By Christopher D. Abbott

I’ve always been a fan of period drama. Ever since I was a boy, I’ve been enthralled by period crime fiction. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, R. D. Wingfield’s Inspector Jake Frost, the list is endless.

When I started writing my own stories, all I could think about was writing a detective story. I created one in Dr. Straay, my Dutch criminal psychologist. Set in the 1930s, he had links to some of the greatest minds in psychology of the early twentieth century. I wrote two books with Straay. Sir Laurence Dies, and Dr. Chandrix Dies. They were Agatha Christie styled mystery books, because the model for Dr. Straay was the amazingly intelligent Hercule Poirot. Sir Laurence Dies later won the Reader’s Favorite Bronze Medal in the Fiction—Mystery—Sleuth genre, in 2014.

Since then, I’d spent a lot of time lost within another passion of mine, mythology. Specifically, Ancient Egyptian. I penned a short story for a publisher in London called Songs of Beast. A dark anthology that had to have the main protagonist as an animal. Later I found I was so enamored with it, I took that story and fashioned it into Songs of the Osirian. It was followed by Rise of the Jackal King, Daughter of Ra, and Citadel of Ra, which completed the series.

Throughout my ten years of publishing, I was blessed to meet and become friends with actress and activist Chase Masterson. She graciously penned a foreword for the first in my series of Osirian books, and through her, I was able to present myself to the public at a few conventions. That’s where I met Michael Jan Friedman. After that, my writing life changed.

Mike is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He not only helped me with getting out there, but he also wrote the foreword for my second Osirian book, Rise of the Jackal King. His advice and experience continue to help hone my skill. When I wrote my first pastiche story, Sherlock Holmes: A Scandalous Affair, he read through it and gave me fabulous feedback.

After a long period of writing Fantasy, I wanted to get back into something more period driven. I think the genesis of my idea for Progenitor came from a mixture of sci-fi, mystery, and horror. I love old films like The Thing, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and TV shows such as Tales From The Crypt, or The Invaders. There’s something about the early ’50s and ’60s TV shows that’s missing in today’s broadcasting. Character-driven stories and dialogue are what I’m all about. Without the benefit of special effects, older shows had to rely on actors to suspend our disbelief, and boy did they do it well!

Progenitor is my first book published by Crazy8Press. It’s essentially a 1940s period sci-fi horror. Set during World War II, we see an America under attack from strange monsters, with no one really understanding where they sprang from. A group of survivors, led by General William Marshall and a British Colonel, find solitude in Camp Detrick—a place set up specifically to deal with the type of disaster that has disconnected America with the rest of the world. Once inside, our heroes discover a far bigger threat in the work conducted by scientists led by a German, Dr. Hans Grunner. Without giving too much away, think Alien meets The Thing and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how awful their situation is about to get…

NEW YORK – November 16, 2020 – Crazy 8 Press, the author collective populated with an all-star line-up of notable and best-selling science fiction and fantasy authors, announced today the incredible expansion of its roster with the addition of Geoffrey Thorne and Hildy Silverman.

As the first writers to join Crazy 8 Press as official members in more than five years, Thorne and Silverman bring the collective up to ten, the largest it’s ever been, adding to the collective’s roster consisting of Russ Colchamiro, Peter David, Mary Fan, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Paul Kupperberg, and Aaron Rosenberg.

Thorne won accolades for his work in Simon & Schuster’s prestigious Strange New Worlds anthology, wrote the LOCUS best-selling Star Trek: Titan novel Sword of Damocles, was a writer on the hit TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent and became a writer-producer on multiple seasons of TNT’s Leverage and The Librarians.

Known for her short fiction, Silverman served as Editor-in-Chief of Space and Time Magazine for twelve years, cementing her as one of the most respected voices within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres.

“Geoff and Hildy are terrific writers, great friends of ours, and individually and collectively bring a wealth of experience and success across multiple media to Crazy 8 Press,” Friedman said. “We just made a huge leap forward.”

“Crazy 8 Press just celebrated its tenth year together, and as we thought about the next ten, it was important to us that we grow, not just in size, but in diversifying our roster,” Greenberger said. “We are dedicated to bringing in talent that will further energize us, excite our fans, push us in new directions, and help us reach new readers and markets.”

Thorne previously contributed to all three volumes of Crazy 8 Press’s Pangaea anthology series, and wrote for Ben 10, Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel’s Avengers culminating with him being named head writer and showrunner of the two-time Image Award-nominated series Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest, as well as creating the Mosaic character and series for Marvel comics. Thorne is also executive producer of Pendant Audio’s Dreamnasium, a scripted scifi anthology series based on his novella collection of the same name.

Silverman previously contributed to several Crazy 8 Press anthologies, with her stories appearing in Love, Murder & Mayhem, They Keep Killing Glenn, Altered States of the Union, and Badass Moms. Her short fiction has also appeared in anthologies with other publishers including:Baker Street Irregulars II: The Game’s Afoot; Camelot 13; and The Divided States of America, among others.

“There is nothing, nothing, I like more than a bunch of good writers, writing stuff they really want to write,” Thorne said. “I’m thrilled to be invited into the pirate crew. Yo ho, maties! Let’s GO!”

“I’ve been a fan and friend of Crazy 8 Press since they launched ten years ago,” Silverman added. “They’re such a good bunch and loads of fun. I was shocked when they asked me to join and delighted to accept. I think I bring a lot to the table, and I’m excited to become an official member.”

Crazy 8 Press welcomes Thorne and Silverman as the collective promotes the Kickstarter campaign for its newest anthology, Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2, scheduled for publication in the spring of 2021. Earlier this year Crazy 8 Press released several new books, including Pangaea III, Badass Moms, Crackle and Fire, ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman ’66 – Season One, and, most recently, Death In Silents.