The Motivation Behind Diary of a Zombie

Most of my writing has been in the area of westerns, although I occasionally dabble in other areas of fiction as well. This book was my first attempt at the zombie genre, but I wanted to take it in a new direction. Most zombie books that I had read revolved around the slow, lumbering moaning undead, along with a lot of gore. I felt that was too limiting, and I felt there was room for a thinking man's zombie book.

That is where the idea for this novella came from. I wrote this book as a series of letters that were written to the mortal world by the leader of the zombies, with the mortal world as the intended audience. Although this is in the genre of horror, the intent is also to make us take a step back and think. Maybe it is not they that are the monster.

Thanks again to all of you that have made Diary of a Zombie a successful release. I was hoping there was room for a different type of zombie story, and you proved me right.

Western on Sale

With the large number of people that recently picked up one of the new Kindles or other ereaders, I decided to offer a deal to you. In order to give you a fun read to put on your new device, I am now offering my western, Unlikely Trio, for only 99 cents a copy. I plan on leaving this price for at least the next week or so, but if the response is good, I may leave that as the permanent price.

Think back to the days of the pulp fiction western. This book seeks to recreate that era. A quick fun read of only about 8,500 words.

Three men are close friends, despite their different backgrounds. One is a lawman, one is a gambler, and the third is a man that tinkers on both sides of the law when times call for it. Now toss in a down on her luck girl with her cap set for the gambler and sparks are bound the fly.

The lawman wants to gather up the team to go after five outlaws who shot up a gambling hall and killed a barmaid. Certain things cannot be allowed to stand, and the death of a woman is one of them. Although the lawman wants to bring them back for trial, the gambler has vengeance on his mind.

The Kindle Fire is One Hot Tablet

As much as I was attracted to the Kindle Fire when it was first announced, I continue to be stunned by the projected sales numbers. It is estimated by some accounts that six million units will be in the hands of users by the end of 2011.

This could be somewhat of a risk to the iPad if only in one regard. The Kindle Fire doesn't try to do too much. They took the most common features that people look for in a table, and packaged it into a small form factor that is large enough to be usage, and small enough to be portable. Most people do not need or want a fully functional tablet. According to studies, the most common things people want to do on this form factor is read books, browse the Internet, email, watch videos, and mild gaming. Amazon was able to do this while still keeping the price very affordable.

There has been some questions over whether or not Amazon is making any money on the product, but they are thinking long term. Even if they sell at a loss, Amazon knows that people are going to buy media to consume on the product, and long term it will be more profitable than their traditional channels. No warehouse space needed for the media, just some computer files. Think about how cool it will be to carry entertainment for a trip in your pocket or purse.

Range War Now Available

The first book in the Saugatuck western trilogy, Range War, is now available on Amazon for only $1.99. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for your support.

Sam Stevenson had been Sheriff of Saugatuck for a number of years, and he had faced many challenges. None of them prepared him for what he would face when the railroad was coming to town. Two large ranchers both wanted to control the railroad land, and both planned to use it to destroy the other, even if that meant that Saugatuck became a casualty in the process.

While trying to keep a lid on the situation, Sam is forced to confront something from his past that he had hoped was left behind. The result of this confrontation risks the life Sam had built for himself while starting over in this town.

This is a fast paced western adventure that reminds us of the old time westerns by Max Brand and similar authors. At almost 34,000 words, this is a fun way to spend a weekend with your Kindle. The first book in a trilogy about the town of Saugatuck and its lawman, and I hope you will enjoy the others.

New Western on its Way

Thanks again for checking in. I have a new western, Range War, that is in its final editing stage, and it should be live on Amazon in the next week. This is the first book of what I refer to as the Saugatuck Trilogy, which follows a local lawman as he struggles to keep his town safe while dealing with skeletons in his own closet.

This is a fast paced western that hearkens back to the days of Max Brand, when the westerns were fast paced and sucked you into the action.

Toss in a minister who is facing the struggle between helping a friend and following his calling, and it is hard to see how this is going to end. Will good or evil win out? You'll have to check back.

Unlikely Trio

Well, my latest western has finally been through its final edits, and it is now available on the Amazon Kindle, as well as other formats.

Think back to the golden days of westerns, when you could lose yourself in a western magazine or novella, and this is a western from that time. Think back to the days of the pulp fiction western. This book seeks to recreate that era. A quick fun read of only about 8,500 words.

Three men are close friends, despite their different backgrounds. One is a lawman, one is a gambler, and the third is a man that tinkers on both sides of the law when times call for it. Now toss in a down on her luck girl with her cap set for the gambler and sparks are bound the fly.

The lawman wants to gather up the team to go after five outlaws who shot up a gambling hall and killed a barmaid. Certain things cannot be allowed to stand, and the death of a woman is one of them. Although the lawman wants to bring them back for trial, the gambler has vengeance on his mind.

Hopefully you enjoy the book, and more will be coming soon.

Unlikely Trio

Diary of a Zombie

I wanted to let you all know that my recent novella, Diary of a Zombie, is now available on Amazon. Unlike your typical zombie fare, with lumbering zombies moaning and killing people while we attack them, this one is big on thinking and small on gore.

The book is written as a series of letters from the zombie prince to the mortal world, in order to bridge the gaps between our worlds. Below is an excerpt, and I hope you enjoy the book at Amazon.

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Welcome. Glad to see you join me this evening. My name is Morpheus, and I thought it was important for me to correct some misconceptions that most people tend to believe. For the record, I am what many of you refer to as a zombie, or one of the undead. This statement is not meant to shock or upset you, because in a lot of ways, we are the same, just in different states of being. In fact, you might say that we need each other. Of course, not all of you appreciate the main reason why we need you, but then again, cows probably don’t appreciate why you need them either. We have also accepted how you use us as a form of entertainment and to keep your children in line. We have accepted that as well.

In many ways, my present state puts me at an advantage. Exhaustion is not something that we need to worry about. Personally, I reached my present state in a foxhole in France in July of 1915. It had been an exhausting day of battle, and although I was on watch that night, my eyelids were feeling heavy. Despite warnings against it, I needed a smoke badly. Hiding the cherry from the cigarette, I felt the soothing of the smoke curl into my lungs right before it felt as though I had been hit in the head with a spike. After a brief intense feeling of pain, I suddenly felt invincible. After a quick tap on the shoulder, I was led out of the foxhole by a well dressed Frenchman. The situation seemed odd, but felt as though I must follow. That led me down the path where I am greeting you today.

Just like you, I have seen all of the Hollywood films about us, and I must applaud your creativity. The only problem is that most of these films are nothing more than rubbish. Yes, some of us are grotesque in our outward appearance, but the majority appears normal to you. In fact, there may be a “zombie” sitting next to you as you read this. Yes, I also know you just took a quick glance at them to make sure they were human. For those that appear human, we usually will either be seen with long hair or a hat so that we can hide the head wound that lead to our current state of existence. The truth of the matter is that rarely will you know the difference between us and a typical mortal.

Over the thousands of years that our kind has existed, we have been able to develop a sophisticated hierarchy of our own society, and we have fully integrated into the modern society in order to better meet our needs. I hope that I have not disappointed you by letting you know that we are rarely the moaning blank faced creatures who mumble as they stumble forward out of the graveyard looking for brains to digest. While it is true that brains are our primary form of nutrition, we are much more sophisticated than you may imagine. In order for you to not be distracted by our conversation, I will relegate our conversation to terms that you can understand, and I will allow you to simply refer to me as a zombie.

Purpose of this Blog

Welcome to my blog. I just thought I would leave a brief message to let you know why I am here. In order to get the word out about new and upcoming projects, I wanted to make sure all my readers had the opportunity to know about them ahead of time.

If you follow this blog, you will be among the first to know about thse books before anyone else can get them for their Kindle or other ereaders. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon.