War of the Worlds Updates

One of you wonderful internet denizens emailed to ask for permission to use the cover art designed for the non-English editions of Retaliation in a wikipedia article. I’m cool with that for wikipedia, reviews, interviews, etc. As long as you don’t try to pass off my covers as your own, I’m cool with any of my released covers to be on Wikipedia, etc. In fact, here are some unreleased Retaliation covers for y’all to drool over:

The Afrikaans project (above) was cancelled, and this may or may not be the final cover for the chinese version (below):

I’m hoping to sign the contract soon for a French version, but time will tell.

After talking to some industry professionals, I’ve decided to only actively pursue language contracts for Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, & Italian. Don’t worry if you read in a language not on that list, if someone comes along and offers a contract on another language, I’ll definitely consider it. (I mean, is “no” even in my vocabulary?)

(You wikipedia guys and gals can use this draft version of Firestorm for your article.)

Those of you who are close to John and I know that the biggest delaying factor for War of the Worlds: Firestorm is me. People tell me that I’m a prolific writer, but John can outwrite me 4-to-1. (Autocorrect kept changing that to “outwit.” Maybe my computer knows more than I do…) I emailed the latest vomit draft of my last chapter to John over the weekend, and I’m like 90% certain he’ll respond with three of his own chapters, sticking me with the onus to move the project forward. We’re more than 2/3 finished with the rough draft. It’s gonna be tight to get that done before the end of October, but it’s totally possible. Nonetheless, we’re golden for a presentable draft in November.

Personally, I’d like to see Firestorm release at the same time John and I get a nomination for a Hugo or Nebula, but I think I recall an adage with wishes and horses and beggars and stuff. I ran into Alan Dean Foster at Prescott Comic Con, and he basically dashed my hopes of a Nebula nomination. (He was the president of the Nebula selection committee for a thousand years or something.) Mike Stackpole went poo-poo on my dreams of a Hugo while we were at Phoenix Comicon together. They weren’t being dicks or anything, they just wanted to make sure I had my head on straight and could manage my expectations. I’m still gonna hold on tight to my dream, and maybe something will pop out if I squeeze hard enough.

It’s getting late here in the Copper State, so I’ll head to bed, and post a book review in the morning.

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!

Publishing Contract & Phoenix Comicon

Greetings everyone! Some of you already know that John and I have been shopping the worldwide English paperback and e-book rights to a few publishers that we thought would be a good match for War of the Worlds: Retaliation.

Our sequel to the H. G. Wells masterpiece, The War of the Worlds, has been selling briskly in 5×8 paperback, kindle and audiobook. John and I knew we had something special, and we wanted an independent press that would match our enthusiasm and push our story to the next level. We also wanted to avoid being treated like an commodity that so many large publishers seem to treat their authors. We wanted a publisher that could see past 90 days; 180 days; and even toward the future. We wanted Severed Press.

Established in 2008, Severed Press is a leading independent publisher of horror and science fiction. Severed Press runs the gamut of horror and science fiction storytelling from A to Z. Publishing popular Apocalypse to Zombie, with kaiju, military and sea monster, John and I know our novel of the war between Earth and Mars will be right at home with the likes of Tim Curran, Mark Tufo and Jake Bible.

John and I look forward to working with the team at Severed Press on War of the Worlds: Retaliation, and hope that the future holds another collaborative telling of Humans versus the Martians. Be sure to check out other stories published by Severed Press and the talented authors you’ll find there.

* * *

In other exciting news, John and I have been invited to be guests at the 2017 Phoenix Comicon over Memorial Day weekend. We’re still finalizing the details, and I hope to share the particulars with you all soon. I expect to arrive Thursday and be there all day Friday, Saturday & Sunday. I think John will be there on Saturday and Sunday. We’re not sure where we’ll be signing autographs, what vendors will have our books, or what panels we may be on, but we’re both looking forward to seeing you all there!

War of the Worlds: Retaliation

I’m sure that I’ve mentioned that John J. Rust and I collaborated on a Historical Fiction sequel to H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. I know I’ve bragged that NYT #1 Best Selling author, James Rollins, liked it. I’m stoked to report that sales are brisk, and we broke the 20k threshold in the Amazon kindle store over the weekend. You already know that the digital, paperback, and hardcover all came out in January. The Spanish paperback and ebook came out this month. March will see the release of the audiobook narrated by Samuel Hoke. April is the German paperback and ebook. And the Chinese version should be out in January 2018. I know, I know, I won’t shut up about my book. It what we authors sometimes do…

John and I are so psyched that this story resonates with so many people. We’ve gotten some really awesome and thoughtful reviews on Amazon US & UK. We have a few glowing five-star reviews, and I want to thank each and every one of you that took the time to read and review. As authors, there’s an unwritten rule that we’re not supposed to respond to reviews, so I have to thank you all here instead of on Amazon or GoodReads. I wanted to remind those of you who are interested, but haven’t yet pulled the trigger, that the $5.99 Kindle version is an introductory price, and after the Amazon infamous 90-day cliff, the price will go up. Also, for those of you who are retailers, the 55% wholesale discount on the hardcover will also end on the same date.

John and I will be at the Payson Book Festival in late July. It occurred to me that I’ve never introduced you blog denizens to John. That’s a gross oversight on my part since without him, War of the Worlds: Retaliation would not exist. Here’s John’s official bio:

John J. Rust was born in New Jersey. He studied broadcasting and journalism at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey and the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York. He moved to Arizona in 1996, where he works as the Sports Director for an Arizona radio group.

For those of you who know about my background, yes, John and I work for the same radio group in Arizona. I’m blessed to both work with John and write with him. I hope you’ll check out his works, including his sea monster novel, Sea Raptor, published by Severed Press. I know that John has a sequel to his military/political thriller coming out this year. He’s also a sports nerd, and has written two different non-fiction sports books.

Anyway, The english trailer and the audiobook prologue are after the jump, so please share these on Twitter and Facebook. Heck, I’d be happy if you shouted it from the corner at passers by.

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/

Leukemia, FitBit & Kindle Scout

Those of you who follow me on Twitter have been getting my daily and weekly stats from FitBit. The good news is that I’ve lost about twenty pounds just watching my carbs and using the FitBit app food diary. I also strive to get 10,000 steps a day, and now that I got Erika a FitBit too, we’re competing. That leads quickly to large step counts. The hourly activity icon reminds me to make sure I get in at least 250 steps each hour that I’m at work since my job is pretty much defined as sitting my large derriere in a chair all day. I’ve got a few friends that also challenge me, but I’d like to get more. If you do the FitBit – the app alone or with the fit bit device, add me to your friend list. The link is over there *points to the right* next to my email and Amazon link.

I had a visit with my hematologist last week to check my white cell count. No change there. Which I guess is a good thing. My leukemia is rather underwhelming. He got all up in my grill because according to his records, I’m down 26 pounds since my initial consult a few months back. I told him that I didn’t want to fight blood cancer and diabetes at the same time, so I was going to continue to work on my weight goal of 230 pounds. (FitBit makes a scale that links via Bluetooth to the app… How’s that for over done?)

I didn’t read my last few Leukemia posts, but in case I didn’t mention it before, my lymph nodes are normal, so it’s just my blood that’s all screwy. (And I guess my bone marrow, too.) I went around the bend for about a month or two trying to eat healthy and eliminating most carbs. The kids were miserable despite my insistence that there was little difference between spaghetti noodles and spaghetti squash. The squash is a little al dente, but it’s better for you. Now, I’m on a more realistic (and cheaper) diet. I’m not as carb adverse, and since I’m still losing weight, I guess I’m doing fine.

Anyway, no news is good news I guess. I don’t go back to the hematologist until January, and my dietician appointment had to be postponed due to the recent Trump rally. I should check to see if there’s a way to print out my food diary so she can scold me for eating too many Sausage Egg McMuffins.

Thanks for your prayers, good vibes, kindly emails and texts, and for nominating War of the Worlds: Retaliation on Kindle Scout. Oh, wait, that shameless self-promotion needs a link to the Kindle Scout campaign:

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1P15HGBUYJZLJ

Oh, and my friend, Rachel Wollaston, has her Kindle Scout campaign starting today: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2DDQ7HVBHR2TV

War of the Worlds: Retaliation now on Kindle Scout

Hey, everyone! Wednesdays have been all about Days Until Home for so long, and now that the web serial is finished, and the special edition paperback is out, it’s time to move on from the space disaster.

Wait a minute… We’re still in space… But instead of doing this and that in the near future, we’re in an alternate past. A past where the War of the Worlds happened, and after the Martians died, we humans reverse-engineered their tech to better all of humanity. Well, for the most part. We also have the looming threat of another invasion by those slimy squids from the fourth rock from the sun. We’ve got to take the fight to Mars. End the Martian threat once and for all. After all, it has been twenty-six years since the original attack from the red planet.

War of the Worlds: Retaliation is the vision of my co-author, John Rust. He completed the first draft way back in 2012, but it floated around waiting for the copyright of H.G Wells’ 1898 story to expire in the European Union. I think I harassed John for a number of months in early 2015 to get this story published. We wrapped up the latest revision in December 2015 and started submitting the story to the major and some specialty publishers.

The final attempt to wrangle a publishing contract is going to be through Kindle Press via a Kindle Scout campaign. The campaign started in the wee hours this morning and will run for thirty days. After that campaign, Kindle Press offers a fifteen-day decision period. Since the stipulations of the campaign dictate that only one author is considered, John has authorized me to act as the sole author for the purposes of the KS campaign. I’m a tiny bit uncomfortable with this since John has had the lion’s share of the writing, rewrites, and general writer angst, but apparently, I’m higher profile. (Go figure!)

Anyone with an Amazon account can nominate War of the Worlds: Retaliation for consideration by Kindle Press, and I hope that you will nominate our story. Also, since getting the word out is of major importance, please reblog, retweet, and do whatever it is that you do on Facebook. The more exposure we can get, the better chance we have of receiving a contract. As a bonus, if War of the Worlds: Retaliation is selected by Kindle Press, anyone who nominated it will receive a free digital copy when it releases. Hopefully that will be the first week of January 2017.

So, please spread the word and nominate War of the Worlds: Retaliation on Kindle Scout today:

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1P15HGBUYJZLJ/

War of the Worlds: Retaliation Excerpt

Chucks’s prompt this week is a perfect excuse to tease you with more from War of the Worlds: Retaliation. I’m a little heavy at 1500 words:

“Finally, we’re prepared for you.” A grin slowly formed on Admiral Beatty’s face. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the large ebb screen in King Edward VII’s battle management center, heart pumping quicker as the four hundred sixty dots representing the Martian fleet closed with the ASEF ships. This would not be like slaughter of his gunboat fleet in the Sudan. This time, they’d fight the bloody squids on equal footing.

Fight and win. Beatty closed his eyes. The faces of the young lads from his gunboats floated through his mind. A slight shudder went through him as he recalled the heat of the explosions, the screams of the wounded, the sight of men vaporized.

A lump formed in Beatty’s throat. I’ll make them pay. I swear it to all of you.

“They’re splitting up.” Captain Gibbons pointed at the screen. “Looks as though they’re sending most of their bigger ships to hit our flanks.”

Beatty nodded, watching large groups of dots break off and make for different parts of the ASEF fleet.

“Leftenant Porter,” he said to the combat coordination officer. “Have US Task Force Forty-Four and the German Eighth Fleet reinforce our left flank. he British Third Fleet and French Sixth Fleet will reinforce the right flank. US Task Force Thirty-Four, the Brazilian First Fleet and the Norwegian Third Flotilla will reinforce our rear.”

“Aye, sir.” Porter repeated the order to the appropriate fleet commanders.

“Also,” Beatty held up a finger, “move up the Canadian Second Flotilla, the Spanish First Fleet, and the Italian Second Fleet to protect the transports and support ships.”

“Aye, sir.” Porter relayed that order as well.

Anticipation grew within Beatty. He yearned to give the order to fire. He looked around the BMC, thought of the thousands of human ships at his command, all built from the technology the Martian invaders left behind when they died.

Technology about to be turned against you monsters. Oh, the delicious irony. Perhaps he’d pen a poem about it one day.

“Lower projection screens. I want complete three hundred sixty degree coverage of the battle area.”

“Aye, sir,” replied Porter. “Lowering projection screens.”

War of the Worlds: Retaliation

I’m afraid we humans are gonna leave a mess on Mars for Abigail Harrison when she gets there in 2030. Some of you fans have been hearing snippets about the War of the Worlds sequel I’m working on with fellow Arizona author, John Rust. We have the preliminary art done for the cover, and have already started on the varying covers for different media and territories. The cover for the paperback is done, and next I’ll work on the hardcover. The digital covers will be very similar to what we’ve already come up with. We’ll need more beta readers, editors and proofreaders before we start shopping the manuscript. You know how to get ahold of me if you’re interested in helping us out. Anyway, here’s the first chapter:

* * *

Am I the only one on this planet that has not turned into a cowardly fool?

Supreme Guardian Hashzh aimed his large, dark eyes at the video screen. All six of his tentacles trembled. He opened his v-shaped mouth and unleashed a half-shriek, half-gargle of anger.

When the piercing sound stopped echoing off the curved walls of his chamber, Hashzh spread his tentacles along the floor and read the message from the Guiding Council.

Our most recent calculations show that the Shoh’hau race has more than adequate defenses to deal with any potential attack by the natives of Brohv. As we have stated previously, the Council has determined it is highly unlikely a primitive race like the Brohv’ii can replicate our technology to the point they are able to threaten our world. Thus, your request for more weaponry for the Guard Force is denied.

Hashzh’s anger burned hotter as he continued reading.

Furthermore, Supreme Guardian Hashzh, your constant requests for more material for the Guard Force has not only grown tiresome, but wastes the time of the Guiding Council. We have stated numerous times that priority for resource allocation must go to the Final Project. Diverting those resources for armaments that will in all likelihood never be used means delaying the completion of the Final Project. You are to cease your requests for additional weaponry. Non-compliance with this directive will result in your removal as Supreme Guardian.

Hashzh wanted to cover all nine members of the Guiding Council in bodily waste. Did they truly believe the Brohv’ii not to be a threat? Had they forgotten what happened during the Cleansing Mission 13 cycles ago? All the Brohv’ii needed was for one ship to land on Shoh, and just one of their race to set foot on this planet and spread their diseases.

That fear dominated his mind. He thought of the Shoh’hau in the Cleansing Force. How much pain did they endure as those alien microbes ravaged their bodies? How scared had they been, knowing they had no means to combat the sickness?

Would the same happen to him? To everyone on Shoh?

It will if fear continues to rule the Guiding Council. They wanted nothing more to do with the Brohv’ii. Hashzh sometimes believed the planet’s leaders thought simply mentioning the word “Brohv’ii” would cause their diseases to spread throughout the world.

War of the Worlds: Retaliation

Some of you eagle-eyed fans have already sussed that I’m working on a War of the Worlds sequel with fellow Arizona author John J. Rust. We know each other in real life from our jobs in radio broadcasting. Some of you might ask if a War of the Worlds sequel is legit. Totally, dude! In the United States, books published before 1923 are in the public domain. Other countries have their own copyright laws, and the H. G. Wells copyright is now in the public domain in every country except the European Union. We have to wait until January 2017 for that to happen.

I’m not too worried about spoiling a book published in the 19^th century, but the following potty-mouth synopsis for War of the Worlds: Retaliation will spoil the ending of H. G. Wells’ serial and novels. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

When the Martians died, their advanced technology was left on earth. Know any humans that could do something with that tech? Of course you do, that’s been a conspiracy theory ever since Area 51 was declassified. What else do we know about humans? We get really shitty when some asshole aliens come to steal our planet. I mean fuck those guys, right? Let’s reverse engineer that shit and go kick them in the balls. ALL THE WAY TO MARS! Hell yeah, mother truckers. Heh heh, mother truckers. You like how I’m all “mother truckers” there, but had no problem saying “fuck” three sentences ago? Smooth jazz, my man.

So, War of the Worlds: Retaliation is a genre-stomping behemoth. I know the original was an allegory for British colonialism, and all that jive, but War of the Worlds: Retaliation is a sci-fi action/adventure that takes place in the mid 1920s, so it’s even got some alternative history action goin’ down. So I guess it would be retro futuristic sci-fi action/adventure. Sorry, I suck at subgenres.

John and I are both Harry Turtledove fans, and there has been an attempt to keep the characters true to their real-world counterparts. That’s totally part of what Turtledove does. There’s even an appendix that gives the down low on these historical peeps and what they accomplished here on our own blue-green marble.

You picked up what I put down? Yep, the 59,000-word first draft has been done since December 2012. Right now we’re rewritin’ fiends, hammering redbulls and doing some other thing that we’re not really doing, but I guess it’s supposed to sound all HARDCORE in italics and capital letters. We’re exchanging chapters, defending our edits and revisions. There might even be some chokin’ a bitch out. No, not really, we’ll mesh just fine.

Can you tell I’m hella stoked about this project? There’s a plan to have each region have it’s own “earth lettering” on the cover. I can see your blank stare. Here’s the North American region cover. Click on it to view it in its 300dpi 6×9-inch glory.