Beowulf
GRAND PRIZE WINNER at Hollywood Book Pipeline.
WINNER! IPPY Gold Medal for BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR.
WINNER of Best Sci-fi at the London Book Festival.
WINNER of Best Sci-fi at the Beverly Hills Book Awards.
RUNNER-UP for Best Sci-fi at the LA Book Festival.
FEATURED in StoryBundle.
Beowulf is a series of mystery-thriller novellas set in a sci-fi/cyberpunk future. David Farland calls them “the most exciting cyberpunk debut in 20 years.” The first book was released through East India Press. The next two will come out when they come out (again through EIP), with more to follow thereafter.
Buy the first one, A Bloody Calculus, here: http://www.eastindiapress.com/products/beowulf-a-bloody-calculus
http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Bloody-Calculus-Milo-Behr-ebook/dp/B00NH0PFH8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/beowulf-a-bloody-calculus/id921025053?mt=11
Pre-order the second here: http://www.eastindiapress.com/products/beowulf-book-2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23198858-beowulf
“The genius is apparent from page one. . . . A seamless fusion of virtuosity and insight. . . . If William Wordsworth were alive today and writing cyberpunk, this is what he might write.”
-David Farland (NYTimes Best Seller; Lead judge for the world’s largest genre writing competition)
“Like all great works, it manages to be great without trying to be brilliant. It just is, and effortlessly so. . . . [Has a] rhythm that’s sophisticated in its subdivisions of time and its impeccable sense of proportion and pace.”
—James Guymon (Film Composer; VP, Composers Guild of America)
The blurb:
Welcome, he says, to the “fabulous fabulous” Lawrence Booth show. His flamboyance is well-practiced. They all know him, he’s world-renowned (he reminds them). Then he calls them the faceless masses, says he doesn’t care who they are. It’s a familiar deadpan, his particular brand of sensationalism through effrontery. Then he gets more personal, but it isn’t sincere—how could it be? I’ll be your guide, he says, your mentor, your guru, your spiritual advisor, leading you along the “sordid paths of the sublime, the seedy, and the sensational.” And it’s true, he will be.
This is Lawrence Booth, host of a 22nd-century variety show; an ultimate evolution of vaudeville; a tangible expression of social media and a venue for the people’s justice. And his favorite toy is a superhero—a popular bounty hunter called Beowulf. When New York’s paragons turn to violent crime, it falls to Booth and Beowulf to restore order (and, more importantly, to make a good show of it). Is this an unraveling of the social fabric? Have our leaders turned, as parasites on a host? Or are they victims themselves of a society dependent on the wonders—and the dangers—of high technology?
Beowulf: A Bloody Calculus, is a frenetic exploration of logical extremes. It’s about superheroes as the products of marketing machines, social media as a fundamental and frightening social adhesive, summary justice as a Utilitarian exigency. It’s part mystery, part thriller, all in the plugged-in context of a cyberpunk future.
And it’s one a helluva ride!`
Bretaigne
Bretaigne is historical fantasy. The series is set in 16th-century Europe—a Europe changed by a significant (and fantastical) astronomical event. It’s a political thriller within the context of both history and fantasy. It’s gritty, just as Beowulf is (maybe more so), full of action, but also introspective. I’ve had a lot of fun with it.
Book 1 is complete (it’s around 600 pages), and will be out next year if I opt to release it through EIP (or probably the following year if I accept another offer).
The blurb:
Captain Montegue Bainsbridge is a warrior philosopher. After surviving his own execution, and with the desperate zeal of a lost soul grappling for redemption, he follows the dictates of a strange god. The Merovinge appeared to Bainsbridge in the hostile jungles of the Côte Sauvage and charged him with guarding the mysterious young sorcier Luc as he assembles the component runes of the “gamma binding” that will awaken mankind to a renaissance of peace and progress, and put to rest the ages-old struggle between The Evolved Form and Entropy.
But in a universe where gods are created by collective faith, the Merovinge is far from alone in his divinity, or in his manipulation of man.
The king is mad. His chancellors plot his destruction. Civil war is feared. The tragedy of bloody conflict descends upon the land as Mad King Phillip fights to maintain rule against his own son and the navies of the powerful Victorieuse organisation pour le commerce, the VOC.
Battles are waged on land, in air, and on sea with the devastating power of sorcerers—who hold formidable elementals—and rune artisans—who power the mechanics of muskets and airships.
Romance blooms and passions ignite in the heat of mutual survival, and the intrigue of politics.
And underscoring it all are the dreaded kor, the stuff of nightmares. Beautiful creatures with white eyes, white skin, and covered in shimmering scales. They grow ever more powerful and threaten to overrun Bretaigne, seducing all of mankind into the violent transformation that swells the creatures’ ranks.
The Merovinge Cycle tells the story of a world in transition, of a people discovering the limitations of their way of life and caught between the fear of moving forward and the impossibility of stepping backwards, and confronted daily by both the horrors that mankind authors, and those that he righteously combats. It is a gripping adventure story that explores through its characters the deeply human questions surrounding faith, redemption, divinity, fear and progress.`
Short Fiction
EIP will be releasing one of my stories, Expensive Gifts, in e-book form, soon. It’ll be free. Watch for it!
Non-fiction
I’ve published a variety of tech papers in industry journals. Some of them may be online, but are likely behind paywalls. I won’t point them out here.
But you may enjoy reading my popular history Out of the Choir Loft and Onto the Stage: A Biography of the Modern Countertenor. It’s written to be accessible, and it’s brief. It’s a good little read for anyone with an interest in music, or history (or both!) EIP will be reprinting it in e-book form soon (also for free).
Poppy
My informal codename for a book I’m currently writing set in the universe of Beowulf. The protagonist (though shaded somewhat gray in that role) is Poppy, who begins as a girl struggling to survive, and ends as a political force. It’s politics, intrigue and romance with a fair bit of action. It’ll appeal to anyone who likes Beowulf, but should cross into other audiences as well.