My post-apocalyptic story The Scavenger is free on Amazon until April 8

In honor of the Post-Apocalyptic A to Z blogfest I'm doing over at Midlist Writer, I'm offering my post-apocalyptic story The Scavenger for free on Amazon for the next five days.

This story is a 67-page teaser for my Toxic World series, which starts with the novel Radio Hope. The Scavenger a standalone story, but it gives a different perspective on some of the places and characters that appear in Radio Hope.

The blurb is below:

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times.
The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive.
Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

I'd like to get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible. So please, between now and Tuesday, April 8, feel free to share, like, tweet, etc. Here are some tweets after the jump you can use if you are so inclined.

My next Toxic World story is out!

I've just released The Scavenger on Amazon. This 10,000-word story is set in the same Toxic World as Radio Hope and explores some more of the personalities and dangers of that world. I've priced it at 99 cents as a teaser for the series. Enjoy!

Refugees from the Righteous Horde, the second novel in the series, is progressing well. I'll be taking all next week off while I'm on a press trip in Belgium. The country is gearing up for the centennial of World War One and I'll be visiting many of the important sites of the Western Front. Once I'm back I'll be doing a spate of nonfiction writing before sitting down and getting to the end of the novel.

Have a great weekend!

Military History Photo Friday: Elaborate Renaissance Arms and Armor

Here are a couple of fine pieces from The Wallace Collection, one of the best private collections of art in London. They have an especially good arms and armor gallery. It's well worth checking out if you're in London.

On the top we have, according to the signage, "a mace of the morning star type, damascened in gold with arabesques and emblematical figures within cartouches of silver piqué." Well that clears that up. It's from Milan c.1560.

Below are some fine parade helmets from the same century, also made in Italy and of the type known as "antique armor", which imitated the styles of parade armor from ancient Rome.

Blurb version 2.0

Here's a tweaked version. One thing to think about is that this is a teaser for the series, so it will vary between .99 cents and free.

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times.
The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive.

Set in the Toxic World introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible. 

The Scavenger cover reveal, plus I need input on my blurb

My brother-in-law Andrés Alonso-Herrero has come up with another fine cover for me. This is for a 10,000-word novelette called The Scavenger. It's going up soon as a promo for my Toxic World series and is set close to the action in Radio Hope. Here's a draft of the blurb below. I'd love your input!

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times.
The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive.

Military History Photo Friday: Senegalese Troops in World War One

Hello from Tangier! Actually I'm writing this several days early and scheduling it ahead of time because I'm happily without Internet for a few days so my better half and I can enjoy our 14th anniversary in the Casbah.

To keep with the African theme, here's a photo of the Tirailleurs Sénégalais in World War One. What is now Senegal was a French colony during the war and like many other colonies they sent troops. Senegalese fought with distinction throughout the war on both the Western Front and the Dardanelles.

Recruits also came from Morocco, Indochina, and other colonies. More than 72,000 colonial soldiers died during the war.

Below is a closeup of the middle two guys with their flag commemorating some of the battles they fought in. You can see they've earned some medals too.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Military History Photo Friday: The Battle of Dogali

I was chatting with science fiction author David Drake this week and he mentioned a recent visit to Italy, where he got to see this splendid painting. It's by Michele Cammarano and depicts the Battle of Dogali on January 26, 1887.

This was an early engagement during Italy's attempt to colonize Abyssinia, modern Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Italians had taken the coastline, modern Eritrea, and the Emperor Yohannes IV sent an army to push them back. After the Abyssinians unsuccessfully attacked an Italian fort, the 10,000 warriors ambushed an Italian relief column headed for the fort. The column consisted of 500 Italians, 50 native irregulars, and two machine guns. The machine guns soon jammed and the Italians were overrun.

The Italians quickly vacated the region, but came back in 1896 intent on taking the entire country and regaining the honor they lost at Dogali. Instead, they were defeated at the famous Battle of Adowa, the subject of one of my books.

The detail below certainly makes it look like the Italians are winning. Note the curved shotel sword the Abyssinian to the left is carrying. These were fearsome weapons and were especially good against shield-carrying African warriors.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, where you can see a large format copy of this painting.