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!

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.

I'm over at Unicorn Bell today, and a comment on sexism in the writing industry

My virtual book tour for Radio Hope continues with an interview over at Unicorn Bell today. Sales have been steady but not stellar, but hey, it's only been out less than three weeks. Indie publishers have to learn patience as they build up a reputation.

Luckily, some readers are helping with that by giving me very positive reviews. Several have said they've read the book in one or two sittings. The word "inhaled" has been used more than once.

Be careful of inhaling, ladies and gents, there's a lot of nasty stuff in the atmosphere of the Toxic World! This French soldier is well kitted out for reading my novel. Make sure you are too!

Oh, and if you want to breathe some more toxic air, read this Black Gate post about the continuing mudslinging over at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America because a few female writers dared to point out the rampant sexism in the industry. Guess what happened? Yeah, the usual nonsense.

We like to pretend that the smarter sections of our society are free of sexism and racism, but that just ain't so. Just ask a female scientist, or a female doctor, or a female writer. Will things improve in the future? I hope so. Pushing down half the intellect of the human race is just not the best way forward. Please don't make my novel come true. Respect everyone!

Radio Hope gets its first review, and it's five stars!

Less that two weeks after its release, Radio Hope has received its first review! The reviewer, blogger Sioux Roslawski, says:

The author has painted a picture of a world that we might end up with--if we keep abusing our environment and we if keep being devisive about people, keeping the "have-nots" separated from the "haves." Although this story takes place in the future, it's easy to envision it being not too far into the future...which is the terrifying part.

I appreciate that the author has given his readers some credit. Too often, books like this are full of chunks of background information. Different terms and backstories are explained at the very beginning, which slows down the story. Sean McLachlan trusts that his readers have brains and he has ensured that things are revealed in a logical, natural way...as the story evolves. (He even made us wait until the last page for a tidbit I was wondering about throughout the entire novel. I was worried I'd never find out the answer, that it would be just a forgotten detail, but McLachlan did not disappoint...)

I gave this novel 5 stars because it is normally not the kind of book I would read. However, despite it being outside of my reading box, I inhaled it. I read it in two nights, anxious to get to the end.
Sioux isn't the only person who said they've read it in two days. I take that as a good sign!

My virtual book tour is continuing. Today I'm being interviewed by Paris-based blogger D.G. Hudson.

My next work in progress: Trench Raiders

Right now I'm busy with preparations for releasing Radio Hope on February 1 and the accompanying virtual book tour. I'm also writing the sequel--Book Two in the Toxic World series, Refugees from the Righteous Horde.

After that, I'll be starting another series, Trench Raiders. These will be action books set in World War One along the lines of Jack Badelaire's excellent Commando series of WWII books. It follows a group of British soldiers as they become a crack trench raiding unit. The first book takes place at the Battle of Aisne in September 1914, the first time that the British Expeditionary Force faced German trenches.

As you might expect, the British got slaughtered, and this is where our heroes come in. They realize that frontal charges across No-Man's Land aren't going to work and so they develop their own techniques. I'm in the midst of researching the battle right now and came across this Wikimedia Commons image of an old German novel titled Hell Fights at the Aisne River. Cool image, but I won't be using it for my own cover. I want a British soldier, not a German one!

The plan is to alternate between my post-apocalyptic Toxic World series and the Trench Raiders series. I also have some stand-alone works simmering in the back of my mind. This year is going to be a busy one!

Teutonic Treasures and Archaeology

When I'm not blogging here, I often do guest blogs at other sites. Recently I did a post for the Black Gate blog on The Church and Treasury of the Teutonic Order, Vienna. Black Gate is a leading fantasy magazine that runs a great blog on all things genre. Last year they published my fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence, which you can download as a free ebook.

I'm also now the "Archaeology Expert" on the The Scout Project, a fun blog run by former Gadling coworker Libby Zay. It covers all sorts of subjects and encourages readers to go out and explore for themselves. She just interviewed me about my archaeology career.

Expect to see more from me on both these blogs in coming weeks!

Radio Hope Blurb Version 2.0

After some input on my blogs and Goodreads, here's the latest version of my Radio Hope blurb. Thanks everyone! Input welcome!

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . .

A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son.

A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump.

In humanity’s last city, the assistant mayor hopes he will never have to take command.

But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the world through blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Possible blurb for Radio Hope. What do you think?

My trip to Tangier is winding down and now I need to think about my tough publishing schedule over the next year. First up is my post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope! Below is the proposed blurb. I'd love to have your feedback. Blurbs are tough.

In a world shattered by war, disease, and pollution. . .

. . .a female gunslinger longs to find a safe refuge for her son. . .

. . .a frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. . .

. . .the assistant mayor of humanity’s last city hopes he will never have to take command. . .

. . .only to find their lives changing forever when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the world through conquest.

My writing year: a look back and a look forward

It’s 2014, and like everyone else I’m taking stock of the past year and looking forward to the new one.

This past year has been one of ups and downs in my writing career. I won a travel award for my Iraq reportage, I got into a ghost story anthology, and saw sales of my Civil War novel go up thanks to a free story I posted. It looks like readers like to sample your wares before making a purchase!

The high point was National Novel Writing Month. I’d never done one before. Working furiously through November, I wrote a 71,000 word post-apocalyptic tale called Radio Hope. It’s coming out in February. The turnaround was so quick thanks to my being able to devote my entire energy to the project, plus the helpful aid of my many beta readers. You guys rock!

The big downside to this year was the death of Gadling. It used to be the number one travel blog on the web. I’d worked for it for more than four years, writing more than a thousand posts and doing many fun series to places such as Iraq and Somaliland. Sadly, a reshuffle in the parent corporation led to all the writers being laid off. Now Gadling is a shadow of its former self. Where once a dozen experienced writers reported in from all corners of the globe, now an in-house hack produces one or two rehash posts a week.

It’s sad to see something you love die. On the other hand, it can lead to new things. Gadling took up a huge amount of my time, time I am now devoting to more magazine work and lots more fiction. The year 2014 is going to be my fiction year. Not only do I have Radio Hope coming out, but I’m well into the sequel and plan to write a third in the series before 2015 rolls around. I’m also going to start an action series set in World War One called Trench Raiders. More projects are simmering in my brain pan as well, such as my Tangier novel, so stay tuned!

For my writer friends out there, how did your year go? What will you do different in 2014?

Happy New Year!!!

Radio Hope cover: version 2.0

Happy Boxing Day from a rainy and windy Tangier! I sweltered the in the summer and I'm getting drenched and windblown in the winter. I prefer sweltering.
My brother-in law has tweaked the cover for Radio Hope, the post-apocalyptic novel I'll be publishing in February. He's added the series name, adjusted the kerning in my name, and added a bit of toxic color. You can see the earlier version here. Below is the 68 pixel thumbnail that will appear on Amazon, B&N, etc.

What do you think? There's still time to tweak it!

Off on another writing retreat in Tangier

I'm headed back to Tangier today for two weeks of writing and avoiding holiday craziness. I'll be back in time for Los Reyes, the gift-giving day here in Spain, also known as Epiphany. No father can avoid that! In the meantime I'm getting back to my Tangier novel. It's contemporary fiction set in the city.

The last time I was in Morocco I wrote 26,000 words. I've been looking over what I've written and see that I have a lot of work ahead of me. While I have a theme and a general mood, plus lots of local color, the nature of my protagonist and the full plot haven't gelled in my mind. That will come in time. The American Legation has been kind enough to let me set up in their library, where I'll be distracted by their excellent collection of books on Morocco.

I probably won't be blogging much for the next two weeks. The blogosphere tends to get pretty quiet at this time of year anyway!

Photo of the Tangier medina courtesy Julian Henderson. I don't bring a camera along on these trips.

Got my author's copies of Spirits of St. Louis!

A nice little package from Rocking Horse Publishing arrived here in Spain, containing my author's copies of Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories.

It includes my story "After the Raid", an offshoot of my Civil War horror novel A Fine Likeness. For those who have read the novel, it follows the story of Helena, the daughter of the German photographer who gets killed by the bushwhacker band, and how she takes a terrible revenge. Of course a terrible revenge comes at a terrible price. . .

The story also stands on its own in case you haven't read the book (ahem).

There are lots of good stories in here. I especially liked "Ghost in Celestial Blue" by Donna Volkenannt, which is set in Bissell Mansion in St. Louis. Since I know you read this blog, Donna, could you tell me if there's really a ghost there? I suppose I could Google it, but where's the fun in that?

Cover ideas for Radio Hope, what do you think?

My talented brother-in-law, who designed the cover for A Fine Likeness, has done a new cover for me for Radio Hope. It's a work-in-progress. This one is the one he sent.

Here's how it would look at the standard 68 pixel-wide Amazon thumbnail size. This is a post-apocalyptic novel and I want the cover to communicate toxicity and decay. I'm probably going to ask him to move the entire image up a bit so that there will be more room under my name for the words "A Toxic World Novel" or "Toxic World Book One".

If you click on the Radio Hope link above you can get a free download of the first 51,000 words. I'd love to get some feedback and anyone who does gets a free electronic copy when it comes out in February. I'll be taking this preview down in a week so grab it now!

And below the cut are some alternative colors my wife and I came up with. Which do you like best? Any other suggestions? I'm all ears!

It's official, Internet people are stupid

Ah, the Internet!
Remember that post I did about the Waffen-SS calendar a couple of days back? I shared that on a military history group on Linkedin and some Finnish NeoNazi totally freaked out on me, screaming all sorts of crap not worth repeating. Called me a Bolshevik too. Hee hee.
Then a bunch of other people piled on him, including one guy who threatened to kill him. Twice. Threatened him twice, I mean. He didn't threaten to kill him, raise him from the dead, and then kill him again.
The sad thing is, I kinda figured something like this would happen. I think I'm on the Internet too much.

Should I get on Google Plus?

Can anyone give me a good reason to get on Google Plus?

More and more of my blogger buddies are getting on it, which makes it so I can't comment on their blogs. Other than that, is there any reason I as an author should join, or is it just another social media timesuck?

Indie Life: Ten things I learned from National Novel Writing Month

Like many fellow indie writers, I participated in National Novel Writing Month. I managed to finish an entire post-apocalyptic novel of 71,000 words in the month of November.

It's called Radio Hope and you can download the first 51,000 words for free from Smashwords. I'd love to get some feedback and as a thank you I'll send a free electronic copy of the final book to you once it's released in February.

OK, enough self-promotion. What did writing a novel in a single month teach me? Here are ten things I learned.

1. If you are mostly unemployed (I recently lost my travel blogging job when Gadling laid off all their regulars) your word count goes way up.

2. Keeping your word count up helps with your self-esteem when you're mostly unemployed.

3. Keeping your word count up after the challenge is over maintains your self-esteem. I'm working on the sequel right now.

4. You'll help your confidence if you get a jump on the game by writing a lot on the first day. November 1 was my most productive day, with 5,300 words.

5. Write every day, even if it's just 500 words (my worst day) because that forward momentum keeps you from getting stuck.

6. It's good to find a group to help you. I was down in Madrid on November 1 and got to hang out with other members of my old writers group. We took over the back room of a cafe and wrote like mad!

7. If you give the project sufficient focus, you will not have a drop in quality as you increase quantity.

8. You will, however, make more typos. A lot more. Really embarrassing ones.

9. The online community at the NaNo website is super supportive, helpful, and friendly, and disappears after November 30.

10. It's really, really fun!

Radio Hope is done!

Done! My post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope came out to 71,161 words, 315 pages, and took 28 days!

Tomorrow: editing!

If you want to check out the first 51,000 words, Radio Hope is a free ebook on Smashwords. Anyone who sends me feedback will get a free copy of the ebook once it comes out in February.

Whew! Now that that's over I can get back to more blogging.

I met the National Novel Writing Challenge, so have a book on me!

My post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope made it past the 50,000 word mark yesterday, meaning I beat the National Novel Writing Month challenge in 20 days. As I write this the word count stands at just over 51,000. I think I have about 10,000 more words to go, certainly no more than 15,000. Barring a real apocalypse, I'll be done at the end of the month.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've posted this work-in-progress as a free ebook on Smashwords, available in all formats. I've now updated it, uploading an edited version with several more chapters added. The reason I’m posting this for free is so that you, the reader, can have input in the creation of this novel. What do you like about it? What do you think needs work? What characters would you like to hear more about in later Toxic World books?

Alerting me to any typos would be much appreciated too. :-)

Drop me a line at seansontheweb (at) yahoo (dot) com with your feedback and I’ll make sure you get a free electronic copy of the final book when it’s released on February 1. And keep an eye on this blog for regular updates!

Please repost and share!

Oh, and here's the blurb-in-progress:

An aging citizen of civilization's last community finds leadership thrust upon him. . .
A female gunslinger yearns to find a place to raise her son away from the chaos of the wildlands. . .
A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to a village mired in toxic waste. . .
And with the Righteous Horde descending on New City to convert and conquer, all three will have to rely on each other to survive.




Graphic courtesy flickr user Sarah G.

Help me destroy the world, one page at a time!

I'm now 39,000 words into my National Novel writing Month challenge. My dystopian novel Radio Hope is going well. It's sort of Firefly mixed with Mad Max with a bit of pirate radio thrown in.

I've posted this work-in-progress as a free ebook on Smashwords, available in all formats. The reason I’m posting this for free is so that you, the reader, can have input in the creation of this novel. What do you like about it? What do you think needs work? What characters would you like to hear more about in later Toxic World books?

Alerting me to any typos would be much appreciated too. :-)

Drop me a line at seansontheweb (at) yahoo (dot) com with your feedback and I’ll make sure you get a free electronic copy of the final book when it’s released on February 1. And keep an eye on this blog for regular updates!

Please repost and share!

This photo of the Namibian ghost town Kolmanskop is courtesy Harald Süpfle via Wikimedia Commons. To learn more about this eerie ghost town and to see more photos, check out an article I did on Kolmanskop.