James Maxey’s mother warned him if he read too many comic books, they'd warp his mind. She was right! James is unsuited for decent work and ekes out a pittance writing down demented fantasies about masked women, fiery dragons, and monkeys.
Readers interested in sampling Maxey’s odd ramblings might enjoy his science-fantasy Bitterwood series, the secondary world fantasy of his Dragon Apocalypse novels, his two superhero series Lawless and Whoosh! Bam! Pow! or the steam-punk visions of Bad Wizard. His short fiction has appeared in IGMS, Asimov’s, and over a dozen anthologies, with the best of his work appearing in the collections There is No Wheel and The Jagged Gate. In what is certainly a sign of the end times, James was named Piedmont Laureate in 2015.
James lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina with his lovely and patient wife Cheryl and too many cats. For more information about James and his writing, visit jamesmaxey.net. Or, follow him on Twitter @JamesAllenMaxey
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Overviews of James Maxey’s Works
THE BITTERWOOD SAGA
Marketed as fantasy, Bitterwood is actually post-apocalyptic science fiction set in a world where genetically engineered dragons have risen to power with humans living in their shadow as slaves and pets and prey. A human archer named Bitterwood has waged a one man fight against the dragon overlords for years, but when he murders the son of the Dragon King Albekizan, all-out war breaks loose between dragons and mankind. There’s a diverse cast of unique characters both human and dragon to root for, and non-stop tension as both species struggle for their long term survival. The four books of this series are Bitterwood, Dragonforge, Dragonseed, and Dawn of Dragons. All four books plus a bonus short story are available in Bitterwood: The Complete Collection.
DRAGONSGATE
In the aftermath of the Bitterwood saga, the human rebels send a team of explorers on a mission beyond the western mountains to try to reconnect with lost human tribes. When they stumble across ancient technology from the human age, they unleash a new threat far more dangerous than dragons. Dragonsgate: Devils and Dragonsgate: Spirits are currently available. The concluding book of the trilogy, Dragonsgate: Angels, will be released in 2023.
THE DRAGON APOCALYPSE
In a world of pure magic, the primal dragons long ago entwined their spirits with elemental forces. God-like in power, they command forces like fire and ice, water and stone, and even life and death. Greatshadow, the primal dragon of fire, still clings to his roots as a treasure-hoarding dragon, his lair and its vast wealth hidden in the bowels of a volcano. Infidel is an infamous mercenary, enchanted to be as strong as ten men and invulnerable to blades. After accidently killing the man she loves while stealing relics from a temple, she decides to retire in style by stealing Greatshadow’s treasure. This sets in motion events that will lead to the primal dragons united to destroy mankind. Can Infidel and her roguish allies somehow save the world? Probably not! But their swashbuckling, dungeon crawling, reality jumping adventure unfolds over twenty years filled with action, humor, and romance. The four books of the series are Greatshadow, Hush, Witchbreaker, and Cinder, and are all available in Dragon Apocalypse: The Complete Collection.
WHOOSH! BAM! POW!
A trio of loosely connected tales examining the ramifications of the underlying myth of the superhero.
Nobody Gets the Girl: A Superhero Novel – Richard Rogers’ life has been erased by a time machine accident. He’s now trapped as a ghost in a world where he was never born, visible only to the trio of superheroes who caused the accident. He joins their team as an invisible, intangible spy, code named Nobody. Who can save us? Nobody!
Burn Baby Burn: A Supervillain Novel – Sundancer is a radical terrorist commanding flames hot enough to vaporize steel. She believes the world to be irredeemably corrupted and wants to topple civilization so that the world can be made anew. But when she learns she’s dying of an advanced stage cancer, she must choose between finding some small measure of peace in what remains of her life, or going out in a blaze of ultimate destruction.
The Covenant: A Superteam Novel – To fight Sundancer, a team of superheroes known as the Covenant is formed, led by Sarah Buchanan, codenamed Skyrider. But Sarah has a secret life, married to a man who doesn’t know about her superpowers. As he starts to question her frequent absence and mysterious bruises, will Sarah be forced to choose between saving the world and saving her marriage?
LAWLESS
Smash Lass! Golden Victory! Atomahawk! She-Devil! These legendary heroes band together to form the world famous Lawful Legion! Lawless isn’t about them. Instead, it looks at the lesser known heroes who live in their shadow, people with weird of useless powers and not much hope of ever saving the world.
Cut Up Girl – Valentine Summers has the power to make a clone of herself by chopping off her arm. Her arm grows back instantly, and her clones aren’t stable, exploding in messy deaths a few seconds after she summons them. This isn’t a power she likes or wants, and no one would even have heard of Cut Up Girl if sex tapes she made with another vigilante hadn’t leaked to the press. But when a time travelling Victorian scientist lays siege to Port City, Valentine must suit up once more to battle his army of steam apes. Exploding clones to the rescue!
Big Ape – Harry Moreau is a big ape, with all the powers of a big ape, fighting crime under the code name Big Ape. Also, his mother’s a supervillain, Anastasia Moreau, a mad scientist with a flair for blending human and animal DNA. But when his mother is kidnapped by another supervillain, the dinosaur genius Technosaur, Harry must battle an army of robotic raptors in the midst of a hidden jungle city to save her. The mother and son reunion is only a giant robot with laser eyes away!
Victory – No hero is more respected than Golden Victory, a paragon of virtue who has, like, every great superpower you could want. As leader of the Lawful Legion, he’s saved the world a hundred times over. But when aliens show up and steal the moon, they offer to give it back in exchange for Golden Victory. What’s their beef? Who knows? But Big Ape and Cut Up Girl need to find out fast if they hope to save the world.
OTHER FICTION
Bad Wizard – A sequel to the Wizard of Oz novel, where an adult Dorothy Gale must return to Oz to stop Oscar Diggs, the former Wizard, from conquering the Emerald City with a fleet of dirigibles.
There is No Wheel – Ten weird, funny, and haunting short stories of ghosts, cannibals, supermen and angels in the final days of a dying planet.
The Jagged Gate – Twelve short stories about aliens, perverts, artists and dragons in realms magical and familiar.
As Editor with Cheryl Maxey:
Word Balloon Books are kid-friendly short stories featuring some of the best authors currently writing science fiction and fantasy. The titles are:
Rockets & Robots – Classic hard SF adventures where people who are good at math save the day!
Beware the Bugs! – B-movie style stories of insects on the rampage!
Paradoxical Pets – Not all pets are cute and cuddly; a dinosaur can be your buddy!
NON-FICTION
Write! Daydream, Type, Profit, Repeat!
There are a lot of skills you need to master to become a professional novelist, but don't lose sight of the underlying simplicity of the process. If you can daydream and type, people will give you money! It's a pretty good grift! James Maxey has been turning his imagination into income for over twenty years, and outlines the steps you need to turn you daydreams into dollars in this book!
