Jamie McNabb

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About Jamie McNabb
I live on the soggy, windswept, rockbound coast of Oregon.
It’s a great place to read and think and write. The Pacific Ocean and the capes and the storms are stunning. Now and again, the powerlines go down and the lights go out. The internet may even disappear. However, I’m always in touch with the mythic and the fantastic, as long as I remember to open my eyes and look. The best time is when a gale is lashing the coast and the waves are reducing the rocks to tiny grains of sand.
My fantasy series, The Assassins of Harmony, is set along the coast and on up the Columbia River, not far from where I grew up. The story takes place a few centuries after the collapse of contemporary civilization. For the people in Assassins, our era is the stuff of dark legends and horrible nightmares passed down, our cities are places to be quarried for metals and building materials or to be avoided altogether, and our surviving books and journals, on the whole, whenever they are discovered, are gleefully tossed onto the nearest bonfire.
It’s completely understandable. Following a devastating apocalypse, an annihilating implosion of unimaginable proportions, a great reawakening takes place among the survivors. They turn away from science and technology. Both have failed them. They purge their ranks and their libraries and their profane ambitions. They seek only to return to the way of life before the advent of electricity, before the rise of the machine, before the steam engine, before gunpowder, and before the iron suzerainty of monotheism and masculine gods.
The practices of magic and shamanism reemerge, and the patriarchal religions are ruthlessly driven out. The goddess and the god, together with their companions, reign supreme. There is balance. Of greatest importance, the goddess’s divine Harmony, her transcendent emanation, fills and sustains her creation, elevating it far, far above the temporal plane.
There are six books in the series, with others planned. They follow the life-and-death struggle of a young magus to ensure the survival of his beloved clan against a cunning web of insurmountable threats.
The Turning of the Wheel is the first book in this series. It is available on Amazon through this link: https://books2read.com/u/47Yl2q
You can follow me on BookBub at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jamie-mcnabb-38931f66-a275-447a-9203-3f0ce49ebca5
You can sign up for my newsletter at https://bit.ly/35dhnsw
My webpage is http://www.jamiemcnabb.com
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Blog postBack in the day, worn-out wooden ships were often beached and burned for their metal fittings. It was an easy way to squeeze the last remaining value out of their otherwise useless bones. These days, more often than not, just about the same thing happens with people.
Ferdinand Roberts feels like a rotting hulk, like a ship that has passed her burn-by date. It is not a happy feeling, and yet, within it there lurks a secret, well-hidden hope.
Like a lot of geezers, Ferdinand pee3 months ago Read more -
Blog post“The Adoption of Narmer” will be free between Feb. 17th and the 21st.
This science-fiction short story is set in the world of The Assassins of Harmony series.
Here’s the blurb: The Gods and the Generations judge the living and the dead, disposing of them at will.
Nevertheless, Amun-Ra, admitted to the pantheon of the Inland Empire and the Holy Oregon centuries ago, takes a special interest in those who are devoted to Him. Now and then, He intervenes on their behalf. No3 months ago Read more -
Blog postI will soon be launching The Assassins of Harmony series.
The Assassins of Harmony is a series of six science-fiction novels, with others to follow. They tell the story of a magus, the son of a condemned heretic, who, like his father, must commit the darkest sort of heresy. They also tell the story of a religious leader who has no choice but to take upon herself the burden of spiritual ambiguity and the withering responsibility for, quite possibly, launching an unbridled slaughter in4 months ago Read more -
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Blog post“The Cannon and the Voice of the Generations” is now available in the Kindle Store. This short story is set in the same world as The Assassins of Harmony series.
Here’s the blurb:
When does a weapon of war become too deadly?
It’s an excellent question, one that gets asked over and over again.
Right now, Naerian, a young magus attached to Clan Iredale, is asking it with all his heart.
And for good reason.
A powerful coalition of clans had formed4 months ago Read more -
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Blog postThugs beat Johnny, the hero of this dystopian tale, to a pulp and steal a family heirloom. The cops threaten to arrest him for resisting the burglary. Johnny has another plan, one that involves gardening.
Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/2ofhUSm
1 year ago Read more -
Blog post“Bertie’s Choice” is about a single decision in the life of a courageous young man.
In terms of genre, this story covers a fair amount of ground. Strictly speaking, it is military science fiction with a fantasy element. Adding to the fun, it’s set on the home front in a costly, no-win war. The focus is on the civilians in the story.
Here’s the blurb:
It’s hard to say what went wrong in the mage war, but one thing is for sure, its chewing through 18-year-olds like a mac1 year ago Read more -
Blog post“Pa’s Worm Farm and the Greenie Scouts” is a dystopian science-fiction tale. It is set in the near future, western Oregon. The events depicted are, sadly, quite possible. Indeed, at other times and in other places, events that are far, far more dystopian have taken place, often while the rest of the world looked on and mouthed platitudes about making omelets and breaking eggs.
Compared to some of the things that have happened in the real world, the events in this story are as mild as1 year ago Read more -
Blog postAnnouncing the independent publication of
THE HAPPY MAN
“The Happy Man” is a short story, military science fiction.
Lawton Francis Edgecombe serves aboard His Imperial Majesty’s starship Reticent. He is the captain’s personal steward, as well as the ship’s chief steward. Needs must. The ship is of a certain age, and her captain has his little ways, and the war with the vile, underhanded Phrawghs isn’t going as well as everyone had once hoped it would.
But Edgec1 year ago Read more -
Blog postDuring its latest “free cycle,” “Danny’s Game” was very well received. Therefore, I thought it might be a good idea to continue to promote it.
Here’s the blurb: A troop transport carries Private Danny Winslow, Martian Alliance Army of Defense, toward Earth. He intends to teach those pasty-faced, nosey, interfering Earther scum a thing or three about real fighting. Just like he’s teaching his buddies about playing poker. At the moment, however, he holds two low pair.&1 year ago Read more
Titles By Jamie McNabb
Only heretics question the holy history—they question the presence of the ash.
Like Vlod’s father. The Mother Metropolitan had no choice but to execute him. The laws of the Inland Empire and the Holy Oregon demanded it. She burned him to ash for questioning the ash’s very presence.
And she will have no choice but to send her assassins after nine-year-old Vlod.
He could not prevent his father’s death. But Vlod will learn to fight so he can continue his father’s work.
Because the question remains: Where is the sacred ash?
The Turning of the Wheel, The Assassins of Harmony, Book 1, weaves a dystopian tale, set several centuries in the future, in which belief and necessity collide like unstoppable tidal waves.
What if heresy proves the only way to avoid a holy war?
Such a war threatens the Inland Empire and the Holy Oregon. It stalks the Mother Metropolitan, as confident of its success as a Malheur Cobra hunting a barn rat.
Only the unification of two powerful clans offers any chance of escape. But the proposed bride despises the thought of marriage, and the groom might carry a genetic weakness that will doom the effort entirely.
The situation appears hopeless, and the auguries speak of annihilation and the wrath of the Goddess and the God.
As the clans prepare for war, Vlod, magus to the bride’s clan, Clan Iredale, works to reinvent an invincible weapon.
A fine precaution. A secret ray of hope.
But the weapon embodies an ancient and malignant heresy. Its use might save Clan Iredale, but its very existence will drown the clans in a river of heresy and blood.
Ulricka’s Gambit, The Assassins of Harmony, Book 2, weaves a dystopian tale, set several centuries in the future, in which the forces of orthodoxy and heresy break loose, threatening to obliterate everything before them.
The tugboat business on the Columbia River eats fools for breakfast. River dragons prefer cows, cattle, herons, and fish. Meanwhile, dogs love to roll in dead seagulls.
People, however, would rather roll themselves in lots and lots of money. Money may be filthy lucre, but it doesn’t stink and it makes a lot of things better.
According to Mack McNaughton, his uncle Chauncey Winston may qualify as a predatory megalomaniac, but not as a cow, a steer, or a carp. Therefore, he ought to be safe enough from the local resident river dragon.
The resident river dragon, however, may beg to differ.
Chauncey controls the family business, Winston Tug and Barge. His dreams of glory—his dreams of financial survival, really—include a plan to transform the business from a regional player into an international one. Before time runs out.
Mack, however, holds the key to saving the company, but he ain’t buying Chauncey’s plans.
The key in question? Nothing less than the ultimate fate of a dilapidated houseboat.
However, the river dragon in this story has his own agenda. He wants to be left alone in peace and quiet. The only broken beer bottle in his stretch of river mud is that his nice, comfy lair is right under the houseboat.
Blending the disparate traditions Bram Stoker, John Jakes, Terry Pratchett, Godzilla, and the Loch Ness Monster, Enoch’s Folly brews up both an engaging fantasy and a delightful satire. The result is an unforgettable tapestry of ambition, magic, violence, and love.
Table of Contents
“Get Inside” by Dayle A. Dermatis
“Sole Survivor” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“The Mooring Buoy” by Jamie McNabb
“Schrodinger’s Bar” by Kim May
“Upon_A_Starship.png” by Brigid Collins
“Jelly’s Heroes” by Louisa Swann
“Dreams of A Moon” by Dean Wesley Smith
“Charlie Company” by JC Andrijeski
“H-Hour” by Steven Mohan, Jr.
War comes knocking on Clan Iredale’s front door.
As diplomacy fails, one chieftain’s choice will decide the fate of his clan. One magus’s heroism will decide the fate of the Inland Empire and the Holy Oregon.Edmund, chieftain of Clan Iredale, has struggled valiantly to avoid the outbreak of war. But now, his efforts backfire with shattering results. The Mother Metropolitan declares a holy crusade against Clan Iredale. The forces marshaling to attack stagger the imagination. Only Edmund’s complete surrender can prevent his people’s annihilation.
While Edmund bravely prepares to fight a hideous war he cannot win, Vlod, his personal magus, embarks on a much lonelier and much more perilous course of action. Against his chieftain’s express orders, Vlod secretly works to develop a weapon that will shift the balance of power in Edmund’s favor—a weapon that threatens to wipe out the religion of the Goddess and the God.
Vlod’s heresy might prove Clan Iredale’s only hope for survival—but it might also endanger the clans of the Inland Empire and the Holy Oregon greater than any war.
The Heretic’s Son, The Assassins of Harmony, Book 3, weaves a heroic tale, set in a dystopian future, in which physical survival and spiritual belief threaten to obliterate each other…and humanity.
I'd love to answer that one.
What determines whether the cat in the box is alive of dead? Is reality independent of our perceptions? Or are our perceptions a part of reality and thus a determinate of it?
Heady stuff.
In this short story, the three guys have to tackled this Gordian Knot.
(Short Story: Speculative Fiction) The old man, the kid, and the swami sail their boat, Mandjet, toward an inscrutable fog bank. It looms before them, mysterious and impenetrable. It threatens to change its nature at any moment, at the slightest provocation. The old man, who captains the boat, consults his charts. He could turn around, but he refuses to do so. He maintains his course. Indeed, he switches off all of the boat's navigational equipment. He will tolerate no accidents, no ugly surprises.
This epub contains two novel samples and a bonus short story.
Despite the hour, Yamamoto Hajime, a master with needle and ink, answers the knock on his door, opening it.
A young woman stands in the glare of the porch light. She is dressed entirely in black, apart from her red lipstick. She is an Occidental…for the most part. An American. Only Americans stand with that odd combination of courtesy and entitlement.
Within a matter of seconds, he learns that she has come all the way from Seattle and that she is partly Japanese. In her voice, he hears a spattering of his language, of his very dialect.
His stomach turns sour with fear, with shame.
She has come for a tattoo, for one of his special tattoos. She opens the portfolio and shows him the drawing.
By this time, however, he knows without looking that the drawing is of the Lady Keiko.
Hajime's breath catches in his throat. Is he about to faint?
After all these years, the Lady has sought him out. Again.
Does his visitor have any idea that a special tattoo, especially one of the Lady Keiko, is so much, much more than ink?
Make nice with cats and other creatures? Not feral cats.
Domestic cats cuddle and purr, but feral and wild cats hiss and roar and scratch. For survival.
And sometimes for nefarious motives.
In this fantastic group of ten stories, expect some dark stories, some even gruesome ones.
Unlike the other eleven volumes in this series, expect some truly dark stories, with villainous cats. Sometimes evil stalks and prowls. And sometimes it bites.
Includes:
“Cat and Mice” by Jamie McNabb
“The Undoing of Morning Glory Adolphus” by N. Margaret Campbell
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Story of the Brazilian Cat” by Arthur Conan Doyle
“Pride” by Mary A. Turzillo
“Five Starving Cats and A Dead Dog” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Cat Running Wild” by Dean Wesley Smith
“Out of Place” by Pamela Sargent
“The Destroyer” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Honed, Sharp, and Ready” by Brigid Collins
Most of the time they're a live-and-let-live sort of bunch, but The Dutchman's flaking varnish and filthy decks raise a lot of eyebrows. A lot of things can be said about B Row, but no one can say that B Row isn't willing to help a lady in distress.
Wonder?! We've all had that happen.
This is exactly the situation confronting the old man, the kid, and the swami in "Three Guys and a Bar."
The old man, the kid, and the swami build things and they solve problems. They love their projects and stand ready to help in times of need, no matter what.
So when the occupants of one of their creations ask for their help, they sail to the rescue. However, when they arrive, no one has come down to the dock to greet them. How very odd?
The three guys soon realize that an ancient and deadly fear grips the land.
If boundary-pushing allegories beguile you, if you've worn out and had to replace your copy of Oh, God! You Devil, then treat yourself to "Three Guys and a Bar."
This publication also contains a sample of Enoch's Folly, a family saga with a strong paranormal element. Enoch's Folly plunges the reader into the dog-eat-dog world of tugboats working on the Columbia River.
For years, Alastair MacNaughton and his uncle Chauncey Winston have fought over the future of the family business. To break the logjam, these two willful and determined men make an all-or-nothing bet, gambling their lives and their families.
Blending the traditions of John Jakes and Terry Pratchett, Enoch's Folly brews up both an enthralling family saga and a delightful satire, weaving an unforgettable tapestry of ambition, magic, violence, and love.
If you love speculative fiction that is exciting, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, then grab your copy of "Three Guys and a Bar, Special Edition" right away.
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