Showing posts with label The Mad Goblin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Mad Goblin. Show all posts

Saturday, February 13, 2021

The Monster on Hold - Preorder & Cover Reveal!

Philip José Farmer worked on The Monster on Hold, the fourth novel in his Secrets of the Nine series, in the 1970s and ’80s, but never completed it or any other works in the series. Using Farmer’s partial manuscripts and copious notes, Win Scott Eckert, co-author with Farmer of The Evil in Pemberley House, has at long last completed the novel.

Today, publisher Meteor House announced the two cover artists. Douglas Klauba is doing the Trade Paperback cover and Mark Wheatley is doing the Signed Hardcover Limited Edition cover. And here is a look at the front (only) of the hardcover wraparound artwork by Mark Wheatley!

They were known simply as the Nine. Grim and ancient rulers who discovered the key to eternal life thirty-thousand years ago, and ever since have held the world secretly in thrall. These dark manipulators control the destinies of billions, including the formidable Doc Caliban, Champion of Justice. Once, Doc had been their servant and had shared their secrets. Now, appalled by their tyranny, he and his half-brother, Lord Grandrith—bastard son of Jack the Ripper—have turned against the Nine, daring to challenge their centuries-old supremacy.

In the eighteenth century, the Nine had been faced with a similar revolt and, in desperation, summoned a thing from another dimension—a thing with the power to touch the subconscious and cause nightmares. And that thing—Shrassk—was held in abeyance in a deep cavern complex below New England.

Now, Shrassk and her Children have awakened.

Caliban, suffering from recurring nightmares in which he sees somebody much like himself—and who in these visions seems to be dreaming of Caliban—gathers his closest allies for a final showdown. Together with longtime associates Pauncho Van Veelar and Barney Banks, and his titian-haired cousin, Trish Wilde, whose superhuman skills match his own, Doc descends deep into the subterranean complex to confront an infinite evil, the unspeakable dweller lurking at the threshold between two universes…

Featuring an introduction by Bronze Gazette editor Chuck Welch, The Monster on Hold is available in a Trade Paperback (featuring cover art by Doug Klauba, coming soon) and a Signed Hardcover Limited Edition (featuring a wraparound jacket by Mark Wheatley). Each edition also includes interior artwork by both artists. The hardcover will be signed by Win Scott Eckert, Chuck Welch, Doug Klauba, and Mark Wheatley!

The book is due out in the fall of 2021.

Order The Monster on Hold

Thursday, December 29, 2016

2017 (and Beyond) Writing Projects

Following on the heels of my 2016 writing review, this is an overview of what I have planned for 2017 and 2018. I'm happy to say that most these projects are firm commitments, and won't leave much space in my schedule for additional work.

That said, I am always open to discussing chance-of-a-lifetime, no-way-can-you-turn-this-down projects!


The Avenger–Domino Lady short story. In my Avenger story "Death and the Countess" (The Avenger Chronicles, Moonstone Books, 2008), I referred to an "untold tale," the first meeting of The Avenger and the Domino Lady. I am currently in progress on this story, which fills a neat little space between Ron Goulart's "The Return of the Iron Skull" and "Death and the Countess."

Next, an Avenger novel for Moonstone. Novella length, really, but who's counting. This one is already generally plotted and should not take long to write once I get cranking.



A Sherlock Holmes short story to be submitted to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part VII: Eliminate the Impossible. I have the idea for this, but have not plotted or outlined it yet. It may well be a semi-sequel to my tale "No Ghosts Need Apply" (The Phantom Chronicles 2, Moonstone Books, 2010). That story had a neat bit of Wold-Newtonry (if I do say so) which has gone largely unnoticed, and which I'd like to extend in the Holmes tale.

The biggie... completing Philip José Farmer's unfinished fourth Doc Caliban novel, The Monster on Hold, due out from Meteor House in Summer 2018. This will require rereading A Feast UnknownLord of the Trees, and The Mad Goblin (for the umpteenth time), as well as intensive research, detailed outlining, worldbuilding, writing, rewriting, and polishing. I expect to spend the bulk of my writing time between now and spring 2018 on this. 

Slipped in the cracks of all this I will be continuing to research and put together material which will result in a proposal for a licensed character I would very much like to write.

It feels good to be back in the game.