Interrogated by Joo - The Grand Inquisitor

Ever wanted to know more about me? No, I didn't think so. Somebody apparently does and so I've been submitted to the Grand Inquisition by Joo from the KUForum and Goodreads Forum. If you'd like to see my rambling answers to pointed questions then get yourself over to Joo's Book Reviews and Interviews

BAG A FREE VAMPIRE TV SHOW GUIDE

It's freebie time!

Having just thrown in with Amazon's exclusive programme that allows books to be free for a few days in return for exclusivity on Amazon (sorry but the other platforms have failed to yield any interest in my books whatsoever with Amazon shifting more in a day than Smashwords ever!) I am going to be using the programme for a giveaway starting September 10th (ie tomorrow).

The book of choice is a guide to television shows that feature vampires. It's a themed chapter taken from THE SCI FI FREAK SITE GUIDE TO THE TELEVISUAL GALAXY, a book that has been a project of mine for a couple of years now, providing information on science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror shows on TV. I needed such a book, but the only available one was well out of date, so I did my own. It's available on the Kindle and at lulu.com.

If vampires are your thing, though, then you have five days to get your free kindle download from when it goes live tomorrow.

UNDEAD 4 has a title and a cover

One Small Step For The Man From UNDEAD has become a slightly bittersweet title for the fourth in the Man From UNDEAD series following the news that Neil Armstrong has died. The book even has a character with a similar name, referencing the first man to walk on the moon.

The book is set for release in October and this is ther first time that the cover has been let out in public on its own without a babysitter.

Clearly, it's in the same vein as all the other Man From UNDEAD covers, but the new elements are all story specific and hopefully don't give away too much of the plot.

Frankly, the plot is so bonkers that it would be impossible to give it away with a few images anyway.

Anyhow, this is now the official title and cover and come October the book will be available to buy on Amazon for the kindle and Lulu.com for the printed book.

Sky Atlantic's new show The Newsroom started tonight and whilst it was not perfect, it showed up a lot of other TV shows without even hitting its stride right.

Why is this even on my blog? Well, this show's opening episode was written by Aaron Sorkin who is a personal writing god of mine. The man who was responsible for the Greatest Show Ever On TV (TM) - The West Wing - just doesn't seem to be able to write anything not worth watching. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (or whatever it was called) was a cracking show based inside a sketch show that lampooned the events of the week, but only lasted one season for the crimes of being intelligent and not having too much nice to say about network TV in the States. There is only so much biting of the hand that feeds you that you can get away with.

And The Newsroom is more of that. Right from the outset, Sorkin accuses media news of being lazy, corrupt and more interested in the advertising revenue than the quality of the news. No surprise then that the media in the US went ape and tore the show to shreds. There is no way that the show deserved any of the maulings it got, even on the evidence of this opening episode that is never going to be as slick as it's going to get. It's a case of "say you don't like us and we'll say it back".

Sorkin's got the last laugh, however, as HBO has commissioned a second outing for the show that has, after just one episode, become unmissable.

Man From UNDEAD now a trilogy and doing well

In the not too distant past, I released the third in THE MAN FROM U.N.D.E.A.D. series. The reaction was pretty immediate and rather surprising. Before I knew it, the books were on a couple of Amazon's filter lists (humour and contemporary fantasy) and sales took off like never before.

This surge of sales also took in the trilogy edition that contains all three books for a slightly cheaper price.

Considering that I have done absolutely nothing more in the way of promotion than at any other time, I am at a loss to explain it, but I am grateful for it all the same.

I can only assume that perhaps the fact that there is now a trilogy of these books that has in some way 'legitimised' them in the eyes of readers. I don't know why that should be, but I have absolutely no other explanation for it.

GOODNIGHT DEAR free again.

It's been far too long since I was posting on this blog, but a lot has been going on in that time, so there will be things to catch up on now that I have a few extra seconds.

The first is to announce that GOODNIGHT DEAR:THE UNSENTIMENTAL DIARY OF A BEREAVED HUSBAND is back free on Amazon of all flavours, so if you have a kindle you can download it for free for another three days.

Lots of other people already have been, so why not you?

Norah Ephron Dies

Today I found out that Norah Ephron had died in her early 70s. Though not a huge fan of all of her work, the script for WHEN HARRY MET SALLY is a thing of beauty; so funny and yet so true and warm and full of heart. Sure, it has a couple of great performances to help it along, but with a script this good how could they not?