Nick Valentino Books

I thought I'd make a post about all my books with links to date. This is good for me as well because I like to have a list for posterity as well. Without further ado:

 

Thomas Riley
My first published book, a steampunk adventure novel about two Victorian weapons designers that do some bad alchemy which forces them to go behind enemy lines to undo their horrible mistake. Thomas and Cynthia join up with some sky pirates and sneak behind enemy lines to face their arch nemesis.
(Rereleased Zova Books 2013)

 

Engine 316
A western steampunk retelling of the Rube Burrows gang, the outlaws try to escape the law in Nashville Tennessee when they discover a futuristic device in one of the train cars. Much to their dismay, they run into a mysterious group of detectives that attempt to apprehend them.
(Kerlak Publishing In Dreams of Steam anthology)

Bedeviled
A failed Victorian inventor is haunted by a demon that is the cause of all his problems, including a drug addiction that will soon be the end of him. When he attempts to rid himself of his demon, the inventor unleashes the demon on the world to continue his murderous work.
(Kerlak Publishing in Dreams of Steam II anthology)

 

 

Ten Thousand Years
A Japanese steampunk story where a embittered naval captain seeks to regain his honor by rescuing his men stuck in foreign prison. His master plan is to kidnap none other than the empress of Japan herself but when he does he realizes that all is not what it seems and he finds that honor is not only limited to those in flesh and blood.
(Echelon Press in Her Magesty’s Msyterious Conyeance anthology)

 

 

The Black Dress
Based off the “second Salem Witch Trials” a group of steampunk Victorian paranormal investigators in Ipswich, MA led by Lucretia goes in pursuit of a famed mesmerist that’s recruiting civilians with the use of his possible magical powers. It’s up to Lucretia, her assistant Gabe and the mechanical wonder of her black dress to unravel the mystery and capture the evil doer. It’s a battle of magic vs. mechanics for the ages.
(Kerlak Publishing in Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells anthology)

Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom
The Thomas Riley saga continues as Thomas and Cynthia go in search of Cynthia’s flame, Sam Burges. When they hitch a ride from a rogue colonial sky pirate they find themselves in the sights of a new evil mastermind and his awesome airship, the Maelstrom that has the mysterious power to control the weather. Thomas and Cynthia’s loyalties are put to the test as the new evil genius pits powerful new weapons  and Cynthia’s love against the once inseparable duo.
(Zova Books coming in 2013)

Stage Combat Class

This is for my readers in the South East... or anyone that may get the chance to participate in this class around the country.

Allan Gilbreath, noted author and companion on the Dreams of Steam anthologies, Hollywood professional and completely awesome dude, is putting on a stage combat class in Bartlett Tennessee (Which is right next to Memphis) THIS Tuesday July 24th! It's an awesome opportunity for actors, con goers or people just interested in having a good time doing something different.

Have fun everyone and tell me how awesome this is!

Check out the write up on the Facbook event page:

Smack!... Bam!... Pow!!!

Allan Gilbreath is a Hollywood professional offering a ONE DAY course in the art of deception "STAGE COMBAT"... Learning to battle on stage is an important skill set for aspiring actors. Allan’s Courses usually fill up very fast... not just because they're informative, Allan makes learning this craft so much fun!

(((Stage combat training))) - it's something that actors need on their resume! - Making fights look real, without giving away your tricks. Because all acting is based ...on a certain sense of risk-taking. Storytelling through staged violence such as:

►Pushing and Pulling,
►Punching and Kicking,
►Falling and Rolling,
►Silly and Dirty Fighting,
►Weapons and Armed Techniques,
►Building the Fight,
►Writing the Fight,
►Rehearsing the Fight

These are some of the things Allan Gilbreath will be teaching in this ONE DAY CLASS ON
►►► TUESDAY - JULY 24th - Pre paid classes are only $25 - $35 at the door

If you want to be as convincing like say Angelina Jolie as Laura Croft or Chris Evans in Captain America..this workshop is for you -- DON'T MISS!!!

►►►Class space is limited to12...so PLEASE reserve your space now by calling 901-267-1000
►Pre paid classes are only $25 - $35 at the door (cash only)

► TUESDAY - JULY 24th - 7 - 9:30
► INDIE ACTING STUDIO
► 7715 US Highway 70, Suite 112
► Bartlett, TN
► 901-267-1000

The Southern Festival Of Books

I'm back! I can't wait to do another book festival and I finally get to start back up with the awesome Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN. The festival goes from Friday October 14-16 at the War Memorial plaza in downtown Nashville. What makes it even sweeter is I will be sharing a tent with fellow amazing authors and top notch people Elizabeth Darvill and Teresa Burrell.

We'll be in booth 43 and with any luck you shouldn't be able to miss us. We'll have pirate flags flying and all manor of gaudy steampunkery around the tent. This year, we will have:

By Nick Valentino:
Thomas Riley, Dreams of Steam I and Dreams of Steam II Brass and Bolts

By Elizabeth Darvill:
Love in a Time of Steam, Love's Immortal Pantheon and will be promoting her new Harlequin release, Steam Heat

By Teresa Burrell:
The Advocate, The Advocate's Betrayal and her brand spanking new The Advocate's Conviction.

So come by and say hi, we'll have all types of shenanigans going on.

Toronto Bound Update

FAN EXPO 2010

Next week, August 27-29, the good Ensign and I will be attending Fan Expo 2010 in Toronto Ontario. This 90,000 person fandom extravaganza is Canada's version of the San Diego Comic Con and I can't wait to be a part of it. I'll be signing Thomas Riley and the new Dreams of Steam anthology at booth A-13 in the convention centre and I'm on the Steampunk 101 panel on Saturday at 3:30 in Room 205A in the convention centre.

This one is going to be crazy. We have steampunk guns and goggles for giveaways and all types of shenanigans planned. The only sad part is that The Pyre's Fortune Sky Pirate Patches will not be in on time for this con... but we plan to have them by Dragon Con and the Decatur Book Fest the following week.

So come by our booth if you are planning on attending Fan Expo. Mention this blog and get 2 free raffle tickets for the steampunk weaponry giveaway.

Interview
The most excellent writers of the Nicknameless270 blog did a fun question interview with me. Check it out here: NICKNAMELESS270

Ebooks
If you have an ebook reader Thomas Riley is on mega sale for Kindle and The Nook. $2.99
I mean you can't go wrong with three bucks right?
Kindle
The Nook

San Diego Comic Con 2010

I'm a six year veteran of the San Diego Comic Con. We originally went on kind of a whim to see some weird new media things and wow, who would have ever expected that it would have turned out to basically be the new red carpet?

So this year the Good Ensign and I trekked off to San Diego, checked into the 500 West and lived out five days of "do whatever the hell we want" while being surrounded by every new scrap of movies, tv, art, comics, fandom, media and insanity that dares to show it's face in 2011. As per tradition, we went directly to Fred's (A chain tex-mex place) for celebratory beer and Chicken Chingaderas. That night, we were into preview night, roaming the seemingly endless yet familiar exhibitor hall in search of new goodies. Put it this way, the street signs outside of the convention center were written in Klingon. Really:


Despite going every year, it's hard to accurately describe how massive and crazy Comic Con is. Think 150 thousand people and all of them are trying to get your attention. Then think it's somehow even crazier than that. This is not a place for those with Agoraphobia or Enochlophobia.

So Thursday we hit the exhibit hall again with fleeting plans to attend any panels that day. That's how it usually goes down. We plan to do a bunch of stuff but it never happens because we're doing something else. That evening we attended the art toy company Munkey King's party at Bar Basic which is always a fun event featuring pop artists doing live paintings and beer. Can't forget the beer. Here's a lame picture of Joe Ledbetter doing the live painting.


The amount of stars on the floor this year blew away previous years. Sure you may bump into Glenn Danzig or Seth Green but this year there were tons of people signing in the exhibitor hall. Here are just a few I could get pictures of:

Danny DiVito


Chevy Chase


Seth Green


Bill and Sookie from True Blood


Michael MacDowell


Warehouse 13


We also caught Penn & Teller's panel on performing together for 35 years. Pretty awesome. The level of general fandom is off the charts. People camped out just to get into panels and I don't mean just super big panels like Big Bang Theory and True Blood, I mean like for everything. Here's people at 1AM camped out for the Supernatural panel and Smallville Panel. As for us, we waited 3 hours for the always amazing Mythbusters panel. Great stuff as usual. Funny, exciting and brilliant!


Of course there were the fun crazy people in costume. If you can think of a costume, it was probably there. Here's a VERY small sampling of what was there:
Captain America (With a goat for some reason) was protesting the idea that Comic Con might move to Anaheim. I didn;t have the heart to tell him that I think I heard that San Diego already signed an extension to keep the con there...


Kitana (Mortal Cobat)


Cobra Comander (Now with 200% more henchmen!)


So we're already looking forward to Comic Con 2011 (Hopefully no one will get stabbed in the eye next year.) Until then, thank you San Diego!

Next Up:
I'll be at Gencon selling Thomas Riley at the Frenzy Universe Booth and as an added bonus I'll have the first copies of the Steampunk Anthology "Dreams of Steam" in which I have a steampunk story called Engine 316. See you in Indianapolis!

Dreams of Steam

I'm happy to announce that Dreams of Steam, a steampunk anthology published by Kerlak Publishing is available now at Barnes & Noble! Get it online HERE or come see me at an event. (I should have copies to sign.) My Steampunk Weird West story, "Engine 316" is included.

Also: Thomas Riley is on sale at Amazon.com get it for $11.19 before it goes up again.