It all began because I had a problem.

I wanted to write an urban fantasy set in the Lovecraftian Mythos but the whole point of the Mythos is that these beings and creatures are so alien that humanity means nothing to them while the point of urban fantasy is humanity's struggle against monstrosity.

The things that populate Lovecraft's Mythos are vast, impersonal creatures. Humans react to them, usually by going insane, but the Mythos does not know nor would it care if it did.

This makes it difficult to say the least. It's also why the Mythos is almost always squarely in the genre of horror.

So along comes Charlie.

Charlotte Tristan Moore. She's a young woman who has survived a terrible thing that happened in her formative years. It nearly destroyed her, but Charlie isn't one to be destroyed. She fought to get herself back through ten years of therapy and martial arts training until she can now make it through her day passing as normal. With her I had to draw from the stories of too many women in my life. Women that through the years have trusted me with their stories and their pain and their strength.

Charlie became the nexus of all those wonderful women, their avatar. (And I pray I did them and her justice.) I had my heroine. Now I needed a villain that could bring the elder gods of the Mythos into line with the story I wanted to tell.

And I discovered Nyarlathotep, the Man In Black, the Crawling Chaos. Son of Azathoth, the Mad God, who may or may not have created the universe, he does walk the earth in the form of a man causing chaos and destroying lives.

He is as close to as trickster god as the Mythos gets. And a trickster god I can work with.

I pulled a lot of things into the development of the Man In Black. I gave him a coat that is alive and hates him, a cursed black-bladed katana, and a red right hand.

The red right hand is courtesy of the song of that name by Nick Cave. You've heard it, it's been used in several movies and TV shows from Scream to Peaky Blinders. It's a great song, hell Nick Cave is a great singer, and it very much informed the air of dark mystery I gave the Man In Black.

I mixed these characters with a world rich from the Mythos, using established things and concepts and adding my own, like a cancer god who is manifesting by bringing bits of itself into our world through tumors, and a fallen love goddess turned crack whore. I didn't hold back and the novel shows it. It's dark and bloody and violent and also full of love and humanity's ability to simply survive in spite of overwhelming odds.

I'm damn proud of it.

And that's how I came to write RED RIGHT HAND, a Lovecraftian horror novel masquerading as an urban fantasy.

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Official Author Website
Order Red Right Hand HERE
Read an excerpt HERE

GUEST AUTHOR INFORMATION: Levi Black is the author of Red Right Hand as well as a pseudonym. He was born and brought up in Georgia. He was inspired to start writing because of the Robert E. Howard books and Golden age comics he read as a child.  He currently lives in Metro Atlanta with his wife and an array of toys, books, records, and comics. He also has interests in tattooing as well as photography. He's been weird his whole life and is almost as scary as he looks.

Official Author Website  
Pre-order “No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished” HERE
Read the first two chapters HERE 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Nice Dragons Finish Last"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "One Good Dragon Deserves Another"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "The Spirit Thief" 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Rebellion” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Eater” & “Spirit’s Oath” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit War” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Spirit's End"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Fortune's Pawn"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Honor's Knight"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Heaven's Queen"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Eli Monpress series completion interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Bach
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Heartstrikers interview with Rachel Aaron
Read "Why A Nice Dragon" by Rachel Aaron (Guest post)

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Rachel Aaron lives in Athens, Georgia with her family. She has graduated from University of Georgia with a B.A. in English Literature. She has been an avid reader since her childhood and now has an ever-growing collection to show for it. She loves gaming, Manga comics & reality TV police shows. She also posts regularly on her blog about publishing, books and several other intriguing things.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: When Julius overthrew his mother and took control of his clan, he thought he was doing right by everyone. But sharing power isn’t part of any proper dragon’s vocabulary, and with one seat still open on the new ruling Council, all of Heartstriker is ready to do whatever it takes to get their claws on it, including killing the Nice Dragon who got them into this mess in the first place.

To keep his clan together and his skin intact, Julius is going to have to find a way to make his bloodthirsty siblings play fair. But there’s more going on in Heartstriker Mountain than politics. Every family has its secrets, but the skeletons in Bethesda’s closet are dragon sized, and with Algonquin’s war looming over them all, breaking his clan wide open might just be the only hope Julius has of saving it.

CLASSIFICATION: The Heartstriker series is an action-packed urban fantasy series with a strong dose of comedy, post-apocalyptic SF themes and dragons.

FORMAT/INFO: No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished is 498 pages long divided over nineteen numbered chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Julius Heartstriker, Chelsie Heartstriker, Marci Novalli, and Bob “Brohomir” Heartstriker. This is the third volume of the Heartstriker series.

August 5, 2016 will mark the e-book & paperback publication of No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished and it will be self-published by the author. Cover art and design is by Anna Steinbauer.

ANALYSIS: After the fantastic sequel that was One Good Dragon Deserves Another, I couldn’t wait to see what Rachel would cook up for Julius, Marci, and the rest of the clan (except Bob because he steers his own path). The following review will contain mild spoilers for the preceding two titles and so readers be forewarned…

The book opens up almost immediately afterwards the events of the 2nd book and we get to see the mayhem that has been caused due to Julius seizing control away from Bethesda. Plus now that there will be a vote for the council membership, all the Heartstriker dragons have assembled into the mountain and it literally turns into a madhouse. Marci has been relegated to the sick bay after the tumultuous events but she’s one person who never lets things go by and with Julius busy, she’s left to her own devices. There’s a whole host of other Heartstrikers introduced in this volume besides Amelia, Bob, Chelsea, Conrad and the others whom we have met so far. Plus the prologue also gives a look into the distant past and we see Chelsea before she has been tuned into her role as enforcer.

This book deals with a lot, a real lot of stuff. There’s twin strands that the plot breaks down into. The first strand deals with Julius as he tries to make sure that the selection for the 3rd council seat goes smoothly. He’s very much unprepared for the venomous onslaught that is coming his way via all the ambitious Heartstrikers. He also has to worry about Bethesda and her backhanded politicking to undo what has happened to her both magically and politically. The second strand deals with Marci who has to fend off on her own in the Heartstriker Mountain and soon realizes that her bond with Ghost has marked her as something very special in the eyes of a certain human faction. She also learns how dangerous it can be for humans to be alone in the Mountain and especially to be associated with the nice dragon. There’s also the human faction who are trying to navigate their way amidst all the spirit and dragon magic and find their Arthurian match. Lastly this book dwells deeply into Chelsie’s past and establishes why she’s doing what she has done so far. There’s also machinations from Bob, Amelia, Ian, Svena and Ghost but I’ll leave the readers to RAFO.

This book like One Good Dragon Deserves Another dwells a lot into a lot of the dragon politics and the magical underpinnings of the world. The last book gave us a solid look into Dragons, their past and how they came to be in this world. This book does something similar but gives us a solid look into human magic. After reading all that Rachel Aaron has written so far, I can safely vouch for the fact that she’s a master plotter. Her series are incredibly planned down to all the minutiae and this series is another shining example of that. Each book so far has slowly unsheathed fascinating details about the world in different areas. I loved how incredibly deep this world is and such an incredible mish mash genre wise. Is it urban fantasy, or SF or post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller? I feel it’s all of those and more.

Going on to the next strength of the book and that’s characterization. Given the huge cast that gets further expanded in this book, it’s always crucial that each character be distinct and have their own voice. Rachel Aaron doesn’t disappoint, not only does she stay true to character voices but we see their development alongside the plot as well. This is truly epitomized with Julius’ arc in this book. He thoroughly believes in the path of non-violence or no killing even to his own detriment (Rachel Aaron talks wonderfully about Julius and his nature in this excellent guest post). He sticks to it so much that at a certain point in the book you might want to punch him for being so naïve (you’ll know when you read it). He does redeem himself by following through on his ideals and making a shining example for the entire clan. Julius is truly the nicest dragon and we get a strong inkling as to why Bob hinges his plans on him so much.

Then there’s Marci who gets some fantastic stuff to deal with personally and professionally. This book also shines a particular light on her bond with Ghost and who exactly he might be. There’s also a follow up on the epilogue revelations in OGDDA in terms of what Algonquin is up to and what exactly does the term “Merlin” mean? Like the last book Marci gets a strong focus within this book and by the end I would say her arc outdoes Julius. The book also focuses upon Chelsie who’s been the strong & silent enforcer for the Heartstrikers. In this book, we get a thorough inkling of what exactly happened in China. Why is she with Bethesda and what are her deepest secrets? Lastly there’s also Bob and Amelia who are up to their own machinations and the author reveals some big things in the making from their side.

Going to the plotting, this book takes a figurative backseat to OGDDA but with regards to plot twists, it outdoes its predecessor spectacularly. This book takes quite a few dark turns and none darker than the final twist. If you are like me, you will be cursing and wanting the next book pronto. That’s the hallmark of a well-written and well-plotted book that it shocks you and makes you want to read more at the same time. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen in this book and the events leading up to the climax only foreshadow a grim future (this series is similar to the Eli Monpress books wherein in the 3rd book, the series takes a solid dark turn). Lastly to combat all the darkness, the author does provide a small hope via Bob (who else) and then comes the final shocker via the epilogue. As far as plot twists go, this book has been the best one I’ve read in 2016.

Negatives to this book might depend on your mileage. The story does slowdown in the middle but that’s only because the action takes a backseat to the plotting. Julius’ behavior can seem a bit of a drag but it only proves how much he wants to stick to his ideals and change the Heartstriker clan for the better. Also in this book, the comedic overtones are little less than the previous volumes but given that this book has so much darker stuff in it, I could see why that was the case. Overall there was very little that I didn’t enjoy about this book.

CONCLUSION: No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished is a fabulous book in the Heartstriker series as it outshines all the previous books with its plot twists. Seriously this has been the most enjoyable book of 2016 for me and this book marks out this series for being the special one that it is in the current field of Urban fantasy. 

From UNBREAKABLE:

Promise scooped up the stray bullets from her sheets and rolled them around in her palm. Listened to the clinks. Loaded the magazine and fed it to her semiauto. Click. Thumbed the slide stop and felt the weapon quake.

“Loaded and lethal,” she said aloud.

She drew the weapon in close until the frame fuzzed. Faint traces of solvent and gunpowder tickled her nose. The pungent odor evoked a memory of her mother, Sandra. Promise closed her eyes and found herself on the soil of her birth world, Montana. A trio of moons hung in her memory’s sky, barely visible in the morning light. Her mother stood some distance away, in a shooter’s stance, arms extended downrange. Promise saw a much younger version of herself standing in her mother’s shadow, no older than five or perhaps six years of age. Her mother’s breath had turned to vapor in the chilly air. Out, in, and out again. Then Sandra inhaled deeply, exhaled halfway, and fired.

Boom. Textbook. Recoil. Reacquire.

Boom. A third shot rang out as her mother’s arms rode the recoil upward, rode the groove back to fire again, and again, and again. Until the chamber locked open and spit out the last shell. The casing spun end over end along its axis, clinked, and rolled to a stop against Promise’s foot. Then her vision blurred into reality.

She was back aboard RNS Kearsarge, in her cabin, pressing her mother’s weapon to her own forehead with no memory of how it got there. She breathed in deeply, exhaled halfway, and drew the weapon back to her temple.

Why Montana? I’ve been asked before why I set the story of UNBREAKABLE on a planet named after a flyover state. To this point I’ve not given much of an answer. Even now, I can’t say for sure why I named the world Montana, and not, say, Alaska, or some other place entirely.

As it happens, I grew up in Alaska. Long winters, daylight until midnight, the Aurora Borealis, and rogue moose and bears were common enough childhood sightings. I once woke to a young moose fogging up my bedroom window. My father called animal patrol to relocate the animal outside of city limits. It was no big deal. At the grocery store, you’d often see a woman or man with a revolver on the hip (okay, not everyone, but this was fairly common practice in an open carry, frontier state, particularly in the more rural areas). Open space and starlight skies were my playground. On many nights the Northern Lights shrouded the sky like a semi-translucent, star-speckled muslin? What was out there? Why was the canvas so vast? Why so many stars? Surly they weren’t made just for planet Earth.

You don’t know what light pollution is until you’ve lived in a part of the country where it’s non-existent. Having said that, it should come as no surprise that I now live in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. A 14,000-foot mountain is in my backyard. Open space is stitched into my DNA.

Considering my childhood, a novel set on Montana makes tremendous sense. Almost immediately upon starting UNBREAKABLE, I was drawn to a story on a frontier world, where small communities and family ties were often one in the same, where old-world, timeless principles of duty, hard work, and self-reliance formed a durable, three-fold chord. Such is Montana, Promise Paen’s birth world. But, I knew early in the writing process that Promise would make a pivot and leave Montana to start anew. Montana by itself was too small a canvas to paint her story. The genesis of Promise Paen, in a very real sense, is the planet Montana. But her future was among the stars. Book two, INDOMITABLE, takes place on two very different living worlds. They are nothing like Montana. Perhaps Promise will return to Montana someday. I can’t say when that might be.

Back to Montana for a moment…

She was born Promise Gration. After her mother’s death and her father’s murder, Promise rejected her birth name for another, for the name her Mother left behind at the altar, Paen. Oddly enough, Paen gave Promise her much-needed fresh start. She enlisted, got off world, and found a new family in the Corps. Little did she know that she’d be called home to defend her birth planet years later. At the risk of giving away too much, I’ll stop here.

Montana reminds me of my childhood. I could just as easily have named the planet Alaska. Rugged. Uncompromising. Untamed. Primal. Those words summarize much of my upbringing. They form the core of my planet Montana, and in many ways they describe the nature and character of Promise Paen, too.

Official Author Website
Order Unbreakable HERE
Order Indomitable HERE

GUEST AUTHOR INFORMATION: W. C. Bauers works in sales and publishing during the day and writes military science fiction and space opera at night. His first novel, UNBREAKABLE, was an Amazon and B&N "SF/F Best Book of the Month" pick for January 2015. His second, INDOMITABLE, releases July 2016.

​Bauers' interests include Taekwondo, military history, all varieties of Munchkin, and drinking hot caf. He lives in the Rocky Mountains with his wife, three boys, and the best rescue in the world.

INDOMITABLE BOOK INFO: Promise Paen, commander of Victor Company's mechanized armored infantry, is back for another adventure protecting the Republic of Aligned Worlds.

Lieutenant Paen barely survived her last encounter with the Lusitanian Empire. She's returned home to heal. But the nightmares won't stop. And she's got a newly reconstituted unit of green marines to whip into shape before they deploy. If the enemies of the RAW don't kill them first, she just might do the job herself.

Light-years away, on the edge of the Verge, a massive vein of rare ore is discovered on the mining planet of Sheol, which ignites an arms race and a proxy war between the Republic and the Lusitanians. Paen and Victor Company are ordered to Sheol, to help hold the planet at all costs.

On the eve of their deployment, a friendly fire incident occurs, putting Paen's career in jeopardy and stripping her of her command. When the Lusitanians send mercenaries to raid Sheol and destabilize its mining operations, matters reach crisis levels. Disgraced and angry, Promise is offered one shot to get back into her mechsuit. But she'll have to jump across the galaxy and possibly storm the gates of hell itself.