NEW BOOK:
Song to the Siren
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Our new book is out! Song to the Siren is a prose novel about:
–scares, drugs, and rock and roll
–true love, madness, and the supernatural
–childhood… and surviving long enough to get out of childhood…
Here’s a link to the book trailer!
When two young documentary filmmakers start investigating the enigmatic death of the infamous Reed Sinclair, founder of the never-quite-made-it indie rock group The Big Carnival, they interview Reed’s former girlfriend, photographer Samantha (“Sam”) MacNamara– who tells them the story of a seeming love triangle between herself, Reed, and a frightening entity named Belle.
Belle may have simply been how Reed’s troubled mental state interpreted multiple tragedies and coincidences in his life… or she may have been a supernatural being.
As the filmmakers begin to uncover the frightening truth, Sam must face the riddle of her relationship with Reed if she wants to step into the light, away from the specter of Belle and the shadow that was cast over Sam’s life.
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PRAISE FOR SONG TO THE SIREN:
“As soon as I jumped into this book it was hard to put down. When I wasn’t reading it, I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again and often found myself thinking about Reed. The authors did a wonderful job of making this a gripping tale . . . fascinating, creepy, and heartbreaking all at once. Reed has earned a spot in my [list of] favorite characters. He is broken, flawed, but still so caring. I finished this book days ago and I still think about his character. That’s how much I love the guy. Amazing character development . . . The ending was hauntingly beautiful and moving . . . A book I will not soon forget.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”
–IndieBookAddict.com
“Captivating, entertaining, and thoughtful . . . SONG TO THE SIREN is a must-read paranormal and mythological story. From the utilization of the indie-rock scene as a setting to emotional character growth and the mystery of ‘Belle’ . . . one novel readers won’t want to miss. Rating: 10/10”
–reviewer Anthony Avina
“It’s old school, with a lot of the creepiness appearing in the shadows . . . Could we be witnessing a mental breakdown and delusion, or are we seeing something truly supernatural? Honestly, this book could appeal to the romance crowd equally as much as it could to any lovers of quiet horror. What it is, is a damn good story. It is engaging, entertaining . . . well-written . . . You really could suspend disbelief and think this was a true transcript from a real magazine or documentary. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it.”
–kendallreviews.com
Here’s a link to get the book:
https://books2read.com/u/mVAYDA
HUNGRY GHOSTS
Kickstarter:
TOTALLY SUCCESSFUL!
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Kickstarter launched for graphic novel HUNGRY GHOSTS that Barb and I wrote– and then just a few days later, it met its basic goal! So it made! Some people are going to be getting a samurai graphic novel!
BUT ALSO: our Kickstarter also reached all its stretch goals! So– and this is the one we’re super-extra-excited about– also, Shooting Star Press the prose novel we wrote that also features Isogai Heidazaemon Taketsura (from one of Lafcadio Hearn’s classic stories)– he’s in the graphic novel and the prose novel! You can order both via SSPBooks.com!
The Talking Cure: A Novel of Magic and Psychiatry
–Zach Cutter claims he’s not really an antiques dealer as such, but that he’s really a supernatural investigator.
–Zach claims he’s got repressed memories, missing at least a year of his life, probably more.
–Zach claims he can do magic. Not stage magician magic– real magic.
–Zach claims he’s got feelings for his new psychiatrist, Dr. Cynthia Mann.
–Zach claims a lot of problematic things.
But they’re all true.
After a disturbing case in New York made Dr. Cynthia Mann wonder if the supernatural might actually be real, she’s started her life and her practice all over again in Cleveland, where she meets a new patient, stranger than any she’s ever met before—and far more charming than anyone she’s ever met, too.
During the progress Zach makes as Cynthia’s patient, he tells her stories about his past, and their relationship slowly edges from a doctor-patient one to a friendship—and Zach clearly wouldn’t mind if it became more.
Together, Cynthia and Zach will eventually have to find a way for him to get out of the trouble he stumbled into long ago…
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Book Trailer:
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Basically, one reader called it “THE DRESDEN FILES Meets THE PRINCE OF TIDES.” That’s not a perfect summation, of course, but it gives a general idea. So, paranormal with a little hint of romance (it’s the first book in a series).
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“[A]n engaging and exhilarating paranormal read. . . a great job of world-building and infusing humor and wit . . . Captivating, heartfelt, and entertaining . . . Rating: 10/10”
–reviewer Anthony Avina
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“5/5 stars . . . I really enjoyed this story . . . [Zach and Cynthia] have been through the dark . . . and perhaps they can help each other get to the other side. The cases . . . were very interesting indeed . . . And I absolutely love his car! (It is magical and so fantastic, though its story is so sad, I want to adopt it!) The humour is excellent, I had a few times where I laughed out loud. . . . The two authors are husband and wife, and I think they did well writing together.”
Amyah MapleBell, MapleBell Reviews
BUY IT HERE
More of Our Work:
Swipe
ISBN: 978-0-9887182-2-7
Swipe is the story of Ray, a hacker who finds a one-in-a-million self-aware robot, Karina, and, well, there’s immediately some trouble between a cyborg pimp and an old friend of Karina’s, and things escalate quickly… before Ray and Karina quite know it, the whole city is one of several launch points for a nanotech invasion that turns people into zombies… corrupts machines’ programming… and eventually starts fusing the two together in very unnatural ways… all because the best show on the web has jumped the shark. It’s cyber-zombie invasion madness, all in one graphic novel: Swipe, from Angry Viking Press.
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“I won’t lie: I was expecting to hate this cyberpunk comedy, and I clicked on the preview to make sure I’d hate it. Sexy robots, chicks fighting in corsets, long black leather coats, idiot heroine/intelligent hero, Valley Girl pastiche-speak, casual danger dialogue, characters who can’t stop talking, cyborgs, zombies, cyborg zombies — I have a deep, entrenched hatred of all of these tropes. And yet! And yet! I swear I do not have a gun to my head as I type these words, and stay with me — Swipe does every one of these things exceptionally well, some of which I honest-to-god thought that nobody could do well ever again.
Ray (black leather coat hacker) and Karina (corset murderbot) are both absurdly charming characters. And moreover, they’re charming because they’re played totally straight. Karina . . . makes total sense both on and below the surface. She has a limited concept of cause and effect; she’s delighted by 90% of what she sees and mildly grossed out by the rest; she calmly narrates all her own experiences, even violent and terrifying ones; she loves Ray and she loves escrima. The archetype is Idiot Heroine, but it’s not really that. She just has a bizarre, sped-up machine consciousness that’s full of weird, infectious joy, and her joy sets the tone for the whole comic.”
–Rachel Fellman, The Geek Girl Project.com
Coming (Again) Soon:
SOMETHING MORE
THAN BLOOD
Returning home from the funeral of his last, oldest friend, character actor Johannes Fassbinder falls asleep and is awakened by someone he saw at the funeral– a young woman who handcuffs him, points a gun filled with silver bullets at him, and asks him if he is guilty of murdering her great-grandfather, and if so, why he did it. His answer involves telling her his life story… which involves garlic, secrets, mist, Berlin, Yiddish, old-time radio shows, Broadway, revenge, and a lot of Hollywood B-movies… and blood. A lot of blood. But blood, by itself, is never enough…
Something More Than Blood was originally published by Black Curtain Press, but the publisher has recently closed up shop. We will be offering it again soon ourselves.
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“Something More Than Blood is a well-crafted, fast-paced story of a fresh-faced young German farm boy who volunteers to serve his country in the Great War, and get a lot more – and worse – than he bargained for. In the process of going from naive young ‘soldat’ Johannes Fassbinder to becoming an undead B movie actor – stage name Lykan Fuller – we follow a man who wanders through some wild and weird places – Weimar Germany, Depression Era USA, Hollywood – and copes with his unsought fate while surrounded by people who often seem less human than he is.
The writing is tight, the dialogue crisp, the settings pitch-perfect, and the plot compelling. Park Cooper and Barbara Lien-Cooper have written a vampire tale with lot of chills, but also sad insights, and a few chuckles of recognition along the way. I enjoyed it, and you will, too. It’s a welcome addition to the horror bookshelf.”
– Lou Antonelli, Hugo Award multiple-nominee
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“Barb Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper have written a rather wonderful book called Something More Than Blood. If you’re a horror fan, a vampire fan, or just a fan of good writing, this is a book you must read. With touches of Anne Rice, a dash of Stephen King and an occasional humorous touch, it’s one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had all year, a sprawling epic that takes in classic Hollywood lore, Broadway shows, and vampiric carnage…”
–Bruce Hallenbeck, author, Monsters of New York: Mysterious Creatures in the Empire State, The Hammer Vampire: British Cult Cinema (with Jimmy Sangster) and Hammer Fantasy & Sci Fi: British Cult Cinema (with Martine Beswick)
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