Just picked up DOPE by Sara Gran. Fast, tight, atmospheric, and dark - very, very dark. In other words, a great book. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I like fiction where the author shows the reader what's happening and let's the reader experience the story through the characters. DOPE is written with that sensibility, and it's done with an expert's touch. If you want to get a feel for some dark places in the human heart and walk through the dirty streets of the 1950's, get a copy of Sara Gran's DOPE.

So here's the reason I haven't updated my blog lately. I've been working to finish SURVIVE - my latest book. It's a tight thriller and it is being uploaded as I write this. Here's the set up:
Drug lord Juan Carlos Martinez has been in prison eight years when one of the men that put him there, Detective Escobar, is presented with a vacation for his years of public service. But when Detective Gabriel Emory saves Esco's life during a drug bust, Esco gives Gabriel the vacation. The only problem? This is no vacation. It's a trap. Martinez has escaped from prison and he's gathering everyone who convicted him for a little game. The first person to cross a remote island wilderness in forty eight hours lives. The rest die. And even though Gabriel had nothing to do with putting Martinez in prison, he's along for the ride.

On your mark. Get set... SURVIVE!

This story moves like a bullet and is perfect for that summer vacation you're planning. Get your copy at Amazon now!

Talk to you later - happy reading! 

Books 1 & 2 of TOMBS will be free on Amazon from Monday, April 28 through Friday, May 3. That's approximately 153,000 words of bareknuckle fights, fast girls, smoky bars, and dangerous men planning their next big heist. And it's all from the perspective of Curtis Monroe, a small-time crook who wants out of the city of Tombs and his life of crime. Curtis is determined to get out of Tombs no matter what. The only question is, will he make it out alive?

Book 1: Curtis makes a run at a quarter million in gold. The only hitch? His old gang and a dangerous ex-con are pulling the same heist.

Book 2: Curtis is on the run with a price on his head and the most vicious hand-to-hand fighter in the world is hot on his tail. With a big art heist in the works, Curtis must keep his cool, but staying a step ahead of the psychopath is a dangerous tightrope walk. In the end, Curtis must face down his foe or lose everything, including his life.

If you're a fan of gritty crime fiction, do yourself a favor and download your free copy of the Tombs saga. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Ranked #3 in Suspense? Ranked #3 in Horror? RANKED #50 IN ALL BOOKS?! You have to be kidding me - you guys are the best. LOW MAN has been finding its way to your kindles in eye-popping numbers this past week and I can't thank you all enough. My wife has always told me that LOW MAN was my best book, but I never saw it as my top seller until now. To me, it's always been the book that I struggled to finish, and a lot of that shows up in the story as the main character claws his way toward a seemingly insurmountable goal. I wrote the story over a summer and then rewrote it for about a year based on input from a Cleveland State University community writers workshop led by the great Neal Chandler. (BTW, that workshop was a three hour drive. Making the gas money back on this book alone will take years.) The process of beating the story into shape was long, brutal and filled with despair. And then, when I thought LOW MAN was finally done, I was foolish enough to try to get it published. I queried tons of agents. No bites. Maybe two or three said it sounded interesting, but the stock answer was, "I'm not sure how I'd sell this. The publishing industry is very competitive right now." So I queried publishers. And I got back form letters. Thank you for your interest, blah, blah, blah. I banged my head against the traditional publishing wall for about a year looking for someone who would read this book. Notice I said "read," not "publish." I couldn't even get someone to read the damn thing. I'm not sure when, but at some point I heard "no" so many times that it sunk in. LOW MAN wasn't going to be published. It was a colossal failure and an enormous waste of time. The only problem was my wife kept telling me she liked it. And there were also those few very good friends that read it and told me it made them cry. Or made them think. Or made them scared. Or made them just feel good. Something about LOW MAN worked. The problem was I couldn't get an agent or big publisher to even look at it. So I went small. I took a deep breath and sent out another batch of letters and emails to small publishers. And one, a start-up called Leucrota Press, wrote me back. They wanted to see the first three chapters. And then they wanted the full manuscript. And then came the contract. And then it was published. And then it won a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award. Great reviews came in from the Midwest Book Review, The Richmond Times Dispatch, other authors, and many other book reviewers. Foreign rights were being discussed. Maybe even a movie option. LOW MAN was on its way. It was rolling right along right up until my publisher went out of business. LOW MAN was dead in the water again. Fast forward a couple years. I'm going through the same exact same process with TOMBS, another one of my novels. I can't get an agent or publisher to look at it. It's LOW MAN all over again. The difference is, I've heard of this new thing called Epublishing and I looked into it. I have to admit, I thought it was a cop out. To me, you either get published or you don't, but you certainly don't publish your own work. That's for losers. It's self-publishing for God's sake. You're basically throwing your novel into a cesspool of junk and garbage written by hacks and wannabees. And my writing professors and fellow students in the MFA program I was studying in only solidified my opinion. Literature was birthed into the world through a long standing process that has been cruelly devised over centuries to weed out the weak and only publish the strong. Passing through the golden gates of publishing is supposed to be nearly impossible - it's the only way to make sure idiots don't get published. But what did I have to lose? No one else wanted to publish my work. And I've been called an idiot many times. I think I'm a smart idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. Plus, authors like Barry Eisler were going the Epublishing route, and I liked Barry's work. So, about two years ago, I began to Epublish my novels. Now here stands LOW MAN. The book no agent wanted. The story no big publisher would touch. It's hovering around the top five in horror and suspense novels on Amazon this week and it topped out at #3 in both categories. It wasn't good enough for publishing, but apparently, it's good enough for you. To me, that's all that matters - that you get some enjoyment out of my work. If it makes you think a little, that's a huge bonus, but if it entertains you, that means I did my job. It's been a long road to success for LOW MAN, but I think the best is yet to come for this little book that no one wanted. If you haven't downloaded a copy yet, please do it while it's still free, which will be through Saturday, April 27. And if you read it, write a review on Amazon. This book wasn't read by anyone for many years, so your reviews will help other readers determine if LOW MAN is worth their time. It's not for everyone, that's for sure, but I know it's definitely a story that touches some people.

Thanks for your support - and FYI, I'm doing the final edit on my thriller, SURVIVE. I think it'll be out sometime in May.

Happy reading!      

Would you walk through Hell to save someone you love? In LOW MAN, a down-on-his-luck guy named Benny has the balls to try it. And starting next Tuesday, April 23 through Saturday, April 27, you can find out if Benny is able to save himself and his family by traveling through Hell because I'm offering LOW MAN for free through Amazon. This book is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award Winner. The Richmond-Times Dispatch described LOW MAN as "a wealth of chills... and more than a hint of evil." The Midwest Book Review gave LOW MAN five stars and called it, "a riveting thriller." Author Stacy Dittrich called it, "Brilliant.” And Dark Realms magazine wrote, "Low Man is reminiscent of the early works of Stephen King, delivering a tale that is both horrifying and captivating.” And to top it off, I just got word yesterday that it may be optioned for a movie. So clear out your reading schedule and download your free copy of LOW MAN anytime between next Tuesday through Saturday. And if you have any friends that like dark fantasy, suspense or horror, tell them about this deal or link back to this post. I'm not sure when I'll be offering it for free again, so please plan on getting your free copy of LOW MAN while the getting's good. Happy reading and have a great day!

THE EXPEDITION made it into the top 100 of most downloaded thrillers at Amazon. Just barely, but it made it. After one day of my free promotion, THE EXPEDITION was officially listed at #100 in Amazon's most downloaded thriller list. There are still four more day's left in this free promotion, so don't miss out on the fun. THE EXPEDITION is a thriller with a little sci-fi, action and adventure thrown in. Maybe even a little horror. It's the kind of story that Michael Chrichton and Stephen King might have written if their brains were fused together. The gist of it is that there's this legendary tribe in the Amazon that practices human sacrifice and can turn themselves into animals. A scientist gets a sample of an unknown plant that's supposedly used by this legenday tribe and discovers the plant can cure killer viruses. An expedition is sent down into the deepest, darkest recesses of the Amazonian jungle to find this plant. And, of course, the scientists find more than they bargained for. Fun, fun, fun! Get your copy today!

Many years ago I wrote this novel, THE EXPEDITION. I didn't know what I was doing. Really. I had just read JURASSIC PARK and I liked that book so much that I tried to write a book like it. How hard could it be, right? Well, it was hard. It took me over a year. But it was also fun. Writing this book is what started me on my long journey toward becoming a writer. Funny thing was, this book was the one and only novel I've ever written that was almost made into a movie. Somehow, Creative Artists Agency got a hold of the manuscript. Swear to God, I have no idea how. But they called me, one thing led to another, and they said they were interested in making it into a movie. In the end, the deal fell through, but it was fun for a month or so. The story is pretty good, if I do say so myself. It's about a legendary Amazonian tribe that may or may not be able to turn themselves into animals using some kind of medicine with weird properties. And wouldn't you know it, a scientist gets a sample of the medicine and finds out it may be able to cure killer viruses. So, of course, a big corporation sends an expedition down into the jungle to find the medicine.  And things unravel from there. Anyhow, if you're interested, download your free copy this week and give it a read for yourself. Free is good.

So here I am, standing in front of a big ass piece of modern art. This is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I went there with my wife to visit my daughter and I have to tell you - San Francisco rocks. We stayed for four days and there was not one minute of boredom. Couple highlights:

- While drinking a beer outside a cafe, a car pulled up to the curb and woman got out. She was wearing a t-shirt and nothing else but a small grocery bag tied around her waist. She tore down the street like her hair was on fire and her ass was catching. Interesting, I thought.

- A guy I don't even know comes up to me and says I have to see a photo he just took. He's a middle-aged guy from the Midwest taking a vacation with his wife. He was touring one of the beautiful old homes and decided to take a pic of the Bay from a balcony. It's a great photo - especially the flying saucer in the right corner. Hmm, I thought.

That's it for now. Hey, remember that my horror novel The Devil's Due is available for free through Saturday. Get a copy and post a review on Amazon if you have time. Later. 

My first horror book, THE DEVIL'S DUE, will be free from Tuesday, April 9 through Saturday, April 13. Dark Realms Magazine wrote that this novel is, "reminiscent of the early works of Stephen King." It was nice to hear that, and it's always fun to hear people tell me how much they enjoyed this novel. The most consistent thing readers tell me about THE DEVIL'S DUE is that they couldn't put it down. Seeing as how this is the longest novel I've ever written, clocking in at around 100,000 words, I remember finishing it and being worried that it would be too long of a read. But, based on reader feedback, it looks like this is one of those stories that people read cover to cover in one sitting. Here's the synopsis:

The Devil is real. He walks the Earth, on a search for the one woman who can give birth to the Antichrist. And now she's in his grasp. But one man stands in the Devil's way - her long lost twin brother.

In an isolated town in the middle of nowhere, a battle for the fate of mankind is waged. One man stands along against the most powerful and evil creature ever created.

He is our last hope.

If you want to get a front row seat to watch the End Times, get your free copy of THE DEVIL'S DUE on Tuesday, April 9 through Saturday, April 13. And don't forget to post a review on Amazon and let your fellow horror lovers know what you thought.

Oh, one more thing - if you downloaded my crime novel TOMBS during my free promotion last week, thank you. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to reading your review on Amazon soon.

TOMBS has been officially free for two days now. When I checked it yesterday, it was up to #24 on the list of Amazon's most downloaded crime novels, and was ranked 2,399 among all novels. That shows that quite a few of you have downloaded it, but for those who haven't, please remember that it's going to be a while before I can offer TOMBS for free again, so take this opportunity to get your free copy before the promotion ends on Friday. And if you do get a copy and read it, don't forget to post your review on Amazon.

In other news, I'm reading WORLD WAR Z. As a big fan of The Walking Dead, I'm really enjoying this book. If you're a Walking Dead fan, I recommend this novel. Also, I'm nearly done with SURVIVE, the thriller I've been writing. I think I'll be releasing it in about a month, so look for it around the end of April/beginning of May.