San Francisco Comic Con appearance cancelled

Well, I’m afraid I have bad news. Due to reasons that are beyond the control of myself and Bard’s Tower, my appearance at San Francisco Comic Con has been cancelled. I know that my fans and the fans of the other authors that were scheduled to attend will be disappointed, but [stuff] happens, and we just have to roll with the punches.

I’ve already had the same questions asked a few times when I was letting people know, so I’ll put together the Mark Gardner’s not going to SFCC FAQ:

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Are you angry?
Well, I’m disappointed. I was totally looking forward to seeing all y’all at SFCC. I fail to see how raging and being a jerk about it will achieve anything other than me being ostracized from future events. I feel bad for the other authors that were scheduled to attend. For many authors, Labor Day weekend marks the end of the con season (the beginning of the season being Memorial Day weekend.) I’m also geographically close to San Francisco; it was to only be a two-hour flight from Phoenix. I was even going to go to work on Thursday before my flight. I’m sure there were other authors that were scheduled that were more geographically distant that required more planning, etc. So, yeah I’m disappointed. But, quoth the Dread Pirate Roberts: “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

Will you get a refund for shuttle service/airfare/etc?
Nope. You all already know I’m not a fan of the airlines, so I wasn’t surprised that the airline tickets were non-refundable. American Airlines offered to rebook within a year at a $200 fee, so there’s that… The shuttle service that was to run me down to Phoenix will refund their fare, since it’s still two weeks from my scheduled departure. All in all, I’m out about $300. It’s a lot for some people, nothing to others. I never spend money that I don’t have, so yeah, it sucks that I’m out the $300, but it’s not like I sold a kidney to pay for the airfare or anything. I wish that more people would stop spending money that they don’t have. It gives banks and credit card companies so much power over you. Quoth the genie from Disney’s Aladdin, “No substitutions, exchanges or refunds.”

Should we boycott San Francisco Comic Con or Bard’s Tower?
Heck no. While I’m flattered that you think highly of me, why would you bail on an exciting event like San Francisco Comic Con? If I could afford the hotel and admission, I’d go anyway, but after having to replace my vehicle this month, I got nothing. Bard’s Tower are wonderful people. They helped me maintain my sanity at Phoenix Comicon. They didn’t have anything to do with the appearance being cancelled, and I’d be sad if they ended up having to short-change the other authors that were scheduled to be there. I hold no ill will toward Bard’s Tower or SFCC, and you shouldn’t either. Any Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans? I’ll quote Rupert Giles, “To forgive is an act of compassion…”

Are you sure?
Let’s face it, Comicon and retailers like Bard’s Tower are businesses. They need to make money to keep bringing you the stuff you enjoy. Remember the craziness with War of the Worlds: Retaliation and Random House? I’ve confided in a few close friends that I probably would’ve made the same business decision if I were in Random House’s shoes. But hey, if Random House hadn’t gone with Stephen Baxter instead of me and John, then we wouldn’t have gotten the contract(s) with Severed Press, and there might not be another War of the Worlds book. You know, the one that is more than a third complete? Yeah… Sweet Martian payback… For this question, I’ll quote Alexander from The Time Machine: “Sometimes we need to accept what’s happened to us even if we don’t want to.”

Score of Silence on Kindle Scout

Hello, all!

Today, the Kindle Scout campaign for my debut murder mystery novel, Score of Silence, starts. I’ve tried a few Kindle Scout campaigns, and unfortunately, I’ve never gotten the nod. The editors there have passed on War of the Worlds: Retaliation, which John and I licensed to Severed Press. We’re talking to them about another War of the Worlds book, tentatively titled, War of the Worlds: Firestorm. Kindle Press also passed on Sixteen Sunsets. Here’s hoping that the third time’s the charm.

Originally, Score of Silence was supposed to be a sequel to my techno-thriller, Body Rentals. After about 25,000 words or so, I realized that no one had switched bodies! So, I rewrote it into a murder mystery. There are still a lot of elements that stayed in Score of Silence. Tupper Jones is obviously Colonel Lance Bishop. (There was even a play on words in the first or second chapter about Tupper calling an ambu-Lance, but when I changed the name to Tupper Jones, the joke had to go.) Caroline Collins is Teresa from Tyrant and Body Rentals. Kimberly Smythe is Kimberly Smith. (I know, I know, “How original.”) The characters from Score of Silence took on a life of their own during the rewrite, and I already have a 48k rough draft of a second novel.

Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you could support the campaign by nominating, and sharing the link to your various social media outlets. Here’s that link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2EKMJBJRHGZ12

Here are the description and character bios for Score of Silence:

Retired FBI agent, Tupper Jones, has made a name for himself as a private eye. But today isn’t his day. His partner and right-hand woman, Caroline Collins, has woken up next to the dead body of the FBI’s star mob witness with no memory of what happened. Tupper and Caroline must solve the mystery of what happened before the FBI puts Caroline away for the murder.

Cover Reveal – War of the Worlds: Retaliation

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, or John on Facebook, have already seen this, but read the whole thing for more exciting news!

It’s should be old news to you, but John and I signed a contract with Severed Press for them to distribute the English eBook and paperback of War of the Worlds: Retaliation worldwide! They re-edited the story, and came up with a killer cover:

 
Pretty epic, huh?

I promised exciting news, so here it is: Severed Press is interested in another War of the Worlds sequel, and it just so happens that John and I have an outlines for two more books. We’re currently in negotiations for book number two!

Will Victorious Maiden be completed?

As I’m sure some of you are aware, artists tend to want to be around other artists. I’ve never really considered myself an artist. I can’t draw worth a [crap]. Other typically “artisty” things like sculpting elude me. But, I need to embrace the artist moniker because writing is art. My wife is more of what I’d consider an artist – specifically she loves drawing cartoons. Now, my eleven year old daughter, may just be the most artsy-fartsy person in my household. She loves to draw anime fantasy characters:

About two years ago, I took a stab at writing a young adult novel. It’s something I’ve never been able to do, and I like to challenge myself. When I finished what I like to call the “vomit draft,” (that’s where you just barf the words onto the page,) I put it away to percolate for a month or two. When I came back to it, I realized that I didn’t have a finished novel; I had the beginnings to three novels in a trilogy. After breaking out the individual storylines and seeing what I had, I realized that the one that was the most done only had about 18k words written. I shelved the project (that shelf is getting full!) and worked on other things.

War of the Worlds: Retaliation Audiobook and Kickstarter

A month and a week to go until January 3rd, 2017. The worldwide release of War of the Worlds: Retaliation is almost upon us. I can’t tell you all how excited I am. This is the sequel we’ve been waiting 119 years for. Our audiobook narrator, Mark Isham, sent me the prologue, so I listened to it, then immediately uploaded it to Soundcloud.

Let the world know that John and I are trying to raise $300.00 for the hardcover. We started a kickstarter campaign, and due to the accelerated timeline, there are only 16 days left in the timeline. Please share the following URL with your social medias and bloggersphere: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1012144245/war-of-the-worlds-retaliation-hardcover/

The project page is where it has always been: https://article94.wordpress.com/war-of-the-worlds-retaliation/

Moonrise covers

Hey, all, Now that Moonrise is half done with the web serial, I wanted to share with you some draft covers. Click on them to embiggen.

Here’s the “Anne” cover:

Followed by the “Bree” cover:

Here are the Sixteen Sunsets covers to compare with…

Fan Art, or “How I learned that it’s great to be an Author.”

I received this drawing from an eleven-year-old fan today. Damn, it feels good to be an author!