Animals and Savages, Book 2 of Tarped Merka
Five hundred years into the future, Sam (the government of Merka) has covered nearly two billion acres of open land with white tarp to fight global warming. El Paladino is charged with protecting the tarp from those “cutters” who might tear up pieces to plant a garden, dig a well, or bury a body. Judge, jury, and executioner, the Paladino’s motto is “You cut the Tarp, you die.”
The Paladino’s other remit is to prevent the use of forbidden tech from previous times, which is how he came to battle el Gotico, a bandit who had discovered a cache of “oldie times” high-tech weapons.
After taking down el Gotico, the Paladino has a mind to see his family. His friends Marie and Moira decide to accompany him home. But an encounter with a gang of human traffickers soon turns into a quest for vengeance.
The Paladino and his amigas pursue the banditos into realms undreamed-of by any of them, including a vast swath of untarped land inhabited by secretive Natives and a sprawling, armed compound rife with forbidden technology and disturbing secrets.
Will the Paladino make peace with the Natives to take on the technologically advanced teams of the Wells compound, and will he make it home in time to save his poisoned son?
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Peril and Preternaturalism, volume II of the Doctor Hobbes tales
“Rev DiCerto’s Peril and Preternaturalism is an immensely readable, fast-paced, fun read. It’s a marvelous blend of adventure, science fiction, cryptozoology, and Sherlock Holmes. I had a total blast and am looking forward to the further adventures of the extraordinary Doctor Hobbes!”
—John Palisano, Bram Stoker Award-Winning author of Requiem and Ghost Heart
Is there truth to the rumors about the huge man-apes of the Nepalese Himalayas—and are the fabled yetis truly as gentle and enlightened as the local monks claim? Can the creature that pretty Cousin Olivia and her friends glimpsed in Sherwood Forest actually be a unicorn, as described in biblical texts and the work of Galileo? Can the Germanic myth of kobolds—house spirits—and especially the Klaubautermann, which lives onboard ships, hold any truth? Is it really dangerous for one of them to be seen by its ship’s crew? And what really causes earthquakes in remote Iceland? Is it vulcanism, or something far more fantastical?
Doctor Daniel Hobbes is determined to learn the answers to these mysteries of naturalism and cryptozoology—single-mindedly so. And if a few creatures die as a result of his pursuit of scientific knowledge, or a few people’s lives are ruined, what concern is it of his? Certainly a man of Hobbes’s wisdom and insight cannot be to blame when nature takes its course!
Join Doctor Hobbes in this second volume of adventures, spanning from Nepal to Scotland to Nottinghamshire… and finally on to the frozen North.
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Marshal Gallagher and the Aeropede Bandits, Book I of The Age of Invention
When a small town’s marshal is murdered, the man they ask to replace him is… a grounded air pirate?
Soon after the end of the War of Southern Independence, in which he lost his younger brother in battle, Jimmy Leary, under the assumed name of Gallagher, has signed on as a crewman on the pirate airship Isabela. Now, having disobeyed his captain and, later, landing the Isabela in hot water with the Confederate Aerial Navy, Gallagher has been banished to the fledgling mining town of Bisbee to cool his heels for an unspecified span of time, in the hopes of encouraging better behavior and wiser decisions.
Close to the borders of both Mexico and the Confederate States of America, Bisbee is a town at risk, her rich silver mines frequent targets of ruthless bandit gangs. When the town’s marshal is murdered during a nighttime raid on one of the mines by marauders who arrive mysteriously and disappear just as bafflingly, the frightened citizens turn to Gallagher as the likeliest member of the tiny community to defend them, forcing the job of marshal on the unwilling pirate.
Will Gallagher be able to thwart the mysterious bandits and save the livelihoods of Bisbee’s citizens? What will happen when the angry Confederate rear admiral whose friend Gallagher has killed comes seeking revenge? Will Gallagher be able to figure out his love life enough to avoid hurting his sweetheart unwillingly? And is there any chance that Gallagher can grow into a valuable member of the Isabela‘s crew?
Murder, mystery, and mayhem abound!
El Paladino, Book 1 of Tarped Merka
THE TIME: Roughly 500 years from now. THE PLACE: Merka.
Desperate to stave off the effects of global warming, the government of Merka (commonly known as “Sam”) is engaged in covering the country’s nearly two billion acres of open land with a white Tarp to reflect the sunlight. It’s illegal to cut the Tarp, but all sorts of people—cutters and banditos—do anyway.
That’s where the Paladinos come in.
Ranging on hossback across the desert-like tarped land, and known by their green sombreros, armed Paladinos protect the Tarp, empowered to kill cutters at their own discretion. There’s no due process for cutters—the Paladinos are judge, jury, and executioner.
You cut the Tarp, you die.
El Paladino—he’s known by no other name—encounters a mysterious pistolero who keeps his face covered, who repeatedly warns him about the rise of a powerful gang led by a ruthless bandito who deals in forbidden technology. Facing a large, organized group of gangstas, with no other green sombreros in the area to help, El Paladino must reluctantly accept the aid of a greenie girl named Marie and throw in his lot with a pistolero he does not trust.
Murder, mayhem, and profanity abound.
The Preternaturalist
The Preternaturalist, Volume I of the Doctor Hobbes tales
A collection of short stories about the ghastly Victorian scientist Doctor Daniel Hobbes, who investigates supernatural occurrences and creatures, with a dash of egoism and more than a modicum of hubris. Hobbes never believes in magic, and always feels superior to the creatures he encounters–and everyone he deals with winds up paying for it.
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Fire Aloft, Book II of The Age of Invention
The second volume of the Age of Invention series by Rev DiCerto and Duncan Eagleson. Fire Aloft was originally the first book in the series, until the publication of Marshal Gallagher and the Aeropede Bandits, which takes place several years earlier.
Conspiracy!
Includes my short story “Heavy Weather,” the first published story featuring the character El Paladino, who is a main character in my novel El Paladino.
Decopunk: The Spirit of the Age
Includes the short story “Losing Amelia,” a 2016 finalist for the international Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
Rapunzel’s Daughters and Other Tales
Contains the short story “The Spyder,” a mash-up of several fairy tales, cast in a Victorian setting, with a dark twist.
Impossible Futures
Includes the short story “A Singular Love,” a dark science fiction tale about the moment AI achieves consciousness.
Elf Love
Includes the short story “The Saga of Anund the Berserk,” an excerpt from my unpublished novel On a Windy Tree. Who knows? Maybe I’ll feel saucy one of these days and publish it.
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