Fists of Glass

#FFC52 It has been 15 months since I wrote anything for the sequel to Adam’s story. I wanted a break from 16Sunsets, so I wrote another chapter for Paradox’s sequel. I used Inspiration Monday’s prompt from this week again, along with three word wednesday and Thain in Vain’s 49th prompt.

* * *

The first time I watched Adam die, I thought my world had ended. Intellectually, I knew this wasn’t his end, but seeing his body on the floor of the convenience store in a rapidly expanding pool of blood really threw me for a loop. This time… This time his remains were no more discernable than the rest of his crew. I’ve tried to kill him so many times.

The number and ways were so varied. But each time, he managed to kill himself before I could. I could hear the sirens in the distance. Before too long, the police would be here. I couldn’t explain my presence in terms they’d understand. I took the gleaming sphere out of my handbag. I marveled briefly at its compact design. People gathered to help the survivors. I had only moments to act…

I gripped the sphere; I could see my reflection before a tear splashed on the metal. I leaned over and picked up a metal shard from the rubble. I took a deep breath and ran the shard across my throat. A fountain of blood ensued and I almost dropped the sphere. I felt brief jubilation. Then I felt nothing.

* * *

“Adam, I think I’m pregnant.”

He put down the knife next to the cutting board. “That’s wonderful, sweets.”

“We’ve been hiding our relationship from everybody,” he said. Adam walked around the island and took my hand. “This isn’t something we can hide.”

“Yeah, but we’ve both worked so hard to get to where we are,” I replied. “We neglected to advise them of our relationship. They’ll transfer one of us. I don’t want either of our careers to suffer a setback.” I squeezed his hand. “I’ll see a doctor the day after tomorrow.”

“You don’t mean…”

Rambling Pen

I received a shipment of my books to be distributed to a local indie bookstore. If you are in Prescott, Arizona, drop by Peregrine Books and pick up a dead tree version of Forlorn Hope or Body Rentals. Arranging a book signing there for Champion Standing is on my “to do” list, but I’m just so busy with everything. I also autographed a few books for people who have supported various projects I’m working on. The progress on The Afflicted and Champion Rising has stalled so I can work on 16Sunsets. I had originally planned on writing sixteen 1,600-word chapters, but I suspect it’ll end up being longer. I haven’t talked to Telly lately about Soulsmith, so I can’t let you know much on that project. Champion Standing is off for the final edit. I’m expecting it to be published in January instead of February, with advance reading copies available in October or November. I’d like to launch with a bunch of reviews, so those of you interested in an ARC for a review, let me know. I expect inks from Joel for 16Sunsets by the end of the week, perhaps the following week. I’m lazily working on the Paradox audiobook. I’m finding it difficult to maintain focus on it. It’ll still get done, I’m just not sure when. Technophobia is super difficult to work on since I’m chained to antique technology to produce it. It’s much easier to pull my phone out of my pocket and tap out a few sentences. Finally, updated print versions of Forlorn Hope and Body Rentals will hit the distribution channels on Monday. Electronic versions will be up on Amazon sometime tonight. Kobo and B&N have been the worst for purchases – I’m not sure if those platforms are even viable any more.

Enough rambling for today, so I’ll just close the post with this: B.J., I got pages for you to look at tomorrow and welcome to the blog.

Escape Now Available

Lots going on today. Escape is now live. It’s an Amazon exclusive and those of you with Prime or Kindle Unlimited can read it for free. It takes a little while for it to be available everywhere.

In other news, Kate Loveton reviewed Paradox on her blog with a mini interview. It’s not a hard story to follow and Kate’s response is exactly what I intended. Now, I just need her to copy/paste the review to Amazon.

Final Kickstarter Week!

No new backers in the last seven days. ::sad panda:: We need to drive the last $425 home in this, the last week of the campaign. I’m making Paradox free on Amazon for the last five days of the campaign, so look for it July 9^th through the 13^th. My next short story, Escape, will be out Saturday, July 26^th. Once the project is funded, all backers at any reward threshold will have the option to receive an advance eBook of Escape free of charge.

I can’t stress it enough: If the $1000 funding goal isn’t met, the campaign fails and no money changes hands. Also, it’s not a donation; you’re pledging and will receive the reward matching your pledge threshold. Let’s get the word out and finish this goal with time to spare.

Paradox Audiobook

I thought I wanted to put out an audiobook for Paradox. I recorded myself narrating the first chapter. I’m not sure if I like it. I don’t know if it’s bad writing or bad reading. This isn’t a lame attempt at fishing for compliments. If I’m to put out an audiobook, I want it to be good. I need feedback that’s honest. Here are links to the mp3 and a pdf of the first chapter:
Paradox – chapter one – mp3
Paradox – chapter one – pdf

Give me your honest thoughts in the comments.

IBR Interview

Arrington Flynn of Indie Book Rebels interviewed me today. It was a fun two hours and the time flew by. I read excerpts from Paradox and Champion Standing. We talked about Forlorn Hope and my flash fiction. Here’s the link to listen:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiebookrebels/2014/06/24/indie-book-rebels-8–mark-gardner

For the next 24 hours, if you pledge $10 or more to the Champion Standing Kickstarter Campaign and send Arrington an email with the name you pledged under, I’ll send you an eBook of Body Rentals with the bonus stories, Pithos, Tyrant, Busted and an unnamed Body Rentals story.

Begging and stuff

For Champion Rising, I knocked out about 600 words or so last night. Today I wrote about 2100 words. When I’ve written in the past, my daily goal was about 1000 words. With family, work and everything else going on, I suspect I may only get around 500 words written a day with the exception of Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. I figure 2000 words on those days is a worthy goal. If I can pull off 6000 a week, then I should have the vomit draft of Champion Rising done in about two months. Of course that can vary radically based on the aforementioned obstacles. I still want to put a serious dent into The Afflicted. Moscow Mule has me excited about it again. I still want to start the audiobook for Paradox as well. You know the eBook is free on Amazon right now, right?

I feel like an Emergency room doctor. Dividing my limited time between multiple patients, assessing their worth and spending the time on whichever seems the most important. Like many authors, I yearn for the day when I can do this writing thing full time and it pays my rent, groceries, etc.

Speaking of money, I’m sure you’ve not noticed all my posts, banners and begging my friends to blog, tweet and facebook my Kickstarter campaign. Kick a buck my way. Make it a fiver and you will get an advance copy of Champion Standing. Feeling sassy? There are rewards all the way up to $250.

::sad anime eyes:: Please?

Kickstarter!

The Kickstarter campaign for Champion Standing starts now! Remember, you’re pledging, not donating. If you meet any of the reward thresholds, you will get that reward. Spread the word – If I don’t reach the $1000 goal, I get nothing and the campaign fails.

I mentioned this on Saturday: Escape is pretty much done. I’ll agonize over it for a little while and release it in July at the earliest, August at the latest.

Paradox is free June 13th – 17th on Amazon. I could use some reviews, people!

In other news, fellow author and RPG designer, Todd Van Hooser owns the copyright on some beautiful line art by Joel Cotejar. I wanted it for the cover of Champion Rising. Todd gave his blessing, so I’ve created a rough cover concept for Champion Rising:

Almost time to Kickstart

I finished up the personal video for Kickstarter. The campaign is ready to go, I’m just waiting for Friday to launch. ::Deep breath!:: Only three days away. I hope you all can pledge – it’s not a donation. If I fail to reach the $1000 threshold, I get no money at all. Paradox will be free on Amazon the first five days of the campaign.

Paradox Review

Okay, Paradox is being reviewed today by Jason Varrone of Short Fiction Spotlight. I haven’t seen the review yet, so I’ll be as surprised as you to see what he says. I figured I would make it free on Amazon for a few days.

In other news, Author, Graphic Artist and all around great guy Greg Banks is raising money to promote his next book. Please consider donating if you can. He is a little over $1000 away from his goal and only 36 hours left to make it happen. Greg did the Paradox cover and an alternate cover for Busted.