Chris Ward's Blog, page 5
February 16, 2014
The latest WIP is finished! (and more news)
Got over the line in the latest book last night. The first draft came in at 94,560 words. It was a lot sparser than some of my other drafts so I'm fully expecting to add a few thousand words in the first revision, but its always nice to get that first draft done.
I started it properly around the end of December, and finished it within two months, which is the fastest I've ever written a full novel. In fact, I wrote it so fast that it almost doesn't feel like a novel at all, but a 300-page short story.
In any case, while its a little rough around the edges it was full-on sci-fi thriller action adventure that should appeal to fans of my Tube Riders series. There's even a little link in there to Tube Riders, suggesting that both stories take place in the same world. It's up to the reader to spot it!
I always thought of myself as a bit of a literary fiction writer but I find writing kickass action sequences and cool plot twists so easy that it's hard to stop writing that kind of book. Still, as long as I'm enjoying myself I'm confident that the readers will be happy too.
So what's up next?
I set myself a goal to write four full novels in 2014, so to have finished the first one by mid-February puts me ahead of the game. I'm going to take a couple of days off to work on some other stuff such as formatting, editing a couple of short stories, and perhaps dredging up one of the trunk novels for a bit of a refresh.
One big Tube Riders thing that's in the works is an ebook boxed set, containing all three novels, all the short stories and an interview with me. If anyone has any questions you'd like me to answer regarding the events in the series, please post them below or PM me through Facebook if they contain spoilers.
And then of course, the next major project will be the Tube Riders prequel, currently titled The Rise of the Governor. While I've been writing the current book I've found it hard to get out of my mind, and although I did a bit of a false start on it last year this time it will be getting my undivided attention.
It's going to be difficult to write in a sense, because the central character is the most hated man in the Tube Riders world. I have to make him a bad guy again but also relatable in his circumstances. While there probably won't be any tube riding in it (I'm saving that for another book for later in the year) it will possibly link to one or two characters from the series as well as introducing a few new ones. It'll be dark, scary and badass. It'll be full of action and heartbreak and all the other cool stuff you've come to expect from the Tube Riders book. I promise you now - this book will be so astonishingly good that it'll make the Tube Riders Trilogy look like it was written by a four-year-old. Trust me on this. The Rise of the Governor is coming. Be afraid, and be very, very excited ....
And in the meantime, remind your friends that Tube Riders book 1 is still perma-free. Ten days as the best"selling" free book in the UK now with almost 4000 downloads. The Brits are loving a bit of chaos on the London Underground, so its time for readers across the pond to catch up. It was recently described as "Dystopian Perfection" in a review, so I hope you're paying attention. I'm bringing the badassness, and I hope you're taking it away into a dark corner and reading the shit out of it.
Laters.
Chris Ward
Feb 17th 2014
I started it properly around the end of December, and finished it within two months, which is the fastest I've ever written a full novel. In fact, I wrote it so fast that it almost doesn't feel like a novel at all, but a 300-page short story.
In any case, while its a little rough around the edges it was full-on sci-fi thriller action adventure that should appeal to fans of my Tube Riders series. There's even a little link in there to Tube Riders, suggesting that both stories take place in the same world. It's up to the reader to spot it!
I always thought of myself as a bit of a literary fiction writer but I find writing kickass action sequences and cool plot twists so easy that it's hard to stop writing that kind of book. Still, as long as I'm enjoying myself I'm confident that the readers will be happy too.
So what's up next?
I set myself a goal to write four full novels in 2014, so to have finished the first one by mid-February puts me ahead of the game. I'm going to take a couple of days off to work on some other stuff such as formatting, editing a couple of short stories, and perhaps dredging up one of the trunk novels for a bit of a refresh.
One big Tube Riders thing that's in the works is an ebook boxed set, containing all three novels, all the short stories and an interview with me. If anyone has any questions you'd like me to answer regarding the events in the series, please post them below or PM me through Facebook if they contain spoilers.
And then of course, the next major project will be the Tube Riders prequel, currently titled The Rise of the Governor. While I've been writing the current book I've found it hard to get out of my mind, and although I did a bit of a false start on it last year this time it will be getting my undivided attention.
It's going to be difficult to write in a sense, because the central character is the most hated man in the Tube Riders world. I have to make him a bad guy again but also relatable in his circumstances. While there probably won't be any tube riding in it (I'm saving that for another book for later in the year) it will possibly link to one or two characters from the series as well as introducing a few new ones. It'll be dark, scary and badass. It'll be full of action and heartbreak and all the other cool stuff you've come to expect from the Tube Riders book. I promise you now - this book will be so astonishingly good that it'll make the Tube Riders Trilogy look like it was written by a four-year-old. Trust me on this. The Rise of the Governor is coming. Be afraid, and be very, very excited ....
And in the meantime, remind your friends that Tube Riders book 1 is still perma-free. Ten days as the best"selling" free book in the UK now with almost 4000 downloads. The Brits are loving a bit of chaos on the London Underground, so its time for readers across the pond to catch up. It was recently described as "Dystopian Perfection" in a review, so I hope you're paying attention. I'm bringing the badassness, and I hope you're taking it away into a dark corner and reading the shit out of it.
Laters.
Chris Ward
Feb 17th 2014
February 1, 2014
The Tube Riders is now perma-free
With Exile and Revenge now published and available, I have had the first book in the series, The Tube Riders, price matched to zero on Amazon. That's right, it's completely FREE.
Last night Amazon USA price matched The Tube Riders to free and with no promotion so far it has risen to #638 in the free store, #1 in Genetic Engineering and #9 in Dystopian. I want that #1 spot in Dystopian so give me a hand by downloading the book and sharing the news on your blogs and Facebook pages.
Thanks very much! Enjoy reading my baby. It was a joy to write, and I hope it will be a joy for you to read.
FREE at Amazon.com
FREE at Smashwords (all formats)
FREE at Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Available NOW
The Tube Riders: Exile The Tube Riders: Revenge
Last night Amazon USA price matched The Tube Riders to free and with no promotion so far it has risen to #638 in the free store, #1 in Genetic Engineering and #9 in Dystopian. I want that #1 spot in Dystopian so give me a hand by downloading the book and sharing the news on your blogs and Facebook pages.
Thanks very much! Enjoy reading my baby. It was a joy to write, and I hope it will be a joy for you to read.
FREE at Amazon.comFREE at Smashwords (all formats)
FREE at Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Available NOW
The Tube Riders: Exile The Tube Riders: Revenge
January 27, 2014
Update on the current WIP
My current WIP has now passed 52,000 words, which is longer than a lot of finished novels, so I feel that I can safely say that I'll finish this one. With that in mind, I thought I'd give you a few words about it.
It's a throwback technological horror, set in a study camp in Japan, based on the one I went to with some students back in December. In true writer style, I decided to complete reimagine it and use it for the backdrop for a whole bunch of nasty goings on.
A group of disillusioned students show up at the camp in early December. The place is almost deserted other than for a metal band who took a wrong turn and were forced to stop overnight. However, when evening comes, so does a freak blizzard, cutting the guests off from the rest of the world. Then, some of the students start to get sick. As most of the guests leave to find help, a small group are left behind, only to discover that a strange bird-like creature is terrorising them. Things are about to get a lot worse, though, as the bird-like creature is just the start. There are bigger, more dangerous things out there in the woods, and they're very hungry ...
My original working title was "Mutant Killer Bears", but I felt that gave the plot away a bit too much, haha. Now it's "They Came Out After Dark" but its still subject to change ...
I started out writing horror novels about fifteen years ago, and this one is back to my roots a little. It's getting a little more emotionally deep than I intended, but I wanted it to be fun and exciting more than anything. I'm hoping to finish it by mid-February, after which I'll leave it on the shelf for a couple of months while I work on some more Tube Riders-related stuff.
Okay, back to it.
Laters,
Chris Ward
January 28th 2013.
P.S. ooh, tomorrow is my birthday ...
It's a throwback technological horror, set in a study camp in Japan, based on the one I went to with some students back in December. In true writer style, I decided to complete reimagine it and use it for the backdrop for a whole bunch of nasty goings on.
A group of disillusioned students show up at the camp in early December. The place is almost deserted other than for a metal band who took a wrong turn and were forced to stop overnight. However, when evening comes, so does a freak blizzard, cutting the guests off from the rest of the world. Then, some of the students start to get sick. As most of the guests leave to find help, a small group are left behind, only to discover that a strange bird-like creature is terrorising them. Things are about to get a lot worse, though, as the bird-like creature is just the start. There are bigger, more dangerous things out there in the woods, and they're very hungry ...
My original working title was "Mutant Killer Bears", but I felt that gave the plot away a bit too much, haha. Now it's "They Came Out After Dark" but its still subject to change ...
I started out writing horror novels about fifteen years ago, and this one is back to my roots a little. It's getting a little more emotionally deep than I intended, but I wanted it to be fun and exciting more than anything. I'm hoping to finish it by mid-February, after which I'll leave it on the shelf for a couple of months while I work on some more Tube Riders-related stuff.
Okay, back to it.
Laters,
Chris Ward
January 28th 2013.
P.S. ooh, tomorrow is my birthday ...
January 10, 2014
Goals for 2014
Well, it's that time of year again. This morning I went back and read my "Goals for 2013" thread, just to see how close I got. Hmm... it was a bit off the mark, but I still got a lot done, haha.
So, without further ado, here's a few thoughts on the year and what I'm hoping to achieve in 2014. I'll be doing a fuller roundup of what happened in 2013 in a couple of weeks when I reach my two-year self-publishing anniversary (Jan 24th).
So, the current state of play is that I have 32 items available for sale on Amazon on my own account, under four different pen names, Chris Ward, Michael S. Hunter, Michael White, and one that's a secret, haha. Don't worry, it isn't porn, just an experiment that was kind of fun. But anyway.
In 2013 I added two novels to the canon, Head of Words, and the long awaited Tube Riders: Exile.
Tube Riders: Exile is selling pretty well. Head of Words isn't. It should, because its one of the best things I've ever wrote, so go and check it out.
In addition, I published four collections of short stories, the Five Tales Series. There will probably be more of these as and when I get around to it. For these, because I'm a cheapskate, I did the covers myself. Five Tales of Horror sold amazingly well over the summer but has sold nothing since. The others sell the odd copy. Still, better out than in, and all that. These collections are made up of some stories that are in magazines and others that are available elsewhere. There's also an exclusive in there somewhere in each.
I also published two new action comedy novellas under the name of Michael S. Hunter, one in January and one in September.
They sell bugger all, but they're awesome and the covers look great, so I'll likely publish more in the future.
And in addition to this, I published several short stories under the name of Michael White. Again, proving my versatility, these are simple tales of village green heroism featuring my favorite sport. Believe it or not, they actually sell pretty well, particularly when there's a Test match on!
I also have my fingers in a number of other pies, including The End of the Road anthology, and Insignia, a collection of Japanese short stories. Early this year, I've been featured in a dystopian boxed set with many far more famous names than me, and also in a forthcoming anthology by the publishers of The End of the Road, entitled The Kiss. My contribution is a Tube Riders origin story. An important one to check out.
So, all in all, 2013 was a pretty busy year for publishing. My sales, which I'll be saving for the look back post in a couple of weeks, were triple 2012. I'm expecting a lot more of 2014. Here's a few things I'm aiming to do.
First of all, I don't believe in luck. You could say that my whole life is one long stretch of luck, in that I'm still here whereas several close friends no longer are. That I'm healthy, when others are not. That I'm not starving to death, not every day at least, haha. In writing, though, what I consider luck to be is a spontaneous take-off of sales, for something that wasn't selling to suddenly break out and make me rich and famous.
Yeah, it might happen. Whatever. I don't do the lottery, and I don't believe in it (although I'm partial to a scratch-card or two when I'm back in the UK!). What I do believe in is graft. As long as I continue to work hard, listen to those around who are doing better and continue to improve my craft and my business sense as well as increasing my backlist, then I'll see myself all right.
Because I live in an out of the way part of the world, I've not had to put up with as much of the stigma towards self-publishing that a lot of others have, but I've still had to put up with plenty. At the end of the day, I don't care. I know a lot of people have this attitude that self-publishing is somehow cheating or that I'm not a real writer because I'm not giving 85% of my earnings to some traditional publisher and then waiting for two years for them to pay me, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if people think I can't write (read the Amazon reviews, haters :-) ), or that I shouldn't be publishing or that me being a self-published writer becomes an elephant in the room in certain situations. I don't care about any of those things. What I'm doing is building a supplementary income to help my family and building a legacy (and hopefully some income) for those who come after me, and that's way more important that what a few people still rooted in the past think. I'm long past the "gee up" stage. That was fifteen years ago.
So, what I'm going to do this year, to give myself as best a chance of being successful as possible -
1. I'm going to publish Tube Riders: Revenge.
In fact, it should be out within the month. I'm just waiting for the proofreader, then I'm going to give it one last read though. Then ... here it comes. You won't be disappointed. Trust me on this. It's a beast. I still laugh and cry every time I read it, even though I can practically quote whole paragraphs.
2. I'm going to get involved in as many promotional projects as I can. I've mentioned several above already. The biggest one so far is the dystopian boxed set A Taste of Tomorrow, which is rocking the Kindle charts as I type this. Tube Riders is book number 6, and I think it can hold its own in a group of really great writers. I'm currently enjoying reading through the other books in the collection, and for $2.99 for 11 books, you can't go wrong.
3. I'm going to concentrate on writing novels. Short stories are easy to publish, but they don't sell. I'm aiming to write four novels. Last year I wrote a little under 300,000 words, but this year I'm going to push that on towards 500,000. I could do more, but that's a solid figure, and would get me the number of books I want.
First up will be a horror novel that I'm working on now. In addition to this, I'm going to finish another one that I started last year, and also if I can publish an older horror novel. Then I'm going to brand all three as well as Man Who Built the World into a horror series. While not connected stories, they are connected by genre, and probably will be by length. Branding is sooo important. Look at my Michael S. Hunter books. THAT is branding. My Tube Riders stuff too is familiar. The rest of my stuff, not so much.
4. There will be more Tube Riders books. I've got at least two in the pipeline. The main trilogy is done, but there will be at least two connected books, featuring some of the smaller characters in the main series. I was going to get to it right away, but I needed to step back from that world for a while. The horror I'm working on should be done by mid-Feb at the current rate of progress.
5. I'm going to be everywhere. I'm part of a really special group of writers who've helped me so much with both craft and marketing. You'll be finding me cropping up all over the place this year, particularly in social media, but if I can branch out of that into the "real world" :-) I'll let you know. 2014 is going to be big for me, but the only way I can do that is to get out there and make it happen.
So that's about it. A nice short list, haha. Anyway, any comments would be great. For now, though, I have to go and get some words done (and feed the cat!).
Chris Ward
January 11th 2014
So, without further ado, here's a few thoughts on the year and what I'm hoping to achieve in 2014. I'll be doing a fuller roundup of what happened in 2013 in a couple of weeks when I reach my two-year self-publishing anniversary (Jan 24th).
So, the current state of play is that I have 32 items available for sale on Amazon on my own account, under four different pen names, Chris Ward, Michael S. Hunter, Michael White, and one that's a secret, haha. Don't worry, it isn't porn, just an experiment that was kind of fun. But anyway.
In 2013 I added two novels to the canon, Head of Words, and the long awaited Tube Riders: Exile.
Tube Riders: Exile is selling pretty well. Head of Words isn't. It should, because its one of the best things I've ever wrote, so go and check it out.
In addition, I published four collections of short stories, the Five Tales Series. There will probably be more of these as and when I get around to it. For these, because I'm a cheapskate, I did the covers myself. Five Tales of Horror sold amazingly well over the summer but has sold nothing since. The others sell the odd copy. Still, better out than in, and all that. These collections are made up of some stories that are in magazines and others that are available elsewhere. There's also an exclusive in there somewhere in each.
I also published two new action comedy novellas under the name of Michael S. Hunter, one in January and one in September.
They sell bugger all, but they're awesome and the covers look great, so I'll likely publish more in the future.
And in addition to this, I published several short stories under the name of Michael White. Again, proving my versatility, these are simple tales of village green heroism featuring my favorite sport. Believe it or not, they actually sell pretty well, particularly when there's a Test match on!
I also have my fingers in a number of other pies, including The End of the Road anthology, and Insignia, a collection of Japanese short stories. Early this year, I've been featured in a dystopian boxed set with many far more famous names than me, and also in a forthcoming anthology by the publishers of The End of the Road, entitled The Kiss. My contribution is a Tube Riders origin story. An important one to check out.
So, all in all, 2013 was a pretty busy year for publishing. My sales, which I'll be saving for the look back post in a couple of weeks, were triple 2012. I'm expecting a lot more of 2014. Here's a few things I'm aiming to do.
First of all, I don't believe in luck. You could say that my whole life is one long stretch of luck, in that I'm still here whereas several close friends no longer are. That I'm healthy, when others are not. That I'm not starving to death, not every day at least, haha. In writing, though, what I consider luck to be is a spontaneous take-off of sales, for something that wasn't selling to suddenly break out and make me rich and famous.
Yeah, it might happen. Whatever. I don't do the lottery, and I don't believe in it (although I'm partial to a scratch-card or two when I'm back in the UK!). What I do believe in is graft. As long as I continue to work hard, listen to those around who are doing better and continue to improve my craft and my business sense as well as increasing my backlist, then I'll see myself all right.
Because I live in an out of the way part of the world, I've not had to put up with as much of the stigma towards self-publishing that a lot of others have, but I've still had to put up with plenty. At the end of the day, I don't care. I know a lot of people have this attitude that self-publishing is somehow cheating or that I'm not a real writer because I'm not giving 85% of my earnings to some traditional publisher and then waiting for two years for them to pay me, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if people think I can't write (read the Amazon reviews, haters :-) ), or that I shouldn't be publishing or that me being a self-published writer becomes an elephant in the room in certain situations. I don't care about any of those things. What I'm doing is building a supplementary income to help my family and building a legacy (and hopefully some income) for those who come after me, and that's way more important that what a few people still rooted in the past think. I'm long past the "gee up" stage. That was fifteen years ago.
So, what I'm going to do this year, to give myself as best a chance of being successful as possible -
1. I'm going to publish Tube Riders: Revenge.
In fact, it should be out within the month. I'm just waiting for the proofreader, then I'm going to give it one last read though. Then ... here it comes. You won't be disappointed. Trust me on this. It's a beast. I still laugh and cry every time I read it, even though I can practically quote whole paragraphs.
2. I'm going to get involved in as many promotional projects as I can. I've mentioned several above already. The biggest one so far is the dystopian boxed set A Taste of Tomorrow, which is rocking the Kindle charts as I type this. Tube Riders is book number 6, and I think it can hold its own in a group of really great writers. I'm currently enjoying reading through the other books in the collection, and for $2.99 for 11 books, you can't go wrong.
3. I'm going to concentrate on writing novels. Short stories are easy to publish, but they don't sell. I'm aiming to write four novels. Last year I wrote a little under 300,000 words, but this year I'm going to push that on towards 500,000. I could do more, but that's a solid figure, and would get me the number of books I want.
First up will be a horror novel that I'm working on now. In addition to this, I'm going to finish another one that I started last year, and also if I can publish an older horror novel. Then I'm going to brand all three as well as Man Who Built the World into a horror series. While not connected stories, they are connected by genre, and probably will be by length. Branding is sooo important. Look at my Michael S. Hunter books. THAT is branding. My Tube Riders stuff too is familiar. The rest of my stuff, not so much.
4. There will be more Tube Riders books. I've got at least two in the pipeline. The main trilogy is done, but there will be at least two connected books, featuring some of the smaller characters in the main series. I was going to get to it right away, but I needed to step back from that world for a while. The horror I'm working on should be done by mid-Feb at the current rate of progress.
5. I'm going to be everywhere. I'm part of a really special group of writers who've helped me so much with both craft and marketing. You'll be finding me cropping up all over the place this year, particularly in social media, but if I can branch out of that into the "real world" :-) I'll let you know. 2014 is going to be big for me, but the only way I can do that is to get out there and make it happen.
So that's about it. A nice short list, haha. Anyway, any comments would be great. For now, though, I have to go and get some words done (and feed the cat!).
Chris Ward
January 11th 2014
December 30, 2013
Revenge has gone off to the proofreader
Tube Riders: Revenge is in its final stages of production. I hope to be bringing that bad boy to you in the next couple of weeks. If you thought Exile was good, just wait. Revenge takes the Tube Riders story to another level. Possibly the best book I've ever written.
And tomorrow is another year. There will be no respite, I'll be coming out of the blocks and starting immediately on the next book. I can't tell you want it'll be yet, because I haven't decided where to focus my concentration, but I have a number of options available and whichever one I chose it'll be awesome, so look out for that in a couple of months.
In the meantime, my book Man Who Built the World is currently reduced in price, so if you haven't read it and plan to, now is a good time. It's my highest rated book and, if I do say so myself, astonishingly good, haha.
Happy new year to everyone. See you again soon.
Chris Ward
31st December 2013
And tomorrow is another year. There will be no respite, I'll be coming out of the blocks and starting immediately on the next book. I can't tell you want it'll be yet, because I haven't decided where to focus my concentration, but I have a number of options available and whichever one I chose it'll be awesome, so look out for that in a couple of months.
In the meantime, my book Man Who Built the World is currently reduced in price, so if you haven't read it and plan to, now is a good time. It's my highest rated book and, if I do say so myself, astonishingly good, haha.
Happy new year to everyone. See you again soon.
Chris Ward
31st December 2013
December 27, 2013
A Merry Xmas to you all
A very Merry Xmas to you all from me, Chris Ward, here at A Million Miles from Anywhere. I hope you had a great Xmas with your families and whatnot and that you have another great time at New Year.
For me, being in Japan, Xmas was unusual as always. I usually have to work as Xmas isn't a national holiday here, but this year I took the 25th to the 27th off and went up to Hokkaido with the wife for a couple of days for a look around. I'll be posting pictures and stuff on my other blog, Living in Nagano, over the next couple of days.
Back to the books. Exile is out now and available for your reading pleasure. Not being one to keep you waiting long, Revenge is just around the corner. I got it back from the editor a couple of days ago and as I have all of next week off I hope to have it ready to go fairly soon.
In addition to this, on January 6th, The Tube Riders will become available as part of an eleven-book dystopian boxed set featuring several luminaries of the sci-fi and dystopian field. I'm hopeful that this will expose the book to many new fans, as well as introducing Tube Riders fans to other great writers.
Okay, that's all for now.
See you soon,
Chris Ward
December 27th 2013
For me, being in Japan, Xmas was unusual as always. I usually have to work as Xmas isn't a national holiday here, but this year I took the 25th to the 27th off and went up to Hokkaido with the wife for a couple of days for a look around. I'll be posting pictures and stuff on my other blog, Living in Nagano, over the next couple of days.
Back to the books. Exile is out now and available for your reading pleasure. Not being one to keep you waiting long, Revenge is just around the corner. I got it back from the editor a couple of days ago and as I have all of next week off I hope to have it ready to go fairly soon.
In addition to this, on January 6th, The Tube Riders will become available as part of an eleven-book dystopian boxed set featuring several luminaries of the sci-fi and dystopian field. I'm hopeful that this will expose the book to many new fans, as well as introducing Tube Riders fans to other great writers.
Okay, that's all for now.
See you soon,
Chris Ward
December 27th 2013
December 21, 2013
The Tube Riders: Revenge cover art
Now that Exile is finally out, its time to reveal the covers for Revenge, which will be published in January, all being well.
First up, the ebook -
Those eyes, of course, belong to the Governor, and that thing that looks a bit like a mouth (intentionally so!) is a burning train.
And the paperback -
On the back cover is Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol. Yes, we used the same picture for Head of Words. While there is no overlap in the stories, there is a little overlap in the settings.
Again, these were the work of my regular cover designer, Su Halfwerk at www.novelprevue, and again she did a great job.
I hope you're enjoying Exile and looking forward to Revenge! If readers enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then my job is done!
More news soon.
Chris Ward
December 22nd 2013
First up, the ebook -
Those eyes, of course, belong to the Governor, and that thing that looks a bit like a mouth (intentionally so!) is a burning train.
And the paperback -
On the back cover is Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol. Yes, we used the same picture for Head of Words. While there is no overlap in the stories, there is a little overlap in the settings.
Again, these were the work of my regular cover designer, Su Halfwerk at www.novelprevue, and again she did a great job.
I hope you're enjoying Exile and looking forward to Revenge! If readers enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then my job is done!
More news soon.
Chris Ward
December 22nd 2013
November 26, 2013
Exile release date ...
Okay, the time for talking is done. The Tube Riders: Exile will be released on December 16th 2013, come hell or highwater. There will be no delays or date changes. The book will be out on that day unless I get pancaked by a steamroller or something (I'm touching the wooden tabletop right now so hopefully not!). I'm also intrigued to discover that "to pancake" is actually a verb. Will be using that one...!
In better news, I'm almost done revising Revenge, so you should only have to wait a month or so for that badboy to drop as well.
So, let's have another look at that fine cover ...
DECEMBER 16th 2013
In better news, I'm almost done revising Revenge, so you should only have to wait a month or so for that badboy to drop as well.
So, let's have another look at that fine cover ...
DECEMBER 16th 2013
November 24, 2013
Edits are done!
Yes, you read that right. I've finished editing Tube Riders: Exile, someone else has finished editing Tube Riders: Exile and the corrections have been made. I've sent it out to a last proofreader for a final check and shortly after it will be available. I can't give you an exact date yet because I haven't decided it, but it will be early to mid December.
I finished the first draft in February, as you might remember me saying. That's nine months of messing around, rewriting, reworking and generally struggling (oh, and I wrote another Tube Riders book in the middle there ...). This was definitely the hardest book I've ever written. I think, though, that it came out okay. Some betas have said its as good as the first book, others have said its better. I'd settle for almost as good. I guess the readers will decide.
The return of Marta Banks and the Tube Riders is coming soon ....
And in the meantime, if you haven't read it yet, The Tube Riders (book 1 in the series) will be $0.99 until the release of Exile.
Buy it here or click the pic.
Chris Ward
November 24th 2013
I finished the first draft in February, as you might remember me saying. That's nine months of messing around, rewriting, reworking and generally struggling (oh, and I wrote another Tube Riders book in the middle there ...). This was definitely the hardest book I've ever written. I think, though, that it came out okay. Some betas have said its as good as the first book, others have said its better. I'd settle for almost as good. I guess the readers will decide.
The return of Marta Banks and the Tube Riders is coming soon ....
And in the meantime, if you haven't read it yet, The Tube Riders (book 1 in the series) will be $0.99 until the release of Exile.
Buy it here or click the pic.
Chris Ward
November 24th 2013
November 21, 2013
Update November 23rd
I just got back from a two week teachers' conference up in the mountainous hills above Matsumoto in Nagano pref, Japan. Had an interesting time although it was a bit chilly.
Came back down the mountain to two bits of good news. The first was that England were smashing Australia in the cricket, and the second was that my editor had finished with Exile. Even better, he thought it rocked. For the last ten months of battle I've been worried it would suck, but that bodes well. Now just to make the corrections and change one or two minor things and then its off to the formatter.
More news coming soon ...
Chris Ward
November 23rd 2013
Came back down the mountain to two bits of good news. The first was that England were smashing Australia in the cricket, and the second was that my editor had finished with Exile. Even better, he thought it rocked. For the last ten months of battle I've been worried it would suck, but that bodes well. Now just to make the corrections and change one or two minor things and then its off to the formatter.
More news coming soon ...
Chris Ward
November 23rd 2013
