Another Dystopian Freebie

Hey, Everybody!

I know I don't usually post here on Saturdays, and my brain hasn't had nearly enough coffee to be sparklingly witty yet, but I don't want you to miss the start of BLINK OF AN I being free.  

I love this book so much.  It was actually the third book I ever wrote, even if it wasn't the third book I published.  I dusted the manuscript off and sent it through to my editor, and together we got it in readers' hands in 2018.  (The actual paperback wasn't available until this year, though.  Sorry about that.)  

Anyway, the ebook version is free through June 2nd.  Grab a copy today.

It's Dystopian Time

Mornin', Folks!

It's feeling a little pre-apocalyptic out there lately.  But mankind is not doomed.  We have the power to change things, to step off and move in a different direction.  In my dystopian novels, I detail possible futures and how the characters fight to change the worlds they live in.  Always with the mantra of all my books: Good guys win, bad guys lose.  And, of course, with loads of suspense along the way.  

So, with this in mind, I decided to make my dystopian novels free for a limited time.  Download a copy, send a copy to a friend.  Spread it around.  Will they save the world?  Who knows, but they can't hurt, eh?

First up, we have UNEQUAL.  Free worldwide from today through Friday.

We are all the same.  Equal.

In a world where being different is against the law, Rue Logan lives in fear of being branded Unequal and getting disappeared like so many others.  The Department of Equalization had other plans for her life, but she couldn’t let that stop her.  Now, she works her assigned job as a janitor by day and prowls the hospital’s corridors at night, saving lives.  

Until she’s caught.

On the run from the DOE, Rue finds others like her, Unequals working in secret to achieve their goals and live their lives.  But their leader has a mission of his own.  With war brewing, both sides need her skills to help them win.  Torn between her own deeply held beliefs and her desire to save the people she’s come to love, Rue must find a way to stop the conflict before any more lives are lost.  Even if it means uncovering secrets and lies that could break her world apart.

Saturday, BLINK OF AN I will be free through the 2nd.  

Always, these books are available with your Kindle Unlimited purchase, too.

Dystopian Novels to Hold in Your Hot Little Hands

First off, I'd like to say that the print versions of Blink of an I and Unequal are gorgeous.  Big, beautiful books with loads of awesome inside. 

And I'd also like to say that both of them are available for sale at Amazon*.  So if you want one in your hot little hands, click one of those links up there.  If you want to know more about them, click this link that takes you to my blog page devoted to those dystopians.  

If you enjoy books like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Anthem, 1984, etc., these are the books for you.  Unlike some of the newer dystopians, these end well.  I promise.  I am unable to write a book without some kind of happily-ever-after. doncha know.  I like to think readers will be cheering at the end.  I know I was.

Of course, they're both still available in ebook form.  Buy them there, or read them through your Kindle Unlimited subscription.  

If you do, I'd appreciate it if you dropped a review, too.  It would really give me a happy.  (Well, if it was positive, I'd be ecstatic.)

*They're only available at Amazon because in order to make them available elsewhere, I would have to jack the price up another couple dollars and I just can't bring myself to do that to you.

Another Sale and NaNo Updates

First off, Blink of an I and Unequal are on sale this week.  I'm calling it The Semi-Spectacular Dystopian Sale, because I'm a dork like that.  Here's the ad image I posted to FB yesterday:

No sales yet, but I'm not really expecting any.  The last sale I had where I only used FB Groups to market was a dud.  I think it has to do with FB's new rules and algorithms.  :shrug:

Anyway, if you're into dystopian or future suspense or speculative fiction (or whatever people are calling it these days), give it a whirl.

On another note, I'm chugging along with NaNo.  I'm behind about 1200 words, but I'm totally cool with that.  The point here is for me to light a fire under my ass and get writing again.  So far, so good.  Three days in a row.  Woohoo!

Okay, prepare to groan... I made a spreadsheet for this year's NaNo.  I kinda had to because I'm not writing a new book and I'm not necessarily adding words in a linear fashion.  Anyway, it looks like this:

As you can see, if you blow it up, I started with 55876 words, so the end goal would be 106K.  It's a fantasy, so not outside the realm of possibility.  If it ends up being shorter, I won't 'win' NaNo officially, but as long as I write every day, I'll win for me.

And maybe this will lead to other goals being met and stuff and junk.  I'm not making any promises, but there's hope.  =o)

July Sale #2 - Blink of an I

As the sale for Project Hermes wraps up, another sale begins.  This time, the sale is for Blink of an I.

If you're not familiar with Blink, it's a distant future, post-apocalyptic, dystopian novel.  Long after wars have ravaged the nation, the world has narrowed down to one tightly-controlled city - at least for Mary Jones.  But then she's asked to leave the only home she's ever known and pass beyond the city's boundaries to find out if there's anyone else out there.  Maybe they can help.  Maybe they can't.  Maybe it's up to Mary to learn the truth - the only person who can help you is yourself.  And to face the fact that sometimes you can only help people who want to be helped.

It's told in three parts - Mary in the city, Mary on the road, Mary going home and fighting for control of the city.

Amazon has the print length listed at 338 pages.  Not sure how they figured that since it's in ebook form only.  The KU length is 484. 

Anyway, it's a big book with lots of thoughts and stuff, but it's an action-packed, fast read, from what I've been told.  Might be classified as 'new adult', but since Mary has no idea how old she really is, it's hard to tell.  Think Fahrenheit 451 or Anthem, but longer.

Loads of suspense, a little romance, some action/adventure, and a happy ending.  What more could you want?

I hope you'll give it a try while it's only 99c/99p.  After the 16th, it'll go back to it's usual price of $4.99 - which isn't exactly a bank-breaker either. 

Writing Speculative Fiction

I started out this morning doing a post about what originally drew me to write speculative fiction - specifically about a dystopian future where something somewhere along the way has gone horribly wrong and the characters have to surmount those obstacles to thrive and survive on their way to possibly correcting whatever went wrong. 

But I'm really not sure why. 

I know I've read a boatload of the genre.  When I was way younger, I read Anthem, Farhenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984... The big ones, of course.  (Some people would think of them as 'the old ones'.)  And a bunch of others I can't remember the titles to.  I've read some of the newer ones, too - The Hunger Games Trilogy, Divergent... along with a few others I also can't remember the names of. 

I've written three in the genre.  Blink of an I was the first.  Unequal was the third.  The second may never see the light of day.  I love it, but the thought of it being out in the world scares me.  :shrug:

They're meaty books, but I like to think they're quick reads.  I know when when someone picks one up in the Kindle Unlimited program, they're usually through the book in 24-48 hours.  A reader started Blink on Sunday and finished in the wee hours of Monday morning.  Always nice to see that kind of turnaround. 

I hope they make people think.  If not, I hope readers are entertained.  I mean, the books have message in them, but the primary goal of this writer is to entertain.  If you think about something along the way, awesome.  If not, that's okay, too.

Anyway, Blink of an I is on sale this week in the US and the UK.  I'd really appreciate it if you pick up a copy, leave a review, tell your friends, etc. 

Cover Change... Again.

In an effort to try and boost sales for Blink of an I, I've changed the cover.  Again.  As you may have guessed, I have no clue when it comes to covers (or anything else marketing related) for dystopian... err, futuristic suspense... err, speculative fiction... err, whatever.

Anyway, here's the latest...

Let's see how that grabs people, eh? Of course, I thought the first few covers would grab people, so what do I know?

I'm hoping to set up either a sale or a freebie for next week (because my KDP thingie renews on the 15th and it's use it or lose it).  I'll let ya know.  A lot will depend on how fast Amazon gets this cover out there to people.  They say 72 hours.  We'll see.

All a gal can do is try, right?

Taglines and Covers and Junk

Monday, Silver asked for a tagline on Blink of an I.  On Amazon, it's basically, 'In the blink of an I, the whole world can change.'  I think I told her it was 'In the blink of an I, the world can fall apart.' or something.  Maybe it should have been 'In the blink of an I, the whole world changed.'  Cuz the world has already changed.  Then again, Mary's world is changing throughout the book, so maybe the tense is right.  I dunno.

Are any of them grabby?  Therein lies the rub.  I think so, but I suck at that sort of stuff.  If I was scanning for a book to read, that would attract me enough to read the blurb.  And the blurb would entice me to buy it.  But that's me. 

I was reading an article this morning that talked about covers and how the cover should convey certain things to a potential reader depending on genre.  Umm, yeah.  Again, Blink's cover conveys the right things to me.  What other people might think?  I was never any good at figuring out what other people think.  The article suggested looking at other books in the same genre and going with the same feel as those.  All the newer dystopian novels I've seen or read have been geared to the YA group, and Blink is not YA.  If I want to go to what I think are similar books, they were all written before I was born - Anthem, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World, etc.  I don't think anyone is actively marketing those anymore.  And they're so famous you could probably slap a brown paper bag on them and they'd sell.

Anyhoo, just sitting here thinking about things and wondering if I'm doing enough or doing the right things or what I should do now.  And second-guessing myself, of course.  Post release day stuff, when I'm not actively working on writing or editing and so the brain has time to spin in hamsterwheelesque circles.