Category: Novels

Weekly Update – February 14, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

Another slow writing week. Real life has been getting in the way lately, and shall continue to do so for a while. Fortunately, real life has been leaving my cover artist alone, and Tricia is now plugging away at the back cover for Zero Day, which features the cover debuts of Ylena Johr and Scout Mills. Any guesses who else will be on the back cover with them?

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • None scheduled

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

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Action Figures – A Series Overview

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Novels, Young AdultLeave a comment

What’s it About?

The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth.

Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.

The teens form a superhero team almost on a whim, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against very real super-villains – much to the dismay of Kingsport’s hometown hero Concorde, leader of the super-team The Protectorate.

Who is this Series For?

Fans of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies in general, but particularly of titles featuring teen heroes such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Young Avengers, and Champions.

The tone is generally lighter than a lot of YA books out there now. While there is drama and conflict, and some later stories deal with darker issues, I try to keep the series fun, upbeat, and optimistic.

Is it Suitable for Young Readers?

Action Figures is a PG-13 series that contains mild to moderate profanity, non-graphic violence, some mature themes, and later on in the series mild sexual content.

An added word about the violent content: while the violence is not graphic, the consequences are not downplayed. This isn’t sanitized Hollywood violence. People get hurt just as they would in real life and do not easily shrug off injuries, and in some cases the characters have to deal with the emotional trauma of their experiences.

What are the Books in the Series?

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins – Carrie and her new friends in the Hero Squad (yes, they know their team name is awful) find themselves caught in the crossfire as the deadly mercenary Manticore comes to Kingsport, on the hunt for the rogue artificial intelligence known as Archimedes. Soon to be available through Audible!

Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women – The sorceress Black Betty threatens to raise hell – maybe literally – as she pursues her vendetta against the Protectorate’s resident paranormal expert Dr. Enigma.

Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect – Missy’s life is turned upside-down when she learns the truth about the source of her powers, and her connection to the bloodthirsty killer Buzzkill Joy.

Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer – Sara finds herself in the crosshairs of the mysterious hero killer the King of Pain, but to save herself, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear.

Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups – The Hero Squad, still reeling from their devastating encounter with the King of Pain, get a little help picking up the pieces from their friends in the Protectorate and the Quantum Quintet.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play – The Squad finds itself outnumbered and under-powered after one of their members goes missing – and at the worst possible time as foes from their past reappear, more dangerous than ever and ready to exact revenge.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War – On Earth, Carrie Hauser is a hero, but on the far side of the galaxy, she’s just another soldier on the front lines of an interplanetary war against the terrorists in the Black End.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage – Carrie returns to Earth to reclaim her life, but life has moved on without her. Does she have a place with her team, her friends, or her family anymore?

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury – Black Betty is back, and ready to unleash Hell — literally, but can the Hero Squad trust Dr. Enigma to have their backs? Or does she have her own dark agenda?

Action Figures – Issue Ten: Unintended Consequences – The Hero Squad learns that hard way that no good deed goes unpunished and the sins of their past have not been forgotten.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Zero Day – It’s the final showdown between the Hero Squad and ShadoWorks in this, the epic conclusion to the core Action Figures series. Scheduled for mid-2022 release.

The Action Figures Omnibus – Volume One: Stepping Up – Collects the first three books in the series (Secret Origins, Black Magic Women, Pasts Imperfect) and features a new foreward by Patrick Hodges and a new introduction by the author.

How Long Will the Series Run?

The series is plotted out to eleven, possibly twelve books in the main series. There are potential spinoffs in the works, but the core Action Figures series will come to an end by 2023.

Where Can I Learn More?

Read can read sample chapters from Secret Origins, short stories set in the Action Figures world, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com

Weekly Update – February 7, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

It’s back to a slow news week here. I’m picking away at the next Strongarm & Lightfoot book as time becomes available and waiting for Zero Day cover art and…that’s about it. As you were.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • None scheduled

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – January 30, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

I’m dropping the weekly blog post a day early to remind you that the Superhero Fiction Writers “first book in the series” promo begins today!

All these titles will be available for free on January 30, and you can go here to browse the titles and then jump to their respective retailer to get them.

You’ll notice that Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is on the list. If you’re already a fan, the sale day would be a great time to send a copy to someone as a gift. If you haven’t read it yourself, correct that horrible, terrible oversight now, and then you can get started on the series in advance of the final book, Zero Day, dropping later this year.

Even though the group sale is one day only, I am making Secret Origins free for the whole week! That’s five days in which to pick up the book for yourself or a fellow reader.

Speaking of Action Figures, work continues on the cover for book eleven, Zero Day. It’s taking more time because it’s going to be a double-sized wraparound cover to commemorate the double-sized finale of the series. And I am calling this a blessed venture, because my cover artist Tricia recently posted the WIP image you see on your right, and it received praise from no less than Randy Milholland, creator of the beloved webcomic Something Positive!

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • None scheduled

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Well-Behaved Women – A Series Overview

On By ronsonbeckIn Novels, Well Behaved WomenLeave a comment

What’s it About?

Rose Booker remembers how she died. Both times.

Rose’s pursuit of the truth behind those memories leads her to discover that she was in a past life the legendary pirate queen Mary Read — and that she’s not the only infamous historical figure who has returned from the dead.

Who is this Series For?

Well-Behaved Women is an urban fantasy trilogy featuring a predominantly female cast. I wrote it for everyone looking for an action-packed adventure tale driven by complex heroic (and villainous, and somewhere in-between) LGBTQ women.

Is it Suitable for Young Readers?

No. The series contains violence, language, and sexual content that make it inappropriate for younger readers.

What are the Books in the Series?

Awakening: Nearly a year after being shot and left for dead, Sergeant Rose Booker returns to active duty with the Worcester Police Department, hoping to put the past behind her — except she’s not sure it’s her past that’s haunting her.

When hard-drinking hellraiser Julie d’Aubigny enters Rose’s life, she promises to reveal the truth behind Rose’s nightmares — or are they memories? — of her death at the end of a hangman’s noose.

But first Rose must stop the mysterious madman waging a bloody campaign of vengeance that threatens to turn the city’s streets red. All she has to do is uncover his identity — and his own dark secret.

Transition: The adventure continues as Rose and her friends deal with the aftermath of the events in Awakening and face off against a new, deadlier enemy hellbent on revenge.

Endtimes: Rose, Anna, and Julie face the fight of their lives in the conclusion of the Well-Behaved Women trilogy.

All three titles are available to read for free through Kindle Unlimited, and are available as audiobooks on Audible, narrated by Darci Cole (Target) and Heather Auden.

Where Can I Learn More?

Read can read sample chapters from Awakening, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com

Weekly Update – January 24, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

Starting this week on a positive and self-promotional note: the Superhero Fiction Writers group is planning a series of quarterly promotions for 2023, and the first of those launches next week with a “first book in the series” promo.

All these titles will be available for free on January 30, and you can go here to browse the titles and then jump to their respective retailer to get them.

You’ll notice that Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is on the list. If you’re already a fan, the sale day would be a great time to send a copy to someone as a gift. If you haven’t read it yourself, correct that horrible, terrible oversight now, and then you can get started on the series in advance of the final book, Zero Day, dropping later this year.

Even though the group sale is one day only, I am making Secret Origins free for the whole week! That’s five days in which to pick up the book for yourself or a fellow reader.

On a more sober note, if you were at Arisia last weekend, you may not have heard that (as of this writing) ten people who were at the event tested positive for Covid despite the show’s vaccination and mask mandates. In light of that news, I’m feeling more comfortable in my decision to take a pass on Boskone. I’m negative for Covid, thankfully, and I don’t feel like pressing my luck.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • None scheduled

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – A Series Overview

On By ronsonbeckIn Novels, Strongarm & LightfootLeave a comment

What’s it About?

Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot are a pair of hard-luck adventurers for hire with an unfortunate knack for landing jobs that pay too little and threaten their lives too much. Erika Racewind is a hardened elven warrior who doesn’t like people, except maybe when she’s killing them. Winifred Graceword is a kindhearted elven priestess skilled in the healing arts. David is a young sorcerer on a path to discover who he really is — and whether that person has a last name, because going by just David is getting old fast.

Together these companions travel across the land of Asaches looking for adventure and the glory and riches that come with it. Mostly the riches, though, because you can’t buy food and beer with glory.

Who is this Series For?

Sword-and-sorcery fantasy fans looking for something a little lighter than most of the fare currently on the shelves. If you want heavy, dark, serious stories with lots of death, destruction, torture, rape, and political intrigue, go read something else because you won’t find it here.

What you will find is a fast-paced adventure filled with colorful characters, rip-roaring action, humor, and gentle jabs at the classic elements of fantasy fiction.

Which is not to say this series is a comedy or parody. There is still drama aplenty, but as a rule I don’t take things too seriously. You can read these books and not feel like you need a hug and a room full of puppies afterward.

Is it Suitable for Young Readers?

Not really. The series is a hard PG-13/light R for violence, language, and sexual content. It is suitable for older teens, but not for the YA crowd.

What are the Books in the Series?

Scratching a Lich: Derek and Felix find themselves entangled in an urgent quest to slay a legendary lich before he can trigger a world-ending apocalypse – as insane undead sorcerers are wont to do. Together with Erika Racewind, bodyguard for a mysterious young wizard named David, and Winifred Graceword, they head out to discover lost cities, recover long lost magical artifacts, and slay great evils in order to fulfill curiously specific prophecies – as mismatched, ragtag groups of adventurers are wont to do.

Assassins Brawl: The companions are hired to safeguard a spoiled brat of a princess targeted for death by the assassin Ruined Isys, but as is often the case, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Now all they have to do is determine who is behind the plot before they get caught in the crossfire.

Blades of Glory: Derek, Felix, and company are up for a job that seems a little too simple for a payday that seems a little too generous – but unfortunately, so are the famed adventurers of fortune known as the Noble Blades. Which of them will be the first to find a stolen ceremonial mask that is absolutely positively completely normal and not at all some lost artifact possessed of dark power?

Sworded Affairs: The company takes a job to dispose of a potentially dangerous magical artifact only to become snowbound in an isolated city besieged by flesh-hungry beasts — and under assault from within by a dark conspiracy.

Elfish Motives: Winifred Graceword is called home under mysterious circumstances, which lead to the company revisiting the lost even city of Wihend. But what do the four clans want with their long-abandoned ancestral home?

Twins and Losses: The company finally returns home to Ambride, only to become immediately embroiled in a scandal threatening to consume the Ambride Academy of Magic.

The Final Summons – An Anthology of the New England Speculative Writers: Featuring The Going Rate For Penance, a short story set in the Strongarm & Lightfoot world. Mercenaries Jessica and Samantha Summerland receive an assignment from their least favorite client, and one way or another, this will be their last job.

How Long Will the Series Run?

Unknown, but tentatively ten books.

Are They Available As Audiobooks?

The first four books, narrated by Heather S. Auden, are currently available on Audible.

Where Can I Learn More?

Read can read sample chapters from Scratching a Lich, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com

Weekly Update – January 17, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

Arisia is behind me, and unfortunately, I mean that in a larger sense.

Event organizers warned us that attendance would be down this year as people were still squirrelly about attending large gatherings (especially if they were resistant to mask and vaccine mandates while attending). They were right and the foot traffic in the dealers room was not what it usually is, which meant sales were, to put it diplomatically, disappointing.

If this was a one-time occurrence I might be inclined to try and ride it out and return in 2024, but frankly, my ROI at Arisia has been falling for the last few years. Breaking even is acceptable, but doing the show at a loss several times, even a small loss, is simply not good business sense. I’ve always said that if you’re serious about making a go at writing professionally, you can’t take a loss at conventions just because they’re “fun to do.”

Now it’s time to take my own advice.

It’s not an easy decision because I do enjoy the show. I like the social aspect, I like talking shop with other writers, I love doing panels, but I don’t love paying that much in membership fees, dealer fees, parking, gas, and food to do it.

With that in mind, I have also decided to withdraw from Boskone next month. Boskone went ahead with the 2022 show despite the Omicron surge, and everything I heard from folks who were there was that it was a ghost town. I can’t imagine this year will be any better, especially in light of how thin Arisia was, so I’ve cancelled my appearance there too.

Will I ever return to either event? Can’t say. Maybe things will improve and I’ll be willing to give the shows another chance, but for the foreseeable future, I’m done with them and moving on to other adventures.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • None scheduled

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Action Figures – A Series Overview

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Novels, Young AdultLeave a comment

What’s it About?

The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth.

Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.

The teens form a superhero team almost on a whim, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against very real super-villains – much to the dismay of Kingsport’s hometown hero Concorde, leader of the super-team The Protectorate.

Who is this Series For?

Fans of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies in general, but particularly of titles featuring teen heroes such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Young Avengers, and Champions.

The tone is generally lighter than a lot of YA books out there now. While there is drama and conflict, and some later stories deal with darker issues, I try to keep the series fun, upbeat, and optimistic.

Is it Suitable for Young Readers?

Action Figures is a PG-13 series that contains mild to moderate profanity, non-graphic violence, some mature themes, and later on in the series mild sexual content.

An added word about the violent content: while the violence is not graphic, the consequences are not downplayed. This isn’t sanitized Hollywood violence. People get hurt just as they would in real life and do not easily shrug off injuries, and in some cases the characters have to deal with the emotional trauma of their experiences.

What are the Books in the Series?

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins – Carrie and her new friends in the Hero Squad (yes, they know their team name is awful) find themselves caught in the crossfire as the deadly mercenary Manticore comes to Kingsport, on the hunt for the rogue artificial intelligence known as Archimedes. Soon to be available through Audible!

Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women – The sorceress Black Betty threatens to raise hell – maybe literally – as she pursues her vendetta against the Protectorate’s resident paranormal expert Dr. Enigma.

Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect – Missy’s life is turned upside-down when she learns the truth about the source of her powers, and her connection to the bloodthirsty killer Buzzkill Joy.

Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer – Sara finds herself in the crosshairs of the mysterious hero killer the King of Pain, but to save herself, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear.

Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups – The Hero Squad, still reeling from their devastating encounter with the King of Pain, get a little help picking up the pieces from their friends in the Protectorate and the Quantum Quintet.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play – The Squad finds itself outnumbered and under-powered after one of their members goes missing – and at the worst possible time as foes from their past reappear, more dangerous than ever and ready to exact revenge.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War – On Earth, Carrie Hauser is a hero, but on the far side of the galaxy, she’s just another soldier on the front lines of an interplanetary war against the terrorists in the Black End.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage – Carrie returns to Earth to reclaim her life, but life has moved on without her. Does she have a place with her team, her friends, or her family anymore?

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury – Black Betty is back, and ready to unleash Hell — literally, but can the Hero Squad trust Dr. Enigma to have their backs? Or does she have her own dark agenda?

Action Figures – Issue Ten: Unintended Consequences – The Hero Squad learns that hard way that no good deed goes unpunished and the sins of their past have not been forgotten.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Zero Day – It’s the final showdown between the Hero Squad and ShadoWorks in this, the epic conclusion to the core Action Figures series. Scheduled for mid-2022 release.

The Action Figures Omnibus – Volume One: Stepping Up – Collects the first three books in the series (Secret Origins, Black Magic Women, Pasts Imperfect) and features a new foreward by Patrick Hodges and a new introduction by the author.

How Long Will the Series Run?

The series is plotted out to eleven, possibly twelve books in the main series. There are potential spinoffs in the works, but the core Action Figures series will come to an end by 2023.

Where Can I Learn More?

Read can read sample chapters from Secret Origins, short stories set in the Action Figures world, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com

Weekly Update – January 10, 2023

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Well Behaved Women, Young AdultLeave a comment

It’s the final countdown to Arisia!

My first author appearance since 2019 is this weekend, and you’ll find me in the dealers room from Friday evening through early Monday afternoon, as well as on the Crafting Memorable Villains panel at 11:30 AM Saturday, and the Mushy Middle: Conquering the Midpoint Swamp panel at 4 PM that same day.

It’s not too late to register, BTW, but do know that the event has strict vaccination and masking requirements.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Awaiting cover art. Scheduled for an early 2023 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Untitled Seventh Book: First draft underway.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • Arisia 2023: January 13 – 16, Westin Boston Seaport District Hotel.
  • Boskone 2023: February 17 – 19, Westin Boston Seaport District Hotel

MISC.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.