We Were Heroes, Now Available!

We Were Heroes, Martinus Publishing's latest anthology, is now available!  Check out the Kindle Edition Here, or order a print copy from the publisher.  Amazon and other retail outlets will also have the print version available in the coming days.

For those of you who want a free taste of this exciting anthology, Karl G. Rich's contribution, The Absence of Heat, can be found here.  It is just one of the many tantalizing tales in this collection of old, retired, and off-beat heroes!

As for future Martinus Publishing works, the much-anticipated "Altered Europa" is next on the list, featuring alternate history stories focusing on historical Europe.  See what might have been when this collection hits the market later in 2016!

We Were Heroes Interview: Bruno Lombardi

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing Bruno Lombardi, who contributed a story called "Mr. Cuddles" to the anthology.  Thank you for being here for another great interview, Bruno.

Starting off, let's pretend I haven't interviewed you before, and tell our new readers a little bit about yourself.

Bruno Lombardi:  Well I’m 47 years old and have been currently employed as a civil servant for the Canadian government for over fourteen years now. While I’ve been writing for my own pleasure since university, it’s only been a few years since I’ve been writing professionally. It’s a great feeling having something that you saw as just a great way to relax after work and impress a few friends now being seen outside my circle of friends – and even better, making a few bucks out of it. Not making enough to quit my day job, alas, but it’s still a great feeling being acknowledged for it nevertheless.

My writing tends to be quite eclectic in nature; I’ve written –and published! – everything from horror to science fiction to alternate history to genre-blending stuff that is difficult to categorize with just one term. The fiancée is quite impressed – and more than a bit concerned! – about how my brain works sometimes!

MTI:  "Mr. Cuddles" appears in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.  In a nutshell, what's it about?

BL:  It focuses on the ‘dark side’ of being a superhero. While most of the superheroes in many stories do it for noble reasons, the protagonist in my story is motivated to do it as a result of some rather unpleasant traumatic events – and, more to the point, by a talking teddy bear giving him advice. I had more than one reader impressed with the sudden shift from comedy to horror.

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

My favorite hero, oddly enough given the nature of my story, has always been Superman.

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

BL:  Just one? That’s a tough one but I’ll go with flying. The freedom to fly in the air like a bird, that moment where you’re floating high above the ground – quite exhilarating.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

BL:  I have a few things on the go right now: a dieselpunk version of the Rapunzel fairy tale, a unicorn story that’s a comedic mash-up of The Seven Samurai and a story about a haunted subway train.

MTI:  Other than , appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

BL:  I’m co-writer on several stories that will be published in upcoming Martinus anthologies.

MTI:  You're pretty active in the promotion of your published works.  Tell us a little bit about the last convention you attended.

BL:  So after a very long day at the convention I take off and stop by a pub in the area to grab a sandwich and beer. While I’m waiting for the food, I notice one of the servers staring at me. After a moment or two, he comes over to me.

“Sorry to bother you,” he says, “But weren’t you sitting at a table at the sci-fi con with a bunch of your books?”

“Why, yes, yes I was.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a few copies of some of the books with you now, would you?”

“Well, as a matter of fact…”

“Awesome! Tell you what; if you give me two of the books – signed, of course – I’ll pick up your bill! Sound good?”

And that’s how I ended up exchanging books for food, truly the sign of a great writer, yes?

MTI:  Wow, that's something I'd love to have happen, for sure.  Moving on, when it comes to television, are you watching anything new these days?

BL:  Nothing new at the moment but I’m eagerly awaiting the new season of Person of Interest. For those who aren’t aware of the show, it’s a science fiction action-thriller TV series that began as a twist on the police procedural concept and over the course of the last four seasons it’s smoothly developed into a post-cyberpunk spy drama with dueling Artificial Intelligences.

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today?

BL:  Well, this is the opening paragraphs to Mr. Cuddles:

"We need to talk."

I blinked in shock and surprise at that line. Not just the fact that it was being spoken to me, but also simply the fact that it was being spoken at all.

The sentence had just been uttered by my stuffed teddy bear.

“What?” was my astoundingly intelligent response.

“We need to talk,” repeated Mr. Cuddles.

I looked around the room. It had been fourteen years since I had last been in my bedroom, having moved away—well, run away, let’s be honest—from home two weeks after mom died and three weeks since dad got… got away with what he did. The room had not been touched since then—grandma had made sure of that—and the place looked exactly like what you would expect a 14 year old boy’s bedroom would look like; Superman bed sheets, a few posters of (now forgettable) 90’s bands, supermodels and TV show characters, and the obligatory piles of toys, comic books and sci-fi books.

And, of course, my stuffed teddy bear, Mr. Cuddles—the only friend I'd had when I was a kid.

“We really need to talk,” said Mr. Cuddles patiently.

            I looked at Mr. Cuddles. Yup, he was a teddy bear. Brown. Fuzzy. A bit threadbare. One eye missing.

“Shit.  I’m losing my mind,” I said, out loud.

“No, you’re not,” replied Mr. Cuddles.

Yeah–that alleviated my concerns…

“How…?”

“Don’t know, Brian. It just is,” said Mr. Cuddles. “Now, take a seat. We have something to discuss.”

“You’re a freaking teddy bear!” I yelled.

“Yeah, I know that, Brian. Yeesh! You always were a bit slow. Now would you please take a seat?”

I think I babbled something incoherent but I sat down nevertheless. On the floor, as it turned out. No chairs my size in the room.

“What…?” I croaked.

“By the way, remember that time you pulled my eye out? That stung, you know."

“Ummm… sorry?”

“That’s okay. All water under the bridge, man. But now the important part. Now pay attention; this part is a bit crazy.”

“Now comes the crazy part?” I asked cynically.

Mr. Cuddles either missed or ignored the sarcasm in my voice.

“You have a mission in life now, Brian. A very important one.”

MTI:  Excellent.  Thanks for another fantastic interview, Bruno.  For those who'd like to read more of "Mr. Cuddles" and other off-beat hero stories, We Were Heroes will be released On February 29!

We Were Heroes Author Interview: Wayland Smith

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing Wayland Smith, who contributed To Fight the Unbeatable.  Thank you for being here.

Starting off, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Wayland Smith:  I’m a voracious reader. My primary rule of life is always have a book with me. I’ve worked a lot of jobs that  have given me interesting experiences to write about, including being on tour with the circus, private investigator, co-owner of a comic book shop, and deputy sheriff.

MTI:  Now, getting down to business; what first compelled you to weave fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?

WS:  I started writing seriously several years ago when a friend of mine, author Harry Heckel, pushed me into doing NaNoWriMo for the first time. My first novel, In My Brother’s Name, started off as a NaNo project. As for type, my running joke is I write what the little voices tell me to. I skip around genres a lot.

MTI:  Tell me, if you had to pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would it be?

WS:  Just one? Wow. Jim Butcher, writer of Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and Cinder Spires. I love his combination of humor, magic, and heroism. But picking just one is hard.

MTI:  Your story appears in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.

WS:  To Fight The Unbeatable is a quote from Man of La Mancha, a musical about Don Quixote. My story is about aging heroes, in this case, Alzheimer’s. What do you do when someone with the power to level a building can’t always remember who, where, or when he is?

MTI:  Indeed, it is quite a poignant topic.  As a quick aside, my grandmother played in an off-Broadway production of Man of La Mancha in the early 70's.

Moving on, who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

WS: Again, just one? I’ll go with Nightwing, the grown up Dick Grayson, formerly Robin. He was the first sidekick to get his own identity, and I love his pre-reboot costume.

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

WS:  Superspeed. I hate being stuck in traffic. No more rush hour jams.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

WS:  I use what I call the Gatling Gun approach to writing. Each month, I try to do at least one chapter on my various works in progress, revise other work, and look around for short story opportunities like this one. Novels I’m presently working on include Hunter, about a band of monster hunters in Boston; V-Day, my take on a zombie novel, and From the Ashes, a superhero novel featuring Steel, the main character in this short story.

MTI:  Other than your contribution appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

WS:I have a novel about superhuman mercenaries called Cadre Clash that I’m in final revisions on, and hope to have out soon.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good tv lately?

WS:  It’s a great time to be a hero geek! I love Flash, and the Netfilx Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I’m also watching Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, and iZombie, all of which I review regularly.

MTI:  How about music?

WS:  My musical tastes are all over the road. Favorites include Queen, Billy Joel, Pink, Dolly Parton, and the Eagles.

MTI:  Can you name three movies that you could watch over and over again and not be bored?

WS:  I do love my movies. Let’s see.. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Field of Dreams, and Avengers, but there are so many more.

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today?

WS:   Here are a few paragraphs from Blood Of A Nation, about a man who falls in battle on the first day of the American Revolution but gets brought back as something more.

It had been such a fine day. Absurdly, inanely even, that thought kept circling in his head. As if that could negate everything else that happened. A lovely day, spring in the air, not overpoweringly hot, no rain, a good day for working the fields. McLean could remember the blue of the sky, the brilliance of the sun, and then the terrible sounds like a huge sheet ripping as the lines of muskets fired, then the smoke that wreathed everything and made it near impossible to see. Who had fired first? It seemed important, but there was no way to know. The confusion, the near panic, the thick acrid smoke from the muskets, and then the feeling of being hit by something like a monstrously strong hammer.

            There had been no pain, not at first. Just the dazed confusion, trying to work out what had happened, why he was lying on the ground. Then the burning pain, and later the slow tightness in his chest, it getting harder and harder to breathe. He tried to get up time and again, and felt weakness through his body. His legs shook, refusing to bear his weight, while his arms trembled uselessly.  He tried to cry for help, and only managed a weak croak. The long day passed, the smoke drifting away and he lay there, helpless. The fight had long ago moved off, toward Boston... He thought the militia had won, or at least driven them back. That ought to shock them, King's Army forced back by "peasant rabble." His mind kept drifting to the days before, the fights with his father, his impassioned pleas for the man to just see sense, to recognize the injustice of the King’s treatment of the Colonists.  The bitter sting of gunpowder filled his nostrils, making him cough.  The cough caused him dizzying pain, and he passed out with a tearing sensation ripping through his chest.

            He started awake. It was much later in the day. The sun had moved in its lazy dance through the spring sky.  He was terribly thirsty. He had heard some faint moaning earlier, other wounded no doubt. But now it was still and silent and he was thirsty and it was harder to breathe. It felt like he couldn't get air into his chest. The spring sun was beating down on him worse than the height of summer, tormented as he was by pain and thirst and heat. "Someone... can anyone hear me? Help me," he wheezed out, barely able to hear his own words himself. This would do no good, no aid would answer a call barely voiced. He tried to force himself up, and slid a bit down the slight slope. Fear gripped him as he remembered the Concord River. Not much of a river, true, but as he was now? He'd drown like a helpless babe. He tried to frame a prayer, and passed out again.

            It was dark. For a moment he feared he had gone blind as well, then realized he could see stars– he must have lost consciousness again. The bitter smell of gunpowder had faded, replaced by the cool scent of the river.  Insects buzzed in the darkness.  He called out again for any sort of help, and his voice sounded worse than before. Or more truthfully, barely sounded at all. Was this how he was to die? No great hero, no veteran of battles to free his land, forgotten on the first battlefield of the war, like lost luggage on a dock? He nearly sobbed in frustration, fear, and pain. "Help.... me." he rasped out again. He let his head hit the ground, exhausted by the effort.

            But wait-- footsteps, surely? He could hear the tread, even the creak of boot leather. Amazing how something that wouldn't be remarked suddenly became so momentous. He tried to call out again, and couldn't summon the breath or the strength. But somehow, the footsteps came closer. The words weren't kind, the tone not warm and caring, but they were the sweetest words he'd ever heard.

            "This one lives. He will have to do. Bring him."

            More footsteps, people coming, hands reaching for him. Lifting him up caused new barbs of pain to dig into him.  He gave a strangled half cry, and tried to resist. His powerless limbs weren't up for the challenge. Blackness rushed in on him, and blissful oblivion.

MTI:  Fantastic.  I'm suitably intrigued.  For those who'd like to read more of Mr. Smith's writing, We Were Heroes comes out February 29th!

We Were Heroes Interview: Frank Byrns

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing Frank Byrns, who contributed Night Terror.  Thank you for being here.

Starting off, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

FB:  Sure -- thanks for having me. Let's see -- I grew up in North Carolina, and after a brief stint in Arizona, I've spent the last fifteen years in Maryland, about halfway between Washington, DC and Baltimore. And for most of those years in Maryland, I've been writing and editing fiction of all kinds, but particularly superhero fiction. I have published four books of superhero fiction (check them out at www.frankbyrns.com), and also edited 14 issues of A Thousand Faces, the Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction. We published over a hundred stories in a little over four years -- the exact kind of fiction I think readers of We Were Heroes would enjoy.

MTI:  Now, getting down to business; what first compelled you to weave fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?

FB:  I've always been a writer, all the way back to grade school when I would write my own GI Joe and Robin Hood adventures. Early fan fiction, I guess. I made comics with some classmates, created Dungeons & Dragons adventures for others. I used to write a little newsletter for a backyard wrestling federation hosted on my neighbor's trampoline. I don't remember a time when I wasn't interested in storytelling of some kind, but I guess you could say I got 'serious' about it in the last ten to twelve years.

My favorite kind of story to write? I like human stories in genre trappings. I like to write superhero stories with very little punchy kicky stuff, no powers, and maybe even no code names that are still distinctly superhero stories. If you took out the superhero element, they wouldn't work nearly as well. I know those sound like terrible superhero stories, but it's a little hard to describe. Hard to write, too! They are crime stories, noir stories, with a little bit of cape in them. Hero noir. Something like that. (Not to say there's anything wrong with superfights and capes and supervillain deathtraps or any of those things -- I like to read some of them, just don't care to write them as much.)

MTI:  Tell me, if you had to pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would it be?

FB:  Just one? For my superhero stories, I guess I'd have to say Kurt Busiek's run on Astro City. I love the way it flips the narrative of  'what it would be like if superheroes lived in our world' to 'what it would be like if we lived in theirs'. A subtle difference in perspective, but one that I have always loved. Those books got me back into comics after a long absence, and they continue to inspire all these years later. 

MTI:  Your story appears in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.

FB:  "Night Terror" was written quite a while ago (originally entitled "Twilight", which didn't seem like a bad idea at the time) and when I saw the call for submissions, it just seemed like a natural fit. The jumping off point was the standard retired police detective who has the one case that he could never solve. You know the guy with the stolen copy of the case file he grabbed on his last day at the office, the one he pulls out a couple of times of year and spreads all over the kitchen table with a bottle of bourbon and some slow jazz in the background. And my thought was, I bet superheroes would have these, too. It kind of took off from there and became something somewhat different (as stories often do), but that was the genesis.

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

FB:  Daredevil. All the crime noir trappings, the Catholic guilt. Captain America, Batman, Green Arrow, and Hawkeye would round out my top five, but DD is my guy.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

FB:  Sure. I have quite a few things going -- I usually work on several things at once until one of them catches fire and demands to be finished. I am working on a couple of short stories -- one's a pro wrestler in the 1970s moonlighting as a bail bondsman that I'm starting to get a handle on. I am also working on a novella (probably -- could run a little longer, but I don't think it will) featuring Adonis Morgan, the guy who has proven to be my most popular character. And I've been trying to crack a novel for a while now -- I have a story that feels relatively fully-formed, I just need to find my entry point. To paraphrase a much better writer than I: I have the words, I just don't know what order they go in.

MTI:  Other than "Night Terror" appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

FB:  I have a superhero story entitled "When None Pursueth" that will be appearing on the Ares Magazine website in the early part of 2016. That's the only thing on the docket at the moment, but there are submissions floating out there that will hopefully bubble to the surface soon.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good TV lately?

FB:  Sure -- I watch a lot of TV. (Too much TV?) My favorite show this fall had to be Fargo -- I loved the first season, but I found this past season to be essentially perfect. I like what I've seen from the first four episodes of SyFy's The Expanse -- looking forward to seeing where that one goes. I love watching Arrow and The Flash with my kids -- we're looking forward to Legends of Tomorrow in a few weeks, as well.  

MTI:  Can you tell us what the last movie you watched was, and what you thought of it?

FB:  Like most of America, the last movie I watched was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I loved every minute of it. I loved being able to take my kids, the way my dad took me to see the originals, and the way my wife and I saw the prequels as a newly-married couple. Circle of life, and all that. Thinking critically, I don't know if it was a great movie, per se, but I really enjoyed it. And now that the board has been cleared and restacked with the new characters, I can't wait for Episode VIII. (I also watched a double feature of No Country For Old Men and A History of Violence on my parents' couch the day after Christmas -- Happy Holidays, everyone!!)

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today?  (If you'd like to share a few paragraphs or a page of writing, this could be a good place for it.)

FB:  Sure -- here's a little bit from "When None Pursueth", appearing at the Ares website soon. The jumping off point for this one -- what if instead of landing in a cornfield in Kansas, baby Kal El's rocket landed in a back alley dumpster in Gotham City, and instead of being found by a kindly old farm couple... you get the idea.

The story was originally written for a long-ago abandoned shared-world anthology dealing with superheroes in the midst of an alien invasion. I thought it would be fun to approach it as a writer of a regular comic series taking the editorial mandate of a company-wide crossover and shoehorning into his own book as a tie-in issue. So here's a bit from (if you will) Godhammer #422, "When None Pursueth". 

-------------

            The first relief shipment disappeared a week ago; the second, three days after that. So I attached a tracer to the third, and watched as it went from airfield to UN warehouse to white unmarked panel truck to different panel truck, which parked itself on the curb while the driver locked the doors and went inside an 8th Street Thai massage parlor that is owned, if you dig deep enough into the paper trail, by Zito Properties. 

            Three minutes later, a different driver emerged, climbed in the cab, and made his way here, to the back door of Nada. According to the remote camera I placed here yesterday (identical to the one trained on the dock of every Zito restaurant in town – call it a hunch), it's the only delivery they've gotten all day. The implication is clear, as far as I can tell: Mr. Zero is taking the food relief shipments meant for the neediest residents of this town – three more grocery stores have shut down in my neighborhood this week alone – and using it to feed the richest. 

            You would think the city would have cleared out as soon as we realized that we were the focus of the Qraken force, but it hasn't. Among the rich and powerful, it's been almost business as usual. And why not? The Arsenal and their kind have always been around to keep their best interests at heart. For Zero's happy clientele, the invasion is just the latest in a long thread of the same, no different from the time The Unforgiven robbed their Savings and Loan or the time when Kuroikaze poisoned their water supply. 

            They're all still here because they want to be. Unlike folks on my side of the tracks; the only ones left there are the ones who can't leave. The ones who can't just quit their jobs: the police officers, the firefighters, the nurses. The teachers, many of whom won't leave until the last child is gone. They haven't left, so neither can I. Not that I've ever even thought about it.  

            Up on the rooftop, I tap the goggles stitched into my cowl, accessing my magnification lenses to get a better look at the giant goons who just stepped out the back door of the restaurant for a smoke break. Hmmm. This might go deeper than just the food angle – Zero's brought in some heavy hitters. I see Skull Krusher, Monkey Tom, Black Rhino. And you can rest assured that if Rhino's around – yep, there she is. Trouble. 

            The four of them standing there outside the same door, the one between me and Zero. I had expected one, maybe two, goons; it's been years since Zero's lifted as much as a finger with intent. But four – the evening just got a lot more complicated. 

            Almost on cue, I hear a pair of boots landing softly behind me. I say “landing” because I am positioned against the ladder that provides the only access to the roof from below – therefore, the newcomer must have come from above. 

            That, and I recognize the sound of the footfall. I should; after all, I taught him everything he knows. 

            “Hey, Pops,” he says. 

            Like I said: complicated.

* * *

            “Hey, Pops.”  

            It's the right thing to do, announce my presence like that. He already knows I'm here; I'm sure he heard me land. And it's not like I'm trying to sneak up on him. I mean, I could if I wanted to. . . I think. Scratch that – maybe not. He's pretty crafty, the old man. 

            I wonder sometimes how my life might have turned out different if the rocket that brought me to Earth as a child had crashed in, say, a cornfield in Iowa or Kansas rather than a dumpster in an alley in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Would I have still grown into the same man I've become? 

            But there's not much time for idle speculation these days. I wasn't found by some kindly old widower who might've stepped out of a Rockwell painting (as I imagine her); instead, I was found here, by Godhammer, about two minutes before some crackheads happened across me and sold me into white slavery, or worse. He took me home and raised me as if I were his own, and for that I am eternally grateful. But still, a guy can't help but wonder. 

            Of course, raising me as if I were his own meant molding me in his own crimefighting image. His apostle, he called me, only half-jokingly. My alien DNA gave me powers far beyond any Pops had ever dreamed of for himself; the miracle baby from beyond the stars, he called me. 

            “Hey, Kid,” he says. He still calls me Kid because he knows it bothers me. Worse yet, I know that he's doing it on purpose, because it bothers me, and I still let it bother me. I haven't been Kid Cosmo in ten years. I think his feelings are still hurt.  

            “Quite the murderer's row down there,” I say, mostly to change the subject, motioning towards the array of supervillains enjoying a smoke break below. “Zero must be running a helluva dinner special.” 

            “Yeah, something like that,” he says, no longer able to hide his irritability. I smile a little under my mask. 

            “Stop smirking,” he says. “What are you doing here?”

            I glance towards the northwest sky, which glows faintly, residue from this morning's terrible battle. “We could really use you out there, Pops,” I say. “On the front line.” 

            “You don't need me. You made that clear a long time ago.”

            We have this same argument, one way or another, every time I visit. It's been ten years, but sometimes you'd think I left yesterday. “No, I said we need you. Wildfire's missing, Peregrine, too – it's getting really bad out there.” 

            “My work is here.” 

            “Yeah, well, if things don't start turning around out there, there won't be any here left.” 

            Godhammer gives me his back, watching the scene in the alley below. “When I see a Qraken platoon on 8th Street, I'll let you know.” 

            “You do that, Pops.” I shake my head; the man has always had a singular gift for making me wish I had never come home. 

            “So this is, what, some kind of shore leave?”

            “Yeah, something like that.”

            Pops goes quiet a moment, watching below as Trouble grinds out her cigarette beneath a ridiculously long stiletto heel. She turns for the door, lingering long enough to give us both a nice clear view of the backless black leotard / fishnet ensemble that has been her trademark for as long as I've known her. She looks back over her shoulder coyly, then disappears inside. For a brief moment, I wonder if she saw me up here, the little performance meant for my eyes.

            “You gonna try and see Jackie while you're home?” Pops asks, snapping me out of long-ago memories.  

            “I did – this afternoon. My first stop.”  

            He nods. “Good. Bet she liked that.” 

            Pops may have taught me what it was to be a crimefighting machine, to be superhuman; but Jackie taught me what it was to be human. I think all three of our hearts shattered forever the day she walked out on him. 

            “How about you?” I ask. “You get over to see her much?” 

            He turns, unable to meet my eyes. “Not as much as I'd like. It's hard to see her like that, you know?” 

            I do know. I was there this afternoon. “Yeah,” I say instead. 

Black Rhino finishes off his cigarette, then follows Trouble back inside the restaurant. Two final puffs later, Monkey Tom does the same. Skull Krusher lingers a moment longer, watching as an F-22 screams across the sky at very low altitude, a Qraken starfighter in close pursuit. 

            “That's gonna be tough, fighting your way through that door,” I say, once my ears have stopped ringing.  

            “Yep.”

            “We could try the front door,” I say.

            “We?” Pops asks, a smile creeping across his lips.

            I nod. “For old times' sake.” 

MTI:  Well, I'm suitably hooked.  Thank you for that tempting sample, Frank.  For those who wish to read more of his work, check out We Were Heroes, coming February 29, 2016!

We Were Heroes Author Interview: Karl G. Rich

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing a returning contributor, Karl G. Rich.  This time around, he has contributed a fantastic piece entitled The Absence of Heat.  Thank you for being here for another great interview.

KGR:  You’re welcome. As always, I’m at your complete disposal. That is except for home remodeling because I’m also up to my eyeballs with demo and rebuilding.

MTI:  For those of our readers who haven't encountered our previous parleys, how about we start off by having you introduce yourself.  Tell the new readers a little bit about yourself.

KGR:  I’m a native Floridian transplanted to the Great Lakes region. I am fascinated with shipwrecks of which there are up to 6000 individual cases in the Great Lakes. It is what drives my current novels as I develop my own lore of life and death between the wave tops.

MTI:  The Absence of Heat is appearing in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.

KGR:  I have a particular understanding of ageing and retirement. I hate to say it, but I resemble some of the caricatures on the proposed cover, especially the character with the teeth flying out of his mouth. I’m not an aficionado of comic books or their heroes, but I remember as a child identifying with the villains. Not necessarily the megalomaniacal characters, but the toadies and secondary bad-guys.

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

KGR:  My favorite super hero is a tossup between Spiderman and Ironman. Personally, I always loved how Stan Lee allowed that little slit Ironman breathed through to be drawn with expression. Seriously, how does a metal face either smile or frown? On the other side, the Green Goblin as drawn gave me nightmares.

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

KGR:  To change people’s minds. Think about it. Good or evil, take your pick.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

KGR:  I’ve completed my first novel, The Mad King of Beaver Island. It is under submission at a small publisher in the UP of Michigan. I submitted to them because they publish other non-fiction works similar to my novel. In that vein I’m revising the second novel in that series.

MTI:  Other than The Absence of Heat appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

KGR:  At this point, I’ve stopped writing short stories so I can work on my novels.  On the other hand, I’m always looking for other venues to submit previously completed works.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good tv lately?

KGR:  TV is the bane of my existence. I watch sports.

MTI:  How about music?

KGR:  I like music, but I can barely listen to any of the new tunes. There are a few artists I can listen to like Bruno Mars or Meghan Trainor,  but I tend to listen to the “Oldie, but Moldy” style of music.

MTI:  What was the last movie you watched, and what did you think of it?

KGR:  I don’t have a lot of time for movies, so I’m picky. I only go to movies that are big screen affairs like Avatar. The last movie I went to was Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey. It had an interesting concept, but hardly original. The best part of the movie was when a hatch blew up on a space ship. The sound quality in the theater of the explosion was outstanding. Right now, I’m trying to find time to see the next Star Wars installment. Weird fact: I was on my first date with my first wife at the debut of Star Wars in 1977. There were less than twenty people in the theater.

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today?

KGR:  Well, sure. Let me dig deep into my trusty flash drive…*bang, slam, crinkle-crinkle* oh, here it is…

Oh, since this is out of context. This is 1763, Great Lakes region and Wasaga is a Native American.

Wasaga

“Why?” The question hung in the air.

No answer came.

Wasaga opened his eyes as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the mountains to the east. Growing up, he never dreamed or at least dreamed little enough to affect his consciousness. Decades after achieving manhood and over the past month the dreams have never stopped. He dreamed of a white-winged canoe ripped to pieces and faces of white men that deep down he sensed he should know. At the end of every dream, a spirit god told him to travel west.

Different spirit gods visited him nightly. Michi Kinagog, the spirit father of all people invaded his dreams the most and was the most insistent on Wasaga journeying west. The most pleasant of intruders was Ogima Nibi, a spirit god of the Lakes. Wasaga rarely thought of her because he was a mountain dweller.

“Wasaga.” A soft voice and lips brushed his ear as he slept.

He envisioned a pair of alluring eyes and swept up corners of a feminine mouth as he slept. A hand jostled his shoulder and he awoke to the same pair of golden eyes that trespassed in his dreams. While sleeping in the hollow of a tree gave him shelter, it did not allow him access to retreat.

“We must speak.” Ogima offered her hand to help Wasaga to his feet.

It was not yet dawn and the soft morning light added a halo to her head. Around Wasaga’s campsite the forest animals started their daily search for food and morning ablutions to the new day.

As Wasaga crawled out of the tree he noticed Ogima’s swollen lower abdomen. How wonderful! Then he considered the implication of gods having children. If the gods need to have children, are they truly immortal?

Ogima reached out to lift Wasaga’s chin and redirected his eyes away from her pregnant belly. “I see you have noticed.”

Wasaga’s face reddened. “Forgive my rudeness, Lady of the Lake.” He dropped his gaze to her engorged bosom, then realized what he was doing, and quickly looked her in the eye.

“Maji is loose upon the world,” she said. “It is Our fault and We have indulged him too far.” Ogima caressed her belly and smiled. “I don’t intend to spoil this child like his brother.”

The eternal trickster is Ogima Nibi’s son? Wasaga tried to remember everything his grandfather taught him about the gods, but the years had dimmed his memory. The lore had been handed down to him as a youngster and he hadn’t considered the gods until recently when the dreams started to disturb his sleep. Something tickled the back of his mind. It was what his grandfather told him the night before the old man walked out of camp with another short, old man, and was never seen again. “Is it true the spirit gods only create children with the intercession of a human?”

This time it was Ogima’s turn to blush. “Yes.”

Wasaga quickly glanced at the woman from head to toe. She had all the qualities a man desired. Wide, baby-carrying hips to bring many healthy sons into the world and strong muscular arms to lift and carry everything he needed to survive. The only down side Wasaga could perceive was her strong mind. A man like him needed a follower to do his bidding not to argue a point.

“Not on your life.” She sniffed.

“Don’t worry,” said Wasaga, his voice held derision, but his raised eyebrow said the opposite.  What would it be like to sire…and be a father of a god?

Ogima held her stomach again. “Death,” she replied. “I was weak for a moment, now the father of this child has been consumed by the politics of the spirit gods.” She swallowed noisily.

            “I’m sorry.”

            “I did not love him. I was…” Ogima stared up at the sky. “…overwhelmed, and now he shares a spot with Michi Kinagog.”

            What manner of man can overcome and seduce a god? Wasaga imagined a man a head taller than himself, shoulders as wide as an axe handle, teeth that can crush boulders and loins that are the envy of a bull moose. His stones reflexively clenched and withdrew into warmth.

            “He was not what you think.” Ogima grinned demurely. “But that is not why I am here. Maji…” Her lips tightened. “Maji was banned from Us. We love him dearly, but he is who he is. This world is between Us and his world.”

            “Pardon me, Lady, but I have been taught the tradition of the gods,” interrupted Wasaga.

            Ogima stared down Wasaga’s petulance. “Yes? Were you taught Magi could open a door from his world to yours? All of the souls he has captured are waiting to return to this existence. They are vile, nasty creatures that no longer resemble the humans they once were.” The beautiful woman’s mouth curled as if to spit out sewage that had suddenly appeared on her tongue.

            “I’m only a man. What do the affairs of gods have to do with me?”

            “Maji used your ancestor in a curse. The curse is a lit twig during a summer’s drought. The forest is dry and the ground cover is thick and ready to burn. Maji has thrown the fire into the brush and only those involved in the curse can put the flames out.”

            The first rays of dawn streaked out from behind a mountain and Ogima gripped his upper arm. “Travel west to the land of the Fox.”

            Wasaga snorted awake. His right bicep muscle twinged. On his arm were four red marks where Ogima had gripped him in his...Was it a dream?

MTI:  Well, that certainly caught my attention, and I'm sure there are plenty of our readers who would like to read more.  For those interested, they can pick up "We Were Heroes," or many other Martinus anthologies that contain his excellent work.

We Were Heroes Author Interview: Chris Allinotte

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing a returning contributor, Chris Allinotte, who has crafted the compelling story Faded Instincts this time around.  Thank you for being here, Chris.

It's been a while since we did one of these interviews.  Why not tell our new readers a little bit about yourself?

CA:  Well, the basics are that I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with my wife and children, but I grew up in northern Ontario, and went to University in Toronto, where I stayed for awhile.

I’ve always loved creating stories, but I got serious about it during theatre school, when I wrote my first play, Late Last Night. I later staged the production at the Staircase Café Theatre in Hamilton.

It was awhile after that that I got back into writing fiction, joining a writing group in Toronto. One of the pieces I came up with in that group later won first place in the Toronto Star short story contest. I’ve written pretty constantly since then. Two years ago, I published a collection of short fiction, called Gathering Darkness, which I’m very proud of. 

MTI:  Your story, Faded Instincts, appears in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.

CA:  Faded Instincts is about a father coming to terms with the son he left behind. So much of superhero mythology is dependent on the protagonists having no responsibility other than fighting evil in the name of justice which, while admirable, is sort of a juvenile mindset. I thought it would be fun to explore what happens when real life catches up to the mythology. The fact that the son finds himself developing the same powers as his father provided a nice catalyst to get them together.

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

CA:  I find myself going back to Batman a lot. When I was younger, I loved Spiderman and the X-Men, but as I’ve aged, I keep coming back to Bruce Wayne. I particularly like the Frank Miller books (The Dark Knight Returns, Batman:Year One), as well as Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, that expose the hero as being nearly as damaged as the villains he fights. There’s something intensely gripping about Batman’s sense of urgency – that he cannot rest until the job is done – but it’s never done.

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

CA:  I think it would be great fun, actually, to have the powers that “Animal Man” in my story has – to transform into any creature that’s ever lived, at will.  Just exploring the possibilities of that would take a lifetime.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

CA:  I’m nearly through the first draft of my first full novel. It features characters I’ve used before in short stories, so it’s been really great to find out more about them as they stretch out to fill the greater space.

MTI:  Other than Faded Instincts appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

CA:  There is a novellette that I’ve done which may border on fan fiction (it takes place in the world of the Wizard of Oz), so I’ve been hesitant to send it out – but I like it a lot, so I may polish it up and release it myself on Smashwords. Everything else I’ve been doing has been to try and finish a book length manuscript for once, so my editing/submitting pile is pretty robust right now.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good tv lately?

CA:  I’ve really been enjoying this season of American Horror Story, much more so than previous seasons. The story seems about a thousand times more consistent, with real stakes. I was also very satisfied by Series 9 of Doctor Who.

MTI:  How about music?

CA:  A friend told me he liked to create a playlist devoted to his work in progress, and fill it up with related songs that could help inform the tone of the book. I tried to do that with my current WIP, so it’s a lot of classic rock and  Alice Cooper, Epica, Within Temptation and Tool for example.

MTI:  What was the last movie you saw, and what did you think of it?

CA:  Most recently, the new Star Wars. I absolutely loved it. It was everything I hoped it would be, and everything that made the original movies great. Mostly, it was a movie that was about something, rather that simply being the product of a “create your own Star Wars movie” CGI kit.

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today? 

CA:  Not at this time. The most new work I have is the novel manuscript, and it’s still in ‘just for me’ stage.

Thanks for having my story in We Were Heroes, and for a very enjoyable interview!

MTI:  And thank you for a great interview, Chris.  Those who want to read your work can get a copy of We Were Heroes.

Author Interview: John Grey

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing John Grey, who contributed "Return of the Star Squad."  Thank you for being here.  Starting off, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

JG:  I was born in Australia and moved to the US in the late seventies. I’m married with no children and live in Providence RI.

MTI:  Moving along, what first compelled you to weave fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?

JG:  I’ve spent most of my writing career churning out poetry and songs. It’s only in recent years that I’ve had the time to dedicate to writing fiction. It’s always been in the back of my mind that I wanted to do it but work commitments didn’t allow. But I’ve always been surrounded by books and an avid reader of them. Though my poetry comes in a wide variety of styles and topics, with short stories I’ve stuck more to genres, especially horror and scifi. And I enjoy tweaking them with a slice of humor.  

MTI:  Tell me, if you had to pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would it be?

JG:  That’s not easy. At fifteen I would have said Dickens, at twenty, Sartre, at 25, Dostoyevsky. Lately, I’ve been reading a Library of America edition of the works of Elmore Leonard. I can’t say it inspires me but it sure keeps me waitng to read on.  

MTI:  "Return of the Star Squad" appears in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contribution to this collection.

JG:  It’s really a tongue in cheek account of the return to action of some over-the-hill super heroes whose powers are kind of off-the wall to begin with but who somehow succeed despite themselves.

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

JG:  I’ve always been a Batman guy. I’m into the dark undercurrents of the character. To me, Batman/Joker is the pinnacle of super hero/super villain warfare.  

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

JG: I’ve never had x-ray vision or super strength in my dreams but I do leave the ground a lot so my subconscious is telling me that I really do want ot be able to fly.

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

JG:  I’m working on a novel, a slightly futuristic tale set in New Jersey. I continue to write a lot of poetry. I try for at least 8 a day. And I always have a couple of short stories on the go, typically one pn its first go round and a second in rewrites.

MTI:  Other than Return of the Star Squad, appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

JG:  I have some coming up in Electric Spec, Macabre Maine, Fifth Di and Weirder Science.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good tv lately?

JG:  I just finished watching a series called “Top Of the Lake,” a series filmed in New Zealand and starring Elisabeth Moss of “Mad Men” fame, Holly Hunter and a host of British, Australian and New Zealand actors. It’s ostensibly a mystery but is much, much more than that.    

MTI:  How about music?

JG:  I’ve been listening to the latest in the Bob Dylan Bootleg series, a fascinating glimpse into the recording of his classic mid-sixties albums. I’m also very much into an English band called the Unthanks. 

MTI:  Can you name three movies that you could watch over and over again and not be bored?

JG:  Three is tough. I have a large movie collection on DVD and some of my favorites include “Chinatown”, “His Girl Friday” and a French film called ‘Children Of Paradise.” 

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today? 

JG:  Here’s a few lines from an unpublished work, “The Texas Chainsaw Macrame.”

            Alison needed to get help. But there was no sign of life anywhere: no houses, no traffic, no subconscious fears, no repressed homosexual desires. She began walking toward Henry’s Gas, Grub and Taxidermy. Hour after hour, she trudged. She hadn’t felt so alone since she lost her last group of friends to the Bye-Bye Camp Massacre. Wind blew fiercely. Ominous clouds moved in. She could hear the distant roar of a lion. She trembled. She blabbered. She moaned. She sobbed. She was not happy.

            But eventually, she saw lights ahead. She could make out gas pumps, rats, a stuffed mountain lion devouring a stuffed Pekinese. It was definitely Henry’s. But the sign was different from when she had pulled in there for gas earlier that day. It now read “Mabel’s Gas, Grub and Taxidermy.”

            “Must have changed hands,” thought Alison.

            It was almost midnight but there appeared to be a lamp burning in the office.  In fact what was burning was Henry. He was tied to a large spit over an open fire. An old woman slowly turned the handle.

            “Oh my god!” exclaimed Alison as she watched Henry’s flesh turn medium rare. “Are you okay?”

             “I’m fair,” he replied. “This is Mabel. She’s the new owner.”

            Mabel and Alison shook hands.

            “You’re plum tuckered out my dear,” said the old woman, looking most concerned.

            “I was in this strange house. I was attacked by a crazy woman with a chainsaw.”

            “Some people are so inconsiderate. Would you like a lemonade?”

            “Do you have something stronger?” asked Alison.

            “Stronger than my lemonade? I don’t think so, dear.”

MTI:  Thank you, John, for that fantastic interview.  Those who want to read more of his work can pick up We Were Heroes, coming out in February 2016!

Author Interview: T. Mike McCurley

Hello, and welcome to an all new series of author interviews.  The long anticipated anthology "We Were Heroes" will be coming out in 2016, and in preparation for this release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.

MTI:  Today I'm interviewing T. Mike McCurley, who contributed two stories to this anthology:  Everything Breaks Down—Even the Jackhammer, and Forgotten But Not Gone.  Thank you for being here.

TMM:  Thanks for having me. It’s an honor. And hey -- I brought cookies!

MTI:  Excellent.  Starting off, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

TMM:  Well, I’m a Cancer, and I like long walks on… Oh, wait. My bad. You meant writer-wise! I’ve been scribbling little bits here and there for nigh on to forty years now. I enjoy telling stories, and writing them gives me the freedom to do so on a grander scale. I mean, trust me – it ain’t like you want me knocking on your door and saying, “Hi! Can I tell you a story?” Years ago, I started submitting a few short stories for publication online, and the following that developed from them represent quite a few more doors I don’t end up knocking on.

I’m part of the Pen and Cape Society, an affiliated group of authors who as one part of their writing or another, put superhero prose on the shelf (even if those shelves are sometimes only digital). We’ve got some very talented folks in there, and I’m proud to be a part of the group. By the way, we don’t knock on doors either, but come check us out some time!

On the personal side, I enjoy the far-too-little time I get to spend with my wife and daughter, and I’m looking at ways to add to that time. I dig old roleplaying games, and have a whole mess of them on my shelves. Camping, hunting, and hanging out with friends should probably be thrown on that list as well. I am proudly eclectic. Oh, and bad jokes. Can’t forget that. I love bad jokes.

MTI:  Now, getting down to business; what first compelled you to weave fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?

TMM:  Probably my first fictions were those intended to keep me out of trouble (sorry, mom!) and, having two older brothers meant I had to be good at it. Even in my early school years I used to write “stories” in my notebooks. They might not amount to much now, and in fact the few I can recall are the kind of things that --were I to find them today -- I would set on fire and dance around as they burned. Those stories, though, taught me things that I would need to know to grow as an author. Sentence structure, basic plotting, cliffhangers, characterization, and a whole mess of other things all came from tales that had minimal actual story to them. In high school I also did a lot of RPG fan fiction (although I don’t think anyone called it ‘fan fiction’ back then) based on characters in the games we were playing at the time.

My favorite type of story to write is the kind that comes out fun to read. I can write drudgery, but what would be the point? If I don’t like it, at least a little bit, I’m sure as hell not going to subject anyone else to it: “Hey, Bob! I wrote this story and it sucks. Read it anyway!”

As far as genres go, I do love to throw some super-folks on paper. The abilities that put them in a position separate from others means they have to work harder to maintain their own humanity (or, failing that, they can happily discard it and dance among the ruins). It can make for some very interesting internal dialogue between the positive and negative aspects of a character. Plus, let’s be honest: It’s fun! Writing about folks who can knock down buildings opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Unfortunately, it also adds exponentially to your potential plot holes. “Why didn’t The Catalyst turn himself into salt to stop the Were-Slug?” (Note to readers: If you are indeed The Catalyst, I would like to apologize for outing your mistake like this. Next time, dude. You’ll get that slug next time.)

MTI:  Tell me, if you had to pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would it be?

TMM:  It’s kind of a cheat, because several authors have written under the umbrella of the original name, but Don Pendleton got me into more serious writing. I had a friend in grade school chuck a copy of one of the Executioner series into my lap and tell me I would enjoy it. I really bit into the action of the series, and before I knew it, I was reading as many of them as I could get my grubby little mitts on. I still love action sequences, and many of my stories are based around them. I’ll envision some scene in my head, and suddenly I see how it can play out on a larger stage. Pretty soon I’m running with it, and building the events that led up to the scene comes later. Kind of like I did as a kid: Let the events unfold and then decide how I’m going to explain them.

MTI:  Your two stories, appear in We Were Heroes, an anthology devoted to the theme of aging, retired, or out of their element superheroes and villains.  Tell us a little bit about your contributions to this collection.

TMM:  Well, Everything Breaks – Even the Jackhammer is about a man who was present at a tragedy that completely changed the way he sees himself and everything around him. He has retired from the life of heroics, but puts on the suit one last time for an interview about the events of that horrible day. It’s a story of forgiveness and self-loathing that shows how easily some people can come to terms with outside events but not those that plague us from within.

Then there’s Forgotten but Not Gone. I was trying to imagine what would happen to a man with earth-shattering powers who suddenly had them stripped away. What kind of person might they become? What bits of their morality might change, and what parts would remain?

MTI:  Who's your favorite superhero (or villain)?

TMM:  Oh, man… This is gonna take a while. Let me consult a mile-long list. I’ve been a fan of Deadpool for many a year now, and I suppose he plays both sides of the hero/villain fence quite well. I admire the tack the writers have taken with the character through the years. He just does what he wants to, and when read it really feels like he’s driving the story – kind of writing it for himself, as opposed to being written by others. That’s a testament to the talents of the fine folks who put pen to paper to make him come alive. Yes, I am looking forward to the film, for those of you who might be wondering.

MTI:  If you, yourself, could have any superpower, what would it be?

TMM:  I always think I’ve figured this one out, and then the next time I think about it, my answers always change. Currently, I think I’d go with the kind of photographic reflexes that Marvel’s ‘Taskmaster’ has. The ability to watch someone do something and then be able to do it yourself has an appeal on many levels. Then again, tomorrow I’ll probably be back to something else – probably something that would up the fun quotient by a few powers of ten. I hate to say it, but I’d be a terrible super-being. I’d find some kind of entertaining way I could use my powers rather than the whole ‘great responsibility’ route. If I suddenly gain the ability to fly, I’m getting a glow-in-the dark suit shaped like a flying saucer. Sorry in advance, folks, but I’m a horrible joker. And of course now, the first time someone sees a UFO, they’re gonna be on the horn asking me if I learned how to fly…

MTI:  Shifting back to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right now?

TMM:  I’ve got a few irons in the fire at the moment. I’m working on the fourth book in my Firedrake series, Inquisition, and if Drake thinks he’s had problems before, he ain’t seen nothin’ yet! This is the start of a darker arc for the whole series. Even for a seven-foot dragon, life is about to get very interesting. A lot of characters from the previous books and several new ones will make appearances, and things will change for the metahuman community on a national, soon to be global scale. Oh, yeah, and spoiler alert: Drake will probably make fun of someone and then hit them a lot. I know, I know. No one expected that. Seriously, though, it’s looking like a lot of fun as the villain known as Inquisitor makes himself known publicly.

My short stories about the cursed gunfighter Jericho Sims are building in number and size. I ran four short tales up last month as part of National Novel Writing Month, and as they get past the editing stage, they’ll be dropped into the mix. Jericho is discovering that the world around him is infinitely stranger than he had ever imagined. Chock full of paranormal, otherworldly, and downright weird subject matter, Jericho will have his hands full dealing with things that go bump in the night…and day…and pretty much any time they want to.

On my website, I’m dropping free short stories in a setting I’m calling Z262 – a colony of miners and farmers working to extract the riches of a new planet. The characters of Z262 are anthropomorphic animals caught in the midst of a war. Some of them are fighting back against the rodents who seek to destroy them, while others simply want to be left alone. Slice-of-life vignettes show up whenever I throw them out there. It’s a fun project, and I’m doing it strictly for the entertainment value.

I’ve got a few short tales out for submission at the moment as well, and I’ve got high hopes for a multi-part story I’ve built up around an assassination and robbery. It actually tells the story from the point of view of several different involved parties, and would be a serial format thing.

MTI:  Other than these fantastic tales appearing in We Were Heroes, do you have any other stories being published in the near future?

TMM:  The next ones on the block are the Jericho Sims tales I mentioned above. I have one in beta phase now, and the others in various stages of editing on the first drafts. All of them will be self-published so I can get them to the folks that have been waiting.

MTI:  On a lighter note, have you watched any good tv lately?

TMM:  Oh, man, thank you for asking this one! I am seriously, deeply digging on the new Ash vs Evil Dead series. I saw all three of the original Evil Dead films in the theater way (yeah, I mean WAY) back when. Bruce Campbell is one of those actors I can sit and watch for hours, so it’s an absolute pleasure to see him getting to let loose and be Ash again. If you’re reading this, Bruce, thanks again for everything through the years!

MTI:  How about music?

TMM:  Yes, please! I love music. My writing playlists have everything from Bagpipes to Body Count, Slayer to David Bowie. Country, instrumental, orchestral, opera, death metal, old school punk, hardcore, glam, thrash…it’s all there. I’m experimenting with different tempos based on what type of scene I’m working on, but right now I just plug in the headphones, switch on a block of tunes, and type. As far as favorites go? Blue Oyster Cult. I’ve been listening to them since the late ‘70’s. I’ve had them on vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD, and now digital. Probably no other band that I’ve held onto for as long. Their songs are generally stories in their own right.

MTI:  What was the last movie you watched, and what did you think of it?

TMM:  It was either The Professional or Heavy Metal. I remember them both from a while back, and I probably had them running on the same day. They’re both in my top ten list and I watch them frequently. They each have meaning for me beyond their simple entertainment value, but from a moviegoer’s standpoint, they’re great flicks. The Professional is full of beautifully-executed cinematic violence and some very interesting characters. Heavy Metal is one of those films that tells stories within stories within stories. It’s one I’ll always turn to if it’s on, written (and voiced) by some greats. I don’t watch movies (or TV) the way I used to. I’ve reverted back to reading more, and I’m a slow reader. Now the last one I saw in a theater was The Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was a lot of fun. Flashy where it should be and dark where it needed to be. I know there are purists out there screaming at me right now about the way things unfolded in there, but I have been trying to approach these new films with a more open mind, as if I had no previous knowledge of the subject matter. I had to after a few of the past ones.

MTI:  Readers love samples.  Do you happen to have a story excerpt you'd like to share with us today?

TMM:  Sure! I can share a bit from an upcoming Jericho Sims story:

Murphy reached up to grab the hand. A second later, he had jerked the man forward and down. Powerful hands encircled Albert's head and tilted it aside. A mouth filled with long, needle-like teeth gaped open to an extent that Jericho would have said was impossible, were he not watching it with his own eyes. The mouth wrapped around Albert's neck and the ranch hand shrieked as the sharp teeth ripped into his flesh. A liquid gurgling sound came from Albert, accompanied by a steady slurping, sucking noise from Murphy.

Colleen screamed as her terror suddenly overcame the shock that had held her still from the moment she saw her father attack his employee. Jericho swore and palmed his revolver as Murphy looked up.

The cattle baron was improving while they watched. His eyes were open and staring now, and he wiped away blood with the back of a hand to clear the vision in the left one. He smacked his lips around teeth that were normal once more. When he stood, the limp body of Albert fell to the floor. A piece of the ranch hand's neck the size of a man's fist was simply gone. There was no blood around the wound, and no fresh was pumping out.

"You return to my home, Mister Sims? Meddlesome does not begin to describe you," Murphy said. He slicked back his messy hair, ignoring the fact that he was smearing blood through it. His teeth ground as he looked at Jericho. He shook his head. "Like a bad penny, you turn up where you are not wanted."

"Me? You're the one that just ate that hard case," Jericho said. "You couldn't just give him his walking papers?"

Murphy chuckled. "He knew the risks. Like all my servants, he was willing to die for me."

Jericho glanced at the cooling body that lay sprawled in the foyer. "Well, I reckon we gotta take your word for that, then. Ain't like we can ask him."

"I cannot allow my secret to be revealed," he said. "If it is any consolation, Mister Sims, I'm going to kill you as well."

"Nope. Don't make it any better," Jericho said.

"Well, I thought perhaps -"

"How is that supposed to console anyone? Telling them you're going to kill them? Like saying that's gonna make them feel better about what you're gonna do?"

Before Murphy could respond, the Colt in Jericho's hand erupted in thunder and flame. His left hand fanned the hammer through an entire cylinder, all five rounds slamming into the chest of the vampire from less than ten feet. Murphy looked stunned as the world seemed to fall away, and he slumped to the floor in a heap.

"You see?" Jericho asked no one in particular. "I didn't tell you that was coming. So much more effective that way."

<>

 TMM:  Martin, thank you again for having me. It’s been a real pleasure, and I look forward to reading all the stories in We Were Heroes.

 MTI:  And thank you for taking the time for the interview, sir.  It was  a real pleasure.  I hope everyone picks up a copy of We WereHeroes, so they can check out more of your writing.