Bad Lands (Nightwatch)

Clayton Hostetter, US Marshal, makes his living rousting out range agitators, fence cutters, them that mutilate the cattle and make the circles in the crops, and general uncivilized folk. Just now, he's ordered by President Theodore Roosevelt himself to bring in Ehnrich Boehm, aka The Dark Man, the most ornery outlaw you ever did know. Wanted for murder, mayhem, terrorism, and conspiracy to destroy the eighteen contiguous universes (also blasphemy and vandalism), Boehm is truly a formidable bad man. He's wily, powerful, ruthless, and travels with a demon horse and a psychotic Yorkshire terrier. Such a foe is too much for even a federal marshal to handle, so Hostetter puts together a stalwart posse consisting of an inter-dimensional scientist who is a light projection from a dying universe, a ten-year-old boy who might be thirty, or sixty, or maybe forty, a frontier guide, and Bigfoot (yes, that Bigfoot). Hostetter and his gang track the Dark Man across the West, across dimensions, and to the very end of the multiverse, weathering motorcycle gangs, Wild Indians like you've never seen, and the dreaded Mini-skirted Zombie Ninja Japanese Schoolgirls with Laser Eyes and Apocalypse Panties. It's Blazing Saddles meets Wild, Wild West with a pinch of The Golden Compass and Harry and the Hendersons. It's the weird western to beat all weird westerns, and it's yours for a week's honest cowhand wages and a plate of beans. Bad Lands. Part of the Nightwatch uber-series. Take a gander, pard!

Hi! Stephan Michael Loy here. A bit about me:

First that name is pronounced 'Steven, ' not 'Stefan' as so many people suppose. My mom was as imaginative as she was inventive and I suffer accordingly: -). I've published fantasy, science fiction, and satire since 2010. All those stories come from my highly imaginative and inventive mind, but they're also anchored in my wide and long experience.

--Of growing up dirt poor, in dicey neighborhoods, and with the unflaggable intention of escaping those situations.

--Of working as a journalist. A degree in Journalism from Indiana University and publication in three Midwestern newspapers, including the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Bloomington Herald-Telephone.

--Of serving as an officer in the US Army, a move that pretty much truncated that career in journalism. Served as an Armor officer, that is, led M60A3 tanks as part of the 4th Infantry Division/11th Armored Cavalry covering force on the East-West frontier of Cold War Germany in the 1980s. Executive officer of an M1 tank company in 3/63 Armor, Germany.

--After leaving the military, I took up my second love, art, the first being the aforesaid journalism. Art history student, commercial artist, and art teacher of almost thirty years. I designed and executed all my book covers.

--First and foremost, I'm a family man. Married over forty years to the coolest woman on Earth. Two wonderful boys, one of which is disabled with autism, cerebral palsy, and mild mental handicaps. I'm allowed to exist in the same house with my two cats, Buffy the Cat Toy Slayer, and the Great and Powerful Oz, First Kitty Deluxe. Still pining for my rescue Greyhound Petra, off in the Elysian Fields of Chasing Rabbits and Rolling in Grass.

I use all of this background in the stories I create to ensure the most authentic, immersive, and exciting experience for my readers.

WHAT I'VE MANAGED SO FAR

• Eleven novels published as I write this, another five on the way soon.

• Five novellas published

• Organization of the Mid-World Arts support co-op of like-minded self-published artists

• Leader of the Mid-World Arts Writers' Critique Group, formerly the Indianapolis Writers' Critique Group.