Your Best Science, Science Fiction, and Fantasy of March is right here. Author Andy Zach scans the internet for you. What’s there?
I’ve got so much for you! Where do I start?
Here’s a science fiction review of one of my favorite books:
Overall 5 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 5 out of 5 stars
03-23-22
Another winner by Andy Zach!
Unique and wonderful book for young people. Kids see a whole new side of kids with special needs. Not weird. Just kids who are facing a different sort of challenge than they are. The story is fun and believable. It kept me interested, and I’m an old lady!
At this point in the bloc you get some science fiction. Along with some laughs.
New review for Zombie Turkeys!
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 4 out of 5 stars
03-18-22
funny
This is a parody of all those zombie apocalypse books and films. Zombie turkeys are loose in Illinois. It was hysterical when the fresh turkeys in the grocery store came to life. I had fun imagining the governor calling out the National Guard to protect turkey farms and hunt down the zombie turkeys. They were to use specially trained turkey dogs. Give this a try.
We’re Not Done! Your Science Science Fiction Fantasy Continues Below
Enjoy these gorgeous pictures of – cold water invertebrates. Who would have thunk it?
How do I follow up such a nerdy article? With a nerdier video about battery manufacturing and technology.
You see, I’m a nerd. I love all science and technology. But I’ve been especially following Tesla battery and electric car technology. Check out the next video.
What can top these stories? How about this fantasy story below?
Click to get this
A half-goblin and his pet honey badger battle pirates
When a teenaged Anuka Sandbar, criminally handsome half-goblin, visits the world’s most famous Orc brothel only the sort of fun Anuka is known for can ensue. This short story is an introduction to the beloved hero of the Dragons of Dorwine Series.
Science, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Reviews – I’m bursting with reviews and the latest science news for you. Let’s dive right in!
Cover of Patricia MiKillip’s book
Once again Patricia McKillip shows she is the mistress (mage?) of fantasy through this great mystery fantasy.
What’s so great about it? It begins with a horribly close battle between a besieging army and a castle. Both sides are losing men and neither will give in or negotiate. The world’s greatest mage, Atrix Wolfe, feels compelled to intervene to stop the final battle. He’s filled with outrage at the atrocities of war, and uses all his power to make a terror worse than either army. Both flee before it and the war ends.
The king of the castle dies, with many of his army, killed by the magical thing on the field of battle. His wife dies in sorrow, leaving a baby, Tallis, who is reared by his older brother, now the king.
Unfortunately, Atrix Wolfe loses control of his magic. The thing still kills. Plus there are many magical side effects. An unknown child appears after the battle, mute and dazed. She becomes a kitchen scullery maid, named ‘Saro’.
Atrix Wolfe, horrified by the magical backlash, forsakes magic and goes into hiding. The baby prince Tallis grows up and is sent to mage school. That’s the start of the mystery, twenty years after the battle. Tallis finds a mysterious book. Seemingly a basic book of spells, why was it hidden in a broom closet? It has no author and none of the spells work correctly.
Lovers of mysteries and of fantasy will delight in this classic.
And here’s your science fiction, derived from this article. Reversing aging? Check out my villain in this book: (Hint: the villain is not the undead mother-in-law.)
My Undead Mother-in-law cover. Click to get yours.
I read the whole book in just a few days. This is the first one that I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen before it did! I was even a bit concerned for the Zombies. (Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear myself think!)
The worst part is that I was in a rush to get back to my real life, so I hurried to get to the end…and what happens? I had to get the next book! I’m glad Kindle let me buy their unlimited plan, or else I would have to mortgage my house to find out what happens next! Save yourself the headaches and buy the set. You’re going to, anyway!
Whew! Lots of stories within stories with a wink of incredulity as we read along the pages. Tongue-in-cheek adventures, modern day villains’, and zombies; wait, are they still zombies or not? Yep, we have that zombie virus run amok with various creations to transform them back and forth. How much of a zombie body do you need to regenerate?
Gung-ho leader of the group Diane Newby, husband George, are charging on fighting crime with the discreet eye of the government as their silent partners. Somali pirates, Harrod’s London Store with real bulls in the china shop, parasitic cyborgs, virus-antivirus, bacteria, and other minute details tangle the story line into a braided rug of conspiracies and innovative solutions. And little do they know, but their arch enemy is among their group.
This was a slow read for me because so many things happen that go back into something revealed earlier that I really concentrated to meditate and map out all the subplots that make this a “HOOT “of a read. Andy Zach must keep a storyboard as big as an unabridged encyclopedia! This is a read and reread type of book that will never be loaned out because the reader will want to keep it safely hoarded away for multiple times.
Jeremy Gentle fell flat on his face at therapy. That was normal since he had cerebral palsy. But his new superpower wasn’t normal.
Then things got weirder when his best friend, Dan Elanga, got a different superpower. But Dan was still blind.
Kayla Verdera and Aubrey Wilcosky, two girls in their middle-school special ed class, discovered they too had new superpowers. Kayla was mute and needed a walker. Aubrey lost two legs and used crutches. But they were as powerful as the boys.
What should the four friends do? Jeremy knew if the word got out, it’d be a media circus. Then they started fighting crime, as the Secret Supers. Who knew a disability could be a perfect disguise? No one would ever think of disabled kids as superheroes. Then they ran into problems they never expected.
And the other book on sale is . . .
Villain’s Vacation cover
Four disabled seventh-graders with superpowers take a vacation at Coaster World. They need a break from fighting criminals. Ever since the beginning of the school year when they acquired their unusual abilities, they’ve been training and using those powers to fight crime in their town.
ittle do they know the arch-villain they recently defeated also loves coasters and is vacationing at Coaster World. Worse, the villain wants revenge. Nothing less than turning these teens to a life of crime will satisfy.
Can Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey withstand the villain’s attacks? Or will they become Super Villains?
You can only find out by reading the adventure ‘Villain’s Vacation’.
Book Conventions – as an author. I’ve been to two conventions in two weeks and I’m going to another one this week. What’s it like as an author? I’ll let you know below.
Plus, I’ve got a new review of a fantasy book for you. Then I have my usual free book offers. And I’ll let you know about a sale, coming up this Sunday, March 20, first day of spring.
Begin With the Future – What Conventions Are Approaching?
A simple search for book conventions brings up hundreds. My first filter was, “What’s in Peoria?”
In 2016, when I published my first book, nothing.
Get your Zombie Turkeys here. You get a bushel of laughter with each book.
‘He felt great. He was full of energy, he had many hens to breed with, and he was the leader of a great flock.’
Sam Melvin is a reporter with the Midley Beacon, it’s a tiny local paper – with an online presence – run by its penny-pinching editor Lisa Kambacher. When Sam sees the two turkey hunters on the slab in the local mortuary, he knows he has a story to cover and he sets out to do so with great gusto. As the zombie turkeys multiply, Sam and Lisa are the leading media team on the ground and the Midley Beacon goes international, solving their financial woes and syndicating their work across the globe. But it’s not all good news. After all, there are those people-killing zombie turkeys heading into town…
So, I went to Chambanacon, in Bloomington. It was one hour drive from Peoria. It cost some money, but I was willing to risk it. I had fun and sold some copies of my first book.
That’s pretty much how I pick my conventions.
Book Conventions -The Next Step is Packing
What to pack? How about books?
I have seven different books (soon to be eight!) and almost two hundred copies. What to take?
Enjoy all four novels in audiobook, paperback, or Kindle format!
All of them.
What else should I take?
From the very beginning, I’ve always had a signup list for my newsletter. People who buy my books are my favorite people. What if they want more? You can sign up here and get free books.
I pile about a hundred books into my rolling suitcase and another hundred in cardboard boxes ‘just in case I need them.’
Should I take anything else? How about posters, table swag (candy, business cards, bookmarks), and decorations.
Here’s my most recent convention, showing everything I’ve mentioned so far:
Andy Zach at Quadcon March 2022, Peoria Northwoods Mall
Surely that’s everything, right? Surely not!
Surely you can’t be serious!
Looking through my most recent packing list, other things are:
tablecloth
duck tape
extension cord
computer and cord and case
two cell phones with chargers
credit card reader
book stickers
cash box
receipt book
vaccination card
mask
tea thermos
lunch box
moving dolly
Book Conventions – Being There
I get totally hyped at book conventions. I love meeting my customers and future customers. Then I get to read from my books for them. Perhaps the best of all is meeting newsletter subscribers who love my newsletter and my books. No, I think the best is when a person buys my next book after enjoying one.
But wait, there’s more!
from ‘Scary Movie’
I also get to meet and talk with other authors–and–wait for it–learn from them!
Yes, I don’t know everything. I’m always picking up new ideas and approaches to writing and promoting my books.
What’s the Down Side?
There are negatives. First, you’ve got to schlep hundreds of pounds of stuff to your booth location and set everything up.
Next, you’ll get tired. Sit down, then stand and talk. Repeat for eight hours. Before, during, and afterward, be positive. Don’t let them see you cry, moan, or complain.
Finally, you’ll lug your luggage back to your car and drive home.
I love that someone is writing fun superstories in which disabled and differently abled kids can see themselves as potentially brave and heroic. The story doesn’t just show them doing impossible things that fully abled people can’t even do; it shows them using their heads to solve problems and cooperating together to use their different gifts to change the world for the better. And it’s well told, with a youthful sounding narrator that highlights the 12-13 years of the characters.
I received this free audiobook and voluntarily left this honest review.
Note: While this is Book 2 in the series, it works pretty well as a stand alone story (tho book 1 is a lot of fun).
Once again the Secret Supers (Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey) combine their skills to fight evil! Well, actually, they were having a bit of a vacation and evil found them. But evil will certainly be sorry! Once again, Andy Zach gives us another delightful kids’ book. I’ve listened to his other audiobooks, including the Zombie Turkeys books, and this is a great addition to that collection.
