New Releases

A couple of new titles have appeared—you can find my work in an anthology from the US and magazines from the UK and US.

First, the good folks at Third Flatiron took a short prose-poem style piece from me for their anthology Rhapsody of the Spheres. Catch “Sunrise on Eris” for a look back upon the solar system from its outermost reaches.

Buy links:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFCZHBRS

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCK9WYTT

And just out today from Cathaven Press, Occult Detective Magazine #10 features my archaeo-ghost-mystery “Secret of the Lark.” This is a fairly unique story for me so far, combining my qualifications in archaeology and a lifetime interest in art with a supernatural theme and an exercise in detection.

Buy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CGL3S5TH

Also out recently from Hiraeth Books in the US, the July 2023 Shelter of Daylight features a reprint of my fantasy short “Fall of the Dark God,” which first appeared in Lovecraftiana back in 2017. This was the first fantasy story I ever wrote, in the 1990s, and polished up for publication. It's the first of my “Avestium” arc, of which there are now eight tales.

Buy here: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/shelter-of-daylight-july-2023

You can also find the title through all your favourite online booksellers.

And lastly, Bellangers have released an ebook edition of A Tradition of Evil, which joins the hardback and paperback editions at Amazon. There's also a whisper of a forthcoming audio book—stay tuned for details!

Cheers from Aus,

Mike Adamson

A Tradition of Evil

I can hardly believe I didn't post in July, and that August is nearly out!

The big news is of course that my Sherlock Holmes novel A Tradition of Evil went on sale early this month (official release date was August 1^st) though even as we enter the last week of the month Amazon is still listing it as “temporarily out of stock.” Many folks have received their Kickstarter copies, and some have been able to order direct—Amazon UK, for instance, I believe has stock and ships promptly.

Here's the buy link for Amazon US:

https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Tradition-Mike-Adamson/dp/B0CD91X511

The book also has a Goodreads page, which you can find here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195503549-sherlock-holmes

Some weeks on there are no ratings or reviews, which is a bit disappointing as it seemed there was considerable interest at first, but it's not yet translated into feedback. Amazon looks for fifty reviews (good or bad makes no difference) before they begin to promote the product themselves, and that of course is the gateway to desirable extra sales.

It feels amazing to have a book out there, and to see copies in both hardback and paperback is quite the validation of one's efforts over so long. I'm looking forward very much to coming to grips with my second Sherlock Holmes adventure, once a couple of other projects are done and dusted.

In other news, NewMyths have picked op my “Middle Stars” story “Gaming Aquarius,” a sequel to “Wharf Rat” which they publish a couple of years ago. This is my fortieth placed story in the cycle, and I'm closing in on sixty on paper. Unfortunately, it will be 2025 before they can get the story out to readers, so keep an eye on their website about the end of next year.

Things have otherwise been quite. I'm bringing together an anthology of my vampire stories (they're receiving a pro edit at this time) and hopefully Hiraeth will be releasing this one in the not too distant future. Also, I'm working on my novel Venatrix again, with an eye to completing it before launching back into a full scale Holmesian outing.

Cheers, Mike Adamson

Progress on a Few Fronts

 

Just two placements this month (okay, there might be one tomorrow!), A Sherlock Holmes piece, “The Babbington Inheritance,” for A Year of Mystery 1886 (Belanger Books), plus a science fiction short/long flash, “Sunrise on Eris,” for Rhapsody of the Spheres from Third Flatiron. This latter is my twenty-first professional-rates placement.

However, during this month I have also completed a lengthy interview with Steve Southard, “Poseidon's Scribe,” which will be going live soon. This was a real opportunity as it gave me the chance to showcase all my main areas of endeavour, Sherlock Holmes writing, Tales of the Middle Stars and so much more. I'll post a link when it's open.

EDIT—It's open! Read it here!

Latest news on A Tradition of Evil is that the publishers are aiming for a July release, so before long my first novel will be on the shelves! Once again, I'll post the moment it's live at Amazon.

I've not done much composition lately, with writing effort at the moment going into the textual material for a brand new dedicated author website, coming in the not too distant future. This will feature essays, listings, purchase links, free reads, lashings of artwork and so forth.

More news as it breaks!

Mike Adamson

A Very Successful Kickstarter

 

The Kickstarter campaign for “A Tradition of Evil” has wrapped up with a very satisfying 220% of the finding goal, so the novel is proceeding apace now thriugh production and marketing!

The fantastic promotional trailer can still be viewed in future—follow this link:

I'm looking forward keenly to the release of this volume!

Mike

The Big 3000!

It's taken 88 months since I launched this writing endeavour in earnest, but I just made my three thousandth submission!

I had four acceptances at earlier dates, all non-paying, which suggested to me that I should be getting serious about the possibilities, and I test-fired the submission mechanism on a few occasions in late 2015, but I'm not counting those outings, for simplicity's sake.

I've been scrounging for this sub for a few days. It's amazing to what degree the market is saturated, not expressly with my own material but material in general. To find a story of the right genre, of the right length, not previously published, and match it with a market both reading at this time and paying an acceptable rate, was no easy matter. I studied two industry newsletters, worked through lots of possibilities, and got quite frustrated before settling on one to go out.

But the milestone has gone by, and the future awaits—onto the next thousand submissions! But from 2023 onward, my emphasis will be trending toward novels and anthology collections—single-author publications—with short stories continuing to circulate in the background.

That said, I hope to have plenty more news from the magazine and anthology markets in future as well!

All the best from Aus,

Mike

Sherlock Holmes is Go!

 

As followers of my publication record will know, since 2019 I've been dabbling in the wold of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Prince of Detectives" has been in the public domain for quite some time, and new writings in the Holmesian canon are very popular.

I have placed quite a few stories in the last four years, two with Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine (though they have not yet been scheduled), one with Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, two with Strand Magazine (for which I am 'dead chuffed' as the saying goes, as The Strand has always been the spiritual home of Sherlock Holmes, certainly since 1892!) I also placed one with Weird Tales, though that piece is in limbo with the on-again, off-again nature of the magazine, plus the unfortunate passing of the editor who actually picked up the story. Then there are the anthologies from Belanger Books—I'm in seven released to date, with three more on the way. Add four active submissions at this time (including an invited sub to the prestigious charity MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories ongoing anthology series) and that's quite an accomplishment already.

However, last year I mooted the thought to Belanger Books that I would very much like to write a Sherlock Holmes novel, and their reaction was most positive. “A Tradition of Evil” was the result, taking a little under three months to write, and about the same to edit and polish (for which copious thanks to my sister Jen Downes, an English expert whose meticulous editing resulted in a manuscript so clean there were essentially zero edits coming back from the publisher!}

The novel is presently scheduled for release around November, 2023, and will be available through both Amazon online (print and eBook editions) and a number of physical bookshops in the US. A limited edition hardback, some with a dustjacket, is also planned.

The Kickstarter campaign launched a couple of days ago (the project is already fully funded) and is gathering backers by the day. Of spectacular note, don't miss the promotional video: the Belanger brothers created a trailer as dramatic as if the project were a forthcoming movie!

View the Kickstarter page and trailer here.

Here is the production credits screen for the trailer!

From here, I would hope to continue to place short stories with the major markets, and am of course thinking about a second novel. I have no shortage of ideas for both long- and short-form work, and if the gods should smile with regards to sales success, it would be my great pleasure to write Sherlock Holmes for a long time to come!

Cheers,

Mike Adamson

Plenty Happening!

 

In the weeks since I last posted, a few interesting things have happened. First of all, I didn't win the Derringer Award—I had no real expectation of doing so, but the nomination was a most pleasant surprise, and I am now being referred to as “Derringer Award-nominated author Mike Adamson...” in the mystery field, which is nice!

As the cover above suggests, I have appeared once more in the Australian SF mag Alien Dimensions, this time with a double-header. The mag specialises in extraterrestrials, as its title suggests, and for this extra-large (360-page) edition the editor took not one but two stories—both part of my “Takes of the Middle Stars” opus. In this issue you'll find “Downtime at Ranger Station.” one of the “Colonial War” arc, as well as “Keeper of the Ways,” an early episode of the arc leading up to what should be my first “Middle Stars” novel, though no indications yet on when that might be. Catch Alien Dimensions #24 at Amazon:

AlienDimensions #24 Digital

AlienDimensions #24 Print

On April 21^st, my “Middle Stars” short “Rain Girl” went live at Wyldblood—catch it here.

Placements have been generally slow of late, and what's come my way has been largely non-paying reprints or other token-payment situations. Other writers have commented on the drought they're experiencing, so the industry as a whole seems to be feeling the pinch of the difficult times we're living through. This much is to be expected, but that makes it no less frustrating.

However, for the really good news, see the next post!

M