Anthony Neil Smith & Brian Drake crime novels

Anthony Neil Smith is the author of PSYCHOSOMATIC, THE DRUMMER, YELLOW MEDICINE, and HOGDOGGIN'.  His fifth novel, CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, was recently published as an e-original.  He is the editor of PLOTS WITH GUNS (www.plotswithguns.com), and the Director of Creative Writing at Southwest Minnesota State University.
 
CHOKE ON YOUR LIES in a crime novel that pays homage to the Nero Wolfe mysteries, but written for the "internet porn" generation.  Octavia Vanderplatts is a large woman, rich and brilliant, but also scathingly mean.  When she offers to help her friend Mick--a lovelorn poet without much of a spine--with his impending divorce, he knows it can only mean trouble.  But when they begin to turn up secrets, cheating, lies, a forged signature, a swinger's club, and blackmail, Mick realizes that Octavia's way might be the only way, even if it burns every bridge in his life.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? They'll like the naughtiness of it, if they're into that sort of thing, and Octavia's whiplash tongue.  Maybe she's highly unlikeable, but she's like a plane crash--you can't help but marvel at the scale of the awfulness.  Also, even though it pays tribute to Nero Wolfe, the dark comedy in the novel sets it apart from the usual old-style detective novels.

Q: Why did you go indie? I've published four novels on small presses, and I love that.  I'd recently uploaded my first novel PSYCHOSOMATIC to the e-reader market, and it's been fun.  So instead of another round of submissions for CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, I was too eager to get it into the hands of my readers, so I did it myself.  And it's been really a blast meeting all these great new indie authors.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? James Ellroy, George Pelecanos, James Crumley, Jo Nesbo, Victor Gischler, Sean Doolittle, Vicki Hendricks, Megan Abbot, Sara Gran, Allan Guthrie. Many more.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004K1F96A

Blog: http://anthonyneilsmith.typepad.com

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Brian Drake has been a writer of mystery, crime and adventure fiction since his first publication at age 25, and discusses important contributions to the hard-boiled canon at his blog, “Brian Drake Explains It All” (www.briandrake88.blogspot.com). In his spare time, Brian, a California native, can be found racing through the back canyon roads of the Central Valley in a bright red hot rod. Someday he may get a dog.

Product description:

Could you kill your father? CIA agent Michael Dodge owes Harry Ames, his surrogate father. But his mentor is accused of murdering a comrade and joining forces with an enemy planning to unleash a lethal biological weapon on the United States. Dodge may have to kill Harry, but can he do it? SHOW NO MERCY by Brian Drake. A heart-stopping international thrill-ride with a twist at every turn.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

SHOW NO MERCY is a fast-paced spy thriller that is pure escapist entertainment. I specifically set out to write a thriller that, whlie it takes place in contemporary time, does not refer to current events or any current issue that made your brain boil during the day. You can sit and read this book and not be reminded of any of that.

Q: Why did you go indie?

At first I went indie to build up an readership to show a New York publisher that I could sell books; however, I'm having so much doing the indie thing that I think I'm going to stay indie. It is truly a blast.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Ian Fleming, Robert Ludlum, Jerry Ahern.

Blog: www.briandrake88.blogspot.com

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MDLVPY

Smashwords Lins: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/40917

Cathryn Grant & Kaitlin Queen crime novels

THE DEMISE OF THE SOCCER MOMS

 Cathryn Grant’s short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Her short story, “I Was Young Once” received an honorable mention from Joyce Carol Oates in the 2007 Zoetrope All-story Short Fiction contest. Cathryn’s flash fiction has been published at Every Day Fiction and at her website under Flash Fiction for the cocktail hour. One reader commented that she “makes the mundane menacing”. When she’s not writing, Cathryn works in high tech, reads, and plays very high-handicap golf. During the winter she hibernates with books, a fire, popcorn, and a glass of wine or scotch.

In The Demise Of The Soccer Moms, a seemingly quiet suburban neighborhood is upended when a provocative single mother saunters onto the school playground for the first time. Her Doc Marten boots, tight T-shirts, and in-your-face attitude stir up buried fears and sexual anxiety. In the dark corners of her home, a woman battles crippling memories that threaten to destroy the family she wants so desperately to protect. A suspicious death forces her best friend to make a hard choice between marriage and friendship. Paranoia, jealousy, and maternal instinct collide, leading to the demise of the soccer moms.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

Readers will find something familiar in each of these flawed suburban women who so desperately want to keep their children safe. They’ll be thrilled with a bit of morbid fascination as they see how violence can escalate when paranoia takes hold, and will be anxious to find out what choices these women and men make when faced with the darker side of suburban life.

Q: Why did you go indie?

As the doors opened for ePublishing, I no longer saw the value provided by traditional publishers. As I considered pursuing the indie route for business reasons, it suddenly hit me how great it would be to have direct interaction with readers. I also love having creative control over my title and cover, as well as the pricing and marketing of my work.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith. I also like literary authors who have strong crime themes in their fiction – Joyce Carol Oates and Laura Kasischke

Read a free sample at http://suburbannoir.com

Buy The Demise Of The Soccer Moms at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Smashwords

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One More Unfortunate by Kaitlin Queen (99 cents during March)

Born in Essex, I moved to Northumberland in the north-east of England when I was a child and have lived there ever since. My children's fiction (mostly for the 9-15 age range) has been published by Puffin, Hodder, Orion and others and has, in some weeks, out-sold the Harry Potter books. "Kaitlin Queen" is the name I use for my adult fiction.

Product description:
It's the mid-1990s and Nick Redpath has some issues to resolve. Like why he is relentlessly drawn back to a circle of old friends and enemies -- and an old love -- in his seaside birthplace in north Essex. And why he won't let himself fall in love again. But first he must prove that he didn't murder his old flame, Geraldine Wyse...

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
I've wanted to move into adult fiction for some time, but I wanted to keep it distinct from my earlier work, hence all the cloak-and-dagger business with the pen-name. Taking on a new persona for this was surprisingly fun, freeing me up to write a very different kind of story: a love story, a crime puzzle, and a novel deeply embedded in the history of a place I love dearly. Perhaps readers will pick up just how much I enjoyed writing this, and will share some of that feeling with me.

Q: Why did you go indie?
Adopting a pen-name made me start thinking about approaching the publishing of the novel in new and different ways: why not publish it as an ebook original, through a writers' collective just like the new infinity plus imprint my old friend Keith Brooke kept telling me about? His persistence paid off, and the book is now available. It's strange to be starting a new writing career in such a radically different manner, and I'll watch with interest to see how my novel is received.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Peter James, Cathi Unsworth, Ruth Rendell, Simon Brett and many, many more!


http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/books/omu.htm

Michael Crane--LESSONS II: ANOTHER MORBID DRABBLE COLLECTION

Michael Crane is an indie author and scribbler of inane babble that can sometimes end up as stories. He went to Columbia College Chicago where he earned a BA in Fiction Writing. He is the author of IN DECLINE and LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES. His work has appeared in DEVIL MUSIC AND 18 OTHER STORIES by David McAfee, A LAND OF ASH by David Dalglish, and EVIL PUPPIES by Aaron Daniels. He lives in Illinois.


LESSONS II:
A sinister puppet finally makes a new friend.
A man learns about his bleak future.
A killer has another painful lesson to teach.

From the author of LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES comes this terrifying and amusing follow-up. 30 100-word shorts about horrible ghouls, monsters and deranged, bloodthirsty lunatics. In these drabbles, you'll run into kid-hungry goblins, sadistic dolls, zombies and psychopaths who believe that violence can solve just about anything.

Disgusting, creepy and darkly comic, LESSONS II: ANOTHER MORBID DRABBLE COLLECTION is bound to entertain, as well as horrify.

There's always time for another lesson...

Features bonus story by David McAfee, from his horror collection DEVIL MUSIC AND 18 OTHER STORIES.


Questions: 
Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
I think people love the combination of horror and dark humor.  They seem to work well together.  Even people who aren't typically fans of horror seem to enjoy the two books because of that.  And even though this is a follow-up, it's okay if you haven't read the first collection, although some reoccurring characters do pop up in a few of the stories.

Q: Why did you go indie?
My dream was always to get my work out there so that people can read and enjoy it.  Right now, I'm living that dream and it's all thanks to going indie.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
As far as horror goes, I've always loved Stephen King, especially his short stories.  And I'm also a huge fan of David McAfee.  33 A.D. and his two short story collections are excellent reads.  I normally write slice-of-life type of pieces, and writers who inspired me with that are Richard Yates and Raymond Carver.


Website:  www.facebook.com/authormichaelcrane
Buy it at Smashwords 
Or Amazon
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Kae Cheatham--Child of the Mist

Author of twelve titles, Kae has been an indy author since 2001. Her first traditionally-published book Spotted Flower and the Ponokomita (1978) is also her first indy published book (revised edition in 2001); a 2nd printing of this revised edition will be out ion December 2010. Kae is also a freelance editor and book facilitator, working with authors to maximize their writing potential. She gives presentations and workshops in writing and history throughout her region. She lives in Montana.

Child of the Mist: A Gem of the Galaxy tale

Juilan Pranss is just a lowly government employee on a space-faring planet. Or is she? Juilan suddenly isn’t sure after she’s spirited from a spaceliner, kidnapped and continually under threat on a distant planet she knows little about. During this time, she keeps having visions and begins to believe she’s possessed.

Handsome benefactor Rodrig Ferstan is certain Juilan is the answer to all the galaxy’s problems. But his ideas seem dangerous. Juilan flees him, and comes under the tutelage of Trenner Curembac, a moody, driven outcast.

With doubt and danger at every turn, Juilan learns incredible truths about her background and the world into which she has been forced. Once she accepts the astounding realities, she must still evade her psychotic half-brother and handle the century-old Evincor—the indomitable gemstone that is the very basis of the culture—in a ceremony that could cause her death.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Readers will appreciate the strong characters. My stories always develop from this. Also, this unique world is an interesting place. I’ve written historical fiction and truly enjoyed world-building for this book and its sister, Daughter of the Stone. People who like a series will like that the Gem of the Galaxy titles are stand alone.
Q: Why did you go indie?
Going indie was a function of getting burned out with the traditional route. I’ve had traditional New York publishers, small press regional publishers, online publishers, and it seemed something was never quite right. I decided if blunders were made, I’d take the blame and stop whining about the mistakes of someone else. It’s been refreshing to have control over my work.
Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
In Speculative fiction, I was inspired by Octavia Butler, who was a master at depicting the new and ultra-different. I enjoy reading David Brin’s books. He is deft at blending hard science with interesting characters. I’m just now getting introduced to Mary Buckner’s work. Fascinating!

Geoffrey Thorne-- Winter of the Wild Hunt

WINTER OF THE WILD HUNT is my first full-length eNovel. 

An aimless young man with a broken heart... Four child prodigies with an earthshaking idea... A beautiful musician who is considerably more than she seems... 

and an unearthly force capable of ripping people right out of this world come together in the swirl of magic and science that is WINTER OF THE WILD HUNT.

Sharing a home with four super geniuses isn’t easy, especially if you’re worried the machine they’re building in the attic might just destroy the planet. When a beautiful singer with a voice that’s literally out of this world smashes into your life like a freight train all hope of normalcy goes right out the window.  Suddenly you’re changing for her. Not only your mind but your body- changing into something new, something inhuman. 

You find yourself at the center of a centuries’ old battle between all of mankind and mystical forces too powerful and malevolent to contemplate. The fate of two worlds rests on which side of the conflict you choose you know whatever you decide could spell oblivion for billions including your best friends and the woman you’ve come to love.

WINTER OF THE WILD HUNT is a tale of magic, science, friendship and a love so terrible it just might break the world.

I think readers will like this book for the reasons I did. It's unusual. It's an urban fantasy that feels like someone telling you a real-world story. It's sarcastic and funny and sweet and terrifying, sometimes on the same page. It's got romance, action, magic, horror, science and it's about at least two different kinds of love. I think the readers will be surprised by it. It's not what it seems to be. In a very good way.

I decided to go the indie route as an experiment at first, testing the waters with several previously published novellas. Those are doing so well I thought I'd bite the bullet and release something completely original and unseen. That's WINTER OF THE WILD HUNT.

My favorite authors, short list: Ursula LeGuin. Octavia Butler. Tad WIlliams. Greg Bear. Roger Zelazny. Steven Brust. Neil Gaiman.

 

http://www.wix.com/wintermanproject/books

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Indie Books Blog

In looking for places to promote my own books or learn about the books of other independent authors (defined as those not released through a major publishing house), I could not find many good sources to let people find out about authors you probably won't see on the New York Times bestseller list or featured in Entertainment Weekly. Let's face it, most journalists are much too overworked and broke to notice anything but Twilight, Dan Brown, James Patterson, and the occasional celebrity book--and I say that as a journalist.

Freelance reviewers and amateur book bloggers, as wonderful as they are, tend to stick to the books that show up in those wonderful cartons every week, straight from the Big Six, featuring all the titles all the other book bloggers are writing about. I dig the lure of free stuff. I've had my share in my time. Since the independent era is mostly about e-books, all a reviewer gets is a digital file--nothing to sell on eBay!

Since I don't have time to read and review a ton of books, this blog is more of a central showcase where you can meet new authors, learn about new releases, and get some links to learn more about the work or author if you are interested. While minimal attempts will be made to vet content, each writer must stand alone, and each reader must make a wise choice of whether or not to purchase.

That said, let the fun begin.

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