Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 238

CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE Table of Contents and description

Here’s the official book description for CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE.

Nadia Moran has made a lot of mistakes in her career as a master thief, but thanks to her wit and her magical skills, she’s been able to avoid the consequences.

But now the consequences have caught up to her.

She owes a favor to the powerful Knight of Grayhold, and the time has come to pay up.

And unless Nadia does something clever, repaying that favor is going to get her killed…

And here’s the Table of Contents!

-JM

a review of CHILD OF THE GHOSTS

I don’t usually link to reviews, but I’ll make an exception in this review of CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, because it’s always nice to find a reviewer who understands exactly what the writer was trying to do with the book.

Q: You’re a plucky fantasy heroine at an upper-class ball, working undercover for a super secret assassin society. You’re wearing a fancy dress and flirting with a brooding hunk. Then you think you see the super evil necromancer villain of the piece across the room talking to your fellow spy. Do you:

A1: Continue to giggle at the compliments of the brooding hunk while gazing into his intriguing vermilion orbs and checking out his 8-pack. Assume it’s nothing and the villain can wait for another day. Feel terribly bad later when your fellow spy’s necromantically drained body shows up.

A2: Make an excuse to the brooding hunk, duck into a corner, rip your dress to make a mask, steal a crossbow from a guard, shoot the villain in the head with a poisoned bolt from said crossbow, stab him repeatedly with your hidden daggers in various vital organs, then throw him off a balcony.

If you gave the second answer, then this book may be for you.

Caina’s answer to the question “Why Don’t You Just Shoot Him?” would be that she had shot the person in question ten minutes ago.

-JM

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

FROSTBORN: THE DWARVEN PRINCE got up to the #400s sales rank on Amazon UK yesterday, so I’m thankful for that. And for many other things as well.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

-JM

CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE

Here is the cover image for CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE!

If all goes well, it should be ready for release early in December.

-JM

FROSTBORN now in print!

The entire FROSTBORN series to date (including THE FIRST QUEST and THE DWARVEN PRINCE) is now available in paperback. Links and ISBN numbers are on my Paperback Books page.

Also, if you would prefer to order a paperback from your local independent bookseller, just give them the ISBN numbers included in the links, and they can order it for you.

-JM

Google Play vs. iBooks October 2016

An interesting fact: in October, I sold ten times as many books on Google Play than on iBooks.

I wonder if that’s just me, or if it’s an overall trend for all ebooks. Anecdotally it makes sense. I hear from more readers who use Google Play than iBooks. It also makes sense, because Android hardware is so much cheaper than iPhones and iPads, and Google efficiently tucks the Play store on every Android device.

It is an interesting paradigm shift. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, one of the selling points was ebooks. (In fact, Apple got itself into legal hot water conspiring with the Big Five publishers to drive up ebook prices.) So it is interesting to see Google overtake Apple in that field.

-JM

how I wound up watching THE GRAND TOUR

On Facebook, a few people were surprised that I watched THE GRAND TOUR on Amazon, since I’m American and it’s basically a British car show.

I wound up watching it in a very roundabout way.

It’s always interesting to see how things that are popular in the UK sometimes get popular here in the US, often for no discernible reason. There are lots of people who are famous in the UK but are basically unknown in the US, but sometimes a show or a song catches on here. Downton Abbey is the most recent example, along with Sherlock and Doctor Who, and I’m sure you can think of other examples.

Anyway, I never used to pay any attention to British popular culture, but in fairness I don’t pay that much attention to American popular culture either. Then I started selling a lot of books on Amazon UK (which, incidentally, was how I realized there WAS an Amazon UK!). Like, in October 2016, 17% of my book sales were on Amazon UK. So  a couple of years ago I started reading some UK papers online from time to time out of curiosity.

Because of that, I read an article about Jeremy Clarkson getting fired from the BBC for punching a producer in March of 2015. I didn’t really pay attention to it, but a few weeks later I happened to see that there were some episodes of Top Gear on Netflix, and out of sheer curiosity I decided to give a try.

At random, I picked the episode where Clarkson, Hammond, and May built a hovercraft and take it on the river and inadvertently wind up terrorizing the local boaters, and it was magnificently hilarious, especially the part when their hovercraft went over the weir. After that, I was hooked, and I watched all the available episodes on Netflix.

So when I heard about The Grand Tour, I decided I was definitely watching it.

And in some ways it’s been a horizon-broadening experience, because Clarkson, Hammond and May love cars, and some of that has rubbed off on me. I’ve always resented cars because of the expense, and how it’s basically impossible to function in the world without one, but Top Gear made me appreciate them as both engineering feats and works of art. Like, I have no desire to own or even to drive a $1 million car…but it sure is fun to watch someone else drive one!

It is amusing how none of this would have happened without the Internet.

And on that bombshell, it’s time to end!

CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE rough draft finished!

I am pleased to report that the rough draft of CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE is finished!

At 67k words, I think it will turn out to be the longest book in the series so far. I wrote the first 40k words very gradually from June to the end of October, and the final 25k or so in the last five days.

We should be on track to have the book out in December if all goes well.

-JM

The Grand Tour

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I just watched the first episode of THE GRAND TOUR on Amazon.

It’s hard to describe – it’s ostensibly a car show, but it’s combined with a travelogue and something that’s almost like a buddy comedy.

I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I don’t even know all that much about cars. I drove my first car for 11 years and only finally got a different one when the first car would no longer start consistently.

That said, this is a thoroughly entertaining show, and I’m looking forward to the remainder of the episodes.

-JM

FROSTBORN victorious!

I’ve been self-publishing for five and a half years now, and this is the highest any of my new releases have gotten on Amazon US. I’ve had books go higher, but that was always with the help of BookBub.

Thanks everyone! Needless to say, this makes me excited to start on FROSTBORN: EXCALIBUR next month.