What do you get when you mix time travel to the Old West with alternate realities and a bit of romance? Dean Wesley Smith’s popular Thunder Mountain series, of course.

Tomorrow, WMG releases the fourth novel in that series, The Edwards Mansion, and Dean says it’s the most complex storyline he’s ever written.

Given that Dean has published well more than a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres, that’s saying something.

I mean, they don’t call him one of the most prolific writer in modern fiction for nothing.

Dean loves breaking the rules, you see. That can drive your average publisher crazy. Good thing I’m not your average publisher.

I can’t say too much about just how he breaks the rules, because that would give away some pivotal plot points, but let’s just say you won’t see it coming. Intrigued yet?

Here’s the synopsis:

Sherri Edwards only wanted to refurbish an abandoned old mansion that carried her family name. Her goal: To bring the mansion back to original glory.

But the ghost of the original owner kept chasing away all workers. About to give up, two friends suggest she go with them into the past, to see the mansion, meet the original owner, and figure out why he killed himself.

Fans of our short fiction anthology series, Fiction River, might find this description a little familiar. As is not uncommon in short fiction writing, The Edwards Mansion novel started out as a short story called “A Ghost of Time” in Fiction River: Christmas Ghosts, edited by Kristine Grayson, which was released in October 2013.

The two are different, as you might imagine, given the very different natures of short stories and novels, so even if you’ve read that story, you’ll want to read this novel.

And, of course, fans of Dean’s innovative magazine Smith’s Monthly (there’s that rule-breaking thing again) will have already seen The Edwards Mansion. Dean’s novels publish in Smith’s Monthly first, and we release them as standalones two months or so later.

So, now’s as good a time as any to remind you that you can subscribe to Smith’s Monthly and gain early access to these popular novels, plus a whole bunch of other stories and poetry, to boot.

In fact, the next two novels in the Thunder Mountain series, Lake Roosevelt and Warm Springs, will be part of the January and February issues of Smith’s Monthly and will be released as standalone novels in March and April, respectively.

So, if one of your New Year’s resolutions was to try something new, believe you me, this will fit the bill.

Happy reading!

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.