Links To Recent Interviews/Q&As/Newsletters, etc.

Eric Flint and I participated in a couple of interviews as well as a Reddit AMA in September supporting the September 5th release of Iron Angels--the urban fantasy detective novel we co-wrote.

The Baen Free Radio Hour, September 15, 2017: Podcast-- Eric Flint and Alistair Kimble discuss their new urban fantasy novel Iron Angels, in which a team of FBI agents are hot on the trail of a mysterious cult that performs human sacrifices, a second cult that opposes the first, and an ancient evil from another dimension; and part seventeen of the complete audiobook serialization of Liaden Universe® novel Alliance of Equals by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Reddit Author AMA, September 28, 2017: Eric Flint is a NY Times bestseller and former labor union activist. Alistair Kimble is an FBI Special Agent and prior enlisted U.S. Navy Aircrewman. Somehow they managed to write Iron Angels together. Ask us anything!

MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape, September 14, 2017: Online interview of Alistair Kimble on Iron Angels and co-writing with Eric Flint.

Baen Books Monthly Newsletter for September: Baen's monthly newsletter mentioning Iron Angels.

Iron Angels is available in most places books and ebooks are sold. Below are some links to purchase unsigned and signed copies of Iron Angels.  

Links for purchasing unsigned copies of Iron Angels.

Signed copies of Iron Angels:
The Missing Volume (signed by Eric Flint & Alistair Kimble)
The BookBar (signed by Alistair Kimble)

It? If You Want Clowns...

Try Killer Klowns From Outer Space! I was hanging out at a friend's place back in the late '80s and we stumbled upon Killer Klowns one day while flipping through the channels and we couldn't stop watching.

Why? Well, the film was crazy. It was funny. It was scary. It was goofy. The Klowns in this film are wait for it...from outer space! They travel around in a spaceship that looks like a giant circus tent! Arnold thought the Predator was one ugly mother&*!$%@, but these Klowns are hideous. My very first night at Dragon Con this year I saw three people dressed up as these things and it was awesome!

Some spoilers here, but do you care? The movie has been around since the '80s.

So, why did the klowns land on earth? Well, they want to capture humans and put them in giant cotton candy cocoons, let them ferment, and drink them with a giant krazy straw of course! Duh! They terrorize a small town with popcorn guns and they twist balloons into dogs that come to life and have this little howl. The movie is bad, but it's a blast.

There are some creepy parts, some sinister and gory parts, but mostly it's just a fun horror film with ugly clowns running around. The Chiodo brothers are responsible for this flick--they are the ones behind the marionettes in Team America: World Police.

If you just want to turn off your brain and have a few laughs after seeing It, give Killer Klowns From Outer Space a try. I don't promise an award winning film, just a fun one even if it has clowns in it, and most people I know hate clowns. 

Fan Of Genre Since 1975

I was five years old in March of '75. Yes, I've been a fan since then, only I didn't come to that conclusion until recently. I'd always thought '77 was the year I became I fan. Do I need to spell out what franchise debuted in 1977? Didn't think so.

What made me think of writing this was an author interview I participated in over on the mylifemybooksmyescape blog. I brought up Kolchak: The Night Stalker as one of the influences for the novel Iron Angels, which I co-wrote with the wonderful Eric Flint.

The more obvious influence was The X-Files, but to anyone who reads Iron Angels that should be somewhat obvious. Kolchak, for the uninitiated, stars Darren McGavin (you know, the dad from A Christmas Story) as a reporter who finds himself embroiled in the fantastic and unbelievable. The show only aired for one season (there were also two TV movies that aired earlier that were highly rated) but this show was cited as an inspiration for The X-Files. I remember my great-grandmother babysitting me watching Kolchak while sipping a Pabst Blue Ribbon. The show scared me to death (there are plenty of horror elements), but it stuck with me.

Two more shows I remember from my childhood are Quincy and Columbo. Both of those are genre, too--you didn't think I only meant science fiction/fantasy/horror, did you?

The shows all have something in common, solving a mystery. Investigating. It doesn't matter if it's fantastic or based more on what we believe is reality, what obviously stuck with me was the mystery.

Let's take it even further! Another show I adored as a child was Scooby Doo. More mystery! More monsters! More investigation! Scooby Doo was my absolute favorite cartoon back then, and I still enjoy it--which is why I bought the full DVD collection housed in The Mystery Machine! And now I'm reading Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero.

What brought Scooby Doo back around to me was when I came across the most awesome cosplay at Dragon Con (annual multi-media convention held in Atlanta with around 80,000 attendees!). Not only did they have the Scooby Doo gang there, but the monsters was almost every episode! It was like I was in the cartoon!

When I got a little older, I used to watch all the classic mystery films and suspense films such as those from Hitchcock, which also influenced me and my choice of career. These are all genre, and I love to watch and read across the different genres.

Now that I'm looking back at my formative years, prodded by these recent rediscoveries I mentioned above, I think it's safe to say that genre, and in particular anything that involved mysteries and investigation led me to my career in law enforcement.

I could go on and on about television and film that influenced me, but for now, this is a good start! Thank you Granny for introducing me to genre (and horrible beer).