Christopher Ruz's Blog, page 4
March 3, 2015
March 1, 2015
Olesia Anderson, rebranded
It’s been a long time coming, but the Olesia Anderson series has a new art direction. Thanks to the expert modelling and photography duo of Kayla and Phelan Davion, Olesia has a fresh face and a new attitude. This, of course, means it’s almost time to launch Olesia Anderson #7: Blackout! It’s a huge story, the biggest Olesia romp so far, and like Olesia #4: Double Down, will be divided into two parts. It’s a crazy ride that sees Olesia trekking to South America on a white-knuckle rescue mission, complete with all the fistfights, shootouts, near-misses and twisted revelations that you’ve come to expect from an Olesia Anderson title. There’ll be an announcement the moment Blackout hits ebook stores, of course. In the meantime, enjoy these new covers! They’re just so damn pretty. And do check out Phelan and Kayla’s work if you have the time! They’re a great photography team, have loads of stock photography available at low prices for indie publishers, and can do you a complete photoshoot for what I believe are very generous rates. Take care!
February 23, 2015
XCOM: The B-Team, Chapter 12 – Operation Red Moon
THE B TEAM by CHRISTOPHER RUZ Chapter 12: Operation Red Moon Table of Contents Note – This is the first chapter of The B-Team in over a year. Life got in the way, along with a host of other problems, but I think I’m back now. Will try to update regularly until this sucker is done! Prepare for heartbreak, ladies and gentlemen. – – – “You understand the importance of this operation, Colonel Gollnick?” Colonel Wendy ‘Scarecrow’ Gollnick stared straight ahead, hands by her sides, soaking in the battle plan. It was ridiculous. Impossible. But Commander Pournelle said it had to be done, so she’d do it. When the Commander said jump, she jumped, and when he gave her a bigger task than she could chew, goddamn, she got chewing. “Sir.” “Doctor Vahlen says there’s no mistaking the energy signal coming from that ship. It’s in communication with the big cheese, the alien HQ, wherever that is. We need that comms device. Just as important is dealing with whatever leader-caste creature is in charge of the device. Killing it, Doctor Vahlen says, could cripple the X-ray’s war efforts. Bringing it back alive could end the war altogether.” “I understand, sir.” “Now, you know I could send in waves of rookies, swamp it with bodies. We’ve got some promising recruits out training with Captain Nomi Chi right now – Hunt, Wendig, Oakes and Hart, I believe – but a smaller precision team will best suit this job. You’ll need to […]
January 27, 2015
Book Review: Ten Thousand Devils, by S.A. Hunt
TL;DR: DAMN THIS BOOK IS GOOD. I’ve blogged about S.A. Hunt’s exceptional Outlaw King series before, so I’ll do my best not to waffle. In short, I was recommended aaaaages ago by a friend to read his debut novel The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree, but put it off for over a year. By the time I got around to it, book 2 in the series was already out and book 3 was on the way, which meant I was perfectly primed to dive into what I soon discovered was one of the deepest, darkest, most delicious not-quite-fantasy series on the market. It started as a Dark Tower inspired epic, but has already developed into so much more. A trio of regular folk – Ross Brigham, a veteran just returned from deployment, and two fans of Ross’s father’s epic fantasy series The Fiddler and the Fire, are thrown into the world of Destin, the same world that Ross’s deceased father used as the inspiration for Fiddler. Destin is a bit of a weird-west sort of place. There are gunslingers roaming the desert and locomotives whizzing over the plains, but there are also colossal sea serpents and maybe-monsters wearing robotic animal masks and LSD trips and demon dimensions accessible only through the subconscious and a looming evil and sweet shootouts and mecha-punchups and DAMN, this series goes some crazy places. By halfway through the second novel – and increasingly throughout the third – Hunt expands his world, his characters and his […]
January 14, 2015
December 30, 2014
One year, three novels… almost?
It’s the 31st of December 2014, and I’ve sorta hit my goals. Earlier this year I aimed to self-publish three novels – Century of Sand 2, Rust 2, and Olesia Anderson #7. Now, with six hours left in the year, I managed to self-pub two of those books and complete a draft of the third (Olesia #7, for anyone wondering). I wish I could’ve gotten all three books totally done, but life got in the way. Beginning my Masters in Teaching took a lot of time, as did renovating the house (the walls still aren’t totally attached, FYI), so managing to self-pub two complete novels and aaaaaalmost getting a third on the market ain’t bad. Still… it could’ve been better. It could’ve been worse. To all those who have been waiting so long for the new Olesia Anderson book, I’m very sorry. I’ll work as hard as I can to bring it to you in early 2015. Then comes more Rust, more Century of Sand, more of everything. Until then, take care, and have a great New Years! See you in 2015
December 11, 2014
Sea Serpents and Gunslingers: chatting with S.A. Hunt.
A couple years back, S.A. Hunt returned from Afghanistan, hung up his uniform and set to writing a fantasy epic that drew upon all the fiction he’d known and loved since a child, salted it lightly with his own experiences while deployed, and wrapped it in a metaphysical, mind-bending bow. The first self-published novel in his series, Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree, has been described as “visceral,” “enthralling,” and “effortless and incredibly natural,” by reviewers, and “snappy, sarcastic, and blood-soaked” by me. It’s a gunslinging, wild-west spec-fic roller-coaster packed with faceless monsters, sky-scraper sized automatons, sword-fights, shootouts, hallucinogens, and hilarious banter. Oh, and the follow-ups, Law of the Wolf and Ten Thousand Devils? Even better. Sam Hunt was kind enough to lend me a couple hours to pick his brain clean, and oh boy, did I pick. Ruz: Give me your elevator pitch. Thirty seconds until I reach my floor, no stuttering allowed. Sam: A soldier comes home from Afghanistan and finds out at his father’s funeral that the fantasy-world in dear old Dad’s gunslinger novels is actually a real place…and it’s going to become the battleground for a war that threatens all universes real and fictional. Ruz: You drew a lot on your own experiences in painting the harsh, merciless world of Destin. Would you actually ever want to visit? Sam: I actually would like to visit (probably not the Khyirz), mostly for the characters and to visit places like Maplenesse and Ostlyn. The world itself was largely inspired […]
December 5, 2014
Century of Sand 2 has hit stores!
It’s been a long time coming. Too long by far. Century of Sand 2: The Ragged Lord sees Richard, Ana and the Kabbah returning in the next stage of their desperate flight from the Magician and his stitched-together monstrosity, the Culling. They’re still seeking help from the demon Eluah, but their travels have awoken forces far worse than Richard could’ve believed when he first fled the kingdoms… The Ragged Lord is available right now for $5.99 on Kindle or in DRM-free Kindle and ePub formats for $4.99 through GoFundMe. For all those who have been waiting for this novel since 2012, I apologise for dragging it out… but I’d rather a book be late and great than early and… not great. Grab a copy, read, share and enjoy. Thank you all!
November 12, 2014
Approaching the finish line
At the start of the year I made lofty, grandiose, CRAZY-ARSE promises about writing three novels by Christmas. Now, halfway through November, I can see the finish line. Rust: Season Two has been available in ebook and paperback formats for months. Century of Sand 2: The Ragged Lord is going through the final, final proofing stage (ie, spelling and awkward sentence check). Olesia Anderson 7, projected to be a 2-part release of around 60,000 words total, just passed 51k today. I’m aiming to have a complete draft by the end of November. It’s pretty exciting for me to be hitting this milestone. When I think back to my first novel (Weathermen) that took me three years to write… three years for the FIRST draft, that is… and how far I’ve come in terms of both output and quality… yeah, I’m happy. Not too uppity, but content. And I can never say it enough times – I wouldn’t have made it this far without the support of my many backers on GoFundMe. Even though I haven’t hit half my target, I still think I’ll be able to pull off what I promised, thanks to you. You’re all amazing people. The question now is… what do I write in 2015?
