David Edward's Blog, page 2

Prayer Drum

I started working on the next Dirk Lasher book, Prayer Drum this week. It's an incredible story that has me excited as I write. I'm describing it as a combination Con Air meets The Dead Lands. Bonkers!

Drive Faster

Driver Faster is more than just good solid advice, it is also the next Dirk Lasher thriller! Release date has moved up, get ready!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...

WorldCon (DisCon III)

I am in the dealer room all week through Sunday at WorldCon in Washington D.C. table B5. Giving away free books and signing them too!

The Smalls

Kindle version is out today: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...

This story rocks and is pretty scary at times. I have been told people actually shed a tear at the end.

Panama Red free Kindle

Today through November 1 is the KDP free giveaway for Panama Red.

https://www.amazon.com/Panama-Red-Las...

Series Subtext

So it looks like I have settled into my three writing genres, at least for now. They ended up falling nicely into three different series, each different enough from the other in theme and content but still focused on thematic adventures where the tension comes from both the story context and the examination of a moral concept in the story subtext.

Earth 50,000 BC Series – Hard SciFi, the subtext is the examination of truth over time and perspective.

Purgatory Oaths Series – Late 19th-century early 20th-century Horror/Suspense/Supernatural, the subtext is the struggle between law, justice, and morality.

Operation: Just Cause Series – Late 20th-century hard military thrillers, the subtext is how should duty and sacrifice be understood and balanced in a system full of corruption.

And, as I say often, everything I do is dime store pulp baby!

Interesting Process Change

I am starting work on a new book on October 1, it is a horror/suspense/historical/thriller. Writing Panama Red was a breakthrough for me. I developed an entirely new process to writing. This new one is going to be crazy scary!

3 of 5 Stars

I'm hip-deep in the ARC review process for a new book and am getting some of the comment back. I'll tell you, finding good ARC reviewers is hard.

I'm not sure why someone thinks a comment like "I don't normally read thrillers so I couldn't really get into this book, 3 (of 5) stars." is helpful in any way.

Mystery and Suspense

Article the editors of Mystery & Suspense Magazine asked me to write:

https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/sc...

Violence in Stories

I watched The Suicide Squad last night on HBO. Didn’t like it. I couldn’t figure out why, then realized it was the level of violence. Now, that’s pretty hypocritical, I thought. Why would it start bothering me now? I have seen a lot of violent movies, and some of them are my all-time favorites.

Then I realized I wasn’t bothered, I was bored. The violence didn’t move the story forward, it was just there. One of my favorite movies is Dredd from 2012 with Karl Urban. That movie is just as violent as The Suicide Squad. But, at least to me, the violence progressed the plot in Dredd, but not in The Suicide Squad.

Uh oh, I thought.

The book I’m working on, Panama Red, it’s got a solid R level of violence.

Is it all necessary?

I’m going back through now, making sure that any time something violent happens, it happens as part of the story. I was okay in my quick review of draft #3. There was one section that had a fight that didn’t really move anything forward or build a character.

Just reworked it.

Panama Red: A Dirk Lasher Thriller