Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 178

SEVENFOLD SWORD: NECROMANCER Kindle Daily Deal

As we go through life and get older, we collect questions.

Like, what is the meaning of life? How can I be a good person? Is today’s Kindle US Daily Deal, SEVENFOLD SWORD: NECROMANCER, available in ebook, print, and audiobook editions?

I’m pleased to report the answer to the last question is a resounding yes! SEVENFOLD SWORD: NECROMANCER is one of today’s Kindle US Daily Deal, and it’s also available in paperback and audiobook format!

-JM

Mac the Snack Monster, by Joel Moeller

The other day I was discussing whether or not my books are appropriate for children. By fortunate coincidence, my brother Joel has written a book that is appropriate for children, and he asked me to share it here.

It’s called MAC THE SNACK MONSTER, and it is about a small child whose snacks are constantly eaten by the monster living in his bedroom. Valuable lessons about sharing and friendship are learned.

This topic spoke powerfully to me as a reader, because my snacks keep disappearing as well. I had never been able to find out why. Perhaps this book held the the long-sought answer.

I wondered if I had a snack monster…then I realized that I had eaten all my own snacks.

I am my own snack monster.

Anyway, this profound existential realization aside, the paperback edition of the book is $11.95. Joel has also cleverly put the ebook version in Kindle Unlimited, so if you’re a KU subscriber, you can flip through the ebook edition of the book and see if the paper version is something you would wish to order.

-JM

FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN now in audiobook!

I am very pleased to report that FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN is now available in audiobook, as narrated by Brad Wills, and you can get it at Audible, iTunes, Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon AU.

Brad did a really excellent job with the narration, so I’m very excited to share this audiobook and to continue the FROSTBORN series in audio after a gap of a year. You can listen to a sample of the book here:

https://www.jonathanmoeller.com/writer/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FROSTBORN-The-Dark-Warden-Retail.mp3

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-JM

The Twisting Path Of Caina Amalas: A Somewhat Rambling Retrospective

I have to admit, listening to the CHILD OF THE GHOSTS audiobook has put me into an uncharacteristically reflective mood.

(Note that this following post contains !!!SPOILERS!!! for all 21 GHOSTS books.)

Though I do know why. I didn’t know this until last year, but if you listen to someone else read (or, really, perform) your book, it lets you see the book from the outside, as it were, in the way that you never could otherwise. Like, I’ve been writing about Caina in some form or another since 2007. The series has sold over 230,000 copies since I started self-publishing in 2011. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Caina and her world and the characters (eleven years!), but this was the first time in those eleven years I really got to see it from the outside.

I’ve had a lot of people tell me that Chapter 4 of CHILD OF THE GHOSTS is the make-or-break point for them. That’s the chapter where Maglarion harvests Caina’s blood for her bloodcrystal and leaves her barren in the process. I’ve had a lot of people tell me (or complain at me) that they threw aside the book in disgust at that point. Or they deleted it in disgust from their Kindles, since Kindles are expensive and throwing them is unwise and wasteful. That said, if people do get through Chapter 4, they’re usually hooked, and they’re so hooked that in a few weeks I’m going to start the 22nd book about Caina.

Some of you already know that I wrote GHOST IN THE FLAMES (book 2) and GHOST IN THE BLOOD (book 3) several years before I wrote CHILD OF THE GHOSTS (book 1). That’s why there are little bits of continuity drift between those three books. I thought I got them all but you always miss something. But, that’s just like life. The 2018 version of Jonathan Moeller weighs 120 pounds less than the 2008 version of Jonathan Moeller who wrote GHOST IN THE FLAMES? Clearly the writer got lazy and forgot details!

Interesting Links #25: Let’s Make Some Audiobooks!

I’ve been thinking about audiobooks a lot lately (for obvious reasons), so a lot of this week’s Interesting Links deal with audiobooks.

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-BookBub has some good writing advice: 12 Common Writing Mistakes Even Bestselling Authors Make.

-Since I started doing audiobooks, I began reading the ACX blog. This article is aimed at voice narrators, but frankly it’s good advice for everyone: 6 Ways Social Media Can Hurt Your Voice Over Business.

-And speaking of audiobook production itself, this is also some good advice: How To Choose A Narrator For Your Self-Published Audiobook.

-I use my Surface Pro all the time, so this isn’t surprising: PC market flat, as Surface becomes a top-5 computer brand in the US.

-I hope Barnes & Noble doesn’t go out of business. But if it does, this is a good analysis of the situation: B&N In Trouble.

-I write more than four books a year, but this is still good advice: Writing Process Tips: How To Juggle Several Books In Process.

-JM

Caina Amalas: Nobody Ever Looks Up

From the comments to yesterday’s post, it seems like a lot of you recommend my books to your kids. Thanks for that! That’s a big compliment.

I suppose if my books had an overarching moral, it would be to look up, because no one ever looks up.

This was actually a valuable life lesson I nearly learned the hard way!

A very long time ago, I worked in the warehouse of a large retail store that will remain nameless. All the merchandise was loaded on pallets, and the pallets themselves were then loaded onto massive metal shelves that went up about twenty feet. To get the pallets up there, we used a Fully Adjustable Stacker (something like this, but less advanced) to bring them up and down. Basically a hand forklift.

Now, one of the main things that got loaded onto pallets was TVs. TVs are so light nowadays, you know? Not back then! This was well before flatpanels came along, and so TV were still tube TVs, big and heavy.  And the biggest TV the store sold was this monstrous sixty inch tube TV for $1200 that was so huge it had to take up its own pallet.

At least, it was supposed to take up its own pallet. More on that later.

Anyway, one day an order came down that a customer wanted one of these $1200 monster TVs. That was never good, because usually the customer showed up in a Chevy Corsica or a Ford Taurus (or, God forbid, a Geo) or something and then was angry that the 60-inch TV didn’t fit in the trunk in defiance of physics. Fortunately, this time the customer had showed up in a pickup truck, so we were in good spirits as we went to get the TV.

Then we discovered a problem.

The store had three of the monster TVs in stock, and they were on the top shelf of the warehouse rack. Unfortunately, to save space, some genius had somehow managed to get three TVs onto only two pallets, with the TV in the middle on two pallets at once. That meant it was impossible to get either of the pallets down without causing the TV in the middle to fall.

Discussion ensued. The TV was too heavy to get down on a ladder. At last a plan was hatched. We would raise the tines of the hand forklift up to the level of the top shelf. Then one of our more agile employees would climb up and push the TV onto the tines of the hand forklift, and we would then gently lower the TV to the floor.

As I type this now several decades later, it is obvious what a remarkably bad idea this was. However, while I might be smarter now, I still wasn’t a complete idiot back then, so I pointed out that this was a remarkably bad idea. However, I wasn’t in charge, and the floor manager didn’t want to blow a $1200 sale. $1200 is a lot of money today, and it was even more money back then. So the floor manager raised the tines of the hand forklift, and another employee (we’ll call him Ladder Guy) scrambled up the ladder. I was in charge of spotting – making sure that Ladder Guy didn’t climb into an unseen obstacle, or that the floor manager didn’t back the elevated hand forklift into a light fixture or something.

So, very carefully, Ladder Guy pushed the monster TV off the shelf, and then it fell onto the extended tines of the hand forklift. And then it landed there perfectly centered! Everyone cheered. Success!

However, we had overlooked an important fact. Tube TVs, you’ll recall, are lopsided, and a lot heavier on one side. The monster TV had landed centered on the tines, which meant that all the weight was hanging on the left side. Which meant with slow, graceful majesty, the monster TV rolled off the tines of the hand forklift and fell right towards my face.

Fortunately, I was spotting, and watching very carefully. I weighed about 120 pounds more back then, but I don’t think I ever moved so fast in my life. I jumped back, and the monster TV landed about two inches in front of me. It was like having this wall of cardboard suddenly appear right in front of my face.

Truly, that day I learned the importance of looking up! So when Caina thinks about that, it’s coming from the heart.

Are Jonathan Moeller’s Books Suitable For Kids/Teens?

A reader emailed to ask if my books were suitable for teenagers.

I gave her the same answer I always give people who ask that question: I don’t know. It depends on what the parents are comfortable letting their kids read and what the kids themselves are capable of handling, and that is different with every family.

Granted, if you spend five seconds on YouTube (or Netflix), you can find stuff way nastier than anything you’ll ever find in any of my books, and a site like Twitter lets you see the darker sides of human nature in much less than five seconds.

But that’s dodging the question! We’re not asking whether YouTube is suitable for children, we’re asking whether or not my books are. And I get the concern. I really do. I spent a long time working in IT, so I’ve seen a lot of the Bad Side of the Internet. Caution is always warranted.

So, my answer is that the first books of all my series are free, and so a concerned parent can read the book at no charge whatsoever and make up their own minds.

Here is the list of free books!

FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT

FROSTBORN: THE FIRST QUEST

CHILD OF THE GHOSTS

CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP

DEMONSOULED

SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND

THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS

THE TESTING

So, seven free books and one free novella! If that doesn’t let you make up your mind about my books, then nothing ever will.

Excerpt Thursday: GHOST IN THE ASHES

I haven’t done an Excerpt Thursday yet in October, so let’s change that! This week’s excerpt is from GHOST IN THE ASHES.

GHOST IN THE ASHES is the book where Caina meets Tanzir Shahan. This is significant later.

The GHOSTS reading order

Now that GHOST IN THE AMULET is out, I’ve gotten the usual questions about the proper reading order for the series.

Fear not! Here is a handy guide:

1.) Child of the Ghosts

2.) Ghost in the Flames

3.) Ghost in the Blood

4.) Ghost in the Storm

5.) Ghost in the Stone

6.) Ghost in the Forge

7.) Ghost in the Ashes

8.) Ghost in the Mask

9.) Ghost in the Surge

10.) Ghost in the Cowl

11.) Ghost in the Maze

12.) Ghost in the Hunt

13.) Ghost in the Razor

14.) Ghost in the Inferno

15.) Ghost in the Seal

16.) Ghost in the Throne

17.) Ghost in the Pact

18.) Ghost in the Winds

19.) Ghost in the Ring

20.) Ghost in the Glass

21.) Ghost in the Amulet

Dang, that’s a lot of books.

Completionists will want to know in what order to read the short stories, and the Master Reading List here includes the short stories and novellas. That said, the short stories and novellas are bonus material – the plot of most of them is “Caina Has A Side Quest”, and you don’t need to read them for the novels to make sense. You can also read a bunch of the short stories bundled together (with author commentary!) in EXILE OF THE GHOSTS.

-JM

Let’s Listen To FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN!

Back in 2017, the first five FROSTBORN books came out in audio from March to June. Shortly after FROSTBORN: THE IRON TOWER came out in audio in June 2017, I received an email asking when the next FROSTBORN book was going to come out in audiobook.

This has been a common question ever since. Sometimes with robustly colorful profanity included!