Heath Stallcup's Blog, page 5

A Heartfelt Thank You and Another Sneak Peek

I hadn’t realized how many people were now following my blog but it seems that every day I get notified of another follower. That’s awesome. I just wish I had more interesting stuff to blog about. I almost feel like I’m selling you guys short.

Either way, THANK YOU!

And, as promised, anytime there is something new, cool or soon to come, I announce it here first. Like the cover for Caldera 6.

Wait…what?! Caldera 6?! But…where is 5? Yeah, I know. Sometimes I like to put the cart before the horse and since I am the world’s WORST secret keeper, I’ll never be able to have a ‘cover reveal party’ like so many others do online.

Nope.

As soon as Jeffrey Kosh creates something that tickles my fancy, I tell EVERYBODY! And boy, did he do some fancy tickling this time around!

I really wish I had the patience to wait and have a big reveal party but we all know that’s not me. Hmmm. I guess it’s safe to say that if he made me a cover for #6 that there WILL be one. I better get to writing!

Sneak Preview

I always get excited when Jeffrey Kosh creates a new cover for me. They’ve all been perfect but some are just a little bit more… perfecter. Yes, I’m creating my own words now.

Anywho…I contact him really early this morning and say, ‘Hey I’m getting close on Caldera 5. Can you hook a brother up?’

Like ten minutes later he lays down this awesome cover and my mind is BLOWN.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

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Enjoy!

Teaser

Don’t ya just hate a tease? I know I do.

But sometimes you just got to give hints…especially when the illustrious Jeffrey Kosh nails the cover AGAIN!

Yeah, nobody likes a tease.

But it’s so much fun sometimes!

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Coming soon to an e-reader near you!

Flags of the Forgotten

Just a quick update.

I’ve been inundated with emails from people asking about Caldera 5.  That’s a good thing. It means that people are enjoying my stories and they’ve become invested in the characters.

When asked, I always tried to be truthful, even when it wasn’t the answer they wanted to hear. In this case, I put off Caldera 5 for a bit to clean some other projects from my plate. Namely, Flags of the Forgotten. It was a project I started over two years ago and there are some close friends that I used as characters in that book. I think they gave up on the project since it took so long. But, alas, Flags is FINISHED.

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This is my first attempt at a political thriller type of story and I’m really nervous. My most trusted beta was instructed to give it a read and be hyper critical. She was. And she LOVED it. In fact, she really thinks I should keep the main character and make it a series. I revived Bobby Bridger from Whispers and thrust him into an impossible situation.  As much as I’d love to keep spinning yarns with him and these other characters, I have other projects that demand my time.

Like Caldera 5. And Monster Squad 9.

I’ve been splitting my time between these two projects and I am happy to report that I crossed the halfway point on Caldera tonight. Since I had started MS9 previously, I was actually ahead on it and I’ve hit close to the 60% mark with it. I really hope to have Caldera to the publisher some time late in April (fingers crossed). MS9 will depend on a number of factors, but hopefully I can have it out before summer.

So, there you have it. I’m asking, please,… a bit more patience. My old, arthritic fingers are doing the best they can.

In the meantime, I hope that those of you who decide to take Flags for a test drive like it. It was a labor of love and I’m really nervous about jumping into a genre that I’d never written in before. So, please, be gentle.

When there’s more to share, you’ll be the next to know!

Peace!

Monster Squad Update

I bet you thought I had totally abandoned the series, didn’t you? I mean, I did run away and pen the Hunter trilogy and readdress Caldera and I’m almost finished penning my first attempt at a political thriller with Flags of the Forgotten. I’ve also been working on some side projects that I wish I could share, but this isn’t the format for that.

But I DID go back and look at what I had started for MS9. I really didn’t like what I read and it wasn’t following my vision for the story.

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Unfortunately, where I see things going involved almost a complete re-write. But rather than getting angry, I look at what happened with MS5. I inadvertently deleted nearly 40K words (almost half the book) and couldn’t recover it. The resultant rewrite was much better and fit the narrative better. So it really wasn’t a loss. I have to force myself to look at this rewrite the same way. In the end, it will fit better and the end story will be much more complete.

So, for those few of you who are still fans of the stories, rest assured, I will be finishing off the series. I can’t tell you if it will take another four book saga to do it or if it can be done with a final novel, but it will be done.

Thanks for listening and stayed tuned for more information.

Contest Time!

I need followers on BookBub. 

The best carrot I can think of to dangle would be an autographed copy of Sinful! Usually I limit these contests to CONUS, but I’m feeling generous. This contest will be open worldwide!

I will have a third party pull a name from a hat and the winner will be contacted for their address.

Go to http://www.bookbub.com/authors/heath-stallcup and follow me.

Thank you all and good luck!

Caldera Update

Well, for those of you who were expecting an October release of Caldera and the follow up stories that went with it…I’m obviously a bit late. We had a few editing issues and since I couldn’t hit the Turkey Day timeline either, we switched to the next holiday.

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Please remember, if you’ve already read Caldera, the first two are split versions of the original. Hence the same cover art, but different colors.

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If you click on the pictures, you’ll be taken to Amazon where you’ll see that they’re now available for PRE-ORDER! Delivery date is set for December 26!

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Just the thing for those after holidays blues, or to relax a bit after all of the hoopla is done and you just don’t feel like picking up the house yet. Now you have an excuse to lounge about and READ!

Feel the Heath!

Jeffrey Kosh stepped up again and whipped out the cover for Caldera 4 earlier today. As I was thanking him, he hits me with a promo image for the series with the caption, “Feel the Heath”.

I was totally impressed with the image, but the catch phrase had me laughing.

Still…why not use it! Catchy and funny, maybe it will help folks to remember.

Without further ado, here’s the promo!

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Wee Bit of an Update

Fall is almost upon us and with the change in weather comes a bit of a change in the lineup. Fans have enjoyed Caldera for some time now, but they kept wanting more. I’ve received tons of emails from people asking if there would be a followup to the original story or even the possibility of it becoming a series (Rosa Thomas McBroom is responsible for about 68.3% of those requests). Well, to those of you who wanted a return to the viral zombie story, good news is on the horizon.

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Caldera  was a bit long in the tooth and it was suggested that it be split into two separate stories. Come October, it will be…and volume 3 will be joining it. And if I can stay focused long enough, volume four will be as well.  I have to admit, it’s been a bit exciting jumping back into this world. Some of the characters were sorely missed and some of the new characters you will love to hate.

As usual, Jeffrey Kosh stepped up and delivered exactly what I wanted to wrap these stories in.

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So far, the decided favorite is #3.

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Yeah, I love that blue! It gave me chills the first time I saw it, so I know he knocked that one out of the park.

Stay tuned to find out what else we can expect this Fall!

Interview: Maxwell Zener

Narrator, voice actor, storyteller, whatever you prefer to call them, there is a certain magic that a human voice brings to telling a story and making you want to hear more. That’s how I know I got the right voice for a story. If I can listen to them tell me my own story and I long to hear more, then I’ve definitely chosen correctly.

Today it is my pleasure to interview Maxwell Zener. He’s the voice for the Monster Squad’s second saga and if I play my cards right, he’ll be voicing the Hunter trilogy as well.

Let’s light this candle!

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So let’s start simple. Tell us a little about yourself.  Are you married? Do you have any children?

I’m an actor and live in New York City with my wife and my daughter, who as I write this is 10 years old.

 Enjoy those younger years. Believe me, it won’t be long before she’ll be 16 going on 30 and only approaches ‘dad’ with a hand out. At least…that’s my experience. Anyway…what do you do for relaxation?

Dungeons and Dragons. My daughter got into it through an afterschool club, and this re-awakened my enthusiasm. I hadn’t played since college, but I am so happy to be back into it. Storytelling, getting into a character’s head, imagination, it’s all stuff I love.

That or a glass of whiskey. But D&D is healthier.

 I’m more of a scotch guy. Or…apple pie moonshine. But you’re right. D&D probably is healthier. So, are there any recent works (books) that you admire?

Does a dramatic podcast count? I was just turned on to “Welcome to Night Vale,” which is like an H.P. Lovecraft novel told by way of Garrison Keillor. As for books, I’ll admit that most of my reading is manuscripts that I’m preparing to record – outside of that, I recently read On Killing by Dave Grossman, a nonfiction work about the psychological cost of killing, and how that has impacted soldiers throughout history. It made a lot of behavior make sense to me, and I’m always interested in that – in how people behave and why they do what they do.

Along those lines, I admire any author who not only crafts a compelling plot but who understands their characters so well that they come to life as separate individuals as you read. There’s an indie YA author I discovered (through narrating one of his novels) who is really great at that – Greg Wilkey.

 I’m always looking for good YA authors. I’ll check Greg out. Thanks for the tip.

So, who is your favorite author(s) (and is there a reason why)?

Man, that’s hard to choose. I don’t really have one standout favorite – I like authors who are able to get readers inside the experience of a character, to see the world from his or her eyes. Especially if that character is broken or flawed.

 Agreed. I have a long list of favorite authors. I couldn’t choose just one if I had to.

So tell us, why do you do what you do?

I love inhabiting characters, and telling their stories. So often we can feel all alone – but through hearing other people’s experiences brought to life we can hear echoes of our own souls in theirs. We can realize that we aren’t alone, and we can see more clearly the humanity in those around us too.

 Ooh. That’s deeper than I expected. But you make it sound simple. I might have to steal that.