So I have a new book out, and it’s called “Underpowered Howard.” LitRPG, which means it’s set in a virtual game world where attributes and scores and points and all that matter. A little like Scott Pilgrim or Ready Player One, but with more attention to numbers. There’s a lot more to the story than math, though, or else I never would have written it. It’s funny, has great characters, and I tried to inject a degree of literary depth into the story beyond what one might expect.
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About a month ago, I published a collection of my short stories, as well as rehashed “funny” blog posts, and some mostly humorous poetry I’d written over the years. This wasn’t to make a quick buck, because nobody buys this stuff, but I’d hoped to put something out for readers tired of waiting on another book and wanting a quick John L. Monk fix. All I’m saying is, if my grandmother were alive today, even she wouldn’t have bought it. That’s how bad sales are. Which is totally fine. I’ll get that Lamborghini one day — but it will not be THIS day.
Here’s the link if you wanna upstage my poor, dearly departed grandmother.
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Are you a reader who likes good writing — great writing? Literary writing that isn’t incredibly annoying because it takes 12 pages to describe the shade of pink someone is wearing and the backstory around it?
I recommend Harvey Click a lot because I’m amazed that he’s not a household name at this point with his horror. But he also wrote a very weird literary/magical/humorous novel that I tore through, despite it having a surprisingly “unlikable” main character. Get this: I plan to read it again. I can’t think of very many authors I’d say that about to be honest. David Eddings … Raymond E. Feist … Cormac McCarthy … Nathan Lowell recently … 1 book by Stephen King (The Long Walk) … Larry Niven (Inferno) …
That’s about it. Anyway, here’s the book. Again, if you’re looking for something compelling as hell, but way different than the straightforward schlock Big Publishing dishes out to us, you might like:
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18 hours of audiobook goes live Friday. Can’t say enough about my narrator, Travis Baldree. He rocked it.
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My latest release — a release between releases — is a short anthology of stories, poems, and other things I’ve written over the years. All of them are amusing in some way, or at least that was the intention. The cover was done by a great artist and friend, Keith A. Johnston.
Have a look for yourself:
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How’s that for a headline? My marketing people tell me it’s a truism in publishing: promise to cure a major disease, sell a ton of books. So I thought I’d give it a try.
Karma’s touch is the 3rd book in my “Chronicles of Ethan” series, and I think it might be the best one of the three. Why? Because I nailed the ending. I say that with absolutely no humility because I keep it real like that. It’s a tight little ending where all the stuff you were wondering about gets wrapped up and you walk away feeling satisfied. I didn’t feel this way with the Jenkins Cycle series, or even This Dark Age. Mostly because I still want to write more books in those series. I still want to write more books in Mythian (in fact, I’m currently writing a follow-up), but for now — for this particular series — Ethan’s tale is done.
Buy this book or you’ll die of cooties:
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I know a lot of good authors, but one stands out in particular for ALMOST making me cry. No, I did not cry. My testosterone kicked in and I stopped that nonsense in its tracks. The weird thing is this guy’s a horror writer, and that’s the problem. It’s difficult for indies to sell horror novels because … well … it’s hard to put my finger on. Could be one needs a certain amount of “street cred” to do it. Readers snap up Stephen King novels quick as you please, because he’s a known quantity. Same with Dean Koontz, or John Saul, or Stephen King’s son because … dynasties are scary? Anyway, the book that nearly emasculated me is called “The Bad Box” by “Harvey Click.” Unlike many indies, he understands how to punctuate and tag dialog properly, as well a great many other unspeakable things. The Kindle version is not on sale because sometimes you just gotta pay $2.99 for a good book and not get it free. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/2E29VQ8
I have spoken.
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Hey folks, if you’re curious how my voice sounds when I’m really nervous, check out my appearance on Hank’s awesome podcast (available on youtube, or wherever sold in stores).
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Hey all three of you! Just doing my required “Yes, I wrote another book” post. My guess is you were wondering when it was coming and I’m here to tell you, “It came! It came!” Yes, Hard Mode is out, sales are humming a-long, and I’m feeling pumped. Get it? Double ententre, double the fun. (Now that’s what I call “beating” a dead horse.)
In all seriousness, this is book 2 of the “Chronicles of Ethan,” a completed series in the “LitRPG” and “GameLit” genres. A story about a man who enters a game world in a future where old people “retire” into a computer-based existence. Each book publishes at the same time as the audiobook, which took some work, but it came out great. Really great narrator, too — Travis Baldree.
If the story tempts you, hover your pointer over the link below and poke it vigorously!
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Mythian is the story of a man who leaves his flesh and blood life to enter a virtual world for retirees called “Heroes of Mythian.” That’s right: in the future, you don’t die of old age, you retire. The main character, Ethan Crane, decides to retire after discovering his wife’s mind was downloaded into the game in secret following a fatal accident, years before.
The series is completed. There are 3 books. Book 2 comes out in November, and book 3 comes out in December.
Here’s a link to the book on Amazon:
For an idea how the game feels, have a listen to my wonderful narrator who talks about the book a little and then reads a short excerpt:
Hope you enjoy!
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John L. Monk 