Riverside Dickens Festival & You & Me

Not to scale!

As I vaguely vagued to y’all about ten days ago, I’m doing a thing. I signed the contract yesterday to have a vendor booth at the Riverside Dickens Fest—25 Years of Wit and Wisdom. (Please Note: No actual wit or wisdom was harmed in the making of this festival.) Here are the details:

Where: Downtown Riverside

When: Saturday, February 22^nd & Sunday, February 23rd

What: Selling and Signing books, talking about books, and reading books

Which Books: The Clockwork Detective, Tears of Heaven, Hell Becomes Her, and Company of the Damned

As an added incentive, if you need one, I’ll be giving away mini pendant pocket watches with each purchase. Emphasis on both the mini and the pendant. While they actually do open and tell time, I am not responsible for any alternative universes they might open, or changes in the historical timeline that you are otherwise familiar with.

There will be a ton of other stuff that you can do at the Dickens Festival, including other vendors of various stuff, music, exhibitions of strength, a Victorian tea party, escape rooms, and probably Baby Yoda will show up to entertain the masses.

Ok, ok. Maybe not the ACTUAL Baby Yoda, but certain "a" Baby Yoda will be in appearance in some form.

Short-Listed!

I'm sure he died of natural causes!

Helluva weekend, folks!

The big news today is that THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE was shortlisted by Chanticleer International Book Awards for the OZMA, “. . . emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Fantasy Fiction.” You may recall that previously, the novel survived the slush pile to move into the long list. 

I actually held my breath when I started scrolling through.

The next stage is semi-finals, so fingers crossed for that.

In the meantime, I’ve submitted my Aubrey Hartmann novella BENEATH A FEARFUL MOON to my publisher. Here’s a small taste from the opening:

Pulled from the mill pond, the corpse was bloated, swollen into a horrible caricature with a bluish-gray pallor. Aubrey knelt to examine the man, torn between revulsion of his current state and fascination for how he died. Only scraps of cloth remained on his body at the wrists, ankles and neck as reminders of the clothes he’d worn. Long, deep gashes covered him in a rough zig-zag pattern from the top of his head down to his toes. They looked like knife or sword wounds in tight groups of three. She wasn’t going to touch him, but the slashes reminded Aubrey of a bear mauling, except without bite marks, and no part of him had been chewed and eaten. The mutilation made her think it was a deliberate.

No release date on this yet, but definitely this year, and hopefully quite soon!

ENMU Graduate, Award-Winning Author Discusses 20 Years of Writing

Clues everywhere!

Last week, I received a request for an interview from my alma mater. They saw the blurb that went out about me in the alumni magazine.

RobRoy McCandless, who received a Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication from Eastern New Mexico University in 1996, has been a writer for over 20 years and published his fourth novel, "The Clockwork Detective," last spring.

The award-winning author, who was a 2015 EPIC eBook finalist and winner of the 2014 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Preditors & Editors Reader's Poll in urban fantasy, discusses how his time at ENMU prepared him for a lifetime of writing.

Why did you choose ENMU?

ENMU wasn't even on my radar, but they sent me a postcard that piqued my interest. I hadn't thought of a small university in a small town as the place for me, but the more I considered the class size, the professor-to-student ratio and the overall costs—even as an out-of-state student—the more sense it made. ENMU also had a reasonably diverse student body, which for a guy from suburban Utah was a powerful draw. When I found out that Dr. Jack Williamson, the "Dean of Science Fiction," had attended and sometimes still taught, I was sold!

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Why did you attend (or not attend) a university?

Tell me in the comments below!

Something for Everyone—Hopefully!

"Necromancer" by vityso

As promised last week, here’s an update on all the projects that will hopefully release in 2020:

The Clockwork Detective audio book—For all those who have been asking for this, I’m working with the award-winning Joanna Teljuer to bring Constable Aubrey Hartmann to life.

Relics of Purgatory—Marrin fans get their very own standalone adventure in this post-COMPANY OF THE DAMNED tale with our favorite seven-foot tall Nordic drink of water.

Beneath a Fearful Moon—This free—yes, I said free—novella is a Constable of Aqualinne story, an adventure that takes Aubrey into the heart of greed and violence.

Unnamed Constable of Aqualinne novel—I’m several chapters in and the story is moving along at a good clip. I’m hoping to have it completed in the next few months, with a possible release late 2020.

Of course, every writer has more than a few irons in the fire. Some of these are certain. But some of these are only a better-than-average goal. All of these WILL happen, and I’m fingers-crossed that will be this year.

What are your goals for 2020?

Tell me in the comments below!

Clean Shirt, Clean Shoes

And I don't know where I am goin' to!

Stay tuned for some interesting news regarding the many and various projects coming out this year, and events that I’m going to be attending. 2020 is shaping up to be pretty spectacular.

Speaking of events, I’m super-duper excited by the purchase I just made from SteamEraProduction. Appropriately, they're located in the UK! I'll use this for steampunk/Victorian-themed conventions, readings, and whatnot (see picture). I’ve had my eye on this outfit for some time, and finally saved up to make the purchase. It’s on its way, and I’m pretty stoked. It fits right into THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE styling.

I’m still on the fence about a hat. Hats are part-and-parcel with the steampunk aesthetic. The problem is that I’ve never been a hat guy. Only in extreme camping cases, or when I have girlfriend/wife hair but have to run to the store will I even consider a hat.

Perhaps some round, wire-rim sunglasses will be acceptable?

What’s your favorite costume?

Past, present, or future?

Tell me on the comments below!

Not Today, Pal!

You can have my steampunk when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

Of course, once you’ve done that, you’re gonna wanna read it, and the next thing you know you’re buying your first pair of goggles to put on a bowler hat, and you’re wearing a pocketwatch/time machine.

So really, steampunk will never die.

That said, I did make this article, Year in Review: Steampunk in the News about the winnings and failings of the steampunk world:

BOOKS

• The Clockwork Detective, the first book in the Constable of Aqualinne series by RA McCandless. The novel from Ellysian Press earned praise from pioneering steampunk author James P. Blaylock.

What Piece of Nostalgia Do You Keep Alive?

Tell Me in the Comments Below!

Aubrey Speaks Out!

It's pronounced "wrench" you cretin!

We've known each other for a while now and I think we both feel a deeper connection. I think we're ready to take this to the next level, and dive into how the metric system to works.

Or maybe I just update you on the latest and greatest for THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE:

Aubrey, and all her friends, frenemies, nemeses (plural of nemesis—I had to look it up), and flat out enemies will all soon have a voice. That voice comes in the form of the very talented and experienced Joanna Teljeur.

We’re still working out details, but as always, I’ll keep you updated on the what’s what and when’s when!

Welcome to the Roaring 2020s!

Whose voice do you hear when you read?

Tell me in the comments below!

Five Bucks!

Carefully numbered for your convenience!

Welcome to 2020, where all the technological advances Hollywood ever promised have finally been delivered.

You want a flying car?  We’ve got your flying car right here!

You want a wearable computer/phone that helps monitor your health? Tech on your wrist is ready to go!

You want to take a trip into space. Book your flights now!

In celebration of the Roaring 2020s, I’m cleaning out my stock of books to make room for more. Ok, ok. I’m not making room for more, I’m just trying to get what I have up off the floor and onto a shelf before my wife “cleans up”.

My loss is your gain!

On a first-come first-served basis, you can get one or two of my previous cover books for the low price of shipping alone! Five dollars gets you TEARS OF HEAVEN or HELL BECOMES HER or BOTH, signed with anything you want.

Shoot me an email here, let me know which covers you want (they've been numbered, but a description will work as well) and they'll be on their way!

My stocks are limited, and these are the last of their kind covers, so if you’ve been itching for a print version of the books, now is the time! Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with the awesome new covers that we released a few months ago!

Let me know which one, some of all of the covers you want, 

and we’ll make it happen!