Welcome to My Imagination!!
I'm an author of epic and heroic fantasy, paranormal adventures, historical fiction, and mysteries. I'm best known for my Legionnaire series (military heroic fantasy published online and in print) and my Miss Pandora Parson mysteries originally published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Take a look around and feel free to visit again. If you have any questions you can contact me through the Guestbook or at gilbertmstack@gmail.com. You can also find me at Goodreads.
Occultober is here--my annual celebration of great spooky literature. Starting October 1, i will bring you one great story or series a day. Some of them will be classic authors you know well or have at least heard of. Others will hopefully be new to you. I'll tell you what I love about their work and many of them have agreed to pop in at my Facebook Author page to chat about their creations. I hope you'll join us.
Now Available
A Legionnaire Prequel...
Green Vigil Book 1 The Jungles of Ekángá
Long before
Prefect Marcus Venandus directed the defense of the Jeweled Hills, Green Vigil
Marcus led his first command into the treacherous jungles of Ekángá. As if the
jungle itself wasn’t deadly enough, native warriors and shamans strike from its
shadows with magic, spear and dart, while the forcibly transplanted Graeci
population seethes with unrest in the supposedly civilized regions of the
province. Deep in the jungle, young Marcus is about to discover how little
lycee combat exercises have to do with surviving the Jungles of Ekángá.
The Jungles of Ekángá is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and other fine e-retailers.
Legionnaire 11 Fog of War
25% off if pre-ordered by August 6. Despite
their impressive victories in the north, Prefect Marcus and the Black Hat
Legion stand alone against the full might of Diamonte and Aquamarina. With
their home city under siege and the cowardly Lord Totila refusing to lead his
host out from behind the walls of Centinela, it falls once again to Marcus to
protect his adopted homeland by himself. His only hope is to thread the needle,
maneuvering his legion across enemy-occupied Amatista to the one location that
might enable him to recapture the initiative in this war. It’s a risky gamble.
With multiple armies afield and none of them knowing where the others are, the
fate of Amatista will depend on Marcus’ ability to navigate the Fog of War.
Fog of War is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and other fine e-retailers.
Legionnaire 10 Calidus' Stand
With Prefect Marcus and the Black Hat Legion
still trapped in Morganita fighting against the treacherous Thegn Hathus of
Granate, it falls to Calidus Vulpes, Red Vigil of the Aquilan legions, to take
a thousand quiet Qing infantry men and fifteen hundred unruly Gente archers to
hold off the full might of Diamonte at Angosto Pass. The odds are thirty-to-one
against them. Can the Aquilan junior officer hold back the enemy until Marcus
and the veterans return, or will this prove to be Calidus’ final stand?
Calidus' Stand is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and other fine e-retailers.
Legionnaire 9 Flood of War
Preternatural 2 Blood Now Available
Preternatural 2 Blood
With Sheriff Tucker down after the nosferatu attack, it’s up to newly appointed Undersheriff Joanna Donovan to rally her fellow officers. She must discover what new monster is terrorizing Hadrian’s Well and put an end to it before it kills any more of her citizens. Yet how can she do that with her own officers questioning her abilities, the town mayor strong arming her, and a new drug making its presence felt in Hadrian’s Well? Against her better judgment, she’s going to have to reach out to local science teacher, Evan Drake, to help her track down the creature or Hadrian’s Well will be awash in even more blood.
You can find Blood at Amazon, AmazonUK, and many other e-retailers. And don't forget about Preternatural 1 The Devil's Caverns also available at Amazon, AmazonUK and pretty much everywhere.
Winterhaven 3 The Blood of Torons
Duke Maldon may have suffered the shame of seeing his family's heresy
exposed, but that doesn’t mean that the duke and his kin are out of the fight.
Launching their most insidious scheme yet, they succeed in transforming a
victory celebration uniting the duchy’s leading families into a bloody
battlefield that ignites a civil war. And with the great families of
Winterhaven doing their best to kill each other, no one seems to notice the far
greater dangers arising on the border, threatening to overrun them all. No one,
that is, but the weakest members of the tragically divided Toron family.
Dhrugal and his brothers saved the duchy once, but can they do so again with
the streets of the city running with The Blood of Torons?
You can find Winterhaven at Amazon, AmazonUK, and other e-retailers.
The Map of Winterhaven
Here is the amazing map of Winterhaven painted by Chris L. Adams. Chris split the final version into two maps so that the detail will be easier to make out on e-readers and phones. It is, I am sure you will agree, extraordinary! You can see more of Chris' art work and poetry and links to his fiction here.
Blood Ties Is Here!
My new novel, Blood Ties, is now available! It’s part of my October celebration--Occult-tober. Here's the blurb of the novel:
It seemed like such an easy case. All attorney Liz Dunn had to do was escort Ryan Hart to meet his long lost uncle in the tiny country of Carpathia on the Transylvanian border. Ryan stood to gain a ten million dollar estate. Liz wanted the hefty check that would keep her law firm in the black. But Ryan’s dying uncle, the enigmatic Stefan Carpathios, planned to get something far more sinister in return. In an ancient land where legends come to life, Liz is about to discover that the world is much more complex than she believed and a blood tie can be an exceedingly dangerous thing. In the quest for immortality, a relative is a terrible thing to waste.
Blood Ties is available on Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords, and other fine e-retailers.
Written Gems
I’m
excited to announce the creation of a new discussion group on Goodreads
dedicated to the wonderful but
often underappreciated works that form the roots of Fantasy and Science Fiction
today. This will include such greats as: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lord Dunsany,
Robert E. Howard, H.G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and
more—plus the occasional author you may have never read (but will be very glad
you did).
These authors not only influenced the development of their genres but are still frankly fun to read today. We want to explore these works together and seek out more—and we’re inviting you to join us in our endeavor.
Joining me in this noble cause are authors William L. Hahn and Chris L. Adams. Will is an expert in epic fantasy and Chris is an authority on the pulp classics of the first half of the twentieth century. Together we’ll explore a new work each month, seeking to understand not only what made the novel fun in the past, but why it has endured, and what it has to offer for audiences today.
If you’re interested, why don’t you take a look at Written Gems on Goodreads where you’ll find more information about our group?
We have two discussion threads now:
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Khaled: A Tale of Arabia by Francis Marion Crawford
Two Reviews
My story, Hearts of Ice, and my Pandora Series, each picked up favorable mentions recently.
Aside from wishing that the novella was longer, Barb at Night Owl Reviews said: "... the ending was a surprise and I was not expecting that... All in all, the story was good."
My Pandora Series at Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine was mentioned in the comments to a Bill Crider blog on western crime fiction at Criminal Element. Richard Prosch said: "Another terrific bunch of Old West mystery stories is Gilbert M. Stack's Pandora series. The new one (Number 10, I think) is in the latest Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine this month."