ALL THE COLORS OF DARKNESS

Book Four in The Mad Shadows Quartet -- All The Colors Of Darkness -- is now available in paperback and Kindle editions.

Two years following the Battle for Echo Gate, Dorgo returns home to Valdar, hoping to start a new life. But Life has other plans for him. After his near-death experience at the Well of Tears, having suffered the wounds, horrors and trauma of war, he is a changed man. As he struggles with a growing sense of melancholia, he finds himself caught up in the hunt for a necromancer using trained zombies to steal Dragon Eye diamonds, the rarest and most valuable jewels in the world. Then, after a portrait and landscape artist is found horribly murdered, Dorgo is called upon to find the shaman and destroy the demon he unleashed — a demon using polychromatic ectoplasm to murder all the painters in Valdar. Finally, Dorgo and his companions embark upon a treasure hunt to locate three chests of meteoric crystals believed to possess magical properties. But things turn dark when they decide to help two grieving fathers in a distant barony called the Court of the Crimson King, where they encounter two new breeds of the Undead unlike anything they have ever known. Dorgo must come to grips with the fact that he’s no longer the man he used to be in order to save the baron’s people from a plague of ghastly death and unholy resurrection . . . and the mysterious crystals are the key to it all. 

 Gothic Noir that straddles Heroic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery fiction, Mad Shadows Book Four: All the Colors of Darkness, is filled with action, adventure, human drama, romance and tragedy, and a cast of unforgettable characters. 

 “The intricate plot, colorful personalities and elaborate descriptions, which include details from all five senses, combine to weave a rich tapestry of imagination. I have never run across a wordsmith more skilled in pulling me into a strange new fantasy world and making it seem as though I’ve been magically and instantly transported there. Kudos to Joe Bonadonna and his muse, Dorgonius Mikawber.” — Margie, author of the Demonverse Series, Amazon review.

MAD SHADOWS--BOOK 4: ALL THE COLORS OF DARKNESS

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

 IMHO: A Much Neglected Film

I don't know how I missed 2015' Victor Frankenstein. The film no doubt didn't do well at the box office, for some reason I can't understand, because far worse films have been far more successful.

But I really enjoyed this movie. It is an intelligent, well-written and well-acted, dramatic horror film -- a true actor's film, and so much more than a simple, mindless action-thriller. Daniel Radcliffe shows off the acting chops I knew he had, from both pre- and post-Harry Potter. James McAvoy is terrific, and once again, the wonderful Charles Dance shows what he can bring to the table. Jessica Brown Findlay adds heart, charm, beauty and class to this production. This film reminded me of the best of the classic Hammer films, but with a bigger budget and state-of-the art special FX, both practical and CGI. The "Creature" is different, too, and the make-up is very cool: there are actually two different creatures in the film. But this is not a horror story totally centered around the Creature, and although in the film he's called Prometheus. In Mary Shelley's novel he has no name, and the Creature tells Frankenstein, "I ought to be thy Adam but I am rather the fallen angel." Thus, I've always called him Adam and still do in the stories I write for the Heroes and Hell series. (The "modern Prometheus," the subtitle of Shelley's novel, refers not to the Creature, but to Doctor Frankenstein. In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to Man, and was thus punished for his sins. The infamous doctor stole the secret of life from God and he, too, as well as his family, friends and wife, paid the price for his sins.)

So, what's new about this incarnation? It's not a retelling but a prequel to the 1931 Karloff film, and it concerns Victor Frankenstein's early experiments and years at medical school. To begin with, Radcliffe starts out as a brilliant, self-educated but nameless hunchback, a creepy circus clown who Doctor Frankenstein "fixes," because the hump is merely a massive cyst, which he drains and then helps Radcliffe to learn and be able to walk upright. He gives the former hunchback the name of Igor Straussman, his former, late assistant. All the actors in this film are a pleasure to watch -- from the irrepressible Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) to the rapidly evolved, medical genius in his own right, Igor (Radcliffe) to the nasty, religious zealot Inspector Turpin (Andrew Scott) to the powerful presence of Baron Frankenstein (Dance.) They were all magnetic. The set design was also beautiful -- and Victorian England was displayed in everything from furnishings to fabrics to city views to laboratory equipment. Everything is in place for a great viewing. There were a few twists I did not see coming and a couple that I did. I liked the payoff in the grand finale. For me, this is a 4 out of 5-star film. Well worth the time spent viewing.

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN TRAILER

HAIKU FOR A PSYCHO

Barbie, you bad doll.

You might get away with this.

GI Joe says no.

HAIKU #207

Distort my belly
Until it shakes like jelly. 

Food, food, food, food, food.

The MechMen of Canis-9. (A Three Against the Stars Adventure)

SWORD & PLANET ADVENTURE 

IN THE GRAND TRADITION

Canis-9. Devoora. The Ocean Planet.

Devoora is a vast, waterworld in a far distant galaxy inhabited by two indigenous populations.

The Tulavi are a maritime culture inhabiting the islands west of the Great Aetherian Reef, living in harmony with their environment and the great oceans where the leviathans known as the kaizsu dwell. The Malvarians are an industrial nation running out of resources, living on the mainland east of the Reef. Led by the madman, Trivus Harn, an armada of warships roams the seas, hunting the kaizsu and subjecting them to ghastly experiments, unaware that these intelligent creatures are the key to their survival, as well as the fate of their entire world.

While on a covert operation to find a long-lost secret weapon, Sergeants O’Hara, Akira, Cortez, and a platoon of Marines are stranded on Devoora. Rescued by the peace-loving Tulavi, they find themselves caught up in a war against the Malvarians. An adventure unlike anything the Marines of Company E have ever experienced, Sergeant Cortez finds romance and Sergeant Akira finds an answer to her troubled marriage. But at the heart of this story is a little Tulavi girl named Zherisa, who tends to a wounded Sergeant O’Hara and helps him overcome the grief he’s carried in his heart for the past eighteen years. And then there’s the stranger, Solis Lachus — the Man from Outside, who holds the answer to what the Marines have come searching for . . . The MechMen of Canis-9.

Rousing action, a wondrous and dangerous planet, and memorable characters, this Sword and Planet science fiction is in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, with a touch of Frank Herbert, Rudyard Kipling and Herman Melville. Available worldwide in paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon. Paperback edition is also available from Barnes & Noble.

The MechMen of Canis-9

Three Against The Stars: Star Trooper Doon

Old School Space Opera 

with a modern-day attitude.

THREE AGAINST THE STARS (Star Trooper Doon) First published in 2012, this 2023 revised edition has a brand-new cover and comes in a trade paperback size with easy-to-read print.

On the distant planet of Rhajnara, a conspiracy to overthrow the rightful Republic is set into motion by the planet’s former fascist regime, the Khandra. This time, the Khandra has allied itself with the evil Drakonian Hegemony, and it seems nothing in the universe can stop them. Nothing, that is, except for Sergeants Fernando Cortez, Seamus O’Hara and Claudia Akira, whose courage, loyalty and devotion to duty prove them to be the toughest Star Troopers in the Marine Corps. Now, with the aid of a medic named Makki Doon, a young humanoid from Rhajnara, these three futuristic musketeers tackle incredible odds in order to save a planet still recovering from the past horrors brought about by the Kandra Regime.

"Three Against The Stars" is an action-packed, intergalactic adventure, filled with memorable characters and a rousing finale. It's available worldwide from Amazon, in paperback and Kindle editions. Paperback is also available online from Barnes & Noble and other fine book dealers.

THREE AGAINST THE STARS

1.  THE MAD SHADOWS SERIES

No barbarian warriors. No scantily clad or helpless maidens. Dorgo the Dowser lives in a world of duplicitous women, unscrupulous men, and a criminal underworld of humans and semi-humans, with plenty of swordplay and sorcery. My main character follows in the footsteps of Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. These are tales from the mean streets, tales of saints and sinners, cops and burglars, conmen and hustlers, thieves, pimps, whores, and murderers. This is character-driven film noir set in a world of swords and sorcery, magic, mystery, monsters, mayhem and bloody murder. It's a world of dark secrets, lost races, hidden valleys and ancient ruins. Thank you!

Mad Shadows Series Page