I’m pleased to announce THE FALL OF SUPERVILLAINY cover art is now done. Hopefully, the novel itself will be edited and ready for Kindle readers at the end of June. I’m hoping the Audible version will be done at the end of August.
I’m pleased to say that after a (too long) wait, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE is finally available on audiobook. The United States of Monsters series (Straight Outta Fangton, I was a Teenage Weredeer, Psycho Killers in Love) began with the Red Room series. Serving as a template and later prequel for its later volumes, The Fall of the House is the third and final book in the series that depicts how the hidden world of Esoterrorism became the broken masquerade of its sequels. Read the exciting and fascinating story of Derek Hawthorne’s final adventure!
From the best-selling author of The Rules of Supervillainy:
Derek Hawthorne has slain Dracula and stopped the malevolent plan of his own employers, the sinister House. However, he has discovered that his ex-partner and lover Ashley Morgan has been kidnapped while a new conspiracy moves to expose the supernatural to the world. The House has overplayed its hand and all of its enemies are coming to bring it down. Derek will have to travel dimensions, fight monsters, and call in every favor he’s accumulated just to survive.
The Fall of the House is the exciting conclusion of the Red Room trilogy, tying the series to the greater United States of Monsters universe (Bright Falls Mysteries, Straight Outta Fangton, and Brightblade).
I’m very pleased to say the third volume of Wraith Knight, Wraith King, is now available!
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“The final battle is just the beginning.
Jacob Riverson, Regina Whitetremor, and Serah Brightwaters have assembled the greatest army the Northern Wasteland has ever achieved but it still may not be enough. The tyrant, Empress Morwen, has gathered all of the forces of the Southern Continent to invade along with an army of airships as well as enslaved divine spirits.
It is a battle that will determine the fate of all Three Worlds.But is the battle a cover for something much worse? After a horrifying disaster, Jacob is left broken and injured in a way that he’s never felt before. His powers weakened and his spirit spent, he receives an offer that he cannot afford to refuse. But this deal comes with allies he cannot trust and a cure that may be worse than the disease.
“The Dreaming City has a million stories.”
The world has finally reached its final hours with Yog-Sothoth devouring time itself. John Henry Booth is not content to die and seeks out an old enemy to provide him an escape from the dying Earth. This results in him being transported to a strange monster-filled city where millions of humans live in a bizarre hodgepodge of eras.
John soon finds out he’s been here before, or at least some variant of him has, and he is soon founded by faces long thought dead. And what is his lost son’s connection to the mysterious metropolis?The Tree of Azathoth is the third novel of the Cthulhu Armageddon series, a post-apocalypse continuation of H.P. Lovecraft’s popular Cthulhu Mythos.
I’m pleased to say the third volume of my CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON series is complete and out for reading. I hope fans of the first two books will pick it up.
Available here
Hey,
A few years ago, I wrote a couple of books with Frank Martin called the Predestiny series. It was an attempt to do a Young Adult science series that would hopefully break into new markets. It was also a cyberpunk series and something that was inspired by events in recent decades about corporate overreach, activism, and other events which had informed my burgeoning political consciousness. It was also inspired by Terminator, Dune, Continuum, and a bunch of other time travel stories.
The premise of Predestiny was Robbie Stone was a high schooler in a near-future dystopia where Butterly International has more or less bought America. A friend of mine described the company as “Applezon” and I’d say that’s accurate, except it also owned Blackwater. Rob just wants to do the Occupy Wallstreet thing and is then almost killed. He only survives thanks to the timely intervention of a white haired girl named Jane (no, not Doe). Jane explains that Rob has a destiny! HE IS GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD!
Yes, Robbie Stone is the Hitler in the “would you go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby”, except he’s closer to Paul Atreides in that he led the revolution ended up destroying the megacorps after they take over the world but ended up killing billions in the process. Some cyborged up super soldiers have decided to avert that by killing him. Jane has decided, for her own reasons, to protect him but this obviously throws Rob’s life for a complete loop. His only advantage is the people in the future don’t know his exact identity.
It was a complete disaster.
At least sales wise.
The short version is that not everyone can write every genre and while there was a fantastic story there, it didn’t really work out because I dialed back a lot on the implications of the book to stick to the Young Adult market. Frank did an amazing job with the material but I kept cutting myself off from going as hard in the material (that deserved to be R). I also didn’t develop the characters quite as much as I should (or as in other books).
Marketing-wise, I didn’t know quite how to market the story and leaned rather hard into the YA element that I think pushed away readers who might have otherwise given the story a chance. The cover also had Jane on it rather than Robbie, which I think confused readers who bought it with the intention that they would have a female protagonist. I have a great fanbase but they’re primarily adults and of a cynical edge that probably this was not for them. So, instead of attracting a new audience, I just alienated my preexisting one.
The sequel, Lost Future, was released but it had an even more YA looking cover that was misleading and poorly chosen. It was, if you can believe, even more incorrect for the marketing because the story got darker and darker. Robbie (now going by Rob) has to deal with killing someone for the first time and making horrible moral choices. By the end of the book, it’s 100% clear that this shouldn’t have been a YA series as the world has become far too dark and gritty for the story. There’s plenty of YA dystopias but I could have pressed the issue further if I wasn’t trying to write with one hand tied behind my back. The fact I attempted to do the books around 60K also inhibited world building. This wasn’t the series for it.
The bad luck unfortunately continued with an initial bit of good luck with the audiobook release being done for free by my good friend, Thomas Manchin. He’s a audiobook narrator of some great comedy books and quite a lot of fun. Mind you, Predestiny had the least amount of comedy in my books save, possibly, Lucifer’s Star or Wraith Knight. I think what jokes in that version of the book were done by Frank rather than me. Another sign that I was writing outside of my comfort zone in the desire to expand without realizing if you’re good at something, you should play to your strengths.
So what happened there? Well, poor Thomas, ran into a spot of health trouble and couldn’t do the sequel. It would be almost a year’s delay before we discovered that he wouldn’t be able to able to do it despite how much he wanted to. Whoops.
Now, if any of you know me then you should know I never know when to leave well enough alone. Just about everyone who writes over one book in their career knows there’s one or two that don’t do well. You just accept it and move on. Except, well, I was not going to do that. I owed Frank and my readers better, especially as there was a fantastic book here but I just needed to rework it to be all that it could be. In the end, of course, it was Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that made me realize what I had been doing wrong. That story with its ultra-violent dark and fascinating tale of David Martinez was enough to make me realize what kind of story I wanted to write.
Frank was a little nonplussed at my desire to rewrite the entirety of the book we’d already worked together on and add about 20K to 30K of new content. To move Rob to being slightly older, increasing the humor, increasing the sarcasm, and making it clear just how tragic as well as traumatizing the events are. I also increased the action as well as the world-building, getting very strongly into the 2060s and how they plausibly completely went to shit from “our” world. Frank gave me some great insights into the book as he had always wanted it to be and the results were a far superior work (at least in my opinion). Oh and we decided to replace the covers.
Re-writing Dark Destiny obviously meant re-writing Lost Future. The changes were even more extensive as the fundamental story was Rob coping with the moral question of whether it was possible to destroy the megacorporations without violence. Also, whether using violence when he knew it might eventually destroy the world was justified. The setting had gotten considerably darker from the original manuscript. The humor was certainly larger as well but there was now a much darker cast to it as some of the funniest characters were also vicious psychopaths. It was fun-fun and I even commissioned a new cover for it from the same artist. I also decided to change the names of both when I released them because they really were completely different books.
Did it work? Yes and no. I’m not sure that much of the existing market or fanbase is willing to give it a shot but it was certainly an artistic success. I felt much prouder of the books and feel like they’ve reached their full potential as both action stories as well as social satire. Plus, they more authentic. If you’re going to write cyberpunk you should write cyberPUNK. That means when someone is shooting at you, you’re going to drop some f-bombs and shits. I actually realized how much of a book it was to be proud of because not only did I get my co-author’s praise but cyberpunk fans reading it gave me compliments on its edge (as well as never suspecting they were more Hunger Games once than Neuromancer).
It was an experiment that required quite a bit of time, money, and effort but I’m glad I did it. It’s not the first time I’ve rewritten an existing book (I added casts of characters, glossaries, and new chapters to both Cthulhu Armageddon as well as Wraith Knight) but it was definitely the most extensive. I also feel like this is something that more authors should be willing to do. Stephen King rewrote the stand and Ed Greenwood rewrote the Spellfire trilogy. Sometimes you ned the benefit of experience and polish to reach your top game. Other times you need to write a world of flying cars, guns, and punks on the street to critique the man.
Will these books get re-releaded on audiobook? Eventually, but first I have to see about getting it the audience it deserves.
Hey folks,
I’m pleased to say that TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: CINDY’S SEVEN is now available for purchase on Audible! I’ve been waiting a long time for this book’s release and am extremely happy about it finally being out.
Cindy Wakowski a.k.a. Red Riding Hood is the second-most feared villain in Falconcrest City. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that is only because she’s considered Merciless: The Supervillainy without Mercy’s favorite henchwoman. Determined to prove herself every bit her boyfriend’s equal, if not superior, Cindy assembles a team of other villains to go after the largest treasure trove in the world: the hoard of the Dragon King.
Unfortunately, things start going sideways from the start. An ex-boyfriend of hers turned eldritch horror wants revenge, other villains don’t want anything to do with her plan, and the Foundation for World Harmony has put out a death warrant on her head. Merciless has also decided to engage in a little friendly competition that Cindy wants nothing to do with. Can she steal slay the dragon and claim its treasure? Will she let her ego and impatience get in the way? Also, who is Red Sindi and what relationship does she have with our antiheroine?
Tales of Supervillainy: Cindy’s Seven is the eighth novel of the best-selling Supervillainy Saga series and the first from the perspective of its most popular supporting character!
Revenge of the Cyber Dragons (Cyber Dragons #2)
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Cyber-Dragons-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B0BNYC1CRX/
Ex-Rider Keiko “Kei” Springs was living with her adopted daughter Becky away from her previous life of crime. Unfortunately, the past is not easy to escape and her sadistic former sensei, Snake, gives her an ultimatum: perform eight tasks for him or die. The final mission before her freedom is nearly impossible, though. Snake wants her to take down a luxury resort where the super-rich are implanted with their heart’s desires, only to be brainwashed into serial killers for blackmail potential.
Teaming up with the eccentric techjack Paradise, her on-again off-again lover Case, and a Judicial Magistrate named Parvati Rao—Kei thinks she can pull it off. Unfortunately, that’s before she discovers the luxury resort is owned and operated by a nearly omnipotent AI that has it out for her.
Space Academy Washouts (Space Academy #3)
Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Space-Academy-Washouts-Audiobook/B0BLTR7SXZ
“These are the voyages of the starship…something-something.”
Captain Vance Turbo has been struggling for the past few years, his reputation in tatters and most of his allies having turned against him. Offered a chance to go after a sinister crime syndicate at a peace treaty in Notha Space, he jumps at it. However, no sooner does he do so that he discovers that a malevolent AI and even more powerful forces are at work…ones that threaten everyone and everything in the galaxy. Will Vance somehow stumble his way into saving the universe again or will his luck finally run out? Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Lucifer’s Star) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.
“These are the voyages of the starship…something-something.”
Captain Vance Turbo has been struggling for the past few years, his reputation in tatters and most of his allies having turned against him. Offered a chance to go after a sinister crime syndicate at a peace treaty in Notha Space, he jumps at the chance. However, no sooner does he do so that he discovers that a malevolent AI and even more powerful forces are at work. Ones that threaten everyone and everything in the galaxy. Will Vance somehow stumble his way into saving the universe again or will his luck finally run out?
Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Lucifer’s Star) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.
RELEASE DATE: 12/13/2022
Hey folks,
I’m pleased to announce an update for the Space Academy series. We’ve got a new set of covers and some short stories for the Kindle editions of the funniest series in science fiction today. Vance Turbo, HERO OF SPACE and the worst crew in the galaxy are repeatedly called upon to defend the Galactic Community from conspiracies, four-foot-tall fascist squirrels, ancient alien gods, and gun-toting space rednecks. I think these new covers capture the zaniness of my and my co-authors’ work.
They’re available on Kindle, Audible (narrated by Jeffrey Kafer), and Kindle Unlimited.
#1: Space Academy Dropouts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q1MS51G
#2: Space Academy Rejects: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Z7QFFCQ
#3: Space Academy Washouts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B8MXLJ1B
I hope you’ll all check them out.
C.T. Phipps 