Greybeard Publishing
Titles and Reviews Page
Greybeard is the publishing imprint for all titles by author David R. Beshears. Books are available in paperback, large print paperback, hardcover, ebook and audiobook formats and are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many other booksellers, as well as directly from greybeard.
Greybeard website:
www.greybeardpublishing.com
David R. Beshears
Award-winning screenwriter and author of science fiction, fantasy and adventure. His work has been praised by literary professors and by PhDs in science, by fans and by reviewers around the world.
David lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. When not writing, he can usually be found on any one of a dozen northwest mountains (see his
hiking
website).
Author page:
www.davidrbeshears.com
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The Shylmahn Migration
Book One of the Shylmahn Trilogy
The Occupation
Book Two of the Shylmahn Trilogy
Genesis
Book Three of the Shylmahn Trilogy
Serpent's Keep
Science Fiction / Fantasy Adventure
Serpent's Keep Two -
The Six Temples
Science Fiction / Fantasy Adventure
Serpent's Keep 3 -
the Outland
Science Fiction / Fantasy Adventure
Willow City
Science Fiction / Film Noir
Ravenhill Court
Science Fiction / Fantasy
The Christmas Cave
Holiday Family Fantasy
KHDZ
Dark Satire / Fantasy
Climb the Mountain
True Story
The Black Tower
11 Episode Scifi/Adventure
Shipwreck on ShadowWorld
Young Adult Scifi/Adventure
Kimara Crossing
Young Adult Scifi/Adventure
The Caravan
Post-Apocalyptic Horror/Thriller
Sisters in Space
Scifi / Adventure
Complete 7 Episode Series
The Storekeeper
a one hour novella
Ethereal Fantasy
Broken Sky
Science Fiction
Yesterday's Shadows
Six Short Stories from the Past
Greybeard's
Art of Self-Publishing
43 page guide to publishing your book
Planet of Stones
Science Fiction
Last Day at Sharp Park
Fantasy Novella
Next Exit
SciFi/Fantasy Novella
 
copyright 2023 greybeard publishing
Title:
The Shylmahn Migration
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For the Shylmahn, it was a wonderful adventure...
This is not ‘slam, bam, welcome to earth’ stuff. There will be no fairy dust sprinkled into the atmosphere to miraculously kill off the bad guys.
This could happen.
The Shylmahn Migration brings gritty realism to the nightmare of an overwhelming alien invasion of earth.
The miniseries screenplay adaptation of the novel won the Pacific Northwest Screenwriters Competition.
"Intelligent science fiction"
  William C. Brown, Ph.D.
  Author of 'The Evolutionary Science of Extraterrestrial Life'
"Outstanding writing in a fine story"
"Very well designed and very well executed"
  David L. Powell, Ph.D.
  English and American Literature
Review Quotes:
“I loved this series and couldn't stop until I had read all three books in the series. I got the first book for free but I paid for the next two simply because I couldn't stand to stop reading the story. The characters are well developed and the plot is full of twists and surprises.” – 5 stars
“This book gives the reader an exquisite blend of sci-fi and the realities of our human nature that quickly sucks the reader deeply into the story. The characters’ are easy to identify with because they could be anyone we know.” – 5 stars
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Title:
The Occupation
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The invasion had ended long ago. The remnants of humanity survived as best they could on reservations or in tiny communities out of sight of the masters of the planet. Most had never known a world not dominated by the Shylmahn, content now to live out their lives in the shadows.
Some were not content.
The Britton Family, legends from an all-but-forgotten war long since lost, fading into the obscurity of a human history soon to vanish, they now fought a war that no one knew was being waged.
Review Quotes:
“The Occupation (book two of the Shylmahn Migration) picks up a few years later in the storyline, yet leaves no gaps for the reader. The attention to detail linking this book to the first in the series left this reader chomping at the bit for the third book!”
“The author did a great job leading the story forward in time while introducing new elements to the story that keep me engaged. Identifying with the struggle and the tenacity of mankind, our resistance to domination by anyone or anything and the refusal to give up0hope for our future are all traits that result in another great read!” – 5 stars
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Title:
Genesis
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A tenuous truce between Shylmahn and Human had kept the peace for more than five years, but there was never a doubt as to who were the masters of the planet. Earth belonged to the Shylmahn.
But the Britton Family, waging a clandestine war with the invaders for thirty years, had one last desperate, insane plan to get their world back. Succeed or fail, it would change the face of the planet forever.
Third and final novel in the trilogy.
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Title:
Serpent's Keep
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"I bequeath to my nephew, Jacob Quigley, all that I own, all that I dream, and all that I am, in the hope that my life's quest will become his quest."
    --
Last Will & Testament of Tobias Quigley
Those few cryptic words send Jake into a bizarre world that couldn't possibly exist. Traveling the Gateways, he will befriend the Eternal Guardians and stand against an ancient enemy.
Young Adult adventure for everyone...
From 12 years old to 102 and beyond
Serpent's Keep was the recipient of the Readers' Favorite Five Stars award.
The miniseries screenplay adaptation of the novel was a top 10 finalist in an international screenwriting competition.
Review Quotes:
“If you need to take a break or get a cup of coffee, do so at this point, as you’ll be glued to this book moving forward.” – 5 stars
“This book was surprisingly good, in fact it was hard to put down at times. I'm hoping there will be a sequel as the ending definitely leaves an opening for one. Mr. Beshears is a skillful writer, this wasn't his first novel, but I like his style and want to read more by him. Yes, I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book, through Reading Deals, so I could give an honest review but if I hadn't liked it so much I would say so, too. The dragons weren't fierce, at least not with Jake, hero of the story, as they were guardians and therefore (with the exception of one) they viewed him as a friend of sorts. There was a small amount of violence, what was necessary for the story, but nothing graphic - just good story telling!” – 5 stars
“The author weaves a very descriptive tale, complete with dragons and challenges that the hero needs to be overcome… I highly recommend it.” – 5 stars
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Title:
Ravenhill Court
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The year is 1964. Thirteen year old Ben Foster and his friends explore the strange goings-on in their isolated neighborhood, with each discovery bringing them closer to uncovering the incredible secret underlying Ravenhill Court.
Recipient of the Readers' Favorite Five Stars award.
Review Quotes:
“Ravenhill Court is a funky subdivision/cul-de-sac with mysteries. The story is set in the 60's and winds around Ben, his sister Julie, and two friends who decide to see why all the adults act so strangely. I loved everything about this book except that it was too short! I am reading it again as it's Halloween time.”
“Like nothing I’ve ever read before. Five stars.” – top 500 reviewer
“This is an excellent science fiction/fantasy story, particularly suitable for the young adult market, but equally applicable to all ages. Clever, witty, and sometimes dark humour will always have a place on our bookshelves. Five stars.” – Readers Favorite reviewer
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Title:
The Christmas Cave
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December 1960. Thirteen year old Jenny Harper is exploring the caves with her brother Bill and their best friend Mike. They see a strange shimmering light. Bill rushes ahead, disappears around the bend.
Fade to present day. Thirteen year old Jack and his twelve year old sister Amanda visit their Grandma Jenny in the mountains over the Christmas holiday. They hear the story of a mythical cavern that Grandma went searching for fifty years earlier with her little brother Bill and their best friend Mike. Her brother was lost, never to be seen again.
Drawn to the mystery, Jack and Amanda meet up with Daniel Madsen, a local boy diagnosed with Leukemia and only months to live. He tells them of a boy who went into the caves a few days before Christmas, 1910 and came out three years later telling of “The Christmas Cave”, a world of amazing colors and lights.
They find their way to the Christmas Cave and discover much more than they expected.
Review Quotes:
“A very enjoyable read.” – 5 stars
“The author's experience at character building shines through in The Christmas Cave! I could picture the characters down to their facial expressions which given the length of this novella, delighted me. To boot, I felt like I was led down a path of an adventure as the story was told. It's well written and delightfully entertaining. I recommend it highly!” – 5 stars
“Compelling and unique holiday tale, I just loved The Christmas Cave. Author David R. Beshears has written a novella that has a broad appeal not only for pre/tween/teens, but adults as well.” – 5 stars
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Title:
KHDZ
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John Smith is the first person ever sent downstairs due to a mix-up in the paperwork. While this is sorted out, he is assigned to work at Hades’ local television station, where he must deal with strange characters and stranger programming.
All the more bizarre, he arrived just in time for Founder's Day.
Review Quotes:
“You’ll be recommending this book to your friends before you are even halfway through it. A+ all the way. Highly recommend. Five stars.” – top 500 reviewer
“An enjoyable read and something distinctly different from the usual fare… Beshears has an interesting and dark sense of humour, which definitely appeals to me.” – Readers Favorite reviewer
“If you like Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett you will enjoy this book. I was chuckling along from the first couple of pages and the whole book kept me entertained.” – Goodreads reviewer
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Title:
Climb the Mountain
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On October 12, 2007, a young soldier was injured in Afghanistan, suffering severe traumatic brain injury, spine shattered in three places, and numerous internal injuries. For the next two years, as he was moved from Bagram to Germany to Walter Reed to Palo Alto and finally home to Washington State, his family never left his side. And throughout those years, his father wrote daily emails to family and friends, chronicling the journey from a dusty road in Afghanistan to the snowy summit of Mt. Rainier.
Review Quotes:
“Brings you into the everyday struggles, heartbreaks and victories of this close family as they surrounded David with their love, respect and support. I found it to be a wonderful, well written, emotional read, presented as if to a friend. Five stars.”
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Note:
100% of royalties of all formats of "Climb the Mountain" are donated to
the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization.
Title:
The Black Tower
Formats:
Print, large print, ebook, audiobook (episode series)
A team of scientists travels the eighty floors of a strange black tower, where each floor is an alternate world fraught with danger, striving to reach the top floor and the dark force behind the creation of the looming monolith.
The Black Tower - the complete series
is available in an omnibus volume in print, large print and ebook formats.
The eleven individual episodes are also available separately in ebook and audiobook formats.
The screenplay adaptation of Episode One of the series placed semi-finalist in the LA International Screenwriting competition, coming in ahead of several thousand other screenplays.
Review Quotes:
“I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes their sci-fi with a bit of intrigue, adventure, suspense and a splash of creepy horror.” – story: 5 stars
“Great book. If not for my obligations at work, I would read it in one sitting. Highly recomend it to everyone.” – 5 stars
"The most interesting SF I've read in years. Well done! Will there be a sequel?"
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Title:
Shipwreck on ShadowWorld
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Thirteen year old Jim survives a fiery crash landing on the desert plains of ShadowWorld, only to come face to face with bizarre aliens, mystifying cultures, and an unforgiving planet in his search for rescue.
The first in a series of adventures following Jim, future Prince of the Frontier Worlds.
The Screenplay adaptation of Shipwreck on ShadowWorld placed Q-finalist in a recent animated screenwriting competition
Review Quotes:
“This book was an awesome adventure.”
“Whether in paper, ebook or audiobook, you’ll enjoy the adventure with Jim and his interesting companions and adversaries.” – story: 5 stars
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Title:
The Caravan
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The Caravan is just one more tribe traveling a post-apocalyptic landscape, foraging through the dead cities of the past. The tribe is friendly and well-adapted to the nomadic life. But there is something unsettlingly dark underlying the pleasantness.
After months on the trail, they settle outside an abandoned city for the winter. Foraging teams go in, looking to fill their wagons with supplies. Meanwhile, a band of marauders watches. They have their own way of getting what they want.
And they want everything.
This time, however, they are in for a bit of a surprise.
Subject matter may not be not suitable for all audiences.
The Caravan placed finalist in a recent literary competition
The screenplay adaptation placed short-list finalist in a recent screenwriting competition
Review Quotes:
“A vividly drawn world that makes for an excellent read.”
Feedback re: screenplay:
“The concept is a very clever one, immediately calls to mind the tropes and conventions of a classic western while mixing in the high concept of a science fiction story.”
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Title:
Sisters in Space
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Claire and Amelia wake from cryo and find themselves eighty years into deep space with no idea how they got there.
This is their journey home...
This omnibus edition contains all seven episodes.
Adaptation
This collection is a direct adaptation of the seven 15 minute scripts currently in development as both webseries and radioplays series.
Screenwriting Competition:
Episode One – “Awakening” of Sisters in Space placed as a
top three finalist
in a recent webseries screenwriting competition.
Review Quotes:
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Title:
The Storekeeper: a one hour novella
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An old, weathered general store sits alone on a long-forgotten highway. Strangers gather, arriving from very different pasts, all to be welcomed by the Storekeeper. An ethereal one hour tale...
Adaptation
This novella is a direct adaptation of the three act stage play.
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Title:
Broken Sky
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A cluster of old buildings sits isolated on a quiet, desolate plain. Overhead, the sky is a smear of reds and purples, a shell enclosing the world.
Here, strangers who have banded together for survival must strike out into the alien wilderness in search of a way home.
Review Quotes:
“I really enjoyed this book... thought the characters were well written, really good storyline that kept you thinking what was going on and if they were going to leave the dimension they were in...” – five stars
Feedback re: screenplay:
“Great visuals and a really effective atmosphere of foreboding.”
“Inventive script with an inspired world… unique and highly visual.”
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Title:
Yesterday's Shadows
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from the author...
I don't get to write short stories much anymore, but I love writing them. Short stories was where I started, back when I was twelve and my sixth grade teacher handed me an empty theme book and asked me to fill it up. I had turned in a story the day before for extra credit and she liked it.
Most of my short stories have been lost, particularly those written using my old typewriter back before I had a computer, and more than a few written with only pencil and paper. But I did manage to hang onto a couple from way back when.
I thought I'd bring some of these old stories out into the light. I hope you like 'em.
    - david
The screenplay adaptation of the Yesterday's Shadows short story, included in this collection, has been sold and is being produced as a short film.
Review Quotes:
“The story Yesterdays Shadows by author David Beshears is a great story of strength and the human ability to adapt and survive. A must read for any reader.” – 5 stars
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Title:
Greybeard's Art of Self-Publishing
Formats:
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A 43 page guidebook...
The purpose of this guide is to outline the steps you can take to self-publish your work. There are any number of paths to getting your book out there, some easier than others, some costly, and some free. We present here the path we choose with each title that we publish to paperback, all ebook formats and in audiobook.
And though this is not a marketing guide, we will touch upon a few marketing avenues and how to go about establishing your author presence. Such is a critical component of self-publishing and in getting your work out there.
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Title:
Planet of Stones
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Lieutenant Connelly is one of six Monitors sent 100,000 years into the past to study the tribes of two recently discovered humanoid species. Each Monitor lives alone in isolated outposts located far apart from one another around Alpha Valley.
Connelly’s only companion is Box, a small A-I device that he carries about with him in his pocket.
Two years into his three year mission, he is unexpectedly recalled to Central, an underground facility in the heart of Alpha Valley and from where he will be returning to Point Zero… home to the year 2058.
His journey back to Central includes several unplanned detours, having to deal with both the Littles and the Alphas, the two species he has been unobtrusively observing.
Reaching Central at last, Connelly and Box find that their mission wasn’t at all what they had thought it was...
and that he won’t be going home quite yet...
Planet of Stones placed finalist in a recent literary competition
The screenplay adaptation placed finalist in a recent screenwriting competition
Review Quotes:
Feedback re: screenplay:
  "An immersive, entertaining sci-fi experience."
  "You create a real sense of not only discovery, but also adventure."
  "You capture the sense of a stranger in a strange land wonderfully."
  "Successfully transplants a nearly human-like arc onto a non-human character,
    which is a difficult task to pull off."
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Title:
Last Day at Sharp Park
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A family of wizards explores a hidden world that was taken out of the physical realm by a six year old boy with extraordinary powers, and find the boy and his grandma haven’t aged a day in half a century.
Fantasy novella adaptation of the pilot episode screenplay of the television series "Miles Bennett".
Miles Bennett is the immortal patriarch of a family of wizards. He must walk the fine line between the politics of a secret organization of which his family is a part and the world of the Normals, all the while investigating a dark menace that is just beginning to make its presence felt by those with the Sense.
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Title:
Serpent's Keep Two - The Six Temples
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The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning "Serpent's Keep"...
“She is obsessed by her purpose. Such is the failing of a zealot.” Aldwyn stood before the portal. “I believe the greater danger,by far the greater danger, is the disruption that is created by her efforts. She is tearing apart the web of the universe.Worlds are being thrown into chaos, landscapes laid waste; entire planes are being set adrift.”
“Can’t you stop her?”
“I cannot. I am forever bound to this place.” Aldwyn held a hand out to the windows portal, palm out as if resting it against the thin veil between planes. “My vision is far, my reach limited.”
He turned then to look at Jake. “But you can. And that is why you are here. Is it not?”
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Title:
Willow City
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Willow City is one of seven city-states that make up the Federation, a group of loosely aligned authoritarian municipalities that operate autonomously… within Federation guidelines.
The city-state of Willow City is held in the tight grip of City Hall, and the Mayor will do whatever it takes to ensure the dark, damp streets of Willow City never see Federation boots.
Hidden in the shadows of the city-state are ever-shadowy characters living day-to-day, surviving as best they can under the watchful gaze of City Hall.
Alan Thornton returns home to Willow City to search for his brother, recently gone missing. His search takes him into the dark alleys and smoky nightclubs of the city, and very few of the shadowy characters existing there appear glad to see him.
Adapted from the screenplay... dystopian science fiction in an atmosphere of black and white film noir.
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Title:
Kimara Crossing
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Book two in the series following Jim, future Prince of the Frontier Worlds...
Two years have passed since Jim's ordeal on ShadowWorld. Fifteen years old now, the son of the governor has spent these intervening years on Kimara, capital of the Frontier Worlds.
When the Founders Guild attempts to kidnap him en route from the training academy to the governor’s estate, Jim finds himself on the run.He and his two friends must cross Kimara and reach the estate before Jim is captured and turned over to the Silver Pirates.
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Title:
Next Exit
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The simple, eight-room motel sits isolated on a lonely desert highway, a never-traveled secondary ribbon of road crossing a barren landscape.
Half the rooms are occupied, permanent residents choosing for their own reasons to live in this ethereal world that is untouched, unseen by the outside world.
This world is threatened by a powerful research facility seeking to retrieve their property: several of the residents of the motel, including “Mother”, an elderly woman living in the upstairs apartment of the motel/café owners Lee and Jan.
Mother forever stands watch...
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Title:
Serpent's Keep 3 - the Outland
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Third and final book in the Serpent's Keep trilogy...
The Outland was pulled apart millennia ago, six disparate landscapes sent to six isolated realms of the universe...
The Outland is whole once again, brought back together with the Six Temples, some abandoned, some in ruin, others populated by those sent away so long ago... including the Ancient Monks.
The Outland, brought together and yet torn from the rest of the universe. It exists now as a world unto itself.
The Outland is alone.
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