Today is the Launch of The Second Edition of the Long-Distance Leader and Maybe a Laugh?

Today we launch the updated version of a book that has changed lives around the world for 6 years. The Long-Distance Leader, Revised Rules for Remarkable Remote and Hybrid Leadership is now out in the world.

In this new edition we have updated the technology (Zoom exists! Skype for Business doesn’t!) and paid way more attention to hybrid work since the Return to Office (kind of.)

You can get the book at Amazon, or buy it from us and get free resources and bonus material! www.LongDistanceWorklife.com/LDL

Of course, when you write in multiple genres, they say you confuse your audience. People read business books don’t necessarily read fiction, and vice versal. Then people who read fiction, don’t always read historical fiction like Count of the Sahara or the Lucca Le Pou Stories. And people who read histfic don’t always read stuff like The Werewolf PI series.

I present the Venn Diagram of my audience. Thank you all.

Werewolves as Demon Metaphor??? Blackie Williamson

One of the things I always enjoy with the current werewolf renaissance in writing is when people come up with explanations for how and why the change occurs, or what’s really behind it. With the Johnny Lycan stories, it’s mostly a genetic defect (although as Nik Koslov can tell you, it can be transmitted by bite so don’t get cocky.) Horror writer Blackie Williamson has a different theory in his book, Evil Eye in the Sky.

Alright, Blackie. Who are you and what’s up?

Unlike many horror authors, I’m not trying to be original, but trendy, to sell books, because I’ve had bedbugs more than once and want out of this ghetto. I do write brutally, and with plenty of gore and series’ of shocks, to satisfy the true horror fans out there. I also write fantasy and science fiction. 

Okay, we’re going the brutally honest route. I like it. What’s Evil Eye in the Sky about?

A balance between beast and lover. Cormac, infected by another werewolf, has to fight with every fiber of his being to not rend asunder and eat blond Aubrey, his high-school love interest. To make matters worse, Cormac’s father, Goddard–who demands to be called God–is after Cormac and Aubrey to join his wolf pack and worship him, to devour innocents. The conflict is that they must find a way to defeat him.

You’ve made some interesting choices about what lycanism is and how it manifests. What is the thinking here?

: It was important to me to have the werewolf virus be a Legion, Cormac possessed by 2,000 demons. In cryptid research, I found that the Beast of Bray Road in Wisconsin became possessed after devil worship, as I am a Christian. I had fun with Cormac by making him a tough guy, but also a sweetie. Roots? I dunno. I was influenced by the werewolf-movie greats: An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, and the Ginger Snaps trilogy, as well as great werewolf novels like Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King. 

You’ve certainly done your werewolf homework. Who are your favorites?

Adam Nevill (werewolf novel The Reddening), Glen Duncan (The Last Werewolf), John Skipp and Craig Spector (Animals), Ray Garton (Ravenous and Bestial), and Graeme Reynolds (High Moor), the greats as far as werewolf novels, before they were overdone, plus Johnny Lycan: Werewolf PI Series by Wayne Turmel.

That’s a hell of a list, and I’m ashamed at how pleased I am to be on it. Not resistant to flattery. Where can people learn more about you?

My Amazon page is here.

@BlackieWFangs on X, and blackienosferatu on Instagram, plus blackynosferatu.livejournal.com.

If you hate starting series that aren’t complete, consider starting the Johnny Lycan: Werewolf PI series. The grand finale, Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder is available now on Amazon and from Black Rose Writing. And it’s available in Kindle, Paperback and Audible.

“I’ve been a fan of this series since the beginning, and while I’m slightly devastated that this is the end of it, I LOVED The Last Witchfinder.” S G Tasz

This final installment in Johnny’s saga is perhaps the weirdest, most baffling of all… Author Jill Hand

My Genre ADD is Kicking In Again

What’s a guy to do when he finishes a series? With Johnny and his friends (relatively) safe, it’s time to start writing something else. Okay fine, but what?

For most of the last year, I’ve been writing screenplays and a couple of short stories. The movies are fun if I can get anyone to read them. There are two low-budget horror films and a script for Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk. And yet there’s this need….

Enter a new project. It’s back to historical fiction for me. I hope those of you who discovered me with my Urban Fantasy detour will stick with me for this new one. It’s still early stages, but this is what I know:

It’s about the French Foreign Legion. Yeah, I’m not kidding. I’m joining the ranks of Theodore Roscoe and PC Wren, if they’ll have me.

It’s not first person. Every novel I’ve written has been in first person (Willy Braun, Lucca le Pou, Johnny.) I think this one needs to be different and it’s an experiment.

I’m a kid from the rainforests of British Columbia, so what’s my fascination with the desert? For this story it’s back to Algeria with a side quest to Morocco. Gil Vincente is like no one I’ve written before and the tale is much grittier. Hopefully, it will be fun for all of us.

If you’ve read my historical fiction before, thank you. (There may be news about Acre’s Bastard and Acre’s Orphans soon, who knows?) and the Count of the Sahara continues to engage readers. If you only know my work through Johnny Lycan, I invite you to check it out. you have plenty of time. The new book is in its early stages.

Yeah, the story looks a lot like this. Picture courtesy of Foreign Legion Info.

On top of all this, the second, updated edition of The Long Distance Leader, Revised Rules for Remarkable Remote and Hybrid Leadership comes out September 17th. All of that should keep you busy while I’m cranking out Gil’s story.

Don’t let the weasels get you down.

Old Fashioned Werewolf Mayhem with Simon Steele

There is a hashtag called #werewolfwednesday, and on social media some of us have tried to leverage that to find readers. Well, you also find other authors who revel in the more furry, fangy (?) monsters. One such is Simon Steele and the first novel in a planned saga, Wolfblight.

Simon, what’s your deal?

My name is Simon and I have been a writer and author for five years. I have always enjoyed writing, even when I was a child. When I was eleven, I wrote a two page horror story for a compilation novel, the Young Writers of Wales 2003. One of the reasons I write is that it helps me to relax and is a great way to escape from the pressures of life. As someone who is neurodivergent, I find writing has a positive effect on my mental health. 

Tell us about Wolfblight. It’s certainly more traditional than Johnny Lycan.

My book is named Wolfblight, it is an adult horror novel with a dark fantasy twist. It is the first of a six book series known as the Wolfblight Saga, of which four have been released. The story is about a young woman named Ulva who lives in Norway during the time of the Vikings. Whilst grieving the loss of her unborn daughter, she is thrown into tragic and extraordinary circumstances one night when she is bitten by a werewolf. Unlike the classic werewolf lore, Ulva is unaffected by the full moon and instead turns into a monster every night when the sun goes down, only to turn back to normal come sunrise. The affliction is meant to worsen as time goes on, with the ultimate fate being permanent transformation. 

The story of Wolfblight involves Ulva going on a journey to find a cure for her affliction, which involves finding an artifact known as Fenrir’s Bane. She is joined on her quest by her husband John, her brother Einar and her friends Brenna and Kit. Brenna is a lycanthropist who studies werewolves whilst Kit is one herself, albeit she can control her turnings since she was born with lycanthropy. The villains of the story are the Cult of Fenris, an evil wolf-worshipping cult who want to destroy Fenrir’s Bane and plunge the land into darkness and chaos. They are led by Fenrir, the wolf from Norse mythology who created the affliction now plaguing Ulva, which is known as the Wolfblight, hence the title of the book and series. 

What inspired the story? Where’d it come from?

The story has roots heavily inspired by Norse mythology. I not only wanted to incorporate such a mythology into my work, but I wanted to give readers something fresh to read since a lot of current werewolf fiction tends to be set in either in the present day or the last 250 years. I wrote Wolfblight because I was unsatisfied with the current state of werewolf/lycanthropic fiction. There are many great books out there involving werewolves to be sure. But as amazing as these works were, they left me wanting more and so I decided to write my own werewolf novel, one that would contain everything I could ever want in such a book. 

I always like to know who inspired you. Who do you read?

There are many great authors out there that I enjoy, from G.R.R Martin and J.R.R Tolkien to Roald Dahl and R.L Stine. I read copious amounts of their work when I was younger. In terms of werewolf books, I have read many fantastic works, including Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten, Dylan Altoft’s Beast Born, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet, W.A Edward’s Hunter’s Fated Wait, Kat Kinney’s Dyrwolf, M.L White’s Shifter Awakened, Adrian Lopez’s Lycaon Bloodlines, Mark Runte’s Eve and Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. Each of these authors gave their own unique spin on the werewolf mythos in the same way that I gave my own unique spin in Wolfblight and I am delighted to be counted amongst them.  

Where can we learn more?

Wolfblight and its sequels are available on Amazon in three forms, paperback, hardcover and Amazon Kindle. There are plans in the future to adapt the Wolfblight Saga into audiobooks, but I am unsure of when that will be. As an author, I am on Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads under the name Simon Steele. I currently do not have an author website, though I have plans to eventually create one. In terms of future writing plans, the series is in the midst of having their covers redesigned by the talented Stardust Book Services and there are two books left to write, which hopefully will be available in 2025/2026. 

If you hate starting series that aren’t complete, consider starting the Johnny Lycan: Werewolf PI series. The grand finale, Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder is available now on Amazon and from Black Rose Writing.

“I’ve been a fan of this series since the beginning, and while I’m slightly devastated that this is the end of it, I LOVED The Last Witchfinder.” S G Tasz

This final installment in Johnny’s saga is perhaps the weirdest, most baffling of all… Author Jill Hand

Tomahawks and Dragon Fire with Stanley Wheeler

You’ve heard of Sword and Sorcery? (That’s the Lord of the Rings stuff with semi-medieval settings and clashes of swords.) How about Flintlock Fantasy? That’s set in a slightly more modern world, maybe the late 1700s or so, where muskets and flintlocks exist and there are DRAGONS! (Sign me up.) One of the people writing in this genre is Stanley Wheeler, author of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series.

Stanley, tell us about the wonder that is you…

I could describe myself in very favorable terms, but there’s always someone ready with a second opinion. Born and raised in Idaho, I’ve climbed the pyramids of Mexico, rambled about the halls and grounds of Versailles, and mourned the honored dead at Normandy. I would like to return to visit that hallowed ground. Although writing has been a long-term affliction for me, I didn’t start publishing until 2012 when I published a western novel I had written ten years earlier. I now have about a dozen novels and a few published short stories available. I enjoy acting in the community theater and in old-time radio show plays. Writing novels surpasses the stage experience because I get to play all the characters—and I don’t have to memorize the lines. However, the kissing scenes are less satisfying. In my youth I discovered that I didn’t want a long-term relationship with crops and cows, so I sought an education that would take me abroad. Eventually, I graduated with a degree in Near Eastern Studies. I had an opportunity to go to Washington D.C. to complete the final round of testing for employment with a government agency. I passed on the chance and went into law instead. In a life built on one bad decision after another, I thought I should cap that pyramid by sharing my writing affliction with the public.

We’ve all decided to take our trauma out on readers. Tell us about your latest book and the series.

I recently completed writing Crisis in Fire and Snow, book 6 in my Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series. Threading the Rude Eye is the first book in the series. In this alternate history fantasy, Alex is completing his study of the law. He plans to marry and go to England to become a barrister. However, when two peculiar men with a map to a cache of dangerous power arrive with The King’s Supreme Commander in pursuit, everything he loves is destroyed, and he is thrown into the maelstrom of the revolution and the quest for the cache of power. Magic, dragons, and many other fantastic creatures complicate the struggle for life on the hostile frontier and the battle for liberty in America. Each book in the series builds on what has gone before. The characters grow and change, and their understanding of the magic progresses as well. I love each installment, but book 5 in the series, Truth in Flames, touches me the most deeply.

Can you tell us about the magic system (that’s writer talk for world building and cool stuff)?

There are a few different forms of magic used in the series. The most powerful magic originates from the dragon stones, which, as you might expect, come from dragons. The stones give one enhanced abilities: the power to compel others to one’s will, to heal, and to form tangible objects like weapons, shields, cords, etc. Additionally, other stones used in conjunction with a dragon stone provide other powers. The idea for the story and the magic grew from thoughts I had entertained for a few years. Finally, during a hiking trip, I outlined the first three books. I thought I was only outlining the first book, but the story expanded in the telling. Fantasy and history are subjects I enjoy. It seemed natural to mesh them into a great tale. Alex has a great sense of right and justice. Events constantly challenge both his growing powers as well as his desire to fulfill his commission limited instructions on how to use the power. In one sense, he is like the young Arthur, striving to reach an ideal in a world beset with evil. Although he possesses the same power that the commander uses to manipulate and control, he must use it for good. It’s a learning process with which nearly everyone should be able to relate and to sympathize. Strange beasts provide another fascinating element of the series. American Indian legends and lore have provided inspiration for most of the creatures in the tale.

Who did this to you? What writers warped you this way?

A wide variety of subjects and authors appeal to me. Alexandre Dumas and Edgar Rice Burroughs scratch a certain itch. Louis L’Amour’s western stories are always a good escape, and Tolkien provides a slow train to adventure and contemplation. I should add Heinlein and Alan Dean Foster to my science fiction and fantasy favorites too. Both Tony Hillerman’s and Raymond Chandler’s mysteries whisk me to settings that I relish, and my novel Smoke, a 1940s noir mystery with a hearty helping of humor, reflects that influence.
As far as modern authors go, I find that David J. Butler and Brandon Sanderson create fantastic worlds. I’ve met and corresponded regularly with David Butler, and we have a lot in common. I like to say he’s a younger, taller, smarter, more successful version of me. In non-fiction, I’m drawn to history, biographies, and military accounts. In Jr. high school I started reading everything I could find about the Civil War. From there I discovered Napoleonic history, and now I’m immersed in the American Revolutionary Era. I’ve found Michael O. Logusz and John Ferling write valuable and rousing retellings of eventsfrom that period.

Where can people learn more about you and your work?

Anyone can check out my books on my Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Stanley-Wheeler/author/B00FN5I7T8

Or on my website: http://stanleywheeler.com/books/

And sign up for my regular newsletter to keep track of my stories and travels: https://sendfox.com/flintlockfantasyStanley

I also blather weekly and interview other authors at www.stanleywheeler.blogspot.com

If you hate starting series that aren’t complete, consider starting the Johnny Lycan: Werewolf PI series. The grand finale, Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder is available now on Amazon and from Black Rose Writing.

“I’ve been a fan of this series since the beginning, and while I’m slightly devastated that this is the end of it, I LOVED The Last Witchfinder.” S G Tasz

This final installment in Johnny’s saga is perhaps the weirdest, most baffling of all… Author Jill Hand



The Mysterious and Generous MT Hart

When you’re in full-blown book launch frenzy, you tend to steamroll through your social media contacts in a hurry. One person who constantly shows up on my Twitter/X/Elon’s Vanity Project feed is MT Hart. Besides being a prolific author he’s constantly helping others promote their work. I figured the least I could do is return the favor.

He (and I originally thought he was female, my bad) is so mysterious, in fact, he won’t give me a picture of his smiling face. This meme should pretty much tell you what she’s about, though.

So, that aside, what should we know about you?

Hello, My name is MT Hart and I am a horror and erotica author. That’s really about it. I write, I promote myself, and I write again. You can find me anywhere under #nobubblegumvampiresallowed. I am not a fan of the Twilight-style vampires, hence the hashtag. 

My third book, The Formal, is about a game of reverse Russian Roullete. Contestants stand in a circle and point a revolver at the person in front of them and pull the trigger when instructed. This game is surrounded by the wealthy and elite who bet ridiculous amounts of money on the outcome of every round. My next novel, entitled “Blood Contract” takes us back to the game with different characters and stories. 

I’ve read some of your early work. Can you explain the “MT Hart-verse” to newbies?

My books all take place in the same vampire universe, with my main character being Lydia Hansen. Lydia started out as a mortal vampire, in other words, she was just like me or you, but she liked blood. As the books move on she became much much more!  Then the books branched out into other stories and characters each with their own tale!

You’re a little focused on bloodsuckers. What’s that about?

Vampires are my thing. All of my books, stories etc are about the characters I have created in different circumstances, but of course the same vampire world. 

Who was your gateway drug?

Anne Rice (RIP) is and always will be my favorite. Her books captivated me from the start with “The Vampire Lestat”. I really started out with Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and others. I remember reading The Exorcist at a very young age. Classic horror movies also played a big role in influencing my writing. But Anne rice remains in my heart.

You’re not hard to find on Socials. Where can people find you?

twitter.com/MTHart12 Twitter

instagram.com/mthart13/ Instagram

facebook.com/MThart13/ FB Profile

facebook.com/groups/coffinsofhorror   Hart’s Coffins of Horror

amazon.com/~/e/B08LSBK9V3 Amazon Author Page

If you hate starting series that aren’t complete, consider starting the Johnny Lycan: Werewolf PI series. The grand finale, Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder is available now on Amazon and from Black Rose Writing.

“I’ve been a fan of this series since the beginning, and while I’m slightly devastated that this is the end of it, I LOVED The Last Witchfinder.” S G Tasz

This final installment in Johnny’s saga is perhaps the weirdest, most baffling of all… Author Jill Hand

Thursday, May 2 is Launch Day for Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder. Join me on Facebook Live.

Thursday, May 2, is the end of the road for Johnny Lycan and his friends. To celebrate, we’re having a Facebook Live Event from 5 PM to 6 Pacific Time. You can join from anywhere in the world by clicking here https://fb.me/e/5g9U9R5Lt

The book is available for Preorder from Black Rose Writing or on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback. The Audiobook is coming soon!

If you can’t make it Thursday evening (and what the @#$%$ is wrong with you?) pop by Copper Cat Books in Henderson, NV on Saturday, May 4 from 12-3 for books, prizes and fun stuff.

A Really Good Werewolf Series by Richard Parry

There are a lot of takes on the werewolf legend these days. I asked, “What if a noir detective type was a werewolf?” Et voila, Johnny Lycan. Well Richard Parry has a terrific series of stories about a sad alcoholic who gets bitten and… well, I’ll let him explain.

Okay, Richard. What’s your deal?

Greetings, fellow organics. And the machine overlords scraping this page, of course: you guys are great. Please don’t kill me when you take over.

My hero’s journey started like many others: I was born. This was hard for everyone involved. Most people never believe this, and that’s possibly because I’m a professional liar, but I was born in the Philippines before migrating to the US. The family moved to New Zealand when I was young enough to know true hate for how much higher the cost of living is over here.

Like any Gen Xer, I didn’t study hard enough, partied too hard, and disappointed my parents. I never actually thought I’d be a writer; my first story was 100% a rip of Knight Rider, and after a … robust round of feedback I thought I should move on from that. But my parents didn’t raise no quitter: as a teenager I was gifted with an extraordinarily indulgent English teacher, who praised my hokey works (here’s an example). 

Becoming an author is actually my brother’s fault; he shoved me head-first into a creative writing course, so you should all blame him when you’re coming up with those 1-star reviews. Because I suck at thinking I’m good at anything, I passed on the writing thing until he force-fed it to me. I’d sifted through an IT/tech career and got kinda good at it. It allowed me to salt away a few coins, so I took a couple of years off and wrote … like, 20 books?

I’m now bouncing between tech contracting, while writing and narrating. 

Also, I’m a huge liar, so any and all of the above might be a total fabrication.

Duly noted. Grains of salt are standing by. What’s this series about?

Night’s Favor, and the Night’s Champion series, is a story about an alcoholic who’s bitten by a werewolf, then saves the world, all while falling for the girl he doesn’t think he’s good enough for. It’s part police procedural, part supernatural thriller, with a lot of action and humour. You might call it an urban fantasy, and that wouldn’t be wrong either.

The Big Deal™ about the book is that while Val (the hero) is a werewolf, all the other people on Team Angry are just normal humans like you and me. The story is about how good we can be, when things are really bad, and what it means to have a Pack (or a found family). 

Did I mention the werewolves? There are … three of those in there, mixed among the paramilitary soldiers, bar staff, fitness instructors, Big Pharma, and at least one insane megalomaniac. Because who doesn’t love a good overlord?

They’re sick of hearing Johnny’s origin story. What’s the root of your story and why werewolves?

I’ve read a lot of fantasy in my time, whether it’s epic/dark, or urban. I guess the thing that got to me was how formulaic most of it was. It took Mark Lawrence to get me back into fantasy for real, and before that I was taking a break from things fantastical.

The same was true for werewolves, vampires, and the rest. I always liked the idea of supernatural creatures, whether they were villains or heroes, but I was a little tired of the tropes. I really wanted to explore a non-typical origin story and wondered a lot about the dual nature of lycanthrope. In some stories, the werewolf / person is self-aware of both states of being, and they seem to be the most popular.

So, what would happen if you weren’t self-aware of the other half of you? But let’s also say you were an alcoholic (…Val is an alcoholic) who got black-out drunk. What would the world look like if you woke up the next day, and the news said 16 people were murdered in a bar? You might or might not have been there – can’t remember, right? – and I thought that was such an interesting idea to play with.

Also, I definitely went for werewolves because they’re cool, man. 

Preach, brother. Who did this to you? Who are the authors you enjoy?

I love these questions. There are so many people who’ve told the stories that stuffed my imagination I want to give ‘em all credit.

Let’s start with my fave: Richard K. Morgan. He’s the author I want to be when I grow up. He’s amazingly talented, able to switch between sci-fi and fantasy, but what makes him my best is that he dares us to love monsters. Each of his heroes is a tarnished coin, but sticks the landing (…eventually). He’s good at dialogue and action in equal measure. Love his stuff.

I’ve given a shout-out to Mark Lawrence above, and no dark/epic fantasy shelf should be without his Ancestor trilogy, or Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight Chronicles. Both of these guys kick ass for the Lord.

Earlier on I was raised on Eddings and Feist. I loved me some Niven and Barnes (Dream Park is superb, although the sequels IMO get progressively more average). At the moment I have a bit of a fan crush on Martha Wells, not just because of Murderbot (which I was into before it was cool), but her Witch King is excellent.

Dan Simmons. Jerry Pournelle. Adrian Tchaikovsky. John Scalzi. Lev Grossman. Alistair Reynolds. Cassandra Clare. Naomi Novik. I’d better stop, we’ll run out of ink. 

Pixels are cheap, but I get your point. Where can we learn more about you and your work?

If you want more all my works, my site’s a good launchpad: https://www.parrydox.com/

If you want to get right to the werewolves, you can check out Night’s Favor here: https://www.books2read.com/NightsFavor

The socials? Threads and Bluesky are probably best.

Johnny Lycan & the Vegas Berserker Audio Book is Here!

If you are an audio book fan, there’s good news. Books 1 and 2 of the Werewolf PI Series are now out on Audible.

Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk came out in February, and now Johnny Lycan & the Vegas Berserker is released. Both are narrated by the talented Michael Bradley. If you are very good, and promise to review, I have a limited number of promo codes.

Join in the Johnny Lycan 3 Book Launch Week!

“Like methadone for Dresden fans. You’ll love this series.”

Indie Horror Review

Thursday, May 2 is the official launch of the conclusion of the Werewolf PI Series: Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder. No matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to do something fun to celebrate.

Wednesday, May 1: (Online event) Join me for a Facebook Live book launch event. I will read, answer questions, and have prizes for those who drop by.

https://fb.me/e/1mwZh0gT3 Join us at 5 PM Pacific time. https://fb.me/e/1mwZh0gT3

UPDATE Thursday, May 9 (In-person event) I will be reading at the Sin City Writers, “Do-it at Brew-it Event,” 6 PM 601 E Bridger Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Saturday, May 4, 12-3 PM (In-person event) The Copper Cat Bookstore, 1570 W Horizon Ridge Pkwy STE 170, Henderson, NV 89012

Sunday, May 5 (online event) 2PM Pacific Time. I’ll be reading and answering questions with other writers at the Henderson Writer’s Group Dime Grinds event.

Meanwhile, the book is now available for pre-order in paperback or Kindle on Amazon or at Black Rose Writing