This weekend, me and three other authors played Left 4 Dead 2. What a blast. It’s hard to tell who’s talking unless you know our voices, but I’m the most clueless sounding. I repeatedly say stuff like “I got one of those things on me!” The other guys all seem to know what the monsters are.
Authors / Zombie Bait:
Nick Cole — Apocalypse Weird: The Red King
Chris Pourteau — Apocalypse Weird: The Serenity Strain
TJ Redig — The Philosopher’s Load
John L. Monk — Kick
Filed under Indie Publishing, Just Cool
So after some soul-searching, I decided to go with a new cover for Thief’s Odyssey. This one is a little more in keeping with other books in the genre, and the thumbnail is more readable, which is important when folks are browsing through Amazon looking f
or something to read. I also like the way the letters sort of pop out at you. That said, I love my old artwork to death and am sad to make the change. The previous artist did exactly what I’d asked and hoped for.
The new cover is by Lindy Moone — an incredible artist. She’s also an “Awesome Indie.” Very talented writer and designer. This new cover is, in my opinion, stunning. I love the way the letters slant into each other, drawing the eye. I love the footprints. In particular, I can’t get over that little logo she made. I didn’t even know this was going to be book one in a series, but what am I gonna do? It’s a series now. Lindy Moone has spoken…
Quick note about the new cover: I’m told by a friend that it shows up when you open the book, but the old cover still appears on your carousel/bookshelf. Clearly the image hasn’t percolated everywhere to all the various servers. Also, the new cover won’t appear if you purchased the old book.
Click Here to see the picture in higher resolution.
Filed under Indie Publishing
I bought the book today. Demon Mania. I love the cover — can’t wait to tuck into it. The book, I mean.
Filed under Awesome Indies
E.E. Giorgi was probably the easiest discovery/addition to the list yet. Originally recommended to me by mega-indie Nicholas Sansbury Smith, she’d won the Reader’s Choice Award, and a B.R.A.G medal. With all this cool stuff, how could I resist?
It took me a while to get to it because my TBR list is always pretty full. Then P.T. Hylton read her book — wouldn’t shut up about it — and I kept seeing it here and there in various nooks and crannies of the Internet, but my TBR list wasn’t getting any shorter. Then one day I pushed her book to the top of the list and read it — and it was stunning. This is the real/hard sci-fi I remember from growing up: fiction with real science as a critical plot element, and nary a Heisenberg Inhibitor in sight. And get this: E.E. Giorgi’s actually a scientist. A geneticist, to be precise. I imagine she says “that’s very significant” and “indubitably” and “we’re not gods, damn you!” about twenty times a day.
Let me just say, if I had a job where I got to say “indubitably” that often, I’d be the happiest boy in the world.
The basic plot of Chimeras, her award-winning novel is there’s been a murder, and only Detective Track Presius — a genetic Chimera (a real scientific term) — can figure out who the killer is. Okay, he has help along the way from his incredibly funny and wise partner Satish, and a beautiful lab geek named Diane (who works with the police). Together, they make literary music. I love the hard-boiled style Giorgi writes in, reminiscent of Raymond Chandler, as well as the emotional depths she takes us in this story about a virtual outcast of a man with superhuman senses. By the time you finish the book, if you’re not shaking your fist at the sky shouting, “We’re not gods, damn you…!” then nothing can help you.
Filed under Awesome Indies
Stephen Campbell’s “CrimeFiction.FM” podcast officially launched today, with 2 interviews posted. You can listen to them directly off the site (http://crimefiction.fm/) or via iTunes. The interviews are fairly short, 10-20 mins. Mine will be out early May.
For those of you with with access to iTunes, a podcast’s launch day is just as important as an author’s launch day. Reviews and downloads play a key role in early success. I plan to leave a review a little later today, after I’ve had a listen 🙂
Filed under Podcasts
Interesting analysis. Another great reason to join the Author Marketing Club.
Filed under Reviews
If you don’t know who Stephen Campbell is, he’s the creator of a wonderful podcast called “The Author Biz.” Head over to iTunes now and subscribe. He’s a great interviewer, easily on par with other great self-pub/author podcasters like Simon Whistler (Rocking Self-publishing Podcast) and Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn). Recently he interviewed Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and followed that up with an interview of Russell Blake, author of the smash hit “Jet” series.
I was just interviewed on his brand new podcast: “CrimeFiction.FM.” He has a 2 minute placeholder recording there now so that people can subscribe, but he’s already recorded a bunch of shows. They’re 10-20 minute quick podcasts with crime authors about new books. And get this: he lumps in indies and trad pubs both. All he cares about is the writing, the quality, and so I feel especially honored to have been tapped for an interview (he actually read my latest book, “Thief’s Odyssey”).
The more subscribers he gets, the higher he’ll appear in the rankings, the better visibility, etc., and I’d like to see this guy succeed. He’s a great asset in the indie community.
He told me the interview will likely go live in early May. I’ll make another announcement then.
Filed under Indie Publishing, Podcasts
Big thanks to Christoph Fischer for his review of our charity troll anthology. What a great guy 🙂
Funny, touching, suspenseful—sometimes romantic, titillating and shocking—there’s something for all adult readers in this unique illustrated anthology from 23 authors.
Arranged from light to meaty fare, the antrollogy’s “menu” offers up fanciful and farcical stories, family-oriented tales, romance, mystery, high peak adventure, even magically surreal literary stories—starring all sorts of trolls, from the all-too-real Internet variety to the mythical mountain and bridge-dwelling trolls of legend.
Readers will laugh nervously at Humphrey the half-breed’s unfortunate beginnings, and bite their nails on behalf of Fergus Underbridge, hard-boiled troll detective. They’ll cheer a not-so-ordinary troll-fighting girl and want to hug—or slap—a woman lost in her own neighborhood. And whatever should be done about the boy with the head of a dragon…?
The Book on Amazon US and Amazon UK
Net profits from the book will be donated to Equality Now
“When we launched…
View original post 127 more words
Filed under Uncategorized
I think it was back in November when E.J. Robinson contacted me about reading his book, Robinson Crusoe 2244 — in complete contravention of the Awesome Indie Compendium of Stuffy Rules: “I won’t take any free books from people, nor respond to lobbying efforts.”
These indie authors, I tell you. Running around and messing things up for everyone, that’s what. Don’t they know the best way to get noticed is to write a novel, send out queries for 10 years — no simultaneous submissions — and hope a meteor strikes a convention center filled with the top trad-pub authors in their genre? That’s what I used to do, by cracky, and I learned to like it. By cracky.
Anyway, I picked up his book…I read it…and loved it! What a great story. Excellent writing. I contacted E.J. Robinson and told him I was interested in having him included in my list of upstart indie authors, the Awesome Indies. He agreed, and here’s his book…just over there, off on the left side of the screen. Go ahead, scroll down a little, that’s it, do I have to tell you everything?
Robinson Crusoe 2244 — funny name, considering how the author’s name is Robinson. Just the kind of story a cheeky indie author would pen. (If you were to attach electrodes to both ends of Daniel DeFoe’s coffin, you could power a small city for a year, he’s spinning in his grave so quickly).
Imagine our world, after a great and terrible war, devastated by genetically engineered diseases that turned huge swaths of the population into hideous monsters called “renders.” Now insert a young hero living in an oppressive society that grew up out of that destruction, and that’s the crucible for this book. Very well executed, too. Had me on the edge of my seat or cheering or laughing in all the appropriate places. There are certain parallels to the original story (of course), and I kept looking for those moments when they’d pop up. What great fun. Still, I hate to say “no spoilers” when it’s influenced by such a popular tale. Suffice to say our young hero is shipwrecked in a “wasteland filled with unspeakable horrors,” as his blurb states.
Get the ebook here while supplies last! — http://amzn.com/B00MC3S1KE
Filed under Awesome Indies
Filed under Awesome Indies
John L. Monk 
