outposts, and derelict space ships or stations. That said, Panic! is also definitely satire.
- I like to make up names for a lot of my characters – or sometimes if I find a real surname that I think is hilarious, unusual or interesting, I’ll file it for later use! Sometimes I’ll use a name for a character that has a deeper meaning in relation to the story or the role of the character.
- The dialog in superscript is meant to highlight the speech of hosts and supernatural entities in the story. I felt this emphasizes that it’s different to ordinary speech, and also softer and more subtle.
- The section subtitled “Nine Tenths Of The Law” refers to the old idiom “Possession is nine tenths of the law” – a pun on the topic of supernatural possession. This section also represents the second time in the series that Starbase 43 has been the setting for a story.
- Parts of “Nine Tenths Of The Law” were inspired by and based on my own paranormal adventures, including an exorcism I participated in, in 2011.
- I enjoy taking the mickey out of religious fundamentalists – so for me, writing Nine Tenths Of The Law was side-splittingly cathartic.
- The surname of the zealot Paul de Sol, meaning “of the Sun” was a play on the zealotry of that character.
- It’s no secret that I often laugh out loud while writing, even while in company. It’s the best therapy I can think of, and the best part is, it’s free!
- Szandor Station’s name was inspired by the middle name of Anton Szandor LaVey. There was no particular reason for the name, it was originally going to be just “Sandor”, but “Szandor” just seemed way cooler.
- The theme of the final section of the story, subtitled “Dysfunction”, is dehumanization – in the form of losing one’s basic identity in accordance with what defines a human being. I find that notion pretty damn terrifying.
- Here’s another interesting factoid for you about the series – every time I finish a new “Panic!” book, I think “this is going to be the last one” – and then I get inspired to do another! So yes, there probably will be a fifth book!
Further Reading:
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