[Miralee Ferrell] A New Addition to the Family!

By Miralee Ferrell, publisher

No, it’s not a baby—I’m thankful to say I’m past that point in my life—but it IS a baby in a way. Mountain Brook Ink has birthed a new ‘offspring’—Mountain Brook Fire—a new speculative fiction line. We have migrated our existing four speculative fiction series over from Mountain Brook Ink to their new home, and we’re contracting more excellent fiction, some of which will release as soon as 2020.

Now you might ask, what is speculative fiction? I realize not everyone knows—even members of my own family weren’t sure. Think Star Trek/Star Wars, Narnia, The Hobbit, Hunger Games, The Shack, This Present Darkness, Doctor Who, Lost, even The Wizard of Oz, Bewitched, and Mr. Ed (TV Shows) from the 1960-70s were spec fiction.

I personally adore spec fiction, as does our entire team here at MBI and MBF. I watched all the different Star Trek shows and look forward to the upcoming Picard in January 2020. Lost was one of my favorite series, and I’ve read or listened to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series 2-3 times. More often than not, spec fiction depicts good vs. evil, with good eventually winning out, battle by battle, as depicted in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I’ve recently finished editing the first release in our new line for May 1, 2020, by Bryan Davis, a well-respected, award-winning, best-selling author with over 1 million copies sold. His first release with us, Let the Ghosts Speak, reminded me in a slight degree of A Christmas Carol, in that ghosts from the past come into the present to try to right wrongs from the past, with a murder mystery thrown in. While editing, I was gripped by the plot twists, the strong characterizations, and the exceptional writing. You don’t want to miss this remarkable new release by Bryan Davis!

Richard Spillman’s third and final book in The Lazarus Chronicles will also release in 2020. Rick’s books have received high praise and his first book, The Awakened, won the Cascade Writing Contest with OCW in 2019. Heather L. L. FitzGerald, also an award-winning author with a Cascade Award, will have the fourth book in her Tethered World Chronicles series release in 2021. Kelsey Norman and Anna Zogg have at least one new cover in their series, to help kick off our new line and give their books a new look.  The Awakened, The Tethered World, and The Paradise Protocol (Anna Zogg) are all now available in audio, with additional books to come.

We’re also introducing our first annual writing contest for unpublished manuscripts, The Fire Award. The author does not need to be unpublished, but the manuscript must be. We’ll be offering short critiques for all levels of semi-finalists and finalists, with the grand prize being a contract with Mountain Brook Fire and the other two top prizes a content edit on the full manuscript. Cost to enter is $25 and it opens on February 1, 2020. A full list of rules is posted on our new website under the contest tab.

We are so excited about Mountain Brook Fire and the wonderful adventures and breathtaking stories that will be birthed as a result of this new line. Submissions open January 2^nd, and you may send proposals to mountainbrookink@gmail.com.

Be sure you check out our brand new website designed by Nikki Wright at www.fire.mountainbrookink.com. Let us know what you think and what your favorite category of spec fiction is—fantasy, sci-fi, spiritual warfare/suspense, steampunk, futuristic/military/government, etc., paranormal, or something else. We’d love to hear from you!