FREE – Abode of The Damned Promotion
FREE until May 3rd on Smashwords – Abode of The Damned. Use coupon UT56E at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view… up to May 3rd and enjoy.
The last thing Cole Sunger remembers is the trap door creaking open beneath his feet on the gallows of Arkwood Penitentiary. Now Cole is awake – aware – in a frighteningly dark realm populated by demonic creatures. Utterly perturbed by his dark supernatural locale, Cole allies himself with two other damned souls, Clancy and Lucy, and soon learns he has arrived in Hell amidst a demon uprising.
The Blood of Cowards Promo – FREE until Feb 28th.
FREE – The Blood of Cowards. Use the promo code TZ33M at Smashwords.com up until Feb 28th.
The vampire, Lazarus Kalon, is on his way back to Atlanta to liberate his treasure before the city falls to Sherman’s army. Sick from a prolonged thirst, Lazarus, encounters three rebel deserters in the Appalachians. Yet, as Lazarus closes in on the deserters, he is overcome by an awareness that one of these soldiers may be worthy of the immortal gift.
Projects Update
Work on Risen: The Tale of Alexander’s Mummy continues as does the world building for Dawn of The Sorceress. The Graphic novel script, At The Throat of God on the back burner for now.
Looper Review
Looper is getting a lot of review hype i.e. “groundbreaking!,” yet is it really worthy of such praise? In a word, no. The premise of the movie is that in the near future time travel is possible, but outlawed. However, in the near future, disposing of a body is also very difficult. So, crime lords do in fact use time travel to send people back in time who they would like bumped off and have assassins called loopers kill them there (or then?).
Mmm so it is next to impossible to dispose of a body in the future. Really? No incinerating with fire, no acid in the bath tub, or the old tried and true hack up and dispose at sea? Really? can’t be done? Time travel is the only sure fire way to safely dispose of a body. The movie does nothing to sell us on this notion.
And time travel is possible, but the only people using it are criminals and they only use it to send back people they want killed. Really? Wouldn’t criminals find more lucrative uses for time travel? Wouldn’t governments and other factions have an interest in time travel, even if it was outlawed?
And don’t get me started on the ridiculous notion of requiring the loopers to one day personally execute their older self. Really? Wouldn’t it make more sense to assign this task to any other looper, anyone other than the same person, only younger? Yes of course it would.
Finally, does Joe Simmons’ choice in the end really change anything other than his own future? Will the Rainmaker still not rise in the years to come? One may argue that Joe’s fate ensures it as the older Joe will not be available to travel back in time to kill the boy before he becomes the Rainmaker.
I could go on about the lack of near future feel – the year is 2047 – other than a new recreational drug administered via eye drops, but I will cut to the chase: save yourself the time and effort and go buy 12 Monkeys instead, a much better – in fact awesome – Bruce Willis time travel movie.
The Blood of Cowards is now available on Smashwords
The Blood of Cowards is now available on and distributed by Smashwords. Use this code (LW56Q) to save 20% up until Feb 15th.
Ghost Drums & Abode of The Damned Available on Smashwords
Ghost Drums & Abode of The Damned are now available on Smashwords.com. Use these promo codes to get a nice discount before Feb 1st:
Ghost Drums Promo Code: SA63H
Abode of The Damned Promo code: HY68P
Smashwords will also be distributing to other retailers i.e Sony, Kobo, Apple, Diesel, etc.
Awesome New Book/Story Covers!
Check out these new awesome book/story covers. Many thanks to Tatiana at Vila Design.
Thoughts on Abode of The Damned
I have recently been reviewing some reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and I thought now was a good time to address some reviewers points, questions, and ideas in a open discussion. What writing Abode of The Damned has reinforced in me is that genre readers are not overly favorable of the ambiguous ending. Oh sure, in traditional literary fiction some authors can and do pull it off as long as the protagonist’s actions are more meaningful than they appear which evoke an emotional and intellectual response in the reader. Ah, but alas, I do not live in that world. I dwell in the here in the dark where the Knock Out ending rules. The protagonist decisively triumphs or fails. In the end, there are no loose ends – no mystery remains.
So then, how is Abode of the Damned repaired? “What if?” begins the wheels turning.
Does the portal take Cole and Lucy deeper into Hell as one reader/reviewer suggested or is the escape accomplished? Perhaps neither, and Cole and Lucy end up somewhere else – Chaos for example – with no physical form. Can the rebellion in Hell be tied closer to the fate of Lucy and Cole? What if the portal in the Black Mountains is an elaborate decoy and not the true escape route? What if Lucy is not who she appears and was never human?
Your thoughts?
Thoughts on Ghost Drums
I have recently been reviewing some reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and I thought now was a good time to address some reviewers points, questions, and ideas in a open discussion. A couple of things that came up in the reviews of Ghost Drums were (1) some readers wished the work was longer, even a full length novel and (2) there were a couple of questions regarding the fate of the savage girl.
While an expanded edition of Ghost Drums into novella or novel length was never intended, I can’t say I am opposed to the idea and it has gotten some wheels turning deep within the dark creative powers of my cerebrum. Will these wheels bare fruit, I can’t say just yet.
What I can tell you is what has been intended is a collection or ongoing collections of short stories featuring Lazarus and other vampires who occupy the same universe. Characters would know of one another and crossover into each other tales. The series is to be called Immortal Nights. The preview of At The Throat of God, which is experiment in how these tales might look in graphic novel form, introduces a few of these other vampires.
As for the savage girl, the first reviewer below was on the right track. The last few lines of the story:
“The ghost drums then faded under the roar of the flames as the apparitions dissolved into the night and I was left to wonder what would be my inspiration? Who or what would awaken the passion of the Lazarus of old?
The veins of the child’s throat surged against her skin as she tensed in her delirium.”
So, what I meant to insinuate here, is yes, the savage girl does become a companion of Lazarus and through this resurrects his old self. Was this too ambiguous?
There is at least one planned story with Lazarus and the savage girl, who is yet unnamed, to occur in the late 20th century or early 21st century, which would make her approximately 150 year old and a mature vampire who has come into her own.
Some Reviewer’s Comments:
“And what about the savage girl? What happens to her? Is she the key to helping awaken the Lazarus of old or just another meal?”
“I wished the story had been longer and fleshed out even more. Additionally, the ending was a little confusing; I found myself especially wondering about the young savage girl: What every happened to her?’
Your thoughts?
