The Holocaust Engine

Today, David and Stephen returned to their home used bookstore, the Half Price Books Flagship in Dallas, TX. It was our most successful event ever and went by way too fast. We talked about The Holocaust Engine as a book and a series, particularly since Book 3, Unda Sanguis is just out in e-book and the print edition is coming soon.

We signed books until we sold out. In addition to readers, we met an English teacher, a few aspiring writers, and some amazing readers and genre fans. We had wonderful conversations about creativity, inspiration, and works-in-progress.

Those who follow us know about our love of genre, both as writers and as readers/watchers/fans of fiction. This event was the debut of the Genre Fight ’25 board. “Mystery” has started off strong, but we’ve got a lot of events lined up this year, so I’m hoping the “Horror”, “Sci Fi” and “Fantasy” fans will come out to represent! If you’ve never played Genre Fight, we hope to see you at one of our events in the near future!

This morning, I was blessed to have a “bucket list” moment as a writer, when I saw a young man pulling The Holocaust Engine off the shelves at the Wylie Urban Farm and Market in Wylie, TX. He skimmed the front and back covers and turned to his mother about buying it. I decided to introduce myself and we talked a bit about the series. He left with a personalized copy, and a few pictures, courtesy of his mother. In return, I left with one of my childhood writing dreams fulfilled, courtesy of a stranger. I wish that young man all the best and hope he finds his own dreams one day!

Some folks have asked how to keep up with our series and our other projects. We typically announce appearances and new projects on Facebook and other platforms, but you can also subscribe to this site to have our news delivered straight to your email. We reserve this for major announcements, not spam, and would love to have you along for the ride. The link is below:

On March 30th from 1p-3p, David Rike and I will be back at the Half Price Books Flagship in Dallas for a signing event to promote Fluid Shock, the second book of The Holocaust Engine series. In it, a team of investigators and military operators join the survivors of an apocalyptic event in a race to stop the spread of an otherworldly plague. We’ll also be discussing Book 3, Unda Sanguis, which drops on March 24. The Genre Fight will be back, too, so come vote on your favorite genres.

Come join us at:

HPB Flagship

5803 E Northwest HWY

Dallas, TX 7523

…which means the official release of Unda Sanguis, Book 3 of The Holocaust Engine, is almost here!

The countdown has begun! Book 3 of The Holocaust Engine is coming on March 25 and is now available for pre-order from Evolved Publishing. Everything has been leading to this moment as our survivors make a last desperate attempt to fight what has been plaguing them on the island. Will they fight? Will they flee? Will they fail?

Chaos descends inside the quarantine zone as a hurricane threatens to finish what the disease started.

Scroll down to the MORE INFORMATION section for multiple purchasing options.

With an army of infected pouring across Key West, the last bands of survivors are caught between fighting monsters, each other, and a hurricane that is churning toward the island. The cordon around the island fails, leaving everyone to choose between fight, flight, flood, and faith.

Those who stay will face the disease and the demonic force it has released. With saltwater and blood soaking the island, these strike teams make their last-ditch effort to challenge this threat to humanity… and drown it.

David Rike and I are so excited to announce this final chapter in our series. If you’re not caught up, the Holocaust Engine (Book 1) and Fluid Shock (Book 2) are both still available. If you prefer audiobooks, The Holocaust Engine is available in audio, featuring the vocal talents of Storm Browne is available, with Fluid Shock coming soon.

***RELEASE DATE: 24 March 2025***

Available at:

https://books2read.com/THE-USTF

David Rike and I had a wonderful time at FENCON this past weekend. The Spy Vs Spy theme was evident throughout, but we covered a lot of ground, from Bond to Superman, Evil Overlords to Lairs, Superman/Lois to Tired tropes.

We had a blast at the 2nd MonsterVMonster Cage Match, where a bloody and BBQ-sauced battlefield at Dollywood saw Team Mecha-Depp use their mechanized Jack Sparrow to win the day over the mysterious cat-raised monster that could not quite be explained. If that sounds weird, I’m sorry, but that’s the best way I can explain it. If you want to learn more about it, you’ll have to join us next time.

FenCon Convention Day 3. Panel on “Sci-fi and Fantasy Tropes We Love to Hate” with David Rike, Michael Nelson , Declan Finn and moderated by Mel White .

FenCon Convention Day Three.. Panel on “Superman: Man of Steel, Woman of ……” with Joe Giacoio and R Cat Conrad. Great exploration of Clark, Kal-el and Lois as characters, a couple, plot drivers, and models for different types of relationships.

FenCon Convention .. James Bond Deathmatch with David Rike , DL Young , Howard Carter and Bill Frank.

Day One at FenCon Convention. Great discussion with David Rike and Joe Giacoio on low budget science fiction and a deeeeeep dive on Sharknado and the future of science fiction in film.

This weekend, David Rike and Stephen Patrick will join an amazing array of artists, creators, fans, musicians, and overall awesome people for the 20th anniversary of FENCON. Fans of Eric Flint’s 1632 universe will also be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1632 universe.

We’ll be sharing stories and content on Facebook, but feel to reach out to us online or in person. We’re not doing a signing or a reading, but we’ll have copies of The Holocaust Engine and Fluid Shock with us.

If you’re at FENCON, here’s where you can find us on panels (David is crashing the MonsterVmonster Cage Match, but don’t tell anyone)

Panels with Stephen Patrick :

Panels with David Rike :

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As we look forward to a busy 2025, I wanted to stop and reflect on how amazing 2024 has been for us.

AUDIOBOOK: The audiobook of The Holocaust Engine was released with the amazing talents of Storm Browne, courtesy of David Lane and Evolved Publishing. It’s available here: https://books2read.com/THE-TheHolocaustEngine and across all your favorite formats, including Spotify, Apple Books Audio, Audiobooks.com, Barnes & Noble Audio, Chirp Audio, Downpour, Everand Audio, Google Audio, Hoopla Audio, Rakuten, and Libro.fm. It’s the perfect introduction to the world of The Holocaust Engine.

CONVENTIONS: We also had a busy con season, with David Rike attending his first-ever con with FENCON, 2024, followed by SoonerCon, 2024, and P-Con-2024. He did an amazing job on his first panels and I enjoyed my opportunities to moderate panels with him and a wide variety of local and national authors, creators, and fans. Our thanks to everyone who planned, plotted, schemed, attended, managed, or enjoyed any of these wonderful events. We’ll be back in 2025.

LOCAL EVENTS: One of our favorite things is to talk about writing with authors and readers. The Half Price Books flagship store is one of our favorite places, and we were there TWICE, selling and signing books, talking about stories, and deploying the Genre Fight board. Thanks to the folks who stopped by and placed any of the 100+ stars on the board.

Books 1 and 2 of The Holocaust Engine trilogy are also now available at the Wylie, TX Urban Farm and Market, as part of their local authors section featuring talents from across the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

LOOKING AHEAD: We started work on our next trilogy (a historical fantasy set in the age of sail) while also plotting a scary little horror novel that we are prepping for 2025. More to come on those, but our notebooks are overflowing with all sorts of creativity that we’re hoping to share soon.

Happy New Year, everyone!

As the holidays approach, I wanted to share that Book 1 and Book 2 of The Holocaust Engine trilogy are available from Evolved Publishing:

The Holocaust Engine (Book 1): It begins with disease… A brain-rotting virus, which leaves its victims disoriented and hyper-violent, rages out of Cuba into the Florida Keys. The Audiobook is also available at  https://books2read.com/THE-TheHolocaustEngine and across all your favorite formats, including Spotify, Apple Books Audio, Audiobooks.com, Barnes & Noble Audio, Chirp Audio, Downpour, Everand Audio, Google Audio, Hoopla Audio, Rakuten, and Libro.fm.

Fluid Shock (Book 2) – A team of investigators and military operators join the survivors in a race to stop the spread of an otherworldly plague.

Unda Sanguis (Book 3) – (coming soon) Chaos descends inside the quarantine zone as a hurricane threatens to finish what the disease started.