Adventures In Writing

Global Star

2012-02-25T06:04:00.001-06:00

Want to fly headlong into Alien Abductions? Ready to hunt Mysterious Monsters in the Bowels of Your City? Curious about what Elvis has been up to since He Got Laid Off? Find the Story Behind the Stories, the Truth too True To Print in the GLOBAL STAR! Authors R. A. Jones, Mel Odom, and Michael Vance report on the exploits of the finest editors, reporters, and staffers working on the world's one tabloid where every word is true! Follow these pen and paper pushers as they go anywhere, do anything, and stop at nothing to bring you the news that makes the Global Star the greatest newspaper on-and off- Earth! Get the whole story in this tongue in cheek satire riddled book from Pro Se- GLOBAL STAR!

HELL ON WHEELS Cover by Keith Birdsong

2012-02-25T05:58:00.004-06:00

Cover by Keith Birdsong. If you're looking for a cover for your book, contact Keith here.

Everyone in Shooter's Cross knows that Mike Tucker isn't a ranch hand. He's a shootist, lightning quick and totally lethal with his Tranter pistols.

Jenny Blaylock has always been nervous around Tucker because she knows he's a stone cold killer. Something's broken inside Tucker, and she's afraid that he's going to get her family hurt.

But when her husband Sam is out of town and her daughter is kidnapped by a ruthless gang, Jenny has no choice but to saddle up and ride with Tucker. The trail is long and hard, and she knows its going to end in sudden death, hellfire and gunsmoke.

Blast From The Past!

2012-02-24T07:23:00.000-06:00

A fun time waster that has echoes of the past. Hat tip to Bill Crider

Jongor of Lost Land

2012-02-22T08:24:00.001-06:00

I'm really looking forward to John Carter in movie theaters next month. In the 1960s I grew up on Tarzan movies and the original Edgar Rice Burroughs books. I loved jungle adventures. Couldn't get enough of them.

In 1970, I was 12 and I discovered the Jongor books. I thought they were new. I didn't realize at the time that they had been printed first decades ago.

There was something about John Gordon (Jongor) and his mighty black bow and black arrows fighting dinosaurs that was just amazing. Of course, I did say I was 12.

All three books have been reprinted in a single volume , and you can get them on Amazon, but so far I have not return to that bit of my childhood. The book currently is only in paperback, and it's at a good price, but I'm holding out for an ebook.

And I love these old Frank Frazetta covers.

Keith Birdsong Cover

2012-02-21T13:14:00.001-06:00

Keith Birdsong's new book cover for the Fight Card series.

If you need a book cover, contact Keith here.

FATHOMLESS ABYSS ARTIST INTERVIEW

2012-02-21T12:29:00.000-06:00

Interview here.

DEAD MAN: CARNIVAL OF DEATH

2012-02-21T12:23:00.000-06:00

Available for pre-order

FREE Book!

2012-02-20T09:04:00.002-06:00

INTRODUCTION: In which I talk about the challenges and coincidences in combining my writing career with my other full time gig as a veteran detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.

RUNNING WYLDE: I’ve been a runner all my life, or at least as much of it as I can remember. I’d always wanted to write a story around a runner, but it wasn’t until a real life incident involving an LAPD officer who went running in the Santa Monica Mountains and never returned that I found the heart of Running Wylde.

THE KING OF PING: The King of Ping is a memoir piece written for my father’s 75th birthday. Memory is a funny thing, so if things didn’t happen exactly this way, they should have done.

CELTIC NOIR: Written in 2001 for the anthology Murder Most Celtic: Tall Tales Of Irish Mayhem edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Celtic Noir is the tale of a nasty little Irish bastard who’d as soon as cut you as kiss you, my kind of guy.

MERCY: Written for the anthology Flesh & Blood: Dark Desires Mercy started out as an ‘erotic tale of crime and passion’ and ended up being all that with a nasty little twist.

CONCRETE KILLER: In the mid-eighties, I was asked to write a series of non-fiction tales based on true police incidents in which I had been involved. The timeframe is 1979. I was still working uniformed patrol at the time, and was about to experience a career blunder like no other.

SQUEEZE PLAY: Squeeze Play, the second of the fact-based stories is based on occurred on New Year's Eve 1980, shortly after I'd been assigned as a detective trainee, and definitely required a change of undershorts after it came to a close.

QUINT AND THE BRACEROS: Quint and the Braceros was nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus award in 1984 in the category of Best Short Story of the Year.

THE MAN WHO SHOT TRINITY VALANCE: The Man Who Shot Trinity Valance started with the title. I keep a journal full of plot ideas, character names, interesting quotes, and titles that strike me as having particular resonance.

EBENEEZER: The vision of Ebenezer Scrooge as a tormented private eye gave rise to this stream-of-consciousness updating of the Dickens's classic, A Christmas Carol. My warped enjoyment of mixing metaphors and stabs at Moby Dick and other classics should also be apparent.

DERRINGER: For me, stories begin in several ways—a plot twist, an intriguing title, or a character taking life as my creative muscles engage in intercourse. Derringer began with the character of Blue MacKenzie, a burned-out, ex-CIA agent, turned body-building private eye.

THE LEGENDS OF CHARLIE MCQUARKLE: Most police personnel are aware motorcycle cops are a breed apart. They have a screw loose. Officer Charlie McQuarkle is no exception to the stereotype.

NIGHT OF THE FRANKENGOLFER: Every once in a while, you have to break loose from commercial constraints and write something just for the hell of it.

THE FRAMING GAME: Originally written for Bad Blood, a young adult mystery anthology edited by Mary Higgins Clark.

THE SAMARITAN: The Samaritan was my first published work of fiction. It appeared in an issue of Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine (1982) during the last years of that lamented publication's existence.

DEAD EASY: Dead Easy also made it into the pages of Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine (1983). I admire the original pulp writers tremendously, and like to think I was able to join their ranks, if only for an issue or two, in one of the last surviving pulp magazines.

GOING POSTAL: A quick little story designed as a one-page mystery for the back of Woman's Magazine.

Dead Man Audio Book 1 Out Now!

2012-02-20T08:57:00.000-06:00

Matthew Cahill is a simple man leading a quiet life... until he is tragically killed in an avalanche at a ski resort. Three months later his corpse is found and sent to the morgue - but then something inexplicable happens. He wakes up. Now he can see evil... as a festering rot that eats people alive from the inside out.

And he can see Mr. Dark, the horrific figure who gleefully spreads it like a plague... and whois the only one who can tell Matt whether he is still a man... or the walking dead.For Matt, each day is a journey into a supernatural world he knows nothing about... a quest for the answers to who he is and what he has become... and a bloody fight to save us, and his soul, from the clutches of pure evil.

Here are the first three unforgettable novels in Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin’s The Dead Man– Face of Evil, Ring of Knives, and Hell in Heaven – a horrifying new series that Post-Modern Pulps hails as “a direct spiritual descendant of the sorts of awesome pulp action adventure tales that the greats like Robert E. Howard loved to write!”

At The Gun Range

2012-02-18T16:07:00.001-06:00

Spent a couple hours at the gun range destressing with my wife and my son Chandler (age 14, pictured above). We shot up a lot of zombies, one of which is on the side table. My wife Sherry had never shot a 9mm, .357, or .45ACP before and enjoyed herself.

My buddy, Michael Kent was there with his mom as well.

I keep a gun in the house and I make sure my kids know how to use it. The last thing I want them to do is go over to some other kid's house who found his parents' gun and get somebody killed. I believe it's better that your children know firearms safety so they know when someone else is being stupid with one and it's time to leave.

Our targets of choice are zombies!

Not much call for shooting them, but it's good to know we can defend ourselves! :)

Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance

2012-02-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

Guilty pleasure. :)

Look! Up in the Sky!

2012-02-16T09:01:00.001-06:00

Hat tip to Michael Kent.

Kasey Lansdale Update

2012-02-16T07:50:00.001-06:00

Kasey Lansdale presents Songwriter 101 Workshop with country music-singer, author, songwriter and producer, John Carter Cash.

Click here for more info.

Coming soon.

Fight Fictioneers Giveaway!

2012-02-15T22:44:00.000-06:00

FIGHT FICTIONEERS MAGAZINE!

THE PREMIERE ISSUE OF FIGHT FICTIONEERS MAGAZINE IS AVAILABLE NOW. JAM PACKED WITH ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS FROM THE UNIVERSE OF THE FIGHT CARD SERIES AND ALL THINGS FIGHT FICTION.

REQUEST YOUR FREE COPY NOW FROM:

fightcardseries@gmail.com

Freezing Fog?

2012-02-14T09:16:00.001-06:00

This was the view on my street this morning at 7 a.m. The OKC area was blanketed by FREEZING FOG, which I'd never heard of.

Sherry's eye was bothering her this morning, and since it IS Valentine's Day, I got drafted for the McDonald's run for breakfast. It looked even more grim out on the streets.

I think a super-villain equipped with a freeze ray could bring Oklahoma to its knees.

And we looked at this poor car for a long time on Channel 9 News.

Snow White and the Huntsman!

2012-02-14T04:08:00.000-06:00

This is one I'm going to see for the special effects alone, and if there's a good story/good acting, that's just bonus. Looks wicked cool!

Honest, Abe, I'm Still Having Trouble Buying This Concept

2012-02-13T12:12:00.001-06:00

I'm prepared to be underwhelmed, even with Tim Burton's involvement.

Cover Artist Keith Birdsong's Latest Creations

2012-02-13T09:53:00.002-06:00

Keith's my buddy, but he's also the art talent behind RANCHO DIABLO, FIGHT CARD, the upcoming Cullen series, and several others.

If you'd like to contact Keith regarding cover work, email him here. For a look at his work, go here.

Stealing the Future!

2012-02-12T12:27:00.000-06:00

Just found this and snapped it up immediately. A YEAR of fantasy and science fiction, and it comes directly to my Kindle each month for 99 cents? I couldn't say know. I signed up immediately and the magazine looks fantastic. Two columns, adjustable print, easy to get around it. Good stuff! Man, reading just gets better all the time.

I Remember Whitney

2012-02-11T22:53:00.001-06:00

This is the Whitney Houston I'll always remember. The one that was young and energetic, and had her whole life ahead of her.

Back in the 1980s when Whitney first arrived on the music scene and music videos were all the rage on MTV, I fell in love with her voice and her music and her spontaneity. There was something about her videos that were just fun. I would watch "How Will I Know" or "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and end up with a smile on my face every time. The heart-wrenching sadness of "I'll Always Love You" lay in the future.

But in the 1980s, the fans had this beautiful, vivacious woman whose voice was so big and so electric that you couldn't sit still while listening to her.

I had concert tickets in 1987, but she got sick and canceled. She had a heavy load that year, lots of tour engagements. I was disappointed that I did not get to hear her sing. Then she rescheduled and came back in the middle of the week in November that year. I was lucky enough to be able to change my work schedule and go see her.

The concert was awesome. Very few times in my life have I heard a voice that was so big. Whitney sang her heart out, flirted with the audience in the way that only a young woman coming into her life can, and filled that concert hall with music and laughter. I don't care how good your sound system is, nothing could capture the way she sounded back then. I've watched the videos and listened to CDs, and I've never again heard that same sound.

Every time I hear one of those old songs, I can't help but go back and remember being that 29 year old kid who had just sold his first book only days before. I had achieved one of the things I'd always wanted to do in my life. Celebrating with Whitney Houston that night made that event even more special. Both of us were really just starting out in our careers.

When she started having her personal problems, I kept hoping she would get back on top. I've seen people go through those kinds of troubles before, and I know that not all of them make it through. I wish she had.

Safe House

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

This one looks great!

Promises real twists.

TV I'm Looking Forward To

2012-02-09T09:40:00.001-06:00

I haven't seen this one. I gotta catch up.

New Jennifer Estep Coming

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Out now.

Out Feb. 28

Gotta Check This One Out!

2012-02-07T12:33:00.003-06:00

More info? Click here.

FREE Book

2012-02-07T10:24:00.002-06:00

We're back. We hope you're sitting down, and that you've finally caught your breath from Top Suspense, our first bestselling anthology. You're about to take another screaming thrill ride with twelve master storytellers. Each Top Suspense Group author is an award winning, highly acclaimed pro whose compelling and unforgettable tales have been published all over the world--and, in some cases, have even become blockbuster movies and TV shows.

In this book, Favorite Kills, we've collected our very best short stories. All major prize-winning tales and personal favorites, each one a knock-out punch of suspense.

So hold on tight my friend, or better yet, tie yourself down. You're in for another breathtaking wild ride of seething sex and unexpected twists, dark humor, and certain death. And when it's all over, and you're sitting there spent and satisfied, soaked in a flop sweat of terror and exhilaration, we're gonna be right there to bring you even more.

Favorite Kills includes:

Archie's Been Framed by Dave Zeltserman
Night Nurse by Harry Shannon
Solomon & Lord Drop Anchor by Paul Levine
Number 19 by Naomi Hirahara
Sweet Dreams by Vicki Hendricks
House Rules by Libby Fischer Hellmann
Angie by Ed Gorman
Knife Fight by Joel Goldman
Jack Webb's Star by Lee Goldberg
Restraint by Stephen Gallagher
Top of the World by Bill Crider
A Matter of Principal by Max Allan Collins

LOVE This Cover

2012-02-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

And it's out now!

There's also a prequel.

And a sequel.

Caught My Eye

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

This looks like a guy's paranormal series. Got some serious attitude, love the name Deacon Chalk, but too much bad boy tats (unless they're magical in some way). Gonna pick this one up and see.

WHIPPOORWILL by Sharon Sala

2012-02-06T08:47:00.003-06:00

Sharon Sala has a new/old book out! She's learning digital publishing and is bringing out some of her hard-to-get earlier books.

FREE Book

2012-02-06T08:40:00.002-06:00

Get it now and get on board with this great series by Paul Bishop, co-creator of the FIGHT CARD series!

One More Tweak

2012-02-06T07:27:00.000-06:00

Man, Keith Birdsong just keeps making knockout cover designs. Look at the logo? See the boxer?

New FIGHT CARD Cover Design

2012-02-05T23:54:00.000-06:00

Trying a new look at that puts more emphasis on the fact that this is a series.

Special Price

2012-02-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

Now only $1.37 for the Kindle!

A TIDAL WAVE IS FAST APPROACHING. AND THAT'S THE LEAST OF HER WORRIES.

Wilderness guide Kate Garrett is having the bad day of the century. The worst storm in Florida's history is about to hit land, and she's been taken hostage by a gang of escaped convicts. Worse, her children are stranded on low ground and her ex-husband can't be reached.

Now Kate must race against time to guide the prisoners through the swamp and save her children from the tidal wave. She can't afford to be distracted by Shane Warren, the powerful convict who claims to be helping her, even as he keeps her from escaping. But Kate does have one advantage: there's no deadlier force in nature than a mother fighting for her young....

My Dad

2012-02-04T20:25:00.001-06:00

This is from 1967, back when stations in Oklahoma City were prime targets for armed robbers. Daddy used to sleep on the rooftop over the station with a loaded shotgun beside him. I remember one night when one of the station hands almost got robbed by a guy with a gun in his hand. He ducked behind a gas pump and hollered for Daddy. Daddy woke up, rolled over, and shot out the back glass of the car. The police had no problem finding the guys.

We lived in a small trailer house out behind the station. Momma was even in the station when a guy came in to rob them with a knife. Daddy took his pistol out of his pocket and told him to sit down. He did, and the police came along pretty quickly.

During the time we lived there, Daddy got shot at, shot at people, and held would-be robbers for the police on several occasions over the years. Looking back, it seems he was always at his best in the middle of trouble. A calm lifestyle just didn't suit him. He served in the Navy during the Korean War.

This is from the Daily Oklahoman in 1967. I remember taking the news piece to Show 'N Tell at school. Nobody else had one like it. :)

Honk If You Love Barbarians!

2012-02-04T16:51:00.001-06:00

A brief note from my buddy Phil Athans. Click here.

Free Book

2012-02-04T08:34:00.002-06:00

"Hallam", a 10,000 word story is the first appearance of Lucas Hallam, a cowboy who has outlived the days of the old west to become a gun-toting private eye and stuntman in the early days of motion pictures in California. Originally published in The Eye's Have It, 1984.

"Hollywood Flesh", a 7000 word story was published in The Book of all Flesh 2001. It's a good thing Lucas Hallam is a hard-headed old cowboy and doesn't believe in such nonsense as Zombies, or this case might give him nightmares.

Caught My Eye

2012-02-04T08:19:00.003-06:00

Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer.

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military's Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

The SOC knows how to handle this kind of situation: hunt him down--and take him out. Driven into an underground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he's ever known, and that his life isn't the only thing he's fighting for.

I Did NOT Remember Angie Harmon Being In This One

2012-02-03T12:33:00.003-06:00

Free Short Story from My Buddy James Reasoner!

2012-02-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

I loved the old adventure stories I grew up on, and this one sounds like it's cut from the same cloth!

Inspired by the classic adventure stories that appeared in such pulp magazines as ARGOSY and ADVENTURE, "The Red Reef" features the colorful glamour and the gritty danger of the South Seas as a guilt-ridden ship's captain gets a last chance at redemption. Written by bestselling novelist James Reasoner (the RANCHO DIABLO and WIND RIVER series, as well as cult classic novels TEXAS WIND and DUST DEVILS), this 4300-word short story first appeared in the final issue of the legendary webzine HARDLUCK STORIES and is now available again!

Go get it for FREE and lemme know what you think!

Chronicle

2012-02-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Interesting, but I don't know much about it. Lots of play on TV ads.

The Woman in Black

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

This one looks like it would be fun. I love ghost stories when they're done right.

Shooter's Cross FREE!

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-06:00

Shooter's Cross, the first book of the RANCHO DIABLO series (already five books long and more coming), will be offered free at Amazon all day today. If you've been hesitant about trying out the series, well, pardner, saddle up for the ride!

CURSED LAND

Army Scout Sam Blaylock rode into the small Texas town of Shooter's Cross looking for deserters, not trouble.

While up in the mountains, he discovered a wilderness plagued by nature and haunted by superstition, but one that he thought he could tame with his experience and strong back.

He didn't know he was going to have to kill to keep the home he planned for his family, but he didn't let that stop him. Sam had been looking for a home for his family for years. That search had been interrupted by the Civil War.

Now Sam is putting down roots, and not even the Devil himself can stand in the way.

FREE BOOK!

2012-02-01T17:58:00.002-06:00

Paul Bishop is my co-creator of FIGHT CARD and a 35-year veteran of the LAPD. He knows cop stories. This one's free at the moment.

FREE Today, Tomorrow, and Friday!

2012-02-01T08:36:00.002-06:00

The fourth book in the Truman Smith series is free from my good buddy and fellow Rancho Diablo author, Bill Crider. This series is great fun and good reading. And you can't beat the price with a stick.

About the book:

From Publishers Weekly

In this enjoyable fourth series entry, Galveston PI Truman Smith (When Old Men Die, 1994) is hired by Lance Garrison, his still unpleasant but now rich high-school classmate, to investigate the shooting of a prairie chicken (really a kind of grouse) on Garrison's federally protected land in Picketville, Tex. Smith reluctantly agrees, largely because his high-school sweetheart, Anne Lindeman, now lives in Picketville.

A prime suspect is Ralph Evans, an antigovernment local talk-radio host who declares his concern for endangered species by advertising Spotted Owl in a Can. When Smith and Anne's father-in-law, Red Lindeman, explore the scene of the crime, a sniper in a crop duster opens fire on them's a "fly-by shooting," Smith calls it. Then Anne's husband, manager of the radio station, is shotgunned to death. Police chief Ward Peavy eventually charges local birdwatcher Martin York.

When Smith discovers that a previous prisoner died in Peavy's jail, the big picture takes shape. Truman Smith would rather laze in his lawn chair, sipping Big Red and reading Tobacco Road, but when he gets on a case, he's methodical. So's Crider, who fashions a tight plot filled with laconic charm and idiosyncratic characters.

And don't forget his Ranch Diablo book, only $2.99!

And coming next:

McGRAVE by Lee Goldberg Coming Friday!

2012-02-01T00:00:00.001-06:00

Remember those 1980s tough guy cop shows filled with violence and mayhem? Lee Goldberg does!

In his words:

Los Angeles copJohn "Tidal Wave" McGrave is an unstoppable force of nature whoalways gets his man...even if it means laying waste to everything around him,including his own career...which is exactly what happens in his pursuit ofSebastian Richter, the ruthless leader of an international gang of violentthieves. When Richter flees to Berlin, McGrave chases after him...even thoughthe cop doesn't know the language, the laws, or the culture. But McGravedoesn't care...he speaks the universal language of knee in the groin and fistin the face...and he won't let anything get in his way.

What follows is, I hope, a wild,action-adventure novella that captures all of the fun, excitement, humor andpure escapist pleasure of the DirtyHarry, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard movies...

McGrave is an experiment for me. Iset out to write something specifically for the Kindle that would takeadvantage of the way people read on the device...but that would also capturethe pure, escapist fun of watching an action movie. I thought these werevery compatible goals.

With a Kindle, readersare swiping/clicking their way through a story. And because font sizeis adjustable, pages aren't really relevant any more.

A lot of people are using theirKindles to read on subways, buses, and planes. They are moving from oneplace to another as they are moving through a story. SoI wanted to give them a story they could finish in a single journey...andto tell the story in such a way that they'd be swiping or clicking their waythrough it as fast as they could.

To achieve that goal, I chose anaction adventure...which by nature has to move at a breakneck pace...and Ieliminated chapters altogether, breaking the story into scenes, adopting astyle that's closer to a screenplay than a novel (akin to the style Don Winslowadopted in his book Savages). I thought that would keep the story moving...and the reader movingthrough it.

Don't Forget the Big Kindle Boogie!

2012-01-31T23:30:00.000-06:00

Caught My Eye

2012-01-31T06:00:00.002-06:00

Love the fantasy aspects of this one, but the guy's face tooks too realistic, photoshopped into place and not as fantasy as the giant lumbering after him. Love the architecture, the lantern, and the blues.

Caught My Eye

2012-01-31T06:00:00.001-06:00

This cover wins me over through subtle imagery. I love the commonplace and everyday look of the place and the heroine. She's just a working girl in a blue collar job, but she's walking in magic.

Caught My Eye

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

Love the cover. The mystery, the feel of gritty suburban life. The way the perspective drops away in the background. Oh yeah, and the wolf seriously grabs my attention as well. This is the fourth book in a series, and Kelly Meding has been getting lots of good press.

SONGBIRD! New Rancho Diablo Cover Coming!

2012-01-30T00:08:00.002-06:00

Featuring beautiful and talented singer Kasey Lansdale!

Coming soon!

Enter Contest for 10 FREE KINDLE FIRES and 75 eBooks!

2012-01-29T16:14:00.002-06:00

Free giveaway info here.

HELLGATE: LONDON

2012-01-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

And I just noticed my Hellgate: London books are out on Kindle as well! I had a blast writing these. Too bad the game went under. We were planning on doing three more books when we got the news.

Hunters of the Dark Sea

2012-01-27T15:25:00.001-06:00

Quite possibly the best novel I've ever written, and certainly one of my favorites. Now on sale as a Kindle book!

If you've read my books before and enjoyed them, or if you like historical action and aliens, this is the book for you. Joe Lansdale was kind enough to blurb this one for me.

X-Men Pulp Cover

2012-01-27T15:11:00.005-06:00

Saw this over on Paul Bishop's site and almost missed the fact that this was an X-Man pastiche. Caught the Chris Claremont name first, then the revelation this was Emma Frost sitting on a desk with Cyclops' silhouette in the doorway.

The Rover Books On Kindle

2012-01-27T12:09:00.001-06:00

I just noticed three of the four ROVER books are up on Amazon as ebooks! I'm assuming the last one will follow suit soon.

Man On A Ledge

2012-01-27T06:00:00.001-06:00

I'm interested in seeing how this one plays out.

Stephanie Plum Is In Theaters!

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Loved the book. Love Katherine Heigl. My wife, son, and I are gonna be there.

Caught My Eye

2012-01-21T06:35:00.001-06:00

Sharon Sala A Field of Poppies Available on NOOK!

2012-01-20T10:05:00.002-06:00

Click here to get Sharon's latest bestseller on the NOOK!

Style?

2012-01-20T08:27:00.002-06:00

Hat tip to Bill Crider, who obviously has questionable fashion sense. :)

More info.

The Hunger Games Movie

2012-01-20T08:05:00.001-06:00

I'm getting more and more excited.

Underworld Awakening

2012-01-20T06:00:00.002-06:00

Women action stars are making bank this week!

Haywire

2012-01-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

This one just looks like fun. A real shoot-em-up.

Movie I Want To See

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

World War II flying action. Cuba Gooding Jr. What's not to love? I'm there!

Stealing Souls Now 99 Cents!

2012-01-19T13:12:00.000-06:00

Paul Bishop & Felony Fists Nominated for Pulp Ark Award

2012-01-19T13:03:00.000-06:00

Up for two awards now! Definitely a contender!

Arron of the Black Forest Up for Two Pulp Ark Awards!

2012-01-19T12:58:00.000-06:00

Pulp Ark has the book listed in the NOVEL category as well as the COVER category!

See the list!

Joe R. Lansdale Interview

2012-01-19T11:32:00.000-06:00

Good, informative interview with my buddy, Joe Lansdale.

Click here.

Paul Bishop/Fight Card: Felony Fists Up For Award!

2012-01-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

Paul is up for the Spinetingler Award, which also counts votes from people who drop by and vote. If you like what you see, if you like what you read, log on and do Paul a solid. Thanks!

Vote Here!

A FIELD OF POPPIES by Sharon Sala

2012-01-19T00:33:00.001-06:00

My buddy Sharon Sala's new book is on sale for the Kindle today. Paperback and Nook version coming soon.

Two families. One secret.
Separated by a river and twenty years of lies.

Five minutes changed Poppy Sadler’s life forever. Tick. The hospital called. Her mother’s battle with cancer was finally over. Tock. The police showed up at her door. Her father’s body has just been pulled from the River. Tick. Murdered.
Tick, Tock. Five minutes and a secret is coming undone.

Across the river, Justin Caulfield’s vast fortune can buy him anything but more time. Tick. A deadly disease is stealing his daughter’s life. He needs a miracle. Tock. The person he never doubted names the price he never knew he owed. A price more than one man can pay. Tick. Betrayed. Tick, Tock. Twenty years of lies may cost him his very soul.

DEAD MAN: FIRE AND ICE Out Today

2012-01-17T11:29:00.002-06:00

The latest release from the DEAD MAN!

The saga of Matthew Cahill continues as the man who sees a nightmarish netherworld nobody else does fights to save us all—and his own soul—from the clutches of the purely evil Mr. Dark.

On Matt’s third day of temping at a plant, disgruntled former worker Kevin Radowski (aka K-Rad) walks in and starts shooting. As the day progresses and the body count rises, Matt finds himself locked inside with four fellow employees—and no discernible way out. Matt soon realizes K-Rad has more in mind than killing his co-workers…he’s using the chemicals available to blow the plant, and several square blocks of surrounding businesses and residences, sky high. But just when Matt thinks things can’t get any worse, Mr. Dark steps into the game, raising the stakes in a gruesome and horrifying way.

Fire and Ice delivers the non-stop action, high body count, and edgy thrills that make The Dead Man series impossible to put down.

Paul Bishop & Fight Card

2012-01-17T09:02:00.000-06:00

LISTEN to my buddy Paul Bishop talk about writing and about Fight Card.

Click here.

Things That Should Be Bright And Beautiful

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

Since I had a post yesterday about things that should not be colorized, let me mention that I'm a fan of color...andthe amazing Joe Jusko.

People, real life will never look like this, and it shouldn't. This is the stuff adventures are made of, along with Red Sonja!

Free Book Today Only!

2012-01-17T00:01:00.000-06:00

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE AFFAIR OF THE WOODEN BOY

In Drummond, James Stark and his pretty wife Mina run a discreet inquiry agency and are used to laying their lives on the line to see that justice and the truth prevail. The city is rife with dark creatures, great monsters and men who are beasts, and fantastical foes live in the shadows, waiting for victims.

When a puppet knocks on their door in the dead of night claiming to be a real boy who has had his body stolen through black arts, James takes up his pistol and sets out to balance the scales. Mina accompanies her husband as they investigate the dangerous affair of the wooden boy.

Arron of the Black Forest

2012-01-16T17:09:00.000-06:00

New Year! Time to get pimping again! My buddy Phil Athans wrote a great sword & sorcery novel to introduce our character, Arron of the Black Forest. Give it a read. You'll enjoy it.

Mine's coming soon!

Covers are by the fabulous Keith Birdsong.

The Shadow Is Coming!

2012-01-16T14:09:00.002-06:00

Now this looks awesome! Coming in April!

Some Things Should Not Be Colorized

2012-01-16T10:05:00.002-06:00

I got a link to this from my buddy Bill Crider's blog. I know the details in the colorized picture are much clearer, but it takes away so much from the romance of that early shot. With the black and white rendering, the image looks like a snap shot out of time.

This is one of those iconic pictures that has been part of American history for generations. I'm glad we have the technology to do these things for people that want it, but you can have too much of a good thing.

I've seen The Maltese Falcon in the original black-and-white and as a colorized version. I would much rather see the black and white version. The same goes for Casablanca.

And there's a wonderful movie that perhaps some of you have not seen called Portrait of Jenny that makes magnificent use of black-and-white imagery that would not stand out if colorized. In fact, the film is one of the first that started using color, but only in the last few frames of the movie, and that is done to stunning effect.

Alcatraz Premieres Tonight!

2012-01-16T09:29:00.001-06:00

I've been anticipating this one. Can't wait to wrap my head around it, and I hope it makes more sense to me than Lost. I know a lot of people liked that show, and I hung with it for a while, but I got tired of waiting to see something happen. This one looks really cool.

Who's New (Again) In The DCU?

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

And here are the six new titles coming from DC's New 52 in the coming months to replace the six that got axed.

Batman Incorporated is a no-brainer to a degree. It met with a lot of acceptance and fans were miffed when it got retconned. However, the plans are for a LONG story arc that could potentially cheese off as many readers as it makes happy. Batman and and his newly franchised legions square off against Talia Al Ghul and Robin (Damien) is caught in the middle.

It'll get a good run, but then what do you do after that story wraps?

The Haunted Tank is one of my favorite strips, and this is going to be a return to World War II stories from what I see. The main headliner is gonna be The War That Time Forgot, which could offer enough science fiction goodness to keep readers coming back. Besides the Haunted Tank back up, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are gonna write some Unknown Soldier stories, and they've got the chops to deliver done-in-one tales as well as multi-parters that will deliver in action. This new incarnation of GI COMBAT could work.

Duh! Everybody was wondering when this one was gonna be done. James Robinson is gonna write it, so it should be good. Gonna be interesting to see who's in the line up on Earth 2, which is what the book is gonna be called this time out.

Now this one is interesting. Power Girl and the Huntress were both original Earth 2 creations that got lost along the way with the Crisis storyline that brought everything back down to one earth. Now, with multiple earths again, the two are going on a road trip to figure out their true origins and where they fit into things. It's a great premise, but unless the characters really gel, what are you gonna do after that? This one's called World's Finest, which originally featured Superman and Batman teamups.

Don't know about this one. The Ravager, Deathstroke's daughter, gets her own team and has ties to both the Teen Titans and Superboy strips in The Ravagers. I like Rose. Gotta see who she gets paired up with, but the idea of fighting against supervillains out to make them part of their organization is kinda cool. But, again, for how long?

And is this one gonna depend on the survival of the Deathstroke strip?

I'm of mixed feelings about this one. When I was a kid, I loved the idea of the H Dial and being able to just change into a hero but not knowing what you were gonna get. ("Becoming a hero is like a box of chocolates...") China Mieville is slated to write this one, but his take on the Swamp Thing got nuked so I wonder how neatly he's gonna fit into the DCU. He's a great novelist. If he could do his own thing, unfettered, it would probably be really neat.

So? See any favorites? Sure bets?

Free Book!

2012-01-15T22:44:00.001-06:00

Great crime novel by a real LAPD detective and star of Take the Money and Run.

A Calico Jack Walker / Tina Tamiko L.A.P.D. novel . . .

It’s 1977 and veteran L.A.P.D. cop Calico Jack Walker and his rookie partner, Tina Tamiko, are planning to make Calico’s last shift on the job something special – but plans, as they do, come apart because Walker and Tamiko are good cops no matter what the cost . . . even if they're L.A. cops, in uniform, in their patrol car, on duty, and way out of their jurisdiction on the Las Vegas Strip.

When a major crime is going down, good cops never hesitate.

PRAISE FOR HOT PURSUIT

“The closest equivelent to Joe Wambaugh yet . . . Hot Pursuit could hardly be better.” — The Los Angeles Times

"A full-throttle reading experience that sweeps you aboard with its opening sentences, speed shifts into high gear, and doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath until you've reached The End . . . the most exciting caper you're likely to find in print this year." — Wayne Dundee, Editor, Hardboiled

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul has twice been honored as Detective of the Year. Aside from his numerous novels, he has written scripts for episodic televison and feature films. As a nationally recognized interrogator, he appears regularly on the hit ABC reality series Take The Money And Run.

He categorically denies ever making an on-duty run such as the one described in this novel and will continue to do so until the statute of limitations has expired . . .

First Casualties in DC's New 52 Line-Up

2012-01-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Well, the cancellations are starting to arrive. I knew it would. Everyone did. No way was DC Comics gonna rearrange the worlds and come up with 52 lightning strikes in their new titles. However, I really thought some of these would make it.

Hawk & Dove was one I thought might make it. Solid writer (Sterling Gates), and the concept is still playable in today's world. But Rob Liefield is the catalyst for this one, in my opinion. Fans either love his stuff or they hate it. I just didn't care for it. The artwork was too sketchy, and didn't draw the eye well enough. Look at Hawk's head on this cover -- way too small for the body, and everybody has those rounded hips.

Interestingly enough, Liefield is being left on the last three books for the art and the writing. And he's being shuttled onto three of the surviving books, The Savage Hawkman, Deathstroke, and Grifter. He's doing the art and writing on Deathstroke, and plotting the other two. Gonna be interesting to see what happens to those titles.

This was another potential survivor in my books. DC Comics has a successful history with war books, and these issues were about today's military. Maybe too real? People want more fantasy in their war stories?

Don't know what went wrong with this one either, so now I'm curious enough to read the books. Shoulda been a contender. The new Mr. Terrific has been a fan favorite from the JSA title, and there's a lot of science background that can be used.

Honestly, I don't know why they revamped this title. Never cared for the concept even when Jack Kirby did it with that outlandish mohawk hairstyle.

I was really surprised at losing this one. My son is really disappointed. Static Shock is one of his favorite heroes. I didn't particularly care for the artwork, but Chandler was okay with it. This one should have made it with the younger readers, but maybe there aren't enough younger readers, or readers young at heart?

Loved the idea of the Blackhawks, and I loved Lady Blackhawk in the Birds of Prey title that Gail Simone wrote. In the 1980s, DC Comics tried to update the concept and move the series into the present. It was interesting, but it didn't work. Howard Chaykin did a three-issue prestige series that performed a little better. I think this is one of those series that will always touch the hearts of old readers and when pulled out for special stories, not an ongoing series, the 'Hawks can fly again.

So what are the six books replacing these? Glad you asked! Tune in tomorrow!

UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS

2012-01-14T14:24:00.001-06:00

This all-new anthology is coming out on February 7, but I got an ARC (advance reader's copy) in the mail today from the publisher. This is one of the books I've been most anticipating. I grew up reading the John Carter of Mars books, and I have even read A Princess of Mars to my youngest son, who has had the most patience of all my children with listening to Dad read. He enjoyed the book and were both looking forward to John Carter the movie in theaters soon.

I couldn't help myself. The book is absolutely beautiful and well laid out. I sat down and devoured the first three stories, trudging once more through the sands of Mars with a sword in my fist. Joe Lansdale's "The Mechanical Men of Mars" is a real throwback to the halcyon days and reads like Edgar Rice Burroughs himself could have written it. David Barr Kirtley (whom I've never before heard of) has written a truly elegant and emotional story full of wonder and honor in "Three Deaths." And Peter S. Beagle has penned a story that pays homage to Tarzan of the Apes as well as John Carter and plays with American and English history at the same time.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the stories. John Joseph Adams has gotten a wonderful group together to do this book, and I can only hope there will be another. Surely one will not be enough.

THE LONE EAGLE Flies!

2012-01-10T16:27:00.001-06:00

One of the best flying pulps of the 1930s returns! This collection features the first two high-flying adventures of the Lone Eagle! Pulp enthusiasts will have a blast with this one.

This One REALLY Caught My Eye

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

What? A LOVE STORY?

It's only $1.99, so I'm gonna take a look.

Happy Birthday, King! TCB!

2012-01-08T13:37:00.001-06:00

Mountain Dew and the Dead Mouse

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've got a lot of friends that swear by Mountain Dew. It's too sweet for me, and evidently much more interesting than I'd believe. Want to know how a mouse necropsy was involved with Mountain Dew in a court case? Click here.

Hat tip to Criminal Element.

Rancho Diablo Coming Soon!

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Bill Crider is up to bat in this one, and he's promising a fine tall tale!

John Cusack Is Edgar Allan Poe in THE RAVEN

2012-01-06T18:52:00.002-06:00

I'm looking forward to this one.

The Bride Wore Black Leather

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

How can you NOT pick up a book with that title, and with a cover that sports a woman in black leather packing a shotgun?

The newest release in Simon Green's NIGHTSIDE novels.

Wonderful Review of the The Cutman -- STILL FREE At Amazon!

2012-01-06T05:26:00.001-06:00

Read the ALL PULP review here!

Caught My Eye

2012-01-05T15:18:00.002-06:00

Okay, the girl in the matching outfit packing a gun, a sword, and a knife catches my eye immediately, but I LOVE the greens and blues that hang over the city. The art is realistic with just a hint of anime, which also catches my attention.

The author is someone I've read before (the October Daye books), so picking this one up is a no-brainer. Doesn't come out till March, but I'm intrigued.

Still Free Today!

2012-01-05T08:37:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it yesterday, THE CUTMAN is still being offered for free!

Manhunter's Mountain

2012-01-05T08:21:00.003-06:00

Out today! I read this one in its early stages and had a good time with it. Evidently Edward A. Grainger's US Marshal franchise is expanding, and it's in good hands with this one.

And at 99 cents, it's almost like getting this one off the old spinner racks I used to haunt when I was a kid.

Werewolf Western

2012-01-05T06:50:00.000-06:00

Well, we've got a movie coming this summer that depicts Abraham Lincoln as a vampire killer. Who knew he enlisted a band of werewolves to help fight the Civil War? This one just sounds too strange to pass up.

Mankind has fought the war against ghouls of all kinds since the beginning of time. The last stronghold of evil in the known world is the American frontier, but for how long? Bounty hunter Uriah Zane and US marshal Aubrey Coffin are humanity's last hope to rid the world, once and for all, of this demon scourge...

The Hell's Angels are a gang of werewolves who have escaped from Hellsgarde Federal Penitentiary. Originally they were recruited out of eastern Europe by Abraham Lincoln to mercilessly tear the Confederates into submission at Gettysburg, thus ending the Civil War. But the Hell's Angels never returned home. They headed west-to join the legions of other ghouls...

Armed with an arsenal of weapons, the deadliest being Marshal Aubrey Coffin, notorious ghoul-hunter Uriah Zane must stop the hordes of shape- shifting creatures pushing west. Aided by a beautiful Mexican witch and necromancer, werebeasts are searching the deserts for a coveted key, a key that could give the ghouls everlasting life and final dominion over the earth-with humans as their servants.

But first they must face the wrath of Zane, a man who understands better than most the twisted soul of the wolves....

FREE BOOKS! BOXING NOVELS!

2012-01-04T06:24:00.002-06:00

As part of the new Amazon marketing program, FIGHT CARD: THE CUTMAN is being offered as a free download for the next three days. Get one for yourself. Gift one to a friend.

For a limited time, FIGHT CARD: FELONY FISTS is also being offered as a free download.

Fight fans/hardboiled fans will find a lot to enjoy with these books.

Next Evolution Already Underway!

2012-01-03T09:57:00.001-06:00

Yep, these animals are adapting pretty quickly these days!

Shark Evolution?

2012-01-03T09:15:00.004-06:00

Just read an article that was linked to over on Bill Crider's blog about the world's first hybrid shark being found. Well, I guess it's better for you to find the world's first hybrid shark than for the world's first hybrid shark to find you!

But I digress. You can read the full article here.

This eye-opening (jaw-dropping, actually, as you can see from the above picture) presents a lot of new possibilities to my creative side.

First of all, I -- like the scientists -- am now wondering if this hybridization has been going on since sharks first start hunting in the oceans around the world. Sharks are already considered some of the fiercest predators ever created, and if they have a way of evolving, of making themselves more dangerous, then we could be in trouble. Of course, we still have nuclear weapons.

But why are we just seeing this now? Hasn't there been some indication in the past? And if there aren't any prior cases, then why is this happening now? Part of the Global Warming trend? Still gotta prove that one to everyone's satisfaction as well.

If this is part of the evolutionary change going through the world, are we going to see more hybridization? How many other animals, particularly predators, are going to have to "upgrade?" There's a story right there for fertile minds, people!

Okay, let's go utterly fantastic for a moment. The Australian blacktip shark lives in tropical waters while the common blacktip shark lives in the ocean, and much cooler waters. The hybridization allows the Australian blacktip much greater range. The Australian blacktip population was hunted heavily for a time, reducing its numbers by fifty percent. Maybe the Australian blacktip decided it needed the adaptability of the common? Or maybe with the cutback of potential mates they had to cruise other neighborhoods?

Or maybe the sharks know that the ice caps are going to melt and prehistoric predators that even the sharks feared are going to be released back into the water!

I like that one. Just like birds are affected by land disturbances, earthquakes and volcanoes (and fireworks displays on New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas -- click here), maybe these sharks are affected by the polar ice caps melting!

I don't know for sure what's going on, but I'm willing to bet that horror/thriller writers start playing with the idea of hybridized sharks in stories before long. And since sharks may be so genetically adaptable, maybe evil scientists will start mutating them too.

However, I just can't see this happening. Ever.

Justified Season 2 On DVD Today

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

If you haven't started watching Justified, one of the coolest shows on television these days, you need to start. Timothy Olyphant plays Raylan Givens, a US Marshal created by Elmore Leonard in his novels and given new life on the small screen.

My son and I enjoy the show whenever it's on, and we pick up the DVDs as well. Today you can pick up the second season set, and several places have special offers for the first and second seasons (if you're really far behind in picking up this great show).

I really can't recommend the series enough. There's action and adventure, and a bromance that has to be seen to be believed, and settings/plot complications that remind me of the small Oklahoma town I grew up in. The third season starts later this month, and Chandler and I can't wait.

Kasey Lansdale Music Video

2012-01-02T10:21:00.001-06:00

I've known Kasey for a few years now. She's Joe Lansdale's daughter, a wonderful singer, an awesome person, and an upcoming model for a Rancho Diablo cover/character!

What's Coming In 2012

2011-12-31T15:04:00.002-06:00

2011 has seen a lot of changes in the book industry as well as in my personal life, so everything's changing. :)

The ebook market has really changed the game. I first started dabbling in it in 2010 so I could teach the setup to my Professional Writing students at the University of Oklahoma. With the way New York has downsized, there are fewer and fewer editors able to look at undiscovered writers. More of the burden is being put on agents, who have always been trying to sell new writers to publishers. The creative process got a little more bottlenecked at the same time that technology has allowed anyone to become a published writer -- and some of them very successful.

I grew intrigued by the sheer ease (after some learning curves that were incredibly tough) by which a writer can get a book out there. I started out learning stuff for my students and ended up becoming blown away by what was possible.

I've always loved genre books, but some of those can be tough to sell these days. Especially the Western, which people have said has been dead for decades. I think it's making a comeback of a type because many of today's young readers view the West as something almost as magical as a fantasy novel. My fourteen year old son has gotten to where he loves them and the way that a lot of cowboys have codes by which they live. He's fascinated by the morality landscape that is out there (and that is echoed by Raylan Givens in Justified), and I think that's probably because that code is as binding as the rules for magic in fantasy.

I've always wanted to write a Western, one of the true Westerns instead of a mystery or detective story set back in the Old West. A man against man or man against nature story. So I contacted a couple friends of mine who also share a love for Westerns, and we came up with Rancho Diablo, a fine little series now five books long and counting.

During the 1980s, a lot of Westerns got mixed up with sex novels along the way, and while those were interesting reads and remain popular, I wanted to do something different. Bill Crider, James Reasoner, and I sat down and hashed out what as become the backbone of our series as well as some future plans (including an upcoming cattle drive that will span several months). We remembered great shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The High Chapparral, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, and even Maverick. We talked about how we'd loved those shows and the moralistic values they had, but we also wanted the action and adventure we'd become accustomed to in other stores we'd read and written.

Rancho Diablo primarily centers on the Blaylock family, but the stories are growing along with the cast of characters. Bill Crider is currently working on a book that will tell some of the "almost-true" adventures of Gabby Darbins, the ranch's "town character." I enjoy writing the stories a lot because I get to dip back into all those Westerns I grew up on (Louis L'Amour, Luke Short, Max Brand, etc.) and mix it up with growing up in southeastern Oklahoma. I was something of a cowboy myself when I was a boy and a teenager. I rode horses long before I rode motorcycles. I'm pretty sure Bill and James feel the same way.

Another series that I've put together with a fellow writer (Paul Bishop) is Fight Card. Paul and I got to talking about a novella I'd done (Smoker) and how much he enjoyed the old boxing stories in the pulps, especially ones written by Robert E. Howard. We kicked things back and forth for a while, then came up with the series idea for 1950s boxing stories. After we did that, several other writers (Eric Beetner, Robert J. Randisi, Wayne D. Dundee, Gary Phillips) contacted Paul and told him they'd like to climb into the ring with us as well. The first three books are out and more are coming. Paul and I are both penning second books about our characters, so 2012 should have plenty of fights in store for fans of the "sweet science."

My artist buddy Keith Birdsong has started drawing cowboys lately, probably because he got interetested while doing the Rancho Diablo covers. He did a painting of a Confederate soldier that was just the bomb, and it got me to thinking that we could do books about that guy as well, so we're cooking up Cullen's first adventure too. This one is going to be a hell-for-leather ride about a guy trying to find something to live for and a place to carve a new life after the Civil War. He's lost everything, doesn't believe in anything, and has nothing except an iron will to survive, to kill or be killed.

My friend Phil Athans and I have got some projects going on as well. Two series, in fact. The first is called The Fathomless Abyss and is an SF series with true greats in the field: Mike Resnick & Brad Torgersen, Jay Lake, J. M. McDermott, and Cat Rambo. The intial anthology springboards into individual novellas about a group of humans and aliens trapped/living within an impossible world and what they make of that and their lives.

Since we grew up on great SF and sword and sorcery barbarian novels, Phil and I have also created another series, Arron of the Black Forest. The first book is out, and the second one is coming, and it's sporting one of the niftiest titles I've ever created.

I love the fact that ebooks are so versatile and that I can write some of the stuff I've always wanted to write. The coolest thing of all, though, is that the ebook has brought back the novella. Some stories just don't fit in a 5,000 word short story or an 80,000 word novel. Plus, I like reads (and writes!) that take less time. I have trouble fitting a big novel into my schedule. I like to read a book pretty much cover to cover when I it down with it, but that's just becoming harder and harder to do. And if I let a week go by, I tend to forget who is who and why I should care. I think a lot of readers will favor these shorter (30,000 word) reads. An adventure in a night that costs less than a movie ticket and about as much as a video rental. How awesome is that?

I'm also working hard in the New York publishing market because I love the opportunities I've got there. At first blush, there appears to be something of a segregation between New York "legacy" publishin and the emerging ebook phenomenon, but I think after a while readers won't notice the lines between them. They'll be looking for favorite authors in whatever venue they can find them, and hardworking authors will have plenty of stories to tell!

I've got a new military series coming from Tyndale publishing, home of the Apocalypse Dawn books and the NCIS books I wrote, and I'm really excited about that new cast of characters and the stories I'm writing. The first one is called A Thousand Deaths and will be out sometime in 2012. More on that as the pub date finalizes.

I'm also working on the second book in the Identity trilogy for Fantasy Flight Games. The first book is out now and was a lot of fun.

My agent and I are also putting together a military-SF trilogy called Warlord of Makaum that I've been wanting to do for a couple years.

I've got other projects I'm working on as well.

This is my 1,000th post on this blog. I'm pumped about that as well. I hope our venture into the new year brings hope, health, and happiness to everyone.

Daily Science Fiction For Free!

2011-12-29T01:40:00.005-06:00

Just found this and some of the stories are fabulous. They can all be read in just minutes to give you a chuckle or something to think about, or just to kill time.

Click here.