My Releases – Page 3 – Polenth's Blog

Book Launch: Sunstruck – Bigfoot Urban Fantasy

4th December 202317th March 2014 by Polenth

I had the cunning plan to launch the book on my birthday. This might have worked, if I hadn’t also got a helping of viral friends for my birthday. But a few days later than intended, it’s go time. Sunstruck is an urban fantasy novel with Bigfoot. More about the book and the launch is below.

Book Description

The Spokane Ecology Board covers up supernatural incidents, under the pretence of enforcing environmental laws. It’s a dull job of sightseeing thunderbirds and pixie outbreaks. Until the team gets murdered.

Ari is the replacement team’s Bigfoot liaison. Armed with everything she’s learned from detective shows, she’s ready to find the murderer. The downside is the job comes with a human partner, who smells of air freshener and lines up his desk like a math project. He’s only a scientist, so it’s not like he knows anything about magical crimes.

Ben Cabot grew up hearing stories about Bigfoot, but they failed to mention a love of the internet or an aversion to throwing wrappers away. But there’s more out of place than an untidy work partner. Someone’s messed with the case files, and that means the killer might be closer than they think.

I have a three chapter sample on my website. Some vendors also have their own samples. I always recommend reading the sample before buying. The book is currently available on Amazon US, Amazon UK and Smashwords. A comprehensive (and regularly updated) list of sellers is found on the book’s official page.

About the Series

The books are set in an alternate version of Spokane, Washington. They’re told from two points-of-view – Ari and Ben. The balance between the two narrators will depend on the book. Sunstruck has more from Ari. The next book (Conduit) will have more from Ben. After that, it’ll vary.

It’s an open-ended series, where each book has a stand-alone mystery (though it’ll help to read them in the right order).

Cupcakes

In the tradition of launch cupcakes, I made Bigfoot faces. These aren’t my most technically skilled decorating jobs, but they are very chocolatey. So, here’s to Bigfoot and launches. I hope you enjoy the book!

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# If you want to note it for later elsewhere, I’ve tweeted about it and have a post on Tumblr. The book also has a page on Goodreads.

Book Launch: Steampunk Novelette

4th December 202328th August 2013 by Polenth

Update: This book is no longer available to buy as a standalone title. It can be downloaded for free from Patreon.

I have a new ebook out in the world – a steampunk novelette called “By Means of Clockwork Selection”. As a launch promotion, the book is available free on Amazon from 28th August to 1st September (2013). Full book details, and links to all the sellers, can be found on the official book page. Ramblings about the book can be found below.

Book Details

The gears on the cover come from an old clock, which I dismantled. There were other neat things in the clock, like a mechanical music movement, which may be coming to a cover near you soon.

And the book description:

Connie survived the plague that devastated plants, animals and clockwork alike. Her life has settled into the relative peace of farming clockwork ponies and marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Bess. But the threat of plague is never far away. Mutated oaks are spreading over the ruins of London and stories of outbreaks abound. She fears the worst when a pony collapses, but the true cause is far more surprising. It might be the key to rebuilding the world.

Cupcakes and Plans

Originally, I planned to make cupcakes for big releases only. When I told the family my next book was a steampunk novelette, the response was, “Steampunk cupcakes!” So it looks like I’m making cupcakes for short story releases too. Gears were a challenge as I couldn’t find any cutters locally, so I cut circles and fashioned them into gears.

There are standard gears and sky metal gears (also seen on the cover). The filler cakes have nothing to do with the story, as they were mostly an excuse for adding fudge pieces.

The next thing out will be an urban fantasy novel. Until then, I hope you enjoy this book*!

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* If you’re of a social media persuasion, you might want to add it to Goodreads or LibraryThing.

Book Launch: Rainbow Lights (Plus Cupcakes)

4th December 202325th May 2013 by Polenth

‘Tis the season for lots of sugar, as my collection Rainbow Lights is now live on Amazon. In celebration, I made cupcakes in rainbow cases and decorated them with a rainbow of sweets. Some might notice indigo and ink are missing from my collection colours, which was due to the availability of dyes and sweets. But the family aren’t complaining, as it’s all still sugar.

In less sugary information, the book is a collection of fantasy and science fiction stories and poems (mostly stories). I have an official page on my site, which has the table of contents, links to any stories available free online (you can also read the first couple with Amazon’s look inside feature) and a comprehensive list of where to buy. Currently these are Amazon’s sites in various countries, but there will be other places later.

There’s also a page on Goodreads if you’d like to mark it for later, leave a review, or anything of that nature.

Dates and Deadlines

The date I originally set was 13th May, 2013. This was great, except I’d forgotten it was my parents’ ruby wedding anniversary, and I was down to cook a meal. (I remembered the meal, but not the date.) This meant the collection was pushed on a little way, but I didn’t miss it by much. The book went live on 23rd May, and I got down to making cupcakes on the 25th.

Future Plans

Currently the book is only available on Kindle. I’d like to get it up on Smashwords too. I also plan to make a paperback version, with charcoal illustrations inside. The paperback will take time due to the extra pictures, so I’m not setting a date. It’ll be done when it’s done.

There will also be a steampunk novelette in the future, and the family appears to have nominated me to make themed cupcakes for that too. I may have set a precedent here…

But now it’s time for me to drink tea, eat cupcakes, and start work on the next thing.

Rainbow Lights cover: a rainbow squid in chalk pastels, in a charcoal black ocean.

Yay!

Story in FISH

4th December 202311th February 2013 by Polenth

FISH by Dagan Books, an anthology of speculative fish stories, is out in the world. I wrote a little before about my story, as it was one I had trouble placing. There’s also a page on Dagan Book’s site all about fish, with a full table of contents and information about purchasing.

Thwarting the Fiends is about a boy called Broccoli, and his slightly surreal adventures in his back garden. The world he travels through is based on his make-believe play.

The inspiration was my own experiences of ancestry issues. I don’t look Northern European, and that raises questions, but I can’t answer them. I don’t know my ancestry. Nor is there any culture remaining from whatever cultures were involved. There’s a generally feeling that something was lost, though I don’t know what, and that I’ll never quite fit. There are always more questions saying I don’t belong where I am.

In Broccoli’s case, he has more awareness. Not in the direct sense, but he knows enough about his family’s cultures to imagine a world where they interact. Not in a tidy and obvious way, because fragments don’t go together neatly, but it’s there.

I wasn’t sure if anyone would see any of that, or if they’d see it an disapprove of how I’d tackled it, but either way, that’s how the story came about. And it has goldfish. Lots and lots of goldfish. So if nothing else, read it for the fish.

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# Art by Galen Dara.

Fungi Anthology Available

4th December 20231st December 2012 by Polenth

The Fungi anthology by Innsmouth Free Press is now out (the official release date is 1st December, 2012). It has a mushroom person on the cover! You can’t get much more shiny than that. When my contributor’s copy arrives, I’ll put it on the shelf and admire the mushroomness.

But back on the word part. My story is called Letters to a Fungus, and is a bunch of letters written to a fungus. Admittedly, I don’t get any elaborate title points for that one*. It’s also my first published story about fungi, which is funny considering how much I like them.

The basic inspiration was giant fungi, such as the one discovered in Oregon. People tend to assume the mushroom is the fungus, but a lot of the mushrooms in an area may be produced by a single fungus (much as a bush may have lots of berries, but it’s still a single bush). As fun as mushrooms can be, we shouldn’t ever forget the real body of the fungus is out of sight, and might not be what we expect.

The Fungi website has a short piece on why they picked my story, and my answer to, “Why write about fungi?” (Though I’ll note I’m not a gigantic mushroom with a laptop**.) The Innsmouth website has a page with purchase information, including links to online shops and the option to buy directly from the publisher.

There’s also a Goodreads giveaway going on, ending on December 31, 2012. It’s open to people in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. You can add the book to your to-read list, or review it, from the Goodreads pages: hardback, paperback and Kindle versions.

That’s all the linkage. If you get hold of a copy, I hope you enjoy it!

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* If it’d been a series of limericks written to a cat, and been called Letters to a Fungus, I could call it surrealism. But as it is, it’s one of those stories where people will ask, “What’s it about?” because they don’t entirely believe it really is a series of letters to a fungus. Maybe they’ve never written to a fungus. Some people are anti-fungal like that.

** I’m actually a tiny mushroom with a desktop.

# The art is by Oliver Wetter.