An intriguing pseudo-supernatural thriller I quite enjoyed.
The show addresses a question that I think any religious person, or even someone with a casual interest in religion, has asked themselves time and time again: How would we react, in the modern day, if Jesus Christ returned?
Now, I don’t believe the main character is ever directly referred to as the J-Man, but the point is clear. Over the course of the show, he repeats miracles and even comes up with some new ones, but people seemingly debunk him at every turn. Over the course of the show, you really don’t know if he’s the hero or the villain, and I loved that back-and-forth that would no doubt occur today.
Notably, the show was cancelled, possibly for political correctness reasons that we don’t need to go into. However, you do get an ending to the story. At least, in my opinion. Honestly, when the show ended, I didn’t want to see any more. They ended it perfectly.
There are a few slow episodes, but overall, I enjoyed the show and would highly recommend it.
A fun story pitting gray aliens against space marines! This is one of those books that’s convinced me to give the space marine genre more of a chance. The novel opens with a powerful scene showing what the aliens have done to our world-namely to many of our women-that propels our main character to join the rebellion effort. Interesting and fun the whole way through. I would highly recommend it!
Charlie just couldn’t believe it. After all that effort, after working so hard, forcing himself to commit to the act, this was the result?
He looked down at the gun. The smoking gun. Then, he looked to the toppled rocking chair. Behind it, the bloodsoaked corpse of the one person in this world he’d ever loved. The one person who would have given anything to make him happy.
And all he’d wanted was her death.
But there was nothing. No happiness that her nagging was finally over. No relief that he’d never have to lie to her again, just to have a moment alone. There was just emptiness, followed by a single tear.
Finally, after months of numbing care, of never-ending happiness, all he could feel was regret and dread.
It was a good day.
Enjoying the short fiction? Interested in something a little longer?
This is an anime for Godzilla fans, as has become clear to many of us by now. As an anime fan, I thought the show was good and, in my opinion, I was happy to finally see an anime that took viewers all over the world. Too much anime sticks close to Japan, and often for good reason. But here, the international setting complemented the story well.
As a Godzilla fan, I was thrilled to see yet another new, original take on the beloved kaiju. While I doubt we will get a season 2, I love what was built up and am holding out hope for more.
A great book that I’m sorry I didn’t read sooner. Not a perfect book, but I’m still happy I picked this one up after years of being told to read it. I’d recommend this book to any lover of the desert and hidden places.
“Welcome back, guys and gals and ghouls and gals again! This is Radical Ryan coming at you from deep in the heart of Omaha, Nebraska! On your way to work? I hope not! Traffic’s been backed up for the last year and a half! Not an inch of movement since the dead rose again! You know it, I know it, but maybe someone out there missed it! If that’s you, our number is all threes, baby! Yep, it’s real! How? Call in and find out!
“Weather today is lookin’ a little cold, but that ain’t stoppin’ the walkers. Nope, I can see ’em right out my window! There’s a three-walker pileup on Mission Drive! Looks like they pinned a stray dog against a car. Wait, is that…? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like someone is finally using my car for something!
“Now, on to sports. There aren’t any. Politics? Who knows! Gossip? I don’t know. Nobody’s called in for over a year now! There’s still a dial tone but who knows if the damn thing really works! I guess no one else was as smart as me! Or as fortunate to be sitting on top of a two-year supply of army rations! See, Mom? Playing all those zombie games was good for something!
“Anyway, it’s time for our song of the week! Prepare for ‘What’s New, Pussycat?’ seventeen times in a… OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Someone’s calling! Hello? Are you there? You survived? Where are you?”
“Hey man, you suck!”
CLICK.
Enjoying the short fiction? Interested in something a little longer?
I can’t recall the last time I found an album as creatively inspirational as this. “The Body Cosmic” is as exceptional as it is groundbreaking, and Iapetus is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.
Over the last few months, I’ve been taking a break from the internet to focus on other projects. In that time, I had a new book release that I completely forgot to announce to my newsletter subscribers.
I only realized this after I started sharing the audiobook news!
Anyway, sorry for the screw-up. My bad. But without further ado, here are the details:
The Wild West just got far wilder…
Dale Jones has lost everything. He’d lost his job and his money, and now, his wife has been shot and killed by Sheriff Riker. It’s enough to break a man, and it does.
But while on the run, Dale stumbles across something incredible: a baby animal unlike anything he’d ever seen before. A creature sent by God—or the devil?—with the power to exact Dale’s revenge and bring the town of Duke, Arizona to its knees.
At high noon, gunslingers on horseback meet sharp claws and bloodstained teeth. Will the Sheriff and his men prevail, or will Dale and his new pet rule the West?
The heart of John Wayne meets the terror of Jurassic Park! Plus, four more monster stories that are sure-fire thrills!
Grab this wild Western with four extra stories, including three previously published stories that you may have missed if you’re not subscribed to Prehistoric Magazine!
Oh, you’re not subscribed to Prehistoric Magazine? Why not give it a try? It’s FREE, and I’ll be doing more work with them in the future!
This is a shorter book, just about one hundred pages, but I had a ton of fun playing around with these stories and the cover art (even though Amazon tried their best to stop me!) I really wanted to experiment with this cover, which can often be a death sentence in this industry. I wanted to channel the inspiration I took from Louis L’Amour novels I used to buy at thrift shops and library sales, and I feel this led to a great-looking cover that stands out. The first cover, of course, Amazon rejected rather harshly with a threat to terminate my account, but after some finagling, I was able to make a bigger and better cover than the first. And so far, it seems readers agree! Especially when you get the book in paperback, which is only $4.99.
Maybe I should highlight that, too…
That’s right, you can pick up the paperback of T-REX for just $4.99! I can’t recall the last time I was able to offer a book this cheap, so why not grab a copy? It’s the same price as my self-published Kindle novels!
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading it, but if you’re not much for words on paper or screen…
T-REX is coming to Audible in a few months. Sam Rosenthal, the narrator of SWIM, will return to narrate this weird Western and its accompanying short stories. I reviewed the first 15 minutes and let me tell you, Sam is nailing it!
Obviously, this won’t be a long audiobook, but I still feel it will be a fun little story to listen to on a long drive, or even just to pass the time around the house.
Look for this one around May, unless Audible takes their time approving it, of course. Can’t do anything about that, unfortunately.
More Active Than Ever
Recently, I made the decision to post more on social media. I’m finally getting over some fears I have about putting myself out there and I’ve really enjoyed scheduling some posts and mini-reviews. So far, people have been very supportive.
I don’t think this will carry over to the blog for now, as I don’t think it’s necessary to write everyone when relatively minor things go down.
But if more frequent content is what you want from me, it’s what I’ll give you! Head over to my Facebook page if you’re so inclined.
Siron is on sale!
Siron, my first kaiju thriller, is on sale for the next day or two in the US! Grab it for just $0.99 while you can!
Plus, if you buy the ebook cheap, you still get a great discount on the Audible edition!
There’s never been a better time than now to read and review Siron! Don’t miss out!
UK Readers: Sales Are Coming!
I’ve been neglecting the options on Amazon to promote most of my novels to UK readers. That ends now!
Starting on March 26th, Michael Ridding and Hail to the King will be on a £0.99 sale!
And, starting on April 2nd, Swim will be on a £0.99 sale!
AND, on April 15th, Siron will be on a £0.99 sale!
I promised that this book would be out at about this time. However, the editor has recently suffered a family tragedy. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with them at this time.
I’ve told the editor not to bother sticking to any deadline. When the book is done, it’s done, be that in a day or a year. In the meantime, I’ll soon begin work on Tundra of Terror, the sequel to Island of Legends and the second book in the Godqueen Trilogy. After that, and during that, I will continue work on DenCom 3, DenCom 4, the DenCom spinoff novels, and a few short stories I’ve been playing around with.
Want to keep track of everything I’m working on? Check out the new progress bar on my website!
Is that it?
For now! I hope everyone forgives me for neglecting T-REX and doesn’t let it sour the reading experience. I hope you are all looking forward to the audiobook and to many more books to come!
-S.T. Hoover
What am I reading?
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
It will soon be two years since I moved to the desert, so I figured I would finally read the book that brings so many people here. So far I am quite liking it, and I see why the book is so popular, but with popularity comes high expectations.
We’ll just have to wait and see if this book can deliver…
What am I watching?
John Wayne Movies
I felt like it was finally time to dig a little deeper into my favorite actor’s catalog. Thanks to the local library, many of the films I haven’t seen yet are easily obtained. I’m also introducing them to Faryl for the first time, and so far they’ve liked them.
What am I listening to?
The John Wayne Gritcast, Hosted by Ethan Wayne
Keeping with my viewing preferences lately, I learned that not long ago, Ethan Wayne, John Wayne’s son who co-starred in several films with his father, was hosting a podcast dedicated to his father’s work. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the insight Ethan and his guests/family members offer. It’s a different side of John on display here, and an amazing one at that.
A hidden gem of California fiction with a touch of the fantastical. Louis L’Amour weaves a tale through ancient Native American lore in old California with the respect and enthusiasm that only true love for the source material can bring to a novel. This is my second read-through, and believe me, I’ll be back for a third, fourth, fifth, and beyond!
Typically, I publish my novels myself through Project 89 Media, but after meeting Mike Esola of Primal Publishing, I felt he had something special going on. He runs Prehistoric Magazine, a publication that has since gone on to publish three of my short stories. I quite liked working with Mike, and when he approached me about submitting a novel to his new indie press, I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance.
After some delays out of both of our control, the book has finally been released! Island of Legends is the first novel in the Godqueen Trilogy, a set of novels written to take the prehistoric thriller to where it’s never gone before. Think Jurassic Park, then add more than a few cryptids like Bigfoot and the Chupacabra, top it off with a bit of Lord of the Rings, and you’ve got my latest release!
A bit about the novel:
Monsters didn’t exist. Now, they do.
Genetics research has been allowed to run wild off the coast of Japan. Extinction is a thing of the past. Cryptids and mythical beasts have been brought to life. Even the scientists themselves aren’t always human…
In the midst of a coup led by the head of security, graduate student and reluctant employee Mars Spencer is forced to fight for her life as all hell breaks loose in this tropical paradise…
OH, YEAH!
I FORGOT TO POST ON MY BLOG ABOUT SWIM!
“You could’ve been a star.” Dr. Alton Silas, the owner of a failing public aquarium, accidentally stumbles upon the greatest zoological discovery of the new century. “You could’ve been something special.” Pisciviri sila, the Silas merman, a primal, humanoid, deep-sea creature with a disturbing secret. “You were something special.” Against all odds, Silas’s new exhibit fails. The merman refuses to appear before the public, except to scare and try to attack those who linger too long. But as young marine biologist Dr. Sean Morgan is about to find out, this is the least of the aquarium staff’s worries…
I completely forgot to post about Swim, a novel I co-wrote with Faryl! Why? Because it was a HUGE SUCCESS!
How successful, you ask?
In under a month, Swim eclipsed all but two of our books’ total earnings. And those two books it didn’t outdo? One was Faryl’squestionMark, and the other was Michael Ridding, Project 89’s two oldest books! And guess what? As of this writing, Swim has eclipsed questionMark in eBook earnings! This book is KILLING IT, and it hasn’t even hit conventions and other in-person events yet!
It has a ways to go before it beats Michael Ridding, but at this rate, it could topple that novel in just a few more months!
I guess we need to start planning the sequel!
I ALSO HAVE A NEW SHORT STORY OUT!
That’s right! I will also have a short story in this month’s issue of Prehistoric Magazine! “Mystery Egg” is a fun little story I was inspired to write when I began keeping quail and learned about hatching-egg culture. The short version: Some people will keep livestock birds and hatch the eggs themselves using an incubator, but a lot of people will order mixed bags of eggs from chickens, quail, or whatever else that could be differently colored, differently sized, or that may be a different species altogether. So I got to thinking, what would happen if someone got a genetically-engineered dinosaur egg, be it by accident or on purpose?
That then brought me back to an idea I’ve wanted to pursue for a while: writing a story inspired by Michael Crichton’s original plan for Jurassic Park. Originally, Crichton said the novel was going to be about a college kid who was able to clone a dinosaur in his dorm room.
Once I combined the two, there was no stopping me!
If you aren’t subscribed to Prehistoric Magazine, definitely check them out! The magazine is sent to Mike Esola’s newsletter subscribers as a FREE PDF every three months or so. Or if you want the physical copy, you can buy that here!
Worst case, I will be republishing the piece in T-REX, which you can read about below!
Well, I think that is about it. I’ve been working hard on T-REX, my novella that is due out in December. It will also come packaged with my three previously published works from Prehistoric Magazine and one or two original stories! I’ve been dying to write an Old West novel for a while, so the Western setting of T-REX is something I’m particularly proud of. I just wish there was more of a market for straight-up Westerns these days. Fair warning: If I find one or the market gets better, I will 100% write nothing but Westerns and DenCom.
Otherwise, I think that’s it! I look forward to seeing what you guys think of Island of Legends, Mystery Egg, and of course, Swim!
-Sam
What am I reading?
I’ve been reading Greig Beck’s Seed of Evil. It’s a great book that takes a lot of turns I did not expect. I’m loving most if not all the characters. My favorite has to be the old Indian. He’s a hoot.
If you don’t mind too much gross imagery, I think you’ll enjoy Seed of Evil!
What am I listening to?
My sibling Sara had asked me to listen to Starset forever ago, and one day when she was driving, she made me listen to them in the car.
Don’t sleep on this band. Don’t be me.
Their fourth album just came out, so don’t wait! Every song is gold!
3TEETH was a pivotal band when it came to writing Siron. Especially when it came to their previous album, Metawar.
Recently, they released a single featuring HO99O9, and it’s now inspiring me for a totally different project, so needless to say, it’s been in my ears a LOT lately.
Fair warning, 3TEETH and HO99O9 are not artists for the faint of heart.
What am I watching?
I’ve been looking for some good Bigfoot movies lately, and I’m pretty sure I found the best one!
It’s all killer and barely more filler than necessary for good, tension-fueled horror! This movie got panned, of course, because critics back in 2014 couldn’t tell their own assholes from Citizen Kane. Film reviewers are the worst, honestly. Sure, Exists references other famous works in the genre, but that doesn’t mean it relies on those movies and television shows to tell its story (looking at you, Another Life).
Anyway, reviewers. Don’t trust a word they say. Just like what you want to like. It’s not rocket science.
Anyway, this was a great flick. I’d highly recommend it this Halloween!
Here’s another Bigfoot classic, in my opinion. Nowhere near as good as Exists, but rather “so bad it’s good”. I remember watching this movie with my father and uncle, the latter of whom had been trying to hunt it down for a year or so. As soon as the creature appeared, my father screamed, “THAT’S what it looks like?”
Yeah, it’s that kind of movie!
Needless to say, just viewing the film with them was a great memory, but the film itself is still enjoyable in that MST3K way! It’s even on YouTube, complete and uncut for the moment! Not sure for how much longer, though, since they left in a full-frontal nudity scene, and it wasn’t one of those “official” Youtube movies with ads.
