Press kit
Contact info:
Email: Contact@DanStout.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanStoutWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanStout
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7938095.Dan_Stout
Bio:
50 Words:
Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes noir with a twist of magic and a disco chaser. Dan's stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post and Nature. He is the author of The Carter Archives, a series of noir fantasy novels from DAW Books. To say hello, visit him at www.DanStout.com.
100 Words:
Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes noir with a twist of magic and a disco chaser. A novelist and game designer, his prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. Dan's stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Nightmare Magazine. He is the author of The Carter Archives, a series of noir fantasy novels from DAW Books. To say hello, visit him at www.DanStout.com.
The Carter Archives:
titanshade Jacket Copy:
Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.
But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.
titanshade 30 Word Blurb:
A noir fantasy thriller set in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where magic is real, disco rules the radio, and good cops are hard to find.
TITAN’s day jacket copy:
The city of Titanshade pulses with nervous energy. The discovery of new riches beneath its snowfields has given residents hope for prosperity, but it also means the arrival of federal troops, along with assurances that they are only there to "stabilize the situation".
Newcomers flood the streets, dreaming of finding their fortunes, while in the backrooms and beer halls of the city, a populist resistance gains support, its leaders' true motives hidden behind nativist slogans. And in an alley, a gruesome discovery: the mutilated body of a young woman, a recent immigrant so little-regarded that not even her lovers bothered to learn her name. But in death, she's found a champion.
Detective Carter single-mindedly pursues the killer as he navigates political pressures and resists becoming a pawn in the struggles tipping the city toward anarchy. But when more innocent lives are lost and time runs short, he's forced to decide if justice is worth sparking all-out war in the streets during the biggest celebration of the year: Titan's Day.
TITAN’s day 30 WORD BLURB:
When innocent lives are lost, Detective Carter must decide if justice is worth sparking all-out war in the streets during the biggest celebration of the year: Titan's Day.
Titan Song Jacket Copy:
Forbidden magic, murder... and disco. Carter's day keeps getting worse.
With the return of spring, new life floods into Titanshade. The sun climbs higher and stays longer, the economy is ascendant, and ever more newcomers arrive to be part of the city's rebirth. Even pop culture has taken notice, with a high-profile concert only days away. When a band member's murder threatens to delay the show, the diva star performer demands that the famous Detective Carter work the case. But Carter has secrets of his own, and his investigation unearths more victims and dark secrets, triggering a spiral of deceit, paranoia, and nightmarish magical transformations.
As conspiracies are exposed, Carter is sucked even deeper into the machinations of the rich, the powerful, and the venerated. Soon the very foundations of the city threaten to collapse and Carter's own freedom is on the line as he navigates between old enemies and fragile new alliances while racing to learn the true cause of this horrific series of deaths.
Titan Song 30 word blurb:
Violent, motiveless murders are bad; when the bodies begin to move, it’s even worse. Titanshade’s very foundations are shaken as Detective Carter races to solve this horrific series of crimes.
Photos:
Titanshade images:
TITAN’S DAY IMAGES:
TITAN Song IMAGES:
critical praise:
For Titanshade
“Debut author Stout combines a pitch-perfect noir tone and a richly detailed world full of human, amphibian, and less-identifiable characters in this instantly gripping fantastical mystery…. Stout handles this complex mystery with ease, invoking the best elements of classic noir mysteries, while fearlessly making this world, with its retro style and multilayered mythology, all his own. This emotionally nuanced and highly entertaining caper will leave readers eager for sequels. “ ~ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Take a little Mickey Spillane, some Dashiell Hammet, a bit of Raymond Chandler, and mix it with Phillip K. Dick's Blade Runner; add a taste of C J Box, and Craig Johnson, and you've got a masterpiece of a first novel. I hate to call any novel a work of genius, but Stout's Titanshade taps all the right keys."
~W. Michael Gear, New York Times bestselling author
“Dan Stout’s debut novel is flawless. Titanshade is set in an original, gritty fantasy world, like enough to ours to take you by the throat as the detective noir plot roars along, yet filled with intriguing other beings and moments of remarkable magic. Highly recommended.” ~ Julie E. Czerneda, author of The Gossamer Mage
“Titanshade is entirely unique: it’s a gritty noir murder mystery on an alien world with multiple species, a strange form of sorcery, a powerful religion, and large-scale political intrigue. And it’s set in the 1970s, with pay phones, 8-track tapes, racial tensions, and arguments about disco music. What’s amazing is how good it is at being all of these.“ ~ Booklist (starred review)
“Ranks as one of the best debut SF novels I've read in a long time. Titanshade by Dan Stout was a sheer delight.” ~ SFRevu
"All in all, the book grows on the reader, slowly at first, but then with the speed of a rabid kudzu vine egged on by supervillainess Poison Ivy. By the end of the book Titanshade satisfies well enough to make you start over at the beginning to see what you missed." ~ New York Journal of Books
"Titanshade was a wonderful blend of magical realism, police procedural, and thriller." ~ Genre Minx
"This is a solid debut, giving us a fascinating new world, some fun characters who feel real, and a story which, I guarantee will keep you turning pages into the wee hours." ~ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews
For Titan’s Day
“Stout proves once again to be a master of retro sf noir.” ~ Booklist
“Despite Carter’s rough exterior, his insistence on Jane Doe’s humanity throughout the case makes him a refreshingly empathetic hero, injecting deeply felt emotion into the clever procedural plot. Stout’s detailed, impeccable worldbuilding and subtle characterizations are sure to captivate returning fans and new readers alike.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)