Andrew Gates's Blog, page 4

Andrew Gates Announces at Least Three Upcoming Releases

At least three new novels are set to be released in the next few months, possibly by the end of this month even. Although exact dates are not yet known, three books by Andrew Gates are in final stages of readiness and may be available in the next few weeks or months – certainly before the start of summer.

Among these upcoming releases are the following books:

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress

Finally, the title is revealed! The first of this (planned) four-part fantasy series, Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress follows two parallel storylines dealing with the fallout of an emperor who dies suddenly. Originally intended as a traditionally-published project, the process of getting it picked up by an agent became too long and difficult with no end in sight. Therefore, the plan is now to publish this as a self-published series instead.

See the new cover art below:

Cover art was made by Justin Davis. Fans of Andrew Gates’s previous books may recognize his work from the cover art to the Pirates of Vexa Prime series (Seas of the Red Star, The Daltus Conspiracy, and Return to Red One) as well as Battle Planet: The Champion of Earth.

Yes – the geometric impossibility of this image is noted. The balcony overlooks the ocean in one pane and the sky in the other. But when viewed in a wrap-around style around the book, this geometric quandary will not be so obvious.

The cover shows the titular Desert Empress as she watches her own country’s military return from a decade-long war across the sea. The tone evokes a sense of foreboding and disruption. The world beyond the balcony is big and vast, while the figure inside is just one small part in it who can do nothing but watch.

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress will likely be the first of these books to be released, though that fact in itself is not set in stone.

Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens

See more cover art from Justin Davis below:

The sequel to Desert Empress sees our titular Cassan Astor (the boy featured on the boat) enter the dreaded Sea of Krakens, where monsters, both above and below the sea, are masters of the dominion. Few who visit these deadly waters survive. But to turn back also means death. Pursued by hunters on one side and awaiting monsters on the other, Cassan has no choice but to reach the other side or die trying.

Though not shown on the cover, the Desert Empress from the first book still plays an enormous role in the follow-up and throughout the series as a whole. Once again, the story splits its time between Cassan Astor and his adventure in the deadly Sea of Krakens and the empress in her palace, still dealing with the fallout of the emperor’s death in the first book.

Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens is my favorite “Andrew Gates book” yet, knocking out my previous favorite, Battle Planet. In my opinion, the pacing is perfect. The stakes are real. The characters are compelling. I am most excited for people to read this one. It also has one of the best covers ever.

Justin Davis really knocks the cover out of the park here. The image evokes a sense of inescapable danger. Once again, the scope is also on display as the krakens take up every visible bit of the ocean ahead of the desperate boy, who looks tiny and powerless by comparison.

Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships

I’ve been writing on and off about this one pretty consistently now for awhile, but it finally looks like it is going to happen. Collecting three previously-published short stories and four never-before-published stories, the interconnected tales of Pax Egyptus are set in a futuristic space-faring universe where ancient cultures and civilizations have returned to prominence. Primarily, ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks lead the stories, but others include characters/societies inspired by ancient Scandinavian, Scythian, and Samoan cultures.

See the cover art below:

The artwork here is not from Justin Davis, but rather from two artists including Olivia Pro Design, who also designed the text-based cover to Apex Predator. The art evokes almost a classic pulpy tone – like the art one would see from earlier decades of science-fiction. In the colorful, vibrant art, the pharaoh receives tribute from a Greek, demonstrating his immense influence across cultures. A prominent sea of pyramid-shaped spaceships shows in the background, demonstrating the unmatchable power at the pharaoh’s back.

Pax Egyptus will be considerably shorter than a typical novel – certainly shorter than the aforementioned Cassan Astor novels. With seven original short stories, it is likely to come out around the length of the other short-but-sweet short story collection, Kangblabla! That collection featured five stories, but two of which were rather long in themselves.

Fans of both sci-fi and ancient history will enjoy Pax Egyptus as this unique blending of genres is sure to leave a fascinating impression. With three of the featured stories having already been published, the quality of the content has already been vetted and well-received.

Short stories included in this collection are:

Egyptus (a tale of an ancient Greek emissary meeting a pharaoh, but things go awry)

Eclipse (a tale of a Viking woman protecting a hospital from a swarm of shadowy monsters that thrive in darkness)

Fracture (a love story with a dark twist set on the Egyptus world of Kemet)

Scythia (a star-spanning adventure and direct follow-up to Egyptus in which our characters from the first story must find refuge or risk capture)

Samoa (a tale of a Samoan who discovers and befriends extraterrestrial visitors)

Uprising (a direct follow-up to Fracture, in which an Egyptian is forcibly drafted into the army)

Destiny (a tale of the pharaoh waging war against the planet Athens)

All of these stories are already written and edited except for Destiny, which is actively being written now. Already half-written, Destiny should be finished soon in the next few days. It is coming along very well!

When will these new books come out? We will have to wait for those answers. I will be sure to provide new information as I have it. Right now, the next steps are to get each of these three books formatted, edited, beta-read, then re-edited. THEN, I might have a better sense of when these books will be released.

Stay tuned for more news soon.

There is certainly a lot to look forward to! There is likely no shortage of details that will be coming out in the next few weeks. Check here for all the latest.

New Short Story “Samoa” in “Cosmic Contact” Anthology + New YouTube Content + Art Fair Announcement

Apologies for the long headline, but this update brings news about a lot of different subjects from a lot of different corners.

Coming soon, readers can find my new short story, Samoa, featured in Cosmic Contact by Indian publisher, Culture Cult. The collection features stories about humanity’s first contact with aliens. However, my story, Samoa, puts a spin on that concept by revealing that, on this world, humans are the aliens. In my story, humans left Earth to settle on a new planet. Generations have gone by and these humans forgot where they came from and therefore forgot that they were ever even from another world.

The cover art for Cosmic Contact is amazing! It is easily my favorite anthology cover that I have ever been apart of and that includes the two anthologies I published completely by myself. The vista is stunning. The colors pop. It evokes senses of wonder and intrigue. The title pops too and is extremely clear/legible. I’ll have to take some notes and incorporate some of these elements into my own future cover art.

What’s even more fun – and I did not know this until now – is that each short story in the collection also comes with its own unique illustration! That means, not only is this book full of unique stories, but also beautiful pictures! The illustration associated with Samoa is a space ship hovering above still water in a tropical setting. Seeing all this beautiful artwork inspires me to maybe release an illustrated book of my own one day.

Sound intriguing? You can find Cosmic Contact soon and read Samoa for yourself when it comes out in February!

Recently, there is new content on the Color of Water and Sky YouTube channel. Two new videos, both released within the last month, include a book review of Seas of the Red Star by Montenegrin reviewer, Tatiana and a more free-wheeling discussion of two science-fiction series I wrote from a book blogger, who I am not sure where she is from, though her accent makes it sound like she is from somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In general, I am trying to keep up with my YouTube channel and update it constantly with fresh content from not only myself, but from other reviewers and bloggers. You will see a number of different faces and voices on the channel as I try to take whatever relevant content I can find and put it on the channel. It has become quite international thanks to the various reviewers and bloggers I get content from! Of course, I always get proper permission to publish any content recorded by anyone other than myself, especially when they’ve published it on their own channels first.

Each spokesperson had different things to say about the books, but there were two consistent things I really appreciated. In both of these videos, the hosts comment on 1. How they liked the scientific elements in Seas of the Red Star and 2. That the books are available now on Amazon.com. I love that!

At the end of each video, I’ve started adding a tag from a spokesperson I hired and then an end-title screen with links to my page and more videos. By adding this tag and end-title page to each video, I hope to add consistency to the channel. Consistency is one thing I could see being an issue by having so many different people’s videos on the channel, so this is one way I am trying to rectify that. See the videos for yourself here:

The last news to share with you is that I will have a booth at the Brandywine Festival of the Arts in September! The event is located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware and features artists from across the region. This will be my first arts fair since after the COVID-19 pandemic and will hopefully be something that I do more of as time goes on. Getting into these kinds of events is a great way to get my products out there in front of people. I am excited for the event and already thinking about it with eager anticipation.

I will certainly have more information for you about the arts festival closer to the date, but that is the news for now.

Lots going on! Let’s hope the momentum continues!

“The Gift” is Now Available

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know that I have been talking about getting two short stories published. I wrote about the first story getting published in my previous post, but it turns out that my other story has been published for awhile now and has been available since October. I must have missed it or did not note the right correspondence, but apparently it has been up and available this whole time! It was only because I went searching for it that I even realized it was published at all.

The Gift, published October 16th, is a collection of 177 short pieces of literature from 173 writers (some doubled up) all centering around the idea of giving or receiving a gift. My story, Fracture, is located on page 209 according to the table of contents. You can find the collection here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Sweetycat-Press-Steve-Carr/dp/B0BJ54PZZH/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1672499139&refinements=p_27%3ASweetycat+Press&s=books&sr=1-1

Fracture, like my previously-published story, Eclipse, is set on a faraway planet in a universe which acts as an allegory for ancient times. But whereas the planet in Eclipse, Tromsø, was meant to be an allegory for an ancient Viking civilization, the planet in Fracture, called Kemet, is meant to be an allegory for an ancient Egyptian civilization.

Fracture centers on a character on planet Kemet named Sadiki, who desperately tries to avoid being recruited into the pharaoh’s war against the Kingdom of Athens. Sadiki’s love for his wife, Dalila, is what drives his actions. At its heart, Fracture is a story of love. For those readers who might not like my typical scary zombie/space/monster/gladiator/alien/battle stories, the love story between Sadiki and Dalila might be for you!

Because there are so many writers in this collection, I do wonder how my story’s inclusion in such a densely-packed collection will stand out. Out of the Darkness, the other collection which recently featured a story of mine, had around 20 writers. Obviously, it will be trickier for people to remember the stand-out authors they liked when there are so many included in The Gift. Looking at the positive, however, 173 authors would theoretically bring a greater draw to readers (more people might buy the book since the author they like has a story in it). Therefore, it could mean that more people will read the book to begin with.

It’s like the difference between getting your product in Walmart vs a niche gift shop. In Walmart, the product could get lost, whereas in the small gift shop, it would stand out, but in the end, more people visit Walmart. I hope you appreciate the metaphor.

So… who knows? Perhaps my inclusion in both collections will be beneficial in different ways. Either way, it cannot hurt. Positive exposure is a good thing even if it leads to one sale or one hundred.

What’s next? I am still writing short stories set in this universe. In fact, I am working on a sequel to Fracture right now, which once again stars Sadiki and Dalila. Right now, the story is called Uprising, but the title might change. It is set several months after Fracture, once again on the planet Kemet.

After writing what I am currently calling Uprising, I have one final story idea for this universe, which I think, at least for the time-being, will cap off my stories set in this universe. The story, at least right now, will be called Destiny and it will be the culmination of the Egyptus/Athens conflict addressed in several of my short stories so far.

When I complete Uprising and Destiny, I will have a total of seven stories set in this universe. Previously, I wrote about eventually including all of these various short stories into one collection when the rights to the already-published stories revert back to me. In the past, I thought about calling this collection The Nile, but as I’ve thought about it, that title does not really stand out or tell you what it is about. Therefore, if I do end up releasing these seven stories as a collection, I’ve thought of a new name that works better: Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Empires, and Starships.

Will such a collection ever see the light of day? If so, will it be traditionally-published or self-published? I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, check out my story, Fracture, available now in The Gift.

And also, check out my story, Eclipse, available now in Out of the Darkness.

New Short Story Now Available

I have a new short story available called Eclipse. The story is part of a collection called Out of the Darkness, edited by Carol Hightshoe. You can find the collection here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Darkness-Various-Authors/dp/1944637214

Aside from me, other authors included in the collection are: Jennifer Lee Rossman, Steven Lente, DB McNeill, Natasha Morningstarr, Stetson Ray, Demi Utley, Marianne Xenos, P. James Norris, Corinna Underwood, Justin Zipprich, LCW Allingham, HN Hunt, Leanbh Pearson, Gregory J. Wolos, Brian Rothstein, J.T. Seate, Lee Conrad, Malina Douglas, Katie Kent, and RF Thomas. That’s a lot of writers!

The book is selling for $14.95 in paperback and $6.95 for Kindle (which seems steep to me), but you can get a 15% discount on your paperback copy today with the coupon code Holidays22.

All proceeds go to charity.

Andrew Focusing on Writing Side-Projects

If I seem quiet, it’s because for the last few years, my main focus has been on completing a fantasy series that I intended to get traditionally published, rather than self-published. That being said, it has been a long time and my inability to get anyone to pick it up has me thinking that maybe I might go ahead and self-publish these books instead.

At first, I was feeling demoralized by the thought that I was making no progress on the traditional-publishing front, especially because I blew money on sham of a program that was supposed to help me pitch my book (maybe not “sham,” but just unhelpful. After all, to their credit, they did technically do what they said they would do).

All that being said, one lives and one learns. In this case, I learned a lot about writing, about traditional publishing, and I am in the process of learning about advertising on Amazon’s “suggested products” algorithm, something I tried teaching myself years ago, but gave up on after finding lackluster results. But I have now partnered with an advertising specialist who has already helped me revamp and improve my Amazon advertising.

What does that mean for me? For my books? For the future?

It means I have gotten over some of the fears I had about never finding a traditional publisher. Perhaps I never do find one. I am learning how to advertise my own products and, if this proves fruitful, I may not need the leverage offered by a traditional publisher.

I am confident that my in-progress fantasy series is excellent. The story, the writing, the world, the premise, is compelling and sure to resonate with readers. So, why not self-publish it?

That is not to say this is any sort of announcement. At this time, I am making no decisions. I may still try to shop it around and get someone to take it or I may eventually self-publish it on my own. Whether this series sees the light of day is no longer in question though. Somehow or another, it will get out there. My intention is to make that a reality before the end of 2023, or at least to have plans in place by that time.

Currently two of the four planned books in my fantasy series are in a decent draft form. The third is in early progress. Each will likely be progressively longer than the last. With each book, the scope of the story as well as the cast of characters grows larger and larger. I cannot wait to see what people think!

But, as the title of this post suggests, these last few weeks, I have not touched my fantasy series. Instead, my focus has been elsewhere…

As I previously reported, I have two science-fiction short stories coming out soon. Those stories should be coming out sometime this month, although that is in the hands of the publisher so I cannot say that for certain. The two stories are titled Eclipse and Fracture. Both stories are set within the same universe – a universe that works as an allegory for the ancient world (about 500 BC to be specific). Eclipse is set in a community meant as an allegory for ancient Vikings. Fracture is set in a community meant as an allegory for ancient Egyptians.

But it doesn’t stop there…

I have recently grown extremely interested in this shared world I’ve created and, as a result, started writing even more. I now have a total of five stories set in this universe, each with their own self-contained stories ranging from 1,000 words to 10,000 words. I even have an idea for a possible sixth story as well.

So what would I do with these stories?

Well, now that I have them, I will pitch them to short story collections as they come available, but my long-term goal (once the respective publishers lose exclusive rights to the stories) is to collect them all together and print them as one full collection. I am even debating hiring an illustrator to make it an illustrated book.

The full collection would be called The Nile and it would contain the following short stories; Egyptus, Eclipse, Fracture, Scythia, Samoa, and a possible sixth as-of-now unwritten story.

Keep in mind, I do not currently have the publishing rights to two of these five stories, so if this is going to happen, it is not going to be for a long time. But, this is something to look forward to in the future. Much like my fantasy series, The Nile will see the light of day one way or another.

In some ways, I feel like George RR Martin, the famed writer who is currently more interested in his side-projects than finishing his hugely popular series. But rest assured, it won’t be a decade between books being published. That much I can guarantee.

Whether the next book you see is my fantasy series, The Nile, or something else, I certainly have no dearth of content in my bag. Something tells me that once you see something new from me, you are going to see a lot at once.

Stay tuned and, in the meantime, look for both Fracture and Eclipse coming out soon!

Two Short Stories to be Published

Two publishers have purchased some of my short stories for upcoming releases!

This upcoming December, Sweety Cat Press will release my short story, Fracture, in an upcoming anthology titled the Gift. The Gift will feature a number of short stories around the premise of some kind of “gift.” My story, Fracture, is a darker kind of gift, but one that I think really draws on the emotion of the characters.

Later (date not yet known to me), WolfSinger Publications will release my short story, Eclipse, which I wrote about previously, in an upcoming anthology titled Out of Darkness. This anthology is based around the premise of coming out of darkness, in whatever for that takes (literally, emotionally, mentally…). Eclipse is concise and fast-paced and I think it is one of my strongest stories yet.

Speaking of strong short stories, I am still trying to get Egyptus published. Based on ancient cultures of Egypt and Greece, Egyptus is about the start of a large-scope interplanetary war. Ironically, Egyptus was finished first and I have spent the most time trying to find a publisher for it. It was almost accepted by Wandering Wave Press, but was ultimately not accepted. I am still hoping to get Egyptus published at some point, as I do think it too is a strong story, which also poses an interesting moral question.

All three aforementioned stories are set in the same universe: a space-faring universe where ancient culture is blended with futuristic technology. Egyptus is set first. In the first story, a Corinthian captain and an Egyptian princess set in motion events that lead to a war between the major empires of Athens and the Nile. Then, in Eclipse, the faraway planet Tromsø deals with its annual eclipse, which blacks out the entire planet. Finally, in Fracture, soldiers from planet Kemet are assembled to fight for the empire of the Nile after the aforementioned war begins in Egyptus.

Regardless of whether or not Egyptus ultimately gets picked up, it does stand as the springboard for all events that follow and I do intend to create more short stories in this universe. In fact, I am currently working on a story that directly ties together the events of all three stories. Whether that sees the public or not, we shall wait and see. Ultimately, I do think it is fun to write these somewhat connected short stories. I write each such that the reader does not necessarily need to know one story or the other to follow them (which is also how I am able to publish them out of order), but if they are familiar with it, it adds a bit of extra fun and context.

Until I have more news, for the time-being, look forward to the release of Fracture soon! More news to follow as we get closer to its release.

New Short Story Called “Eclipse”

Today, I completed a short story titled Eclipse. The 7,494-word story took a few days to write and I am really excited and proud of how it turned out. Here is the synopsis:

“Once a year, for two weeks at a time, the colonized planet Tromsø experiences a deadly solar eclipse that plunges the planet into darkness. With the eclipse comes the emergence of deadly bats who rise from underground to ravage the planet’s surface. The bats destroy everything in their path that isn’t under heavy shielding, leaving complete desolation in their wake.

When bats damage a power cable feeding valuable energy to a heavily-shielded hospital on Tromsø during the eclipse, a daring team must go out to repair it. But that means entering the realm of the bats.

Based on Viking culture and inspired by Norwegian cities that experience blackouts for days at a time, the world of Eclipse blends ancient Nordic cultures and traditions with futuristic and fantastical elements, making it a truly unique world.”

I wrote the story specifically in mind for War & Whiskey Publishing’s upcoming anthology, Strange Sunsets: Terrors on Distant Planets. The criteria for acceptance was straight-forward enough: “Science fiction stories that take place on another planet. There must be an element of horror.”

Easy, right?

Maybe not so easy, at least for me. When I write, the difficult thing is keeping it short. As you may know from my books like Iris and Hive, I like to write long, long stories. With a recommended word-cap at 7,500 and a hard cap at 10,000, I had to show a lot of restraint when putting this story together. But it was a good exercise in keeping things concise and in editing out filler.

When will you see the story? Oh, that’s a good question. There is no telling whether War & Whiskey is going to accept the story firstly. If they don’t, I may try to submit it to someone else. I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that right now the story has been sent and it is in consideration. It may see the light of day, or it may not (and will linger forever in an eclipse).

Because I am still struggling to find a publisher for my fantasy novels, I figure I will try short stories in the meantime. In fact, Eclipse is not the only short story I have sent out. I’ve also submitted a similarly-lengthed short story titled Egyptus to a few people. I would love it if either one got accepted!

Despite my struggles keeping it short, I’ve had some experience publishing short stories in the past. My first accepted short story was a science-fiction comedy called Totalus, which was published in December 2017 in Pew! Pew! Volume 4: Bad Versus Worse by the Wooden Pen, LLC. This parody of Star Wars was told in a series of vignettes and, unlike traditional short stories, was close to 20,000 words (not so “short” for a short story). My second accepted short story was another science-fiction comedy called Valentine’s Day 1979: An Intergalactic Adventure, which was published in Pew! Pew! Volume 5: A Fist Full of Pews, also by the Wooden Pen, LLC. Like Totalus, Valentine’s Day 1979 was on the longer side for a short story. It saw a regular man from the 70s teleported to space to take part in a whacky space wedding. Most recently, Salvation of the Seas was published in June 2019 in Horizons Beyond by Keystroke Medium. This story, a proper short story length, saw a bleak not-so-distant future where humankind has been ravaged by a terrible disease that wiped out most of the planet.

When the rights reverted back to me, you may recall that I re-released the two comedy stories, Totalus and Valentine’s Day 1979, in my own special anthology titled Kangblabla! In that anthology, I also included three additional new stories written specifically for that anthology.

And although the rights to Salvation of the Seas have reverted back to me now too, I have chosen not to do anything else with it at this time. As of now, that story remains exclusively available in Horizons Beyond.

In all three cases, releasing the short stories led to an increase in sales for my regular full-length novels. This reinforces the point I’ve always known – that the more content is out there, the more it will help sell my other content.

At this point, I can only wait and hope that stories like Eclipse and Egyptus get picked up. I certainly hope that readers will get a chance to experience them. I’m sure you’ll love them!

There’s Another New Video on the YouTube Channel

As teased in a previous post, there is a new video on the Color of Water and Sky YouTube channel. Although it took longer to get out to the public than I predicted, it is available now to view!

See the new video here:

The video features footage from existing videos mashed together to create a succinct highlight of “review hits.” The purpose of the video is not to highlight any one specific project, but to promote the “Andrew Gates brand” as a whole by showcasing isolated clips of various peoples’ interest in different books.

Because this video is quite all-encompassing, I’ve also added it as the automatically-played video when visiting the YouTube channel. That means anyone visiting the channel will automatically be treated to this video as they navigate the page.

It is a lot of fun to make videos like these and I hope to continue adding new YouTube content to the channel as times goes on!

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New Video Up on YouTube Channel

A new video is up on the Color of Water and Sky YouTube channel! The new video features video host cecilialee talking about the recent attention/interest around Apex Predator. In one take, she explains that the book has received a lot of attention, briefly summaries the book, then reads several new reviews. It is succinct and direct. Hopefully this video will help garner interest in the book.

Not that I have researched it all too extensively, but from the research I have done, I learned that reviews are the #1 category of YouTube content in terms of number of views (somehow ‘unboxing’ videos are also very high up on that list). Therefore, I want to prioritize putting more reviews up on the YouTube channel. Although this particular video is not a review per-se (since cecilialee did not actually read the book or review it herself), it still summarizes the book and cites reviews, thus making it “review-like.” Someone who is interested in watching a review video would still enjoy it.

Currently I have two reviews up on the YouTube channel; one for Iris and one for Seas of the Red Star. It is my hope that I can get more review videos up on the channel, since these are apparently a highly-viewed video category on YouTube (interestingly, on my channel commercials and trailers actually have higher views than reviews).

As for what’s next; a new video is in the works featuring another online personality as a host (wait and see!). Since I am trying to push reviews, this upcoming new video will be, in essence, a compilation of footage from the few reviews I currently do have. It will be somewhat like the new video I just put up, but in this case, it will address all different books written by Andrew Gates instead of one book specifically. You can expect it probably by the week’s end.

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Apex Predator Continues to Sell + More Reviews Coming In!

Following Grady Harp’s May 5th review of Apex Predator, the short book has continued to sell beyond pre-review levels and, as a result, the book’s Amazon page has seen a drastic uptick in reviews from general readers!

Aside from one German-language review left in December of 2019, all the book reviews on the Amazon page have come in since May 5th (in other words, after Grady Harp’s review). There are now a total of nine reviews, a vast improvement from the one review prior to May 5th. At this rate, it is fair to assume more reviews may still come in.

One five-star review from a random reader says, “The story focuses on pilot Charles Fu who has been captured by the Japanese after his plane was shot down. He then meets another pilot and they have a series of hair raising and gruesome adventures involving scientific experiments of the Japanese. I liked the camaraderie that Gates created between the two men in the story, and also how he brings to light a part of WWII history concerning the Japanese treatment of prisoners and civilians that many people don’t know of. Overall, a ‘keep you on the edge of your seat’ read, Apex Predator is an exciting novel and I look forward to seeing what else Gates has in store as an author.”

Another five-star review from a random reader says, “This is a quite short read but so amazing that its pages are more than enough. I truly believe if the details were a little more it could have made the book a bit boring.” The review goes on to say, “This interesting piece has an intriguing and reasonably complex plot, and I did enjoy reading it. The story, set during the Second World War, focuses on two American pilots that have to fight together to survive to mysterious events and to a predator who, unlike them, knows the area very well. To conclude, it’s a decent and fascinating book and I do recommend it.”

A four-star review from a random reader says, “The horror genre is probably the most tricky from a writing perspective. You have to get to the reader’s senses only by your words. Andrew Gates has done an excellent job in doing that. The Japanese soldiers and their sadistic underwater death traps, the Mutant-Alligator creature, and the huge Dinosaur type monster residing in the ‘Pitch Black’ cave. The claustrophobia alone is a menacing thought and that topped with all these other horrific things is not for the faint-hearted. However, this story is also a lesson of hope, courage and perseverance. The main character did not give up, even when everything was FUBAR.”

While there are other reviews up there, these three alone highlight the attention and positivity the book is receiving from general readers. All of the reviews are from “Verified Purchases” (meaning the account leaving the review is the same as the account who made the purchase). This adds credibility to the reviewer since it is verified that they bought the product.

Aside from the German-language December 2019 review, which was three stars, all of the reviews are four or five stars.

All of this goes to reinforce the idea that I should prioritize Apex Predator when it comes to marketing. This makes sense also because, as a shorter book, it is immediately more approachable than a long 600+ page novel.

Once again, I am still trying to think of new ideas to promote the book, possibly via the Color of Water and Sky YouTube channel. If anyone has ideas on what they would like to see more of on the channel, please let me know!

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