Month in Review: November, 2016

This has been the most successful month in the entire history of the blog, with over 18,000 hits.

Granted, I'm relatively certain that a large part of the spike came from the fact that my election day coverage consisted of 12 separate posts -- that garnered my blog a thousand hits alone. And, to no one's surprise, the one where I mentioned who would Deadpool vote for actually garnered enough hits to be in the top ten for the month.

The posts that made it, however, were....

1. #BlackFriday, 2016

Okay. Maybe Dawn had a point

Not too big of a surprise. I posted this around the universe endlessly during the week of Black Friday, as well as Cyber Monday. I even bothered to use Hashtags. They work.

2. Building Catholic Vampire Lore (Honor At Stake)
I still have no idea why this one keeps popping up so high on the blog count. I don't do anything special for it, I don't post it anywhere that often. It just ... shows up.

3. The End of the Pius Trilogy
I took out a Facebook ad for this one, which is probably why it did so well, overall.

4. The Cast of Set To Kill
Wherein I discuss what the cast of Set to Kill looks like, and how they have NO SIMILARITIES WHATSOEVER to any real people. Honest. Also, a photo of Larry Correia.

5. Set To Kill is coming sooner than expected
The announcement that the book was coming to the internet way sooner than anyone thought.

6. Set to Kill is out, and ready to be Best Related at the Hugos...
I confess, the title was clickbait. Mea culpa, mea culpa

7. Election Day: Who would Deadpool vote for?
Discussed above. The answer ... he didn't even get the year right.

8, Attack of the Silver Empire
The announcement that the Pius Trilogy was dead, and why.

9. Casting Codename UnSub
I ... don't quite understand why this went anywhere. Perhaps because I had pictures of good looking people all over the post.


10. Review: Doctor Strange
I saw the film in theater, and posted the review the weekend it came out. I'm not all that surprised that this made it into the top ten. Then again, it's also a Marvel film, and the most popular one yet.

Obviously, other factors when into the popularity. Some of these posts had Castalia House retweet them, which is good for hits -- I think #5 and #6 were retweeted by a few people, if not the publisher itself.

I'm almost certain that Silver Empire retweeted my announcement of #8 a few dozen times ... or if they didn't, someone certainly did.

All in all, it's been an amazing month.

Granted, it's not as many hits as Vox Day gets per DAY, but I'll take it.

Be well, all.

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

A Thank You Letter to John C and Jagi Lamplighter Wright

I have to thank the Wrights, both John and Jagi, for saving my backside yesterday.

During my "Series Starter Kit" $.99 sale for Cyber Monday, I had plans. Plans included multiple websites, posts, social media outlets.

And, quite literally a day or two before (perhaps a few hours before), I asked Jagi if it were possible --just if they had nothing else to post that day--for them to post about Honor at Stake. I went with only Honor at Stake because the last book John posted about (that I saw) was Brian Niemeier's, and I wasn't going to ask for anything less than my own Dragon nominated work.

Jagi said yes.

And almost everything else fell through. Gmail didn't work. Either my emails didn't get out, or they weren't received. Yesterday was the day to take Google out back and put it down like the sickly dog it is.  The only thing that happened was social media and the Wrights.

Between John and Jagi posting on their blogs, I did almost as well as when 5 books were posted up on Instapundit.

How do I know that it was the Wrights that did it, and not the retweeting, posting on Social Media, and everything else I tried?

Because what worked advertised all three books. Honor at Stake outsold the other two. It made up 77% of sales yesterday.

I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark that their efforts had an effect. Possibly the one key element that brought the day together

Anyway, thanks again, to the both of them. They made Cyber Monday interesting.

Back to the salt mines for me. Ciao, all.

REVIEWS ARE IN

So, yeah, new reviews, for a little bit of everything.

And they are incredible.

Item the first, Daniel Humphreys really liked Honor at Stake. How can I tell?

"....with Declan Finn’s “Honor at Stake” we have a vampire book that not only hearkens back to the old school, it adds some interesting new twists on the science and mythology of the vampire plague while still remaining firmly focused on the cast of characters who inhabit Mr. Finn’s world.

....Marco has a bit of Mary Sue syndrome to him at first, though Finn does an excellent job of slowly drawing out deeper aspects of his personality, and leaves us with an interesting cliffhanger at the end that will leave you wondering what lies beneath in terms of the character.

....If you’re looking for a great entry point in a new series, ‘Honor at Stake’ is highly recommended. Five stars."

So ... yeah, I think he liked it You can buy the book here.

And then there's Lori Bird. You might remember that Lori originally reviewed Honor at Stake for The Catholic Geeks last year.

This year, it got more interesting. This one goes on for a bit, but here's the most interesting part of the review on Murphy's Law of Vampires, for me.

"Actually, I decided about halfway through that if Larry Correia had been smart, he wouldn’t have asked John Ringo to write Monster Hunter: Grunge.  He’d have gotten Declan to do it, because when it comes to writing about badass, almost-bad-guy good guys with exceptional loads of snark, Declan Finn completely outran John Ringo.  No joke.

He was running so fast, it was like John Ringo was encased in cement and being dragged in the other direction by a freight train.

I would pay a small fortune to have read the Declan Finn version of Monster Hunter: Grunge.  Sorry, Ringo."

Wow. She even went out of her way to compare me to Ringo, and deemed me better.... huh.

So, yes, she liked it.

And then, there are these two reviews on Set to Kill, one by Dragon Award Nominee Marina Fontaine, and the other by the Injustice Gamer.

Marina's thoughts...

Take an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Make it THREE murder mysteries. 

Replace the middle-aged Inspector with a security expert who happens to be a martial arts guru/all-around killing machine ....

Stick it into the naturally insane environment that is the world's largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy con (fictionally renamed WyvernCon).

....Oh and also make it funny enough to qualify as satire.

OK, so maybe it's nothing like an Agatha Christie mystery after all. But it is a darn good read. The reason I was thinking of Christie is because, underneath all the fun and goofiness and inside-baseball sci-fi literary community references, there is a solid plot worthy of an old-fashioned detective novel.....

The pacing is good....The violence is not as plentiful as Declan Finn's fans might expect, but there's still sufficient to keep the adrenaline flowing. The fully fictional characters are well enough developed that you can go into the story cold and still care about what happens to them; and those inspired by real life are easily recognizable while changed up just enough to still fit into a satirical fiction environment.

And all that for only four stars. Heh.

Alfred Genesson, The Injustice Gamer, even broke character for this review.

Ah, I'll drop the facade a little. This book hooked me harder than anything he's written yet, and I really like his previous stuff. The pacing was amazing, all the slow parts had purpose, and the action didn't let up until bodies fell. I didn't feel like there wasn't a wasted word in this book .... I went and read very late when I finished, and I have to get up EARLY for work.  .... I was amazed at what Declan spun out of the cloth of Sad Puppies bite back and Sean Ryan.

So .... wow. Yeah.

These are some amazing reviews. I'm kinda surprised. As usual.

Anyway, you can buy any or all of these here

Honor at Stake
Murphy's Law of Vampires
Set to Kill

And enjoy.

#CyberMonday: Series Starter Kit

I'll give you one guess about what's happening today. Just one.

Yup, Cyber Monday.

This is the day when you have my series starter kit. Every book 1 of my current series are all available for just under a dollar.

Honor at Stake  ,,,, Yup, book one of the Love at First Bite series. If you haven't read about it by now ... you must be new here. Of course, Murphy's Law of Vampires is also up, so you won't have to worry about any cliffhangers that might show up. You know, maybe.

Codename: Winterborn .... Book one of The Last Survivors. I don't talk about this one much, but then again, I've been busy. Book 1 is really two parts. The first part is the standard revenge story. Part 2 is what happens after. Because let's face it, you don't slaughter a dozen politicians without some sort of consequences. This is, of course, the prequel to Codename: UnSub, where not only do I have a spy dropped into the middle of Hell, I add a murderous psychopath right one top of him.

 

It Was Only on Stun! -- This is book one of Murder Con. Or Convention Killings, depending on what you want. This is, in part, your standard murder mystery at a scifi convention. I think every TV show show with frequent murders had them. Castle? Check. Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombie of the Gene Pool? Check. Granted, in this case, this one is a little bit more insane. I have Islamic terrorists, Serbian genocidal maniacs, drug dealers, a killer elf, and one or two crazed fans. Believe it or not, Set to Kill is actually more calm and laid back than Stun!  And that is slightly most insane at points. Technically, Stun! and Kill only have two things in common: they take place at a convention, and Sean A.P. Ryan is the main lead. It's almost more of a follow up to The Pius Trilogy than a sequel to Stun!, but people seem to like it.

While I think about it, while we've run out of deals, we haven't run out of ideas. Please look at the top of the blog for the list of tabs. You'll notice we have an entire page of gift sets. They're an easy way of getting real books delivered to your house with my signature on them. Cool, huh?

Good luck on the shopping, everyone.

TONIGHT, on The Catholic Geek: Hans Schantz

The Catholic Geek: Interview with Hans Schantz 11/27 by We Built That Network | Books Podcasts:
AT 7PM, EST, TONIGHT




Host Declan Finn brings on author Hans Schantz, to discuss science, independent authors, and more. Dr. Hans G. Schantz is a physicist, an inventor, and a co-founder and CTO of Q-Track Corporation, a supplier of indoor location systems. He wrote the science fiction thriller, The Hidden Truth, a textbook, The Art and Science of Ultrawideband Antennas, and a short history on The Biographies of John Charles Fremont. Hans lives in Huntsville, Alabama with his wife, and two sets of twins.

And while you're waiting for that, try one of these books

Movie Night: A Nero Wolfe Mystery Too Many Clients

Yup, movie night again. Sorry

You'll have to suffer with Nero Wolfe....



Or purchase one of the books below and have some reading to kill the time.

Music blog: Nightwish - Ever Dream

You want epic buildup?

This is epic buildup.

Want to know how epic book four of the vampire books will be? This is music I'm going to use to write the final shootout.



While you're here....try Set To Kill now, read it over the weekend, order it for your nearest and dearest on Wednesday, and avoid Black Friday. Because it is just that awesome, and if you're a long time reader, yes, this IS the first time I've said that about my book.

Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

There are a whole bunch of people for whom I'm thankful for this year, and the list is long. Especially since I don't think I did any of this last year.

First, I would like to thank the Puppy Kickers of 2015 and 2016. Yes, them. I would like to thank them, from File 770's comments section to Arthur Chu -- especially Arthur Chu, as he brought me into Sad Puppies 3 after I saw his hate-filled, disdainful comments about Brad Torgersen's wife, referring to her as a human shield because she's black.  That pissed me off, and made me aware of Sad Puppies in the first place, and started me on the path to Sad Puppies Bite Back. I suspect that Sad Puppies and these political fights have actually brought me most of the readers I have right now.

So, thanks Arthur, and thanks all of you freaking psychos that make me work just a little bit harder to kick your asses all over the internet.

I would like to thank all of the people who supported Sad Puppies Bite Back, sometimes with ideas, and sometimes just by staying neutral -- Jason Clarke, Will Lehman, Jonathan LaForce, James Schardt, Katie Paulk, Marina Fontaine, Matt Bowman, and to some degree even Tom Kratman and John C. Wright.

To John C. Wright and his lovely wife Jagi -- if only for being on my radio show so often.

For Russell Newquist of Silver Empire, for picking up The Pius Trilogy and planning to rerelease them and unleash them upon an unsuspecting world.

For Dawn Witzke, for the cover art and the audio editing. Yes, she helped edit Sad Puppies Bite Back, the audio ... so if there's a mistake, it's her fault. BwahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Anyway....

The Injustice Gamer, for reading my books, and giving me a review format I should steal. Nicki Kenyon, Lin Wickland, and even Jim McCoy for reading my books and finding them tolerable.

Brian Niemeier ... mostly, just for being himself.

Vox Day, if only for how gracious he was in handling my submissions.

Everyone at LibertyCon, for making my first convention easy.

Everyone at Baen ... for a multitude of reasons.

And thank God for all of the above, and for everything else I have.

I know I'm missing a whole host of other people, but my brain is so fried, I have no idea what I'm missing, or who.

Anyway, enjoy the bird today,  and please,  don't do Black Friday if you can avoid it, just check out the black Friday shopping blog from Tuesday, perhaps check out some gift sets in the tabs above. it'll be safer, and it's giving the gift of books.

Be well all.

Murphy's Law of Vampires, Playlist

In Murphy's Law of Vampires, Marco is .... triggered.

And I don't mean "Someone said something mean to me" triggered. I mean PTSD flashback that he's been carrying around for a while. How is that possible, you ask? He's only 19?

Special circumstances.

This is the song that get stuck in his head.

How threatening can that be, you ask?

Take a listen....

Still nothing, you think?

How about every time it plays in your brain, it turns into a 9-11 music video, with plane impacts, falling buildings, and an ash cloud that blots out the sun. How much fun is it then?

And of course, when Marco has issues, he doesn't have a problem. He makes it into other people's problem.

Marco has a solution, of course.

His solution is to change the tune, and ask a new question....

"How many of them can we make die?"

I love that song.

Then there is the ominous Mister Day. What exactly does one do to defeat such a creature? And what music is epic enough to really capture that moment?

Let's just say that this particular song works on multiple levels.

If you haven't read the book ... well, now you have something to play along with the book.

You'll know the scenes when you get there. Heh heh heh.

Murphy's Law of Vampires

#BlackFriday, 2016

Black Friday is coming, and we must be prepared. This is just a list to make your shopping lives easier -- for Black Friday, or for the upcoming Cyber Monday.

You might want to try some of these items below. I've even reviewed a few of them.

In short: give the gift of books to people you care about. They're cheaper than iPods. Heh.

As with last year, I will start with suggesting my own novels. Not even all of my own novels, just some of them. The newest ones, for starters.

To start with, there's Honor At Stake.  Because everyone loves this novel. Is it because it's romance? It is because it's vampires? Urban Fantasy? A little YA-ish? A little Christian-fic?

I have no idea.

But if you're new here, it's about a boy meeting a girl.  One of them is a homicidal monster. The other's just a vampire. It has Vatican Ninjas, and holy water burning vampires, and sunlight killing unholy monsters AND NONE OF THE VAMPIRES SPARKLE, DAMNIT.

Ahem. Anyway.

People like it. We have over fifty Amazon reviews. And almost everyone likes it. Even people I don't know like it. I'm not sure why, but there you go.

If you were a fan of Honor at Stake, I have no choice but to recommend the next book in the series...

Yes, yes, Murphy's Law of Vampires. This is the point where I answered everyone's problem of a weak final villain from Honor at Stake ... and then gave them everything they asked for and more. Bad guys? Why, yes, I can make you a bad guy. BWAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAAHA

Ahem.

Anyway.

For the record, we mustn't forget the newcomer Set to Kill. Which is basically taking Sad Puppies Bite Back, and taking it to a whole new level of insane. It's another part of the Murder Con Series, including It Was Only On Stun!

Basically, take insane security agent who is a "mundane" at an SF convention

Drop him head first into the culture.

Drop the bodies to the floor.

Hilarity ensues.

Codename: Winterborn .... the "other" novel, also strangely well reviewed. Genre: character-driven scifi espionage. While on a mission to the Islamic Republic of France, Lt. Kevin Anderson's team is betrayed by the politicians who sent them. As the only survivor, Anderson must stop the senators involved before the next team is slaughtered on the altar of political greed. He's certain he won't survive, but he will make this sacrifice, for his Codename is Winterborn.

 I recommend this for all fans of Baen novels -- like John Ringo, David Weber, and even your straight up thriller writers, like Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, et al.

There is, of course, the sequel: Codename: UnSub, which only just came out.

For those of you who might think that distopias aren't dark enough, I bring you....

Dystopias plus a superpowered serial killer.

Yes. Because I like making things even harder than they already are.

Buahahaha.

Anyway....

Oh, yes, we have a mailing list now. Free stuff if you sign up. Also an opportunity for selling ARCs, and whatever else I can come up with

Sign up for my mailing list! Emails may include Vatican Ninjas, explosions, holy water, throat punches, magic, serial killers, vampires, midgets, Pope, pre-release notices, book deals, and did I mention, explosions. No they won't explode in your in-box...I don't think.

* indicates required

Email Address *

Signed copies and gift sets can be ordered here. Order early so they arrive on time for Christmas. Order two of everything, and you should have something for everyone on your list.

Several of the following books you may have seen before.

Iron Chamber of Memory - For adults only, really...or any mature 12 year old, like I was. I don't care in what format you buy it, but you owe it to yourself to buy at least one copy for yourself, though I recommend buying half a dozen, just so you can immediately hand out copies to your friends.
Review here

The Big Sheep - Perfect for anyone who likes SF mysteries, mild dystopias, and Terry Pratchett. As far as I'm concerned, if Rob Kroese wants to keep putting out books about Erasmus Keane for the rest of his life, I'll happily use him as a substitute for Practhett.
(Review Here)

Chasing Freedom -- for anyone who sees the USA falling to fascism, but also sees some small hope in our future. A Dystopia that doesn't make you want to slit your wrists. Yay
(Review here)

Black Tide Rising -- For those people who hate zombies ... you can like 

[Review here]

Murder in The Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes -- if you've been reading my blog for a long time, you know that I loved this one, and I can't possibly recommend it enough.... and then there's The Watson Chronicles, which is even better.  The only books I will recommend over my own, and I'm told my books are pretty awesome, so, yeah...

The Book of Helen -- dang, this was a kickass little novel.  The West Wing meets the Trojan war, this novel goes beyond the "they all lived strangely ever after" of Helen of Troy, and follows the rest of her life after she came home from Troy.  Yes, Helen did have an "after Troy."  You know the mythology, and now, this is the rest of the story.

Ordinance 93:  I've reviewed this book (on Amazon), I've interviewed this author back when Examiner.com still existed. Ordinance 93 is a thriller that sort-of centers around abortion, but is mostly a fun chase novel. I'd actually like the next one to come up.

Infinite Space, Infinite God II .... a Catholic scifi-anthology, so, yeah...fun.

Greater Treasures -- Imagine the Maltese Falcon with dragons. Nuff said.

Stealing Jenny, by Ellen Gable: After 5 miscarriages, Jenny is about to have a pregnancy come to full term... until a psychotic woman kidnaps her and chains her in her basement with the intention of taking the child for her own. I liked this one.

Amy Lynn and Amy Lynn: Golden Angel.  Just buy them. Read them. The first one could be dark YA.  The second ... yeah, for adults only. One's a solid novel, the second one is a solid thriller. Just go with me on this one, okay?

Night Machines by Kia Heavey .... this one was interesting.  Almost Doctor Who-ish by way of Rod Serling.

And, of course, there is an endless list of books I can recommend, which happen to be a different tab at the top of the page -- includes Flynn, Ringo, Weber, Thor, etc, etc.

Tears of Paradox, by Daniella Bova, reviewed here

End of the road, by Amy Bennett: This looks like a fun one, a straight up, old fashioned murder mystery...Yes, I know I haven't read it yet, but I've been busy...

By the Hands of Men, Book One: The Old World.

Also, here's everything I suggested for the Dragon Awards.

And here's everything nominated for a Dragon Award.

That should cover a fairly wide net.

If you have something you'd like to suggest for gifting opportunities, please feel free to mention it below.

You can also click one of the above tabs for suggested books.

Good luck with shopping, everyone.

Set to Kill is out, and ready to be Best Related at the Hugos

Heh, yes, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

However, SET TO KILL IS OUT NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW! Enjoy it.

Though, believe it or not, when I was finished with Set to Kill back in ... March, I think? My first thought was, "Maybe I should give it to Vox Day, and it becomes a Rabid Puppy nominee at the 2017 Hugos. Ha!"

That led me to thinking I should run it past Castalia in the first place, which led to a six month oddity ... or odyssey, depending on who's writing it.

Though I must admit, I would be amused if someone decided to nominate this for Best Related anyway. Lord knows that Sad Puppies 4 was an acid trip I didn't anticipate at all.

Heads exploding, though?

That I expected.

Let me allow you in on my plan for the next year. In fact, I'll let you in on what my plan for the publishing schedule is like.

Then he got an idea. An awful idea.
A wonderful, *awful* idea!

Codename: UnSub was published when it was because ... I wanted it off my plate. I wanted it gone. It was around for four years. It was going to happen with or without the Castalia House acceptance of my books.

I wanted Set to Kill released this year because I want it up for Sad Puppies 5 ... Read it, you'll see why.  It is awesome. It is hilarious. And it will be one of the better things I've ever written.

Yes, really. It's that good. It's that awesome. And I'm not even worried about building it up too much. I don't think this one will let down anybody. For the Puppy crowd, they'll get some laughs out of it. For the non-puppy crowd? I think they'll still be rolling in the aisles.

And the Anti-Puppies? That requires that they think of me at all. And I can't imagine that they would. Really.

And yes, I think this is one I want up for consideration. No, I won't be up for a Hugo. I'm not even entirely certain if I'm going to be up for Sad Puppies 5. But either way, I want to see heads explode. And go BOOM. Bwahahahahahaha.

However, what about Murphy's? Don't I want that up for the Hugos?  Well, sure, if someone else wants it, who am I to say no.

But, with my Dragon Award Nominated novel for Best Horror, you'd think that I'd expect another award domination. At least for the Dragon.

Remember, though: books eligible for the Dragon Award go from the start of August to the end of July.

However, while the four reviews all like Murphy's Law of Vampires ... just wait until you read Live and Let Bite (book 3). It is going to be ...

You know what? Live and Let Bite will be so flipping epic, if it doesn't get best Horror at the Dragon Awards, I'll be surprised. It will be the payoff for everything set up in Honor and Murphy's.  Think I'm kidding? Heh heh heh.

You haven't seen anything yet. You think Mister Day was a pain in the ass to kill? You thought he was a threat when he blew up REDACTED buried REDACTED alive and turned into a giant freaking man-eating REDACTED?

Just wait until you meet Nuala.

This? This is going to be AWESOME.

Live and Let Bite should be coming out in early February. The 2017 Dragon Award nominations should be out a few months later, so everyone can soak in the amazing aspects of the book, and vote it for best horror novel.

Yes, that's right. This time, I know what I'm doing. There will be horror. There will be blood.

And, yes, I blow up San Francisco. A lot.

.... Though, now that I think of it? I do have a dystopia novel out ... and there is a best dystopia category...

Well, it's something to think about.

Why not Sad Puppies Bite Back the book? Based on the original blog post from 2015. Not eligible anywhere, I think.

Anyway, as you're reading the following, just consider for the moment....

Murphy's Law of Vampires .... not really up for any awards, unless you think it should be best novel at the Hugos. Which, also, would be hilarious. Though, like with Set to Kill, I can't imagine it happening, and I wouldn't force the issue....

Though, come to think of it, I can't recall any novels this year I would put down as best SF or best Fantasy. Dang it. I know I should. Huh. It'll come to me.

Set to Kill for best related at the Hugo Awards. Just because. (I can't wait to see some read the name Charles RR Martinez. Their heads will explode, even though that's actually the name of a friend of the family ... AND his son. Heh.)

Anyway, there's Codename: UnSub, for best dystopia at the Dragon Awards. I can't think of any opposition, actually ... which would mean something if I actually, you know, READ dystopia as a matter of course.

Then there's Live and Let Bite for best horror novel at the Dragon Awards.  What's that you ask? Why not nominate both Murphy's and Bite at the Dragons? Because that would split the vote. And I can't see winning best fantasy, if only because Jim Butcher might release a novel in the next few months, and I'm just assuming that won't be a 2-ton gorilla, it'll just be King Kong. Nominate Murphy's all you like for best fantasy. It won't win up against Butcher .... but having the name out there would be awesome.

So, that's the plan for Murphy's Law of Vampires ... sort of ... and Set to Kill .... and Live and Let Bite ...  and even UnSub, I guess.

Don't say I can't plan for the future.

2017 will be the year that Declan Finn .... gets a few nominations. I can't promise anything other than that.

You know what? Once more, just for old times sake.....

UNLEASH THE PUPPIES.

The Catholic Geek: Making YA Fiction Great Again

The Catholic Geek: Making YA Fiction Great Again 11/20 by We Built That Network | Books Podcasts:




Join host Declan Finn as he discusses Young Adult fiction with the YA fiction roundtable, including authors Dawn Witzke, Amy Cattapan, Cynthia Toney, Jagi Lamplighter Wright, and Jane Lebak.



And while you're here....Preorder Set To Kill now, read it Monday, review it on Tuesday, order it for your nearest and dearest on Wednesday, and avoid the rush of Black Friday. Because it is just that awesome, and if you're a long time reader, yes, this IS the first time I've said that about my book.

And now, UNLEASH THE PREORDERS.

Superversive SF Roundtable - Thanksgiving TODAY AT 3PM

With me, Jason Rennie, Daddy Warpig, and the Wrights


And while you're here....Preorder Set To Kill now, read it Monday, review it on Tuesday, order it for your nearest and dearest on Wednesday, and avoid the rush of Black Friday. Because it is just that awesome, and if you're a long time reader, yes, this IS the first time I've said that about my book.

And now, UNLEASH THE PREORDERS.

Killing Your Darlings

In writer parlance, "Kill your darlings" refers to a writer needing to take an ax to something that the writer really REALLY likes, but doesn't ultimately work in the book itself. It can be anything from a self-indulgence mocking of someone in real life, to "that fight scene was NIFTY"....but why was it there? Did it really serve a purpose? No? So sorry, but your cherised piece of the word count is now DEAD.

In this case, I've just pulled the plug on The Pius Trilogy.

You know how hard that is? Let me tell you, it's not a good feeling inside to just yank everything you've poured excessive amounts of time and energy into. But it's in the certainty that Silver Empire can only improve both the quality of the work, as well as the sales.

I still had the bottom fall out of my stomach. This of course wasn't helped by the fact that I removed SEVEN BOOKS: A Pius Man, A Pius Legacy, A Pius Stand, Pius Origins, Pius Holidays, Pius Tales, and Pius History.

I was actually afraid that I had unpublished one of the other novels as well.

So, yes, the Pius serious is dead.

But, damned if it didn't go out on a high note.

This was my author rank for the last day of The Pius Trilogy.

Welcome to the power of Instapundit.

.....

Anyway, I'll be on the Superversive Roundtable this Saturday, I'll have Jagi Lamplighter on Sunday on my show, and Monday will be the debut of Set To Kill, and Tuesday will be my annual Black Friday list.

The Pius books are gone. Some of them are dead. The rest will be back.

Until then, let's get to work.

Set To Kill is out on Monday. It is awesome. It will be badass. If you liked It Was Only On Stun!, you're going to love this. If you hate Stun!, you're probably going to at least enjoy this one. Why? Because it was freaking awesome.

Preorder Set To Kill now, read it Monday, review it on Tuesday, order it for your nearest and dearest on Wednesday, and avoid the rush of Black Friday. Because it is just that awesome, and if you're a long time reader, yes, this IS the first time I've said that about my book.

And now, UNLEASH THE PREORDERS.