Extra coffee rations saw me through this...redecorating. Wallpapering over the cracks in the blog. You can see what was painted beneath, here, there, in the form of old blog titles. Maybe those are really pieces of newspaper under a carpet that's about to be replaced.
Monday 24 June 2013
Monday 17 June 2013
VAMPIRES.
I've just released VAMPIRES on the Kindle. To celebrate, there'll be a sale of Neon Gods Brought Down by Swords today, Monday 17th June, and tomorrow, Tuesday the 18th. Get Neon Gods FREE on Amazon while you can.
Crashing parties used to amuse Vance. He hurled himself into a world of no commitments. When the synthetic blonde offered more of the same, guided by brusque phone texts, he didn’t see the harm in another meaningless fling.
“Rule 1. If I text and you are busy, that’s fine. The rule runs in both directions. No pestering.”
He was okay with that.
“Rule 2. We never attend social functions. I don’t do weddings, though I will crash parties.”
Suited him, just fine.
“Rule 3. No gifts.”
Saved money.
“Five rules. Rule 4. If we see each other with strangers, no questions. No introductions to family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, serial killers…”
Vance had no problem with the fifth rule. He thought his problems began next day.
There, in red lipstick, she’d left a mirror message.
WIPE THIS OFF. STICK TO THE RULES. SEE YOURSELF OUT.
The bar? Reasonable. Didn’t try too hard to be trendy. He knew no one here – not on a Wednesday night. Vance watered at the venue on the odd weekend. Open the door on a world without strings. In.
Scene. The jet minx in front of him shook hailstones from her bobbed coiffure. Melting pellets bounced off his heavy coat. By contrast, she appeared to be wearing a black plastic bag for no protection from the night.
He eyed her tight black jeans. Painted on. Sheathed legs stopped at bare ankles and shiny stab-me black shoes. Hang about…
37,000 words, plus notes.
DOUG CHAMBERS: ZOMBIE! (13.)
Though, on a fiddly point, 10% of the Kindle book is free to read on Amazon. Taking preamble into account, that means the first chapter of the book is free to read - the equivalent of the first five blog posts, back when I serialised this.
Monday 10 June 2013
INSANITY.
Here’s another plug. I’m publishing a story, at last. INSANITY, in my FICTION FACTORY line, is available on Amazon Kindle.
She’s trapped in the asylum. No way in hell to escape – for the asylum sits on the edge of a lunar mining colony. Home is a long way off. Now, some blurb…
“Get out of hand, and we cut the air. Try to entangle your neck in the cord, and we cut the air. Attempt to smash the glass – impossibility – and we cut the air. Try to force the hatch open – impossibility – and we cut the air. You’ll be knocked out and removed for evaluation once in a little while. Try not to lie your way out of therapy. This is for your own good and the safety of others. If you vomit, we’ll flush you out and suck the debris away. So that’s no avenue for an escape-attempt. Thumbs are twitching. Slide her in, Burt. Don’t want her beating you up. That would be an embarrassment.”
Dark hair wafted in the underwater equivalent of a breeze. The current. Caused by? Machines keeping the water fresh, he supposed. She twirled and moved, sleeping, nearer the glass. Dark hair swept back from her face. He kept expecting her eyes to pop open, but those stayed shut.
“They begged her to stop digging. The aliens. Her shift-mates were murdering the baby aliens, and a whole species was at risk.”
“She ever show an interest in ecology before that?”
“No. The workforce doesn’t have to be dolphin-friendly up here.”
Left floating in the psych-tank, her life is over. Declared violently insane, she can do little but widen her eyes in response to her surroundings. She wants out. Escaping from the tank is the start of an impossible journey. Do it. Emerge from the tank.
All you need do then is escape from the asylum. Reach the train. Take that to the main hub. A journey of an hour. Transfer, undetected, to the train through the accommodation blocks. Head for the space shuttle landing area. Another train journey of an hour. Hang around for the monthly shuttle. Board.
Travel from moon to planet. Three days. Remain undetected in all that time.
Piece of cake. Except for that tricky part about killing Dr Bell and everyone on Dr Bell’s side.
46,000 words, plus notes.
NEON GODS BROUGHT DOWN BY SWORDS. FREE ON KINDLE 10TH AND 11TH JUNE 2013.
To celebrate a return to publishing material, I’m holding a two-day sale – Neon Gods Brought Down by Swords is free on Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 11th of June, 2013. The release of INSANITY signals a mini-publishing spree. Look for VAMPIRES to make an appearance on the 17th of June.
REPORT FROM A FUGITIVE. BLOG BANNER CHANGE.
Periodically, the blog banner is going to change. If I misremember rightly, the very first blog banner was a default colour provided by Blogger...
I was struggling to make Blogger accept the first banner, and all I had to go on was the basic thing. Once you have a banner up, it changes rapidly once previewed, LOL.
Too wide. Broad. Blurred, unaccountably.
Yes, I've always struggled with that bit...ooh, look, pixels, why? No answer. Fixing settings, mixing settings, vexed settings, messed settings, defaults, faults, and off-centre centred items...
Been there. Grew tired of that.
Periodically, the blog banner is going to change. When it does, it'll change rapidly once previewed.
I was struggling to make Blogger accept the first banner, and all I had to go on was the basic thing. Once you have a banner up, it changes rapidly once previewed, LOL.
Too wide. Broad. Blurred, unaccountably.
Yes, I've always struggled with that bit...ooh, look, pixels, why? No answer. Fixing settings, mixing settings, vexed settings, messed settings, defaults, faults, and off-centre centred items...
Been there. Grew tired of that.
Periodically, the blog banner is going to change. When it does, it'll change rapidly once previewed.
DOUG CHAMBERS: ZOMBIE! (12.)
What is this exclusivity anyway? Oh, the usual Kindle deal. The book goes into KDP Select, and can't appear elsewhere electronically. Result? Scrub the blog clean.
Monday 3 June 2013
NEON GODS BROUGHT DOWN BY SWORDS.
In a change to the way the blog is mismanaged, I’m going to throw posts on here running below the usual minimum 1,500 wordage. I’ll plug books, provide associated blurb, display covers, and throw in updates where applicable.
This isn’t goodbye to blogging – just a gradual goodbye to the way I’ve been blogging. Bundling blog posts with revamped fiction gave material for three volumes of REPORT FROM A FUGITIVE. The fourth volume will house the complete zombie saga featuring Doug Chambers. (No, Doug stars in his own novel - Eclectic Ed.)
My plan was to put out two reports a year. Plans change. Regular blogging winds down in July 2013. I have fish to fry, and other fish to fry too.
Let’s start with a plug for Neon Gods Brought Down by Swords. No sorcery to speak of. Sword and science. A romp through an ancient city. The prospect of war in the air. Strange doings in the cobbled streets. This is part of a series, but the next book will be an offshoot – a short story collection called Neon Gods Adrift in Mist.
I am Sorcha Nic Lir. Kill me, if you dare.
Seven men are fated to be sent into the dark. They mustn’t know that they are going to die. There’s no telling who they’ll bargain with, if they think that they are under threat. If they manage to convert the assassin to their cause, everything will fall apart at the outset.
Fortunately, there’s a plan for dealing with the assassin. It’s the same plan, with the same element of risk. He, too, must not know that he is marked for death. There’s no telling who he’ll bargain with, if he thinks that he’s under threat.
Gilach Mac Gilach will bargain with anyone, and possibly anything, if it means staying alive that little bit longer. Sent to the city to extinguish the lives of seven ne’er-do-wells, Gilach falls foul of a sudden change in the political mood.
Within seconds of arrival, he realises that the rules of the game, and promises of gold, mean nothing to the covert agents pulling his strings. The stakes are ridiculous, the odds beyond reckoning, and the treasure unwinnable. Those factors never stopped him before. They could earn him a spot six feet under, this time round…
From the notes on this story…
Creating a Cold War sword and science setting seems like a mad meeting and eradication of styles. Quiller in Hyboria – The Conan Memorandum – though Gilach lacks Quiller’s analytical ability and morality…
Seven men are fated to be sent into the dark. They mustn’t know that they are going to die. There’s no telling who they’ll bargain with, if they think that they are under threat. If they manage to convert the assassin to their cause, everything will fall apart at the outset.
Fortunately, there’s a plan for dealing with the assassin. It’s the same plan, with the same element of risk. He, too, must not know that he is marked for death. There’s no telling who he’ll bargain with, if he thinks that he’s under threat.
Gilach Mac Gilach will bargain with anyone, and possibly anything, if it means staying alive that little bit longer. Sent to the city to extinguish the lives of seven ne’er-do-wells, Gilach falls foul of a sudden change in the political mood.
Within seconds of arrival, he realises that the rules of the game, and promises of gold, mean nothing to the covert agents pulling his strings. The stakes are ridiculous, the odds beyond reckoning, and the treasure unwinnable. Those factors never stopped him before. They could earn him a spot six feet under, this time round…
From the notes on this story…
Creating a Cold War sword and science setting seems like a mad meeting and eradication of styles. Quiller in Hyboria – The Conan Memorandum – though Gilach lacks Quiller’s analytical ability and morality…
…Mr Quiller has a duty of care to people. Gilach has more in common with Brian Freemantle’s agent-as-survivor, Charlie Muffin. Try not to call him Charles. Anything, to survive. Betrayal’s just a word.
As for Sorcha…you’ll have to read the book.
As for Sorcha…you’ll have to read the book.
DOUG CHAMBERS: ZOMBIE! (11.)
Technically I am away from the blog, but here I sit updating these zombie posts to remove material affected by an Amazon exclusivity deal.
I'm blogging, on average, monthly during my supposed break. But I'm fixing something like seventeen blog posts right now, plus a few more that are caught in the blast.
I'm blogging, on average, monthly during my supposed break. But I'm fixing something like seventeen blog posts right now, plus a few more that are caught in the blast.
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