If We Falter (Freedom/Hate Book 6)

The sixth and final book in my Freedom/Hate series is now available for digital download (paperback version coming in the near future)! Head over to Amazon and download your copy of If We Falter today!

For decades, their country has been ruled by the authorities and patrolled by HAND. For nearly as long, Freedom has been working in the shadows, hoping for a day when they would be able to take back their nation. They have already reclaimed their home city. They have begun building an army. They also have three well-placed spies in the nation’s capital… The problem is, they don’t know it.

Justin, Marti and Geo have spent over a year building lives in Washington D.C. They sleep in comfortable beds. They eat all the best foods. They attend fancy events, dressed in the finest clothes. They have been cut off from their friends and allies, waiting for their chance to help Freedom win the war. That opportunity arrives when they gain information that could lead Freedom to complete annihilation, or their greatest victory. The Nation’s future rests in their hands.

“One way or another, it’s going to end here.”

I want to say thank you to everyone who has read the series, or will read it in the future (if you’re allowed to, that is). I look forward to introducing all of you to the other crazy stories that are swimming around in my head, and maybe revisiting one or two worlds that I’ve already put out there.

Stay tuned.

 

 

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DCEU : SUPERMAN

I just released a new book! Battle Cry (book 4 in my Freedom/Hate series) is out now, and here’s the link! I should totally be doing more publicity for that. But… I’m going to ramble about geeky stuff instead for a while (and by “ramble” I mean that this isn’t a professionally crafted think piece. It’s random thoughts that are coming to mind as I type). So, go check out my book link, read the blurb (warning: spoilers for the series up to that point may be in the blurb… it’s book 4, after all), look at the pretty cover, and then read my geeky ramblings. That way I don’t have to feel bad about spending my time on this stuff.

Okay, here I go. Deep breath…

Look around the internet and you will find a million people, saying a million bad things about the DC Extended Universe. They don’t like the colors, they don’t like the directors, they don’t like the way the characters are handled. All of these comments are fine. People are entitled to their opinions, and all of that (for now anyway).

In the past, I’ve given some of my thoughts on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anyone who knows me will be able to tell you that I’m not the hugest fan of that franchise. I do like some of it, but I’m not as forgiving as a lot of people. So, is it weird that I actually like the DC Expanded Universe, while so many others seem to hate it? Am I just disagreeable?

Battle Cry (Freedom/Hate, Book 4)

If book 3 of my Freedom/Hate series left you wanting more, then I have good news for you! (if book 3 left you feeling pretty bored, I have bad news for you!)

Book 4, Battle Cry, is now available for pre-order! 

For years, Freedom has waited for their opportunity to wage war against the authorities. They have hidden in shadows, preparing for they day when they would take back the rights that were stolen from them.

Justin now serves the authorities. As a HAND officer, he patrols the streets, violating everything that he believes in, all in the hope that his position may someday give Freedom the edge it needs to win this war. Each day, he loses a piece of who he was. Each night, he prays that his sacrifice will justify his sins.

From the Campus, Collin’s team continues to spread Freedom’s message to as many citizens as possible. They have expanded their operation beyond a simple newspaper. Now they spread the stories and history that the authorities have tried to keep from the citizens for decades. They produce original stories, to reflect their own fight, but it’s not enough to spread words. Freedom starts with an idea, but it cannot end there.

As Freedom waits for their chance to fight, millions are tuned in to watch the biggest sporting event of the year. A child, Mandi Hollinger, has been chosen to recite a pledge that she can barely remember. She is led onto a field which is covered in more green grass than she has ever seen in her life. Her parents watch from the sidelines, too scared to breathe, and longing for this day to be over. Mandi stands before the microphone and begins to speak.

With one slip of the tongue, everything will change.

 

Right now, only the Kindle version of the book is available to order. For those who hate the idea of reading a book on some newfangled device, the paperback is coming within the next few weeks.

With this book, we officially enter the second half of this six-part series. Big things are about to happen!

 

 

How the Sausage is Made

As I write this, I am avoiding work. Today, “work” means “formatting for Kindle”.

Yes, there are programs that do this. Yes, there are probably a million different ways that I could make my life easier by using one of those programs. But instead of using any of those, I am looking at an HTML version of my book in Notepad, editing my starting point, my ending point and my table of contents by hand.

Why?

Blood Rights, Now Available!

Blood Rights, book 2 of the Freedom/Hate series is now available for purchase on Amazon!

“It’s in our blood.”

The last words spoken by Uly Jacobs, seconds before his death was televised across the nation.

Since that day, the authorities have been hunting Libby Jacobs. She doesn’t know why they want her, or why they killed her cousin. Desperation has forced her into hiding with a group of people that she once thought of as terrorists. Living among them, she soon comes to realize that everything she once believed in was a lie.

Justin Becker was Uly’s best friend. He grew up with Libby. Once upon a time, he even loved her. Now, Justin has taken on the task of picking up the pieces of Libby’s shattered life. The first step will be finding Libby’s mother. She is critically ill, alone and lost in the broken system. Finding her will be difficult. Saving her may be impossible.

The city is changing. Collin Powers was nobody until the authorities turned him into a symbol. Now his ideas have taken root. His words are forcing people to question their beliefs. His sacrifice will push Freedom out of the shadows and give them the courage to start living up to their name.

 

Click here to purchase Blood Rights for Kindle

Click here to purchase Blood Rights in paperback

 

Stay tuned for more information about book 3 (of 6), coming this November!

Every review posted online helps independent authors! Whether you like the book or not, please remember to post a review!

Blood Rights

If you have read Freedom/Hate, you might be wondering what happens next. Well, that question is about to be answered!

Blood Rights, the second book of the Freedom/Hate series, is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

 

 

“It’s in our blood.”

The last words spoken by Uly Jacobs, seconds before his death was televised across the nation.

Since that day, the authorities have been hunting Libby Jacobs. She doesn’t know why they want her, or why they killed her cousin. Desperation has forced her into hiding with a group of people that she once thought of as terrorists. Living among them, she soon comes to realize that everything she once believed in was a lie.

Justin Becker was Uly’s best friend. He grew up with Libby. Once upon a time, he even loved her. Now, Justin has taken on the task of picking up the pieces of Libby’s shattered life. The first step will be finding Libby’s mother. She is critically ill, alone and lost in the broken system. Finding her will be difficult. Saving her may be impossible.

The city is changing. Collin Powers was nobody until the authorities turned him into a symbol. Now his ideas have taken root. His words are forcing people to question their beliefs. His sacrifice will push Freedom out of the shadows and give them the courage to start living up to their name.

 

Click here to pre-order your copy.

And remember, Freedom/Hate is a six book series. We’re just getting started.

Proof Positive

The proof for my new book arrived today!

For those who aren’t hip to the lingo, a proof is the physical copy of your book that you get, so that you can check for printing errors and give the book a good look before making it available in paperback form. It has the cover art and all of that, so it’s really the first chance that you have to hold your baby book in your arms and look at what you’ve created.

There are issues with my proof. Little things that I have to fix here and there, but for the most part, I’m pretty happy with it. I chose “cream” paper instead of “white” this time, which I think was a good call. It’s easier on the eyes and looks more like the rest of the books on my shelf. I liked white paper for my other books, because I thought it seemed cleaner and crisper, but the cream feels right for this one.

In terms of font, I went with Book Antiqua this time. I know that it seems like you’d just use whichever font you happened to land on when writing a book, but it took me a while to finally settle on this one. It has a nice classic look to it. It’s easy to read. It’s not too showy.

One of the other elements that I had to put some thought into was the chapter numbers. Did I want to spell out “Chapter One” or simply put in a “1”? For this book, I opted for the simple number headers, with a drop shadow. I was worried that the shadow would look cheesy, but it actually came out pretty nice.

There are small things here and there that I need to fix. Some programs automatically add hyperlinks when you type out a URL, so I have to go through and make sure that there are no hyperlinks in the file that I’m using for the paperbacks. I also have to fix some of the wording in the copyright information. And this is why we get a proof… If you go through the process (and you don’t have “people” for this sort of thing) make sure that you look at all of the little details once you have the book in your hand. What you missed on a computer screen could look a lot more obvious on paper.

 

You can look at the paperback copy of Freedom/Hate yourself, when it goes on sale on April 19, 2016. If you’d prefer to read the digital copy, you can pre-order the book now by clicking here.

Five Years Earlier…

As I continue to prepare my new book, Freedom/Hate for release (pre-order your copy today!), I have had some old friends stopping by for a visit in my head.

Five years ago this month, I sat down to begin writing Starlette (purchase your copy today!). It’s hard to tell whether I should feel as though it were only yesterday, or if it feels like a hundred years have passed since then. Either way, it was an exciting time for me.

The story began, oddly enough, five years earlier. As I was watching the Oscars red carpet show on television, I couldn’t help but get annoyed with the actors that I was listening to. The way they spoke about their films being “important” irritated me. They acted as though they were saving the world by making movies.

Interior Design (aka A Journey into the Abyss)

I’ve been thinking that I should use this blog as something more than what it’s been. This shouldn’t be too hard, since it hasn’t been much of anything.

What I’ve decided to try and do is document more of my writing/publishing process. This will be less for the enjoyment of you readers (since it will probably be boring), and more about me documenting my writerly struggles, so that my family will know that I don’t just watch funny kitten videos all day. (which I don’t do, because I’m a dog person)

Some of these blog entries will be more interesting than others. At the moment, I’m not building any worlds or having fun with characters. Today, I’m trying to format the print edition of my new book, Freedom/Hate.

(the Kindle version of Freedom/Hate will be released on April 19! Pre-order your copy today by clicking on this link!)

More About Kindle Scout

As I wrote last week, I currently have a campaign running on Kindle Scout. In that post, I talked about the book that I have listed on that page, but I didn’t talk a lot about the Kindle Scout site itself. I want to take some time to do that, because regardless of whether or not my own book gets published through the site, it still presents a great opportunity to budding young writers.

This post isn’t meant as a guide book for Kindle Scout, or an in-depth investigation into the pros and cons. It’s just my own take on the site.

 

So, what is Kindle Scout?