Into the home stretch! (Typing on my tablet in the Dealers Room. This should be interesting…  Had to go and get the laptop when the Tablet wouldn’t cooperate. Sigh. See the things I do for you?!)

As before, Part One is here and Part Two is here.

Our final third of villainous crew begins with that scurvy knave Jim Reader…

13) Jim Reader — “Adventures of a Would-Be Gentleman of the Skies” — Jim Reader was orphaned as a child, and raised by a pack of wild corny dogs. They taught him having a stick up the bu… well, it’s a bad thing, and that the value of grease and mystery meat is incalculable. He’s previously been published in “The Ladies of Trade Town” (Harphaven Publishing, 2011), “Zombiefied! An Anthology of All Things Zombie” (Sky Warrior Publishing, LLC, 2011), and “Coming Together Arm in Arm in Arm” (Coming Together, 2012), as well as in other publications. Jim has self-published a novel, and a novella, on Amazon.. He lives in Central Texas with his wife and their five dogs… normal dogs, not corny dogs.

“Threats of violence, plain and simple. The Editor threatened me with bodily injury if I didn’t submit something. Luckily, it wasn’t a hard sell. I’ve been a fan of Victorian SF&F as long as I can remember. The first movie I remember seeing – and falling in love with – was Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. So basically, I was a steampunk fan before there was steampunk. Mmmm, brass, copper, polished hardwoods, giant rivets, pistons and gears, grease and steam, the music of heavy machinery doing its job… nothing finer.”

14) Steven Southard — “A Clouded Affair” — Steven R. Southard’s short stories appear in nine different anthologies including Dead Bait, Quest for Atlantis, and Cheer Up, Universe!  He’s the author of the What Man Hath Wrought series, with twelve stories at last count.  An engineer and former submariner, Steve takes readers on voyages to far-off places aboard amazing vehicles accompanied by engaging characters.  He has tampered with several genres including steampunk, clockpunk, science fiction, fantasy, and horror…and seems to have gotten away with it. Set sail for stevenrsouthard.com to learn more about his fictional adventures.

“Come on, a call for submissions to Avast, Ye Airships!  What steampunk writer could resist that?  The title alone conjured visions of pirates both dashing and despicable, aerial vehicles both fast and fabulous.  Possible plotlines popped readily to mind; characters clamored to be chosen; the words wrote themselves without effort.  Working with Editor Rie Sheridan Rose proved to be delightful. I am honored and grateful to have my story, ‘A Clouded Affair,’ included in this astounding anthology.”

15) D Chang — “The Climbers” — D Chang is one of the editors at spacesquid.com (“your puny planet’s finest scifi, experimental, and fantasy”). His superpowers are killing flies, defending the Oxford comma, and inventing useless ultimate frisbee throws. He has a blog at videogamewriter.com.

“I’m an unlikely pirate; I’m a lousy swimmer and I can’t hold my grog. However, Rie asked me nicely to submit a story at Armadillocon 2014. Also, one of my best Halloween costumes ever was a pirate costume. Google told me that dapper pirates like Captain Jack Sparrow wear vests, so I wore my life vest.”

16) Wynelda Ann Deaver — “The Steampunk Garden” — Wynelda Ann Deaver resides in Northern California with her merry band of misfits. When she is not out training dragons, commandeering pirate ships or finding stolen treasures, she can be found with a pen in hand, scribbling furiously.

“I joined the Pirates because, quite simply, of Captain Rie. Once I hijacked the Captain Election process, I knew that if I didn’t submit I would be forced to walk the gangplank. All joking aside, I love both Rie’s writing and editing skills. I knew that Avast, Ye Airships! would be a fantastic read and wanted to be included.”

17) Steve Ruskin — “Lotus of Albion” — Steve Ruskin is a native of Colorado, where he currently lives. He has also lived in Cambridge, England and Berlin, Germany. He is an historian of science and technology, focusing on the Victorian period with an emphasis on the British Empire and the American West. He has been a university professor, a mountain bike guide, and a number of things in between. In addition to fiction he has written for academic and popular audiences in publications ranging from the American Journal of Physics to the Rocky Mountain News. You can find him at www.steveruskin.com.

“Because I heard Rie Sheridan Rose was awesome! That, and as an historian of Victorian science and technology I naturally enjoy steampunk. And who doesn’t love pirates? Thus the opportunity to write for Avast, Ye Airships! was too good to pass up. I wanted to set my story a bit farther afield from the typical settings for steampunk and/or pirates (e.g. England, or the Caribbean, etc.—not that there is anything wrong with those settings whatsoever), so I picked the Himalaya. After all, when pirates and their ships are freed from the confines of gravity, who knows what skies they might seek to plunder?”

and last but certainly not least…

18) K. C. Shaw — “And a Bottle of Rum…” — K.C. Shaw lives in East Tennessee with her cat, Jekyll, and a lot of books. Visit her website at kcshaw.net, and visit the Lizzy and Jo site at lizzyandjo.com.

“I love writing stories about my air pirate characters, Lizzy and
Jo. When I saw the call for stories for Avast, Ye Airships!, I knew
Lizzy and Jo would be perfect for it. Fortunately the editor agreed!”

So, there you have it, our group of pirates coming to invade your town on February 26th, under the auspices of Admiral Nicole Kurtz.

Nicole in her own words:

“My name is Nicole Givens Kurtz, and I’m an author of speculative fiction. I personally invite you to visit one of my other worlds. http://nicolegivenskurtz.com/

In addition to writing, I am the owner of Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC. We publish speculative fiction, horror, romance, and fantasy. If you want to try fresh flavors in fiction, stop by Mocha to download a new fiction title.

When I’m not writing, I work as an educator. I also serve as a guest at various regional science fiction conventions. I speak on topics such as, but not limited to, diversity in speculative fiction, dystopian fiction, and weird westerns.”

Don’t forget our Facebook party on the 28th and it is not too late to Thunderclap!