Stuart Jaffe's Blog, page 6

Cover Reveal-The Way of the Blade

The Way of the Blade is almost ready, so it’s cover reveal time! The first three covers all featured heroes of the story (Malja, Owl, and Tommy).  Book 4 starts us off with villains. Books 5 and 6 will also feature villains on the cover. Of course, you’ll have to wait to see those! Here it is — another brilliant job done by the wonderful Jeff Dekal:

 

And here’s what it’s about:

When Malja leaves her post-apocalyptic world, she has one goal in mind — find Harskill and make him lead her to the rest of her kind. But when she discovers a world ravaged by a civil war that Harskill created, she is compelled to stop his madness before other innocent lives are lost. Now, with the aid of Fawbry and Tommy, she seeks to unite a divided world while searching for her own — efforts that may destroy both at the same time. 

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Cost breakdown of self-publishing and a new story!

Sorry it’s taken so long.  Putting together these compact stories can be harder than a novel! Anyway, here’s a new story for you and an answer to a question about the costs of self-publishing. Enjoy!

 

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Self-Publishing vs Trad Pubbing: Promotions

Hi, Folks!  Here’s my latest video.  As always, it includes a short story followed by a question answered.  This week I talk about the difference in promoting self-publishing vs traditional publishing.  If you want me to answer a question about anything, simply leave it in the comments below!

 

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Bargain eBooks and a New Cover – The Way of the Black Beast

Hey Folks! As the title implies, I’m selling The Way of the Black Beast at the “Bargain eBooks” price of only $0.99 for a limited time.

As many of you know, I’m currently writing The Way of the Blade, Book 4 of The Malja Chronicles.  The cover art is being done by the incredibly talented Jeff Dekal.  I like his work so much, that I’m having him redo the first three book covers and as you can see below, Book 1 looks awesome!

 

I’ve also redone the interiors of the print version and had another round of proofreading done to catch all those little errors that slipped through the first edition. So, to gear up for Book 4 and to celebrate the new cover, I’m offering the ebook of The Way of the Black Beast for only $0.99! This offer will only last about a week, so take advantage of it while you can!

You can find the ebook for the sale price at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The book is available elsewhere, too, but these are the only two sites I can confirm are carrying the sale price. Enjoy the reading!

As we get closer to the release of The Way of the Blade, there will be more bargain sales so keep checking back! Or sign up for my newsletter and be the first to know (plus you get a free short story just for signing up).

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The Mountain – Flash Fiction and Answers to Questions

I really need to come up with a name for all this.  Ideas?  Anyone?  In the meantime, enjoy this flash fiction piece followed by my answer to your question:

 

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New Cover and a Free eBook!

Hi, folks!  Sometimes things on my to-do list get shoved to the bottom over and over until I realize that a few years have gone by and I still haven’t fixed that darn cover to 10 Bits of My Brain. So, I spent the weekend taking care of it. Here’s the result:

 

10 Bits of My Brain was the first ebook I ever indie-published, and it was in desperate need of a face lift. So, to celebrate the new look to my short story collection, I’ve made the ebook of 10 Bits FREE all week long. Just click HERE and you can get your copy FREE today!

And for those of you who prefer print, next week I’ll be releasing 10 Bits of My Brain in print for the first time ever! Enjoy the reading.

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Serial Killer with a Time Machine

Hi, folks!  This week’s YouTube vid has the story Serial Killer with a Time Machine and answers the question: Which writing rules should I follow?  Enjoy!

 

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My New YouTube Channel – Flash Fiction and Answers to Questions

So, after talking about this for a long time, I’ve finally started my YouTube channel.  Each show will begin with an original flash fiction piece and is followed by me answering one of your questions!  Here’s the first, Sacrifices For Love:

 

 

If you liked this, please pass it around!

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Book Release! Southern Belle – A Max Porter Paranormal Mystery

Well, it’s finally happened. The third outing for Max Porter has now been released. Here’s the cover and blurb for Southern Belle – a Max Porter Paranormal Mystery:

 

OLD PASSIONS, NEW ENEMIES

Max thought he had enough trouble dealing with one witch in Winston-Salem.  But a new case brings to light an entire coven of witches.

Angry, cursed, dead witches.

Lucky for Max he has the aid of his partner, the ghost of 1940s detective Marshall Drummond, and his sharp-witted wife, Sandra. Together, they’ll face enemies at every turn, and things only get worse when the mysterious Hull family and the FBI start poking into Max’s life. He’ll need all his team can give with a case that involves the theft of a cursed bell, dark magic, spirit possession, and ghastly murders.

All in all, just another day at the office for Max Porter.

ebook Links: Amazon | Amazon UK | B&N

Print books will be available soon.

All the beta readers agree that this is the best Max Porter book yet! I’m very excited about this (usually, beta readers have differing opinions , so check it out.  And please share this post on FB, Twitter, and wherever you’ve got friends who like mysteries and ghosts.  As always, my sincerest thanks to you all. I love writing these stories for you folks, and it’s only with your help that this can happen.  So, rock on, my friends.  You all are the best!

 

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Southern Belle and the Zinzendorf Hotel Fire

So way back when, I was doing research for the first Max Porter paranormal-mystery, Southern Bound, and I found all kinds of cool stuff. Now, a key guideline to follow with regards to research is that you shouldn’t use the majority of it directly in the novel. You’ll drown the reader in info-dumping and you’ll grind the story to a halt. But remember the one true rule: If it works, it works.  So, while this guideline is a good one to remember, I had created an exception: Don’t use the majority of your research directly in the novel…UNLESS, of course, your main character is a researcher, in which case, we can at times go through the research process with him.

However, even with that escape clause, I did find some wonderful tidbits about good ol’ Winston-Salem that I couldn’t use for Southern Bound.  No problem. I tucked them away and planned to use them for the next book, Southern Charm. And while some did get used, my favorite still hadn’t made it in. Thankfully, I found a way to bring the Zinzendorf Hotel fire into the latest Max Porter novel Southern Belle (which should be out in a few weeks!).

Back in 1891, a group of investors including R. J. Reynolds, built an enormous, resort hotel in an area that is now part of downtown Winston-Salem. Named after the Moravian leader, the idea was to use the Zinzendorf Hotel to lure in business to help the area thrive.  But in 1892, on Thanksgiving Day, while people waited for the hotel to provide a grand feast, somebody yelled out “Fire!” and within two hours, the entire building burned to the ground. What makes this fire so cool, from a historical/research perspective, is that a photograph was taken of the moment:

How cool is that? All these people watching the thing go down. Nobody was hurt, thankfully. And that photo…well, I couldn’t let that go untouched by my story. I was so excited when I finally figured out how to make this moment in Winston-Salem history tie in with my story. Soon enough, you’ll get to read it for yourself!

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