Tag Archives: short story collection

News, Announcements, Blog

COVER REVEAL – ‘The Worlds of Nathan Marchand, Vol. 2: Tales of the Lost and Lonely’

After a few too many years, I’m publishing a new collection of rare and unpublished short stories! While Volume One was all science fiction and fantasy stories, this book will be all literary stories with the occasional thriller. Many could even be called “romantic comedies.”

This cover is a photograph taken and edited by my sister, Sarah Marchand. It was snapped in a back alley in the small town of Columbia City, Indiana. The cape, which is part of a Christopher Reeve Superman costume I own, factors into my favorite story in the collection, “The Discarded Gift.” Appropriately, it’s a Christmas story.

The (current) promo copy for the book reads:

FOR THE HOPELESS ROMANTIC IN ALL OF US…

Nathan Marchand dipped into his story vault to take you to fantastical worlds in his first collection, and now he takes you to…your neighborhood.

These (mostly) down-to-earth literary stories feature lost souls in search of redemption and lovelorn romantics in search of, well, love. They look in a graveyard, Washington, D.C., a WWII airplane hangar, an arcade, and the small Midwestern town of Vienna. Their problems range from flat tires to a discarded Superman cape to a kidnapped daughter. At every turn in every story, loneliness and love wage battles for the seekers’ hearts and minds. These everyday heroes never come out unscathed, but their very human quests for connection, no matter how unattainable it seems, cannot be denied. Each story includes a short introduction by Marchand, which gives readers insight into his creative process.

So, get cozy in your favorite reading spot for 15 Tales of the Lost and Lonely, many of which are published for the first time in this little volume!

The tentative release for the book is December 16. Watch for more announcements!

News, Announcements, Blog

COMING SOON – ‘The Worlds of Nathan Marchand, Vol. 2: Tales of the Lost and Lonely’

This summer (and hopefully before Gen-Con), I plan to release another short story collection that will be titled The Worlds of Nathan Marchand, Vol. 2: Tales of the Lost and Lonely. It’ll be another anthology of unpublished stories spanning my entire writing career, from college to today (well, close enough).

Unlike in Volume 1, these stories won’t be speculative fiction (with one possible exception), but many will involve “nerdy” things. For example, the flagship story involves a young man in a small town trying to return a collectible Superman cape he found in a dumpster on Christmas Eve. You may recognize some of the stories because many were once available on this very website.

As with Volume 1, I’m including short intros for each story that explains their origins. Some stories were written for college classes; others were the products of prompts from a writers group I used to attend.

Currently, my sister, Sarah, is editing the book and working on a photographic cover. Once those are done, it will be in print quickly.

Stay tuned for more updates!

News, Announcements, Blog

NEW BOOK – ‘The Worlds of Nathan Marchand’

The cover that CreateSpace kept refusing to approve.
The cover that CreateSpace kept refusing to approve.

You read that right—the title of my new book is the same as my website. (I guess I’m just that pretentious. :P)

The familiarity doesn’t end there, though. This book is a collection of “unpublished” short stories spanning my entire career. I put quotation marks on “unpublished” (I did it again!) because many of these stories have already been posted here on my website. I learned at a Gen-Con writing seminar that stories posted on an author’s website are considered published. I may have tom rethink how often I post stories on here, then.

Regardless, I wanted to have this book finished in time for Gen-Con last week, but CreateSpace, the website I use for my self-published stuff, kept being nitpicky about the cover. It took me too long to make it happy. (I still had great sales at Gen-Con, though).

What’s the theme of this collection? I’ll let the back cover copy explain:

From the mind that brought you
Pandora’s Box & Ninjas and Talking Trees
comes…a little bit of everything.

  • An amnesiac cybernetic vigilante confronting the man he once called “comrade”—after he was murdered by him.
  • A pro-wrestler accosted in the ring by a mysterious hooded figure the night before his brother takes him to court.
  • A living gargoyle who protects a young wayward woman from her persecutors—and a demon.
  • Santa Claus’ race with a flying saucer on Christmas Eve.
  • A young man flying a hang glider through a ruined city to save his stranded twin siblings from a giant monster believed to be an angry god.

You’ll find these and other fantastical things in this, the first short story collection from Nathan Marchand. This anthology spans the vast breadth of the universe and genre. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and then you’ll do both again. Herein you’ll find adventure, drama, tragedy, and…ninjas (because they make everything better).

Prepare to enter…

The Worlds of Nathan Marchand

That pretty much says it all.

Barring any more unforeseen hiccups, the book will be available on Amazon within the next few days. The eBook should follow soon afterward.

Sidenote: Speaking of eBooks, I’ve been making eBook versions of some of my other books lately. 42: Discovering Faith Through Fandom is now available as such. The next will be Ninjas and Talking Trees.