Monthly Archives: July 2017

Pathless Void Print Edition Now Available

pathless_void_cover_smallSo I finally figured out how to get through the whole CreateSpace process, and the print edition of my novella The Pathless Void is now available. For those of you who were asking about a print version, this is it. From the proof it turned out quite nice, and I think you will enjoy it.

I also did some additional edits as I was putting together the print edition, and the ebook versions on Smashwords and Kindle now reflect those changes as well. I think Kindles update automatically, but I don’t have one so I’m not sure. If you bought the ebook already and need to do something to refresh it with the updated version, now would be the time for that.

The print edition should be available on Amazon in a couple of days here along with the ebook, but if you really want to support my writing you should buy it directly from the CreateSpace link above. That gives me the best royalty percentage, since if I sell through Amazon they get a cut of the profits as well.

The Show Must Go On

promo_3_junior_apprentice“President Trump rearranged the pad of paper and glass of water on the table in front of him, and then leaned in with his best Celebrity Apprentice demeanor. I could tell right away that he liked being back in the chair. ‘Business is all about opportunity. Opportunity and success. And by success, I mean winning. A successful business has to win every time, against great, great adversity. Over the course of the last eight weeks you’ve done just that. Some weeks your team won, other weeks your team lost, but you all are still here. Still right here, on the show, still competing.

“‘Now it all gets very, very real. Two of you will be fired before the final four, and in the final four the whole show changes. The work, so much work, that you’ve all done has been great, phenomenal. But only the real winners will survive from this point forward. Only the real winners. That’s what we’re here to find out. Who the real winners are, and what their opportunities will be. Your challenge this week is to take all the work you’ve done and present a pitch to me for your product. Think of me as an investor trying to decide between the two, because, you know, I am, and convince me to buy in.’”

Coming Soon. Watch this space for details…

More Sorcery!

promo_kek2_deploy
“Two of the other robed figures unfurled a large piece of fabric. It looked like a banner bearing the usual Pepe the Frog image and a bunch of nonsensical painted symbols. As they ran towards me, I saw that the banner was in fact a large blanket. My mind flashed on where I was standing. I was near the edge of the subway platform.

“Ordinarily, I would have worried about falling off. Or, for that matter, being pushed. But I had the pendant. So, I was more worried about answering questions for the police after the attack went wrong. Several of the Sons held weapons. I could see two baseball bats and a piece of pipe. It appeared their plan was to wrap me in the ‘containment structure’ and strike. I say ‘appeared’ because it failed miserably.

“As the two men with the blanket reached me, I felt a surge of power from the pendant and an urge to drop to the ground. The blanket missed me entirely. The momentum carried my attackers past me and right off the edge of the platform. I glanced down and saw them staggering to their feet, still stunned by the fall. The ‘containment structure’ lay across the third rail and was starting to catch fire.”

Coming Soon. Watch this space for details…

Bind Her Foul Sorcery!

promo_2_ninja_bitch_jpg“The man with the sign kept it trained on me, while the other four rushed forwards, fists swinging. I stepped to the side as the first man reached me. He tripped over his long robe as he advanced, falling flat on his face. The second man tripped over him, piling on top of the first, on the hard concrete walkway. The two other men managed to step to either side of their tangled brethren. One attacked from the left and the other from the right, and I felt an irresistible urge to duck. Both fists passed just over my head, each connecting with the face of the man opposite. They both fell back, stunned, and landed in the grass to either side of the trail. All four attackers now lay on the ground, moaning. Meanwhile, the man with the meme folded up his Pepe the Frog poster and ran for it. Kek had lost the day.”

Coming Soon. Watch this space for details…

The Road of Trials

promo_kek_expect_usThe scene that followed was surreal. Five figures dressed in ugly green robes emerged from the woods that lined one side of the path. They were men in their early twenties, and a chill ran through me as I recognized one as the Nazi who had attacked me a week ago. His nose was still bandaged. One of the men pulled a poster from inside his robe and unfurled it. The sign bore a large image of Pepe, the cartoon frog, and a design that looked like a cross between a corporate logo and a kindergarten squiggle.”

Coming Soon. Watch this space for details…

The Resistance Will Never Be The Same

promo_1_the_resistance_jpg“I never set out to become a hero or a symbol of the Resistance. I practically stumbled into it, actually. And as it turns out, I wasn’t such a normal kid after all. But I’ll get to that in a minute.”

Coming Soon. Watch this space for details…

Books and Beer Pop-up Bookstore

On Sunday, August 6th I will be participating in the Books and Beer Pop-up Bookstore event at BlackStack Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The event runs from 1 pm to 6 pm, and I’ll be there selling print copies of my published books. The address is:

  BlackStack Brewing
  755 Prior Ave N
  St Paul, MN 55104

This should be a fun event. Hope to see you there!

New Cover for Cthulhu Unbound

Book cover design is one of those areas where I’m still learning. Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on getting better at it. The first cover that I did myself was for Cthulhu Unbound, my first self-published ebook. If you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend picking one up. It’s a satirical Lovecraftian tale that pretty much reads like the real thing until you get to the twist at the end.

At any rate, the old cover used the same image as the current one, but the difference was that when I put it together I tried to employ the flashing color method to make it look cool by using red letters on a green background. As a lossless PNG it looked great, but when rendered as a JPG it turned into a mess and looked kind of terrible. And unfortunately, JPG is the standard that gets used everywhere. I spent awhile trying to fix it so that the JPG would still look good, but eventually I gave up.

More recently, I decided to redo the cover. I put together a new version that uses white text instead of red on the green background. As you can see it looks a lot better with the white, especially as a JPG. I did like the red lettering, but one of the things you learn producing books is that some things just don’t work. You need to experiment, and keep at it until you get something that really works. The covers I’ve done since then have been better, including the one for The Pathless Void that I posted a week ago. That one is minimalistic, but it really looks great and I can’t think of anything that would improve it.

Anyway, I haven’t talked about Cthulhu Unbound in awhile but it’s still out there, and now it has a cool new cover for you to check out. The ebook includes the short story and a sample from the beginning of my novel Arcana for your reading pleasure.

That Was Quick!

My new science fiction novella The Pathless Void is now available to buy from Amazon and Smashwords. If you’re a fan of old-school science fiction, check it out. I think you will like it.

As an aside, I think this is the first story I’ve ever published anywhere that doesn’t have anything paranormal in it whatsoever, unless you count speculative future technology and a salvaged alien spacecraft. But there are no spells or psychic powers or anything like that, just aliens and tech. Enjoy!