GOOD TO THE LAST DROP Roundup

The Epic Conclusion to my Dragon Award nominated series is LIVE... on Kindle, but it's live.

The paperback is already here, but will take a while to merge with the Kindle page.

It has been one heck of a ride. If you wouldn't mind, I would ask everyone who has a social media account, blog, that sort of thing, to please spread the word that the book is up? If you wouldn't mind.

The sale link is here: amzn.to/2whihhz

The flap copy for the book is, of course, at Amazon, but I'd rather keep you here as long as possible.

The description is...

Ahem....

The final war is about to begin, in this conclusion to the Dragon Award Nominated series

Merle Kraft, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt have battled against the mythical Council, a supernatural conspiracy that monsters fear. This war has brought them up against vampires, minions, and demons from Hell.. Along the way, they have accumulated allies among the police, the military, the mafia, college students, lowly street gangs, and even other vampires.

Marco and Amanda have overcome their biggest terror -- their passion for each other.

But now, they face the final threat, one that is the culmination of every threat before them. This creature from Hell has powers beyond anything they’ve ever seen before, and has allies of his own: including SpecOps minions, an army of vampires, and packs of werewolves.

And that was before Marco got bit.

Right here is a round up of all of the various and sundry posts I've made about and around Good to the Last Drop since the announcement. including the announcement. So if anything here is of interest for spreading around the universe, by all means, enjoy.

Pre-Order Conclusion to the Dragon Award Nominated Series

This is the original announcement. Funny enough, it has an unfortunate reference to Joss Whedon.

A History of Vatican Ninjas

With Great Power comes great artillery. Also, a The Shadow / The Saint Crossover in my head.

Playlist for "Good To the Last Drop"

A music post that's a lot of Within Temptation and a lot of Cruxshadows, with some nightwish tossed in.

Why Catholic Vampires?

By "Traditional Vampires that integrate free will," I mean "Catholic Vampires." Though, as one person replied: Weren't Vampires always Catholic? Sort of

Building Lycanthropy Lore

First I played with Vampires. Then I mess with werewolves.

A Short Biography of a Catholic Vampire

I posted this last week. It's already one of my most popular posts--it's in the TOP FIVE. Of all time. Who knew?

Good to the Last Drop, Chapter 1: A Little B&E Between Friends

As the title reads, Chapter one. Some catch up on the ones who have been left behind.

Good to the Last Drop, Chapter 2: Many Happy Returns

Going straight back to Hell. Or San Francisco

Good to the Last Drop, Chapter 3: Recruitment

Getting some new friends. Sort of

And now, if you haven't, it's time to give in to the Dragon Award Nominated series.

Love at First Bite.

Another Year Shot to Hell

Yes, today's my Birthday.

Another year shot to Hell.

No, really, it's been an interesting 12 months.

I don't really wonder who I am, though. I'm Declan Finn. I'm quite happy being Declan Finn.

But looking at my life? No, I don't want "money" -- I want my books to bring in a modest salary, enough to move me out of New York, and perhaps drop me somewhere off in the Midwest. I want just enough fame to get me to that point -- but I'd rather have no one be able to ID me on the street if I can avoid it. Preferably not even people I know. I don't even care who knows my name ... but that's another joke.

What really matters? Who have I touched? More than a few. I'm responsible for at least one married couple. I've encouraged someone to start a business that they're perfectly happy with. And a few people have been given joy by my novels. I'm good with that.

Who do I want to be before I die? Just me. Everyone else is taken.

Though if you'd like to give me a birthday present that's free .... vote for me in the Dragon Awards? Or CLFA BOTY? Leave a review on a book? Buy one you haven't read yet? Any or all of the above? I'm not picky. I'm also easy to shop for.  Heh.

If you haven't already, check out some of the books below.

And if you have, please leave a review.

    

Music Blog: Winterborn

"Winterborn," by the Cruxshadows. I never know what to do with this band. They are nominally "Goth,"  but they tend to use a lot of classical imagery. I first encountered from in a John Ringo novel called Ghost.(A book I will talk about at a later date, with a few cautionary notes ... it's not that bad, but there is one section that should carry a warning label)  I had no idea what the song was about, so I looked it up on YouTube.

This one stuck with me enough that I titled a book after it. So that should tell you something.

In this case, the visuals are taken from the video game "Halo 2."

And, yes, it did inspire some elements of Codename: Winterborn

Live and Let Bite is coming, and you've got until Monday before it's released.

The Launch Party starts On January 29th, on the Radio Show

And continues with the FB launch party.

And if you haven't read book 1 and 2, we can fix that. 

If you have, please, review them.

    

Music blog: The Crüxshadows - ''Avalanche''

It's Saturday. So, Music. Enjoy.

Music blog: Helios (Cruxshadows @DragonCon)

Yes, Cruxshadows finally have a new single.

Some photos from the concert.

Rogue
Just hanging around
Performing
Angelus Everlasting

SPARTANS!!!

Rogue
With daughter.
Awwwwww

Cruxshadows dancers
Dealing with 

Cruxshadows dancer...
You have no idea how much effort
it took to shoot their FRONT.

It's not DragonCon until you're
hit in the face with fairy wings 

The volunteer coordinator

And now, the new single.

Enjoy.

And, while you're listening to that, you might want to check out my Sad Puppy and Dragon Award Nominated Novel Honor at Stake by clicking this link. Heh.

And ... enjoy.

Happy Families, and a Boring Puppy

Tolstoy once wrote that "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

This, of course, is just bullcrap.

Don't believe me? Go to a meeting of the children of alcoholics sometime. Sit and listen to the stories. But, more importantly, look at the other members as they nod in agreement. They're all checking off the boxes on the list. Because it's the same exact crap, with minor variations, on a race to the bottom.

For the law enforcement people who come across this, could you please tell me if the following sounds familiar: A domestic violence complaint comes in to 911. A patrol car pulls up to the incident, and two officers engage. No matter who is being beaten, or who is doing the beating, it's a crapshoot whether or not the victims will turn on the responding officers or not.

It's depressingly easy to call that one.

On the other hand, my family is awesome. We watch TV shows on playback, with the pause button ready, because we're all -- all of us -- ready to rewrite the episode, or call where the episode is going. Sometimes, we prefer our endings to the episode than what we get.

The family films have always been Die Hard for Christmas, Blown Away for St. Patrick's Day.  1776 and Yankee Doodle Dandy and Independence Day for July 4th.  Mother's day is The Manchurian Candidate, and father's day is The Empire Strikes Back.

We spend family time talking about philosophy, Ronald Knox, GK Chesterton, and the faith, because it's a living thing that we understand and enjoy and apply to our lives, without having to worry about having holier-than-thou rollers in our midst.

Sometimes we talk current events, because the family motto is that we exercise our freedom from the press.

I never really had a rebel phase. Because teenagers are morons, and I didn't want to go near them. I'm the nutbar who waits for marriage, so dating was interesting (read: nonexistent).

Now, riddle me this -- how alike is my family to yours? Granted, if your family is miserable, I can't help you, you don't necessarily have a basis for comparison.

Granted, on the other hand, the more and more I socialize with my fellow Puppy supporters, the more I realize I'm really boring in comparison.

I am a Catholic, born and raised.  For me, I'm not sure I have faith. I know there is a God, and, frankly, the tenants of the Catholic church just make sense. So does natural law. I don't think I've ever had a crisis of faith, because all of the arguments I've heard from anti-Theists are stupid, self-centered and arrogant. All the arguments I've heard from simple atheists are .... "I don't believe. Who cares?" And we go on our merry way.

I grew up as the standard fat nerd. When I was in sixth grade, I read The Once and Future King and Mary Stewart's books on Merlin (yes, even The Wicked Day). I read them both for fun.

When I was 16, I wrote 400,000 words of a space opera in my free time. (Yes, I have to rewrite some of it. Also, I have to find the time when I'm not getting requests for Sean Ryan novels and vampire sequels.)

And my father is truly awesome.

The week after my 18th birthday, I unleashed a song parody of "I have a little list" from The Mikado. I had modified it for my high school, and it had gotten out into the wild.  If you've heard the song before, you can understand why that's a problem. If you haven't, go check out a copy on YouTube.

If you've heard the song, and can't figure out what's the matter, I will give you a little bit of context. I was born in March of 1982. So I became 18 in March of 2000.

For those of my readers who might be too young, I'll spell it out. This happened the month before the first anniversary of a school shooting at a place called Columbine.

So ... yeah, you can imagine how well that went over. Though I do have relatives in the legal professional, so that ended as well as could be expected. This is sadly the most interesting thing in my personal life that might be of interest.

When I was in college, I had heard of Krav Maga, and tried teaching myself. And dang, it's fun. Then I took classes, and kept ending up with something going wrong just before my level 2 test. Yup. Murphy's law.

And the majority of the past ten  years has been dedicated towards my books. Thankfully, at current rate of speed, I'm starting to catch up for a book a year (right now, call it seven).

So, depending on your point of view, I'm very well adjusted, and I'm a little boring. I've never had any major trauma, and I've been fairly restrained. Then again, that's mostly because I don't want to end up in jail.

But my acquaintances have multiple personalities, and panic attacks and ADHD, and that's just one person. The others are even more colorful.

But, considering how much I've gotten done in the past year alone, it's been an interesting little ride. I have the potential for a shot at a Hugo -- for Sad Puppies Bite Back, if nothing else. Not bad for someone who's only had this blog for 6 years. With luck, my current publisher (Damnation was bought out) wants to get all of their backlogged books published by July. Which kinda means that I'm going to have three books published this year from the publisher, and a third published via self-publishing. And all I have to do is figure out which I want to read at LibertyCon.

Also, maybe a forth. I think I've rubbed the serial numbers off of Sad Puppies Bite Back that, if I should get a Hugo, I'll probably publish it for $.99. We'll see how things turn out by the end of the year.

But not bad, huh?  It's a start.

What started off this little reflection on my life? I'll give you a hint....

Music Blog: The Seraphs, by Cruxshadows

Yeah, so this one is fun.

Pardon me, I have to get back to writing now.

Music blog: The Cruxshadows- O Holy night

Because it's Christmas.  It is time to party. And this is awesome music. And yes, it's the Cruxshadows, just try it anyway. Trust me on this, would you?

And, just for the record, if you're one of those Black Saturday shoppers, seriously, just buy Honor At Stake. The price has dropped to $10. It's a good deal, and it's readable for all ages. It really is. It'll make life easier on you.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

The Cruxshadows - Citadel

Yup. More Music to Write to. Why? Because It's only Wednesday, and this is the sixth blog for the week.  Yes. Really. Between the new puppy post, the CWG conference, and the radio show, this has been a busy few days. So I'm taking a little bit of a break.

Also? Because come on, it's Troy in rock music. What's not to like?

The Cruxshadows - Cruelty

It's Cruxshadows. I  just roll with it....

Though I wouldn't bother with the video on this one, especially if you suffer from vertigo.

Music to write to: Cruxshadows - Quicksilver

The music is fun. The video is strange, but watchable.

And yes, I DO listen to these as I write. As with every music blog.

Music to Write To: Cruxshadows - Marilyn My Bitterness

Ah, a bit of music for my love life. :)

Also, Lego.

Music to Write to: Cruxshadows Immortal

Music to write to ... video is also kinda cool on this one. A little strange, but watchable.

The Crüxshadows - Angelus Everlasting

Christmas Music blog: Cruxshadows, O Holy Night

Yes, another version.

But it works.

Being interviewed.

Did I mention that I and my friend Allan were being interviewed for our book Codename: Winterborn?

No?

Well, we are, right here.

Enjoy, all.

Week in Review: 6-25-2011

Monday was my Father's Day post. All about my father.

The music blog was one part Two Steps from Hell, one part Tom Smith.


Tuesday was my review of the man who should be running all of Star Wars: Timothy Zahn. So the post was called The Wrath of Zahn.  There's a bonus if you can ID what the blog post title references..

The music blog for Tuesday had a super villian in love, and muppets.

Could I make that up?

I have mentioned in a few other places my character Hashim Abasi. He shows up in A Pius Man, and he's a cop ... from Egypt.  The post is about writing with current events.

The music was an interesting counterpoint: with evil pizza, evil computers, and a body count.

And, for a bonus: my friend Jason discusses leaving Afghanistan.

My week ended with an Index: if you wanted my Lenten and Easter series, it's all here. Have fun. Or try to.

Then, we enter: The Eye of the Storm.

And, if you've been keeping track, my self defense columns from the week are

Evaluating a self defense class 

Defending against chokes from the front

And a review of a local, New York self defense school.

Music: the Eye of the Storm: Fenton

If you are allergic to strangeness, you might want to play the first video last. If not, play in whatever order you like....

First up....

Cruxshadows, the Eye of the Storm. They've been mentioned before on this blog. They're a little weird. I'm not sure if they want to be a Goth band when they grow up (to go by their costumes) or if they wanted to write Greek mythology (to go by some of their song content.)

For this song, you can enjoy the eye candy based around the Final Fantasy VII franchise, you can enjoy the music, or both.

If you can, guess where I discovered this song from.....



Next up .... Have you ever gotten annoyed with horror franchises? How they seem endless and they never, ever go away?  Tom Smith takes a whack at it.



And then, the sequel you saw coming.

Tom Smith, Doctor Who, Cruxshadows,

By now, you might have a bit of a pattern going.  Monday to Wednesday will have two blogs a day, one of which is a music blog.  Thursday is just a music blog, and Friday is a week in review.

And They Say I've Got Talent


Tom Smith: Operation Desert Storm. ..
Hint; this has nothing to do with Iraq



And a neat little Two Steps from Hell cinimatic.

Music to Write to: Cruxshadows, Nightwish, and Doctor Who ... sort of.

Yup, another music blog. What do you have to lose?

To start with, as always, there has to be at least one cut from Two Steps from Hell. The title Protectors of the Earth, always makes me think of Doctor Who.

I tripped over this one recently. I had been playing through videos for "This is War" (previous post) and uncovered this tune by accident. I think it works.