Archives for category: The Gilded Age

THE GILDED AGE is Back In Print in Seven Countries, an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide “A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings” New Reviews! A New York Times Notable Book, Sequel to Summer of Love! Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1890s #Victorianage #farfuture #dystopia #darkromance #feminist #printbook #ebook

June 24, 2020 //

New Review of The Gilded Age at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-gilded-age-by-lisa-mason.html:
“The world of 2495 is at an unsustainable twelve billion population. Zhu Wong is a Daughter of Compassion, a group working to enforce the birth restriction laws. She is in jail awaiting trial when she is recruited by the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, I love the acronym) to t-port back to 1895 San Francisco. She accepts the deal. Her mission is to find Wing Sing, take her and the aurelia to the mission run by Donaldina Cameron. In 1967 Wing Sing’s daughter will eventually give the brooch to Chiron at the end of his stay in the Summer of Love project.
Zhu finds Wing Sing, but she doesn’t have the aurelia. They are captured by a Chinese gang. Zhu is bought away from them by Jessie, a madam, Wing Sing stuck with the Tong. Zhu does work for Jessie, but is more valuable as a bookkeeper so avoids becoming a prostitute. Daniel Watkins is the son of a real estate magnate coming to San Francisco to collect on debts. He is low on funds and is referred to lodging at Jessie’s where his life becomes entwined with Zhu’s. Somehow Zhu is attracted to this heavy drinking smoker who has distinct views of women. Despite herself and her mission, Zhu cares about Jessie and Daniel.
I loved the character of Zhu. Somehow I wasn’t repulsed by Daniel and Jessie. They are more a product of their environment doing what they can with their sense of right and wrong. Very enjoyable, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. This is definitely a stand alone novel, though Summer of Love is mentioned several times. I’ll have to read that one as a prequel rather than book one.”
And this is from Library Journal:
“The discovery of a golden brooch that should not exist in the 25th century prompts the Luxon Institute to send a young Chinese woman 600 years back in time. She arrives in San Francisco in 1895 to prevent the future from altering the past. This sequel to Summer of Love (LJ 6/15/94), seen through the eyes of an observer from the future, juxtaposes the tempestuous, sprawling milieu of boomtown San Francisco with its shadowy underside of prostitution and decadence. Mason’s graceful prose and her skill in orchestrating a complex and satisfying plot make this a solid purchase for sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is from a reader:
https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Nineties-Lisa-Mason/dp/0553373315
5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic Read
By,Robin Booneon Published on Amazon.com|Verified Purchase
“Lisa Mason’s Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality – you want to reread them as soon as you’ve read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies!”
And this is from Publisher’s Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-37331-8
“Mason’s sequel to Summer of Love is a delightful expansion of that work and a major step forward for her. The tale centers on Zhu Wong, a Chinese national whose lawyer plea-bargains her release from prison so that Chiron and his companions from the previous novel’s Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications can transport her 600 years into the past to find a macguffin called the aurelia. Once in San Francisco, 1895, Mason brings the environment and the times to life with her rendering of the city’s activities, especially its corruption. The several historic personages who appear–including Frank Norris, Jack London and Susan B. Anthony–are all given dimensions that reflect the rigor of Mason’s research without leaving the reader overburdened by minutiae. Zhu Wong finds herself embroiled in a world of decadence and prostitution; she sees friends and companions abuse themselves with such things as alcohol, cocaine and corsets. As with Karen Joy Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Mason uses the novel partially to explore the role of women in society. As Zhu grows to understand the hypocrisies of the 1890s, she becomes even less comfortable with the presumptions of her own time. She creates several “closed time loops,” apparent paradoxes that impede her mission–and, perhaps more important, thwart her own desires. Eventually she finds her way out of the time loops and in the process teaches everyone–including herself–a few lessons about life. Her bravura performance with this book should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify her position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.”
And this just in from an Amazon.com reader
Buy It
By Uke Enthusiast
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“One of my favorite books. I am delighted it is back in print. A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings.”
Book Description: The year is 1895 and immigrants the world over are flocking to California on the transcontinental railroad and on transoceanic steamships. The Zoetrope demonstrates the persistence of vision, patent medicines addict children to morphine, and women are rallying for the vote. In San Francisco, saloons are the booming business, followed by brothels, and the Barbary Coast is a dangerous sink of iniquity. Atop Telegraph Hill bloody jousting tournaments are held and in Chinatown the tongs deal in opium, murder-for-hire, and slave girls.
Zhu Wong, a prisoner in twenty-fifth century China, is given a choice–stand trial for murder or go on a risky time-travel project to the San Francisco of 1895 to rescue a slave girl and take her to safety. Charmed by the city’s opulent glamour, Zhu will discover the city’s darkest secrets. A fervent population control activist in a world of twelve billion people, she will become an indentured servant to the city’s most notorious madam. Fiercely disciplined, she will fall desperately in love with the troubled self-destructive heir to a fading fortune.
And when the careful plans of the Gilded Age Project start unraveling, Zhu will discover that her choices not only affect the future but mean the difference between her own life or death.
“A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.” The New York Times Book Review
“Graceful prose. . . .A complex and satisfying plot.” Library Journal
“Rollicking. . . .Dazzling.” Locus Magazine
“Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly
The cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is styled to look like an 1890s billboard.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Bantam Books, a division of Random House, published this as The Golden Nineties. Yes, I changed the title. I think the new title is better. (Wish I’d thought of it in the first place) This is the Author’s Preferred Print Edition.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or new, I hope you enjoy this classic!
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/lisamasonfantasyandsciencefictionwriter?alert=2 I’ve got delightful new stories and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie recommendations, and more exclusively for patrons.
Donate a tip in the tip jar at paypal at http://paypal.me/lisamasonthewriter
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

Categories 2020, author, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Chinese Immigrants, Ebooks, Facebook, Facebook Author Page, Facebook Personal Page, Fiction, Futuristic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Kindle book, Librarians, Libraries, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, Reviewers, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, Time Travel, Time Travels to San Francisco

The Summer Solstice Was the First Day of the Summer of Love, A Philip K Dick Award Finalist, A San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Nominated for the Tiptree Award! In Print in Seven Countries, also an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1967 #thefarfuture #historicalfiction #PKDAwardFinalist #sciencefiction #feministsciencefiction #feminist #mainstream

June 23, 2020 //

I’m so thrilled this book is back in print! And as timely as ever! Bast Books has reported that the print books and the ebooks sold in the U.S. and Canada last month.
What readers say:
5.0 out of 5 stars I dig this book!
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2020
“Summer of Love is a beautiful work of literature encapsulated within the science-fiction genre. It invites you on an emotionally jostling roller coaster ride.
Lisa Mason is a prolific author who weaves a time-travel story that delves into many underlying themes at a micro and macro level during the famous “Summer of Love” pandemic in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, in 1967.
The author also descends underneath the epidermis of the street’s kaleidoscopic and “groovy” ambiance to reveal what is and what is not through each character’s eyes — and whether or not we can rely on hope to wake us up the next morning.
I felt the characters (even the secondary ones), the moments, the sights, the sounds and the smells of the time. As if I myself was time traveling. I found myself not only reading but tasting each word; sometimes going back to read a sentence, a paragraph or a page again.
This is a novel I will not hesitate to recommend.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548106119
“This book was so true to life that I felt like I was there. I recommend it to anyone.”
“More than a great science-fiction, a great novel as well.”
“My favourite SF book of all time, beautiful, cynical and completely involving….Unmissable!”
2018 review of SUMMER OF LOVE at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2018/02/summer-of-love-by-lisa-mason.html
”Ever since the Save Betty project completed there has been degradation in the archives. The Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, still love that acronym) has determined that San Francisco in 1967 is a hot dim spot. They commission the Summer of Love project. Twenty-one year old Chiron Cat’s Eye in Draco will t-port from 2467 to the summer of love where he is to find the Axis, a teenage girl from the Midwest will have important descendants, and protect her through the summer. This Susan Stein takes an alias, so Chiron has only probabilities to know if he finds the right girl.
In 1967 Susan receives a postcard from Nance, aka Penny Lane, who is in San Francisco. Her parents find the postcard, tear it up and burn it. She runs away that night and takes the name Starbright. She arrives hoping to see Penny Lane, but instead meets up with Stan the Man, manager of the Double Boogie band. She is invited to live with them in a house that is a constant party. She loves it, but a week later Stan hooks up with someone new. She meets Ruby again and Ruby takes her in. That first night Chiron saw an eye symbol by Ruby’s shop, decided to hang around there and Ruby let him sleep on the couch. He’s not sure that Starbright is the Axis, but there is a high probability.
Without being preachy major themes in the book include the environment, population control, women’s rights, and addiction. These were put into the setting of real life 1967. Street names referenced in the book exist and the Grateful Dead did have a concert there on August 22. I enjoyed the story without any nostalgic feeling, other than references to old Star Trek episodes and other SF works.
I really enjoyed the book. It was excellent and the first chapter or two set up encounters throughout the rest of the book. I loved all three of the main characters, Starbright, Chiron and Ruby.” By John Loyd
Book Description: The year is 1967 and something new is sweeping across America: good vibes, bad vibes, psychedelic music, psychedelic drugs, anti-war protests, racial tension, free love, bikers, dropouts, flower children. An age of innocence, a time of danger. The Summer of Love.
San Francisco is the Summer of Love, where runaway flower children flock to join the hip elite and squares cruise the streets to view the human zoo.
Lost in these strange and wondrous days, teenager Susan Bell, alias Starbright, has run away from the straight suburbs of Cleveland to find her troubled best friend. Her path will cross with Chiron Cat’s Eye in Draco, a strange and beautiful young man who has journeyed farther than she could ever imagine.
With the help of Ruby A. Maverick, a wise and feisty half-black, half-white hip entrepreneur, Susan and Chi discover a love that spans five centuries. But can they save the world from demons threatening to destroy all space and time?
A harrowing coming of age. A friendship ending in tragedy. A terrifying far future. A love spanning five centuries. And a gritty portrait of a unique time in American history.
The cover, hand-drawn by Tom Robinson, is styled to look like a 1960s psychedelic poster.
What the professional book reviewers say:
“Captures the moment perfectly and offers a tantalizing glimpse of its wonderful and terrible consequences.” The San Francisco Chronicle
“A fine novel packed with vivid detail, colorful characters, and genuine insight.” The Washington Post Book World
“Remarkable. . . .the intellect on display within these psychedelically packaged pages is clear-sighted, witty, and wise.” Locus Magazine
“Mason has an astonishing gift. Her chief characters almost walk off the page. And the story is as significant as anyone could wish. This book will surely be on the prize ballots.” Analog
“A priority purchase.” Library Journal
5 stars From the Readers
Calling All Fans
Amazon Verified Purchase
‘Summer of Love is an important American literary contribution that may very well have a strong and viable fan base. Where are you? Join us!
This novel is loads of fun to read. The majority of the characters are hippies from the 1960s who meet a stranger from the future who’s looking to save his world. This fellow, Chiron, needs to find a troubled adolescent teen named Susan (a.k.a. Starbright) for a very compelling reason. The book has a great deal to offer: swift action, lovable characters, spiritual insight, and well-chosen primary documents such as essays, poems, and news articles which round out the reader’s understanding of the worldview of the novel.
I think Summer of Love has excellent potential for a wider audience. I hope it continues to enjoy a healthy amount of sales in the used books market on this site. I wish even more for it to be in wider circulation. Some books talk about the sixties. This novel IS the sixties, thanks to the spirit and scholarship of its author. And, as one reader aptly put it, ‘the sci-fi stuff is just plain off the hook.’ Get a copy. Most people who have read it seem to respect it and enjoy it every bit as much as I do.”
New Reader Review! “Just checked to see if this book was on Kindle. It has been many years since I’ve read it but I remember it as one of my very favorite books. Time to go back and re-read it!”
New Reader Review
Kent Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Story
10 February 2015 – Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
Summer of Love, A Time Travel is a fine story. Lisa Mason takes three interesting characters, a time traveller from a future 500 years hence, a 14-year-old midwestern runaway flower child, and hip shopkeeper and places them all in the fascinating place and time that was San Francisco’s Summer of Love, 1967.
Mason has certainly done her homework. You can almost smell the pot and patchouli, see the painted faces and hear the sounds of Janis and the Grateful Dead as Chi, Starbright and Ruby fight to hold on to what really matters at a time when everything seems possible and even the smallest things can have huge consequences.
The time travel plot is nicely (if a bit predictably) done and the glimpses from Chi’s future world are fascinating, frightening and ultimately hopeful. Starbright is 100 percent convincing as a confused, loyal, idealistic, moody teenager who really could hold the key to what is to come. And Ruby Maverick, the shopkeeper who reluctantly gives the two young strangers shelter and strength in a strange and wondrous time is strong and smart and the kind of friend you’d want holding your hand or watching your back when the trip starts going strange.
Summer of Love, A Time Travel is not a rose-colored look backwards. It’s is a kaleidoscopic look at a time of both darkness and light, of confusion and clarity. It’s scary and beautiful, a strange trip where maybe all you need is a little love and some flowers in your hair.
New Reader Review
Eos
5.0 out of 5 starsTime travel done right
20 August 2017 – Published on Amazon.com
Verified Purchase
This is a longtime favorite novel. Mason’s time travel tale is fascinating as both a tale of the future and of the past. I am delighted it is now available as a Kindle edition as my paperback copy is long past its prime.
New Reader Review
paula ferre
5.0 out of 5 stars… the last 20 years – it is such a great story.
26 September 2016
Verified Purchase
I’ve read this book 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years – it is such a great story.
Find the PRINT BOOK in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, BarnesandNoble, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Donate at paypal at http://paypal.me/lisamasonthewriter
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, beautiful covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!

Tags ebook, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Patreon, paypal, Philip K. Dick Award, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Summer of Love, Summer of Love A Time Travel, teenage girls, teenagers, teens

Categories 2020, author, Bast Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Ebooks, Facebook, Facebook Author Page, Facebook Personal Page, Families, Family in Fiction, Family in Science Fiction, Fathers and daughters, Feminist, Fiction, Futuristic Fiction, Historical Fiction, James Tiptree Award Nominee, Librarians, Libraries, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, Review of Summer of Love, Runaways, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, Summer of Love, Summer of Love A Time Travel, Teenage Girls, Teenagers, Teens, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, Time Travel

THE GILDED AGE is Back In Print in Seven Countries, an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide “A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings” New Reviews! A New York Times Notable Book, Sequel to Summer of Love! Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1890s #Victorianage #farfuture #dystopia #darkromance #feminist #printbook #ebook

March 22, 2020 //

New Review of The Gilded Age at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-gilded-age-by-lisa-mason.html:
“The world of 2495 is at an unsustainable twelve billion population. Zhu Wong is a Daughter of Compassion, a group working to enforce the birth restriction laws. She is in jail awaiting trial when she is recruited by the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, I love the acronym) to t-port back to 1895 San Francisco. She accepts the deal. Her mission is to find Wing Sing, take her and the aurelia to the mission run by Donaldina Cameron. In 1967 Wing Sing’s daughter will eventually give the brooch to Chiron at the end of his stay in the Summer of Love project.
Zhu finds Wing Sing, but she doesn’t have the aurelia. They are captured by a Chinese gang. Zhu is bought away from them by Jessie, a madam, Wing Sing stuck with the Tong. Zhu does work for Jessie, but is more valuable as a bookkeeper so avoids becoming a prostitute. Daniel Watkins is the son of a real estate magnate coming to San Francisco to collect on debts. He is low on funds and is referred to lodging at Jessie’s where his life becomes entwined with Zhu’s. Somehow Zhu is attracted to this heavy drinking smoker who has distinct views of women. Despite herself and her mission, Zhu cares about Jessie and Daniel.
I loved the character of Zhu. Somehow I wasn’t repulsed by Daniel and Jessie. They are more a product of their environment doing what they can with their sense of right and wrong. Very enjoyable, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. This is definitely a stand alone novel, though Summer of Love is mentioned several times. I’ll have to read that one as a prequel rather than book one.”
And this is from Library Journal:
“The discovery of a golden brooch that should not exist in the 25th century prompts the Luxon Institute to send a young Chinese woman 600 years back in time. She arrives in San Francisco in 1895 to prevent the future from altering the past. This sequel to Summer of Love (LJ 6/15/94), seen through the eyes of an observer from the future, juxtaposes the tempestuous, sprawling milieu of boomtown San Francisco with its shadowy underside of prostitution and decadence. Mason’s graceful prose and her skill in orchestrating a complex and satisfying plot make this a solid purchase for sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is from a reader:
https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Nineties-Lisa-Mason/dp/0553373315
5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic Read
By,Robin Booneon Published on Amazon.com|Verified Purchase
“Lisa Mason’s Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality – you want to reread them as soon as you’ve read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies!”
And this is from Publisher’s Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-37331-8
“Mason’s sequel to Summer of Love is a delightful expansion of that work and a major step forward for her. The tale centers on Zhu Wong, a Chinese national whose lawyer plea-bargains her release from prison so that Chiron and his companions from the previous novel’s Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications can transport her 600 years into the past to find a macguffin called the aurelia. Once in San Francisco, 1895, Mason brings the environment and the times to life with her rendering of the city’s activities, especially its corruption. The several historic personages who appear–including Frank Norris, Jack London and Susan B. Anthony–are all given dimensions that reflect the rigor of Mason’s research without leaving the reader overburdened by minutiae. Zhu Wong finds herself embroiled in a world of decadence and prostitution; she sees friends and companions abuse themselves with such things as alcohol, cocaine and corsets. As with Karen Joy Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Mason uses the novel partially to explore the role of women in society. As Zhu grows to understand the hypocrisies of the 1890s, she becomes even less comfortable with the presumptions of her own time. She creates several “closed time loops,” apparent paradoxes that impede her mission–and, perhaps more important, thwart her own desires. Eventually she finds her way out of the time loops and in the process teaches everyone–including herself–a few lessons about life. Her bravura performance with this book should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify her position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.”
And this just in from an Amazon.com reader
Buy It
By Uke Enthusiast
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“One of my favorite books. I am delighted it is back in print. A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings.”
Book Description: The year is 1895 and immigrants the world over are flocking to California on the transcontinental railroad and on transoceanic steamships. The Zoetrope demonstrates the persistence of vision, patent medicines addict children to morphine, and women are rallying for the vote. In San Francisco, saloons are the booming business, followed by brothels, and the Barbary Coast is a dangerous sink of iniquity. Atop Telegraph Hill bloody jousting tournaments are held and in Chinatown the tongs deal in opium, murder-for-hire, and slave girls.
Zhu Wong, a prisoner in twenty-fifth century China, is given a choice–stand trial for murder or go on a risky time-travel project to the San Francisco of 1895 to rescue a slave girl and take her to safety. Charmed by the city’s opulent glamour, Zhu will discover the city’s darkest secrets. A fervent population control activist in a world of twelve billion people, she will become an indentured servant to the city’s most notorious madam. Fiercely disciplined, she will fall desperately in love with the troubled self-destructive heir to a fading fortune.
And when the careful plans of the Gilded Age Project start unraveling, Zhu will discover that her choices not only affect the future but mean the difference between her own life or death.
“A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.” The New York Times Book Review
“Graceful prose. . . .A complex and satisfying plot.” Library Journal
“Rollicking. . . .Dazzling.” Locus Magazine
“Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly
The cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is styled to look like an 1890s billboard.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Bantam Books, a division of Random House, published this as The Golden Nineties. Yes, I changed the title. I think the new title is better. (Wish I’d thought of it in the first place) This is the Author’s Preferred Print Edition.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or new, I hope you enjoy this classic!
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/lisamasonfantasyandsciencefictionwriter?alert=2 I’ve got delightful new stories and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie recommendations, and more exclusively for patrons.
Donate a tip from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

Tags 1890s, 1895, 1895 San Francisco, Chinese immigration, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Twitter, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, New York Times Notable Book Author, Patreon, San Francisco, science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, time travel

Categories 2020, About My Patreon Page, author, Authors, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Chinese Immigrants, Ebooks, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, Literature, Nebula Award Finalist, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Future, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, Time Travel

THE GILDED AGE is Back In Print in Seven Countries, an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide “A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings” New Reviews! A New York Times Notable Book, Sequel to Summer of Love! Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1890s #Victorianage #farfuture #dystopia #darkromance #feminist #printbook #ebook

February 12, 2020 //

New Review of The Gilded Age at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-gilded-age-by-lisa-mason.html:
“The world of 2495 is at an unsustainable twelve billion population. Zhu Wong is a Daughter of Compassion, a group working to enforce the birth restriction laws. She is in jail awaiting trial when she is recruited by the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, I love the acronym) to t-port back to 1895 San Francisco. She accepts the deal. Her mission is to find Wing Sing, take her and the aurelia to the mission run by Donaldina Cameron. In 1967 Wing Sing’s daughter will eventually give the brooch to Chiron at the end of his stay in the Summer of Love project.
Zhu finds Wing Sing, but she doesn’t have the aurelia. They are captured by a Chinese gang. Zhu is bought away from them by Jessie, a madam, Wing Sing stuck with the Tong. Zhu does work for Jessie, but is more valuable as a bookkeeper so avoids becoming a prostitute. Daniel Watkins is the son of a real estate magnate coming to San Francisco to collect on debts. He is low on funds and is referred to lodging at Jessie’s where his life becomes entwined with Zhu’s. Somehow Zhu is attracted to this heavy drinking smoker who has distinct views of women. Despite herself and her mission, Zhu cares about Jessie and Daniel.
I loved the character of Zhu. Somehow I wasn’t repulsed by Daniel and Jessie. They are more a product of their environment doing what they can with their sense of right and wrong. Very enjoyable, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. This is definitely a stand alone novel, though Summer of Love is mentioned several times. I’ll have to read that one as a prequel rather than book one.”
And this is from Library Journal:
“The discovery of a golden brooch that should not exist in the 25th century prompts the Luxon Institute to send a young Chinese woman 600 years back in time. She arrives in San Francisco in 1895 to prevent the future from altering the past. This sequel to Summer of Love (LJ 6/15/94), seen through the eyes of an observer from the future, juxtaposes the tempestuous, sprawling milieu of boomtown San Francisco with its shadowy underside of prostitution and decadence. Mason’s graceful prose and her skill in orchestrating a complex and satisfying plot make this a solid purchase for sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is from a reader:
https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Nineties-Lisa-Mason/dp/0553373315
5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic Read
By,Robin Booneon Published on Amazon.com|Verified Purchase
“Lisa Mason’s Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality – you want to reread them as soon as you’ve read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies!”
And this is from Publisher’s Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-37331-8
“Mason’s sequel to Summer of Love is a delightful expansion of that work and a major step forward for her. The tale centers on Zhu Wong, a Chinese national whose lawyer plea-bargains her release from prison so that Chiron and his companions from the previous novel’s Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications can transport her 600 years into the past to find a macguffin called the aurelia. Once in San Francisco, 1895, Mason brings the environment and the times to life with her rendering of the city’s activities, especially its corruption. The several historic personages who appear–including Frank Norris, Jack London and Susan B. Anthony–are all given dimensions that reflect the rigor of Mason’s research without leaving the reader overburdened by minutiae. Zhu Wong finds herself embroiled in a world of decadence and prostitution; she sees friends and companions abuse themselves with such things as alcohol, cocaine and corsets. As with Karen Joy Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Mason uses the novel partially to explore the role of women in society. As Zhu grows to understand the hypocrisies of the 1890s, she becomes even less comfortable with the presumptions of her own time. She creates several “closed time loops,” apparent paradoxes that impede her mission–and, perhaps more important, thwart her own desires. Eventually she finds her way out of the time loops and in the process teaches everyone–including herself–a few lessons about life. Her bravura performance with this book should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify her position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.”
And this just in from an Amazon.com reader
Buy It
By Uke Enthusiast
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“One of my favorite books. I am delighted it is back in print. A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings.”
Book Description: The year is 1895 and immigrants the world over are flocking to California on the transcontinental railroad and on transoceanic steamships. The Zoetrope demonstrates the persistence of vision, patent medicines addict children to morphine, and women are rallying for the vote. In San Francisco, saloons are the booming business, followed by brothels, and the Barbary Coast is a dangerous sink of iniquity. Atop Telegraph Hill bloody jousting tournaments are held and in Chinatown the tongs deal in opium, murder-for-hire, and slave girls.
Zhu Wong, a prisoner in twenty-fifth century China, is given a choice–stand trial for murder or go on a risky time-travel project to the San Francisco of 1895 to rescue a slave girl and take her to safety. Charmed by the city’s opulent glamour, Zhu will discover the city’s darkest secrets. A fervent population control activist in a world of twelve billion people, she will become an indentured servant to the city’s most notorious madam. Fiercely disciplined, she will fall desperately in love with the troubled self-destructive heir to a fading fortune.
And when the careful plans of the Gilded Age Project start unraveling, Zhu will discover that her choices not only affect the future but mean the difference between her own life or death.
“A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.” The New York Times Book Review
“Graceful prose. . . .A complex and satisfying plot.” Library Journal
“Rollicking. . . .Dazzling.” Locus Magazine
“Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly
The cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is styled to look like an 1890s billboard.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Bantam Books, a division of Random House, published this as The Golden Nineties. Yes, I changed the title. I think the new title is better. (Wish I’d thought of it in the first place) This is the Author’s Preferred Print Edition.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or new, I hope you enjoy this classic!
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page and learn the shocking reason I’ve opted for Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/lisamasonfantasyandsciencefictionwriter?alert=2 I’ve got delightful new stories and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie reviews, original healthy recipes, and more exclusively for patrons.
Donate a tip from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

Tags ebook, historical fiction, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Twitter, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, the far future, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel

Categories 2020, About Researching The Gilded Age, author, Bast Books, Ebooks, Far Future, Feminist, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Librarians, Libraries, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Travel

THE GILDED AGE is Back In Print in Seven Countries, an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide “A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings” New Reviews! A New York Times Notable Book, Sequel to Summer of Love! Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1890s #Victorianage #farfuture #dystopia #darkromance #feminist #printbook #ebook

December 28, 2019 //

New Review of The Gilded Age at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-gilded-age-by-lisa-mason.html:
“The world of 2495 is at an unsustainable twelve billion population. Zhu Wong is a Daughter of Compassion, a group working to enforce the birth restriction laws. She is in jail awaiting trial when she is recruited by the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, I love the acronym) to t-port back to 1895 San Francisco. She accepts the deal. Her mission is to find Wing Sing, take her and the aurelia to the mission run by Donaldina Cameron. In 1967 Wing Sing’s daughter will eventually give the brooch to Chiron at the end of his stay in the Summer of Love project.
Zhu finds Wing Sing, but she doesn’t have the aurelia. They are captured by a Chinese gang. Zhu is bought away from them by Jessie, a madam, Wing Sing stuck with the Tong. Zhu does work for Jessie, but is more valuable as a bookkeeper so avoids becoming a prostitute. Daniel Watkins is the son of a real estate magnate coming to San Francisco to collect on debts. He is low on funds and is referred to lodging at Jessie’s where his life becomes entwined with Zhu’s. Somehow Zhu is attracted to this heavy drinking smoker who has distinct views of women. Despite herself and her mission, Zhu cares about Jessie and Daniel.
I loved the character of Zhu. Somehow I wasn’t repulsed by Daniel and Jessie. They are more a product of their environment doing what they can with their sense of right and wrong. Very enjoyable, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. This is definitely a stand alone novel, though Summer of Love is mentioned several times. I’ll have to read that one as a prequel rather than book one.”
And this is from Library Journal:
“The discovery of a golden brooch that should not exist in the 25th century prompts the Luxon Institute to send a young Chinese woman 600 years back in time. She arrives in San Francisco in 1895 to prevent the future from altering the past. This sequel to Summer of Love (LJ 6/15/94), seen through the eyes of an observer from the future, juxtaposes the tempestuous, sprawling milieu of boomtown San Francisco with its shadowy underside of prostitution and decadence. Mason’s graceful prose and her skill in orchestrating a complex and satisfying plot make this a solid purchase for sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is from a reader:
https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Nineties-Lisa-Mason/dp/0553373315
5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic Read
By,Robin Booneon Published on Amazon.com|Verified Purchase
“Lisa Mason’s Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality – you want to reread them as soon as you’ve read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies!”
And this is from Publisher’s Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-37331-8
“Mason’s sequel to Summer of Love is a delightful expansion of that work and a major step forward for her. The tale centers on Zhu Wong, a Chinese national whose lawyer plea-bargains her release from prison so that Chiron and his companions from the previous novel’s Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications can transport her 600 years into the past to find a macguffin called the aurelia. Once in San Francisco, 1895, Mason brings the environment and the times to life with her rendering of the city’s activities, especially its corruption. The several historic personages who appear–including Frank Norris, Jack London and Susan B. Anthony–are all given dimensions that reflect the rigor of Mason’s research without leaving the reader overburdened by minutiae. Zhu Wong finds herself embroiled in a world of decadence and prostitution; she sees friends and companions abuse themselves with such things as alcohol, cocaine and corsets. As with Karen Joy Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Mason uses the novel partially to explore the role of women in society. As Zhu grows to understand the hypocrisies of the 1890s, she becomes even less comfortable with the presumptions of her own time. She creates several “closed time loops,” apparent paradoxes that impede her mission–and, perhaps more important, thwart her own desires. Eventually she finds her way out of the time loops and in the process teaches everyone–including herself–a few lessons about life. Her bravura performance with this book should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify her position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.”
And this just in from an Amazon.com reader
Buy It
By Uke Enthusiast
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“One of my favorite books. I am delighted it is back in print. A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings.”
Book Description: The year is 1895 and immigrants the world over are flocking to California on the transcontinental railroad and on transoceanic steamships. The Zoetrope demonstrates the persistence of vision, patent medicines addict children to morphine, and women are rallying for the vote. In San Francisco, saloons are the booming business, followed by brothels, and the Barbary Coast is a dangerous sink of iniquity. Atop Telegraph Hill bloody jousting tournaments are held and in Chinatown the tongs deal in opium, murder-for-hire, and slave girls.
Zhu Wong, a prisoner in twenty-fifth century China, is given a choice–stand trial for murder or go on a risky time-travel project to the San Francisco of 1895 to rescue a slave girl and take her to safety. Charmed by the city’s opulent glamour, Zhu will discover the city’s darkest secrets. A fervent population control activist in a world of twelve billion people, she will become an indentured servant to the city’s most notorious madam. Fiercely disciplined, she will fall desperately in love with the troubled self-destructive heir to a fading fortune.
And when the careful plans of the Gilded Age Project start unraveling, Zhu will discover that her choices not only affect the future but mean the difference between her own life or death.
“A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.” The New York Times Book Review
“Graceful prose. . . .A complex and satisfying plot.” Library Journal
“Rollicking. . . .Dazzling.” Locus Magazine
“Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly
The cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is styled to look like an 1890s billboard.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Bantam Books, a division of Random House, published this as The Golden Nineties. Yes, I changed the title. I think the new title is better. (Wish I’d thought of it in the first place) This is the Author’s Preferred Print Edition.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or new, I hope you enjoy this classic!
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page and learn the shocking reason I’ve opted for Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/lisamasonfantasyandsciencefictionwriter?alert=2 I’ve got delightful new stories and previously published stories, writing tips, book excerpts, movie reviews, original healthy recipes, and more.
Donate a tip from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

Tags Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Twitter, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, New York Times Notable Book Author, Patreon, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, time travel

Categories 2019, author, Authors, Book Distributors, Book Marketing, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Ebooks, Fiction, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, Literature, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Machines, Time Travel, Time Travels to San Francisco

El Dia de Los Muertos, Excerpt from The Gilded Age, Published by Bantam, Now a Print Book and an Ebook from Bast Books Lisa Mason #DayoftheDead #NewYorkTimesNotableBook #historicalfantasy #timetravel #fantasywriter #publishedbook #NewYorkPublicLibraryRecommendedBook

November 2, 2019 //

In honor of the Day of the Dead, this is an excerpt of El Dia de Los Muertos, from The Gilded Age, published first by Bantam, a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book, now a print book and an ebook from Bast Books. The novel, a sequel to Summer of Love, is an exploration of San Francisco in 1895 and China of five hundred years in the future through the eyes of Zhu, a time traveler.
We’re catching up with Daniel J. Watkins, a twenty-something year old man who has serious problems in San Francisco, 1895.
El Dia de los Muertos
“To Death,” Daniel toasts Mr. Schultz, “in marvelous Californ’.”
“Mira muerta, no seas inhumana, no vuelvas manana dejame vivir,” croons the singer through his grinning papier-mâchè skull mask. Ricardo, the one-eyed guitarist, dreamily strums along.
“To el Dia de los Muertos,” Schultz says, raising his shot glass. “Sehr gut, nicht wahr? Speaking of muertos, Danny, got myself in a bit of a fix.”
“A matter of life or death?”
“You might say.”
Daniel pours two more shots from a dust-furred bottle of mescal, smiling at the drowned worm at the bottom. Authentic, this splendid rotgut with the disconcerting effect of making everything appear as ominous and strange as a nightmare. A more decadent drink than the Green Fairy, if such a thing is possible. And, like absinthe, the taste is vile.
He and Schultz lounge at a table in Luna’s, finishing their fifty-cent Suppers Mexican. Frank Norris’ recommendation amply deserved. The restaurant is quaint. Bright peasant pottery, dried gourds, red-and-white checked tablecloths. The singer’s skull mask is quite a fright, though Daniel’s dyspepsia is mostly caused by the Supper Mexican. Remains of their scorching hot dinner lie scattered in the colorful crockery—spicy pork sausages, tortillas, chiles rellenos, frijoles fritas, tamales, salsa. Daniel could never have dined on such a feast in St. Louis. Or in Paris or London. Only in marvelous Californ’.
Schultz sighs and knocks the shot back, licking salt off the rim of his glass. “I’ve been given the boot.”
“Things crummy in Far East shipping?”
“Things are bang-up in Far East shipping. Not so bang-up for me.” Schultz pours another shot. Just a small one.
Daniel’s tongue has become quite numb. “Why so, old man? You seem to have been doing well. Plum position.”
“Can’t control the drink, and that’s the truth. God knows I’ve tried. You and I, we start in on the brandy at breakfast.”
“Don’t I know, sir,” Daniel says. “Not to mention Miss Malone and her accursed champagne.”
“She’s forever pouring me another and adding it to my bill.”
“Brushes her teeth with the bubbly.”
“At any rate,” Schultz says gloomily, “showed up corned at the office one time too many. Not that the old man doesn’t do it. He just manages to hold his liquor better.”
“Plus he’s the old man.”
“Guess we’ve all got an old man somewhere.”
“By blood or bad luck.”
They laugh unhappily.
“Lousy bit, Schultz.”
Schultz’s mustache stiffens. “Don’t suppose you’ve got any paying work for hire, do you, Danny? Help out a pal? I’m not asking for a handout. I’m no beggar.”
“Wish I did.”
“You just sold that property of your vater, didn’t you?”
“A patch of worthless weeds on Geary Street. Nothing going on in the Western Addition. I daresay that will be the fate of it for some time. The other lot has got no takers, and the rest of the deadbeats are giving me grief. That old fool Ekberg on Stockton Street has stalled me for weeks. As for Mr. Harvey in Sausalito, the good gentleman sent thugs as his answer to my request for payment. They followed me, Schultz, while I was taking my stroll along the Cocktail Route. Worried me up quite a bit.”
Daniel would rather not confess that his mistress, costumed in coolie’s clothes, gave Harvey’s thugs a run for their money while the thugs gave him a goose egg on the noggin, sore kidneys, and a bad scare. He’s spotted suspicious characters lurking around the boardinghouse. He’s taken to sneaking in and out of the tradesmen’s door rather than promenading out the front. It’s an unhappy way to live. He’s been screwing up his courage for weeks to go and confront that damnable Harvey.
“Perhaps you need a manager.”
“A bodyguard is more like it.”
“Can’t help you there. No good with a pistol or fisticuffs, I fear.” An ugly look of envy curdles Schultz’s large, puglike features. “You’ve got some scratch. Me, I haven’t got one thin dime. And I can’t quit the drink.” He knocks back the shot, toys with the bottle. “I’m weary to my bones. What I need is a cure.”
A cure.
They both contemplate that possibility as the singer launches into another melancholy ballad, “Esta alegre calavera hoy invita a los mortales para ir a visitar las regions infernales.”
Daniel knows no Spanish, but the meaning leaps out—We invite you mortals to visit hell. Mescal, by God. Now he is comprehending Spanish. He doesn’t know Schultz well enough to confide his darkest secrets, but Daniel is no fool. He knows exactly what Schultz is talking about. A cure. He behaves like an ass when he’s stinking. Look at how he treats his mistress—his ugly words, his uglier actions. Shoving her about. Having his way with her whenever they’re alone without asking her if she wants it. He hasn’t struck her—not yet—but he cannot promise himself that will never happen. Not when he’s stinking.
He’s not sure where his cruelty comes from. Even less sure why she allows him to get away with it when she has amply demonstrated she’s no whore or dimwit. He would venture to say—only to himself, of course—that Zhu possesses more intelligence than ten gentlemen strolling along the Cocktail Route. Oh, she has her peculiarities. She claims she’s from the far future like a creature out of Mr. Wells’ novel, which only makes him angrier with her when he’s stinking. She goes temperance on him. Drinking’s going to kill you, she says, tears lingering on her lashes. Lunatic, he shouts at her. Off to the loony bin with you.
He awakens after every binge feeling soiled, stupid, and contrite.
He’s been binging every day. Brandy with breakfast, sir, to start.
Those are his scruples. What about his physical constitution? His health, which he’s always taken for granted, is no longer so vibrant. He suffers frequent nosebleeds, a sore throat. Paunch has started thickening his middle. His gut is frequently on the blink. His hands tremble. And the headaches. His head aches something fierce when he awakens. Relief only comes when he’s got his morning brandy under his belt.
And it isn’t only his scruples and his physical constitution. He is plagued by odd feelings. Melancholy and guilt. Memories of his father and mother intrude on his peace of mind. And so on and et cetera until he cannot abide this anymore. There must be something he can do.
“Know of a cure?” Daniel says cautiously.
“Heard a fellow talking about it at the Bank Exchange. Dr. Mortimer’s Miraculous Cure for dipsomania. Guaranteed, money back and all. There’s the trick for me—money. The cure costs an arm and a leg, but is well worth it. Or so the fellow said.”
Daniel tries to overlook the unfortunate fact that this hot tip was imparted in one of the busiest bars along the Cocktail Route. “This Dr. Mortimer, he’s in San Francisco?” He apportions the last finger in the bottle between himself and the worm. “To the handmaiden of Death,” he toasts the worm.
“Ja, Dr. Mortimer’s got his clinic in the Monkey Block,” says Schultz, succumbing after a short struggle to the last drops of mescal. He seizes the bottle and empties the remnants, worm and all, into his mouth. Suddenly he looks green and dashes out of Luna’s to the gutter where he noisily airs his paunch. The scowling maitre d’ and a scullery maid dash outside with buckets of hot salt water and vigorously splash the pavement clean. Mr. Schultz’s antics are a terrible reflection on their establishment.
Daniel picks up the tab—a dollar for two splendid Suppers Mexican. A dollar fifty for the terrific rotgut. A penny each for the maitre d’, the waitress, the singer, the guitarist. He reluctantly counts out coins. He’s not exactly flush, himself. He strides out past Schultz on his hands and knees, heaving. What won’t a drunk do, Daniel wonders, to stiff his pal for the bill?
* * *
To read the rest of this excerpt and find out how Daniel fares at Dr. Mortimer’s marvelously dubious clinic and what the miraculous cure is, exactly, please join my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206 and support me while I recover from the Attack. I’ve got lots of goodies for you there—book excerpts, previously published stories and brand-new stories, recipes, movie reviews—with more on the way.
Donate a tip from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, worldwide links, covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, round-tables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my brilliant husband Tom Robinson, and more!

Tags Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos, Excerpt, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Twitter, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, the far future, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, time travel, time travel to San Francisco

Categories 2019, author, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Ebooks, Historical Fiction, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Travel, Time Travels to San Francisco

Look What Came in the Mail! My Eight Print Books Available in Seven Countries My Cup Runneth Over Lisa Mason (Also on Ebooks Worldwide) #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #novels #storycollection #fantasyandsciencefiction #publishednovels #publishedstories

September 19, 2019 //

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have these books back in print, with ebooks for the ebook readers. This represents years—decades—of research and work.
Just nine years ago, this wasn’t possible and, believe me, I looked into it. Nine years ago, you had to invest $ 25,000 per book to produce an independent title.
Now, thanks to Amazon and your own ingenuity, the cost is negligible.
The scheduling freedom, control over your own marketing, and the reaping of the monthly profits is the reason why most traditionally published authors I know publish at least some of their new titles and most of their backlist independently.
First, you need to secure the reversion rights from the original traditional publisher—usually not a problem.
Then you need to master the correct format for a print book (and the correct format for an ebook). You no longer have to know HTML to do this, though; the website these days does the programming for you.
Then you can either go with Amazon’s cover creator function, buy cover art at a website like Dreamstime, or hire a cover artist.
Amazon’s cover creator is useful if you want to be sure your cover meets the specifications—and you don’t care whether your cover is ho-hum.
Buying cover art from a website runs the risk that your book will look exactly like some other author’s. I’ve seen this phenomenon multiple times, including from small publishers who should know better!
Hiring a cover artist may be expensive, but you will be assured of a unique cover for your book.
If you opt for the latter two choices, next you also have to hire a paste-up artist who will know how calculate and lay-out the back cover, the spine, and the front cover.
Fortunately for me, I’m married to an accomplished artist plus an old-fashioned lay-out artist! Hooray for Tom Robinson! (While he was a student at the San Francisco Art Institute, he worked for Francis Ford Coppola’s City Magazine.)
But yes, I pay him. He’s expensive!
Here are the links to the print titles above:
CHROME (“I was enjoying the characters and the story so much that the superb writing simply did its job”) is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print.
Summer of Love (a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book) is in print as a beautiful quality trade paperback in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
The Gilded Age (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book) is in print in the U.S., the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The Garden of Abracadabra (“Fun and enjoyable Urban Fantasy”) is in print in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
Cyberweb (“Some very deep philosophical questions are posed…a very entertaining and thoughtful story.”) is in print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan.
ARACHNE (“Highly recommended and very memorable.”) is in print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan.
One Day in the Life of Alexa (“[An] absorbing read with an appealing narrator and subtly powerful emotional rhythms.”) is in print in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories (“A must-read collection—The San Francisco Review of Books) is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan.
Join my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=23011206 and support me while I recover from the Attack. I’ve got lots of goodies there for you with more on the way.
Donate from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, worldwide links, covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, round-tables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, and more!

Tags Arachne, Arachne the Novel, CHROME, CHROME a new SF novel, CHROME, by Lisa Mason, Collected Stories, Cyberweb, fantasy, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, mainstream, novel, One Day in the Life of Alexa, science fiction, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories, Summer of Love, Summer of Love A Time Travel, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, urban fantasy

Categories 2019, Abracadabra!, Arachne, Arachne the Novel, Artificial Intelligence, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, CHROME, CHROME, a new SF Novel by Lisa Mason, CHROME, by Lisa Mason, Cyberpunk Classic, Cyberweb, Ebooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Feminist, Five Star Review, Garden of Abracadabra, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Nebula Award Short List, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, One Day in the Life of Alexa, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Print books, Published Book, Published Stories, Published Worldwide, Readers, Reading, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, Science fiction, Short Stories, Story Collection, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories, Summer of Love, Summer of Love A Time Travel, The Garden of Abracadabra, The Garden of Abracadabra 1: Life's Journey, The Garden of Abracadabra 2: In Dark Woods, The Garden of Abracadabra 3: The Right Road, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Travel, Urban Fantasy

THE GILDED AGE is Back In Print in Seven Countries, an Ebook on Eighteen Markets Worldwide “A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings” New Reviews! A New York Times Notable Book, Sequel to Summer of Love! Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #timetravel #1890s #Victorianage #farfuture #dystopia #darkromance #feminist #printbook #ebook #publishedbook

September 1, 2019 //

New Review of The Gilded Age at http://sfbookreview.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-gilded-age-by-lisa-mason.html:
“The world of 2495 is at an unsustainable twelve billion population. Zhu Wong is a Daughter of Compassion, a group working to enforce the birth restriction laws. She is in jail awaiting trial when she is recruited by the Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications (LISA, I love the acronym) to t-port back to 1895 San Francisco. She accepts the deal. Her mission is to find Wing Sing, take her and the aurelia to the mission run by Donaldina Cameron. In 1967 Wing Sing’s daughter will eventually give the brooch to Chiron at the end of his stay in the Summer of Love project.
Zhu finds Wing Sing, but she doesn’t have the aurelia. They are captured by a Chinese gang. Zhu is bought away from them by Jessie, a madam, Wing Sing stuck with the Tong. Zhu does work for Jessie, but is more valuable as a bookkeeper so avoids becoming a prostitute. Daniel Watkins is the son of a real estate magnate coming to San Francisco to collect on debts. He is low on funds and is referred to lodging at Jessie’s where his life becomes entwined with Zhu’s. Somehow Zhu is attracted to this heavy drinking smoker who has distinct views of women. Despite herself and her mission, Zhu cares about Jessie and Daniel.
I loved the character of Zhu. Somehow I wasn’t repulsed by Daniel and Jessie. They are more a product of their environment doing what they can with their sense of right and wrong. Very enjoyable, I read the last two hundred pages straight through. This is definitely a stand alone novel, though Summer of Love is mentioned several times. I’ll have to read that one as a prequel rather than book one.”
And this is from Library Journal:
“The discovery of a golden brooch that should not exist in the 25th century prompts the Luxon Institute to send a young Chinese woman 600 years back in time. She arrives in San Francisco in 1895 to prevent the future from altering the past. This sequel to Summer of Love (LJ 6/15/94), seen through the eyes of an observer from the future, juxtaposes the tempestuous, sprawling milieu of boomtown San Francisco with its shadowy underside of prostitution and decadence. Mason’s graceful prose and her skill in orchestrating a complex and satisfying plot make this a solid purchase for sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is from a reader:
https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Nineties-Lisa-Mason/dp/0553373315
5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic Read
By,Robin Booneon Published on Amazon.com|Verified Purchase
“Lisa Mason’s Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality – you want to reread them as soon as you’ve read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies!”
And this is from Publisher’s Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-553-37331-8
“Mason’s sequel to Summer of Love is a delightful expansion of that work and a major step forward for her. The tale centers on Zhu Wong, a Chinese national whose lawyer plea-bargains her release from prison so that Chiron and his companions from the previous novel’s Luxon Institute for Superluminal Applications can transport her 600 years into the past to find a macguffin called the aurelia. Once in San Francisco, 1895, Mason brings the environment and the times to life with her rendering of the city’s activities, especially its corruption. The several historic personages who appear–including Frank Norris, Jack London and Susan B. Anthony–are all given dimensions that reflect the rigor of Mason’s research without leaving the reader overburdened by minutiae. Zhu Wong finds herself embroiled in a world of decadence and prostitution; she sees friends and companions abuse themselves with such things as alcohol, cocaine and corsets. As with Karen Joy Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Mason uses the novel partially to explore the role of women in society. As Zhu grows to understand the hypocrisies of the 1890s, she becomes even less comfortable with the presumptions of her own time. She creates several “closed time loops,” apparent paradoxes that impede her mission–and, perhaps more important, thwart her own desires. Eventually she finds her way out of the time loops and in the process teaches everyone–including herself–a few lessons about life. Her bravura performance with this book should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify her position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.”
And this just in from an Amazon.com reader
Buy It
By Uke Enthusiast
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“One of my favorite books. I am delighted it is back in print. A thoroughly entertaining time travel story supported by vivid characterizations and settings.”
Book Description: The year is 1895 and immigrants the world over are flocking to California on the transcontinental railroad and on transoceanic steamships. The Zoetrope demonstrates the persistence of vision, patent medicines addict children to morphine, and women are rallying for the vote. In San Francisco, saloons are the booming business, followed by brothels, and the Barbary Coast is a dangerous sink of iniquity. Atop Telegraph Hill bloody jousting tournaments are held and in Chinatown the tongs deal in opium, murder-for-hire, and slave girls.
Zhu Wong, a prisoner in twenty-fifth century China, is given a choice–stand trial for murder or go on a risky time-travel project to the San Francisco of 1895 to rescue a slave girl and take her to safety. Charmed by the city’s opulent glamour, Zhu will discover the city’s darkest secrets. A fervent population control activist in a world of twelve billion people, she will become an indentured servant to the city’s most notorious madam. Fiercely disciplined, she will fall desperately in love with the troubled self-destructive heir to a fading fortune.
And when the careful plans of the Gilded Age Project start unraveling, Zhu will discover that her choices not only affect the future but mean the difference between her own life or death.
“A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.” The New York Times Book Review
“Graceful prose. . . .A complex and satisfying plot.” Library Journal
“Rollicking. . . .Dazzling.” Locus Magazine
“Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly
The cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is styled to look like an 1890s billboard.
The Gilded Age is BACK IN PRINT! Order the beautiful trade paperback in the U.S., in the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan.
The ebook is at BarnesandNoble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords and on Kindle worldwide at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
So there you have it, my friends. Bantam Books, a division of Random House, published this as The Golden Nineties. Yes, I changed the title. I think the new title is better. (Wish I’d thought of it in the first place) This is the Author’s Preferred Print Edition.
Whether you’re a longtime reader or new, I hope you enjoy this classic!
Join my other patrons on my Patreon page and learn the shocking reason I’ve opted for Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/lisamasonfantasyandsciencefictionwriter?alert=2
Donate in my time of need from your PayPal account to lisasmason@aol.com.
Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, reviews, interviews, blogs, roundtables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, worldwide links, and more!
Please disregard any ad you see here. They have been placed without my permission.

Tags futuristic fiction, historical fiction, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Book Critic, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author on Facebook, Lisa Mason Movie Critic, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason on Twitter, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Story Critic, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, San Francisco, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, time travel

Categories 2019, Authors, Bast Books, Book Cover Art, Book Descriptions, Book Distributors, Book Marketing, Book Review, Books, Booksellers, Bookstore, bookstores, Ebooks, Historical Fiction, Librarians, Libraries, Lisa Mason, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author, Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author On Facebook, Lisa Mason Official Website, Lisa Mason on Facebook, Lisa Mason Romantic Suspense Author, Lisa Mason Screenwriter, Lisa Mason Urban Fantasy Author, Lisa Mason's Patreon Page, Literary science fiction, New York Public Library Recommended Book, New York Times Notable Book, Patreon, Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, Print Book, Published Book, Published Worldwide, San Francisco, Science fiction, Speculative Fiction, The Gilded Age, The Gilded Age A Time Travel, Time Travel, Time Travels to San Francisco

The Lisamason.com Website Has Been Updated For 2019! (The First Half Of It, Anyway) Come Visit and Browse! Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #sciencefictionandfantasy #website

July 22, 2019 //

The Lisamason.com Website Has Been Updated For 2019! (The First Half Of It, Anyway) Come Visit and Browse! Links are below:
AETHER, a unique painted drawing by Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay Area artist and jeweler. Inquiries and bids to acquire this remarkable artwork are accepted on this page. http://www.lisamason.com/aether.html
Alana, the beloved Turkish Angora cat of Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, and Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay Area artist http://www.lisamason.com/alanacat.html
One Day in the Life of Alexa, a 2017 novella by Lisa Mason. In Print and an ebook on all retailers worldwide. How long do you want to live? Alexa, an experimental Tester of a longevity drug confronts environmental, political, and personal perils as she grapples with tough questions of life, love, and death in the future. “An appealing narrator and subtly powerful emotional rhythms.” –Goodreads http://www.lisamason.com/alexa.html
ARACHNE, back in Print and an ebook worldwide of the first novel by Lisa Mason published in hardcover by William Morrow, trade paper by Eos Books, and mass market paperback by AvoNova. Deemed “a cyberpunk classic” by The Boston Globe, ARACHNE debuted in the top ten on the Locus Hardcover Bestseller List. The sequel is CYBERWEB http://www.lisamason.com/arachne.html
ANYTHING FOR YOU, a Lisa Mason story published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Here’s my interview with F&SF http://lisamason.com/anythinginterview.html
The Artificial Intelligence Storybundle curated by Lisa Mason goes live from March 29 to April 20, 2017. Kathleen Ann Goonan, Lisa Mason, Laura J. Mixon, Linda Nagata, Samuel Peralta, Ryan Schneider, Walter Jon Williams (Plus stories by William Gibson, Pat Cadigan, Bruce Sterling, Cory Doctorow, Jonathan Lethem, and more). Lisa Mason’s two AI novels, ARACHNE and CYBERWEB are included http://lisamason.com/aibundle.html
ATHENA, the new beloved Lilac-point Siamese, Turkish Angora mix cat adopted in 2015 by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, and Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay area artist and jeweler. ADORABLE CAT PIX! http://www.lisamason.com/athena.html
Interview with Lisa Mason regarding her well-received dark fantasy, “Aurelia,” published in the January-February 2018 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction http://www.lisamason.com/aureliainterview.html
Bast Books publishes print books and ebooks of Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, including Mason’s backlist books and stories, and new books and stories. NEW PRINT EDITIONS of ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ALEXA, SUMMER OF LOVE, THE GILDED AGE, THE GARDEN OF ABRACADABRA, ARACHNE, CYBERWEB, and STRANGE LADIES: 7 STORIES are now available! http://www.lisamason.com/bastbooks.html
Bast Collectible Books offers signed first editions and other rare books, including The Essential Ellison SIGNED by Harlan Ellison, Beat poetry, science fiction and fantasy, a gorgeous 1890s cookbook, and art and literary books. William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, John Steinbeck, David Brin, and more The signed Andy Warhol sold http://www.lisamason.com/bastcollectiblebooks.html
“The Bicycle Whisperer,” a near-future story by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, about runaways, homeless teenagers, and bicycles, published in the May-June 2018 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The page includes the cover, contents, and reviews http://www.lisamason.com/bicycle.html
Interview with Lisa Mason for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction regarding her controversial story, “The Bicycle Whisperer” in the May-June 2018 Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction http://www.lisamason.com/bicycleinterview.html
My Author’s Bio at http://www.lisamason.com/lisabio.html
My Books page (the titles published by Bantam and HarperCollins) at http://www.lisamason.com/lisabooks.html
My interview with the book blog, Write Castles in the Sky http://www.lisamason.com/castlesinthesky.html
A five-star passionate historical romantic suspense, Celestial Girl, The Omnibus Edition (A Lily Modjeska Mystery) by Lisa Mason, includes the four books in the miniseries. Lily is a feisty suffragist in 1895 compelled into a web of murder and corruption resulting from controversial 1890s US immigration policy. During her journey, she falls in love with Dr. Jackson Tremaine and together they solve the mystery of the Celestial http://www.lisamason.com/celestialgirlomnibus.html
NEW!
CHROME, my new speculative fiction. The novel is now an ebook at all retailers worldwide, the print edition is forthcoming in August, 2019. http://www.lisamason.com/chrome.html
CYBERWEB, Back in Print and an ebook worldwide of the second novel by Lisa Mason published in hardcover by William Morrow, trade paper by Eos Books, and mass market paperback by AvoNova. Cyberweb was deemed “a cyberpunk classic” by The Boston Globe and is the sequel to ARACHNE, which debuted in the top ten on the Locus Hardcover Bestseller List
http://www.lisamason.com/cyberweb.html
DAUGHTER TAO by Lisa Mason, the science fiction and fantasy author. A 5-star magical historical fantasy about Chinese alchemy and Chinese unicorns first published in Peter S. Beagle’s anthology, Immortal Unicorn (HarperPrism). “The characters come alive and you really care about them.” Reader Review http://www.lisamason.com/daughteroftao.html
Keep Fit, Keep Writing: A Roundtable about physical fitness with Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Kevin J. Anderson, Lisa Mason, and Linda Nagata (Part 1: Move It!). Mountain-climbing for Kevin, lake-walking for Lisa, a gym treadmill for Linda http://www.lisamason.com/fitnessblog1.html
Keep Fit, Keep Writing: A Roundtable about diet with Authors Kevin J. Anderson, Lisa Mason, and Linda Nagata (Part 2: Chow Down!). The Paleo Diet for Kevin, a mostly vegetarian, low fat diet for Lisa, general healthy eating for Linda http://www.lisamason.com/fitnessblog2.html
EVERY MYSTERY UNEXPLAINED, an historical fantasy about stage magic and real magic, love and loss by Lisa Mason, the science fiction and fantasy author. The novelette was first published in David Copperfield’s anthology, Tales of the Impossible (HarperPrism). “The story I was hoping for….” The Writerly Reader Blog http://www.lisamason.com/everymystery.html
An Interview with Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, with Festivale, the book-showcasing website, discussing with whom Mason would like to head out into the universe on a space ship and what she would take with her http://www.lisamason.com/festivaleinterview.html
The Garden of Abracadabra is the bestselling urban fantasy by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author. After her mother on her death-bed urges her to study Real Magic, Abby Teller becomes the superintendent of a magical apartment building to finance her studies at the Berkeley College of Magical Arts and Crafts. She discovers all her tenants are some stripe of supernatural entity and is compelled into a supernatural murder investigation. “Very entertaining urban fantasy.” In Print and an ebook on all retailers worldwide http://www.lisamason.com/gardenabracadabra.html
Lisa Mason’s classic time travel to 1895, The Gilded Age, was published previously in print as The Golden Nineties by Bantam Books. A New York Times Notable Book and a New York Public Library Recommended Book. NOW BACK IN PRINT from Bast Books and as an ebook on all retailers worldwide. Zhu Wong is a time-traveler from a far-future China. She is compelled into a dangerous time travel to 1895 San Francisco to rescue a slave girl whose fate holds the key to the future. The sequel to Summer of Love. Brand-new reviews! http://www.lisamason.com/gildedage.html
A contemporary fantasy story about cancer, AIDS, death, and Egyptian magic. Hummers by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, was published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 5^th Annual Collection (St. Martin’s Press), and nominated for the Nebula Award. A woman comes to grips with her own impending death with the magic of hummingbirds http://www.lisamason.com/hummersstory.html
ILLYRIA, MY LOVE, a controversial speculative story by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, is published exclusively by Bast Books. Channeling Fritz Leiber’s classic story, “The Man Who Never Grew Young,” and Martin Amis’ Time’s Arrow, Illyria, My Love takes us on one woman’s journey through wartime and the shocking secret of her obsessive love for a man http://lisamason.com/illyria.html
The official website of Lisa Mason, the author of science fiction, fantasy, modern fantasy, romantic suspense, time travel, cyberpunk, humor, short stories, and screenplays. Adorable cat pictures, blogs and interviews, forthcoming works, and art and bespoke jewelry by Mason’s husband, Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay Area artist, jeweler, and sculptor. All links, all readers worldwide. NEW PRINT BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE for SUMMER OF LOVE, THE GILDED AGE, THE GARDEN OF ABRACADABRA, ARACHNE, CYBERWEB, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ALEXA, and STRANGE LADIES: 7 STORIES! FORTHCOMING IN 2019: CHROME http://www.lisamason.com/index.html
The Story of Luna, the beloved blue mink Tonkinese cat adopted years ago by Lisa Mason the fantasy and science fiction writer and Tom Robinson the artist, jeweler, and sculptor http://www.lisamason.com/lunacat.html
Forthcoming books, screenplays, and stories by Lisa Mason in science fiction, fantasy, modern fantasy, and cyberpunk, including The Labyrinth of Illusions, Book 2 of the Abracadabra Series, and Oddities, a second collection of previously published and new stories, Pangaea I and Pangaea II as print and ebooks, and, in 2019, CHROME, a new high-concept science fiction novel http://www.lisamason.com/nextthing.html
NEW!
Lisa Mason’s interview with NFReads.com, a fascinating mainstream website featuring interviews with authors and other notable people in public eye. Mason talks about her current and forthcoming works http://www.lisamason.com/nfreadsinterview.html
Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, chats about writing with author Ryan Schneider in a discussion about inspiration, the writing process, print books and ebooks, and the state of the publishing http://www.lisamason.com/chatwithryan1.html
Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author, chats about writing in a follow-up interview with author Ryan Schneider in a discussion about writing influences, movies, print books and ebooks, and the state of the publishing business http://www.lisamason.com/chatwithryan2.html
The PHILIP K. DICK AWARD STORYBUNDLE, curated by Lisa Mason, included eleven PKD finalists and winners, including Lisa Mason’s SUMMER OF LOVE http://www.lisamason.com/philipkdickawardbundle.html
“Riddle”, a dark erotic fantasy by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, was published in the September-October 2017 68^th Anniversary issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This is Mason’s interview with F&SF, plus several reviews of the story. “Riddle” received an Honorable Mention in The Year’s Best Horror 2017 anthology edited by Ellen Datlow http://www.lisamason.com/riddlepage.html
Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, chats with author Ryan Schneider about THE GARDEN OF ABRACADABRA, Mason’s urban fantasy novel about Abby Teller, who takes the job of superintendent of a magical apartment building to finance her studies in Real Magic at the Berkeley College of Magical Arts and Crafts http://www.lisamason.com/ryanchatswithlisaaboutabracadabra.html
SHAKEN, a short sexy science fiction thriller by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, was published first as “Deus Ex Machina” in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, in Transcendental Tales from Asimov’s (Donning Press), and translated and published worldwide. The retitled and expanded novella, SHAKEN, is an ebook on all retailers worldwide http://www.lisamason.com/shaken.html
“The Sixty-third Anniversary of Hysteria” by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, is a literary historical fantasy story about Surrealist women artists during World War II exiled from Europe to Mexico City. The story was first published in the Full Spectrum 5 anthology (Bantam) and inspired by the lives of Mason’s favorite Surrealist artists, Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington http://www.lisamason.com/sixtythirdanniversary.html
STORIES by LISA MASON Fantasy, modern fantasy, horror, and science fiction short stories by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, published in magazines and anthologies worldwide http://www.lisamason.com/stories.html
Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, curated The STORY COLLECTION STORYBUNDLE, which included eight award-winning story collections by Karen Joy Fowler, Lewis Shiner, Lisa Mason, Pat Murphy, Elizabeth Hand, Walter Jon Williams, Kathe Koja, and C.C. Finlay http://lisamason.com/storycollectionbundle.html
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason, a five-star collection, presents science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction previously published in magazines and anthologies worldwide. “A must-read collection.” “Lisa Mason may just be the female Philip K. Dick.” IN PRINT and an ebook on all retailers worldwide http://www.lisamason.com/strangeladies.html
SUMMER OF LOVE, the bestselling five-star classic time travel to 1967, by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, was originally published by Bantam. Now SUMMER OF LOVE is Back in Print from Bast Books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble and an ebook on all retailers worldwide. A Philip K. Dick Award Finalist, San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, and James Tiptree, Jr Award Nominee. New 2018 Review! http://www.lisamason.com/summeroflove.html
Charles De Lint’s review of Summer of Love by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. http://lisamason.com/solfsfreview.html
Reviews of Summer of Love by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, published by Faren Miller, the eminent book reviewer for Locus Magazine, the Trade Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field, and the award-winning science fiction author Lewis Shiner. http://lisamason.com/sollocusshinerreviews.html
My Charlotte: Patty’s Story by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, is a short, sweet memoir about a brief life in a garden and Mason’s first inspiration to write at the age of eight, leading to her first story, Arachne, published in Omni, then to her first two early cyberpunk novels, Arachne and Cyberweb. Yes, there was an orb weaver named Patty! The ebook includes Mason’s first Omni story, Arachne http://www.lisamason.com/mycharlotte.html
Eon’s Kiss, Book 1 of the Eon Trilogy, is a passionate paranormal New Adult romance by modern fantasy author, Suzanna Moore. Two more books in the trilogy are planned but have not been announced http://www.lisamason.com/suzannamoore.html
Tesla, A Screenplay, is a feature-length biopic about the eccentric genius inventor of AC electricity and radio, Nikola Tesla, by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author. Read by Hollywood producers. Out for auction http://www.lisamason.com/tesla.html
“Taiga” by Lisa Mason, is an SF story by the fantasy and science fiction author published in Not One of Us, Digest # 61, a poetry and fiction digest edited by John Benson in April 2019. Includes Mason’s interview about “Taiga.” http://www.lisamason.com/taiga.html
Lisa Mason, the bestselling author of Summer of Love and The Gilded Age, talks time travel with Laura Vosika, author of Blue Bells of Scotland, discussing methods of time travel, historical research, time machines, social commentary, and classic time travel books, Blogs 1 through 3 http://www.lisamason.com/timetravelblogs1to3.html
Lisa Mason, the bestselling author of Summer of Love and The Gilded Age talks time travel with Laura Vosika, author of Blue Bells of Scotland, discussing methods of time travel, historical research, time machines, social commentary, and classic time travel books, Blogs 4 and 5 http://www.lisamason.com/timetravelblogs4to5.html
Tomorrow’s Child, a high-concept science fiction story by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction writer, was published in Omni Magazine. A high-powered executive, who is about to lose his only daughter to critical burn wounds, will try anything to save her life. The story is in development as a feature-length movie at Universal Pictures. The ebook includes Lisa Mason’s 30-day blog, The Story Behind The Story That Sold To The Movies http://www.lisamason.com/tomorrowschild.html
Unique, handmade abstract symbolist art of Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay Area artist, jeweler, and sculptor. Tom Robinson is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Academy of Art College, and the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Drawings and paintings on paper and on wood panel. New! A desktop stabile is now available! Purchase Tom Robinson artwork directly on this page. http://www.lisamason.com/tomrobinsonart.html
Handmade unique necklaces, earrings, and rings by Tom Robinson, the San Francisco Bay area artist, jeweler, and sculptor, including Sculpture Necklace # 8, the Europa pendant, the Modern Tiki Pendant, and the hand-finished solid sterling silver Ankh. Tom Robinson is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Academy of Art College, and the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Purchase Tom Robinson jewelry directly on this page http://www.lisamason.com/tomrobinsonjewelry.html
The artist’s bio and statement by TOM ROBINSON, the San Francisco Bay Area artist, jeweler, and sculptor. Tom Robinson is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Academy of Art College, and the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts http://www.lisamason.com/tomrobinsonbio.html
U F uh-O is a five-star adaptation of a screenplay in the vein of Men In Black and Galaxy Quest, a science fiction comedy about families and children, aliens and UFOs. Novella and screenplay by Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author http://www.lisamason.com/ufo.html
Ronovan’s Lit World Interview with Lisa Mason, the fantasy and science fiction author http://www.lisamason.com/worldlitinterview.html