Punk Fiction discussion

Authors are just as welcome to chat about the ~punks as everyone else, but if you want to draw attention to your own work then this is the place to do it.

So here's the simple rules: you can post a link to your book's Goodreads entry, and you can add a bit of text to pique our interest - but no monologuing!

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Title:
Make it a click-able link.

Genre:
Which of the ~punks is it?

Hollywood Pitch:
25 Words or Less (and that's a hard limit!)

Synopsis:
A one-paragraph appetite-whetter (keep it circa 100 words)

So, it looks like it is my pleasure to kick this thread off!

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Title:
The Glass Sealing

Genre:
Steampunk

Hollywood Pitch:
A disgraced, rebelious engineer and a defiant industrial heiress become opposing figureheads in a conflict between workers and masters that could destroy an entire city.

Synopsis:
In a towering city powered by steam, opposing forces gather and prepare to clash, on the streets and in the air. Above, the rich and complacent live in comfort and bask in the sun. Below, the ordinary workers labour thanklessly in choking gloom, their jobs—and lives—threatened by the relentless advance of technology. A disgraced engineer becomes a ringleader in an outbreak of worker protests that take a sinister turn, while an industrial heiress comes into her own against the expectations of her peers, defying convention even as she takes the establishment by storm. She plans to change the face of the city forever - but when the authorities crack down on the workers, their leader sets them all on the path to destruction...

Title:
Wars to End All Wars

Genre:
Alt-History

Hollywood Pitch:
An anthology of alternate history short stories set in (or inspired by) The Great War.

Synopsis:
Seven stories that jump off from various aspects of the first world war in a speculative manner. My story, The Foundation, is a supernatural examination of why we should never forget the tragedies of the past–but also argues that how we remember them is important too.

Title:
Beyond the Rails: Six Tales of Steampunk Adventure on the African Frontier

Genre:
Steampunk

Hollywood Pitch:
Jules Verne meets Firefly as a mismatched group of adventurers try to make a living on their ramshackle blimp in the face of unrelenting danger.

Synopsis
In the spring of 1882, a young man arrives in Mombasa, Kenya with a plan to change the world of science. A man ahead of his time, Nicholas Ellsworth is a botanist fresh from Cambridge whose mission is to catalog the flora of Africa, and unlock its medicinal secrets for the benefit of mankind. Intrigued by a lovely young woman who happens to be an airship pilot of extraordinary skill, he falls in with a crew of expatriates, misfits and castoffs all, whose cargo blimp, the Kestrel, carries them from one adventure to the next as they try to eke out a living moving all manner of cargo out beyond the rails.

Title:
DragonFly

Genre:
Dieselpunk

Hollywood Pitch:
RAF pilot Veronica Somerset has the fate of a nation in her hands as she defends Britain from Nazi invasion in her DragonFly aircraft.

Synopsis:
1942. On the eve of invasion by the Nazis, RAF pilot Veronica Somerset is determined to overcome every obstacle to become Britain’s first female combat pilot. When 'Ronnie' is re-assigned to Enysfarne, a mysterious Royal Navy base off the coast of Cornwall, fate places her inside the cockpit of the most revolutionary aircraft ever invented. Brilliant engineer, Dr. Nigel Pennbridge has discovered quadra-hydrogen, an element that powers the DragonFly, a remarkable fighter-bomber that carries the hopes of Britain on its blue and silver wings.

I'm self-publishing a weird western series this year - one of the not-quite-punk genres, so I'm side-stepping my own rules - what's the point of being the moderator if you don't wield your power? ;-)

The first book is End Trails, and here are two excerpts, one from each story:

The Lying Room

Thirteen Bullets



The follow-up novella, Given Names, comes out early next month. You can read a mini-blurb here, and I’ve just blogged the opening passage as a teaser.



I’ll post a more substantial chunk next week, and anyone who subscribes to my mailing list before the book comes out (also at those links) will get a free copy on the day.

I hope you give them a try!

Here’s one more taster of my Weird Western novella Given Names before it comes out next week!

Just to reiterate the point at the end of that post: I’d really much prefer to give people a free copy of this, ideally in return for honest reviews. If you’re interested, add yourself to this mailing list and you’ll receive a 100% discount code on the release day (that’s next Monday).

Given Names is available now - there's a whole slew of links here, including instructions on how to get a copy half-price (sorry, but the free-copy offer is now closed...)!

I hope you give it a try, and let me know what you thought - blogging, Goodreads and Amazon reviews are all very much appreciated...

I've had a bit of bad news recently. The publisher of The Glass Sealing is about to close its doors for ever, which means my novel (and everything else they've published) will shortly disappear from the global marketplace, at least until each author figures out what to do next.


The Glass Sealing

As a result, I've decided to throw a farewell party in the form of a little contest, with free copies of my book to the winners. Take a look, and I hope you choose to take part!

Quick heads-up: as of today, all my self-pub'd ebooks are available via Amazon's KINDLE UNLIMITED program, which means you can read them for free (provided you're a subscriber).

The weird westerns:
End Trails, two stories of supernatural revenge
my Given Names, a Native American coming-of-age novella

And dark fiction in themed pairs of stories:
Dark Matters, Crime meets Horror
Absences, Pre-Post-Apocalyptic SciFi
Aftermaths, Post-Apocalyptic SciFi

If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, I hope you'll give them a try! If not, they can still be bought via the normal Amazon marketplace - and they will be available free for a short time later in the year, so keep your eyes peeled...

Hello folks, I've been a bit absent from Goodreads this summer, too much on my plate... however, because I'm coming to the end of my first 90 days on Kindle exclusive, I'm putting all my titles into either the free promotion or Kindle Countdown offers, starting with my weird westerns.

At the moment, End Trails is available free, and has jumped to No.1 on the horror-westerns free charts - you'd be both more than welcome AND doing me a favour if you grabbed a copy!

There's been a glitch so it still hasn't shown up as reduced, but my weird western novella Given Names should be available on the Kindle Countdown from now until next Thursday, starting at $1. If you like the first book, maybe you'll get the second while it's going cheap(er)...

Hope the summer is going well for you all!

Here's the link to my novel Sky Song Overture. The first 5 chapters are available for free on Wattpad.

Title:
Sky Song: Overture by Meg Merriet

Genre:
steampunk/steampirate

Hollywood Pitch:
Revolution, rampage and romance, Sky Song Overture chronicles the adventures of a hardened sky pirate as he becomes entangled in a revolution.

Synopsis:
Clikk is a sky pirate. A picklock with a tragic past. An orphan out for revenge. Blue Dusk, a tyrannical regime most foul, holds the nation hostage, collecting the last of the harvest yield as famine grips the provinces. Molly, a child with a dangerous secret, could be the catalyst of a revolution, but Clikk's captain has every intention of selling the girl to the Blue Dusk. Clikk has other plans, plans involving mutiny, sabotage and a movement that will plunge the nation into chaos.

Title:
Dead Beef

Genre:
Cyberpunk, techno-thriller

Hollywood Pitch:
A tale featuring hackers, Israelis, Iranians, and drones posing as WiFi hotspots of a different kind.

Synopsis:
The company Cyberwarfare pioneer, Martin Spencer, founded wasn’t supposed to fire him. Spencer knows too much and can do far too much damage to U.S. national security. Years ago Spencer led a failed attack against Iranian computer systems that stranded his Cyber weapon payload behind enemy lines. U.S. officials fear the Iranians reverse-engineered Spencer’s creation and suspect Iranian operatives will now seek his help to turn his creation into a terrorist weapon.

Eduardo Suastegui
Character-driven, fast-flowing storytelling

Title:
Deathskull Bombshell

Genre:
Literary fiction

Hollywood Pitch:
Some friends start a punk band, and then life happens. The book is told out of chronological order.

Synopsis:
Deathskull Bombshell is a garage-punk band in rural Wisconsin. The band members struggle with harassment, parental neglect, sexuality, philosophy, and poverty. One of the guitarists runs away from home, leaving her brother to run the house on his own. Years later, she returns, but not everyone is happy to see her.

Title: Shalaby and Fecklace Spend the Night in an Unnatural Manor

Genre: Steampunk, supernatural mystery, humor, short story

Hollywood Pitch: A stodgy paranormal detective and his dissolute inventor partner find the supernatural lurking behind the most mundane crimes of Victorian London.

Synopsis: Shalaby W. Shalaby regards it as his civic duty to investigate the grave incident of the counterfeited ladies' hats. His companion, Byron Fecklace, inventor of the Gatling sword, does not consider the matter nearly so pressing. With the help of a dime novel and a dumb waiter, let us hope they can vanquish the diabolical spectre that awaits them in the UNNATURAL MANOR.

Title:
Blood Red

Genre:
Steampunk, Arcane-punk, Victorianapunk, Punk-Punk (it has a character called Rickenbacker, people!)

Hollywood Pitch:
25 Words or Less (and that's a hard limit!)
A group of misfits accidentally become saviours of a remote colony, by battling steampunk beasts and the undead, using both big guns and hardcore magic.

Synopsis:
Professor Mycroft Rickenbacker, fabled archaeologist and lecturer, has stolen the Gargoyle Key, an ancient artefact that promises to unlock the secrets of long dead civilisations.
Unfortunately, Rickenbacker must turn to a ragtag gaggle of washed-up mercenaries, a psychopathic Dragoon, an over-the-hill bare-knuckle boxer, a lascivious knight, a caretaker, Butler and barmaid to explore subterranean cities, evade evil Imperial agents and protect The Gramarye’s legacy of Wonder.
Forgotten races, dark warriors aflame and terrifying steam-driven monstrosities rise again, as an Empire is brought to its knees, forced to rely on saviours it would rather forget.

Here's the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ASo...

PM me (Punk-Message) me and I might provide Book 1 free in exchange for a review...

Nice book trailer there! It looks distinctive, not just a bunch of pre-set images. Is it "home-made"?

Andrew wrote: "Nice book trailer there! It looks distinctive, not just a bunch of pre-set images. Is it "home-made"?"

Sincere thanks! I think a bad trailer gives a very negative vibe, especially with spooky fonts and stock footage.

Yeah, we shot it in my kitchen, because it has the exposed brickwork, using iPhone lights through coloured gels or even just our hands. Pitch shifted the voice down.

I was lucky though, as the cameraman and editor works on Dr Who and the gfx guy did Mission Impossible 2. (I work in the boring bit of TV.)

I reckon it's about 20 seconds too long, as we got wedded to the dialogue and it should've been more image lead.

Cheers for watching it though!

The Blueprint

Genre: Cyberpunk
Short pitch: Human augmentation. Corporate takeovers. Computer hackers, spies, and professional assassins. Oh, and a plot to take over the world.

Synopsis: Between the financial crisis of 2008 and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, global governments have become too intrusive, and corporations too powerful. For most of the world, it’s a time of fear and uncertainty.

Except for Jason Hunt. Jason has everything money and status can buy. After inheriting his financier father's fortune, he married a beautiful woman and settled down to live the life dreams are made of.

But when his wife lands her dream job in New York working on human augmentation, Jason feels threatened and suspects criminal activity. Before long his wife’s life hangs in the balance and Jason finds himself immersed in a terrifying world of computer hackers, psychotic killers, and warring corporations.

To save her he needs to embrace technology he doesn’t understand, take over a billion-dollar company without a billion dollars, outsmart professional assassins, and land a contract with the DOD. But even that might not be enough.

THE BLUEPRINT is a dark, near-future thriller that will appeal to fans of Blade Runner, The Matrix, and Deus Ex.

Title:
I Keep My True Love in the Basement/REMIX

Genre:
Cyberpunk - Mystery, Horror, Action, Thriller

Hollywood Pitch:
The murder of a robotics engineer's wife sparks a deadly convergence between three opposing perspectives--two cops, a rebel faction, and a feisty news reporter--into a web of lies, cyber-crimes, terror, and violence that may be connected to the company that controls everything.

Synopsis:
The wife of a robotics engineer working a prestigious but mysterious job in the Company, more commonly known as Altieria Corp.; turns up dead in a motel room. The incident draws two world-weary detectives, a feisty reporter, and a rebel faction into a horrifying conspiracy that everyone suspects to be connected to the most powerful man on earth: the CEO of the Altieria Corporation. They seek the truth, but how can they possibly expose whatever they find to a world the CEO controls?

Hi! Nice to meet you all.

My ebookJanus Quadrifrons it's a hybrid with a lot of cyber punk elements.

It's free on Kindle Unlimited. If you don't have it but you would like to read it and review it, send me a PM

Janus Quadrifrons is a dark mind game written in order to manipulate your perception of Human Identity, Self Awareness,Freedom of Choice, Reality and Time.

Janus has the ability to connect with other people's conciousness. Alex enhances that ability at a secret, dystopian laboratory using genetic engeneering, quantum mechanics and advanced technology in order to bend Reality and Time. Mark is a doctor who maintains the balance between Janus and Alex.
Each one of them is on a quest for his own personnal "Happy Ending" while both "Happy" and "Ending" are deceitful.

Title:
The Caldera's Vice

Genre:
Decopunk/Dieselpunk

Hollywood Pitch:
Find out what happens when you throw demons and drug kingpins into a town of hopeless degenerates.

Synopsis:
In Hellhole, the sordid city situated into the volcanic basin of the Moloch Caldera, drug bootlegging reigns supreme. A red demon, Asher Glassberg, witnesses the murder of his parents in a gruesome in-home shooting, He finds himself caught up in Hellhole’s seedy drug underbelly seeking retribution for his parent’s murder. More drug related murders soon follow in Hellhole and black demon Milton Romero, a freshly hired drug mule, stumbles across a deadly strain. The witty Tengu detective, Renshu Karasu, looks into the murders with his keen eye for detail and hunger for solving puzzles. Will this new drug strain bring Hellhole to its knees? Find out in this gritty art deco Prohibition era noir of the demonic kind.

Steampunk adventure - Hang on to your bowler hats, you're in for a wild ride!

Puzzling intrigue. Epic adventure. Cut-throat competition.

Michael McGillicuddy and the Most Amazing Race: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SNGQP88

Title:
Death of a Bounty Hunter

Genre:
Supernatural Steampunk Western

Hollywood Pitch:
A bounty hunter running from a secret Occult society must face his own guilt and shame when coming face-to-face with his bounty's widow.

Synopsis:
"I’m in this story, but it’s not about me. It’s about a bounty hunter who comes face-to-face with something we all do: guilt and shame, and the desire to run from them. Not because we're cowards, but because sometimes we just can't stomach ourselves. The Gatling guns, the Occult, the paranormal, and even the demon spawn—all those things are just along for the ride."

- Mockingbird-Preacher-Witch (Like I said, I’m in the story. Just read it.)
Quarantine Edition on Kindle for only $0.99!

Necrogarden

Looking for a cyberpunkish techno thriller with a touch of horror? Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a free copy:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en...

Here's info on my debut steampunk adventure!

Title:
The Techno Mage

Genre:
Steampunk, Steampunk Fantasy

Hollywood Pitch:
A trio of friends, a mythical man, and a race to destroy the equally mythical airship Faugregir.

Synopsis:
She's being held hostage and yet, Magaliana doesn't want to be saved.

Close friends Ikarim, Arteus, and Magaliana always knew the dangers of sky pirates, but what they didn't expect was having their airship repair shop pillaged and being separated when Magaliana, a noble, is sold for a hefty bounty.

Once in the hands of the Techno Mage, her world changes. He's a mythical man with the ability to flawlessly combine both technology and alchemy, and his mythical ship is a haven for Magaliana. There, she discovers how to refine her craft.

Ikarim and Arteus are determined to escape the sky pirates to save her, but do they have what it takes before the Techno Mage initiates his grand plan?

Title:
Phylogeny Books2Read link - books2read.com/u/mYZgew

Genre:
Cyberpunk

Hollywood Pitch:
A former pirate tries to start a new life on a colony of telepathic machines.

Synopsis:
Guy Moon is a pirate who won the lottery. Instead of being thrown out of an airlock, he's expatriated to humankind's first home beyond the stars. While he slept for the half-century trip, time moved on. Machines have taken over. And, while they seem to be benign, the machines press the new settlers to integrate quickly into their bizarre culture.

Title: Art Tretherick: Earth Born
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59513186-art-tretherick-earth-born

Genre: Solar Punk (ish/probably)

Hollywood pitch:
A teenager fights for survival and initiation into a fourth millennia priesthood

Synopsis:
Art Tretherick’s initiation into adulthood didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped. Being in a mine when it collapsed was an accident but getting buried underground for a second time was deliberate.

Leaving his peaceful rural childhood behind, Art’s abrupt awakening slides him into darkness. Finding a world beginning to crumble and becoming enslaved by people intent on reawakening the old gods of greed, Art must stop the undermining of centuries of sustainability and stability. But he can’t do this without family and friends.

Set far in the future, this fast moving story sees our heroes tackle problem after problem, weaving solutions from within a new world view and just some remnants of 21st century technology to help them.

Title: Razor Strike

Genre: Cyberpunk with hugging

Hollywood pitch:
A corporate commando must scrape together enough money to pay off her hapless father’s debts to a powerful crime ring before they expose her secrets.

Synopsis:
In post-cyberpunk Maine, corporate commando Trez must scrape together enough money to pay off her hapless father’s debts to a powerful crime ring before they expose her secrets. Security guard Eric is determined to help her…and to deepen their nascent romance. To succeed, they will need to navigate mob politics, raid an anarchist cell, and evade a colony of robot iguanas.

PM me if you're interested in a review copy.

Title: Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys

Genre: Steampunk

Hollywood Pitch: A drunken aristocrat and a put-upon music-hall singer save London

Synopsis: Edward 'Charlie' Decharles wakes up hungover in a steam-taxi, to find the driver dead. In searching for the murderer, he runs into 'The Amazing' Gladys Dunchurch, a performer searching for a missing stage magician. The pair fall in together, and soon discover that their respective mysteries are connected to a mysterious conspiracy that might stretch all the way to the Moon.

Bill Clearlake

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22B...

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Bill-Cl...


Title: The Mercenary (series)
Book 1: The Mercenary
Book 2: Nida - From Hell
Book 3: New Earth
Book 4: Nineteen

Genre: Cyberpunk

Hollywood Pitch: A near-future family saga of revenge and redemption on Earth and beyond the frontier of space.

Synopsis:
An aging mercenary, a beautiful young hostage, and the creator of a hallucinogenic plant find themselves embroiled in conflicts with clones, mercenaries, corrupt corporate leaders, proxy wars, space pirates and a shadowy organization that wants to take over and colonize an asteroid.

Hi all, my first comment, just in time for the release of my debut novel, What Lies Through The Smoke.

Title:
What Lies Through The Smoke.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/191807738X

Genre:
Dieselpunk

Hollywood Pitch:
If you are interested in high-stakes action in an underappreciated genre, look no further. The narrative is an easy read and will keep you engaged throughout.


Synopsis:

A fast-paced dieselpunk noir thriller set in a vast metropolis. It features a hard-boiled detective trying to solve a murder and thwart a twisted cult.

If you are interested, please do read for yourself. Available in both paperback and Kindle.