Friday, December 28, 2018

4th Day of Christmas Author Spotlight: Charles Payseur


Author Bio:
Charles Payseur lives and writes in the frozen reaches of Wisconsin, where he enjoys the craft beer and excellent cheeses of the area a bit more than is strictly healthy. Along with his partner and growing herd of pets, he avoids doing household projects by reading and writing, and his short fiction and poetry has been published or is forthcoming at Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, and Lightspeed Magazine, among others.


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EMAIL: gipps1986@gmail.com 



How the Supervillain Stole Christmas 
Summary:
Spandex and Superpowers #1
Rex Devious (Dr. Devious to meddlesome do-gooders everywhere) can go toe-to-toe with superheroes without blinking an eye. So picking out a Christmas present for his new boyfriend should be no problem. After all, he and Sanjay seem perfect for each other. But with a terrible track record for finding gifts that won’t scare his potential partners away, Rex is paralyzed with insecurity. Until, of course, he decides to change tactics. Instead of having to pick out that perfect present, why not just destroy Christmas altogether? If his nemeses (or his conscience) can’t stop him first, he might just become the supervillain who stole Christmas.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

Comic Book Romance 
Summary:
Spandex and Superpowers #2
A maximum-security supervillain prison plus a new colleague with a reputation for attracting trouble. What could possibly go wrong?

Calvin Kant is what anyone would want in a reporter—an excellent typist, a dogged investigator, and an upstanding citizen. Oh, and a superhero. At least, his alter ego, Maxim, is. Fleeing a messy situation at his last job, Cal arrives in Capital City without much direction—until fellow reporter Liang Lu sweeps him into a dangerous assignment.

A supervillain prison break leaves them trapped and in peril, with Cal juggling his growing attraction to Liang with his need to protect his secret identity. And that mess Cal’s running from could catch up with him at exactly the wrong moment, leaving him vulnerable. Luckily Liang’s got more than good looks going for him, and together the two men might just save the day—and each other—and find their own comic book romance.

The Werewolf Before Christmas 
Summary:
Spandex and Superpowers #3
Ray seems like the perfect boyfriend—he’s gorgeous, incredibly romantic, and has a mechanical suit he invented to become the dastardly MantaRay. For Alec, who also spends his nights making life difficult for do-gooders everywhere, it’s a match made in supervillain heaven. Except that Ray is a bit too into the hit soap opera All My Werewolves. When tempers flare during what’s supposed to be a quiet night out, Alec nearly ruins everything over a stupid bet with an alien gorilla.

Desperate to prove his feelings to Ray, and with Christmas fast approaching, Alec decides the fastest way to Ray’s heart is to embrace the thing that threatens to divide them—a certain werewolf show with a certain actor who Ray admires. A simple kidnapping promises to do the trick, only fur (and fandom) fly when Alec’s romantic gesture leads to a very hairy situation. Can Alec prove to Ray how much their relationship means to him, or will his plans be ruined by the werewolf before Christmas?

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2017 Advent Calendar collection Stocking Stuffers.

Click Saturday Series Spotlight: Spandex & Superpowers to read my original reviews for series entries #1-3

Heroes for Holidays
Summary:
Spandex and Superpowers #4
Cody travels from Metro City to the Caribbean island lair of Dr. Devious to look after the place while the supervillain is in space for the holidays… and maybe to mend his broken heart. With Christmas fast approaching, Cody is desperate to avoid reminders of his recent disastrous breakup, and a few weeks of sun and relaxation sound perfect—until a drunk (but very cute) superhero crashes the party by literally crashing onto the beach.

And that’s just the start of Cody’s problems—angry shark-men, mysterious lava creatures, and a malfunctioning AI all make his holiday getaway anything but relaxing. Amid the chaos of his adventures in lair-sitting, though, Cody might find just what he needs—a new chance at love.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Calendar "Warmest Wishes."

Click Random Tales of Christmas 2018 Part 7 to read my original review.

Fieldwork
Summary:
Agent Ignacio Ritter is content serving the CXO, the Central Xenomorph Organization, from the safety of his desk. He has good reasons for avoiding fieldwork like the plague: his parents died in the field, leaving him to be raised among wolf-shifters. Because of his adopted family, everyone thinks he is a wolf, a lie that protects him from the ridicule he’d face if he revealed the truth.

When the charming and dangerous tiger-shifter Agent Reed Daily chooses Ignacio to help close the books on a gang threatening to tear Chicago apart, Ignacio can’t refuse. Perhaps it’s the chance to avenge his parents, or perhaps it’s the tight fit of Reed’s suit and heat Reed’s smile ignites in Ignacio. When the chips are down and the whole city’s depending on him, will Ignacio prove himself a man or a mouse?


How the Supervillain Stole Christmas
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Comic Book Romance
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The Werewolf Before Christmas

Heroes for Holidays

Fieldwork
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📘🎥Friday's Film Adaptation🎥📘: Willie the Squowse by Ted Allan


Summary:
In between two houses lives Willie the Squowse. Half mouse, half squirrel (and an incredibly talented acrobat) Willie is forced into a secret life between two apartments when he is suddenly faced with violent anti-mouse prejudice.

“Willie took a deep breath and made a dash for the hole in the wall. He hid in a dark corner, his heart beating fast and loud. No one had ever tried to kill him before.”

For young readers, this book follows the heroic adventures of a young squirrel.





Chapter 2
You remember that at the beginning of this story you were told of two houses being back to back. One was the old run- down slum house that was cold in winter and hot in summer. The time has now come to tell you about that house.
   
In the kitchen of this slum house two men were talking. One man was called Joe. He was short. The other man was called Pete. He was tall. Joe, the short one, was an animal trainer. Pete, the tall one, was a theatrical agent. Pete's job was to find actors and sell them to theatres to do their acts.
   
Every time Joe, the short one, would start to say something, Pete, the tall one, would shake his head and interrupt, saying,
   
'I know, Joe, but it won't go!'
   
'Why don't you give me a chance to finish what I have to say?' Joe asked.
   
'What difference will it make?' Pete answered. 'It just isn't box-office. Can't you see it isn't commercial?'
   
'But I tell you ... ' Joe started to say.
   
Pete was losing his patience. 'Look, Joe,' he said, 'an elephant, a seal, a dog, even a cat, but not a mouse, Joe. Not a mouse!' Pete's voice became loud.
 
 'He is not a mouse!' Joe replied impatiently. 'He is a squouwse! His father was a squirrel and -his mother was a mouse! That makes him a squowse!'
   
'It looks like a mouse!' Pete insisted.
   
'He has the face of a mouse,' said Joe, 'and the tail of a squirrel. He's got the best features of both parents!'
   
'It still looks like a mouse!' Pete shouted, 'and I don't like mice!'
   
'You don't have to shout,' Joe said. 'I've been training all
 kinds of animals for years and I tell you that this animal is almost human.'
   
Pete tried to hide his exasperation. 'I know, Joe, but it won't go!' he said again.
 
 As they were talking, a little brown creature, with brown fur and brown eyes, was doing tricks on a trapeze. He did double flips. He swung back and forth with each paw. He stood on the trapeze with one leg. He got off the trapeze and walked up and back like a soldier. Then he held out his two front less, hummed Alouette and danced a jig.
   
'See?' Joe said.
   
'I see,' Pete said, 'and I hear,' Pete said, 'but it isn't box- office!'
 
 Then the squowse did his best trick of all, giving it every- thing he had, doing five and a half turns in one somersault and landing on his right front leg.
   
'His name is Willie,' said Joe proudly.
   
'I can get acrobats ten a penny,' said Pete.
   
'But not a squowse!'Joe shouted, in total frustration.
   
Pete got up from his chair, grabbed his hat and said, 'I've got to go, Joe. Sorry. The women would scream. There'd be a panic in the theatre. No manager would risk it. An elephant act, a dog act, a seal act, even a cat act, but not a squowse act, Joe. It just isn't box-office. Can't you see? ^
   
'I tell you Willie is almost human,' Joe said, holding Pete's arm. 'He understands everything. He can do almost anything. I bought him from a farmer who trained him. It happens
 once in a million years, something like Willie.'
   
'Maybe so,' said Pete. 'but I don't go for a squowse act. Sorry.' .
   
During all this time Willie was still standing on his right front leg, looking from Joe to Pete and from Pete to Joe.
   
Pete got to the door and left without saying goodbye.
   
Willie got down on his four legs and sighed.
 
'Well, you heard it,'Joe said, sitting down and holding his head in his hand.

Willie nodded.
   
'What's the use?' Joe was still holding his head. He was very depressed. 'What's the use about anything? Maybe it would've been better if you'd had no brains and no under- standing and were just an ordinary animal like all the other animals. Maybe it'd be better if you lived like all the others.'

Willie felt awful.

'There's no use fooling ourselves,' Joe sighed. 'I thought our act would sweep the country. I saw you in tails and me in tails, our names in lights, the world at our feet. Pete's right. I was a fool to think a squowse act would go over.'

Willie felt worse.

'Anyway, let's get some sleep,' Joe said. 'We've got to get out of here tomorrow. Let's get some sleep. Perhaps I'll think of something.'
   
That night, while Joe slept, Willie paced the floor. He couldn't sleep. He walked up and back, up and back, and he thought, 'What's so terrible? So we don't go on the stage. So we don't get famous. So we're not box-office. Is that so terrible? We've got along before. Is that all I've meant to Joe - just a means of getting famous and rich?'
   
These thoughts troubled him. Willie lay down but he couldn't fall asleep. He started walking up and back again. He was thinking very hard. Then he noticed a little hole in the wall, just above the floor. He stuck his head through. The inside of the wall looked very interesting. Plaster. Lattices. Sticks. Pipes. He scrambled through the hole and started to explore, in the hope that it would take his mind off his troubles. But he was still so,absorbed with his thoughts that he didn't look where he was going and slipped. As he slipped a piece of loose plaster fell, hit him on the head, just above the ear, a very soft spot, and knocked him unconscious.


A squirrel becomes the guardian angel for an impoverished family.

Release Date: March 1, 1950
Release Time: 87 minutes

Cast:
Jimmy Durante as Mr. Louie Amendola
Terry Moore as Rosalinda Amendola
Tom Drake as Peter 'Pete' Dingle
Frank Orth as Mr. Frank Dingle
Sara Haden as Mrs.Katie Dingle
Queenie Smith as Mrs. Amendola
Chick Chandler as Phil Davis
Jimmy Conlin as Joe Mahoney
Rupert an animated squirrel
Hugh Sanders as Mulligan
Don Beddoe as Mr. Haggerty
Candy Candido as Molineri the Florist
Clancy Cooper as Police Lt. Saunders
Harold Goodwin as Callahan, F.B.I. Man
Frank Cady as Mr. Taney, Tax Investigator





Author Bio:
Ted Allan (1916-1995) was a playwright, actor, screenwriter, novelist, and biographer. A dedicated Young Communist, Allan's works include "This Time a Better Earth" (1939) and "Love Is a Long Shot" (1984), which won the Stephen Leacock Award. "The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune" (1952) is his best-known work.


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Film
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Colorized Reissue as A Christmas Wish

Release Blitz: Illumined Shadows by GR Lyons

Title: Illumined Shadows
Author: GR Lyons
Series: Treble and the Lost Boys Trilogy #3
Genre: M/M Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: December 28, 2018
Summary:
When Victor Lucius was sixteen years old, a few cruel words out of his mouth led to a brutal tragedy, one that Vic has been trying to make up for ever since. Now, working as a missing persons expert, Vic tracks down and rescues people from abandonment or abuse, trying to alleviate the guilt constantly weighing him down.

His latest case—a boy who was kidnapped at the age of two and then held captive for nineteen years—is by far the darkest of his career. If there's any chance of Vic finally redeeming himself, helping this boy might be it.

But rescuing Colby from his basement prison is only the beginning, and brings a whole new struggle to Vic's life:

Temptation…

(Note: This story takes place in a fictional world, the same as in the Shifting Isles Series. There are multiple gods, different names for the days of the week, etc. A glossary is included.)



Author Bio:
While daylighting as office manager for the family auto repair business, G.R. Lyons can often be found working on one of multiple manuscripts or desperately trying to keep up with the TBR pile.

Anarcho-capitalist, quietly ‘out’ trans guy, former belly dancer, coffee guzzler, highly-sensitive introvert, CrossFit enthusiast, and lover of m/m romantic fiction.


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EMAIL: grlyons@grlyonsauthor.com



Illumined Shadows #3

Ice on Fire #1

Heavens Aground #2




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