Writing

Book Announcement: Psycho Killers in Love

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

What if all the cheesy horror movies of the 1980s were based on true stories?

William England knows that they are for a fact. His father, Billy the Undying, was one of the most notorious slashers of all time. Wrongfully imprisoned in a mental institution with his ax-crazy sister, Carrie, William has escaped with his sibling out into the real world. Unfortunately, he’s literally haunted by his father’s ghost and has found himself driving to a small town in Kansas that is the center of murderous activity in the year 2000.

But circumstances result in William meeting the girl of his dreams just as his own murderous impulses finally kick in. Nancy Loomis is beautiful, deadly, and dedicated to destroying all the world’s slashers. Can these two bloodthirsty killers make it work or are they doomed to be enemies like their natures compel them to be? What about the secret cult in the area that has been kidnapping sorority sisters? And the vampire in the basement of his new home? Find out in this loving tribute/send-up of the horror genre. It is a comedy to die for.

COMING IN MAY

15 tips for Indie Authors

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

1. Generally speaking, indie authors benefit most from networking. This is something that I’ve taken to heart and it’s great to make friends with other authors and promote their books because they’ll be inclined to promote yours. Authors who worry about their own success alone generally fail in this business. Authorship is not competing for readers because when someone finishes Anne Rice, they’re more inclined to pick up another vampire novel in the same “vein.”

2. Diversity is the key when attempting to get your books to the largest audience possible. The Rules of Supervillainy is my biggest success so far and it’s a huge success for a mainstream publication instead of just an indie press. Part of that was the fact it managed to hit a niche in genre fiction but also because it reached a huge audience of audiobook listeners versus the somewhat overloaded ebook market. Try to make sure your books are available in multiple formats of audiobook, ebook, and paperback.

3. A lengthy portfolio is pretty much a necessity in the modern ebook marketing world. You probably won’t make your fortune on one or two books but will benefit most from having a robust series of novels with multiple complete series. The fact Amazon and the internet means books “stay” in print means that you probably will get a trickle from each of your series as long as you’ve promoted them enough for people to want to check them out in the first place. In short, don’t expect to be a full time writer after your first book, expect it after your thirtieth.

4. Contradicting number 3# to an extent is the fact you need to manage your release schedule. Releasing a bunch of stuff at the same time or in rapid succession means the people you actually have managed to win over with your writing may be overwhelmed. After a release, you should spend time promoting your new release and make sure that people know about it.

5. Methods of promotion include Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Reddit, and other social media presence. Generally, no one cares about spam and if you show up to mention your work is now available for 5.99 on a group then don’t be surprised if the reaction is a resounding “meh.” Engaging with fans and making yourself interesting enough they actually check out your work is a big deal. Basically, making yourself a presence in your genre’s community is an important part of success.

6. Managing expectations is something that a lot of authors have difficulty with. Gone are the days of which you can just depend on a big publisher to release your books to all the bookstores in America and assume you’ll release in the 10s of thousands (and lose 99% of each sale to your publishers). Instead, a 1000 copies is an extremely good lifetime sale for an indie title and sometimes takes a while to take off. Success also breeds success as you can expect sales to pick up when one book succeeds and develops a fandom who buys your others.

7. Beware of scams. I feel like this is something that is unfortunately endemic to the indie scene but there’s no end of people who want to charge you $100 to publish your book on their mailing list of people who don’t actually read the books. There’s also plenty of scam publishers who will take every dollar you have and then go bankrupt. Beware, too, of editors who give it a spellcheck and charge $400. Check out sites like Writer Water Cooler and get help from your fellow authors to avoid this.

8. Understand that financial success in writing is an ongoing process, which is a polite way of reiterating the earlier point that becoming a full-time writer is a long process. You’ll probably not be able to quit your day job for a good long time if ever. Do it for the art first and the supplementary income second unless you’re one of those people who knows how to write porn for $10,000 a month. No, I don’t know how they do it.

9. Engage with the community projects of fans like the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off, ABR awards, interviews, blogging, and guest posts. It’s not going to be an automatic boost to your book and plenty of blogs, like mine, have like 20 people who follow them but every bit counts.

10. Reviews provide the illusion of success, which can sometimes lead to real success. Lots of people don’t trust independent books with 5 reviews or less. Instead, they tend to view books with 60-200 as things which are successful or worth reading. This requires the equivalent of MMORPG grinding to get people to check them out. Amazon, Audible, Goodreads, and blogs all help.

11. Try and have multiple installments of a series in order to get people who like the original work to pick up the next. If you can develop a fanbase then it’s good to have people who want to buy the next novel. This is something of a risk because there were always be diminishing returns. The first book will always have more books sold than the second and the third with some people dropping the series. It’s best to keep a 3-5 book series and any subsequent novels in your world to be spin-offs.

12. Don’t go chasing trends. There’s always someone seeking the “next big thing” and that’s just a recipe for disaster because yes, sometimes the market will be over-saturated and sometimes you’ll luck out by being at the ground floor of something awesome. Superhero fiction was niche enough for me to be one of the people someone looking for “superhero fiction” found when they entered it into a search engine but it also was a massive genre to begin with. Write, instead, the books you’re inspired to write because a wide pool often is deep in its fanbase.

13. Remember a book is and always will be judged by its cover. Something eye-catching and memorable will always be more likely to get you picked up than something which isn’t. Commissioning art is an expensive investment but something that is worth investing in if you can afford it. Pre-rendered art are a good investment if you look around but beware you’ll probably see someone else using it. I’ve encountered 3 series that use my Agent G model after all and that’s just people who have brought him up.

14. To directly contradict my earlier point about trends, there’s something to be said for the power of public domain. The Cthulhu Mythos, Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, fairy tales, various Pulp heroes, Alice in Wonderland, and more come with their own fanbases. If you are already a fan of something, you can potentially jump on the bandwagon. Don’t expect your dark and sexy interpretation of the Wizard of Oz to be an automatic best seller but it’s not like there isn’t a market for it.

15. I cannot stress this enough but make sure you have a proper editor and don’t be surprised when mistakes slip through. Being an independent author means that you can probably fix every single one of your problems before your next book sale goes out but there’s no getting back your first impressions. Make sure you identify your flaws grammatically and work to correct them, follow the standard editing format, and always incorporate corrections you’ve identified. Mind you, no one actually cares if you have a few commas off, but readers (as well as fellow authors) can make mountains from molehills. Also, don’t panic about the mistakes either as many readers don’t care as long as it’s legible–don’t panic but do fix.

And some bonus advice:

Remember that you’re not actually competing with your fellow authors. When someone finishes reading your book, you’re not losing a reader when they pick up another one. Review other author’s works and promote them. The good will you get from directing readers to work you like will reflect back on you and fellow authors will often return the favor.

The Tournament of Supervillainy is done!

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

I’m pleased to say I have completed work on THE TOURNAMENT OF SUPERVILLAINY, the fifth book in the SUPERVILLAINY SAGA, following the adventures of Gary Karkofksy a.k.a. Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM.

Being a supervillain was all Gary ever wanted to be but the constant beatings, moral ambiguity, and the fact he now has a young daughter to look after have caused him to reconsider his career path. As he debates making a jump to the “other side”, Gary finds himself recruited by Death to serve as her champion in a multiversal tournament for the ultimate prize: anything you could desire!

Gary and a oddball collection of champions from a variety of universes must prevent the prize from falling into the hands of the genocidal space wizard Entropicus! He also must discover just where his heart really lies when his two closest loves reveal shocking secrets.

Guest starring Jane Doe from I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Agent G from Agent G: Infiltrator, and Cassius Mass from Lucifer’s Star.

Agent G: Infiltrator is available for pre-order

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

Hello my wonderful fans,

My science fiction assassin series, AGENT G, is now available for Pre-Order from Amazon.com. We’ve got a lot of faith in this story and we’ll be doing a simultaneous release on Audible, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback form for those who want to check it out. Jeffrey Kafer will, once more, be doing the voice work for my series and I can tell you it’s probably his best work yet.

What is Agent G about? Well, let’s share it’s blurb.

“Black Technology has made murder a billion dollar industry.”

The International Refugee Society has twenty-six cybernetically enhanced “Letters,” and for the right price, they’ll eliminate anyone. They’ve given up their families and their memories for ten years of service with the promise of a life of luxury awaiting them.

Agent G is one of these “Letters,” but clues to his past are starting to emerge while he’s on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the Society’s most dangerous competitor. In the midst of all the violence, subterfuge, and deceit, he’ll need to keep his wits about him and trust sparingly.

After all if an organization will kill for money, what would they do to keep the truth hidden?

The Agent G series is set in a pre-cyberpunk world in the far off future of 2018. The world is full of dueling spies, assassins, and mercenaries who are all for sale to the highest bidder. These groups have access to Black Technology which allows them to test and use it for their employers but comes with the cost of a ticking clock until it all comes out in the open.

Eventually, the world is going to change in this series and transition to the kind of cyberpunk dystopia found in stories like Ghost in the Shell and Deus Ex. The question is whether G will manage to survive it and protect those few people he cares about. Also, whether he deserves to be able to. Expect to see the sequel story, Agent G: Infiltrator in June. Yes, only two months from the first novel’s release!

Pick up your pre-order today!

Update for August 2016

/ C.T. Phipps / 1 Comment

Hey folks,

Today has been an absolutely fabulous week for me as I’ve got a bunch of wonderful reviews as well as a few announcements to make. I hope everyone enjoys what I have to share and I think it is the start of something wonderful (which is a lovely way of saying I’m with a new publishing house with more books coming out).

The first bit of news is I’ve begun a relationship with Crossroad Press, publisher of the audiobooks for authors like Clive Barker and Brian Lumley, who will be doing STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON, CTHULHU APOCALYPSE, and LUCIFER’S STAR.  They’re a machine and basically have readied my books for release amazingly fast.

STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON is a comedic vampire novel which I think is probably my best work since The Rules of Supervillainy. At least in terms of making a reader laugh their ass off. Fans of that book are going to love it and we’ll have a release date soon.

PETER STONE is a poor black vampire who is wondering where his nightclub, mansion, and sports car is. Instead, he is working a minimum wage job during the night shift as being a vampire isn’t all that impressive in a world where they’ve come out to mortals.

Exiled from the rich and powerful undead in New Detroit, he is forced to go back when someone dumps a newly-transformed vampire in the bathroom of his gas station’s store. This gets him fangs-deep in a plot of vampire hunters, supernatural revolutionaries, and a millennium-old French knight determined to wipe out the supernatural.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to get out of the coffin.

CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON is a book I never expected to see print as it was my first novel which I’d rewritten three or four times trying to get the right voice for it. Then, amazingly, the right one came to me and I created my post-apocalyptic sci-fi western horror novel set in the aftermath of the Great Old Ones’ destruction of the Earth.

“Under an alien sky where gods of eldritch matter rule, the only truth is revenge.” 

Cthulhu Armageddon is the story of a world 100 years past the rise of the Old Ones which has been reduced to a giant monster-filled desert and pockets of human survivors (along with Deep Ones, ghouls, and other “talking” monsters).

John Henry Booth is a ranger of one of the largest remaining city-states when he’s exiled for his group’s massacre and suspicion he’s “tainted.” Escaping with a doctor who killed her husband, John travels across the Earth’s blasted alien ruins to seek the life of the man who killed his friends.

It’s the one thing he has left.

LUCIFER’S STAR isn’t quite ready for a reveal but is in the process of editing now. I look forward to sharing it as well.

I’m hoping Jeffrey Kafer will continue his amazing talent at doing the voice work for these novels as he’s done for The Supervillainy Saga and Esoterrorism. The ebooks will be released first for them, followed by the paperbacks, with audiobooks released last.

Stuff about my books online

Beauty in Ruins review of The Rules of Supervillainy

Bob Milnes is one of my favorite reviewers on the web and everyone should check out his Beauty in Ruins website. Here, he gives a great review of THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY novel. He’s not really a big fan of superhero literature so the fact he sings my book’s praises is really high, well, praise.

My World…in words and pages review of Esoterrorism

One of my other favorite reviewers is Melissa as she has done me an immense number of favors reading all of my books. I also give her website credit for announcing my cover for STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON. I love her review of ESOTERRORISM here and hope everyone checks it out.

Audiobook Reviewer reviews Esoterrorism and The Rules of Supervillainy

The Audiobook Reviewer is a great website and provides some of the best reviews for, well, audiobooks you’re going to find on the internet. I really think everyone wanting to purchase audiobooks on Audible should check out this site first. The reviews here are extremely good.

Grimdark Magazine 8# has an article by me

I have an article in Grimdark Magazine which I’m very proud of called “Is the Aliens Trilogy Grimdark?” as well as a review of Wolfenstein: The New Order. I think fans of mine would be remise not to check out this title. I love this magazine.

Tim Ward interviews me about Straight Outta Fangton

Tim Ward is the author of some great post-apocalypse science fiction and I recommend you check his stuff out. I described his Sand Divers series as “Fallout meets Dune.” He was nice enough to do an interview with me about my upcoming book STRAIGHT OUTTA FANGTON and his questions were hilarious!

Book Lovers Life reviews Esoterrorism

The number of good reviewers I know just never seems to end. Book Lovers’ Life is another site I’ll never get tired of reading and they’ve flattered me with some truly great words here. I think you’ll enjoy them too.

Seth Skorkowsky article about Audible

Seth Skorkowsky is one of the most promising fantasy and urban fantasy authors out today. Today, he decided to flatter me by using THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY as an example of how Audible is a great place for getting ratings for your books. His numbers for my books are way-way lower than their actual numbers, though, which is hilarious given they’re still great.

Purchase The Rules of Supervillainy
Purchase The Games of Supervillainy
Purchase The Secrets of Supervillainy
Purchase Esoterrorism
Pre-Order Wraith Knight

An interview with C.T. Phipps (me) by my fans

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

Hey folks,

I posted on my Facebook page a request from my fans to give me their questions. It’s been a year since my writing debut and I wanted to see what people thought. They gave me some amazing questions and I’ve answered them all here to the best of my ability.

Writing

How do you write so much?

Simple answer. I don’t. I actually got started writing in 2010 but it took two years to get my first books done and ready for submission. They were picked up by Permuted Press for a year of non-publishing before we decided to part ways. Then it took another year for Amber Cove and Ragnarok Publications to publish The Rules of Supervillainy and Esoterrorism. I’ve been writing that whole time. Authordom is not for the faint at heart. It’s also why you shouldn’t quit your day job.

Supervillainy Saga

What was the deciding factor to make Gary Jewish?

Gary is a singularity of comic book influences. The decision to make Gary Jewish seemed natural with Siegal and Schuster as well as Jack Kirby all being brought in. It felt right for his character and gradually helped shape who he was. It also felt more appropriate than just making him another WASP protagonist.

There are many characters who are of the LGBT community on both sides of the Hero/Villain line. There seems to be a greater percentage that are in the real world. What prompted the push?

I don’t actually think it’s all that different from reality with the LGBT characters being Mandy (bi), Cindy (bi), Adonis (bi), The Human Tank (trans), The Bronze Medalist (g), and the Black Witch (lesbian). This is in comparison to all of the dozens of other straight characters spread throughout the book like Diabloman, Ultragod, Ultragoddess, Guinevere, Tom Terror, and so on.

I did make a conscious effort to avoid making everyone lily white and cis straight as is typical, though. I figured my universe should be representative of reality and if there’s more gay or bisexual characters in my world than normal then it’s a balance against all the other fiction where they’re nonexistent.

In an endless series like the Villainy Saga, where do you decide to end one book and begin another rather than just one huge novel?

I generally try to do a resemblance to actual comic books. I try to divide the books into two-parters with the first book setting up the plot and the second book finishing it. Each book containing micro-plots which play into the larger plot. While some might argue it would work better as a single large volume, I feel these work better for a comic book feel. Also, it helps get them out quicker.

The dead don’t just stay dead in this world. Just like the comic books.  Is this going to be a recurring theme?

Actually, I’m going to genuinely keep the dead dead in these books because, unlike Marvel or DC, I have total control in my book. Certainly, Gary is going to try to break the rules as much as possible but actual resurrections are always going to be rare. It’s also going to have lasting consequences for the world as the deaths of heroes and villains results in dramatic changes to the status quo of the universe. Is the end of the Age of Heroes and Villains or the the start of a new one?

As an example, Arthur Warren a.k.a Cloak is never going to come back as the Nightwalker. While I routinely brought back the supervillains Gary killed in The Rules of Supervillainy and The Games of Supervillainy, that was for humorous effect and they’re dead-dead now. Likewise, Falconcrest City is going to be permanently affected by the zombie apocalypse which happened there. So, death isn’t an absolute in my books but it’s not a revolving door either.

Once you’ve saved all of creation, what’s next to top that?

I don’t think you actually need to always go up and at em in terms of comic book plots. I think you can mix them up as much as you want. Superman saving the world is fine but so is Superman saving Lois Lane or a bunch of guys threatened by gangsters (with Kryptonite I presume). I generally think of Supernatural as my go-to-example. The Winchester Brothers defeated Satan in Season 5.

They didn’t need to keep fighting equally powerful evils in subsequent seasons as personal enemies would do just as well. It’s not like a hero is going to be less motivated to save one person over a hundred.

When Death appears to have affected a powerful character, it appears they may not stay that way. Why isn’t Death more jealous of her charges?

The Supervillainyverse’s Death is a cosmic inevitability. She knows she’s eventually going to get everyone even if there’s sometimes reversals. It is, however, Gary’s “official job” (when he’s not robbing banks) to eliminate the undead as well as help souls cross over. Raising Mandy from the dead as a vampire seriously screws with his power level for example and damages his connection to his “kaiju-toasting” fire powers.

Gary has his work cut out for him, making the entire Society of Superheroes submissive enough to hear the truth and killing POTUS.

The Society of Superheroes’ opinion of Gary is less than glowing after the death of a certain character. As far as they’re concerned, he’s just another criminal and none of them are particularly interested in defending his Batman/Catwoman (in reverse) relationship with Gabrielle. Ultragod knew Gary was fundamentally harmless, for some definitions of the word, but most of the others only see his body count. It doesn’t help that the Shadow Seven, the team Gary most often works with, is primarily composed of ex-supervillains itself. As for the POTUS, he’s not the real President. There’s a clause in the Constitution against time-traveling Nazis from the future.

Diabloman appears to be loyal to Gary, but he also seems to be doing many things in the background. Should Gary be more attentive to him?

Diabloman was in a very bad place in The Rules of Supervillainy which Gary helped him out of. Gary also successfully saved the world (so he could conquer it for himself) and made billions from the events of The Games of Supervillainy. As a result, Diabloman is back in the game and has even had some of the black magic damage done to his body repaired.

In a very real way, Diabloman would be comfortable going back to being an A-list supervillain destroying lives and taking names. However, he’s come to view Gary as a kid brother substitute for his dead sister Spellbinder and is determined not to torch that relationship.

The thing is, Diabloman is pretty much a Satanic Deathstroke meets Bane and that’s not really a good combination to ignore the dangers of. But yeah, as far as I’m concerned, Diabloman is back to attending Legion of Doom meetings off-camera.

Esoterrorism

What are the fast rules for the world of the Red Room? 

The Red Room universe is a combination of action movie spy universe and urban fantasy universe. As such, you could probably say it’s best thought of as what you’d get with the Dresden Files merged with the Illuminati/Men in Black/X-Files and James Bond. Magic is a functional tool in this world and the House has used it to become the movers and shakers behind the scenes of a hostile violent supernatural world.

Unlike what the conspiracy nuts would say, though, the House functions like any other bureaucracy with lots of incompetence as well as underpaid civil servants. The House basically does its best to intimidate or kill the supernatural threats of the world so they don’t “come out of the coffin” like in Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse but this is an ongoing job for them. Plenty of monsters resent this and strike back at the House or humanity in general. Worse, the House is corrupt with its upper tier members using their position to enrich themselves and their families.

I loved the main villain. Can his legacy continue through the series?

In a very real way, the Wazir won when he arranged for Derek to start his war against the House’s corruption. Karl Bjornson’s goal was to destroy the House and eventually lead to the revelation of the supernatural to the public. This is a goal which Derek is not opposed to and he hates the House every bit as much as the Wazir, just is also protective of the people involved. In a very real way, the enemy has moved from the terrorists to the corruption in the government.

The accent of Shannon changing, hints of something, but what?

It’s a statement that Shannon isn’t who Derek thinks she is and much of her personality is a construction. Shannon appears to him as a redheaded Irish woman meant to appeal to Derek’s preference for them. This is because she’s trying to seduce him. Only when they’re closer and the barriers have begun to fall does Shannon reveal she’s actually Scottish with dark hair as well as hint everything she’s told him is a lie. Really, Shannon has been living so many lies and false identities, even she doesn’t know the truth anymore.

Now that Derek is in a position of power, how is he going to have any adventures?

In Eldritch Ops. we find Derek has been ice-skating uphill the entire time he’s been in the Committee. He hates what the job is turning him into and jumps on a chance to personally oversee an investigation he should have no business getting anywhere near. This mission will lead to events spiraling out of control for the House and dramatic world-changing events in the final volume of the series, Operation: Otherworld.

Agent G

So what is Agent G: Infiltrator all about?

Agent G is a science fiction espionage series starring the titular character. G is a assassin working for the Society which is an organization that contracts for the government, corporations, and other groups as long as they can pay their exorbitant fees. The Letters are twenty-six agents who have had their lives taken away from them by memory-erasure and cybernetic enhancement.

Rather than being remorseful about his actions as his past is used to blackmail him into compliance, he’s all too comfortable with the decadent murderous life provided him. This all changes when he’s sent undercover with the murderous Carnivale where he faces just what his life might be like if freed from the Society’s control. Oh and he finds out just who he was before the Society made him into the world’s most dangerous killer.

What’s its genre?

Agent G is a present-day cyberpunk series. It’s sort of the reverse of your typical urban fantasy series with all sorts of monstrous critters underneath the world. Instead, the world is full of science fiction technology, conspiracies, and weird organizations. The ManTM is doing his best to keep the Little GuyTM in his grip and the best part is they don’t even suspect just how much they’re under his thumb.

Straight Outta Fangton

Can you tell me the flavor of your Straight Outta Fangton book? Horror comedy, um horror, mystery, comedy?

Fangton is a horror-comedy in the same vein (hehe) as The Rules of Supervillainy. The world is entirely serious and a homage to Dracula, Underworld, Anite Blake (pre-porn), Blade, True Blood (or Sookie Stackhouse), and even a little Twilight. However, the characters are overthetop in the same way Gary and company are.

In the case of Peter Stone, he’s a poor black vampire wondering why he’s working minimum wage despite ultimate power in a world where other vampires live like celebrities, including his also black sire. Peter gets his chance to make his mark and its sadly against an angsty vampire hunting vampire who has wiped out large portions of his race. This may not have been a very good idea.

Wraith Knight 

Tell us about Wraith Knight again. Every time I hear it, it makes me think of Ready Player One or the Play to Live series.  Those are 2 of my other favorites. Do you have any plans on writing a Virtual Reality series?

Wraith Knight is one of my non-comedy series and a straight dark(ish) fantasy novel. It’s premise is deconstructive, though, as it’s basically from the perspective of a Ringwraith. Jacob Riverson was once a legendary hero before he fell in battle and got raised as a general of the King Below. Centuries later, the Dark Lord is destroyed and he regains his free will in a world where the former good guys have run the world into the ground as well as lost the peace. He ends up teaming up with a woman, Regina Whitetremor, who hasn’t quite grasped the solution isn’t overthrow the ex-heroes as the new villains.

It was partially inspired by my thoughts the orcs were every bit Sauron’s slaves and victims as everyone else and either the heroes would try to commit genocide against them or have to learn to live with them in peace.  Just about everyone who has read it basically says it does read like the classic Warcraft 3 plotline, only Thrall is Arthas. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult. 🙂 I was also inspired by Rhianna Pratchett’s Overlord games.

Is Wraith Knight a stand-alone or the first in a series?

Three novels. WRAITH KNIGHT, WRAITH LORD, and WRAITH KING.

With the upcoming series being released in November, what is the status of the other installment?

WRAITH LORD is finished and with Ragnarok Publications and WRAITH KING is still in manuscript form. Current plans are to release them roughly the same time every year so it’ll be 2019 when the series is finished.

Purchase The Rules of Supervillainy

Purchase The Games of Supervillainy

Purchase The Secrets of Supervillainy

Purchase Esoterrorism

Pre-Order Wraith Knight

THE SECRETS OF SUPERVILLAINY is available on audiobook today

/ C.T. Phipps / 4 Comments

Hey folks,

Fabulous news! THE SECRETS OF SUPERVILLAINY, third volume of the Supervillainy Saga, is out on audiobook today!

Merciless, the Supervillain without Mercy (TM), is back with even bigger problems! How far will he go to fix his wife’s current state of being a soulless vampire? Can he ignore his growing feelings for Cindy, despite their difference over the new Star Wars movie? Can he survive the wrath of the president of the United States (whom he accidentally stole billions from)?

While he ponders those personal issues, Death has a new mission for him. The greatest hero on Earth has killed, and she isn’t pleased. Death wants the murder solved and the perpetrator given the kind of justice only the Avatar of Death can dish out. Unfortunately for Gary, that’s only the tip of the psychotic iceberg.

Jeffrey Kafer did an amazing job on the audiobook here and I think it’s some of his best narration yet. I think fans of the book series will love this one as much as the previous two as it is the first part of a two book adventure which will have Gary facing his toughest challenge yet!

Available for purchase here

Wraith Knight pre-order now available!

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment

Hey folks,

I have excellent news for you! The paperback version of Wraith Knight, my Dark Fantasy novel starring Jacob Riverson the last of the titular undead warriors, is now available from Pre-Order from Ragnarok Publications.

The King Below, Enemy of the World, is dead. Will his successor save the world…or rule it?

Jacob Riverson was once the greatest hero of an age. Cut down during what should have been the final battle against the King Below, he was condemned to centuries of torment as a Wraith Knight in the service of said monster. With the destruction of his master, Jacob finds his free will returning and discovers he is in a world torn by civil war between the King Below’s former slaves and the heroes who “saved” them.

Joining forces with the overly-idealistic but brilliant warrior Regina Whitetremor, Jacob must determine whether he has any place in the new world and whether his destiny is as a hero or monster. 

 Or both.

The electronic version isn’t available for pre-order yet but if you want  the beautiful paperback version the good folk at Ragnarok Publications have prepared then it’s good to get your copy ordered today.

Get your copy ordered now.

“What every fantasy and sci-fi author can learn from Halo”

/ C.T. Phipps / Leave a comment


Here’s an article I wrote for Ragnarok Publications which I thought you would be interested in. Basically, I took a moment to talk about one of my favorite game series and their handling of storytelling in the original games. Basically, some advice on how to “hit the ground running” when you’re trying to capture a world.

What every sci-fi and fantasy author can learn from Halo

 No, I don’t mean how to tea-bag your opponents.

Nor do I mean selling out to Microsoft.

Not even how to craft excellent maps in multiplayer.

No, what I think every sci-fi and fantasy writer can learn from is the handling of Halo’s story.

*crickets chirp*

Okay, I see I’ve lost some of you there but I’m serious. In 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved came out and proceeded to light the gaming world on fire. It’s pretty much the reason why the X-box became something more than, “The console for people who can’t afford a Playstation.” 

But what I remember most about it is how the game managed to do something very unexpected: it took a game about shooting aliens and told a tremendously engaging story without ever pausing to explain it.

I hope you’ll check my article out.

The cover art for THE SECRETS OF SUPERVILLAINY

/ C.T. Phipps / 6 Comments

THE SECRETS OF SUPERVILLAINY is the third book of the Supervillainy Saga. It’s a great depiction of Nightgirl and Ultragoddess by Raffaele Marinetti.

THE SECRETS OF SUPERVILLAINY follows Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless the Supervillain without MercyTM as we join him one year after the events of THE GAMES OF SUPERVILLAINY. Desperate to find a cure for his wife’s vampirism, Gary has taken to practicing black magic and dealing with the worst scum of the magical world. His world has been turned upside down with Cindy becoming a superhero, his wife a blood-hungry antihero, and the allure of supervillainy no longer there.

Unfortunately, Gary has unwittingly made an enemy even he might hesitate to cross in PRESIDENT OMEGA — The most evil POTUS of them all. The President has decided to make Gary Public Enemy No. 1# even as Gabrielle Anders a.k.a Ultragoddess brings him news of the death of the world’s greatest superhero. Some crimes need the insight of a villain to solve and the world’s greatest antivillain is the only one who can do it. Time will tell if Gary can get over his depression to solve all of these problems and his own or succumb to a despair great enough to turn him from bad to evil.

I think Raffaele does an amazing job with the characters.