The Mad Song is LIVE!

My latest collection of Sword & Sorcery is live! and today only I'm pushing the kindle version like a street hustler for .99
tomorrow I'm getting it bumped up to 2.99. Get it here!

Yes, its all about those rankings.

A few of these are previously published stories that some of you may have read, but a lot of them are new that I hope you enjoy - including the first 3 chapters of my Walking Through Walls which is currently running in UGEEK magazine.

Check it out!

Fistful of Omnibus!

My oriental fantasy "Fistful of Tengu" is getting republished in a big omnibus collection combining the anthologies of Monk Punk and Shadow of the Unknown. Each were edited by Aaron J. French and combined to create one massive weird collection. It also has eleven brand new tales not in the either of the two previous books.

I am thrilled that my story of a ragged monk versus a Tengu Demon Lord is still the opener of the collection. I almost didn't write the story, but pushed on and I am so pleased at how well its been received.

Order copies of the Omnibus here for print, kindle, and even same for the UK here, and kindle.

Book Review: Monster Hunter International

I'm still strapped for time and have turned to audio books as of late to keep up with reading (which my TBR pile is still horribly overdue) and the latest book I've listened to is Larry Correia's first Monster Hunter International.

It's a great pulp ridden read, full of witty dialogue and blood soaked ichor. Larry really knows how to tease out mysteries to keep you going and wondering about what happens next as well as compelling action scenes and enough monsters and creature references from beyond - to appeal to all of my faithful readers (YOU).

Like Hellboy it mixes all kinds of pulpy things I love and sets it in the modern era, and like Hellboy I'm kicking myself that I took so long to get around to reading it. I've personally known Larry for several years and he is a pretty cool dude. I'm really looking forward to catching up on the multiple books I've got to catch up on. 

We begin Owen Pitt discovering his boss is a werewolf and about to eat him - following the American Dream, he sends his boss out a fourteen story window killing him and getting a job offer with the worlds premier monster killing outfit = MHI.

I don't want to throw in any spoilers as Pitt along with the reader discovers this secret world kept from the public at large, but needless to say its a lot of action-packed fun. Loads of little monster references (and others) that I really got a kick out of = inside type jokes etc that you don't need to be friends with Larry to get by any means. Great stuff is set up for the sequels but its also a very well done self contained novel. Larry is a writer that I greatly admire from both his writing work ethic and the mantra he told me over dinner at Fantasycon = "First and foremost - please the reader." I may be paraphrasing that but it hit home and MHI does it in spades.

Highly recommended.

I had no end of Larry's fans commenting "Mini Me" jokes when I shared this on facebook.

Birthday Book Bomb! Weird Tales of Horror

June 22nd was my birthday, on behalf of that, I am releasing my collection of short strange tales collectively entitled Weird Tales of Horror for .99 cents just for today!

I would sincerely appreciate your getting a copy and eventually leaving me a scathing review.

Among those who have had some kind words are the talented Wilum Pugmire and Bruce Durham

"With these tales of many lands and many peoples, David J. West combines an excellent prose style with a brilliant imagination to give us a solid collection of wonderful stories. This is a refreshingly original gathering of weird fiction." --W. H. Pugmire 

"David J. West, author of 'Heroes of the Fallen', is a strong voice in the field of Sword & Sorcery. His work is evocative, featuring deftly drawn characters, exotic locales and energetic tale spinning." -- Bruce Durham

47 RONIN

47 Ronin, directed by Carl Rinsch


and

47 Ronin, translated by A.B. Mitford

I watched the movie a couple weeks ago and meant to post a review sooner, but I also just finished reading the original translation this morning and I suppose appreciation for one is stronger with the other.

The premise for the movie remains the same as the original, though Hollywood turned the film into a mythic-fantasy. I will say that at least the theme was overall Japanese = the shape shifting witch, the Tengu, and some psuedo-Oni type beast. I was glad that the film had overall a Japanese cast (excepting Keanu) and that it did remain true to the honor code of the Ronin by keeping the Seppuku (ritual suicide) intact for all necessary characters.

My favorite character was played by Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai, The Wolverine) as Oishi,

who was the lead Samurai of Lord Asano Naganori. After sorcerous treachery forces Lord Asano to commit Seppuku - Oishi regroups Asano's exiled Samurai - now become masterless Samurai or Ronin, including Kai (Keanu Reeves) who is a strange half-breed loyal to the betrayed Lord Asano.

Kai is a runaway from the Tengu (one of my all time most visited blog posts) and as such is capable of bringing some extra special presence to the Ronin's cause. I found Keanu the weakest thing about the movie but I digress, I did honestly really enjoy the film. There is a slight romance between Kai and Lord Asano's daughter but everything - including the sorcery and spectacular fight scenes take a back seat to this being about honor.

 -

For the Samurai honor is everything and this movie didn't wimp out with a non-traditional ending to the original tale, it stayed true enough to that vision of the sacred 47 Ronin. I kinda wish that they had kept the original method of Oishi fooling the enemy Lord, but that might not have translated very well to an American audience.



Either way, this was one of my favorite films I've seen in the theater in a long time. Oh and one more thing I got a kick out of as I watched the closing credits. There was a massive bad Samurai champion, (he never spoke but was simply a juggernaut facing the Ronin) he was credited as the Lovecraftian Samurai I had to check out the actor on imdb.com turns out the guy is the U.K.'s tallest man. He is 7 foot seven and a half. He was sorcerous in nature in the film but I couldn't really say what made him Lovecraftian.

Books and another E-Sale

I finally own all the books in print that have my stories (should be several more this year that were accepted last year) I still need to finish reading the tales contained in Monk Punk and Monsters and Mormons-but I will get there and give my own review eventually.

In other news it finally paid off. I got my first acceptance of the year on Leap Day. "Hel Awaits" an adventure with my Swedish Viking character Tyr Thorgrimson (Sailing to Valhalla and Whispers of the Goddess) will appear in the Swords & Sorcery Ezine for March. I'll post the link just as soon as its available-should be this week.

This time around Tyr is in a slightly fantastical Moorish Spain, sometime later than the events of Whispers of the Goddess. I've been fascinated with Moorish Spain especially since I read Louis L'Amour The Walking Drum. My humble tale doesn't even begin to assert that kind of magnificence but still I hope you'll check it out.

Retrospecticus 2011

Ahhh 2011 ...where to begin???

The gifted Jeff Jones passed away this year. I broke my favorite "battle ready" sword, and I didn't finish my sequel.


I glanced back over the blog and pondered what I had posted here.

Writing-wise I have sold quite a few stories that I thought would see print this year...and are waiting to be printed next year. But Fistful of Tengu, Curse the Child, The Hand of Fate, Fangs of the Dragon and the first chapter in my dark fantasy serial Midnight Sons in the local Utah UGeek Magazine, were all released. Perhaps the other stories I am waiting on will build up and make it look like 2012 finds me a supremely prolific writer.

I am still way behind on the rewrites for my second novel, Blood of our Fathers, the sequel to Heroes of the Fallen. But I'm working on it and hope to get it turned back into my editor soon.

Life can be topsy turvy, so between a big move and numerous personal and family health issues sometimes you just can't get things done that at one time seemed so simple. But the battle continues.

A number of other mostly finished projects will only help it appear that 2012 is my super year.

Looking over my reviews I read more books than I remembered off the top of my head-most of them were pretty good, lot of indies. But my standout favorites would be Mike Mignola's Hellboy graphic novels. I am in the midst of the latest installment - vol.11 The Bride of Hell

I read a lot of history books (usually rereads) that I didn't bother to blog about but when it comes to non-fiction I think my favorite read this year was - The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, the guy who also wrote the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. Though this might sound like fiction it was a collection of the strange and true horrifying things men do/did-much of it borders on people who thought they were werewolves and or vampires, and then there was always that hint that there may be things that just have no rational explanation and may be supernatural.

I also read a lot of books by folks that I count as friends, practically too many to list off the top of my head and not forget names-and I still have a number of others to catch up on.

I blogged more about movies this year than I ever bothered to previously and following the trend my favorites were the indies- like Ironclad, Kill the Irishman, and 13 Assassins. I sincerely hope this quality storytelling continues.

So summing up, I have very high hopes for our new year, lot of writing to be done, things waiting to be published and lots of things I have yet to turn in or am able to blog about yet. Made some good new friends, and am living where I grew up-I'm excited to able to share that with my kids-jagged mountains, dark forests, vicious wild animals, don't worry Honey, etc etc. I actually hate resolutions but I am gonna try harder to be better than I was before-gotta turn that try into a 'Did'.

Hope the New Year finds you well-have a good one.

"Fistful of Tengu" Online

My weird oriental fantasy story "Fistful of Tengu" from the MONK PUNK anthology is posted over at D. Harlan Wilsons The Dream People online journal, current issue #36.

I've been rather pleased that overall, my tale which opens the antho, seems to have been received rather well from most of the reviews I've read. (one didn't mention it-the rest sang the stories praises)

That and my original blog post about the story, something about tengu, the mythological Japanese crow-like creature, is still one of my most visited posts. Seems google must direct a lot of people here who ask what a tengu is.

Good. Kind if like how Marion Jensen still gets lots of the hits on his blog about 'exploding coconuts'.

So lesson for the day-want a  recurring blog post that gets a lot of hits? Post about something rather obscure so that your blog is high on the search list.

Cross posted with the http://mancaveauthors.blogspot.com/

MONK PUNK! Now Available

The Monk Punk anthology is now available here (and at a cheaper discount than amazon offers for now)

I don't have my copy quite yet, but am especially looking forward to the stories by the couple of authors I am familiar with-William Miekle, John R. Fultz, and Sean T.M. Stiennon. Did I mention my tale opens the anthology-yeah I like that.

Here is the final Monk Punk TOC in the order that the stories will appear:

Introduction by D. Harlan Wilson

Fistful of Tengu by David J. West

Don't Bite My Finger by Geoff Nelder

The Power of Gods by Sean T. M. Stiennon

The Key to Happiness by R.B. Payne

The Just One by William Meikle

Wonder and Glory by Adrian Chamberlin

The Liturgy of Hours by Dean M Drinkel

Brethren of Fire by Zach Black

The Second Coming by Joe Jablonski

Suitcase Nuke by Sean Monaghan

Capital Sins in a Dominican Monastery by Gayle Arrowood

Nasrudin: Desert Monk by Barry Rosenberg

The Last Monk by George Ivanoff

The Cult of Adam by Mark Iles

Snowfall by JC Andrijeski

Xenocyte: A Kiomarra Story by Caleb Heath

Vortex by Joshua Ramey-Renk

The Birth of God by Jeffrey Sorensen

Rannoch Abbey and the Night Visitor by Dave Fragments

Black Rose by Robert Harkess

Citipati by Suzanne Robb

The Path of Li Xi by A.J. French

Where the White Lotus Grows by John R. Fultz

Fistful of Tengu

Do you know what a "Tengu" is?


A class of supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore. Generally depicted as anthropomorphic birds of prey-typically crows. So in brainstorming for something for A.J. French's MONK PUNK anthology, I thought of Tengu.
Borrowing the title as a play on "A Fistful of Dollars" I had to come up with a reason for you to get a 'Fistful of Tengu' enter my wandering monk and how he deals with monsters plaguing a sleepy little village.
A pretty straight forward yarn, but I had fun writing it nonetheless.


Well, I just recently submitted the tale and A.J. accepted it-very pleased for what was otherwise a terrible day-hurt my back at work-BAD.

Cannot walk like a person under 99 years of age at the moment.

So I better keep writing...

I'll be posting when this one is available.