The return of the Planetary anthologies

So, Pluto is out

Luna is out.

And the returning anthologies are already up and ready to go.

Mars is up for pre-order, and it has a new editor. 

Mercury is back for pre-order 

As is Venus.

You can pretty much order or pre-order the entire series as of right now. Just click here.

But yeah. They've got editors and they've got covers, and they have release dates and everything.

Tuscany Bay is such a nice, efficient publisher, and they run a tight ship.

It's so nice working with people who know what they're doing.

The entire Planetary Anthology series.

Fighting the Void: A Sliver Empire Rises

This is one of the guys from Catholic reads interviewing my publisher, Russell Newquist, about the Silver Empire Book Club.

If you're interested in joining the Silver Empire Book Club. You can click here at any time.

Clerical Error: out now

Clerical Error is out.

This one is going to be interesting.

There are no fights.

There are no explosions.

There are no ... okay, there's one murder.

Maybe one or two people are just a wee bit injured.

But no one is shot. Or stabbed. Or poisoned. 

A lot of this book falls under your traditional cozy. There's a lot of talking and maneuvering. There's a lot of local politicking and environment...

It helps that this is a historical novel dealing with local issues and murder in 1976.

James is a college philosophy professor with too much time on his hands. When an old classmate asks for a favor, he drops in with little notion of what’s ready for him.

The year is 1976, during the dark times – for both the Catholic Church and New York City.

James’ college classmate is Father Gus Sadowski, the pastor of Saints Gabriel, Columcille, and Rocco church in the middle of Bed-Sty, where there drive by criminals are on one side of the parish, and the mob is one the other. Father Gus is all alone to run the parish, and needs some help – because the live-in priest in the attic, Father Timothy A. Lessner, is worse than useless.

When Lessner takes a tumble down the stairs in the middle of the night, the casual favor has turned into a nightmare.

Can James solve the mystery of who killed Lessner before he finds himself the main suspect?

So, obviously, this is different for me.

The joke I've been using has been "If things go wrong, I'll just blame the co-author."

Since the co-author is my father, that's part of the joke.

Anyway, it's out. I think you can even return e-books if you don't like them. So give it a shot.

Be well all.

Pre-Order, NEW RELEASE: Clerical Error

So it's time to talk about a new release.

No, not something from Silver Empire -- much to my publisher's relief. 

This is something from the distant past, brought to you by someone who was there.

Obviously, any similarities between real persons or events is completely coincidental. Wink. Wink.

Enter: Clerical Error.

And, I have a new co-author.

Dr. John Konecsni is a veteran of academia for decades. Primarily teaching philosophy or shuffling papers in a college office.

Who is this man and why is he important?

First of all, he's my father.

... What? You thought I magically managed to have been born with as cool an author name as Declan Finn?

Second of all, he is my co-author on Clerical Error.

Clerical Error is what you might call a "cozy." It's a nice, laid-back murder mystery, without a lot of running around and shooting. In fact, more of the book is almost a comedic historical set piece, back in the sands of time that were the 1970s.

Let's just say that Dr. Konecsni spent a lot of time in Bedford-Stuyvesant, aka, Bed-Sty, hanging out with a college classmate of his.

The classmate happened to be the pastor of a church.

And the "hanging out" meant becoming an assistant pastor for the entire parish.

Take all that together, add a dead body, and you have the plot of Clerical Error.

James is a college philosophy professor with too much time on his hands. When an old classmate asks for a favor, he drops in with little notion of what’s ready for him.

The year is 1976, during the dark times – for both the Catholic Church and New York City.

James’ college classmate is Father Gus Sadowski, the pastor of Saints Gabriel, Columcille, and Rocco church in the middle of Bed-Sty, where there drive by criminals are on one side of the parish, and the mob is one the other. Father Gus is all alone to run the parish, and needs some help – because the live-in priest in the attic, Father Timothy A. Lessner, is worse than useless.

When Lessner takes a tumble down the stairs in the middle of the night, the casual favor has turned into a nightmare.

Can James solve the mystery of who killed Lessner before he finds himself the main suspect?

I came along, edited the book, added a few touches, and thought it was more than good enough to publish.

Clerical Error is up for pre-order.

And anything else I've got up for sale can be found here.

New platform? No problem

So, something new is coming down the pike.

In my circles on social media, everyone likes to talk about building new platforms.

"WE NEED SOMETHING OTHER THAN AMAZON! / YOUTUBE! / whatever."

Naturally, none of these f***ers wants to show up and do anything about it.

But congratulations, we've got someone who's actually -- gasp -- doing it.

I present to you.... Silver Empire.

The following is the press release announcing a new platform that is one part book of the month club and one part audible subscription.

THE SILVER EMPIRE BOOK CLUB BEGINS

Huntsville, AL March 1, 2020 — Today, Silver Empire, publisher of heroic, wondrous, adventure fiction, launches its new Book Club service. Fans of fantasy, science fiction, and other genre fiction will now be able to save money on ebooks, paperbacks, or hardcovers of their choice through our new subscription service.

“We wanted to give our fans a way to get all of our latest stuff easily and at the best possible price,” Russell Newquist, Co-founder and Publisher at Silver Empire confirmed.

Subscriptions come in the forms of monthly or annual credit allotments. Monthly plans provide a monthly allotment of credits suitable to purchase a book in the user’s preferred format – ebook, paperback, or hardcover. However, credits can be used interchangeably on alternate formats and they never expire.

Silver Empire found that Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service fails to provide many readers with books they actually want to read. Furthermore, it means that readers are only renting books rather than owning their favorites. Most of all, it had no options for those readers who still prefer the feel of an actual book in their hands.

Subscription services are live now and can be purchased here. Early subscribers will be able to score notable savings on hardcover subscription plans through March 31.

Contact:

Russell Newquist russell@silverempire.org https://silverempire.org/book-club

NEW RELEASE: PLUTO

My year of anthologies continues.

You .... okay, you actually may not know this one, but this has been an entire year of anthologies for me.

There was the announcement just this week about Beyond the Wild: A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Anthology,

Storming Area 51

Lupus Dei -- a short story that comes with a subscription to Silver Empire's newsletter.

Supernatural Streets, which is coming ....sooner or later, and edited by Amie Gibbons

And now, finally, Pluto, from Tuscany Bay books.  Yes, I actually am in this one.  

Pluto, the Roman god of death and wealth, ruled the underworld far away from all of the other gods. So it was only fitting when, in 1930 and working on a theorized ninth planet proposed by Percival Lowell, Clyde Tombaugh used the telescope at Lowell Observatory to locate the ninth planet in our solar system, far, far away from its brothers and sister.

Then came that day in July of 2015. Like the Romans when they found themselves within Pluto’s realm and discovered it was nothing like the desolate fires of damnation assigned to his Greek counterpart, Hades, those of us in modern time discovered that Pluto was nothing like we had imagined since 1930.

That iconic photo of Pluto, with the heart-shaped plain later named Tombaugh Regio, told us that there was so much more to the planet. First, it was not blue and not just solid ice as so many had expected it to be. Just like Pluto’s mythological domain, the planet displayed a variety of features and composition.

In this volume, what you will find in the pages that follow are twenty-one amazing stories of death and wealth set around a wandering cousin far out in the cold edges of our solar system. You will find Vikings, knights, warriors defending home and hearth, of triumph and tragedy, and, yes, even the god himself. You will read tales of great courage and great loss. Of sacrifice for a greater good and of justice delivered to the overly greedy. You will even find the aforementioned Walt Disney himself.

You can find the book right here.

NEW RELEASE: Places Beyond the Wild (Z-Day, #4)

This seems to be the year for anthologies. First I was in the Area 51 anthology, then I applied for the Movies, Monsters and Mayhem anthology (with Kevin J. Anderson).

And now, I'm in Places Beyond the Wild: A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Anthology, set in the world of Daniel Humphreys' Z-Day.

Let's just say that Mad Dog Moon had something to do with my getting the job on this one. Heh heh heh.
Anyway, it's already a #1 bestseller on Amazon. So, time to party.

NEW RELEASE: #DEUSVULT #PulpRev

And it's here, the book that Amazon couldn't kill. Despite the ups, the downs, and the sideways bumps this tale has gone, it's made it back onto Amazon. 

But at the end of the day, here it is.

Book six of Saint Tommy, NYPD releases today.

Title: Deus Vult. 

(Click here to see the e-version)**

It's going to be a big one.

Very big.

To start with, Tommy can't even go on vacation without something going terribly wrong.

God wills it. A Saint must find a way. 

All Tommy Nolan wants is some peace to enjoy his family. He’s been to hell and back, and now he needs a break. 

But evil doesn’t need to take a breather, and now the Vatican is back on his doorstep asking for help.

A nearby monastery has been desecrated and the exorcist monks murdered in the most brutal ways imaginable. A legion of demons is gathering for something big, and Tommy’s the saint they need to help.

An old enemy is the ally he needs, but can Tommy trust him? Can they track down all of the demons in time?

And what does the Necronomicon have to do with it all? 

Read Deus Vult today and find out!

This has everything come together. And I mean it. In ways that I can't even articulate without spoiling it. Pick a book. Pick an element from a book. Any element. Yes, it all ties together. Demons, dealt cults, warlocks, gangs, terrorists, succubi, wealthy psychopaths.... all of them.

I should also mention that this one takes place in Massachusetts. That's something we're going to discuss in a future blog post. Heh heh heh.

And did I mention that we have a cover?

I don't know I like it. And it has a small sample of the level of devastation that's in the novel. A very small sample.

As in "you think Harry Dresden leaves property damage"? That's cute. Even Dresden would be impressed by everything that gets trashed in this book. And he'd be perfectly happy with it, because none of it would be his fault... Okay, some of it would be his fault. Because Dresden.

But yeah. I slaughter a monastery full of monks. I have several combat exorcisms. I have shootouts. And monsters. And bugs. And demons. And dragons. And heavy artillery. And powered armor. And demonic books. Killer topiary. Killer fishmen. And a little Lovecraft. And this time, the enemies are Legion.

And Deus Vult, mother, fucker.

As you can see, it's already doing well, before I announced it.

This might be the best thing I ever wrote, with the most horror, most action, and the biggest stakes.

This is going to be so much fun, it's not even funny.

But it will be awesome.

Buy Deus Vult, right here, and now, today. You are not going to regret it. (E-book here)

And, if for some reason, you have been waiting for the last book in the planned series to drop... buy all six books right here in the Kickstarter for the audio book. If you do buy all six, in any format, it comes with the audiobook. And who knows, the stretch goals will probably have audio books for the other novels in the series.

Be well all.

**Note, all links on my blog are part of the Amazon affiliate program, meaning that I get a small cut of selling my own book. This does not increase the price you pay in any way whatsoever. The only reason I'm even bringing it up is because Amazon legal CYA BS demands it of me.

Deus Vult Preorders might be delayed

So, a funny think happened on the way to publication of my latest novel, Deus Vult, Saint Tommy NYPD, #6.

If you've pre-ordered the ebook, you'll find it had a little .... accident. The sort of accident that happens when you don't make your mafia payments.

Now, according to Amazon's story, my publisher failed to upload the internal files of Deus Vult. Which is a cute trick. He loaded up the files weeks ago. In fact, he even handed out the e-ARCs weeks ago for people who supported the original kickstarter.

Now, I'd expect this sort of thing to happen in the first book or two. Hell Spawn, maybe. It's a strange freaking time for things to go sideways, and pretend that Silver Empire doesn't know what they're doing.

Especially since, as a self-publisher, Amazon sends me reminders to upload my materials whether I have or not. Yet somehow, Amazon didn't alert Silver Empire about failure to upload materials? Curious that.

I might be less concerned if it weren't for another item. One, another book pre-launch was discontinued. Aside from the same publisher, the books have only one thing in common -- this is the first one of my novels that has been explicitly referred to as Christian fiction. THe other one was as well.

Normally, I'm not the type to indulge conspiracy theories. But two books? On the same day? With (if I recall directly) two different launch dates?

Sorry, but this requires me to believe that my publisher, after publishing 50 books with only one hitch, suddenly screwed up two in a row.

Let's just say that I am not giving Amazon the benfit of the doubt on this one.

Anyway, no worries. If you're still interested in pre-ordering Deus Vult, you can get it directly from Silver Empire. Or you can order the whole set from the current Kickstarter. 

Let's take the best view of things, and teach Amazon that it's not nice to screw around (or screw up) with writers.

NEW RELEASE: Dances With WereWolves, A Merle Kraft Novel (part one)

From the creator of Too Secret Service (me) comes the latest self-published thriller....

Dances With Werewolves.

Yes, really. I'm a smartass. If you didn't know before, now you know.

Sigh .... and, according to Amazon, I have to warn you that every link in the entire blog is to connect to an Amazon Affiliates link-- and if it isn't, let me know -- which means I get additional money for selling you my books. And anything else you might purchase from that visit. So if any of you are interested in buying a $1000 television from Amazon, please, click on a link, then buy the tv. :)

Anyway, back to being serious, this book is special.

Because it's a Merle Kraft novel

Secret Service Agent Wayne Williams is dead. But he has to keep busy somehow.

When a coven of witches reports a threat to the President of the United States, it's the sort of threat that must be investigated. But it sounds like a vacation for Wayne.

CIA Assassin Catherine Miler is on a mission to kill Baron Samedi," a Prime Minister sacrificing American Tourists.

Author Matthew Kovach is looking for his own version of Derry Maine.

All three are about to find themselves embroiled in San Francisco pagans, want to be vampires, pharmaceutical zombies, and New Orleans.

And all three have to survive their consultants on this case -- the Kraft Brothers.

If I were to give you a one-sentence summary of the book? Think of it as a modern Live and Let Die.

Take a look, and see what you think about the insanity that is Dances with Werewolves.

And if you're a fan of audio books, please remember the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for Hell Spawn.

KICKSTARTER LAUNCH: ST TOMMY NYPD, AUDIO BOOKS

Because you demanded it...
Silver Empire is creating audio books for Saint Tommy, NYPD.

Yeah, so this is going to get fun.

The books are going to be narrated by Jon Mollison.

If you don't know who he is, he's the author of one of the upcoming superhero novels Silver Empire is working on -- Overlook.

For those of you who don't know Jon by voice, you can hear him in Vox Day's audio book The Irrational Atheist, books by Martin van Creveld, Chuck Dixon, and John C Wright's Somewither.

Or you could just click here and listen to Jon do a first pass on chapter one.

Now, yes, I know, there are some audio issues. But that's why it's the first run -- and why Silver Empire is hosting a kickstarter to produce the audio book.

Yes, a kickstarter. Here we go again.

But sound engineers cost money.

Audio book readers cost money. 

(And really, do you want me to listen to me do an audio book for four hours? Or more? If you want an idea of what that's like, you can click here.)

But I recommend that you click here and just buy the audio book version, if you're into that sort of thing.

The first tier that gets you an audiobook is $15. Last time I checked, this was half the price of the cheapest audio book I've ever seen on audible, so it's a good deal. (Seriously, when did audio become so expensive? ...Says the man whose last audio book was on audio cassette or a free copy of Tom Stranger).

Right now, only Hell Spawn is being made... but even I don't know what the stretch goals are. If we break the barrier, I suspect that books 2-6 will be on the table.

Come on, who's on first?

Click here for the kickstarter

RELEASE UPDATE: Moon Anthology is (sort of) canceled

The Planetary Anthology series is being discontinued.

In fact, even the five anthologies that have been published already have been discontinued. They will no longer be available for sale online from the publisher.

Which is odd for me. Especially after a year where the Area 51 anthology I was in this year was conceived of, edited, and released in 3 months from call for stories to publication.

So, yeah, the original publisher isn't doing them anymore.

However, the anthologies have all been picked up again by Tuscany Bay Books.

Which means that they're going to be published by Richard Paolinelli, a great author, Dragon Award Finalist, and he's only been doing this for about 30 years.

So he might know a thing or two.

Oh, yeah, and we have a new cover and a new art style.

The next anthology up is Pluto, edited by Richard himself.

After that, however, is The Moon.

Previously, I had announced that the moon would be broken up into two parts -- the moon, and the dark side of e moon.

As of now, the authors include the following.

• Me
• Ann Margaret Lewis
• Margo St Aubin
• Lori Bowman
• AM Freeman
• Richard Paolinelli
• William Lehman
• Karina Fabian
• Justin Tarquin
• Mark Wandrey
• Steven Johnson
• Bokerah Brumley 
• Karl.Gallagher
• Paul Go
• Penelope Laird
• Caroline Furlong
• Lou Antonelli
• Jody Lin Nye 
• L Jagi Lamplighter
• Lloyd A. Behm II
• Josh Griffing

But this one has everything, more or less. 

We have two sets of werewolves ... maybe. 

We have psychotic elves in libraries. 

We have mining on the moon where people have delved too deep. 

We have HP Lovecraft insanity on a fishing trip.

Demonic poker games with the dead. 

The end of the world.

A jail break from a space station for the deranged, making a deal with the devil.

We won't even go into the stories I didn't accept. Heh heh heh.

Next book up in the anthology is Pluto. Edited by Richard himself.

After that? Luna. At long last.

Sorry, I've been ready to get this published for a year now. It's a bit of a relief.

Anyway, while you're waiting for Luna to come out, take a look at the list of my publications. See if you're interested in any of them.

Buckle up. This is going to be a heck of a week for news.

NEW RELEASE, TOO SECRET SERVICE, PART 2

My serial novel, Too Secret Service, has come out with a second part today.

The first part was Wayne Williams meeting Catherine Miller. And I really did like the chemistry between them. The rest of part one was Northern Ireland, and a shootout in an old army barracks. 

Part two is a trip to Rome, where our heroes will encounter some familiar faces. There are shootouts above and below the streets.

Much to my surprise there was a natural break down of the book into a serial format. 

Part 1: Wayne, meet Catherine, and Ireland.
Part 2: Rome.
Part 3: Masada, and the finale.

For those of you who have read The Pius Trilogy, you may remember some minor characters here and there.

Blaine Lansing and Jennifer Lane were both introduced to you, the reader, in A Pius Legacy: A Political Thriller. I met them both here. Much to my surprise, it wasn't hard to rewrite Too Secret Service so that it came after Pius. In fact, thanks to the rewrites I had to make there, the book became a little shorter, and some of the melodrama I had written in when I first wrote it.

Yes, while I had written a fairly solid novel, that needed minimal changes, there was one slight problem I had in the rewrite was part of the background material for the hero. This sucked up a lot of page time. When I replaced the reason for Wayne's exile to the back woods -- let's just say his family pissed off the last President in Pius -- all of that other detail went by the wayside. It made the book shorter, the action a little tighter, and the overall novel less moody.

But yeah, I had a great deal of fun with this serial. 

Crusader (Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 5)

Crusader is here.

Still working abroad, Detective Tommy Nolan has a hot tip that leads him to Germany. Women and children are disappearing from Catholic Bavaria. The local police have their hands tied. Tommy is the last hope for answers.

Yet again, Tommy is in over his head. What starts as a sex trafficking ring turns into a terrorist conspiracy to unleash Hell on Europe. To stop it, Tommy must fight Nazi vampires, terrorists, and a swarm of succubi who want him as their next meal. Tommy has always crusaded for justice. But now he might be on his last crusade.

This one has everything.

We have Winged Hussars.
We have Jihadi Nazi vampires.
We have succubi running a sex trafficking ring.
We have the nightclub scene from John Wick (dead puppy not included).
We have telekinetic teenagers.
We have mechs versus kaiju dragons -- yes, I managed to stuff in one of those, too.

And we have a cover.

Not bad, huh.

You can get Crusader here

Infernal Affairs is here

It's out. Book three of my next Dragon Award nominated series, Infernal Affairs. Yes, I'm that confident, and you will be too, once you read through them.

You know, I used to think that Hell Spawn was the best thing I ever wrote. But now that I've finished book 4, and outlined book 5 and 6, that it was only the beginning.

Because buckle up, we're going to have some fun.

I figured I was going to have to up the stakes.

What's that you ask? I've attacked his family, his police station, his friends and his city, so what could I possibly do to him?

Unleash Hell, that's what.

When I outlined Infernal Affairs, I had expected to address the issue of corrupt police officers. Then, over the course of the book, I would be expanding the threat from corrupt cops to other criminal classes.

Then I realized that I was playing far, far too small.

It was time to expose Detective Tommy Nolan to a new level of threat. He's faced demons, a few zombies, fah! So what! Here's a balrog crashing into the Long Island Expressway, a parkour chase with hellhounds, and that's the first few chapters. So there! We're going to expand Tommy's horizons to a world of monsters so vast, I think I'm going to threaten his sanity a little.

It got so fast, so knuckle-intense, an alpha reader needed to take breaks. I edited it so the down time was a little longer -- meaning I kept all the tension, just gave the reader more time to breathe before all hell breaks loose again. Meaning the readers won't even STOP this time! MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

And this concludes the origin story. Heh heh heh. Yes, dear readers. The first three books are a nice warm up act for Tommy.

This is going to be so much fun.

Anyway! Infernal Affairs, out today! Take a look at it, review it when you can, and enjoy.

Brace for impact, guys, we're going to have such fun.

Book 4: City of Shadows, February
Book 5: Crusader, March
Book 6: Deus Vult, April

Cover Reveal: Infernal Affairs

I was originally going to post this in my mailing list.... but it was already posted on the Kickstarter page.

So, here is the cover for Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 3, Infernal Affairs.

Yes, he does have a Tommy gun. Why do you ask?

Please remember to pick up a copy of Hell Spawn and Death Cult, so you'll be finished by the time Infernal Affairs comes out.

It'll be one Hell of a good time.

Unleash .... THE HEROES

Today I would like to give you some blessed relief from me talking to you about my books....

.... So I can talk to you about other people's books.

Superheroes are in.

You may have noticed.

Well, Silver Empire has. 

They've been working on a project for the past few months to feed the public's ever growing interest in Superheroes: Heroes Unleashed. 

What is it? Glad you asked. It's actually a shared world on the scale of old-school Marvel or DC -- think of Crisis on Infinite Earths or Secret Wars, first edition. One superhero world, in one superhero city....

With five authors.

This is the brain child of Morgon Newquist, my editor, and one of the better authors in some of the anthologies I've been in.

Kai Wai Cheah, 2017 Dragon award nominate author
JD Cowan, who has reviewed ... most of my books.

Jon Mollison, of the late "Sad Puppy Book Club" website.

Richard W. Watts who ... I should know, but don't ask me for his credits right now.

But today, my publisher Silver Empire brings you -- The Kickstarter Campaign.

Five Amazing Authors, Five Super Novels!

Here at Silver Empire, we've been waiting nearly a year to bring you the exciting Heroes Unleashed project! We've collected the best up and coming authors to bring you this amazing, first of its kind collection of new, interlinked superhero novels! No, these aren't comicbooks or graphic novels, these are straight up novels, packed with all the superhuman action and goodness you could ever ask for!

Authors Morgon Newquist, J.D. Cowan, Kai Wai Cheah, Jon Mollison, and Richard Watts bring the Heroes Unleashed universe to life with their five Phase I novels. Each novel will begin a series of its own that will continue for at least three books.

I'd go into details on these books, but you can see it here, on the Kickstarter page

On the Kickstarter, today, as well as while the campaign develops, they intend to add more and more art and samples from the novels throughout, so if you're not impressed by what's there today (and I think you should be, it's kinda awesome) come back every so often over the 21 days the Kickstarter will run.

The backer rewards are as follows

* $1 - the first 100 pages of Heroes Fall right now (don't even have to wait for the Kickstarter to end).
* $5 - pick 1 ebook from the Phase I selection
* $15 - pick 1 paperback from the Phase I selection (signed)
* $20 - the complete Phase I ebook selection
* $30 - a limited edition Heroes Unleashed "Phase I Backer" t-shirt
* $40 - pick 1 hardcover from the Phase I selection (signed, limited edition, Kickstarter only)
* $90 - complete Phase I paperback collection (signed)
* $190 - complete Phase I hardcover collection (signed, limited edition, Kickstarter only)
* $1000 - YOU get to be a minor hero or villain in a future Heroes Unleashed book. Includes custom art. Limit 5. 

Each of the rewards are limited, so, keep that in mind. Sooner would be better.

Keep in mind, this is only Heroes Unleashed PHASE 1.  Yes, phases. The new Marvel Method ... the one that makes money, not the current batch of comic books with art so bad, it even makes my cover art looks good. (Not that it annoys me or anything....)

There will probably be even more data on the future of the project during the campaign. Just a guess.

Now, I'm sure there will be some people who are wondering why do this now. "But Declan," I hear you say, "they already publish books ... like yours ...without needing outside cash."

As they point out

What we need

To be honest, we don't need a whole lot. Four of the five books are already basically done (first drafts are finished, editors have had a crack at them). All we really need at this point is covers and promotional artwork.

What your pledges support  

Your pledges support getting us those covers and promotional artwork, they'll help us promote the books, and - most of all - the authors will get paid at their respective royalty rates, which will help ensure that they keep writing more Heroes Unleashed stories!

You will note in the kickstarter page, everything is co-authored by the little man who wasn't there. This of course brings us to one nifty little trick that more than a few publishers employ -- a shared co-author on all of these books. Like "Richard Castle" of the real life Nikki Heat and Derek Storm novels has one name, multiple authors, this has a similar track. In part, it's a way to mess with Amazon's algorithms. According to an author at I-Con, back when it was my local con, Baen would have senior writers work with junior writers, so the bestselling author name would confound Barnes and Noble's purchasing algorithms (for example, back when March Upcountry came out and Ringo was relatively new, the computer for the bookstore thinks "David Weber sells millions of books. We should order millions of books. Ignore that John Ringo name, Weber sells millions of books.")

Again, that's just what I heard at I-Con. I may be wrong.

In the case of Heroes Unleashed, Amazon will give higher priority to authors who sell books more often. I heard that about a year ago, I think. Anyway, now, HU has a single co-author on all of the books, even the ones that aren't written yet.

It's a little meta.

Anyway, look over the kickstarter, see what you think. And, frankly, give at least one dollar. At least one. Why? Because for one dollar, you get the first hundred pages. And if you like them, kick in more so you can get more stuff.

I'm a cheap bastard, and that's a good deal even for me.

Kickstarter here.

Honor at Stake       Demons are Forever

             

Live and Let Bite

Honor at Stake: The Paperback Edition

Honor at Stake is back!

.... Again.

For a third time.

The 2016 Dragon Award finalist for best horror is finally back in Paperback.

And we are ready to kick some ass! Yee haw...

Anyway...

The paperback is out just in time, really. It gives everyone time to purchase one of these snazzy new covers for DragonCon. Heck, it gives me time to get some for DragonCon. Either way, it works.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is ready for the upcoming rerelease of the novel Good to the Last Drop. The grand finale of the series should be fun.

Heh heh heh.

Also, coming soon: Silver Empire is nearly ready to unleash something massive. I'll discuss that when there are more details.

But right now, here's Honor at Stake, in paperback.

Honor at Stake  Demons are Forever

Live and Let Bite

Upcoming works from Declan Finn

Life is in flux at the moment, on multiple levels.

Personally, I'm getting married. While I have the church, I have the hall, and I've sent out all of the invites, there's also painting and carpet work to be done. Long story. But in involved moving four book cases, a bed, a chest of drawers, and finding out just how much stuff can hide in a carpet over the course of years.

Professionally, where does one start?

We're coming to the end of the Dragon Awards discussion. Eligibility closes this month, and voting ends the month after.

The Patreon account is going okay. It's going better than I thought it would this early. You will note that I don't discuss it this much.

Love at First Bite is coming out on schedule. Honor at Stake and Demons are Forever are going like clockwork. Live and Let Bite is on track.

Oh, hey! I'm editing Superversive's Moon anthology!!! .... Except Earth was pushed back by a month. Which means the date of publication of Luna is pushed back by at least a month, perhaps more. It at least allows me to wait on a few stories. But I like hard deadlines, because I'm a neurotic OCD nutcase.

And killing time by self-publishing? My cover artist is swamped with work. And no one wants me to do my own covers ever again.

Right now, the primary project is the one I initial announced as Patron Saint of Detectives. For all I know the eventual end title is either NYPD Saint, or Saint Nolan, Detective.  Either way, I just keep referring to it around the house as "the detective series."

There will be more on that later. I'll dedicate at least one post on it the closer we get to the publication point... which should be in September, after DragonCon. I'll probably even have artwork.

So, there's plenty of forward momentum, and progress being made on multiple fronts. Though a lot of that involves a lot of waiting. I suck at having nothing to do....

I'm sure I can make up some work.

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

2018 in review thus far

Do you know how strange it is to have no had a new novel published in 2018?

On the one hand, I feel like I'm slipping.

On the other hand, I know what's coming.

This year, six books of mine have been rereleased.

A Pius Legacy

A Pius Stand

Pius Tales

Pius History

Honor at Stake

Demons are Forever

And this year isn't over yet.

July: Live and Let Bite
August: Good to the last Drop
September: Hellspawn
November: Cult of Death
TBA: Planetary Anthology: Jupiter
TBA: Planetary Anthology: Pluto
TBA: Planetary Anthology: The Moon

And perhaps for Christmas, I release a self published book... you know, one of the ones I promised I would have self published already.

Eh. I've been busy. I'm getting married this year. And I'm dealing with letting go of stress by staying out of Facebook fights and blocking schmucks.

Enjoy. I have to go back to work.

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.