Austin Dragon's Blog, page 10

Liquid Cool Release Explosion: Blade Gunner!

My Liquid Cool new release explosion is next month! Liquid Cool Book Two: Blade Gunner will be here!

The response to my sci-fi/cyberpunk, private detective series has been phenomenal and I haven’t even begun the real promotion for the series. The simple reason was I only had the debut novel. But in March 2017, there will be four novels!

Yes, it’s crazy. I’m releasing three novels in one month. There is a method to the madness, but putting that aside, there will be a lot of material for readers and fans to enjoy.

In this three-part blog series, I wanted to talk a bit about each new novel, but without spoilers.

Liquid Cool is different from my other series in that humor is front-and-center with the action. I get to combine two favorite genres—science fiction and detective—in the series. I often describe Liquid Cool as Blade Runner meets the Maltese Falcon.

In Liquid Cool Book One, we are introduced to our hero, Cruz, the colorful cast of characters, the supercity of Metropolis and its “world”—super-skyscrapers, hovercars, the rain, cyborgs, etc. Cruz, a hovercar enthusiast and restorer, falls into the detective biz and once he does, there is no going back. He is knee-deep in the grime and crime of the city and doesn’t just go up a few gangsters; he faces off against an entire criminal syndicate.

How do you top that?

Well, as a writer, I don’t try to top the previous work. I set my goal to maintain the high bar set by the original book and simply tell another great story to the reader. For subscribers to my site, they already knew what the next book was and some even got a chance to read the first chapter—Blade Gunner.

Yes, I do have a jokester streak in me, which my Liquid Cool series allows me to fully express. I am a long time fan of the Ridley Scott sci-fi movie classic Blade Runner and my Liquid Cool series was heavily influenced by its visuals.

So what happens in Blade Gunner, Liquid Cool Book Two?

The best way to describe this shadowy assassin, who uses a “blade gun” weapon like no other, is to use a couple of lines from the novel.

“He was deemed so dangerous by [Up-Top] authorities…to get him, the Founders were willing to do anything, including blowing up an entire space colony or even a monolith housing tower filled with innocents from orbit.”

But there’s more!

Isaac Asimov becomes the source of a new religion to a cult of…Super Cyborgs.

Cruz also has to deal with a secret megacorporation named…Gidrah.

 

Blade Gunner is packed with action, cyborgs, androids, robots, Martians, and more. Yeah, I wrote and I can’t wait to read it (again).

In the next blog post (2 of 3), I talk about Liquid Cool Book 3–NeuroDancer!

The post Liquid Cool Release Explosion: Blade Gunner! appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

The Welcome Back! Kindles & Books 2017 Giveaway

It’s 2017 and we have a lot planned—new books, new series, and new great stories. So, let’s kick off the New Year with our latest giveaway, back by popular demand!

Our new “Kindles & Books Giveaway” begins today, Wednesday, January 11th and ends Tuesday, January  31st at midnight.

Enter below for your chance to win!

All you need to enter the Giveaway is your email and verify your minimum age–that’s it!

But if you want extra chances to win and spread the word, you have plenty of choices–as few or as many as you like.

Author Austin Dragon’s January 2017 “Welcome Back!” Kindles & Books Giveaway

For those Leaving Comments on this page for the Giveaway, the question is:
If you win the giveaway prize, what is the first ebook/book you’ll get — title, author, genre and why?

 

#Win #FREE #Amazon #Kindle #KindleFire #KindlePaperWhite #Kobo #Giveaway

The post The Welcome Back! Kindles & Books 2017 Giveaway appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

Liquid Cool! Name Reveals

The next Liquid Cool novels are coming!

Last year I, released my (sci-fi) cyberpunk detective series, Liquid Cool. I released the prequel, These Mean Streets, Darkly first, and then the debut novel. The response has been awesome.

Here are some of the Liquid Cool reviews:

FIVE STAR REVIEWS

“It’s Blade Runner Meets the Maltese Falcon!”

“Lots of shooting, lots of crazy maniacs, lots of action and fun!”

“I loved this book. It takes place in the future, and what a weird future.”

“A funny, intelligent (and sometimes crazy) main character…playing detective”

“Cool and Smooth.”

So what’s next for Cruz, the detective, in the rainy supercity of Metropolis in a world of colossal super-skyscrapers, hovercars, and cyborgs? Well, you’ll be able to read for yourself in March with the release of the next three novels in the Liquid Cool series. Yes, three!

They are:

Blade Gunner (Liquid Cool, Book 2)
NeuroDancer (Liquid Cool, Book 3)
The Electric Sheep Massacre (Liquid Cool, Book 4)

 

You can still get the prequel, These Mean Streets, Darkly for FREE here, if you don’t have it yet.

Now you know the names of the next exciting Liquid Cool novels–more action, more crazy maniacs, more fun.

Based on the names alone, which titles are you looking for?

The post appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

Hello 2017! The Joy of Writing Madness

It’s 2017! Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year’s holiday!

It’s also the beginning of Year 5 for me as an independent author, with 11 published titles. So what’s the plan for 2017? To better answer that question, I had to review what my main push was for 2016—build up my author business in preparation for this year. I started in 2013 as a first-time published author and then by 2015 I was describing myself as an “author-preneur.” Well, I have gone past that to be an author-publisher. I am a multi-genre, multi-series, multi-title publishing machine, with a new team of editors, great book cover designers, and will at some point include an assistant. It’s quite a lot which is why I spent most of 2016 getting ready.

For me, I don’t make New Years’ resolutions in January. The plans are made in November or December for the following year. The only thing I didn’t do last year was complete for release the fourth main book of my After Eden series, Red Halo, which will mark the final introduction of the groups that make up the Resistance (or the Continuum). After that will be the actual beginning of War World III in Book 5. So Book 4, Red Halo, will finally be released in the fall of 2017.

Every year my goal as a new author has been very simple: Do everything bigger and better! This year will be no different. So what was I getting ready for?

In March 2017, I release the long awaited Book 2 of my popular Liquid Cool, sci-fi detective series, Blade Gunner! But there’s more…much more. I will also release Books 3 and 4 (I’ll reveal the names next month) at the same time! It’s crazy, but I wrote them one after another and there’s no reason for me to sit on them, especially when people want to read them–now. All coming at the end of March.

Also, if you’re a member of my VIP Readers’ Club you know that about two months ago I asked for input on what should be my next series. It was a resounding vote in favor of Fantasy! That’s the other reason I wrote all these new Liquid Cool novels together. When I write I can’t jump back and forth between different universes. I need to finish the project and then I can move on the next one.

That’s what you have to look forward to in 2017–new Liquid Cool novels up first, then the new fantasy series, and an After Eden novel later in the year. I may add a surprise or two, but even if I don’t, that’s plenty.

So while we wait, look out for two separate emails. One of them will be the launch of our “Welcome 2017 Kindle & Book Bundle” Giveaway. It will be our first giveaway to kick off the year.

Until then, please do comment below on my new release announcements below:

All the best

Which of my new releases are you looking forward to and why?

The post Hello 2017! The Joy of Writing Madness appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

Happy Holidays 2016!

Signing off for 2016!

Yes, it is that time already. The last gasp of 2016 is upon us. Well, this will be my last blog post for the year. As far as my author career, 2016 was different. I focused on building up the business-side of my writing, so few new titles published this year. But I had to do this because of what I know is coming in 2017. Busy does even begin to describe it, so I needed most of the year to prepare. I am a multi-genre, multi-series author already but next year it will be even crazier.

Well, more on all that in 2017. For what remains of this year have a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Day in advance. See you back in 2017!

Always Writing and All the Best,

Austin

The post Happy Holidays 2016! appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

Veterans Day: Sorry Vets, We Deserve Better

Here’s an annual favorite post below in honor of the men and women who make up our Armed Forces, current and past. I wish I could say that everything was sunshine, rainbows and unicorns but as the recent Department of VA Affairs scandal showed us, that is not the case.

My article below was originally posted November 11, 2014

Last week right after our American mid-term elections, the President decided to send 1,500 American troops to Iraq. I was not alone in wondering aloud why an individual who has been steadfast in removing the American ground presence from Iraq as quickly as possible despite the counter-recommendations from his own military advisors.

This is not a political blog post. For this article, I am completely disinterested in any one’s personal political party or political leanings. My sole focus is on the treatment of our men and women in the military. For the record, I was in favor of sending military forces into Iraq…back in 1990.

There has been much revisionist history regarding Iraq. Our American war in Iraq against Saddam Hussein began back then under President Bush Sr. (Operation Desert Storm), escalated under President Clinton (America’s bombing campaign of Iraq), and increased again under President Bush. That’s both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations determined to remove the terrorist-supporting, nuke-seeking thug known as Saddam Hussein.  There were, of course, many Democrats and Republicans against escalating the war under President Bush and I found (and find) none of those reasons illegitimate.

However, the fact is that we, America, sent those men and women into Afghanistan and Iraq, post-911 to do a job. I was angry with President Bush Sr. back then because he was so fixated on keeping his 34-nation coalition against Saddam to kick him out of Kuwait but refused to take the war to Baghdad to oust him. I said then (I think I will make a list of all the predictions I have made in life that have unfortunately come true) that if we didn’t “take Saddam out” that we would be back as a nation in war and it would be bloodier and costlier than we could ever imagine. Well twelve years later that is exactly what happened. Under President Bush Sr., America told anti-Saddam forces to rise up against him and when they did, we abandoned them. America had seized many of Saddam’s tanks and weapons and we returned them to him. Saddam used those very same weapons to kill many of the anti-Saddam resistance that we (America) encouraged to topple him.

The big flaw with America is that we truly don’t understand that region of the world and it is to our detriment. There are tribes, factions and peoples fighting and killing over events that took place decades, centuries and millennia ago. We have the greatest armed forces in the history of the world but if you are going to be involved in the world, know how other people think or your strengths will be nullified.

However, nothing tops my anger at the blatant politics being played with our American soldiers. We lost 4,500 troops in Iraq with over 32,000 wounded—I believe this number is much lower than the true number; over 2,234 in Afghanistan with a “reported” 1,989 wounded. When we say wounded it is not a simple scratch or sprained finger—massive brain injuries, blown off limbs, third-degree burns, paralysis, severe PSTD. Many of these soldiers will need care for their entire lives. If you are a twenty-something, we are talking about intensive care for forty, fifty, maybe sixty years!

Imagine how you would feel after nine years of fighting in Iraq and thirteen in Afghanistan (America’s longest-running official war) being grievously wounded, seeing your fellow soldiers grievously wounded or killed to then see the very same cities on TV you liberated taken over by a terrorist group (ISIS) like nothing. To learn that we knew they were coming for almost two years, to learn we could have killed them all with airstrikes but chose not to, to learn that this terrorist group controls a significant part of the country now and vows to, of course, destroy America and all the other infidels of the world. Why the hell did we fight there if we were going to leave and give it all away to a terrorist group worse than the Al Qaeda responsible for 9-11? Vets will ask: Why am sitting in this wheelchair? Why are my fellow soldiers dead? Yes, I am angry. I am veteran myself but I am thinking of them.

Politics in war is nothing new but President Obama has broken a pact with the servicemen of this country. I am a political animal but this has nothing to do with political parties. Again, I was just as turned off by President Bush Sr. for the same reasons, though to a much lesser intensity. Our soldiers died for and were wounded for nothing. The Iraq War was for nothing. There is no other way to spin it.

If America, through its leaders, is going to be so capricious with our military men and women, then do not send them anywhere! I already have it in my science fiction novels. Build the damn humanoid robot soldiers and send them and drones instead. If we do send our military men and women anywhere then Republicans and Democrats must be required to get in a room together and sign in blood that one party will not undo the work of the other over petty politics. Obama seems to have forgotten that he is not a senator or a candidate on the campaign trail making all kinds of wild promises like so many candidates before and after him. He is the Commander-in-Chief and that supersedes any politics of the Democratic Party. In the foxhole, there is no race or ethnicity, no gender or political party; there is only American. That is the spirit that I’m writing this post in.

So my fellow veterans, I must apologize to you sincerely and deeply. I can’t shake the feeling that we don’t have the political framework worthy of you. If we did, your war sacrifices would not have been in vain and domestically things such as the VA scandal would never have been allowed to happen–medical care withheld and veterans died due to bureaucratic incompetence and, worse, willful manipulation of the numbers to hide those in need. In terms of our political leaders, where have all the grown-ups gone?

It is Veteran’s Day today and I salute all of you from WWII to the Korean War, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, we volunteered to serve our country; we didn’t volunteer where our Commanders-in-Chief would send us. We have nothing to do with the politics. We go where we’re told and should be respected without hesitation. I salute you–always.

If interested, here’s a link to Charity Navigator HERE to Support Veterans and Active Duty Servicemembers.

#Veterans #Vets #Military #VeteransDay #America #Iraq #Afghanistan

What do you think? Comment below.

The post Veterans Day: Sorry Vets, We Deserve Better appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

And the Winner Is? (My Next New Series)

Last month, I had asked my readers and fans in by email and (my previous) blog post to help me pick the project that would be my next series. I have three now: The After Eden Series (sci-fi), The Sleepy Hollow Horrors (classic horror/paranormal), and Liquid Cool (cyberpunk/detective thriller). Overwhelming, the choice was for…fantasy!

I was surprised but one respondent I think put his finger on it: “there hasn’t been a good one in a long time.” Right now it seems that whenever you say fantasy people either think of Lord of the Rings (love it) or Game of Thrones (hate it).

So that’s my writing challenge which I’ll be engaged in for the entire month of November for NanoWriMo. Some of you might be saying, “Austin, you can’t map out an entire world for a good, or even decent, fantasy series and write 50,000 words in month.” Yes, I agree completely. You can’t. But this fantasy project of mine was mapped out and outlined two years ago! I actually wrote the first chapter back in 2014, but then got sidetracked by two other projects (one of which was Liquid Cool) so I filed it away. The novel is ready to go and has been for these past couple of years.  Now it’s time to write…and I’ll be doing a lot of that for NanoWriMo and in the months to follow.

P.S. Oh yeah, since my last name is Dragon, there will be no dragons in my fantasy novel. Just not doing that, sorry. But don’t worry. It’ll still be good though and fantasy mythology has lots of creatures to choose from.

P.P.S. For those who picked the other two choices, don’t worry. They’ll be written afterwards.

Which monster would you like to see in my fantasy novel? Comment below.

The post And the Winner Is? (My Next New Series) appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

#TWD Returns and Help Me Pick the Next Big Thing!

Now it’s time for something scary. No, I don’t mean America’s presidential election. I mean tomorrow’s return of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Yes, I’m a big fan and have been since it began seven seasons ago. Here’s a past blog post from two years ago about the series: Top Five Reasons Why The Walking Dead Is Great Drama!

What’s Next?

Well, this post is not about my TWD fandom, but rather, an informal survey to pick my next writing project.

Liquid Cool. The next installment of my cyberpunk detective thriller series is already underway and it’s turning out to be much bolder than I originally imagined. Don’t worry it’s coming soon.

The After Eden Series. My original international sci-fi series will reach its midpoint—from the years before the War to the breakout of World War Three. It may be so emotionally exhausting for me that I may complete not just Book 4, Red Halo, but the two books after.

So that leaves one of three series for next year. For some, I have already hinted at them, but I wanted to get your vote as to which one should be first up to grace online and physical bookshelves everywhere.

Some of you may be saying “how the heck can he write all those books?” “Is he going to suffer brain damage?” Remember I released 9 books in 2015! And always keep in mind, for me, the books are already written, floating around in my mind-palace (that’s a reference from the great BBC series, Sherlock), and just need to be typed and published for you. But enough of that. I need your help:

Choice #1: YA (Young Adult Dystopia)

Technically, the second half of my very first published novel, Thy Kingdom Fall, was YA. The main heroine was a 17 year old Amish girl, Kristiana. And yes, she literally saved the fledgling Resistance that would become the Continuum.

I loved the Hunger Games Trilogy—the books; I despised the movies—and always planned to do my own YA Trilogy. I had planned to start them last year, but opted not to because I didn’t want to do only one book and roll off the other two over the next couple of years. I remember when I read the first Hunger Games book and was done. I had to get the rest of the trilogy NOW! I feel my own YA trilogy has that same potential so I will write and the release the entire trilogy of books at the same time.

Can I tell you anymore about it? Female protagonist (not that YA books can’t have a male protagonist, but that’s how I conceived it, two years ago) and it’s in the future. If I told you the tagline for the trilogy, some of you would stalk me until it was done so I have to leave it there.

Choice #2: Sci-Fi Afrofuturism

My Liquid Cool series was supposed to be released the same time as the first book as this one, but I got so wrapped up in the crazy, coolness of Liquid Cool that I postponed it. What’s this new sci-fi series about? Let me answer the question with a question. Did you know that there is actually a sci-fi category called afro-futurism? It is my take of a classic literary work that if I told you I’d get stalked so I’ll keep my mouth shut.

Choice #3: Fantasy

I’ll admit it. I hate Game of Thrones. On Goodreads I wrote a post: Does Game of Thrones Hate Women? It stirred up all kinds of trouble. I’ve always loved Lord of the Rings, so with my loathing of Game of Thrones, I said to myself: “why don’t you write a fantasy series.” I always find a unique angle and something new to present to my audiences. This series will be no different. In fact, it will be quite amazing.

So which would you like to see next in 2017?

#1 New YA series

#2 New Afrofuturism Sci-series

#3 New Fantasy series

Comment below with your number choice and share your reasons why. Can’t wait to read them!

The post #TWD Returns and Help Me Pick the Next Big Thing! appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

The Winners! (The Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Well, we wrapped up our Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway on Friday with great success. So who were the lucky winners?

The Kindle prizes went to Kathryn M. and original VIP member, Laura B.

The Book Bundle prizes went to Kim S. (10 books) and Scott D. (3 books).

Congrats to all the lucky winners! Enjoy your prizes! And as always, thanks to everyone who participated!

 

The post The Winners! (The Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway) appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

The Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway!

The end of summer is here and that means another giveaway! But this time, it’s more than just kindles. We’re adding “book bundles” too by popular demand!

Our September 2016 “Kindles & Books Super Giveaway” begins Friday, September 9th and ends Friday, September 30th at midnight.

Enter below for your chance to win!

All you need to enter the Giveaway is your email and verify your minimum age; that’s it! But if you want extra chances to win and to spread the word, then you have plenty of choices–as few or as many as you like.

Author Austin Dragon’s Fall 2016 Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway

For those Leaving Comments on this page for the Giveaway, the question is:

What is Your Favorite Sci-Fi and Detective Movies. If Liquid Cool is a genre blend of sci-fi and detective thriller, name both your favorite science fiction and detective movie. (For example: Blade Runner + The Maltese Falcon)

#Win #FREE #Amazon #Kindle #KindleFire #KindlePaperWhite #Kobo #Giveaway

The post The Summer’s End Kindles & Books Super Giveaway! appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.