Jon Pew's Blog, page 2

Moving forward!!

 

Well hello again from beautiful Kentucky! It’s been an amazing couple of weeks so let’s catch you up. I’ve released my second novel, Genesis and have moved on to getting my next novel, Twisted Souls the second part of the Griffin Chronicles series up to scratch and ready to release. I’m also enjoying my last week off before I have to go back to work for real. I’m trying to squeeze everything I can out of the last few days, and I think I’m winning.

With the kids, we’ve finished baseball and softball. The boys both had excellent seasons and Laynee’s team finished in first place. This now gives us a solid month to play around until school starts again. So we all promptly started sleeping in until after 9 and doing nothing amazing everyday! We’re loving our time together. We did add a new addition to our family, a Great Saint (Great Dane/St. Bernard mix) we named Lexi. We got her from a rescue. She’s 8 weeks old and getting bigger everyday. We are loving that too. For those who care much, Jules is doing great more and more the mama we always have known and love. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you aren’t in that particular loop, don’t worry.)

On the author front I’ve already told you what I’ve been working on, Twisted Souls and that’s true. It’s not however what I’m going to talk about today other than to announce that the release of said book is going to be on (drum roll please) Saturday July 20th! I’m having the launch party here in Clarksville, and online so we can cater to all. Please sign up to attend and order a book or two, or three. (I’ll have 3 out by then!!)

Here I’m changing gears a little into something I truly believe in, and I wanted to chat about it a bit. How do Indie authors sell books. It’s a valid concept, and a difficult answer to find. I know many a good author that can’t stay in the game because they can’t afford it. The worst part is they have a hard time finding a small publishing house to pick them up because they don’t know how to sell themselves efficiently enough to get the help they need. So I wanted to say a bit about what the process looks like.

Now I’m no expert, but I have been signed to small houses, and have turned down offers from other small houses to go it alone and give it a solid shot on my own. However this has taken some time, and some money. If a new author wants to make it in the harsh world of books, writing and publishing, it will take some sacrifice. I’ll lay them out and then give each of them a paragraph and we’ll wrap up. Sound like a plan?? (Let’s push on.) It basically takes a few sacrifices and here they are, time, money, and patience.

First the sacrifice of time. What we have to understand is that basically the real appeal to self publishing (Independently publishing) is that you can do everything pretty much on your own. Well that’s not all true but we’ll cover that in the next paragraph. The time it takes to learn about formatting, and forming valuable relationships where you can get help with takes a lot of time. In my first year (and a bit) I met a ton of helpful people on the FB pages, for Indie authors. I met some great people on Indie’s unlimited, and other blogs etc. I also had lots of help with my writing and critiquing for my first novel. Can you guess what it cost me to get all this awesomeness? Loads of my free time.  I won’t lie to you and try to get you to imagine that you can do all this, work a full-time job, have a family, write, and try to shop yourself out there as a new author with goods to show. Something has to give and you will have to decide how much you want to be a published author and try to make some extra money selling books. Like I said you can’t do them all, one will suffer so you can work on your author image and brand. However, if you believe your manuscript has the potential and that you are a good enough story teller to sell books then talk it over with your significant other and charge ahead sacrificing that time for success.

Second, the sacrifice of money. To imagine you can get a professional look and feel for free is ludicrous. Setting up a first-rate website is crucial. In today’s electronic world you must have a way to showcase your work and who you are. Before I paid (a nice bit of a paycheck) to set up my online presence, I worked many hours a night, every night trying to keep up. Working from Facebook, to Twitter, to a blog, to Tumbler etc., etc. After I paid the money and spent the time working with my web designer, (Elizabeth Delena Rosa author services who are great) and got things set up how I wanted it became much easier. Now I can update my site, blog, link my posts to FB, Twitter, Tumbler, Pintrest, and so on with one move. Saves me tons of time, allowing me to put one of my other desires back on my table. Not only that with a professional blog and appearance people take notice of what you do. It does cost money, but it’s worth it. Further you will encounter cover art, and editing but if you shop around and spend time networking you can get these things done for a reasonable price. I’m very proud of mine and I’m not afraid to tell you I got those books ready to print for less than 400 bucks each. I was also able to get some pro help learning how to take advantage of everything the web has to offer. Again it cost money, but there are so many sites and so many ways to utilize the internet to spread your brand that most will honestly need help to learn it. Now I have a Good reads account, a great little blog, an outstanding FB page, Tweets, Pintrest, Tumblr and so on. I also have several good contacts with local news papers and TV stations to help spread the word about my work. I’m traceable on YouTube, authors database, Amazon, and on and on. All this was only possible because I was willing to admit I didn’t know enough and needed some help, and that cost some money. Again talk it over with your partner in life and find out how much you can afford to invest and move on. (I’ll do another dollars and cents post later, for now this will do.)

Lastly patience. You will not sell enough books to make thousands of dollars over night. Look at the modern classics and the authors most compare themselves too. JK Rowling was sleeping in her car when Harry Potter broke out. Christopher Paolini was selling books out of his trunk before  he was recognized. Stephanie Meyers, Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, and the list goes on. All of these authors have something in common, time to gain traction before they made the best seller list. If you don’t have time, or money to get you going then you’ll need more of this last item. Because you can over time save up, raise money and most importantly work on your manuscript all of these things can be done over time, but not if you’re in a hurry. So be patient and work hard, in time, if your book is worth anything, (not just nostalgia for you) then in time it will sell and you will build an audience. This is by far the hardest sacrifice to make. I know I’ve spent all my royalties and quite a bit out of pocket trying to build something that can grow over time and I’d love to see something for it right away. The truth is far less glamorous or encouraging. However I believe I can make it as an author and that I am a good story teller. Since I believe that, I can wait for my books to gain traction through the mediums I have chosen to spend my money and time getting into. Patience will make or break you, force it to make you and you’ll succeed. (Again, if your book is good enough)

So to sum up, if you want to be a published and best-selling author you need 3 things. (besides a manuscript that will actually do it) 1-Be prepared to sacrifice a lot of time. Make sure you spend that time wisely networking and finding useful contacts that can help you on your road. 2-Be prepared to invest some money. You will never succeed without it. A free website, and multiple social media accounts are great but they aren’t going to help you get noticed. 3- Be patient. This is going to take time and hard work to get where you want to go. Set your goals, make your plans and work hard on writing a good book that will sell. Then start with 1 and 2 and wait to see what happens. If a few years go by and you haven’t had success you may need to revisit your manuscript, and make sure it’s clean and the best you can do then try again. It takes some sacrifice to succeed, but then again, what in life doesn’t.

Well that’s it for this edition, sorry it was such a long break in between posts, I’ll try and keep up. Thanks for tuning in. As always I’m proud of my kids and wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy planet Earth!

The big day!

Well hello from FT Campbell! I’ve been working hard getting Genesis ready to roll out and the good news is…I’ve done it!! For the updates of the family and being home, everyone’s fine and everything’s great. I hope you’ll all forgive me not giving more details but it’s the eve of the release of my second novel Genesis and I’m just stoked!

I’m giving you a couple of small excerpts at the end and the final cover front and back from the paper copy, but for now I wanted to give you some back ground. It’s my opinion that people don’t just buy your book, they buy a piece of you, so here’s me.

Aside from being a soldier and dad, and all the stuff in my author bio, I wanted to mention real quickly a little about author me. I have actually been asked why I’m not with a house and why I am now an indie author, indie published. Well it’s a complicated answer, but to sum up, when my publisher decided she’d had enough and it wasn’t a good fit for her (very understandable, very tough business) I had a choice. I had several offers to take my books to different houses and several that wanted to have a look and asked me to submit, I just didn’t feel good about it. I’ve spoken all my views on the publishing industry and which shoes fit differently for different people, but for me it came down to this, what was I getting for giving away half my royalties if not more? As I know many people in the industry I am able to get covers done fairly inexpensively that I love, editing again at a fair price, and help from numerous sources to help get my books to the public. For most small houses that’s what they give you. (That and a weekly re-blog, or tweet fest.) And for some that’s what they want, or need and it’s a good fit for both parties. For me however it wasn’t this time. So I chose to go it alone and try this on my own. I have truly enjoyed learning the format, and grammar game, the editing and negotiating has also been a blast. It’s not for everyone and it can also be a huge headache, but for me it’s a better fit for now. So the answer is, it’s a choice this time.

Now onto Genesis! The basis of this book series is to give an alternative to vampires and werewolves. I love those books, but I’m getting tired of seeing them every other day. The way I read the bible there are people God has given immortality to so they can fulfill an earthly mission and it will take the whole life span of our planet to do it. To me that is a way better immortal than a blood sucking terror, or even a sparkly hero. And werewolves are seriously cool, but the same thing. They’re either rotten or heroic but either way both not real, they are fake. I’d rather write about true immortals. I read through the old and new testament and found a few, but the fun came when I realized that the canvas was so blank and I could write about nearly anything and keep it in the scope of the Bible stories.

In the foreword to the book (which I’ll post here in a bit) I make a reference to Cain being Sasquatch. This concept comes from my own church legends, and I find it fascinating. I’m Mormon, and we have legends of our early missionaries running across 8ft tall hairy men that claimed to be Cain. I also unearthed several articles about huge hairy creatures claiming to be Cain going through modern history. One from a man who said Cain was one of the main founders of the Communist party and that his mission has always been to remove God from the world. It’s kind of working unfortunately. But all this isn’t proof that Cain survived the flood. It’s simply part of my fictitious story and should make good fun to read.

To give you some more, my hero is Abby. She’s the eldest child of Adam and Eve, her best friend and co-conspirator is a massive wolf name Rikter. When I say massive I mean it, he’s charcoal grey with yellow eyes and he’s bigger than a grizzly bear. He’s also as intelligent as a human and together they get into lots of trouble. Adam and Eve are of course in this novel, as they were the first Immortals, and over all this sets up the rest of the series, which after part 2 is going to take a massive leap forward into more modern times with flashbacks of battles throughout the ages. Constantinople, Egypt, Rome, all the way through the American revolution and the world wars.

The series will end with the end of the world and Armageddon of course. (no pressure) I’m not sure how many books this series will have, but many is a good number. For those that like the creation story or the Garden of Eden you’ll like this. If you like a story about beings that can’t die and have awesome powers, you’ll like it too. I can recommend this book to a teen audience, not like my first series, this is fairly clean and not too involved with blood and guts or crazy out of this world mental stuff. I truly hope you’ll give it a read and share it with your friends. (I could sure use the book sales.) My ARC readers all give the book 5 stars and have no real criticisms, except for the fact that part 2 probably wont be out for a year and they wanted the next part of the story yesterday.

 

The release party is tomorrow June 22 online on Facebook from 6-8pm central, you can find it here, https://www.facebook.com/events/198220846997019/

Well that’s it for this edition of my little blog. As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy Planet Earth!

 

Here’s the foreword.

 

Foreword

When I first spoke to her, the story of her life seemed to me a great joke. Here I was, a starving author trying to make a name for myself as a writer. I was looking for a good entertaining idea, and the popular ones of the time were vampires or werewolves or a combination of the two. I simply couldn’t stomach the idea of writing another vampire/werewolf, story so I started to search for another creature that could capture and entertain. I was intrigued by the story of Big Foot or Sasquatch and thought maybe I could rekindle this classic into some kind of scary fantasy combo, including some of these mythical creatures. I started my usual method, to research and gather all the information I could about my subject and that’s when the madness set in.

Did you know that creatures like a Big Foot have legends all over the world? Did you know they all have the same basic descriptions of looks and behaviors? Here are a few of the names; Sasquatch(which by the way is a combination of many Native American names), the Yeti in the Himalayas, Windigo in Canada, Yowi from Australia, Yeren from China… there are many more but you get the picture. I also found that the legends of these creatures go so far back in time that this species seems to have existed almost as long as mankind. I dug deeper.

There are many reports of people running across what appeared to be a Sasquatch, but he wasn’t a dumb beast, he spoke to them. Stories of missionaries and wanderers coming across a large hairy dark creature that stood as tall as men riding on horseback and could keep pace with them, asking them questions, and in general leaving them feeling terrified. It’s amazing how much information Google can unearth in a few varied searches.

Just as I was formulating my stories, my research connected the creature known as Sasquatch in North America to Cain, the son of Adam who murdered his brother. I was shocked to learn that this isn’t a species of creature, but is one man, a cursed man and his followers, terrors to the entire human family. I began to request information from obscure resources and blogs. I started to find more information connecting Cain to Big Foot; I was obsessed. In all my research and everything I found, did not explain how he had become this massive hairy beast, but I was convinced. I have come to firmly believe that this Sasquatch is none other than Cain and his minions and that they have continued to work for the Evil One all over the world and through all ages of time since the day Cain made the bargain to “kill his brother to get gain”.

I was lost as to where to start my story or how to proceed. None of the dots connected and the tale was incomplete. This was no longer a fictional invention that would be full of wit and adventure; this was real. I sat in front of my computer staring at the screen, begging my brain to let go of the knowledge I now had and the questions still unanswered and write a fun novel about Big Foot, not Cain when she knocked on my door. I only had a few hours with her to listen and realize that she not only knew what I was suggesting was true, but she wanted to provide me with proof and details of the whole story from the beginning. As we sat talking, well into the night, me trying to take notes, another knock on my door interrupted us. A delivery truck appeared with cases and cases of books; journals to be precise. They were hers. Her history; her memoirs of what she had been through trying to bring Cain to bear over the entire course of human history and how he became what he is.

She told me to read them and then write the story. “It needs to be told” she said over and over again, so that all of her brothers and sisters, all the family of Adam. Would understand why there is so much suffering in this world, and where it all comes from. Why the legends of vampires, werewolves, and all the other evil demons came from that haunt our dreams.

I told her I wasn’t sure if I believed her or that she wasn’t just mocking me. She looked at me with those vibrant green eyes and smiled. I felt a breath of hot air across my neck. Thinking it was some kind of magic I turned and froze where I stood. Standing in front of me was a charcoal grey wolf the size of a bear staring me in the face with his intense yellow eyes. I was forced to look up to see him. He allowed me to pet his great neck to know he was real. He snuffled like a laugh and turned and walked calmly back out of my house and before he disappeared I heard a deep low voice in my head that shook my soul.

Believe. He simply said and was gone

I turned back to her and her appearance had changed to that of a witch, then she fell on the floor and was a mermaid, then back to the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, pale and white, flawless in complexion and bodily form and her hair glossy flowing blond. She could be a vampire she looked so amazing. She told me again to read then write. Then like the lady in the lake shrouded in mist, she was gone.

This is not a story of happiness or even great sadness. It’s just the truth as she relayed it to me. I know that many of us, fans of the Bible or of the Christian faith will undoubtedly know the events of this story. However I don’t believe that any of us know the extent to which certain characters were involved in human history.

It’s inconceivable to me that one man or woman could have made such a difference in the world we know, but they did. Without his influence we would not know war, or secret deals or societies that plot to kill and extort to advance their agendas to remove God from our teachings and lives. All of this was the deal he made with the one who tried to convince Eve that eating the fruit was her only her only and best option.

But is this one, Cain, Master Mahan, the Master of the great secret, and those that follow him are the enemies of all and the ones who taught this secret to the children of Adam and Eve. He was cursed and deformed, but is he still around trying to deceive us and destroy the plans and goodness of God? I believe so.

She however is his opposite and has balanced the scale every time he has unbalanced it. She brought us the knowledge we need to understand what and who he is and cast this Master Mahan and evil out forever and restore God and faith to our lives bringing us back to Christ who will save us.

You can read this story or not, that is immaterial. You can pretend to be an atheist or any other religion in the world and think the story of the creation and Adam and Eve is a joke. But doubt not that the Immortals do exist. They live amongst us doing God’s will, or the Devils from the beginning of time until now.

There are many stories of Vampires and skin changing werewolves. There are others like Sasquatch and the Lady in the lake. But these are not myths or legends; they are Immortal beings that never die. They have all the time they need to destroy life and hope. These “vampires” don’t drink your blood or get killed by garlic and sunlight. The “werewolves” don’t appear only at the full moon and become mindless killers until stopped by a silver bullet. These are indeed real creatures that never die and have haunted the world since time began. Weather you meet a massive hairy dark man-like figure that terrifies you, or an angelic beautiful woman magically appearing with a massive wolf to save you from that terror, keep an eye out and believe. For they are coming and you will one day have to decide if you are with her and God, or with him and evil.

Man of Steel reviewed…and other things.

Well hello again from beautiful Kentucky. It’s been a balmy 85 degrees with humidity for the past week and when it hasn’t been raining its felt like it anyway. So the bugs are out and we haven’t been able to get a good fire going in the  back yard to burn marshmallows all week. We have however been able to enjoy the sticky warm weather by playing baseball and trying not to get eaten alive. The swimming pools are still cool enough and the kids have been out enjoying them with their friends and playing with the hose in the back yard. The boys have been going to all their practices and now that Laynee’s back from Girls camp she’s catching up as well. I’m having a great time watching and cheering, there’s truly no better job than being a dad.  Jules is doing well, working out and keeping up with the kids. I’d say all in all we’re pretty much back to….well normal enough life.

Still on block leave and as promised I have been working hard on author stuff. Genesis is ready to roll out next Saturday and I hope you’ll all join me for the online release party, and if  you’re near Clarksville we are probably having some kind of release/book signing here so please drop in. I am currently still keeping Achilles on hold while I get Twisted Souls through editing, formatting and publishing as it’s next in the shoot, and I think I’m going to hold off on Achilles until I get everything else done so look for it probably around September 1.

That was the other things in the post heading, now onto what this is all about, movie reviews. Let me put out my disclaimer. I’m not a name dropper, nor am I a technical guy. If I like the movie I’ll tell you why or what I didn’t like and why as well. Anymore than that you can go to a regular movie reviewer and get all the celebrity names and technical jargon  you want.

So right out of the gate, Man of Steel. http://manofsteel.warnerbros.com/index.html

From my point of view this movie was a home run! I was skeptical as a Superman fan of how they would use the “”Batman Begins” tactics to retell this great classic. The great thing was, they didn’t. This movie was all it’s own. There was no throw back to the new Batman trilogy, nor was there a throw back to Christopher Reeves. The acting was well done, they picked a great Lois Lane, Clark/Kal-el spot on, and who did they get to play Jor-el…the Gladiator!

The plot follows the original Superman movie pretty well. They manage to give you some more history and details that you don’t get in the other movies. The visual effects are amazing and the over all tweaks they’ve put on the franchise are outstanding. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone but let me hit a couple of things for anyone thinking of taking kids or wondering if it’s worth your time.

In the first  case, I took my 8-year-old and he loved it! No real jumps of freight or looks of I’m scared. I don’t think 5 year olds would keep up, but they certainly wouldn’t be too freighted. There are a couple of swear words, but no sex, blood and guts or crazy death scenes to haunt dreams. The only caution I have is if your kids aren’t up with the sometimes intense action of today’s movie scene it might get to them, nearly all the fighting scenes are intense and long.

In the second, this movie is 2 1/2  hours long, but the time kind of “flew by”. (haha) From the opening scene there is action and conflict and it lasts until the closing scene. Superman doesn’t let up and when it comes time to fight and fly he’s fast and he hits hard. Zod and his comrades are just what you’d expect them to be, so that’s another plus.

Seeing as this is my first of many (I hope) movie reviews I’m going to use the old star method and give Man of Steel, 4 out of 5. It’s a star off because it does take certain liberties with Superman that I didn’t like. The fortress of solitude and the never-ending struggle of the secret identity vs. superhero identity seems a bit compromised and that I don’t like. The rest however, top-notch.

I will also be having a second line on the stars, this one for kid-friendly potential, again stars out of 5. My criteria are based on several things, nudity, swearing, gory or realistic violence, and intensity of drama.  1 star would put the movie in line with Cars, and in my opinion would be acceptable for a 3-year-old. A 5 star would put it up around a mid level Harry Potter and be acceptable for around a 10-12 year old. I give Man of Steel a 2 1/2, I’d keep the really young away. If your little hero could handle Spider Man or the Avengers they’ll do fine with this.

On to a few others, now these are getting a little old in the tooth for movies in the box office, but still valid.

Next up Star Trek into darkness I give it 5 out of 5.

http://www.startrekmovie.com/

On the kids scale, I’d put it at a 4. it’s not scary per say but it’s very grown up. My 11-year-old liked it but my 8-year-old was lost.

I went to see this with my mother then with the wife. It was an interesting mix as my mother is a classic Treky and I follow in her mold. She is a huge original “Wrath of Kahn” lady and thought the new Kahn didn’t do justice to the old “beefcake Hispanic dream boat”. However considering the alternate universe thing, and the way the new captain Kirk is holding his own with the legend, I can get it. Again the visual effects are out of sight, the Klingon’s are great. The ships and battle scenes are perfect and they even brought back the little side kick for Scotty. And if I can just say, if Karl Urban does Bones perfectly! Overall, well done go see it while you still can, there really is nothing like the big screen.

Lastly (cuz I’m out of time) is Fast 6. I gave it 31/2 stars out of 5.

http://www.thefastandthefurious.com/

This isn’t on the kids scale, I’d leave em at home. once they’re big enough to handle PG-13, your good to go. I would however recommend Epic for a good young kids show, it was great but I don’t have time to review it today.

Don’t let the star rating foo you, this is a classic Fast and Furious franchise movie, hot chicks, buff dudes, fast cars and lots of totally unrealistic chases, crashes and action. Shouldn’t be anything to spoil here. Letty comes back as we knew she would. The Rock makes everyone else look like a pansy, and they open it up for yet another episode. (which I will go see) The mix of cars is good in this one as well as how they are driven. They even have a few trucks in here. The action takes place in London this time, and the crime lord is as good as Dom himself. Even though the cast is getting older, and we know they shouldn’t be racing around in super modded Honda’s they are, and we love em for it. This is not a great cinematic master piece, but if you love fast cars, hot chicks, buff guys and completely unbelievable theatrics, go see it.

Well that’s it for this edition, I hope you liked it. I am a huge movie buff and go every weekend, sometimes multiple times. I’m going to catch a matinée of the Great Gatsby tomorrow, as I am a nut for classic literary work too, this should work out well. I do plan to review a couple of times a month, so if there is something you’d like me to review for you and match it up with my recommendations please leave me a request.

As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy planet Earth.

The master plan and an invitation.

 

Well hello again from the beautiful USA!! I can’t say that enough! It’s so wonderful to be home. I was able to sit and watch both my boys play their first game of baseball and help each of them get better with some batting practice of our own. Laynee missed her first game as she was away at Girls camp with our church. But from what she tells me, (and we can’t get her to shut up about it) she had a great time.  We spoiled the heck out of our boys while she was gone. Going out to lunch and buying new video games were just a few things we did. They had a great time and so did we. Jules is trying to keep up with going to the gym and her aerobics classes and finds herself tired from time to time, but she does her best. I enjoy getting her there and seeing her war face as she puts up the weight. We both picked out a few supplements to help us in our efforts to lose some more weight as we work on our fitness goals. All in all, a great couple of weeks.

As for me, I’m settling in just fine. Trying to adjust to being home and spending time with those I have missed, but been used to being without is a little more work than I thought it would be. Its times like those that I’m glad I can hop on my bike and go for a ride by myself and clear my head. Block leave has officially started, which means I should have more time to be home and work on things that to me are important. So that brings me to the news portion of this post.

I have thought hard about it and decided to push the release of True Immortals Genesis back a week so I can have a little more time to get it ready for publication. I want to have a small box of copies so I can do a signing event and invite many of my friends and all 10 of my fans out to get a copy of the new book. (If you are one of them and want a copy please let me know so I can order enough to have on hand.) The digital format was easier this time and I got I into the Smash Words catalog first time go. I had to put it on hold while I try to finish it up, but it is ready to go. Create Space isn’t all that much more work, and I’ll get it done, but I just need a few more days so it’ll be perfect for those who want a copy. I am also setting up a book store on my site where you can order copies of my books and they will come to me, I’ll sign them and send them out to you. It’ll cost a couple of dollars more for shipping, but it’ll be signed and numbered. So if you’re interested check it out.

Now for the master plan. I am now looking for authors of a similar genre as mine to read and review. I have my favorite authors and am starting to really get reading Indie books so I will have a list of authors I recommend to my readers. I plan to review their books, and post their work on my site, and my Good Reads platform as well. If you are an author in that vein, and are interested in working with me on this please send me a message and send me a copy of your book, I would love to get this working.

I am also getting going with the newest promotional efforts, and here they are. I am getting involved in a cross promotion group. We’re not taking all comers, but we are looking for other reviewers, and bloggers who want to work together to build each others audiences and push each others work. I know the hardest thing for any Indie author to do is to spread your work to a new group of readers that don’t know you, this group is about doing just that. It’s surprising how easy it is to make a few new readers and rekindle the fire of excitement that got us all into writing in the first place. I also have new ideas coming up that will only be available to this group initially before I go public with it. Here in Nashville I have several contacts with news channels, papers, bloggers (not of an Indie author sort), and several book stores where my fellow Indies and those with small houses can do book signing events. It’s my personal opinion that the social media scene is great and can produce several good sales for authors but there is always going to be need for actual media, and paper books and we need to put as much effort into that platform as we do in the virtual one. Again, if you’re interested please let me know which of all my ventures you want to get involved in and we’ll get things rolling, we all only get there together. jonpew1@gmail.com.

Lastly, I’m going to toot my own horn. My friend and confidant Aurora Martinez has offered to do reviews on my books and has created a form for anyone who want to read and review my books. I’m posting it here and hoping to get several reviews and shares out of it. You get a free digital copy of the books you read and I hope you’ll send me yours in return so I can review you, and help you as I hope you’ll help me. I have 3 books available for you and a 4th that will soon be out all of which you can get for free as long as you read and review. So there you go fill out the form and let’s get reading and sharing.  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14y7Vh9e34qLAFye7_sTInB1hBal5Bvk2_8G3I8-M2hE/viewform

Well that’s it for this edition, I plan on doing a food review on my next post of my favorite restaurant Carrabas, and one of a new place for me, Cheddar’s. I also hope to have a new book to review for you, by one of my favorite authors. As always I’m proud of my wife and my kids. Play to Win! And you stay classy planet Earth!

The Big News!!

Well hello again! I’ve been home state side for about 2 weeks now and everything’s starting to settle down. I’ve actually made it back to the gym and have maintained lifting, and in fact have the wife going with me.The kiddos are all enrolled and playing either softball or baseball and having generally a great time. We play whiffle ball in the back yard to work on hitting and have a great time playing catch. We’ve also planted a nice garden and enjoy watching the flowers and other plants grow. We should have a great crop in a couple of months. This morning  I dropped Laynee off to go to girls camp with the Church and I will miss her tons over the next few days, but I’m sure she’ll have a great time. I found a different motorcycle I like even more than the first and it was a lot less expensive so it’ll be nice to put that money back in the bank. Over all a great couple of weeks home and good time getting back together with the little woman, and the babies.

As for soldiering not much to report. Block leave starts in the next couple of days and I’m not taking anytime off until later in the month. So I expect the couple of other soldiers that are kind of hanging around will have very little time at work, which brings us to the bigger and more important point the author front.

For most of you who read this blog or are fans of my work, you know I have a massive summer ahead bringing you 3 new novels to read. The first and a project I am very proud of is True Immortals my new work in progress. This is a new series and a new idea that came to me out of the blue near a year ago and it has taken me this long to get it out.

The concept behind this series (which will be a long one) is the story of Biblical Immortal beings that we know about from that history. As you may know I am a very Christian man and love the stories of how God has kept certain men and women alive for long periods of time, maybe even for the entire breadth of human existence. I came up with this story after having read another vampire and werewolf story. That little nugget has been pretty over done lately in my opinion, and I thought how could I put a twist on this popular idea. So I started looking around and in my own faith (LDS) I found many legends and stories of the original villain and master of evil, Cain the son of Adam. There are no substantiated accounts of Cain surviving past the flood, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make up a great story that says he is.

So Cain is my bad guy and my hero is actually a heroin, Abby. She is beautiful and deadly. She is as immortal as Cain is. The companions of my main characters are massive Great Wolves. Abby’s wolf is Rikter. He is a charcoal Grey wolf with yellow eyes. He is the size of a great Kodiak bear and an amazing personality. Cain’s is Shayn. She is pitch black, and not as big as Rikter, but is still of the same race and she gets certain gifts in the book that make her the match of the alpha, Rikter. Adam and Eve of course make the start of the book, and there is the legendary battle between Cain and Abel.

I put my own twist on everything and I have tried to follow the first 5 chapters of the book of Genesis, as far as the timeline and as far as the events. Though I have made 5 chapters into over 80 thousand words, I have tried to keep it close to the events, I have just filled in the empty time spots with my own story line.

Unlike the Transition Man series, this book is meant to cater to a broader audience. It has no real swearing-in it, and no nudity or drug use. I also has a great message and a hero everyone can relate to and connect with. The only dark side to this story is Cain, he is a serial killer with a pension for the dramatic. So his killing scene’s are a little disturbing, but if you’ve read twilight and or Harry Potter, and or Eragon, Star Wars etc., and were ok with that, then this will be fine too. Well there’s a little back ground and look into True Immortals Genesis which will be released June 15th. I am having an online event on Facebook and if I get enough people interested I’ll have a book release event with copies for sale, posters and food at one of the local restaurants.

This is the first event of 3 this summer. The second is the release of Griffin Chronicles part 2: Twisted Souls which will be on July 20th, and finished off with Sword of Achilles on August 17th. When Sword is released I will be having a 2 day book signing event at a location in Nashville and trying to really drum up some press and fun for that event to launch into the fall season. I am so excited about what I have coming up, and look forward to another awesome year of writing and publishing.

Well that’s it for this edition, as always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy planet Earth.

The soldiers library!

 

Hello again from Fort Campbell! It’s been a crazy couple of days. First the fam. My kids are doing awesome at sports and all have earned awards for academic achievement during the last year so all’s well that end’s well. Jules has been working hard in the gym and is having some success. She’s a little frustrated that getting in shape takes so long, but she’ll just have to accept it and move on. She has gone with me a few times to lift and is so cute getting her war face on and pushing some weight.

On the soldier front we are getting back to work a little bit. We still don’t have our helicopters yet (thank goodness) but we will after our block vacation (leave) so it’ll be back to work for real then. We changed back to the regular Army ACU’s and I never realized how much I don’t like that uniform. Missing my flight uniforms, but not wearing those until we start flying again so I might as well get over it too.

The big author news is the new idea that my genius friend Aurora with Elizabeth Delena Author Services came up with. As most of you know I have recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan and found used reading good books as a way to pass the time. And though there seem to be plenty of paperback books from popular authors, there are many duplicates and not a great variety. I also noticed that most of them have a tablet of some kind, or at least an eReader, so we figured why not offer them a great selection of Indie books from a lending library!

We are trying to take precautions to prevent piracy and the sign in will include a non-piracy clause and we can track who takes what so if they are pirating we can put a stop to it, but they are soldiers and for the most part they’ll be happy to have great books to read and not having to pay for them. I’m opening this up to all authors and all genre’s. We are going to have different folders for different types.

We are especially inviting the Indie author community to place their books here and get a little exposure for the effort. I’m hoping this will help to not only get something good for the servicemen and women fighting down range, but that it will also help promote some of our great Indie authors. So if you’re interested please leave a message on either my site or my fan page and either me or Aurora will get with you about how to donate your book. If you’re not an author and want to donate books, you can purchase a digital copy of what you’d like to donate and gift it to the library it’s all the same. I was going to blog about some of the movies I’ve been watching since I got home, but this seemed like a better idea. so I hope a lot of people get involved.

On a quick note I just wanted to plug the next release in my crazy summer of mad book releases. My new series True Immortals is debuting in June. Genesis the first book in the series will be released on the 15th and I’ll be having an online party and if enough people want to come a book signing party in Clarksville TN, with food and fun for an hour or two with paper copies for sale with signature. My next blog post will be exclusively about Genesis, what it’s all about, how I came up with it, and even some of who my muses were for the characters with photos so I hope you’ll tune in and see what the new project is all about. This is not the next Transition Man novel, it’s a whole new thing, and I am very proud of it.

 

 

Anyway, that’s it for this edition. As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth!!

More Important things.

 

Well hello from the good ole USA!!! I’ve been home for over a week now and can I just say the food here is amazing! I’ve also managed to get to the gym with the wife and bought me a motorcycle which is great for some alone time to unplug. First let’s get you the family update.

Laynee, Jax and Evan are doing great. the grades are out soon and it looks like everyone is passing with flying colors. We have also had first practices for fast pitch softball and baseball and I’m having a great time watching my kids play. For the summer we were going to rent a boat or go to the beach but the kids voted and decided to put up a pool in the back yard so they can have it all summer. So we’ll be getting a fence and a pool in the next week so when summer officially starts for them they’ll get to have fun and get turned a dark shade of tan over their break. Jules is doing well and taking over as the mom of the house again as my mother has left and gone back to Utah to resume her own life. Again we wish to thank her for all she’s done.

As for me, it’s back to work as usual tomorrow. PT at 630 and work at the hangar at 930 blah, wish I had more time to just sit around and workout when everyday, but we already have helicopters on the pads and they need attention. Plus we do need to iron out leave, and other items that are part of the getting home process. Over all I’m glad to be back, and didn’t expect to be left alone anyway so back to work I go.

This post is about something that occurred to me just last night as I was brushing my teeth. I’ve committed to publishing 4 books in 5 months. T-Man is out, and I’m still ironing out details on the paperback copy and getting the digital into all the sites I want them in for max exposure. However once I’ve nailed down this first one, I hope the others will go a little more smoothly. I’ve also committed to the Army another 18 months of my life so that I can get the station assignment I want in Hawaii, so I’ve given them more. After the long time away from the kids and the wife I have also committed more to them. To be around more and give them more of my attention is essential to reconnecting and making sure that no matter how important it is to put food on the table, I still need to be dad.

On my website and FB fan page it says “Jon Pew, Author, Soldier, Blogger” and as my army friends make up from time to time, “Bi-curious” or “Old Man” or “Angry Mormon” or whatever else they can think up like it’s some sort of crazy list of personality traits. (Bi-curious has never been one, but thanks Win for the one that stuck the most.) All that I do, and what I think I might try to accomplish in the author/writer arena, or the Soldier/working part of my life are really not all that important in the long scheme of things. So I’m going to talk for a minute about more important things in my life, and maybe it’ll strike a chord with you too.

There are many more important things. the most important is my kids and my wife. My family in short, to me, is the most important thing I have going for me. I married way out of my league and my offspring amaze me more and more everyday. I listen to their words and try to understand the way they think and I’m blown away by the maturity and intellect they have. My wife has struggled and we have our problems, but she’s the one I want to be in the fox hole with so, we put up and get through.

If I never sell another book, (which I hope doesn’t happen) my life will still have meaning. If I don’t get to serve my 20 years and retire, I’ll find another job and I’ll provide as best I can for those I love. But neither of those things cause me to lose sleep anymore. If one of my kids however grows up to be a complete waste of space I will have failed at the one important thing I was charged with doing by my creator, being a good father.

There are other things. I am an active member of my church, and try to be involved in my community and political process. These are important area’s of my life and will reflect on how I leave the world. Did I improve it, or leave it to the savages? These are very important to me and much more important than my little stories. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to down play my work in the Army, or my writing and trying to sell books, but they aren’t as important as being there for my kids and my wife. They in fact pale in comparison to my service to God and my community. No matter how I might excel at any thing there is still a debt owed and an accounting that will be do one day for how I’ve lived and what I have done with the talents and gifts given to me.

For us all there are “more important things” what are they for you? How do we as a people of good conscience focus on those things and leave some of the other’s aside while we focus on them? I think there are many ways, and recognizing them is one. Others are prioritizing time and managing the one most precious commodity, making sure that we don’t over extend ourselves. I’m not a self-help guru, but there are many who are and I encourage you to read a book on the subject if you need a little help in this area.

I simply wanted to point out that no matter what seems to be the focus of our internal struggle to find ourselves and that which matters most to us there are always more important things. And if we can keep that in mind as we struggle through any trial of our faith and sometimes more poignantly our patience, we can feel and blunder our way through and back to the heart of our worlds, the more important things.

Well that’s it for this edition. Since I’ve been home I’ve taken up my second or third favorite pastime of going to the movies so look for a bi-weekly post on movie reviews of what I’ve seen. If I haven’t seen a movie, I’ll review some of my favorites and see where that takes us.

As always I’m proud of my Kids and my Wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth!

finally back home!!!

Well hello from the good old USA!!! I know I promised a new post a couple of days ago, but man! It’s hard to get back on the right schedule after a long flight and coming home from the other side of the world. It has been great to get home and reconnect with the family and friends. I can tell you that the kids are doing great!! Laynee and the boys are set up for spring sports and its one of my favorites…baseball and softball. (Fast pitch of course.) I have decided to invest in a very comfortable folding chair to take with me to practice and games. I’m going to be a busy dad, and I’m very excited about it. I’ll be posting pics and scores from the games throughout the season.

As for getting adjusted to being in the states, its been fun. I’ve been snacking on all my favorite items, going out to eat and enjoying a movie in a real movie theater. Probably my favorite item has been my king-size pillow top bed, with my gorgeous wife lying next to me. (Often naked.) The first week back on the soldiering front is called reintegration, which is a fancy way of saying getting signed back into post, and a way for the command to keep an eye on us while we spend that first few days back. I personally don’t drink or go out on the town, but plenty of soldiers do and this is a way to say, “keep it together and don’t go too crazy, but welcome home”.

Everyone’s out buying new cars and motorcycles, I’m no different. I went out to get a new motorcycle. I wanted to get an adventure sport so I could go with friends that like to go off-road but the financing didn’t work out so I looked at the street bikes. All sport bikes seemed to be a little scrunched for a 6″ 3″ 225 lb. guy. I went back to the chopper/cruiser world and found a fairly nice and very unused Honda VT600 custom, she’s a little old but very nice. I rode it back to the house and hour and a half ride, and had the little thing up to 85 going up hill passing cars, it was a blast. So the reviews I read that it didn’t have enough engine to have fun on were wrong. I think I’ll get a pic up on this post of the new ride, let me know what ya think. Over all it’s great to be home and with the fam again.

I managed to get to church on Sunday and it was wonderful to worship with the saints. I also didn’t fit into any of my old cloths, they are all huge! (I was a major fatty.) So all new cloths for this guy. I also got me a new iPhone 5 and have loved getting to know it, pretty awesome! New bike helmet, new boots on order, and all that good stuff, it’s like a whole new me!

On the author front, I feel pretty awful. I have a few changes to make to the re-release of T-Man. The paper version needs to have the cover resized in order to make it clearer, and fit the page better. Also farther back into the pages the chapter’s end up shifting from where they are supposed to be into funky places, so a couple of tweaks and it’ll be perfect. On a positive note, I found T-Man on iBook store, and Barnes and Noble again so it’s finally populating through Smashwords premium. That means very soon, you’ll be able to get it from anywhere!

To update you on the next book to be released True Immortals: Genesis, it’s still planned for release June 15th. It is with the Editor right now and I should have a working copy finished in a couple of weeks, then I’m off and running on the set-up and layout for the publication. All is looking good and the release should go ahead according to plan. Keep an eye out for excerpts, teasers, giveaways and announcements leading up to the big release of my second series.

As far as the next Griffin Chronicles still planning on publishing Twisted Souls July 15th, but one at a time. I’m also getting revved up for the Aug 15th release of Sword of Achilles. When this book comes out I’m planning a book signing and party in Nashville. So if you want to get involved and be here I’d love to have you, put it on your calendar and start making plans.

To close I just wanted to really thank all those who have been there for me throughout the deployment. the support I’ve had not just with my writing but with my work and my family left behind. Truly the love and good wishes you’ve all sent me has been appreciated and remembered, and though there are too many to mention individually I hope you’ll all take this broad stroke thank you to heart, because it is heart-felt. Supper big Thanks!

Well that’s it for this edition of my little blog, I think I might give it its own little title, I’m taking suggestions. once I get a few ideas I’ll post them and we can vote, the winner gets a signed copy of T-Man and a major promo on the site, so get involved.

As always I’m proud of my kids and wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy Planet Earth.

 

 

Reflections from Afghanistan.

Well hello again from Afghani land! I have great news to share with all my fans and friends out there… this guys on his way home! I have been waiting 9 months to say that and get there. Tomorrow sometime I get on that big C-17 in the sky and start the long process of getting back to the states and my family. I have been away too long, but that’s part of the job. Right now things seem to be going along ok at home. The kids are signed up for spring/summer sports so I will get to be a busy dad when I get there. Laynee and Jax are doing softball/baseball, and I think Evan is as well. (Hasn’t been confirmed yet) My mother is still there keeping an eye on things and trying to make the best of the situation. I’m glad she’s been able to stay for so long and I know she’s as ready to get home as I am.

I am going to forgo the usual and comment on books first then soldier life. With books on May 4th I had the re-launch of Transition Man and it went very well. I had many fans who have read the book drop in and give their support and a few new readers who actually asked me questions about the characters and plot. It was a lot of fun and I need to thank my friend Aurora Martinez with Elizabeth Delena Rosa author services for promoting and hosting the event while I was at work. (Being deployed has its draw backs like…they want you to be at work on time and stuff) So far sales are still slow but I’m building a better reach base and hoping that over the next 12 months I’ll get some kind of traction. In the next week I’ll start promoting the next release which will be True Immortals: Genesis on June 15th. I’m very excited about this book, it’s more teen friendly and has a great message I think. Being based in Biblical history it should be fun for anyone who has some kind of Christian back ground. So keep your eyes peeled for that.

Now on to the soldier aspect of my life. This post is about my time overseas in the fight against terrorism, or at least that’s what we’ve been told we’re doing here. We thought we were fighting to keep people safer at home and come to find out attacks are still happening there. The Boston Marathon bombing was an eye opener for me. We fight here and we capture and kill a lot of bad guys, but this country and region of the world is full of them, and with the new rules of this war we can’t just kill them all. Spending time away from the ones I love most in the world and knowing they suffer when I’m gone has brought me to a point of reflection on my experience and I wanted to share it with you. I write a series of essays to my kids that one day they may want to read and this is the subject of one of those essays. I’m not going into such detail as I put into one of those as I like to keep my blog posts reasonably short and my essays are about 10 pages per subject but I can share some thoughts with you.

Separation. This is what first comes to mind. I’ve been married for 14 years. I’ve never spent more than a couple of months away from home and that time has always been hard. Most of those incidents were based with me going somewhere else in the US and my family knew I was safe. Even my last deployment to Kandahar was a short deployment, not quite 4 months and I never left the base. Kandahar is a large base here and so I was pretty much safe there as well. But this one has been completely different. Though I have a phone and internet access, I still feel the sting of loneliness and seclusion that comes with this type of work. Missing the companionship of someone who knows me so well as my wife has been hard to bear. It is true that I’ve made good friends here and the experiences I’ve had made an enduring  bond that will last my for my entire life I’m sure. But she is my girl forever and missing her has been a struggle. My children are all at growing stages of their lives and they have had to spend the last 9 months going through that without me there to advise them and guide them. At the ages of 13, 11, and 8 each of them are having unique challenges that I know I can help with, only, I’m not there. Jules is doing her best and now with the help of my mother and hers they are having some success in adapting to life as it faces each of them.

Safety. I have had a new experience with having something threaten my life. This is the first I’ve mentioned it at all, but the indirect fire (IDF), and missions we flew indeed to me literally into bad guy’s back yards. Many of you may not know this but the Chinook isn’t a small or quiet helicopter. Most of our missions we didn’t get shot at, and we weren’t in great danger. But occasionally we were and that makes a person think about what in life can be really important. I can’t hear a loud boom, or even a door slam without thinking something is blowing up nearby. I can’t hear the sound of an alarm without hitting the deck and praying it’s not my time anymore. I’m sure this will pass when I’m out of harm’s way and back in my own house but as I’m reflecting I can think what I want. I have worn a gun on my hip every day for the last 9 months, prepared to use it if need be. I’ve had a round in the chamber and the weapon in my hand waiting for someone to twitch, thinking they might try something while we flew and I’d have to stop them. I’ve done landings where we could see people’s houses and those same people moving around their courtyards and I had a machine gun aimed at them ready to shoot if they pointed so much as a pistol at me. Luckily on all of these occasions I was protected and kept safe, by God’s hand and I’ll be forever grateful I didn’t have to pull that trigger but that doesn’t change the fact that I would have in a second and I truly doubt I would have felt regret.

Work. This has been the craziest one yet. I’ve worked for more hours than I care to count. When I owned my own company I worked long hours, but nothing like this. We work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. We get a few hours off and call it a reset 1 day in 14 and that usually got messed up. I haven’t added it up because I’m a little scared to but I think I’ve worked 2 years’ worth of hours in 9 months. Even when we were off duty, we were still here. I wasn’t going home to my couch and TV, I wasn’t going home to my shower and my bed. I was still in this crap hole, doing what I was ordered to do, doing my job. I was excited to come here and do my part in defending my family and my country from evil men who want to hurt and kill the innocent. But the way we are told to fight the war, all we are doing is getting good people killed, and not really doing much to increase our safety at home. It’s not my place to criticize those making these decisions, I’m a soldier, and I do what I’m told. But I do hate to see good men and women die, and not be able to go get the Bast@#$* doing it. We are told we are winning the hearts and minds of the people, all I see is a bunch of Haji’s wanting us to leave, so they can get back to their simple life of fighting each other without us in the way. I’m proud of my service here, and I will come back if they order me to, but I honestly hope to never see this place or these people ever again.

Spirituality. This is a big one for me. Most of you who read this blog or know me personally know I’m a faithful member of the LDS church. I don’t just believe it, I live it. Back home I’ve tried never to miss a week of church. I love meeting and worshiping with other saints and members. Our mutual faith builds off of one another and we are strengthened by the interaction. In the last 9 months I’ve been to church twice. That has been hard, but as I’ve studied and read, prayed and pondered my faith has grown. My knowledge and understanding of God has increased. I’ve had several meaningful and spiritual conversations about God and his plan for us. I don’t know if I’ve affected anyone but I’ve tried every day to live and set an example as God would have me do. I’ve felt his love surround me and buoy me up when I was down. I’ve felt his sword of protection over me when I felt afraid or threatened. It is through this faith growing time that I’ve come to understand that he never has and never will abandon me or leave me alone. During my families struggles I know he’s been there to help each of them in the way they needed. And even through the trial of our faith he has given us exactly what we needed to be happy and grow.

Alright I’m done, so much for my rambling. (Imagine being one of my kids reading 10 pages about this!) Next post will be from home! I’ll be travelling for a few days and not having good internet to post so looking forward to writing this blog from my kitchen table in the near future. That’s it for now, as always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to win! And you stay classy planet earth.

this should be obvious

Well hello again from Afghani-land! the count down is officially underway and I’m going to be on my way home from this crap hole to my family in around a week. (plus or minus, we are talking about the army here.) As far as I know the fam and kids are doing great. Laynee is signed up to play softball this spring, and the boys are getting into gymnastics and Tae Kwan Do. Jules is working hard trying to take up the reigns of being the Mama again and trying to keep up with three active kids. My mother is still there and helping and between the two of them things seem to be going well. However I am sure you all understand my longing to be there and take care of all that myself. Soon baby! I’m coming home soon.

On the soldier front my first month as an NCO has been interesting. There are certainly a few things to learn when you’re not just put in charge but expected to take charge. I have done it for most of my life, but in this job you can get used to other people saying “Pew take care of this” and me saying ” No prob” but to be expected to observe and assign those tasks to others to be accomplished took a little remembering. Over all it’s nice to get the pay bump and the automatic respect one gets wearing the stripes.

On the author front (this is the obvious part) my first novel Transition Man is going to be released May 4 and I am so excited about it! I was pretty sad when my publisher closed her doors and left me without a home for T-Man and I had hoped my other works. But I’m finding it to be a true blessing. I have now gone through the painful steps of learning how to independently publish a book. And trust me, the first one is the worst! But that’s over now and it is ready to roll out to the public!

My good friend and helper Aurora Martinez (who I frequently mention on this blog )has helped a lot and made big plans for the release party. She is ordering giveaway posters and swag, and I am ordering several print copies of the book and setting up several free coupons for giveaways for the EBook for a few lucky contributors on the big day. I unfortunately am still deployed and so I can’t be online all day as I would like to be but I’ll be there from 6-9 central time to enjoy the time with my friends that attend the online party. I plan to do a book signing when I get home, I hope in Nashville at the mall there when the summer is over.

This release of Transition Man is the first in a line of 4 releases this summer, all under my own name and as my own publisher. The second book is True Immortals Genesis, my new series! (note the wolf on the home page) I’m so excited about this novel, it’s very different and I can recommend it to a younger audience, which I was very happy about.

The third to release is Twisted Souls, the second book in the Griffin Chronicles series. (not for kids) It will be released on July 15th and will have a big party I hope in Clarksville for those that can attend. The last and the one that I hope to have the signing with is the Sword of Achilles due to be released Aug. 15th. This is my work in progress at present. It is the story of the battle of Troy but retold in modern times using my experience from this deployment. So I certainly have bitten off a lot this summer with not only writing my stories, but trying to publish them myself. Phew! That was a lot.

Well that’s all for now. Please join me for the Transition Man online release event through Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/events/338907769565639/ right now only 36 people attending so odds are good you can win some stuff just for stopping in and participating in the games.

As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! Ad you stay classy planet earth!