October 2013

Even before WordFire Press became his publisher, I was a fan of Mike Baron’s dark, edgy fiction. I accepted two of his stories for my BLOOD LITE anthology series. I read his ground-breaking comics work on NEXUS, THE PUNISHER, THE BADGER, DEADMAN, STAR WARS, THE FLASH, and others. He has won both the Inkpot and the Eisner Award, two of the highest honors in the comics field. Like me, he grew up in Wisconsin, and he also escaped.  And he also enjoys a good microbrew IPA. What’s not to like?

CLOCKWORK ANGELS: The Novel is an innovative project in many ways, a colorful steampunk fantasy adventure, a story of a young man’s journey across a landscape filled with wonders, lost cities of gold, alchemy, pirates, exotic carnivals, steamliners, a Watchmaker, and of course the Clockwork Angels.  The novel itself was nominated for the Colorado Book Award and won the Scribe Award at last year’s San Diego Comic Con.

After Frank Herbert published his brilliant first novel THE DRAGON IN THE SEA in 1956, he spent years writing manuscript after manuscript, but was unable to find a publisher.  Until finally in 1963 he wrote a ground-breaking work about a desert planet, which changed the face of science fiction forever.