Sometimes, it’s a lot of fun and involves supervillains who aren’t nearly as gone as certain part-time superheroes thought.
Why, yes, I’m talking about Change, the ninth book in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, which just came out today, October 25, 2024!
What’s this one about?
Well, people keep telling Zita Garcia to go to Hell. This time, she’s actually taking their advice. Alone and working against the clock, the sometime superhero raids the Greek Underworld to stop a massacre, save her best friends, and maybe even salvage that relationship she’s been screwing up.
Maybe. This is Zita, after all.
For the first week, Change will be $2.99 USD (or equiv) and will go up to $3.99 after that. Embrace Change and grab a copy from your retailer of choice!
Still bracing yourself to handle Change? Try reading the first chapter to ease yourself in.
Enjoy! I’ll be starting work on book 10 for release next year.
OBLIGATORY NOTE: I am an Amazon affiliate, and if you buy from links on this site, I may someday receive compensation for making the links available. I’d like that.
Sometimes, being a superhero means ruining Christmas. When Atlantis wants to give the gift of a destroyed Baltimore, can Arca and her perky nemesis stop them in time?
This is that story. The eighth book in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, Sea, surfaced today and is available at most ebook retailers for $3.99 USD (or equiv). It has all the characteristics of a fun Christmas story: superheroes, Atlanteans with nuclear weapons, and serious shenanigans, all with holiday music playing in the background.
Minor spoiler: No one gets tossed out of Nakatomi Tower, but people definitely get thrown.
Still unsure if Sea is the buddy comedy-action adventure-superhero-urban fantasy melange you’ve been hoping for? Dive into Chapter One to check it out.
For any of you washed away by all of the puns and ready to give me shell about them, I’m shore Book 9 won’t allow me to use as many.
… and by that, I mean the seventh book in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, Sharp! It has all the things you’d hope to find in an account of a Halloween visit to mom’s cozy small town. Pumpkins. Apple cider donuts. Murder. Fiberglass aliens. Theme supervillains. Guilt. Mystery. Car crashes. Random monsters. Possibly explosive pumpkins. You know, the usual.
Sharp releases October 26, 2022. Grab a copy now for $2.99 USD or equivalent! The price will go up to $3.99 USD in a few weeks. Paperbacks will hopefully be available in time for Christmas. Buy it here.
If you’re still not certain if it’s for you, read the all the other books first. If you’ve already done that and are afraid that it just won’t live up to the cheesy innuendo, bad decisions, and exciting action adventure of the rest of the series, check out Chapter One for a taste of the nutty goodness.
The sixth in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, Party, is now in full swing! It has food! Dancing! Cheesy jokes! A government conspiracy! A nefarious supervillain! All the stuff you love at a festive gathering without the actual people or awkward silences!
Not as many exclamation points, though, as I used them all up here.
Grab a copy now for $2.99 USD or equivalent! The price will go up to $3.99 USD after August 12, 2021. Paperbacks should be available starting September of 2021.
If you’re not certain if the lame jokes, questionable decisions, and heart-stopping action adventure will go with your party shoes, give the Chapter One a quick read.
As of May 5, 2020, Toga is loose and running free, throwing laurel wreaths and available for purchase at every major retailer. Don’t myth this one! The ebook is $3.99 USD or the equivalent, and most major ebook retailers should be more than happy to sell it to you.
Paperback versions will follow in a few weeks, but the 6×9″ books will be bursting with historical inaccuracies, lame jokes, and all the Arca you expect and then some. I’ll comment below when that happens. In the meantime, you can get a quick glimpse of the first chapter here.
And yes, this notice is late. It’s one of many things running sideways right now. Hope your Cinco de Mayo was a happy one!
For Your Free Viewing Pleasure
Bored? Stuck at home obsessing over that thing you meant to do that didn’t turn out quite right or perhaps never got started?
Let me help you procrastinate.
I’ve started attending and serving on panels at (virtual) cons. It’s great. I get to show off my invisibility superpower and be that mysterious voice that comes in from offscreen with the awesome jokes and everyone else gets to practice making faces at said comments.
Anyway, on April 28, 2020, I was on the Superheroes panel of QuaranCon 2020. We talked about superheroes we’ve known and loved (from afar, well outside of restraining order boundaries, I swear!), as well as small bits here and there about our own writing. The other panels at the convention were also entertaining; I particularly enjoyed the one on fight scenes.
This week, I’ll be attending the Superhero-Fiction Con and speaking on TWO panels, despite the con organizers having been with me on the QuaranCon 2020 panel. That con will have one panel every weekday from May 18 to May 22 at 6PM EST. I’ll be speaking on the Tuesday (May 19) panel on creating the powers behind the heroes, and on the Friday (May 22) panel on superhero origins.
After that, I’ve got no more virtual conventions planned for the moment. That’s subject to change if and when I get asked to do a sufficiently interesting one again. If they’d like to PAY me, that’d be even better. Cash dollars, Paypal, or homemade chocolate chip cookies only.
Monster is on the loose! The fourth book in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series released today, May 5, 2019. What happens in this one? Here’s a quick description:
When the authorities abandon the search for a serial killer targeting Zita Garcia’s family, the sometime superhero will do whatever it takes to find him. If finding him means fighting literal monsters, wrangling glitter-obsessed vampires, or going to nightclubs, she’s in, even if the undead and line dances make her skin crawl. She needs to solve this fast—before things go from bad to hearse.
Paperback versions will follow in a few weeks, but I can tell you that the 6×9″ books will have 322 pages filled with adventure, lame jokes, and all the Arca you expect. I’ll comment below when that happens.
To celebrate the release and readers who’ve stuck around for the past three books, I’m releasing the ebook at $2.99. After a week or so, the price will go up to $3.99 USD (or equivalent). I have no current plans to put it on sale again this year, though that decision is subject to change.
AND… Super will be on sale for 99 cents USD (or equivalent) in all stores until May 15 for readers who like to start from the origin story and work their way up to the latest adventure. See the Books page for the store links.
NOTE: I am an Amazon affiliate, which means if you purchase an item at Amazon following a link on one of my pages, I may someday receive a few pennies from them.
Look at that sexy, sexy box set picture. Don’t ever say I don’t let you see the good stuff.
Heroes & Villains… My goodness, is that a… SECRET PROJECT? WHAT?
Why, yes, yes it is a secret project, if you discount the fact that I told Mr. Diem and my entire newsletter mailing list about it in advance. Anyway, I’m very happy to announce that it’s here!
The Heroes & Villains ten ebook set is now available for purchase at Amazon, iBooks, Nook, and Kobo! It includes TEN novels for $2.99 USD (or regional equiv), all of which are full-length novels and the first in their respective series.
Here’s the complete set list in the order they appear in the book. My favorite is obviously my own, but it’s really a great set. Each one has a slightly different take on superheroes, whether it’s dystopian or noir or lighthearted urban fantasy (*cough*) or young adult or … you get the idea. Anyway. I’ve already got my copy. Get yours before it goes away in mid-September.
The following was cut from the first draft of Power, Book 3 in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series. Since it’s a first draft, be gentle. It’s Zita in all her unedited, unrestrained glory. Bits and pieces may get reused in the final book, but not the scene as a whole.
Power releases May 5, 2018 at most major book retailers:
When Andy emerged from his bathroom a full half-hour later, he almost seemed like himself in clean jeans, a t-shirt with an equation on it, and sneakers. His raven hair hung down his back in a tidy braid. The surly expression on his face was new, though.
Random camel pic by Kawtar Cherkaoui
“Ready?” Zita chirped, rocking on her heels.
“I guess.” He gave a half-hearted shrug.
Zita grabbed his arm and teleported.
They reappeared in a basement, one with boxes piled high on most sides, save for where a furnace and an old workbench commandeered space. The musty scents of cardboard and burnt oil were eclipsed by fragrant incense and fresh-cut herbs.
Andy blinked. He stared at the workbench, taking in the red fabric draping it. His eyes moved to the prominently displayed knife (athame, Zita reminded herself), a leather-bound book, and the creamy marble statue of a serene woman next to a half-melted candle. The last seemed to hold his gaze the longest, the stone face smiling back at him as his expression grew more sour. “Zita,” he growled.
She didn’t let him finish. Praying Wyn would be awake and ready to go hiking, she bounded up the stairs.”You better be ready this time,” she bellowed as she opened the door to the main house, “because we’re here and I don’t want to waste any more of the day waiting for you late sleepers!”
He trudged up after her.
If looks truly could inflict damage and if Zita were more sensitive, Andy’s glare might have dented her feelings. As it was, she was fine. She said, “We’re taking Wyn’s car. Your beater might not make it to the mountains, and you didn’t want to fly. My bike’s not meant to carry two on long trips comfortably.”
Skepticism ran rampant in his voice. “Wyn is letting you, of all people, borrow her brand new car?”
“What do you mean me–” Zita began.
“Wyn is not,” the woman in question said, rising from her reclining pose on her scarlet sofa. She set aside her ereader. “One ride with Zita is more than enough for one lifetime. I’m driving, and before you say anything, Zita has convinced me that the hike is to be a… now what was the elegant phrase you used?”
“A badger-free zone? A hike, not an inquisition or a mushy feelings talk, and the definition is left up to me,” Zita said. “I totally bargained with her on your behalf. I think you’ll like the deal I got you. Only a little bit of interrogating on the drive there, and then a nice, stress-free hike with no questions asked. I’m totally playing referee and everything so if she starts to hint around things, I get to stop her from bugging you. Sweet deal, right?”
“Says you,” Wyn mumbled, futzing with boots that looked too new to be comfortable.
Zita frowned at the pristine shoes. “Didn’t you break those in like I suggested?”
Andy said, “I’m out. Take me home.”
“No,” Wyn said. “This is an intervention.”
He turned to Zita, betrayal in his eyes.
She shook her head. “Nope, that was my end of the deal in exchange for the no nagging rules. If you want to go home, you have to fly yourself.”
Andy swore. “If I had known…”
“You wouldn’t have come,” Wyn said, “just as you’ve declined every invitation for the past month and a half. I’m still surprised Zita managed to get you here as it is. What’d she do, hide your video games? Threaten you with some dire annoyance like having to hear that techno-cumbia stuff for five hours straight that she likes?”
Zita coughed, eager to abandon that line of questioning before it came out that she had threatened him with Wyn coming over for a heart-to-heart talk. “Dude, you ditched us after the Water Balloon Death Run 3000 when we had all agreed to go to that all-you-can-eat buffet near the obstacle course. Who does that? It was all-you-can-eat and they had the giant snow crab legs and a sundae bar! It’s inconceivable you would skip it! Just inconceivable!”
“I don’t think that word means what you think… never mind.” Andy shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Wasn’t hungry, and not all of us are slaves to our stomachs. Look, I’m not good company right now anyway–”
“We don’t give a shit about you amusing us. After all, we know you and like you anyway.” Zita shrugged and dismissed his argument with a wave of her hand.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Wyn shook her head. “What Zita’s saying in her inimitable way is that you don’t have to be anyone but you with us. Yes, I’ll ask you some questions. You don’t have to answer, in part thanks to Zita who made it a condition of her participation in this exercise. We’re your friends, we love you, and we’re going to spend some time together even if you’re miserable.”
“I thought you were supposed to make hanging out with us sound good instead of like a quasi-threat,” Zita said, narrowing her eyes at the other woman.
If you enjoyed this Power cut scene, the book releases May 5, 2018 at most major book retailers:
On December 2, 2016, I released the new Arca short story, Tourists. It’s approximately 10,500 words long, and, as usual, includes immoderate language and comic book violence. The events within occur after Human (scheduled for release May 2017), but do not provide major spoilers.
Description
Las Vegas welcomes and flamboyantly entertains millions of tourists annually. It’s famous for it. However, the latest visitors may be more than even Sin City can handle.
To avoid endangering others or revealing their real identities, Zita Garcia and her friends, Andy and Wyn, planned to practice their respective superpowers in an abandoned section of the desert. Visit Las Vegas, a crowded city filled with people with cameras? No way, no matter what Zita’s heard about the buffets.
But when possible aliens invade the infamous Las Vegas Strip, what can Zita and her friends do but rescue the city (and all that food)?
No Elvis impersonators were harmed in the writing of this story.
Availability
This free short story is only available to newsletter subscribers, both new and existing. December 2016 subscribers also receive the other newsletter-exclusive short story, Washout.
This is the official free first chapter announcement for Super. In case you’ve forgotten what that is, here’s the blurb again. For your reading delectation, read the first chapter here!
What’s in the sample?
This sample is the complete, almost-final version of the first chapter of Super, and weighs in at approximately 4,700 words. Should any typos or grammatical problems occur between now and the release date (May 5, I’m looking at you!), those will be fixed in the final version posted at online retailers.
Simply, it introduces Zita Garcia, a bit about her world, and a touch of trouble to start things off right.
How long is Super anyway?
The novel itself is approximately 110,000 words. Samples at online retailers may be longer than this one.
Why the free first chapter announcement hubbub?
I’m excitable that way. Plus, how would you know about it if I didn’t tell you?
What goes well with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans?
Main character Zita Garcia would say “pretty much anything.” If you guessed the first chapter of Super, you’re right! Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it. If you don’t celebrate it, you can still enjoy the sample.
As of May 5, 2020, Toga is loose and running free, throwing laurel wreaths and available for purchase at every major retailer. Don’t myth this one! The ebook is $3.99 USD or the equivalent, and most major ebook retailers should be more than happy to sell it to you.
Las Vegas welcomes and flamboyantly entertains millions of tourists annually. It’s famous for it. However, the latest visitors may be more than even Sin City can handle.
