Friday, May 27, 2016

Where Did May Go?

I had high hopes for things to get done in May.  And now it's over!  Where the hell did it go?


Well, working two 60+ hour weeks for the Navy sucked up the last half.  Today was supposed to be a "half-day" for the holiday weekend.  That worked out for most people, but not all of us.  So chalk up another 12+ hour work day with no writing opportunities.   


It's been a relatively rough month for me, but could be a lot rougher.  I could be with my shipmates getting shot at in the war zone. 


Memorial Day is about more than hot dogs and camping trips.  I hope while everyone is enjoying their holiday, they take a moment to think about those who don't have the luxury of doing so.  Remember those who sacrifice, those who serve, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.  People working a lot harder than I am, despite my long weeks overseas. 


Happy Memorial Day everyone.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Teen and YA Superheroes: Another EBook Bundle Deal!



Hungry Gods has been invited into a third book bundle this month!  This one is all about teen and young adult aged superheroes!  It also has three tiers of books you can buy for an average of under a buck a piece.

Click here to go there directly. 

Here's the description:

Are you a teen?
Did you used to be a teen?
Are you going to be a teen soon?
Then you know that teenagers are already the most powerful force in the known universe. Which makes teenagers with superpowers pretty much unstoppable!
In this collection of stories featuring super teens, you’ll meet:
  • Danny and Breyona, who are caught in the middle of a war between two alien races.
  • Conner, Almira, Ricky, and Flower, who release an army of Grim Reapers into the world.
  • Riley Jamison, who can change the future with his thoughts.
  • Kyle, who discovers that his family has a horrific and violent secret.
  • Blue, who hates zombies because, among other reasons, they have scared all the hot girls away.
  • Young Jin, transported by accidental magic from the icy streets of Thama to the mysterious desert world of Darha.
  • Rick, who wakes up in the hospital reading the thoughts of everyone around him.
  • Kelley Strickland, and her twin brother Jeroan, who both accidentally step into an ancient battle between two sorcerers.
  • Claire Murray, who inherits a dragon and discovers she’s a faery princess.
  • Garrick, a mage’s apprentice, who is soon to be a full-fledged sorcerer.
  • Lucy Daz, a teenage orphan, who lives a busker’s life on Damyadi Space Station.
  • Spitball, a young speedster, who races into the superhero limelight… and away from flesh-eating zombies.
From authors as diverse as Stefon Mears, Mario Milosevic, Carl S. Plumer, Shantnu Tiwari, J.D. Brink, and Sherry D. Ramsey; in genres covering Fantasy, Science Fiction, the Paranormal, and more! Enjoy tales of wonder, adventure, and excitement — all featuring fearless teenagers of high school and college age.
Enjoy some of the best books featuring teens by some of the best, new authors writing today. All in onesuper deal.

And it's not too late to get the previous two book bundle deals, or to throw your name into the ring for the audiobook giveaways for Hungry Gods or Tarnish happening on Audiobook Reviewer.  See the menu bar to the left for links, or scroll down this blog to previous posts to check them out!

Free E-Books: Why Pay For Any of Them?


A quick share about a series The Fussy Librarian is running.

They ask the question, "Why pay for ebooks?"

One answer is, "Because the writers are people too."

Check it out by clicking here and see what I mean.  It's a very nice idea they have here, and it helps illustrate the rant below.

This also comes on the heels of me discovering that some Russian-based pirate site has stolen some of my work, which has been downloaded over 2000 times!  That's 2000 times that people have preferred to pay a pirate for a subscription of ill-gotten material rather than the writer who made it!  I probably haven't sold 2000 books total over the last three years.  I pay for cover art and editing services to make my work the best it can be, and 2000 people read it, enjoyed it (as evidenced by the 96 positive comments), and happily paid some Russian mobster for that entertainment over me, the humble author who invested time, money, and soul into the work.

PIRACY IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME, PEOPLE.

I am not a wealthy conglomerate that can get by without the money.  Eventually cyber-readers are going to realize that by supporting thieves instead of writers, they make us less able to write more material.  If I need to work 50+ hours a week to support my family and pay my bills, I have less time to write more books for you to enjoy.

Next time, consider making your own cup of coffee at home, and redirect that four bucks toward paying an artist for the week of entertainment you're going to get from their book.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Final Days for Urban Fantasy and Horror Book Bundles

Final few days to grab these great book bundles!

The Zombies and Monsters and Gods Bundle



The Zombies and Monsters and Gods Bundle is for those who love zombies, monsters, gods, superheroes, and all things supernatural.
Some of the books have serious themes, some are sardonic, and some make fun of the genre. All of them are action packed and fast moving.
These are the books in the bundle:
I Hate Zombies. by Shantnu Tiwari
Hungry Gods by JD Brink
The Wolf at the End of the World by Douglas Smith
Dragons in Pieces: by Lee French
Afterburn by Karen L. Abrahamson
The Bureau of Substandards Annual Report by Sabrina Chase
Glamour of the God-Touched by Ron Collins
My Girlfriend, the Zombie by Rebecca M. Senese
Caught Between Monsters by Stefon Mears
The Raven and the Dancing Tiger by Leah Cutter
Pay at least $5, and get the first five books.
Pay at least $12, and get all ten books (worth $44!).



$62 worth of fantastic fiction for a price you choose.
Novels, novellas and short stories guaranteed to make you feel uncomfortable, create that sense of ‘something-isn’t-right-here’ or just plain scare you. The ‘Chills, Thrills and Spills’ bundle covers horror, thrillers and fantasy and is sure to keep you awake at night. What more do want from a good book? Well, here - for a price you choose - you can have a dozen.
Pay more than $12 and you’ll get access to no less than six additional novels, including a short story anthology featuring Kelley Armstrong, James Alan Gardner and others. Plus a collection from an Aurora winner author. Oh, and a USA best-selling writer in the form of Dean Wesley Smith.
Indulge yourself in the ‘Chills, Thrills and Spills’ bundle and, while you may not sleep tonight, you’ll enjoy every delicious, spine-shivering moment. From zombie-meets-superhero mash-ups to ghost detectives, banshees, psychopaths and vampires, the ‘Chills, Thrills and Spills’ collection is guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping.

Click the titles above to go check out these great deals and discover some of your new favorite writers.  Both last for a limited time!



I'll be breaking these down more while the sales run.  But you don't have to wait for that.  Just chck them out for yourselves! 

Friday, May 6, 2016

Captain America Civil War Pretty Much Worth Fighting About


I just came from seeing Civil War.  Being in Japan, I'm 13 hours ahead of the U.S. east coast, so it was a late showing here and still probably before most folks in the States could see it.  In fact, I could have gone to a midnight showing last night, which would have been Thursday morning/afternoon back home.  But only getting a few hours of sleep before a training course Friday morning didn't sound like a good idea.

So how was it?  Well... It was good.  I hesitate to say very good, but it WAS very good.  Just not great. Not quite as great as I'd hoped it would be.  I actually liked Winter Soldier better. There was more of a cool conspiracy plot to movie #2.  The main pay off of #3 is the volume of characters and seeing them all together, even if they are fighting each other.  But it was very well done, no one was eager to slug it out.  Very well done, and you could even draw some political overtones from it all if you were so inclined.  It just wasn't GREAT.  I didn't leave as jazzed as I had arrived.  

I hate spoilers.  I'd much rather enjoy the surprises in the theatre than get them ruined by someone on the internet, so I'll leave none here.  I will say that one of the aspects I had the most doubts about going in--Spider-man--was all very pleasantly surprising.  Really, really nice the way it all turned out, and way more screen time than expected. 

The movie blended both the original comic series (which I have stashed somewhere, probably stored away with most of my other possessions) and the new Cinematic Universe very well.  And the movie left off in a similar way: with irrevocable changes to the Marvel Universe. They broke it, but that's good!  

Certainly a worthy, emotional, fan-satisfying superhero flick, but it didn't quite the meet the hype for me. But I guess they rarely do.

So go see for yourself!

SECOND TAKE: Now I've seen it twice, took the wife to see it this time.  I enjoyed it more the second time and appreciated the plotting and characterization more.  I mean, I saw it the first time too, but maybe with my high expectations out of the way I was able to appreciate it more.  The writing and acting were all excellent, but I maintain that there was just a lack of energy to it.  I said before I wasn't as excited coming out as I had been going in, and that remains.  (The Jungle Book is the best movie I've seen this year, with more energetic and emotional payoff.)

Obviously the best of Civil War was the battle between twelve mighty Marvel characters, with humor interjected and the best Spider-Man take yet.  And what I really like about it was how it wove superheroes into the really real world of international politics and spycraft.  (Something I want to do with my own work.)

  

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Superhero Season Sale: 5 Days Only

Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman have made truly made this summer a Superhero Season.  And I'm feeling festive...


Now through Saturday May 7th, you can score both my superhero e-novels for cheap, exclusively via Smashwords coupon code.  Not a Smashwords member yet?  No problem, it's free and easy to join, and you can get ebooks formatted to Kindle, Nook, PDF, whatever you prefer.

So first up: Invasion.  Click here to go to it's home page and enter this coupon code at purchase: KK67N.  Instead of paying $3.99, you'll get it for $0.99.

Next: Hungry Gods.  Click this line to go to it's SW page and enter JG56E as a coupon code.  You'll get it for $1.99 instead of $5.99.

Five days.  That's it.

And feel free to tell your friends. :)

UPDATE, 15 OCTOBER 2016:
Somehow, for some reason, this post is suddenly very popular.  Unfortunately, it's become popular 5 MONTHS too late.  But there is hope!

I've decided to start giving away one ebook to everyone who subscribes to my Conspiracy Newsletter.  Any book from my library, whichever you want.  My hope is that you'll like it and post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or some other site.  And that you'll like it enough to tell your friends about it.

To score your free read, just click here (or on the link on the right-hand bar) and sign-up with your email address.  Once you do, I'll write you back and ask what book you'd like and we'll make it happen.

You can also subscribe to my new website at BrinksChaosTheory.com.  (No free book with that, but you'll stay up to date on my work and anything else that comes down the pike.)