E.S. Raye

Wow. Yeah. That’s a mouthful. But as I look over the projects I’ve had published, as well as those I’m currently working on, this is undeniably true. I really love writing genre mashups that have a certain (if varying) historical element.

Here’s what I mean by that.

Cibus City, and the World of Clayton Hart

The first short story I was ever paid for was “The Stuff Legends are Made of,” which appears in RARE: A Dark Anthology of Unusual Secrets.

This story is a dark and gritty noir, staring a private detective (of a sort) named Clayton Hart, and features gangsters, hitmen, lies, and a “rain” soaked city. It all feels very 1930s, and I listened to a lot of jazz and pre-war music as I wrote it. I also watched a bunch of old noir movies to get the setting and tropes right.

But it’s also a sci-fi with ray guns and robot policemen and a galaxy on the brink of war. Oh, and that aforementioned city is at the bottom of a methane sea.

I have a sequel written–titled “Lines of Demarcation”–but it requires some expanding and editing before it’s suitable for submission.

Someday I may write a whole collection of short stories about that sunken city and its down-on-her-luck private eye.

Gas Giant Gambit

If you aren’t aware of my debut novel, the space-western Gas Giant Gambit, you either haven’t been paying attention, or you’re new here (in which case, welcome!).

I wanted to create a familiar western story, like the kinds John Wayne or Clint Eastwood would have starred it. So, I watched tons of old westerns, from Shane, to The Magnificent Seven, The Man with No Name Trilogy, High Noon, and many more. I also consumed mountains of research on the American Civil War and the time period immediately before it, both in the form of books and documentaries (Ken Burns was very helpful).

And then I took all those tropes and history, and replaced the deserts of the American southwest with the empty expanses of space. All while listening to spaghetti western soundtracks.

Shallow Trenches, Open Skies

One of my current works-in-progress (and the project most fully formed at the moment), Shallow Trenches/Open Skies is a World War I tale with science fiction thrown into the mix in the form of a UFO shot down by the Red Baron (a real-life urban legend).

For ST/OS, I’ve had to do tons of research on World War I, especially Belgium–and specifically Ypres. This was one of the most brutal times and places during the Great War, and now I’ve dropped an original character into the fray, along with technology he doesn’t understand and an extraterrestrial threat on top of the destruction that’s raining down around his ears.

Untitled WIP

The next project, which I am currently outlining and plan to start writing when ST/OS is complete, is a so-far-untitled cosmic horror novel that will take place in the late 1950s.

Cosmic horror, for the uninitiated, could be described as a mashup of horror and sci-fi, although that’s an over-simplification. While cosmic horror usually borrows elements from both of those genres, it’s really a monster all its own.

I plan to highlight much of the cultural shifts and divides of the time, including the earliest stages of second-wave feminism, the communist scare, racism and the first stirrings of the civil right movement, the beginnings of televangelism, etc.

All while an ancient and malicious god tried to manifest itself in out world.

The Cobalt Fist

And finally, The Cobalt Fist, my long gestating seven book series (and that ST/OS is a sort of prequel to) that I will write someday, is a mashup of:

Superhero, science fiction, dark fantasy, cosmic horror, occult, and, of course, alternate World War II history.

Inspired by things like Hellboy, The X Files, Indiana Jones, and my lifelong hyper-fixation on World War II history, I hope this story will one day be my magnum opus. An ode to historically inspired genre mashups!

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My goal is to make writing fiction my full-time job, be it prose or screenwriting, or both. So, I do really want people to read what I create. That may mean I, on occasion, will need to write stuff other people like. I’m also sure to have ideas that fit more securely into more established genres. But I’m never going to have as much fun writing as I do when I combine two or more genres (let’s be honest, when I combine sci-fi with another or more genres) and sprinkle it with history.

So, if you’re down for that sort of thing (and I can’t possibly be alone), stick around. I think I’ve got some more ideas you might like.