A new Civil War horror novel, and a bargain on an old one!

I've just released my latest Civil War horror novel, The River of Desperation. It's the sequel to A Fine Likeness. While the first book in the House Divided series stands on its own, The River of Desperation continued the story of the primeval struggle between Order and Chaos. A blurb is below.

In the waning days of the Civil War, a secret conflict still rages. . .
Lieutenant Allen Addison of the USS Essex is looking forward to the South's defeat so he can build the life he's always wanted. Love and a promising business await him in St. Louis, but he is swept up in a primeval war between the forces of Order and Chaos, a struggle he doesn't understand and can barely believe in. Soon he is fighting to keep a grip on his sanity as he tries to save St. Louis from destruction.
The long-awaited sequel to A Fine Likeness continues the story of two opposing forces that threaten to tear the world apart.
Length: 103,000 words (356 pages)

It's available as an ebook on Amazon, all Amazon affiliates, Smashwords, and soon to come to Barnes & Noble, the Apple store, and more.

In order to celebrate the release, I'm discounting A Fine Likeness. It's only 99 cents until April 26, the 150th anniversary of General Joe Johnston surrendering the Army of Tennessee. It will then be $2.99 until May 21, the 150th anniversary of the surrender of Jesse James, who makes an appearance in both of these books. A Fine Likeness is available on Amazon, all Amazon affiliates, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and almost everywhere else ebooks are sold.

Free Post-Apocalyptic Ebook

Hello from Worldcon! I'm in London at the world's largest, and oldest science fiction convention. I'll be turning 45 here on Saturday, surrounded by science fiction fans. There are worse places to to grow old.

In honor of Worldcon and my oncoming decrepitude, I'm running a special promotion for two of my Toxic World titles of post-apocalyptic books. Radio Hope is on a Kindle Countdown deal. It's usually $3.99 but for August 13-14 it will be 99 cents. On August 15-16 it will be $1.99. On August 17-19 it will be $2.99.

Also, my short story The Scavenger will be free August 14-18.

Grab these titles while they're cheap, and tune in next week for a full convention report and plenty of photos!

Iraq Victory Lap: my fiction is on sale!

For the month of November I've reduced the prices on my ebooks. My Civil War novel A Fine Likeness is reduced to $2.99 and my short story collection The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner and other dark tales is reduced to only 99 cents!

Why? Several reasons.

1. I'm grateful that I returned safe and sound from traveling in Iraq. Despite all the street food I ate I didn't even get a case of Saddam's Revenge! Here is yours truly with the print edition of my novel at Babylon's Ishtar Gate.

2. My Iraq series for Gadling and my blog tour about my trip will both start this week.

3. I'm psyched that my Jesse James book has been released by Osprey Publishing.

4. I love hearing from new readers and I want more of them!

So if you haven't sampled my fiction, now is the time. The links above are for Amazon, but my Civil War novel is also available on many other online venues such as Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. If the recession is hitting you hard, check out my free historical fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence over at Black Gate magazine.

If you have read my fiction already, please help out a struggling writer by reviewing it. Feedback is always welcome!

Fantasy ebook sale and writing tips

It's a sunny weekend here in Santander and we're enjoying the last few beach days before the winter sets in. I still have time to make a few announcements, though! Fellow archaeologist/blogger A.J. Walker is having a fantasy ebook sale of the first two volumes of his Timeless Empire series. Check them out; they're only on sale until Monday!

Ninja Captain Alex Cavanaugh did a great guest post over at My First Book about marketing your work. Lots of good advice there.

Last but not least, I discovered an interesting blog while scrolling through Twitter. Yesenia Vargas did a post about useful twitter hashtags for writers. It included a few I didn't know about.

Do you have an announcement that's at least vaguely related to the subject of this blog? Drop me a line and I'd be happy to spread the word!

It's the penultimate day of my birthday sale!

I celebrated my 43rd birthday on August 16 and to celebrate, I dropped the prices of my ebooks for the rest of the month. My Civil War novel A Fine Likeness is reduced from $5.99 to $2.99, and my short story collection The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner and other dark tales is reduced from $2.99 to $.99. That's right, just 99 cents!

Tomorrow is the last day of August, and the last day of the sale. Get these books at a discount while you can! (and thanks to those who already have, I love getting new readers!)

New indie titles coming out thick and fast!

A couple of my blogger buddies have come out with books lately. First off, occasional guest blogger A.J. Walker over at the Genre Author blog has come out with At the Gates, Book Two of his timeless Empire series. He's offering it at an introductory price of $2.99 and has temporarily slashed the price of Book one, Hard Winter, to 99 cents! A.J. sent over a blurb for At the Gates.

In the thirtieth year of my life, I find I am a soldier in two armies about to go to war with each other, and already at war with a third.

We march across an endless plain, we soldiers of the Baron, loyal human subjects of the Dragonkin and their Timeless Empire. Loyal, I say, but only in name. For within that great army intent on crushing the rebellious cities of Haadsted and Ryksierde marches another army, a secret army, the army to which I owe my true allegiance.

Over at Post-Modern Pulps, Jack Badelaire has published Commando: Operation Arrowhead under his own PMP imprint. Jack loves all the classic men's adventure books from the Seventies and Eighties and judging from the blurb below, they certainly inspire him!

Corporal Thomas Lynch won fame at the Battle of Arras, and felt the shame of defeat at Dunkirk. A year later, as a member of Britain's elite No. 3 Commando, Lynch wants nothing more than to go back over the Channel and kick open Hitler's Fortress Europe, guns blazing.

Introduced by his commanding officer to the enigmatic Lord Pembroke, Lynch is offered a chance to be part of a special team of hand-picked Commandos. Their assignment: sneak into occupied France and ally with the French partisans to fight back against the Nazis.

Lynch readily accepts the challenge, but when the mission goes awry from the very beginning, and the motives of the partisan leader become suspect, the Commandos begin to wonder about their role in the mission: trusted allies with the partisans, or worms dangling as bait for a hungry fish?

COMMANDO: Operation Arrowhead is a military action - adventure novel written in the spirit of classic war movies such as The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, and Where Eagles Dare, mixed with military adventure fiction such as Len Levinson’s The Sergeant and The Rat Bastards series.

Do you have a publication you'd like to appear on Civil War Horror? Drop me a line! All I ask is that it is at least vaguely associated with the subject of this blog. Military fantasy, local history, Westerns, horror novels. . .sure! Erotica, coloring books, investment guides. . .sorry, not my readership.

Woohoo! My short story collection got a one-star review!

My short story collection The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner, and other dark tales has received a one-star review on Amazon UK! Under the title "Can't believe I paid for this" the reviewer said:

"The four stories are not badly written. However, I reached the same conclusion on each -"So what". I didn't find any of them interesting; one I found difficult to understand.The first story about the Nazis, the reason I bought the book, offered all sorts of ideas in my mind but the story was flat and too short. The title was the best bit of the story. The other stories also promise more than they deliver.

"The stories are not badly written.

"I cannot think of one reason why I would recommend anyone to read these stories. They must have some redeeming features so let's hope somebody else reviews them and finds something I missed completely"

So, um, why am I celebrating a bad review? Because I totally don't care. After twelve years as a professional writer and the same number of books published, I finally looked at a bad review, shrugged, and got back to work. It's one guy's opinion and he has a right to it, even if he doesn't express very clearly what he didn't like about the stories. So he felt cheated out of 77 pence. So what? It won't kill my career, it doesn't mean I'm a bad writer, and it probably won't even hurt my sales.

As writers we need to stop worrying about what other people think. Oh yes, easier said than done, and some people can still get under my skin, but if we're to survive in this literary jungle we have to learn to slough off rejection and negativity and keep on writing. So thanks, anonymous reviewer, you just marked a milestone in my writing career!

In other news my Civil War novel A Fine Likeness is still on sale for $2.99 and will remain so until the day after Valentine's Day, because I love my readers.

My short story collection is out!

My short story collection, The Night the Nazis came to Dinner, and other dark tales, is out now as an ebook.

A spectral dinner party goes horribly wrong. . .
An immortal warrior hopes a final battle will set him free. . .
A big-game hunter preys on endangered species to supply an illicit restaurant. . .
A new technology soothes First World guilt. . .

Here are four dark tales that straddle the boundary between reality and speculation. You better hope they don’t come true. 

These genre-bending tales mix fantasy, science fiction, horror, and a dose of satire. I've priced it at 99 cents in order to entire readers, and hopefully get them to move on and buy my Civil War novel. A special thanks goes to Dale Roberts, author of Irrefutable, for doing the excellent cover art.

The Night the Nazis came to Dinner is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and all other Amazon outlets. Coming soon to Smashwords too!