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Writer's pictureSteve B Howard
Jan 3, 20218 min read

End of the Year Post 2020






Well, that is one hell of a shitty ass wrap for a ball buster of a goddamn year. But, I think rather than ending things on a negative, I will end it with some of the positives I accomplished this year. Below are all thirteen books (with links of course) I self-published this year. If you are looking for some new books to read this year most of the ebook versions are only $1! Enjoy.


Hope this year wasn’t too bad for all of you and here’s to hoping 2021 is far better than 2020 was.


Lucas is a lost soul. His wife died in a terrible car accident while he was driving. Feeling responsible, he slips into a life of alcoholism and depression. He leaves his teen age son Joey with his brother, moves into a cheap run down apartment and spends his days fly fishing and his nights drinking himself into oblivion. After seeing a teenage boy gunned down in front of the apartment complex Lucas realizes he has to take control of his life, sober up, and return to Joey as a father once again. He embarks on a journey to the Diamond River in the high desert of Eastern Washington. While there he slowly begins his true purpose for coming to the desert.

In 1990 Boge a 17 year old former Hollywood teen TV star has lost his agent, his role on the TV show Tweenie Bopper Parade, and his home after his mom kicks him out Boge and his best friend Benny decide to abandon high school, Benny’s apartment, and almost any shot they might have of getting back into the film industry, to try and make it on their own as buskers. They hit the road in Boge’s ’66 Studebaker with little more than their acoustic guitars, a sandwich bag full of drugs, a battered old green tent, some camping equipment, and long shot dreams of making it as punk folk superstars. They quickly learn though that the gutter punk lifestyle and busking up and down the west coast of America is much more perilous than they could have imagined. The brutal reality of street life soon begins to slice them apart physically and emotionally. A few bright spots appear as they meet a studio musician wizard named Pork who believes their raw sound can be channeled into something great, but this proves to be tragically short lived and they spiral deeper into addiction, panhandling, and even prison. Having hit rock bottom, Boge must try and find a way to bring his friend Benny out of his heroin addiction, deal with his own alcohol and crystal meth addiction, all while still holding on feverishly to his dream to make it as a musician just as the Seattle Sound and Alternative Rock are blowing up in the early 90’s.


New Interpol detective Cantor Silva tracks a mysterious rogue AI that is hunting and killing humans via the secretive and dangerous Dark Net in 2080 Nagoya, Japan. Relying on the help of fellow Interpol detective Fujimura, tech specialist Sequim, and Gamma, a Retro-Narcotics dealer Cantor must stop it before its killing spree spirals out of control.

A gripping Blade Runner like Cyber Punk series that will appeal to fans of Neuromancer, Altered Carbon, and other Cyberpunk classics.


New Interpol officer Cantor Silva continues tracking a murderous AI through the Dark Net. Using here primary paid informant Gamma, she tries to find the mysterious genius Korpa Blythe to determine what he is connection to the AI might be. Despite her efforts the AI continues its murder spree even extending its reach to include Cantor and her associates as well. A gripping Blade Runner like Cyber Punk series that will appeal to fans of Neuromancer, Altered Carbon, and other Cyberpunk classics.


This is a work of Tricktion, some truth and a lot of fiction Also, it is some truth and some fiction that has been tricked out to make it a more interesting read. Some of these stories I experienced firsthand, many of them I heard second, third, and even fourth hand, if there is such a thing. All of them have been altered if for no other reason than to preempt any potential lawsuits or even attempted murders if revealing some of them happens to really piss off those that were involved. Most of these stories happened well over twenty years ago, so I have to rely on my far from perfect memory to dredge them back up and fill in the blanks creatively in the places where the wiring in my brain is far too burnt out to produce the truth. I’m pulling roughly from about 1984 (a nod to Orwell) to around 1994 (in sad memory of Cobain).

I’ve put myself in some of these stories as the narrator in a quasi-journalist HST gonzo style, another nod to one of my heroes, though I doubt I will live up to his brilliance. But full disclosure here, I was never a journalist, not even for my high school newspaper. Instead, I was (and am) the quiet severely introverted near Rain Man like social outcast observer type. Hence the journalist persona. So, what you read here are the stories that dug themselves deep enough into the memory pathways and have been screaming to be dumped out onto the page ever since, nothing more, nothing less.


A collection of funny, frightening, fascinating and strange flash fiction and short stories. From the author of the Cyberpunk novelette series, Mystical Meat Machines comes this great little collection of some of his best sci fi flash fiction.

A young serial killer plots his murderous escape from a lunar juvenile prison colony. A small farming town is attacked by intelligent mutant turkeys after a horrible accident happens in their community. A jealous AI runs amok in her owners lab. These and several others make up this thrilling collection.


Former Sumo Wrestler Bigu Edee turned private detective is hired by the Japanese mob to track down high end club hostess Saya. But as Bigu Edee digs deeper into Saya’s disappearance he realizes that he is being asked to do much more than simply locate Saya.

Saya’s Run and many other stories make up this wonderful little collection.


“Sublime, thought provoking, captures the Japan experience beautifully. Great read.” -Tim, screenplay writer, producer, director

Broken, blistered, and busted tales about life in Japan. Take a look into the darker seedier side, an old woman waits to die in the summer heat, a homeless man flees Japan rather do prison time, an old man argues with his wife and things go really bad. These stories and many more.


The Brother I Will Never Know

He never had a name. At least not one you knew of before you left Viet Nam. When the story of your son came up the only names that were mentioned were the derogatory ones she called you in English and Vietnamese when you told her you were being shipped home and she wasn’t coming with you.

“Da Nang got overrun in ’65 a year after I left. Probably didn’t survive anyway,” you always said. Sentiment for that year was stubbed out long ago the like burned cigarettes that overflowed your ashtray.


I wish I could tell you this was going to be one of those “How to Write, Publish, and Sell Millions of Books” type rags, but like me I imagine you’re tired of getting burned by them. Truth is, if any of those kinds of books actually worked every writer on the planet would have bought their copy, followed the directions, and would now be happily counting their money as their book sales rocketed into the stratosphere.

This ain’t that type of book. This one is more like a combo of Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, Pressfield’s The War of Art, with a dash of King’s On Writing stirred in for good measure. It is a collection of short personal essays I’ve written over the years about all the things I’ve learned as a writer during the past two decades.

I’ve divided it into five sections, Nuts and Bolts, Building a Following, Promoting, and Marketing Stuff, The Rants and Some Misc. Stuff, Medium Stuff, and Inspiring Stuff. Nuts and Bolts is all about the practical writing stuff I’ve learned in the past two decades. Building is all about the little bit I’ve learned about getting your work out there and getting it read by people. The Rants is all about the frustration of being a creative type mixed with a very heavy dose of humor. Medium is all about the free blogging platform that I have been using for the past three years to get my voice out there. Though I bitch and complain about it a lot as well. Inspiring is all about the stuff that helps keep me going, keeps me coming back and putting in the work to get my words out there.

I hope those of you that read this little book finding it helpful and maybe as a catalyst to either get you writing or keep you writing.


In this second poetry collection by Steve B Howard he explores such themes as the busted past, the stagnant present, and the burning future. Again, very much in the spirit of Bukowski the jagged edges of high voltage emotions are put through his word chipper mind and shredded out into the world as deep thought provoking blister poems.


This collection of Haiku and short poetry explores such themes as depression, life in Japan, the difficulties and struggles of attempting to make it as a writer, as well as a few flashes of humor and joy here and there.

If you enjoyed Steve B Howard’s previous collections of poetry, Diet of a Destitute Poet and Neurological Gibberish Poetry then you will love this one.

Happy New Year!

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