Cyberpunk 2077 was released not long ago, after almost a decade’s worth of development since its original announcement. The oddly generic title is due to the fact that it was an adaptation of a tabletop roleplaying game of a similar name, which fans hoped would mean the game had a vast amount of lore to draw upon and develop. You might expect that, as a writer in this particular genre, I was eagerly awaiting the release of such a major title… but something about it felt off. I was sure it was vaporware at this point, something destined never to be released. And should it ever make it to (digital) shelves, I was afraid it would be the next Duke Nukem Forever. While the game’s not quite that bad off, it sure hasn’t lived up to years’ worth of hype. But we’ll set that aside for the moment to look at just why this highly anticipated release managed to fall to a place where it was removed from the Playstation’s digital shop.

A special, exclusive short has just been released for free! Unjustified Nostalgia, a short story written just for my most loyal fans, is out now. Check out a brief summary below:

Fiona takes Lance out on a special birthday date to see one of his favorite bands perform live, but the fun’s put to rest when Unjustified Nostalgia reveals that it might be their last show. After a trip backstage, the band’s famed cyborg drummer has a request: help find out why the record label they were planning to sign with has suddenly gotten so aggressive. Can the band’s future be saved, or will they fade out once and for all?

If you’re already a subscriber to my mailing list, you should’ve received instructions on how to download it straight to your inbox last night. If you aren’t subscribed yet, no problem! click here and sign up; once you confirm, you’ll get the details, too, no matter when you’re reading this. It’s a permanent freebie! And don’t worry if you haven’t read The Arcology or Eidolon yet; this story’s relatively free of spoilers, so if you like it, you can always go back and get caught up.

Enjoy the story, and if you have any problems or comments, feel free to let me know!

Life’s hard in a dystopian world, and sometimes you really just need any escape you can get. That’s why there’s no shortage of new and exciting drugs being created in these kinds of places–or at least, they always sound exciting. A lot of the time, these futuristic drug offerings aren’t quite what you’re promised, and come with some major downsides. The next time someone offers you a first hit for free, pause and think over the points below before you wind up the latest victim of a half-baked narcotics fad.

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After months of writing and revision, Eidolon, the second book in my Lance Canela series, is now available across the web! Eidolon is where the overarching plot of the series begins—a heavier focus on the dystopian world and how it came to be that way. Check out the blurb below:

After Lance’s contact, Wyatt, is driven underground by the followers of a crusading hacker known only as Eidolon, Lance gets saddled with the unenviable task of digging up dirt on them—one made all the more intolerable as he finds himself working alongside a clickbait blogger named Becky, whose only concern is the next big controversy.
But as Lance gets to know Eidolon, his followers, and what he stands for, he becomes less and less sure that he’s on the right side. Is Wyatt taking advantage of him, or could there really be a dark secret at the heart of Eidolon’s attempts to right the world?

If you haven’t checked out The Arcology yet, no worries! I’ve got a special promotion going on that I’ll be posting about tomorrow. In the mean time, check out the links below to find a list of retailers that have Eidolon available. Both the paperback and ebook editions include a special bonus short story, Thoughts as Gray as Ash, following Lance through a more personal case as he searches for a client gone missing.

Amazon (ebook or Paperback): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXPQHCV

SmashWords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/668494

Barnes & Noble (ebook or Paperback): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eidolon-carlyle-edmundson/1124750035?ean=2940153761695

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/eidolon/id1161482752

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/eidolon-10

And remember, if you enjoy my books, please leave a rating/review at the retailer of your choice!

As part of the build towards the release of The Arcology‘s sequel, Eidolon, I’ve decided to share a glimpse into the background of the world from my notes. The timeline of events in the world of Lance Canela, in spoiler-free form, is now available here. See how dystopia takes hold in this cyberpunk history and pick up a few clues towards the future releases.

Welcome to the automatic society. We all knew that machines were going to take our places in the workforce, however gradually, doing the work that we humans didn’t want to do. The list of what we didn’t want to do kept growing, though, and soon the computers were doing jobs that no one ever expected them to–like running the world, for example. It’s quite a bit different from the Robot Revolt–we gladly handed over the reins. For some people, it’s a paradise, where no one has to do anything they don’t want to do. Their days are free to be filled with fun and joy, spending all their time on friends, family, and entertainment.

Others, however, view the machine with suspicion… have we sacrificed something innately human for a life of luxury? Are people losing their drive and curiosity, becoming complacent with the status our civilization has reached? Does mankind die not with a nuclear bang, as we once feared, but a slow whimper as we become so distracted by what we’ve built that we cease looking outward?

Not if you have anything to say about it. It’s time to free human civilization from this pampered tyranny–time to take out the Master Computer that rules this land.

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Something different comes our way this week–as I’m running low on TV shows I can actually scrape up some research on, I thought it might interest some of my newfound readers to learn the alternate paths the story of my novel, The Arcology, could have taken. It went through a lot of revisions, some of them radically different. It seemed like a better way to present this was in the list format, so why not do it that way? I swear I’m not just trying to kill 3 birds with one stone…

Buckle in as we move through some possible versions of The Arcology and I give a bit of an idea as to why I didn’t go with them.

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Cyberpunk these days is often heavy on the aesthetics–there’s a look to the whole genre that’s often considered crucial (and sometimes that’s one of the only things separating it from the present). What better way to showcase that style than by going to the local night club, one of the most obviously fashionable places around? While most of our heroes aren’t exactly the types to party in a cyberpunk club, their story will usually find a way to get them in the door, looking for a bad guy, or an informant, or hacker. Of course, these are way cooler than any place you or I have ever seen: lavishly decorated, crowded yet spacious, and playing some really loud (often really awesome) music.

Here are 4 of these hippest places to be, pulled straight from the dystopian cities in which they thrive.

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After much paperwork and hassle, my first novel, a cyberpunk detective story called The Arcology, is now available from every online retailer I plan to make it available to. It’s been in the works for a long time, and I didn’t give much info in the previous post since it wasn’t released yet, so here’s the book summary:

In the oppressive city of Kindred, circa 2052, Lance Canela tries a little too hard to fulfill the classic image of a private detective. Living in the shadow of the enormous Arcology and barely scraping by, he’s happy to sit in his office all day, reliving the adventures of his hardboiled heroes from a century past. But when the wealthy Fiona, a woman he thinks is the femme fatale he’s always waited for, knocks on his door, Lance gets a taste of life-or-death reality as he faces off against ruthless goons for the first time.

Shaken by the experience, Lance lays low for a few months until a new case thrusts him into the world of the super-rich high atop the Arcology, and that of the impoverished masses living at its base. In search of a missing girl with only the name “Ascended Employment” to go on, Lance must reconnect with Fiona and navigate the world of the wealthy to find her. Fiona, however, has problems of her own, and her past is more intertwined with Ascended than anyone could predict.

A cyberpunk detective story and the start of a new series, I hope that my visitors will give the book a shot and tell their friends if they enjoy it. The ebook is only $2.99, and available on Nook, SmashWords, iBooks, and more in a variety of formats. The kindle and paperback versions are available from Amazon (or directly from CreateSpace, if you want a bit more of your money to go to me). If you really want to help out, you can leave a review on any of those sites, or on GoodReads. Few things are more powerful than a positive review!

As always, thanks to all my readers and I hope you stick around. We’re just getting started.