Michael Tierney’s Wild Stars V is out now in all formats.
Need to catch up on Wild Stars? Really, at this point, the cheapest and easiest way is with the Wild Stars Omnibus. Use promo code WELCOME15 at checkout for 15% off. This tome contains all 4 previous volumes of Wild Stars in a single coffee table format.
Here’s a question we get sometimes: When should I expect to hear back from you after I’ve submitted my story?
It’s kinda hard to say, since I’m the one reading all of the stories. If we get a lot of stories, it takes longer to hear back from us.
First of all, we will always send a confirmation of receipt email once we’ve received and downloaded your manuscript. If it has been a few days and you have not gotten a short, polite “Thank you for your submission, blah blah blah,” it means we probably didn’t receive your manuscript, in which case, try to follow up no later than the 10th of August. We’ll allow for some grace depending on the circumstances, but it depends on more factors than I can really outline here.
Now, regarding rejections and offers:
If you submitted to us on the first day of submissions and it’s taking awhile to hear from us, it likely means we’re still considering your story but haven’t reached a final decision based on our budget and space constraints.
If you submitted to us on the last day of submissions and it’s taking awhile to hear from us, it likely means we haven’t gotten to your story yet. We really do try to give everyone who submits a fair shake, but there does come a point where I’m pretty happy with a stack of stories that I’ve read, and every story I read after that stands a chance of getting in means bumping off something I’d already been strongly considering, possibly even set my heart on!
So, it’s not a bad idea to submit early if you can! [and by early, I mean on the first day that we are open, not before we open–please don’t do that].
I’ll try to have everything settled by the end of September: that’s the target. Earlier would be nice. If we’re still holding onto your story by sometime in September but we haven’t contacted you with an offer yet, we may contact you to let you know that you haven’t been forgotten about and are still under consideration.
Again, the biggest factor is how many stories we get. Could be a hundred. Easy peasy. We get nearly 200 or more like we have some years? That makes it tougher. Like I said, we try to give all the stories a fair shake, but we’re really limited in how much we can afford to buy and place. And yes, I will play favorites with past contributors and IPs I’m personally a fan of, but there’s never a guarantee.
In this interview, we talk Cirsova deepest lore, going back to even before we found Jeffro, plus music, and dunking on bad SFF covers!
This was a lot of fun. Check it out!
Don’t forget to check our Mongoose and Meerkat on Kickstarter! Time is almost up for pre-orders!
We were on the Wordcraft Podcast last night with Kat Rocha and J. Ishiro, plus a drop-in appearance of Fiannawolf. It was a lot of fun: check it out!
Jim Breyfogle was on a surprise Superversive stream with Ben Wheeler! You won’t want to miss either of these shows. [Ben turns his fan off after the first couple minutes, please bear with it!]
The Summer issue of Cirsova is out now! That means the Fall issue of Cirsova will soon be upon us!
Advertising rates can be found here: https://cirsova.wordpress.com/cirsova-magazine/advertising/
We’re accepting all ads except for back cover [which has already been sold]
We’re still hoping to do submissions during the first week of August, but I just got hit with about $4k in plumbing expenses. The good news: I’ve got the money. The better news: Cirsova is already front-loaded with 75K words of fiction for 2023 by special arrangement. The bad news: Unless we get a major cash injection soon, we’ll probably be just looking at around 100k words and 2 issues next year, or kick back Open Submissions/go invite-only.
The two fastest ways for us to get the cash we need in time to buy things in August:
We’re two days late because the price drop didn’t process within the 72 hour window, but you can now buy the Summer 2022 issue of Cirsova on Amazon for $14.99. You can still get it from Lulu (on nice paper) for $14.99, or $34.99 in linen-wrapped hardcover. But I know a lot of people just like to buy stuff from Amazon [I’m kind of one of them], so rock on with it!
Or, well, it’s supposed to be…
The eBook is available from Amazon.
Amazon STILL hasn’t dropped the price down to where we told them to, so hold off on buying it from them.
Instead, if you want a softcover, or even a hardcover, you can get it from Lulu [on nicer paper] right now and save 15% with promo code WELCOME15.
Vran, the Chaos-Warped (Book 1)
By D.M. RITZLIN
Vran the Chaos-Warped has sworn that the wizard Foad Misjak must die for his debaucheries! Vran’s strange nature due to a sorcerous accident, however, twists with unpredictable results all magic around him… and strands both on another world!
Orphan of the Shadowy Moons (Part 2)
By MICHAEL TIERNEY
The Black Assassins have slaughtered all the children of the Worldlord except Strazis, the strange golden child he adopted as his heir! Strazis’s escape strands him on a mysterious isle as the Worldlord goes to war to secure the fragile empire!
Death and Renewal
By JIM BREYFOGLE
The Prince of Alomar has won a slave from the Bursa… Kat and Mangos must ensure the slave’s silence at all cost, but on one condition: they cannot kill him!
What Price the Stars
By JEFF STONER
Jørgen Pangloss offers the promise of the unthinkable: faster-than-light travel! To what lengths will potential investors go to win Jørgen monopoly… and its fetters!?
Dead Planet Drifter
By J.D. COWAN
Galactic Enforcer Ronan Renfield finds himself prisoner of a death-worshiping cult! Can the whispers from his past aid him in his battle against the cannibals?!
The Last Khazar
By REV. JOE KELLY
Two men, one a Polish Jew, the other a Prussian Nazi, are bound by dreams and bound by destiny to confront one another, both in the present and in the past!
Melkart and the Crocodile God
By MARK MELLON
An evil and sorcerous monster plagues the land of Kush! Can Melkart stop the crocodile-headed man-beast Sosostris from enslaving the people of Meroë!?
My Name is John Carter (Part 12)
By JAMES HUTCHINGS
Reviews
By J. COMER
At the end of this month, we’ll be launching the Kickstarter for Tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat, Volume 2: The Heat of the Chase!
Mangos, the brash and somewhat impetuous swordsman, and Kat, the mysterious Alnessi rogue, have been adventuring together for a year now, and have finally begun to build a reputation as competent adventurers who can get the job done when the price is right.
The duo sets up shop in the city of Alomar, a place where anything can be bought and sold. While seeking patrons for future plans, the Mongoose and Meerkat turn old enemies into new allies, but there’s always cost! While Mangos seeks flashy wealth and fame, Kat has her eyes on bigger prizes… and making some new and powerful foes among the elites comes with the territory when the Crown of Alness is on the line!
The Heat of the Chase collects the second year of Kat and Mangos’s adventures together, including:
Plus, as a bonus, we’re including the previously unpublished standalone novella, Thunderhead!
We’re offering The Heat of the Chase in eBook and three physical formats:
As a bonus, we’re giving ALL backers a digital copy of Tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat Volume 1: Pursuit Without Asking so you can get all caught up!
Signed Bookplate
Mongoose and Meerkat Volume 1
Original Art
$3000 – RPG Bonus Content
Like with Volume 1, we will be adapting elements of these stories into gaming content! The hardcover’s appendix will contain additional stats, items, and more! Plus, updated character sheets for Kat and Mangos.
100 Audiobooks – M&M Volume 2 Audiobook
Show us that there’s demand for an Audiobook of Mongoose and Meerkat Volume 2! We think that Erin Mitchell did a fantastic job reading for volume 1 [she absolutely nails Kat], and we’d love to do another! If 100 backers get the Audiobook add-on, we’ll do what we can to get her on board and record Volume 2 for us!
Last week, we did an interview with Critical Blast talking about the Wild Stars. I was hesitant to post it, because I feel like we were all over the place and didn’t really do a good job of conveying what the book we’re publishing is about.
On the face of it, Wild Stars may seem like a daunting IP to get into, because it’s been around for 40 years, has a huge cast of characters, and a wide varieties of stories and storytelling that takes place within it told across different media.
Michael looks at Wild Stars in the whole of what he’s doing and what he’s done with it, so his pitches can lack a bit of focus with his excitement for the work in its entirety. So, I’ll take this opportunity to try to give a more concise Wild Stars and Artomique Paradigm pitch:
Wild Stars is an action scifi epic in the tradition of the classic pulps that brings in innumerable elements to make it truly unique and, well, WILD! It’s the saga of two branches of humanity: those who left for the stars 75,000 years ago when Atlantis fell, and the human population of earth which remained. These branches have had occasional encounters over the course of that time [Ancient Aliens are really just our galactic cousins!] but the two have remained largely apart while Earth has caught up with the Wild Stars.
The Artomique Paradigm takes place when these two branches of humanity are attempting to formally establish relations. Achilles “Whip” Hister, the son of an alternate reality Hitler, is poised to take his seat on the head of the board of the Artomique Corporation, which now controls Earth. Whip is determined to walk his own path and lead the Artomique Earth in a different direction, but his father has other plans! A secret alliance between the Artomiques and Space Pirates almost guarantees the Artomique Earth’s dominance over the stars, and Whip finds himself on the run with his new friends Daestar, the telepath and wife of an immortal prince of the Wild Stars, and Bully Bravo the last Republican President of Earth before the Artomique takeover.
The Artomique Paradigm features covers by Anton Oxenuk, Genzoman, and DarkFilly, with interior illustrations by Dark Filly.
Softcover copies are as low as $20.
Critical Blast Interview is below the Kickstarter embed.
The Cirsova Spring 2022 Issue is Out Now!
Orphan of the Shadowy Moons (Part 1)
By MICHAEL TIERNEY
At long last, the origins of the Ancient Warrior are revealed! Fleeing from the Artomique fleet, Daestar, Bully Bravo, and the Ancient Warrior find a refuge of the immortal race—it is there that the psychic locks on his past are finally released!
The Flying Mongoose
By JIM BREYFOGLE
Dragons have cut off the smiths of Pytheas, but Kat and Mangos have a plan! Un-fortunately, it will require the duo taking to the skies themselves!
Channel 121, After Midnight
By MARK PELLEGRINI
Bored on a Saturday night, Caleb discovers a new channel that has never appeared on the cable box before, offering strange programming and an ominous warning!
The Recorporator Finds a Live One!
By ANDREW MAJORS
A lone Recorporator has just blown a ton of money on rights to a world that he thinks may be a dud… until strange things begin to happen to his scanner drones!
Serpent God of Mars
By ADRIAN COLE
Though defeated by the trainee witchfinder, Arrul Voruum, the sorcerer Rannas Kavannian has survived in a broken stolen body and hides in the depths of Mars!
The City of the Crocodile God
By OWEN G. TABARD
Strange things are afoot in the city sacred to the Crocodile God—her son dead, the high priestess is in a malaise… and a sacred crocodile attacks during the festival!
Darla of Deodanth: Firewood
By LOUISE SORENSEN
After the incident at Machu Hampacchu, all that was left for Darla to do was to re-stock firewood for the excavation site—but no task is simple on the Eldritch Earth!
An Ayre By Landor
By JEFFERY SCOTT SIMS
A magic potion has rendered the Duke of Vardix invulnerable! Can Morca stop the Duke’s scheme to assassinate Lady Niada before all at the Festival of Azamodius?!
Just Another Crappy Story That Kills Everybody In It
By Jim Breyfogle
The Fictionverse is where stories are acted out when pen hits paper—but what happens in a bad or poorly written story? Bob the Guardsman is about to find out!
Dreaming of Mart Senson
By LIVIU SURUGIU [Translated by J.S. Bangs]
Something strange is happening to Mart Senson! The faces of individuals he has dreamed of, and who have dreamed of him, are appearing in portrait on his skin!
Touch of Night
By ERIK JOHNSON
Edward Argot, PI, is approached with a strange job: go deep undercover to inform on a mysterious prisoner… The catch? Said prisoner is reputed to be immortal!
The Sound of Silence
By RODICA BRETIN
An orphan is assaulted by the monstrous Professor Wilberforce—killing her as-sailant lands her in an institution, where trauma manifests in her strange powers!
My Name is John Carter (Part 11)
By JAMES HUTCHINGS
[Also, don’t forget that the Kickstarter for Michael Tierney’s Wild Stars is live!]
Cirsova 