Heroes Among Shadows

Captain Paul McNamee, Captain of the New England Company of Frontier Partisan Rangers, continues to commit authorin’. I asked him to provide some information on his latest, which I’ve got on order from Paulina Springs Books:

Heroes Among Shadows is my new (first, in fact) collection of short stories. These tales broadly fall under the “Adventure” category. Sword-&-sorcery, sword-&-planet, jungle pulp, science fantasy, occult monster fighter, and a dieselpunk tale set in an alternate North American timeline.

As mentioned in the introduction, when I took stock of my published stories, I had enough for a collection. In addition to all that adventure, I’ve also had horror tales published. It would have been an eclectic mix to put them all together in one volume. I opted to parse out the horror stories. (That collection will come out later this year.)

That choice left me a little short on desired word count for the book. I added two extra stories — one that was in limbo, and one I really enjoyed writing but hadn’t placed. The latter story is “Montreal Is Burning,” the aforementioned dieselpunk tale. I chose the story to provide the elements for the stellar cover art and layout, created by Jeffrey Hayes of PlasmaFire Graphics.

So, here’s a little bit about that “bonus track” story.

I live in New England. One summer the wildfires in Quebec were so bad, we had haze in the air, and you could smell the smoke. The title popped into my head. The siege of Mafeking during the Second Boer War was the main inspiration. That siege is famously known for inspiring the creation of the Boy Scouts. It also featured a daring railroad raid, which I used in my plot. I had fun crafting a new North American timeline where New France never fell. It is a setting I might return to.

If you do read Heroes Among Shadows, know that I appreciate your readership ahead of time. Seeing as how it’s the first appearance of “Montreal Is Burning,” I’d love to hear thoughts about that story in particular, if you have them.

Thanks, Jim, for the promotion opportunity here at the campfire!

Back cover blurb:

These stories will take you to tropical islands where spears and sorcery stand against gods and demons. You will meet a girl and her troll. Journey to a shadowy past where a veteran of the American Revolutionary War confronts dark forces. Travel to strange planets far away, and experience war in a North American timeline that never was.