Arshad Ahsanuddin's Blog, page 2

GRL LGBT Romance Giveaway

LGBT Romance Book Giveaway
(Sept 1 – Oct 31, 2019)
from registered authors of the
2019 GRL (Gay Romance Literature) Retreat

https://tinyurl.com/GRLgiveaway

Multiple authors from the GRL Retreat have banded together to offer this collection of short fiction and excepts from their books for your enjoyment and review!  Stop in and browse.  There is much here to appeal to any taste.  So, what’s your pleasure?

Click the link and find out!

 

Respectfully.

Arshad Ahsanuddin

Ready to Rock

The final two books of the Interscission Project space opera series drop on Friday!  Reserve your copy now.  Go on.  I’ll wait.

IP Pre-Order Update

The Interscission Project has finally come to a close!  Both Book 4 (Mercury) and Book 5 (Ascension) are now available for pre-order!  The links are below.  Mercury is novella length, and will be available on May 31, 2019.  Ascension is a full-length novel, and will be available on July 1, just in time for a quiet read on Canada/Independence Day for my Canadian and US readers. 

The links for Mercury are:

Kindle:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RDCT8QD

Epub:  https://books2read.com/u/boW5Ba

 

The links for Ascension are:

Kindle:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RGFTV19/

Epub:  https://books2read.com/u/3nKAB5

 

Thank you for your continued support!

Arshad Ahsanuddin

New Books Coming!

The final books of the Interscission Project are coming soon!  I have completed both manuscripts, and await editing and other formatting stages before getting the final product into your hands!  Look for an Autumn 2019 release (or slightly later if I get lazy).

Book Four: Mercury, is novella length, and is a focused work dealing with something of a murder mystery, setting up book Five.

Book Five: Ascension is novel length, and brings the series to a final end.

Here are the blurbs, which I wrote this afternoon, so enjoy!

 

Mercury blurb:

 

Death comes for us all.

But sometimes it comes early, because it’s sent.

 

Everything seems to be going great in Christopher’s world.  Newly married and promoted, he’s even hammered out the dents in his relationship with his brother Marley.

Then a death in the family shakes the foundations of his world.  When the word comes down that it was murder, then only the best forensic investigator of the Chiron Defense Force will do to assist the Travellers in finding the culprit.  And that happens to be Marley.

When the investigation begins to lead to one of their own, however, the question changes:  was it murder, or treason?

 

Ascension blurb:

 

History is a Lie.  One final battle will decide whether Humanity will survive to tell the tale.

Welcome, to the End of Days.

 

Jacob Atkins was eighteen years old when he lost his best friend, Mark.  Since then, he’s tried to move on with his life, building a career in the Hourglass Corps.  Then an unexpected convergence of events threatens to expose the Hourglass, and destroy everything they have tried to accomplish.

Martin Atkins thought he was perfectly happy as a relatively unremarkable Captain in the Confederation Marines, until a terse message landed in his inbox from a man he thought was the love of his life.  Now, all the secrets his family has inherited are at risk, not only from humanity, but from an insidious threat that he has only glimpsed until now.

Calvin Teague has been Michelle Atkins’s obsession since the Janus Incident.  But the fugitive traitor is much more than he appears, and at long last, all the misshapen puzzle pieces fall into place as the mystery of his role is finally unravelled, leaving her with no option but to wage a desperate war against the most implacable and terrifying enemy humanity has ever faced:

Its children.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

And by opposing, end them

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

–Matthew 5:4-9

Today, we commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War, and those that died in that conflict. Today, please spare a moment to think of those who, even now, continue to fight and die to serve the public trust. In my mind, that goes beyond the military, and includes police, firefighters, paramedics and EMT’s, ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists, holy figures of whatever faith, legislators, and practitioners of every profession who strive to make a difference, to make the world a better place.You don’t have to pull a trigger to serve the people, and to save the world: all you have to do, all ANY of us has to do, is to save the smallest piece of it, every single day.



“What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the Earth abideth for ever.”

–Ecclesiastes1:3-4
BE THE EARTH.

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

GRL Indie Pub Authors

This post specifically references the Gay Romance Literature (GRL) Retreat (http://www.gayromlit.com), an annual Author/Reader Convention, and the Indie Pub Authors group that participates in the con each year in October.

I have coordinated the Indie Pub Authors group since the original coordinator bailed after the 2015 GRL. Since I had just updated the entire sales infrastructure of the group to an electronic format specifically for that year’s con, and no one else appeared to have any interest in stepping up to lead the group, I took it over. Despite several attempts to pass the baton, I still seem to be in charge.  However, since I AM in charge, I choose to make operational changes to the group, with absolute and dictatorial authority, in order to address my concerns over a disturbing shift in the group (as well as the con) dynamic this last year.

GRL has a strict definition of ‘Featured’ Authors:  “Featured Authors must have a minimum of three published LGBT romance books of novella length (each 25k or longer) available for purchase at the time of registration.” The definition of a ‘Supporting’ Author is likewise specific:  “Supporting Authors should be at the beginning of their careers in LGBT romance or still attempting to build a backlist and fanbase. They must have a minimum of one published work of novella length (20k or longer) available for purchase at time of registration OR have multiple short stories for sale that are equal or greater than 20k words at the time of registration.”

However, the definition of a ‘Supporting’ Author has a subtle and exploitable weakness: it doesn’t list a ***maximum*** number of novella-or-longer-length works.

This apparently led to some senior authors, shut out of the limited Featured Author slots, registering as Supporting Authors. This practice…DISPLEASES me greatly. It smacks of both greed and a smug sense of entitlement, which I find grossly obnoxious and unprofessional, and furthermore acts to the detriment of new authors trying to find a place for themselves in our ranks, via a forum that should be falling over backwards to welcome them in.

The primary goal of GRL, as I understand it, is three-fold:

1. To build improved relationships between authors and their readership, to humanize the creator in the eyes of the audience, and personalize the audience in the eyes of the creator, as well as introduce readers to new authors (and vice versa).

2. To foster an inclusive environment for the free exchange of ideas and inspiration related to romantic fiction with a major focus on male/male romance (and a lesser focus on works that span the wider queer spectrum) as well as LGBT spectrum communities that embrace (Safe!) sexual practices that are often considered less mainstream (Yes, I’m looking at you, BDSM. Stop holding up the wall, and join the party.).

3. TO WIN THE GAME….uh, that is, to have a good time.

Cheating a supporting author out of the even more limited pool of SA registration spots serves none of these intents. Nor does it serve that intent at the Indie Pub Table for authors to sell books which have been published through larger presses in this genre, especially if sold through other vendors represented in the Bookseller’s Room.

The following organizational changes are therefore imposed immediately at the Indie Pub Table by my fief and fiat:

1. No book may be sold through the Indie table, which is also being sold concurrently through another vendor/publisher in the Bookseller’s Room. Authors with books sold by participating publishers, who wish to sell books that are self-published, or published by alternate and unrepresented presses, are welcome to join the Indie table.

2. A two-tier membership pricing system will be instituted going forward:

a. Registered Supporting Authors with at least one published work of novella-length or longer, ***but no more than three***, will now be eligible for reduced membership costs.

b. Registered Featured Authors, with at least three published works of novella-length or longer, will pay full membership costs.

c. Authors with General Registration, or with Supporting Author registration and greater than three published works of novella-length, will not be considered for membership.

As author status will not be known until registration, usually in the spring, the roster for the Indie Pub table will be finalized immediately after registration is complete. Modifications to the roster will be considered, in the event of cancellations or promotions off the Wait List. Prior to that event, interested parties should apply to join the Indie Pub Author Facebook group (used for organizational planning in advance of the con), contact me directly via Facebook Messenger, or by email at GRLindiepub@gmail.com

This has been a Public Service Announcement. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

Facebook Author Group

Starlight audiobook v2 is live, narrated by Grey Tremblay!  That completes the Pact Arcanum re-release.

Fans of my work, be sure and check out my Facebook Author Group: Iteration Zero (at https://www.facebook.com/groups/136497383566944/?fref=ts), and start a conversation!

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

 

 

Ascension (IP4) Update

My first draft of Ascension (Interscission Project 4) is about 60% complete, with a current word/page count of 45K and 215 pages respectively.

I estimate completion of the first draft by sometime in the 2nd quarter of 2018, followed by editing and revisions, proofreading, and then final publication.  Look for it in early autumn of 2018.

For those readers who have been waiting patiently for this book, I apologize for the delay.  I hope the wait will be worth it.

For those readers who have been demanding that I produce a quality book according to their schedule and convenience, I humbly offer this blog post by Neil Gaiman (May 12, 2009) for your consideration:  http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html.

 

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

Giving Tuesday

So apparently, it’s #GivingTuesday today.  I can’t say I’ve heard of this charity campaign before, but it seems like a reasonable idea right after US Thanksgiving.  So, here’s one LGBTQ author’s pitch for charitable giving:

My father once told me that to truly belong to a country, you must either defend the borders, or cultivate the soil.  The LGBTQ community is not a country with borders, but it does have enemies, sometimes among those closest to home and dearest to our hearts.  I ask that you give back to the LGBTQ community, if not to me personally.  Consider this my attempt to defend and cultivate this community in need, starting with my own backyard.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/lgbt-fundraising/

I have listed a number of Canadian LGBTQ charities on this page, as well as some international charities dedicated to general poverty and disaster relief.  Please donate the cost that you would have paid for one of my books to a charity of your choice.  There is so much pain and suffering in this world.  Please join me in taking this one small step to make it stop.

 

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

Audiobook Ver2: Cathedral

Brand, spankin’ new audiobook version of Cathedral of the Sky, narrated by Greg Tremblay, now up and open for business! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0773T1WYF/