Trey Stone's Blog, page 5

Book Review: Dirty by Robert White

Holy hell, what a book! This thing grabs you by the throat from the start and never lets go. Full on thrills from beginning to end!

This is the second book I’ve read by Robert White, after I came over Breaking Bones a while back. I stumbled upon it on Audible completely by accident, and I’m very glad I did, because both that, and this, are excellent books!

White writes the grittiest, hardest, roughest thrillers you can imagine. Set in the UK, Dirty follows Probationary Constable Dave Stewart, who fucks up while on the job. Not bad, mind you (at least not very bad), but bad enough that it lands him in a heap of trouble. That trouble keeps growing like an ugly, infected tumor, to the point where everything eventually goes – pardon my French – straight to hell. Suddenly people are beaten up, people are killed, and people are accused of murder.

The questions soon becomes: Who did it? Who framed who? And who are the dirty ones?

White’s writing is direct, brutal and captivating. It’s not difficult to read, at the same time it’s impossible to put down. Honestly, it’s the perfect type of writing for a thriller like this.

I’d recommend Robert White to any lover of the thriller and mystery genre – he deserves many more readers than he already has. This stuff is fantastic.

As always, I’d appreciate it immensely if you’d care to check out my own books! You can find all my novels and short stories right here. If you’re into rough’n’tough crime thrillers (like Robert White) I’d recommend my The Columbus Archives series, starting with The Consequence of Loyalty. If you prefer psychological horror, then go for At The Gate.

Trey Stone’s Books

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I Signed The Contracts – Two New Books In 2025!

I almost don’t believe it…

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I was offered two contracts in the beginning of September – in the space of three days!

And yesterday, after receiving, reading and reviewing them both, I signed them. Two new books, both coming next year.

One is for a speculative fantasy novella, about a boy who dies and is offered the opportunity to relive and remember some of his fondest – but also most painful – memories. It’s sad, it’s sweet, it’s funny and it’s very biographical. It’s been picked up by Inked In Gray, the Arizona publisher who previously published my psychological horror, At The Gate.

The other is something completely different. First of all, it’s Norwegian. My first book in my native tongue and the first to be published under my real name. It’s a young adult fantasy novel about a boy who meets a mystical creature in the Norwegian wilderness and about the adventures they end up having. A local publisher right down the street from where I live read it, loved it, and has offered to publish it. I can’t wait. (You can actually already pre-order it, but only if you’re in Norway, Sweden or Denmark. If you’re not, let me know and I’ll get you one!)

And yea, I almost can’t believe it.

I started being serious about writing 9 years ago, and have dreamed about days like this. Since self-publishing my first thriller, to selling flash fiction to websites and anthologies, to having my horror novella picked up by Inked In Gray, I’ve celebrated every little win and every major success with passion. Every piece of success has made me more motivated and inspired, and made me believe that this is what I was here to do.

And here I am, signing two contracts on the same day.

Of course, it’s a lucky accident that they both happened right now.

At the same time, I like to think that I’ve earned this.

And as always – I’d love it if you found time to check out my books. If you’re into crime thrillers and psychological horror, or sci-fi and fantasy short stories, you can find them all right here -> Books by Trey I appreciate every one of my reader a bunch. Thank you!

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Best, Week, Ever!

I still can’t believe it’s true – but last week, I think I sold two books within three days of each other!

As my regular readers will know, this year has been my year of a thousand projects. Instead of working on a lot of new things, other than the odd short story here and there, I’ve been going through my backlog of projects that were in different state of completion, and either revised, edited or polished them. The point was to get them all – everything that I deemed more important than a short story – up to a certain standard, with the purpose of either submitting them to editors and publishers I already know and have a working relationship with, or to query them to new people.

So far this year, I’ve finished three of my four major projects. The fourth is the biggest one, and the one I’m currently stuck wrestling with, but the three first ones were all close to being done and I managed to get them all up to scratch!

So I queried. I submitted. I contacted my contacts, and I sent them all to be read by various people.

The first one, a horror novella, I queried to a very particular publisher. I had them in my sights, and I knew I wanted them to have this particular project. They happily accepted and read the first chapter, while I waited. Eventually, I got a reply: “Please, send us the rest.“

I was ecstatic. Of course I sent it immediately. I was super happy that I’d been right that it might be something for them. Unfortunately, they passed on it. I was rejected. They liked it, and complimented my work, but at the time, they didn’t have an opportunity to pick it up and publish it. Fair enough. I’ll still count it as a win, and who knows, maybe I’ll find somewhere else to send it.

The two other projects were a bit different. One, a science fiction thriller, I sent off to a publisher I’ve worked with before. They said they were interested, based on what I told them, and I really thought it would be for them. The other, a young adult fantasy adventure that I’ve written in Norwegian(! )(because yes, I am Norwegian), I began querying to traditional publishers here in Norway.

What followed was a long couple of months with no reply from my previous publisher, and a bunch of rejections from Norwegian publishers. It was a weird time, that’s for sure.

Then, last Monday, I got an email. An offer for a contract on that Norwegian book. I was through the roof! I haven’t seen the full contract yet, only an outline, so I haven’t accepted anything, and I haven’t technically sold the book yet, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to say yes! This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for for ages. A chance to get onto the Norwegian market, to have the backing of a traditional publisher and maybe make the whole series come to life. It sounds more unbelievable the more I think about it.

Then, not three days later, on the Thursday, I got an email from that indie press I’ve published with before. They loved the science fiction thriller. They want it! I couldn’t believe it. Two books, in one week? Someone pinch my arm (and twist!).

I’m still a bit dumbfounded. It kind of hasn’t sunk in yet, but I guess… The year of a thousand projects has paid off? Dreams do come through? Keep at it? I don’t know. I’ll try to find time to celebrate when I’m down on Earth again. For now, just know that… Stuff like this happens. If I can do it, so can you.

As always, I’d love it if you checked out my books! I love writing this blog and seeing the number of readers tick slightly higher with every post, and I love it when you check out my work and leave me comments. If you’re into crime thrillers and psychological horror novels, or science fiction and fantasy short stories, then I’ve got you covered.

You can find all my work right here!

Trey Stone’s Books

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Book Review: The Daemon Capital by S. F. Claymore

The third book in an always exciting fantasy series! And what a cliffhanger!

I’ve read both Champion’s Rising and Avatar of Death – the 1st and 2nd books in this series – and though it’s been a while since I’ve delved into this world, it didn’t take long for this third installment to pull me right back.

The story follows Snarmis, prince of and heir to Psykoria, a realm currently under siege by a horrifying daemon army. As the terrifying creatures draw closer to Royal Sigrun, the capital of the realm, Snarmis and his father, King Breetor, have to find a way to defeat their enemies, and to destroy the Daemon Archbishop Argolax once and for all.

Claymore’s books are always fun. The story is exciting and thrilling, the magic is cool, and the action scenes are awesome. The writing isn’t convoluted or over the top, and I really like the world building.

If I’d have to point out any downsides, I’d say the book could do with even more world building. Sometimes I feel like a lot of the lore, background story, and magic mechanics are just very conveniently there, working in ways that sort out every dire situation right before it all goes horribly wrong. I’d love to get a glimpse behind the scenes, to learn more about the different daemons, the magic, the world and the races, and I’d love to see a tiny bit more at stake, at times. But maybe I’m being a bit too demanding here – maybe I just don’t remember enough of the first two books, and maybe I’ve actually already been told all the things I feel like I’m missing out on! Knowing me and my awful memory – that could very well be.

All in all, it’s an exciting third installment in a great fantasy series. If you’re into magic-fueled, sword-swinging, daemon slaying, look no further! Claymore’s got you covered.

Have you read any exciting books lately? Discovered any new indie authors you’re just dying to share with the world? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear about them.

And as always – I’d love it if you found time to check out my books. If you’re into crime thrillers and psychological horror, or sci-fi and fantasy short stories, you can find them all right here -> Books by Trey I appreciate every one of my readers, and being an indie creator, every little bit helps. Thank you!

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Book Review: Made In America by Bill Bryson

Another magnificent book by Bill Bryson!

It’s been so long since I read my first Bryson book that I’m not sure which one was first, but I have at least read A Walk In The Woods, A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body, and every single one has helped cement Bryson as my favorite non-fiction author.

Bryson writes informative, quirky, facts-based books, where you usually end up learning stuff you never even knew you wanted to learn – and he has you at the edge of your seat while you do it!

This one is all about America, but before you think that has nothing to do with you since you’re not American, let me stop you right there. It has all to do with you because Bryson starts at the very beginning, with who “found” it, who was already there from the start, where those people who made it their new home came from and how they managed to (barely) survive out there. Then he goes on, through history, and talks about how the language evolved, how the cities were planned and developed, how the trains, car and postal service changed it, and how it has all ended up becoming what it is today.

He goes on to talk about the culture, the economy, the language, the things America has invented, produced, sold and created and, honestly, it’s fascinating. I found the parts about language particularly interesting, especially the part about donuts (no, I’m not going to elaborate).

And Bryson’s books are expertly written! He manages to fill them chock full of fun facts and tidbits while at the same time not bogging down the narrative with overlong, drawn-out passages. One minute you’re learning about some historical figure from Europe who founded something, next thing you know he’s explaining how train stations defined time zones. It’s magnificent. You’re going to be reading this cover to cover and wonder how it ended so quickly.

Have you read any of Bryson’s books? Which one’s are your favorites? Do you know of any authors who write similar books? I’d love to hear about them. Let me know in the comments!

As always, please check out my books below. If you’re into crime thrillers and psychological horror, and perhaps you’d like to support an indie author, then I’d appreciate it immensely. It honestly helps, a lot.

Books by Trey Stone

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Release Day! – My New Song Is Out

In case you didn’t know, when I don’t write stories, I write music. I’m a guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist and I play in a band called Maryon.

Maryon is an acoustic three-piece that plays melancholic, folk-pop. I write all the music and lyrics, I’m the main vocalist as well as the rhythm guitarist, and today we’re celebrating the release of our latest song!

Our new single is called Friend, and it’s a song about sorrow, grief, loneliness and loss. Writing is a very dear passion to me, but it’s not as old as my love for music. Being able to combine the two has been a dream come true.

I think Friend is a beautiful tune, and I’m very proud to finally share it with the world, which is why I hope you’ll have time to give it a listen!

You can listen to Friend wherever you stream music, right here.

Thanks for listening.

Book Review: Break The Moon by Michael Buchsbaum

What a magnificent science fiction adventure!

The first thing that struck me about this book and this story is how incredibly detailed and nuanced the world-building is. I loved it from the start, and it immediately pulled me in.

The story is as follows: We’re introduced to a kid named Leon, who’s trying to win a school science fair, and already at this point, it becomes very clear that this isn’t any ordinary fair, or an ordinary kid.

Leon inhabits a world full of technological marvels and futuristic developments, and he himself is, of course, super smart. He designs things he barely understands, unique, incredible inventions that–when they work–do magnificent things.

He enters the fair in the hopes of winning a scholarship (because his parents are in terrible debt) and when his newest invention fails, and Leon with it, he is of course devastated.

That is, until an exciting opportunity presents itself. One that will land him a ton of cash – and turn his whole world as he knows it upside down.

What follows is an incredible adventure full of incredible technology, magical powers, dangerous creatures, evil scheming, and terrifying conspiracies.

Honestly, this is a book and a half (at least!) and there’s so much cool sci-fi stuff in here that you’d be forgiven if you get a little lost in all of it. I know I got a bit confused about all the different ‘factions’ so to speak, but I promise, it’s the good kind of confused, the kind that makes you want to keep reading page after page after page.

And the book just keeps on giving. Wherever I thought I had it figured out, whenever I thought I knew who was who and who were up to what, the story blindsided me with a complete 180!

To sum up, this is a fantastic book. I went in blind, not knowing anything about it beforehand, and I came out on the other side wholly a fan. It’s funny, exciting, thrilling, beautiful and horrifying all at the same time.

Recommended for any sci-fi lover. A lot!

As always – please consider checking out my books! If you like crime thriller and psychological horror, and would love to support an indie author (honestly, it means so much) then please, find all my books below!

Books by Trey Stone

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Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

It finally happened – I’m finally in on the whole Hunger Games thing… and I’m not sure what to think.

Somehow, I never managed to get caught up in the Hunger Games the first time around. Never read a single one of the books, even though they should be right up my alley. Never even seen any of the films, and I even saw the first Twilight movie (at the cinema!)

I got this book for Christmas from my brother-in-law, and though it’s taken me far too long to get through it (more than 6 months, somehow?? I don’t know how that happened…) I was actually very excited to start it. I’d picked up that there was a new movie out recently, and I figured this was a good chance to finally jump into this universe.

The story follows Coriolanus, a young, high-achieving student who finds himself becoming a mentor for one of the tributes in The Hunger Games. Winning or losing could mean life or death for them both – figuratively for Coriolanus and literally for his mentee. Of course I was intrigued!

The book is great. It’s well-written, easy to read, fun, engaging, and thrilling, and I enjoy Collins’ style of writing. She is excellent at building characters,  great at making them come to life on the page, and they all stand out as something unique. I got really invested in all of them.

The story, on the other hand, is a bit lackluster. I dare say it’s almost boring at times. I assume (and hope) that this has much to do with me reading a prequel to a series of books I only know of from memes, posts and references I’ve seen online, but honestly, the excitement curve for this book is very flat until the last 5-8% of the book. For some reason, I just didn’t find time to care about what happened to Coriolanus, his mentee, or any of the other Hunger Games contestant. It never seemed.. dangerous, do you know what I mean? Sure, there’s some conspiring and intrigue amongst the other mentors, but nothing… nothing that seemed like it matter too much.

But of course, I kept going, because I always keep going, and I’m SO GLAD I did. Because the ending, those last 5%, really pull it all together in a magnificent way. If you DNF this book before you get to that bit, you’re going to regret it.

What I struggled with the most, however, was the world. At no point in this book did I understand where, or when, I was. Is this an urban fantasy setting? A sci-fi, off-world site spinning around in space? Is it on Earth? I get that we’re in Panem, that we’re in the Capitol or the surrounding Districts, but where are those? There constant references to things, electricity, concrete, whiskey, guitars, DNA tests and so on, that makes me think this is on Earth, but at the same time, no references to placed, countries or place names I recognize. Again, probably a me-problem, since I have no knowledge of the Hunger Games universe, but it left me very confused a lot of the time.

All in all, a good, slow-burn urban fantasy that you’ll probably love if you’re into the Hunger Games. For me… let’s just say I don’t see myself picking up the other books anytime soon.

What do you think about the Hunger Games? Have you read this book? Are you Collins’ biggest fan? Or are you less impressed, like me? Let me know in the comments!

And as always – I’d love it if you found time to check out my books. If you’re into crime thrillers and psychological horror, you can find them all right here -> Books by Trey

And don’t forget to sign up to my mailing list, for all the latest news and deals

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A Busy And Beautiful Summer

Well, well, well, if it isn’t my sworn enemy – summer!

I had to go back through my archives and check because I couldn’t actually remember when the last time I wrote a blog post was – and it turns out it’s almost a month ago! Isn’t it weird how having time off to relax and recuperate actually makes you more busy? I don’t understand how, but this always happens to me. Summer comes along, and I don’t have time for anything anymore…

To be fair, I did have some actual time off in the last month – I spent 5 days in beautiful Bucharest and saw Ice Nine Kills and Five Finger Death Punch in concert, and we did a lot of sightseeing. Romania is gorgeous, and the weather, the beer and the company was great.

But that still leaves 25 days that I don’t really understand what happened to. This year was going to my Year Of A Thousand Projects, where I try to get through a lot of old projects that I have lying around, to whip them into shape, edit them, polish them, query them, and send them to beta readers and editors. And for a while I was doing great! I got through some things and eagerly threw myself over this massive sci-fi thriller that I wrote ages ago, which I just knew was going to take a lot out of me. One of my biggest projects yet, but I had momentum, I was motivated, and I was going to do this!

Now, every time I open it, I barely have time to get through more than a few pages before something else pops up, and I still have 90% of it left to get through. I feel like I’m stuck in a rut, and somehow time is running away from me. It probably doesn’t help that I’m going away again in a few days – to Istanbul, for a whole week! (Not gonna lie, that’s going to be absolutely fantastic though!)

I don’t know what it is about summer, but this always happens. The hours just disappear like sand through my fingers. At least, in that sense I know not to let it worry me. I’ll be back on track soon enough, and I’m sure a break and some time off will do me good! At the same time, I wish it wasn’t necessary. I wish I could keep up my momentum, to keep working and feel like I was achieving things. Because I like feeling like I’m productive and efficient. It feels like it’s worth something. When my motivation and productivity dips, I feel guilty.

What about you? Do you feel like summer gets in the way of your regular schedule and creativity? Do you do anything to adapt, or do you just go with the flow? If you have any advice, I’d love to hear it – let me know in the comments!

And as always, I’d love it if you checked out my books. As an indie author every single reader, every single review, even every single little click helps, so I’m ever grateful for anyone who takes time out of their day to look at my books. If you’re into psychological horror or crime thrillers my novels are jam-packed with everything you need in a book, and if you’re into fantasy, sci-fi or speculative fiction, my short stories cover those bases too!

You can find all my books and stories here

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Book Review: Girl Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

I jumped into this head first, blind as a bat, and came out on the other side with a new thriller author on my list of greats. Damn, what a book!

The plot: newly minted US Marshall Andrea Oliver is sent to Longbill Beach to protect a judge who’s been receiving death threats. Simple enough, right? Except, there’s a horrifying cold case in Longbill Beach, concerning a girl who was murdered forty years ago and a killer who was never found. The twist? The girl was the judge’s daughter. The other twist? The killer might have been Andrea’s dad.

I’m not going to give away more than that, even though I really want to – and I promise, though it sounds like I’ve given away a lot, I haven’t. I hadn’t heard of Karin Slaughter before I picked this up (I think I saw it in an audible sale, skimmed the blurb, and was sold immediately, and I really feel like I ought to! Slaughter is a great writer, short and concise when she needs to be, but incredibly well-research and detailed when it matters. It took me ages to read this, but honestly that was just my fault, it was really a well-written and easily-read book.

And the story is fantastic! A cold case, a new case, so many things to uncover and to dig through with pieces to put together all over the place – yeah, like I said, fantastic. The characters are all nuanced and well-developed, and I felt like I’d read twenty books in this series by the time I as finished with this one. And of course, there’s a very interesting setup for a future book.

So yeah, if you’re into crime thrillers and mysteries, you’re definitely going to love this one.

Oh, and if you’re into those kind of books, I’d love it if you checked out my crime thrillers as well! Fast-paced action with mysterious twists, you can find them all here.

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