Well, it’s March 13th, and you know what that means! No, I’m not talking about when St Felix III began his reign as Catholic Pope, or that today is when Mongolia declared their independence from China in 1921. No, I mean that today is the day HAYWIRE becomes available for purchase. I hope that all of you are ready and eager to buy your copy, because I’m more than ready for you to get it. Now, the first question is of course, “How do I get it?” Great question! First, and probably most importantly for a good number of people, it’s available on Amazon via the following links:

Kindle $4.99_____. Print $9.99______.

It is also available from Barnes & Noble for the Nook. I don’t have a cute picture to serve as a link, but you can click HERE and head straight to it.

If those aren’t to your liking, it’s also available from Smashwords in a wide variety of formats, among them PDF, EPUB, Palm Doc, RTF, and HTML. You can go HERE to see those if you’re interested.

Soon it will also be available in print from Barnes & Noble, as well as in ebook format for iBooks, Sony, and the Kobo. When those come available, I will let you know immediately.

Now, some people have asked me, “What about signed copies of the print book?” That’s another great question! As of right now I don’t have any copies on hand to sign and send out. When I do, I’ll let you know. Until then, though, you are free to mail me your copy with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and I’d be happy to sign it and mail it back to you, or you can order it and send it directly to me, along with an email to let me know to expect it. Either way, reach out to me and I’ll pass an address along to send it to. Or you could make a trip to Balticon, run me down in the hallway or on a panel, and I’d be happy to sign it and have a chat. Your choice.

Let me end this by saying thank you. If you’re reading this, then it means you’re at least somewhat interested in buying my book and reading it. For that, I thank you. Writing is something I’ve wanted to make a career of my entire life, and with your support I get closer to living my dream. I hope that you order the book, love it, order copies for your friends and family, and then you review it on Amazon or where ever you bought it to help bring more people on board. I also hope you pass this post along to everyone you know, and so on, and so on. Thanks for everything, and check back soon for more news.

w00t!

I want you to buy my book Tuesday, March 13th (from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other fine retailers). I do. I can’t lie. I’d love for you buy it. But, more than that, I want you to buy it and ENJOY it. If you buy it and end up hating it, I might have gotten some of your money, but I’ve lost a reader, and at the end of the day it’s you guys who will help me establish a career that thrives. So, to make sure that you know what you’re getting in for before you actually plunk down your hard earned cash, I want to offer you a sample of the book. Right-Click HERE or on the small book cover above to download a PDF of the first three chapters of the novel, complete and unchanged from the full book. If you read it and you like it, then I encourage you to purchase the novel on March 13th in print or the ebook format of your choice. If, sadly, you don’t like it, at least you’ll have saved some money and time, and maybe the next novel that will be coming out later this year, A MINOR MAGIC, will be more to your liking.

Thanks for reading this post, for your time, and for your consideration. It means a lot.

How’s that cover, huh? Because HAYWIRE is being published by a small press, I had more control over what my cover would look like than a lot of other authors would, and I knew my brother — who’d worked on previous covers for me, all to my delight — was up to the challenge. What do you think? Do you like it? Please let me know.

Also, the book will be releasing on March 18th in both print and ebook versions. You won’t be able to just walk into a store and see it on a shelf since Gryphonwood is a smaller press, but you should be able to order it at your local store, as well as online. I hope that you do, and that you contact me to tell me what you thought. I’m really excited. Are you?

When I think about spellcasting, wizards, and far-flung magical lands, the next idea to jump into my mind usually isn’t the US military, but luckily for all of us author Myke Cole made just such a connection, and his debut novel SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT is the result. One part J.K. Rowling, two parts Tom Clancy, CONTROL POINT is a taut military thriller, but instead of guns and terrorists Mr. Cole fills his story with humans bursting with magical powers, powers that spring from a distant world that could be our salvation, or the source of our destruction. And, unlike most urban fantasies where magic runs wild in the streets, unconstrained and unregulated, Mr. Cole — who has a deep military background himself — brings his unique perspective to the genre and shows us a world where the government has clamped down on all magical activity, and where those who have the ability to wield fire, air, and earth are pressed into serving the United States armed forces. Can such power be contained? Can beings who control the very fabric of reality be controlled? These questions and more lie at the heart of SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT, and the answers will blow you right out of your seat. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Cole’s debut novel, and if you want to see what happens when “Lord of the Rings” is smashed into “Clear And Present Danger,” buy his novel and join the excitement. You won’t be disappointed.

SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT will be available in print and on the Kindle January 31st, 2012.

Hey, everyone, Justin here. Today marks the start of Movember, and I’m hoping you’ll want to join me. What’s Movember, you ask? Well, I’ll let the site who organizes the event fill you in:

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

Once registered at www.movember.com, men start Movember 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

At the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas celebrate their gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Movember party or attending one of the infamous Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, for Movember.

And, to make sure that I do my part to help this worthy cause, I’ve shaved off my goatee, signed up with the site, and am now asking people to donate. If you’d care to lend your dollars to this effort, please go to http://mobro.co/JustinMacumber and make your donation. We can use every dollar you’d be so generous to give. Thank you in advance.

Oh, here’s what I look like tonight, just so you know I’m on the up and up:

Hey, folks, Justin here. A little while ago the guys over at ThrillerCast put out a call for people to tell them what books they would want to be buried with, and I was more than happy to throw my thoughts out to them. They came back and asked me to join them on the air, and I was honored to do so. If you want to hear what book I’d like to be buried with, please give this a listen. I hope you enjoy it.

Author’s Product Description

Shayne Bartlet has been kidnapped, his powers disabled and his memory altered. He’s not having a good day. And he doesn’t even know it.

Together, Danielle and Shayne discover that things are not as they seem. They must stop Danielle’s race from destroying the Maslonian planet, and free Shayne’s people.

** SPOILER ALERT ** Be advised I have included some minor spoilers below.

Since I don’t haunt the Young Adult romance aisle of the bookstore, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I read this novel. What I got was an enjoyable read and characters I truly cared for. Shayne and Danielle are strong, likeable characters put into an interesting and twisty situation. Danielle and her people have been kidnapping people from Shayne’s world for a long time. Now Danielle is hunting for Shayne while he is trying to stop them.

In the process of them dealing with their divergent goals, they fall in love. They also encounter other honorable people and villains. These secondary characters didn’t have the same depth and development as the primary characters. For the most part that isn’t a major problem, however I would have liked to have seen them more fleshed out.

Since this story is a romance and not science fiction, I kept a more open mind when it came to some of the futuristic plot elements. A few of them had me raising an eyebrow, they didn’t detract from the romance storyline.

I would have liked to see a bit more ambiguity when figuring out who the bad guys were. I think that would’ve helped ratchet up the action and conflict. Maybe that is not the way Young Adult Romance handles things. Again, this really didn’t detract from the story for me.

I liked this book a lot and none of the issues I mentioned really slowed me down as I read the story.

I’ll have my eye on Victorine and will grab the her next book when it comes out.

I give this book four out of five stars.

From Publishers Weekly

The teenage (and innocent) John Wayne Cleaver swears he is not the serial killer that has emerged in his small town–despite his grisly name and a series of unpleasant and eerie similarities. His fascination with the killer leads him to launch his own investigation of sorts–one that leads him to the identity of the murderer.

I Am Not A Serial Killer is the first of three novels revolving around John Wayne Cleaver.

** SPOILER ALERT** Be advised I have some minor spoilers below.

John Wayne Cleaver has known something is different about him his entire life. The interactions of others rarely make sense and he doesn’t connect emotionally with anyone, not even his own family. He had many things in common with serial killers. They shared the same behaviors, urges, and hungers. Not good in a fifteen year old boy in high school.

The only difference between them and him was that he refused to let the monster out to play.

Most wouldn’t call his life normal. By trial and error, he formed a set of rules to lock the monster behind a wall. Working in his family’s mortuary provided him with a safe way to channel his fascination with the dead. Another outcast boy at school became his shield there. He wasn’t the eccentric loner, rather just one of the odd kids. One that kept writing homework assignments about serial killers, sure, but not dangerous.

Then a local man was disemboweled. The monster inside John stirred at the news and he had to go see the place where it had happened, even if it wasn’t safe for him or those around him. He told his therapist, who promptly told his mother. She didn’t know what a sociopath was, but she was pretty sure working with dead bodies wasn’t healthy for John, so she banished him from the mortuary.

That hurt, and made the monster harder to control, but he found a new hobby–tracking down and identifying the serial killer. As the death toll mounted, he pieced together a profile. When a chance encounter revealed everything, he called the police.

That didn’t turn out so well for the police, because the killer was literally a demon.

More determined than ever, John wasn’t going to let that minor detail stop him from bringing the killer down. He set his rules aside and started plotting to kill the otherworldly being. Unfortunately, that also freed the monster within him.

Could a fifteen year old boy fight a supernatural force and his own psyche? And would the people he should have cared about pay for his lapse, either at the claws of the demon or at his own hands?

This book wasn’t at all what I expected when I started reading it. I had heard it was horror, but I didn’t feel horrified. The sense of dread I expected of a horror novel never appeared. While it had serious similarities to watching an episode of Dexter, it is not a rip-off, just similar.

I’d almost call this an urban fantasy with an unusual protagonist. The ending satisfied me and I will read the other books in this series as time permits.

I’ll give it four out of five stars.

Today, I read that the Association of American Publishers had reported e-books had grown to be the number one format among all trade categories for February of 2011. As a percentage, they accounted for 29.5% in the combined print and e-book sales group. Considering they only garnered 8.32% in February 2010, that is nothing short of astonishing to me.

The salient facts quoted straight from the report are:

1. e-Books grew 169.4% to $164.1M.
2. the combined categories of print books fell 24.8% to $441.7M.

The full report can be found here.

Credit goes to Robin Sullivan for parsing the data here.

This surge may be because of the large number Kindles, iPads, iPhones, and other e-book capable devices sold for Christmas, so I’m not proclaiming the demise of print. What I am going to do, in my own outspoken way, is declare 2011 the year of the Indie author.

Okay, many other people have said much the same thing, but it’s my turn. I’ll share some figures, but mainly this is my gut feeling. If nothing else, this will make for a great discussion. If I seem a bit unfocused and rambly, I appologize. I forgot I needed to write this until the last moment.

In this last year, I’ve heard sales figures from a number of indie authors that should make everyone sit up and take notice. Let me share some of the numbers as quoted by Robin Sullivan on J.A. Konrath’s blog. I’ve plucked the exact listing and links from his blog so as not to screw them up, so all the credit on them is theirs.

Blake Crouch – 2500+
Nathan Lowell – 2500+
Beth Orsoff – 2500+
Sandra Edwards – 2500+
Vianka Van Bokkem - 2500+
Maria Hooley – 2500+
C.S. Marks – 2500+
Lee Goldberg – 2500+
Lexi Revellian – 4000+
Zoe Winters – 4000+
Aaron Patterson – 4000+
Bella Andre – 5000+
Imogen Rose – 5000+
Ellen Fisher – 5000+
Tina Folsom – 5000+
Terri Reid – 5000+
David Dalglish – 5000+
Scott Nicholson – 10,000+
J.A. Konrath 10,000+
Victorine Lieske – 10,000+
L.J. Sellers – 10,000+
Michael R. Sullivan – 10,000+
H.P. Mallory – 20,000+
Selena Kitt – 20,000+
Stephen Leather – 40,000+
Amanda Hocking – 100,000+

The link to their full post is here.
A more detailed analysis by Derek J. Canyon is here.

I know what you’re saying.

Those are just a few people and we don’t even know how much they’re making. True, but even if we posited they sold for $0.99 and only reaped $0.35 a copy, that would be $10,000 in their pocket for a year at the lowest volume mentioned. Some of these folks made substantially more. Amanda Hocking made almost two million dollars before she got a print offer. Selena Kitt is on track to come close to a million dollars in sales this year.

How many people were making anything like those kinds of sales on their own a few years ago? And that’s certainly not a comprehensive list, either.

Okay, I’ll agree that these folks are at the upper end of the spectrum. The thing is that unlike traditional print, their books never fall off the shelf. As they add books to those shelves, their sales numbers continue to rise. Every month, more people hit that list and with the growing number of e-book sales, it will continue to grow.

With millions of e-reader devices out there, it isn’t a stretch to imagine selling a thousand books a month after working at putting books out for a few years. And the thing about same e-book sales is that they aren’t trailing off with time. They’re ramping up. Each title is selling more every month on average and the trend is accelerating.

You could still be selling that title with good numbers for decades. No print run can match that.

I’m not saying it is as simple as just tossing an e-book out there. You need to do the same things a traditional publisher does. Make sure the story is entertaining. Edit it. Get a professional looking cover. Get it formatted. Crap books won’t sell. Make yours the best it can be and it will find an audience.

All that said, there could be good business reasons to seek a print deal. It just won’t be for the money. It’ll be for things like reaching a new audience and building name recognition. If dirty, filthy lucre is your end goal, traditional publishing isn’t your best bet.

In future installments, I’ll be talking about this topic in more detail. I’ll also be taking your howls of outrage into account, so tell me where I blew it in the comments.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Lt. Eve Dallas and her squad take on corrupt cops in Robb’s 33rd full-length novel featuring the New York Police and Security Dept. homicide detective (after Indulgence in Death), a fast-paced, intricate, and deadly dance of well-matched opponents. When Dallas’s partner, Det. Delia Peabody, overhears an angry exchange between Lt. Rene Oberman and Det. William Garnet that reveals an unlawful killing and ongoing skimming, Dallas’s reaction to this news is decisive: “the blue line breaks for wrong cops.” The setting may be slightly futuristic, but the procedures are familiar: Dallas puts together a solid team that meets in her home to avoid leaks as they compile evidence. At the same time, she initiates confrontations with the dangerous Oberman, whom she begins pushing toward a trap. From this pure good guys versus bad guys scenario, Robb (aka Nora Roberts) wrings plenty of exciting strokes and counterstrokes before reaching the satisfying climax. (Feb.)

As said above, Treachery in Death is the thirty-third full-length book in the In Death series.

Be advised, there might be some minor spoilers below.

Set about fifty years in our future, the world that Eve Dallas lives and works in as a Homicide Lieutenant in the Big Apple is noticeably different from ours, yet very much the same when it comes to the kind of criminals the police protect society from. Society has outlawed lethal weapons, but that hardly seems to slow the bad guys down. Forensics has improved to an astonishing degree, yet the smart criminals always seem to be a step ahead.

In this book, the criminal elements wear badges just like Dallas does. When her partner, Peabody, overhears a conversation she shouldn’t have, the wheels start spinning to stop the bad cops before they kill again. The cast of characters readers of this series know well once more leaps into action to get the evidence they need to stop the bad guys.

This book, unlike the earlier ones in the series, starts off with Dallas (and the reader) knowing exactly who is guilty and of what. All they have to do is prove it. That quickly becomes very predictable. Not one single thing in this book caught me off guard. I spotted all the turns long before they make their foregone appearance. I can’t say twists really as there were none. The book is well written structurally, but the story is flat.

It’s sad for me, really. The lack of tension left me totally unconcerned for anyone’s safety. There was no threat to keep the tension high. In fact, there really wasn’t much tension. Perhaps the author was trying to break the formula of the long running series to get a change of pace. She did that, just not to her benefit.

I’ll be waiting for her next book in this series, but with the expectation that it has to be better.

I give Treachery in Death three stars.