I have been going over the final edits that my editor suggested for Burnaby Burning and its all looking pretty good. I have the proofs from Create Space. The book should be back online in a week or less.
I am going to put it right to KDP Select and see how that goes.
I am getting some excellent feedback on the story itself. Even people who do not read that genre of book tell me they can’t put it down!!
Burnaby Burning ( click here for the books page ), is now on the shelves of a real brick and mortar book store. Dead Write Books in Vancouver BC is stocking Burnaby Burning. I am so excited!! Go there. Buy a copy. It’s a very good read according to several readers.
Dead Write Books is located in the west end of Vancouver on West 10th. Their web site is http://www.deadwrite.com/dw.html
Sale of Two Four Proofs of Burnaby Burning
Latest: One Perfect proof remaining.
Latest: I added the last two perfect proofs to this sale. These are the finalized, approved proofs.
My latest book, Burnaby Burning, is going on sale on December 1. Proceeds from sales in December and January are going to charity. See my blog entry for details. There were three late minor changes – one spelling correction on the back cover, a shifting of the title text on the front cover to center the text and show the tail of a lower case ‘g’, and four words added to the story to explain… well, I won’t give that away.
Anyway, I have two one proofs of this book that, except for these minor changes, are perfect. Normally, I would toss these in the bin. But in the spirit of the charity event, I would like to sell these, and I will donate all of the money to the charity.
If you are interested, please contact me directly. I would like to get $8.00 each but will obvously accept more.- and that don’t include shipping!! I will even sign them, if you think that would sweeten the deal.
Chapter one has been released in advance and can be downloaded here.
Again, 100% of what I get for these two proofs will go to the Portland Jr Hawks for the Squirt White team.
Thanks
Gord – gmcfadden2007@gmail.com
Yesterday, I was recognized in public as an author.
No kidding!! Me.
Here’s the exciting story. I was shipping a package to Canada and the proprietor of the shipping store looked at me and uttered the words all new authors want to hear. “Hey, are you the author of this book you are shipping?” I was in heaven. The fact that he had the book, with my name on it, my credit card, my driver license, the shipping manifest, the customs declaration and I was holding a sign (all of which also had my name on it) sisn;t detract from the moment at all. Now I know how Stephen King feels when he goes out in public……
I guess I need to move to a gated community and change my phone number.
This is the first shot at the book cover and binding for Burnaby Burning.
Comments? Looking at getting this published by Christmas
It’s been a long couple of months. Great family visits, got one more child off to college, one into hockey league, one into soccer lessons and helped one move into his first apartment. Oh yeah, and my “real job” has been crazy. But I have been writing. Here is a small excerpt from Burnaby Burning. It takes place in the back office of a greasy country bar….
Stiles slowly raised his hands, “Dude. I just got out of prison, and I don’t know who the fuck you are, or why you’re in my office holding my gun on me. That takes some balls. But if you gotta talk, then by all means talk.”
“You must be Stiles. Welcome to the outside. We have no real issue with you.” In one smooth motion Mark put the gun in his waste band. “However, some of you associates have been trying to knock off my little brother, which I take personally. However, the story gets even worse. Your little friends here have done something to, or absconded with his wife and kid. And his is why we are here.”
Ricky was watching the tough guy. He had the drop on Dougie, Tiny and Rocky. Eric was completely focused on the door, and was probably listening intently to the conversation between his brother and the members. It looked like little Ricky was being ignored. And Ricky had a knife. He took a quick quarter step his right. Nothing more than adjusting where he was standing, really.
The book itself should be complete its first writing by the middle of the month – only three chapters to go. it should be on sale by the end of the year. Maybe. time is just flying by., and Assassin Rebuild is ready for a second writing. so we will see,
anywya, enjiy.
It’s been a little while since I posted. I’ve been busy at work, and then on vacation. the vacation time has been great, but it’s still a little hard to get time to write. So when I do get some time, I’ve been writing chapters, rather than blogs. But a noteworthy event occurred, So I am noting it!!
Attached is the first shot for the cover of Assassin Rebuild. Eva took the shot in Pine Grove Cemetery outside of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia. The picture is, to me, very compelling and seems to somehow capture the darkness of the story, as integrates with the hope of eternal redemption. Sort of.
Also, here is a little excerpt from the story
Dennis thought for a moment. “I am pretty damn sure that Elmo’s bike has hydraulic front brakes, but mechanical rear brakes. So that means he lost his front brake. That would be bad. Sure as shit.” They continued walking West on Elder Creek Road. Along the way they found a more drops of brake fluid. On Power Inn Road, a few dozen feet south of the intersection, they found a pretty good spray of the fluid.
“That’s where it blew, I guess.”
Tom looked at the spot of wet pavement for a minute or two. “Let’s go to the hospital. There won’t be any information yet, but we gotta stop by.”
“Yeah. Then let’s go tell Benny that Elmo is down for the count. Even if survives, he’s gonna be out for a long time. Shit.”
They walked back to the Challenger. As they drove away, Tom said to Dennis, “This stinks.”
“That it does, my man.”
“No. Well, yes it does, but that is not what I meant. Something is wrong, I think.” He paused. “Or maybe I am just looking for some good old fashioned police work, so I can do something.”
Dennis thought for a moment. “No, I feel the same way. Not sure why, but my internal bullshit meter is pinging away. Something is wrong here, I think.”
Not in real life. In my book Loop Vacation.
Yesterday a 20 year old friend of the family who was traveling alone to Europe told me he had to stop reading Loop Vacation. Seems the build-up to the scene where the plane crashes was making him a little afraid to board his flight. I’ll take that as a compliment any day. (He told me he intends to finish the book, which is also a compliment).
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GEYENM
The first draft of Assassin : Rebuild is finished. it came it a little north of 72,000 words, which puts it about a third longer than Loop Vacation, if anyone is counting words. I know Scrivener is. Counting words that is,
I have some great ideas for a cover. Well, to be honest, the ideas came mostly from my wife, Eva, who shot the cover for Loop. she took almost 300 different pictures and then picked a handful for me to look at. I must say she is dedicated to her craft. The imagery for the covver for Assassin seems like it would be compelling, The problem is that it gives away the “who” in the question “who done it?” I am trying to decide if that matters to the reader. The good guys in the book, the two super cool detectives, complete with fast cars and skills at the grill, don’t know who the assassin is, so it might me ok. I’ll think about it.
Assassin : Rebuild should be an easier read that Loop.Vacation. It is hard to write coherently about time travel when an individual is communicating with them selves and it is important to keep the old person separate from the new person in the minds of the reader. With Assassin, there is none of that. Just action., planning, deception. The usual. I am hoping the the good guys are reusable for another book, I think so,
I have some character re-use. One of the last bad guys to fall victim to the bad guy, an assassin (you are not surprised about that right? That the bad guy is a killer? I mean, check out the title. Not really a spoiler) is a bad ass motor cycle dude from Vancouver, BC. He appears in the prequel to Loop Vacation, which is set in Vancouver. It introduces the reader to a younger Mark Melton.
The prequel to Loop is, for now, not titled. The Scrivener project file is DrugDeath.scriv, but I think that might change. A couple of our friends – that is a couple who are our friends, not two ransom people – asked me to base some of the characters in this story after them. I obliged (it makes character development kind of easy), they fit well. Her as a Vancouver detective, him as a biker (not the one that made it into the Assassin). As I was going through the planning, and plot definition, I got the point where I realized that the motocycle dude was going to have to be killed. And I needed to make him a really bad dude., and the so I decided to have him kill the cop. When I explained this dilemma to our couple friends, they got into a lighthearted argument over who got to kill who, It was funny.
I will let Assassin sit for a bit while I work on the prequel to Loop. Expect both out in time for Christmas.
My first novel, Loop Vacation, is now available to Amazon Prime members. They can (and should) borrow it at no charge. The thought long and hard about making the leap to KDP Select. There is an exclusivity clause and a minimum time commitment. In the end, I am hoping for more exposure as an author and I really want to get a little following. I am currently writing the prequel to Loop Vacation, where Mark Multon, the beat-up hero of LV, is introduced to the reader as he saves his younger brother from some bad bad dudes in Vancouver, BC.
Loop Vacation will be available in Kindle format free for download to everyone several times over the next couple of months. The first time it will be available for free is June 1. So please go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GEYENM and buy, borrow or download a copy today. and please pass this around.
Cheers,
Gord
gordmcfadden 