James Haddock's Blog

A new book is coming out!

Alright, I’m sorry… It wasn’t all my fault… It was my pen’s fault, y’all know it has a mind of its own. It started telling me a story about a mercenary, well a mercenary salvage company, and I began to listen. And here we are, another book that isn’t Duty, Wizard, or Dragon. That darn pen… Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

P.S.

I’m still working on those other ones…

Introducing Erin Haddock

As you may, or may not know from the previous post, I am Erin, James' daughter, and marketing director.

I spent quite a few years in the corporate world but knew I wanted more. I wanted to be able to spend time with my children, and not have to request days off to chaperone field trips. I wanted to work hard for myself and not make someone else rich. I wanted to be able to finance a life that I loved and not have to answer to anyone but myself, and my 'pen'.

After hearing my father talk about the freedom he enjoys from being able to work from anywhere, I thought I'd try and write a book as well. I mean, I got my BS ability from him, so it was a logical leap. My preferred genre to read is mystery, so that's what I've started writing; I have a few Sci-fi ideas as well.

While I was pregnant with my second child, I started writing my first book. The end of my pregnancy was spent looking for and buying a house to accommodate our growing family; my book took a backseat. After having my daughter, I decided to quit my 9-5 and was winging it. Then, my Dad and I got to talking and the writing fire was reignited. I hope you enjoy the following excerpt from my first book, Death's Echo.

Thank you for taking the time to read my introduction and I hope you enjoy my many books to come.

-Erin Haddock

Death's Echo

At that moment, it was as if death left its echo, and a movie began playing out before her eyes. She was taken back in time, her mother was in the kitchen starting dinner and her father walks in, just as she had done, through the garage. Tom greets his wife, Patty, with a kiss and short embrace, puts his briefcase down, and grabs his apron. Maxine’s parents loved cooking together, so this was not a surprise to see. Tom picked up a spoon and started to stir something when he heard a noise coming from the backyard; he goes to investigate. As soon as he reaches the French doors the glass shatters and Patty screams. Tom is knocked to the ground and the attacker leaps through the broken door. He strikes Tom in the head, knocking him unconscious. Patty screams and tries to run towards the front door. The attacker catches her and chokes her until she passes out. Patty is then tied to a chair in the living room, where she comes to. Tom, bleeding from the head, and extremely disoriented tries to sit up. He sees Patty tied up and tries to go to her. The attacker, seeing Tom try to get up, bludgeoned Tom while Patty is forced to look on. Tom tried to fight back, but he just couldn’t get the upper hand. After the attacker is done with Tom, he set his gaze on Patty. He says something to her, but Maxine can’t make it out. He walked over to her, and slit her throat like he’d done it a million times before. After murdering her parents, he ransacks the house and steals the valuables. Maxine snaps out of it, unknowingly sobbing. She just witnessed her parent's murder, and she couldn’t see the attacker’s face. It was at that moment her gift was realized.

Whoa 2022!

I can hardly believe 2021 passed so quickly, but here we are. I’m excited about the changes coming in 2022. Two years ago, my wife started, and I write for, Matron Publishing Company. This year our daughter Erin, who is the company’s marketing director, will be joining Matron Publishing writing novels. She will be releasing her first novel in the first quarter of 2022.

We are challenging each other and are both planning to release three books each in 2022. Now, I can hear the sighs, and you yelling at me, “You owe us two books from last year!” In my defense, Covid slowed me down (not really, but everyone else on the planet is using that excuse, so…).

Anyway, she is already on my case about keeping on top of blog post, and book updates. I’m looking forward to working with Erin and having a lot of fun (or we might kill each other and wind up as characters in a book…).

Book Released!

I'm happy to share with you all that my newest book is now available on Amazon!

Greetings Earthlings

First, let me apologize for not being more active with my blog posts and keeping you in the loop about what’s going on. I’ll try to do better on my future visits to your dimension.

Ok… the top question I get is when is book 3 of the Duty series going to be out? I was shooting for the first quarter of ’21. To be honest, I hate what I have written so far… It's flat… plainly, it sucks. I have once again set it to the side to let it stew while working on other projects.

Those other projects being another audiobook coming out in a month or so (Mage Throne Prophecy). We plan to make all my books into audibles. Daniel Wisniewski, a voice actor, has done an excellent job of bringing the books to life.

As far as new books, I have one at the editors now, Lord of the High Reaches; I hope to have it out by the end of next month. It’s about a human/cat hybrid who is a chameleon or C-cat (Fur can change colors). Because he’s not pure blood (Father was a human trader, mother a C-cat), the clan leadership will not allow him to participate in the rites of passage into adulthood. If he does not pass the test, he can’t become a member of the clan. Frustrated, he leaves the clan with nothing but his claws to seek his own path. Of course, adventure ensues. More to come later.

I’m working on another book now about a low-level mage who can hide in shadows. His family are stonecutters, but he has not manifested his stone cutting abilities yet. The family thinks of him as a failure, so they use him as a common laborer in their rock quarry. He doesn’t mind; it keeps him away from his brothers, who think him useless. His shadow hiding ability seems more of a game until a coup in the kingdom and a purge of mages occur. Now his hiding gift may save his life.

I know some of you have said I need to finish a series before starting a new one. I get it. The problem is I must write where the passion is. When a story begins making itself known and starts pushing to get out, I’m just along for the ride. And so, that brings you up to date.

Thanks for reading,

James

Thank you!

Thank you, Lord, for the books you give me to write, and all those who buy the books. I just received my first ‘Top seller’ orange tag from Amazon. My newest book, Wizard’s Alley, hit #1 in the Fantasy Anthologies & Short Stories category. Special thanks to Mike Jonker who did a great job editing the book, And Ivan from Bookcoversart.com for his great book cover design. My heart felt thanks to all those who left reviews, good and bad. The good ones encouraged me to keep writing, the bad ones helped me to improve. THANK YOU!

Time to get back to work

Wow , 2019 flew by. I took most of December off and spent Christmas with family. We enjoyed Christmas and New Years in Colorado Springs with the kids, and grand-kids. Now that 2020 is here it's time to get back to work. The guy that was going to design my cover was unable to do so, so I had to get someone else to do it. Hopefully by the end of the month "Mage Throne Prophecy" will be out. My thanks to everyone who bought my books! 2019 was my first year as an author and for a newbie, and thanks to you, my books are doing well. God Bless everyone, and may you have a prosperous new year! To answer the most popular question, yes, sequels are coming.

Finished editing my new book, "Mage Throne Prophecy".

I finished editing and rewrite of my new book. It took longer than I thought it would, but doesn’t it always. I’m trying something new this time based on some advice from a few fellow authors. I’m going to let the book sit for a week or so, then reread it. They tell me if I do that, I’ll find more things that need correcting. Which is probably true, we’ll see. Something else I’m trying new this time is letting a graphic designer work on the cover for the new book (which is in his hands at the time of this writing). I wanted something more specialized this time, so we’ll see how it turns out. This book will have a lot of firsts going into it. Along with the different editing style, the new book cover designer, I plan on releasing my book through a self-publishing group (what is referred to as “going wide”). My other books were exclusive to Amazon, this will give me access to a larger audience. By doing this my book can be sold on Amazon, Kobe, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and most of the other platforms. Wish me luck, James

My style

“Why don’t you write more descriptively? You know, add more color to your writing.” “What, like telling you the color of the wallpaper in the room, the floor squeaked. Those kinds of things?” “Well, maybe not everything, but some.” “As a storyteller, I add color when the color is important to the story. ‘The floor squeaked’ is saying someone, or something is coming into the story, so I add that. Here is an example.” I walked down the boardwalk store fronts; they were all the same in these small western towns. “In your mind’s eye, you already have a picture of what I just described. Your imagination is better at painting the picture, and its one you believe. Now if I need something to happen.” I walked down the boardwalk store fronts; they were all the same in these small western towns. My boot caught on a loose board’s nail head causing me to stumble. The bullet burned a crease along my cheek. I drew and fired in one motion at the gun flash in front of me. I heard a body fall as I moved into the shadows. No more shots came. Thank God for lazy carpenters. “The extra color was needed for the story to progress. I could have done with out it, but in this case, I needed a little color. I’m a storyteller at heart, not a set designer. I guess you could call it my ‘Style’. I want to engage your imagination, get you in the story, where you become the character. I’m sure some people will call this simplistic, and that’s ok. My books, and/or style are not for everyone. I'm not writing ‘War and Peace’ someone’s already done that. I just hope you enjoy the vacation from reality in the stories I tell, and books I write.”

My decision not to…

A lot of you will not remember, but there was a time when there was no cursing, on TV, radio, or in print. It was considered bad manners, and rude especially, in front of women and children. “Hell” was said, but only by preachers or in that reference. Instead of sex scenes in movies or TV, they danced. There was a big to-do when “I love Lucy” showed Ricky and Lucy in bed together. Even though both were wearing long pajamas. Anyway, the point I’m making is, now the opposite is the norm. When I began writing I decided not to have profanity, or sex scenes in my books. No, I’m not a prude. I just looked back at all the programs that I really enjoyed growing up. There was none of that in them, some say that was a simpler, easier time. I doubt it, it was just the way Hollywood depicted it. Listening to the “old folks” it was anything but a simpler or easier time. What changed? Money. Sex sells. Then, more sex, sold more. Its all about the money, but isn’t everything… In life and in stories, follow the money. The point being, does any of that really add to the story? If told right, I don’t think so. If I must depend on cursing, or sex (I don’t write erotica) to carry my story, I need a rewrite. I’m not throwing rocks, I’m talking about me, and what works for me. I understand now there is a sub-genre called “cozy, or cozies” where cursing, sex and violence scenes are downplayed. Spoiler alert: my books do have violence (not extreme) in them, sorry (no one’s perfect). So, if you’ve a mind, take a trip with me back to yesteryear where the opening line of the story doesn’t make your ears bleed… Well, until the thunderclap of over-pressure hits from the Mage teleporting into the room and he starts slitting throats… Sorry, that kinda slipped out…