Tim Tigner's Blog, page 2

13 for Charity

The gentleman pictured here may not look like Santa Clause, but that's the role he's playing. I've teamed up with twelve other thriller writers this holiday season in a effort to help prevent child abuse. We've each given a story to an anthology titled Thriller Thirteen, with all profits going to charity. I'm hoping you'll buy one.

The anthology is currently the #1 thriller on Amazon. This collection of series-starting bestsellers has been selling for $20, but this week, its final week on the market, the price is just 99¢.

Many of you have already read my contribution, Chasing Ivan, but with twelve other similar stories, you'll surely find at least one new series to love.

Again, it's just 99¢ for the #1 Thriller on Amazon -- this week only, and all for charity.

Click HERE to get the #1 Thriller on Amazon -- this week only, and all for charity.

The Lies Of Spies

My latest thriller, THE LIES OF SPIES, is now available exclusively on Amazon, with the audiobook to follow in December.

The second novel in the Kyle Achilles series dives straight into the deep end of the growing divide between the US and Russia. It tackles the problem from the perspective of the people on the ground – something I know a bit about.

I don’t want to give too much away here, it is a suspense thriller after all, but this four-line summary below sets the stage. I hope you’ll check it out today. There’s no need to read PUSHING BRILLIANCE first -- although if you don’t I’m sure you’ll pick it as well up once you’re done.

Thanks for giving me a try!

The American President sent him…

The Russian President caught him…

The Free World is counting on him…

But he doesn't remember.

Like Licking Ice Cream

I just devoured an advance copy of Timothy Hallinan’s latest Junior Bender novel, Fields Where They Lay. It was a sweet and savory experience.  Speaking as a fellow writer, I have to tell those of you who haven’t yet discovered him, that reading Hallinan is like licking ice cream. He has such a wonderful way with words that each sentence is a treat for the tongue. Wit and wisdom, humor and insight, all gathered together into splendidly simple prose that never fails to make me jealous of his gift.

The plot of Fields Where They Lay was classic for Junior Bender, Hallinan’s bungling, big-hearted thief. You journey with him as he solves mysteries in his own quirky manner, with colorful, clumsy interactions, and an investigative style reminiscent of Inspector Clouseau.

As in Hallinan’s other series, in Bender books, you always learn something interesting. In this case, the insights include shopping mall security and the history of keys, making me wonder what Timothy does when he’s not writing.

Time for you to stop reading this and go out and pre-order Fields Where They Lay, which hits the market next week. Although it’s the 6th book in the series, there’s no need to read the other five first. Each Junior Bender book is as self-contained an ice cream cone.

PRIMEd

Looks like after years of sweating in the dark, I ended up in the right place at the right time. FLASH was one of eight Mystery & Thriller novels selected for the home page of Amazon’s inaugural PRIME READING program.

I’m feeling that Amazon Smile, and even better, you can too. You are a member of Prime, right? With Amazon Prime, you can read FLASH for free -- for the next 90 days.

So come on, what are you waiting for? 

Oh, you want someone to read it too you? Well, we’ve got you covered there too. The audiobook is read by the incomparable Dick Hill, voice of Harry Bosch and Jack Reacher.

No more excuses. You’re just going to have to relax and engage your mind.

So I did this today…

In my new series, the protagonist is an avid rock climber. He “free solos” which means he climbs without equipment, nothing but a bag of chalk. I’m not that crazy, so I was belayed for safety, but in the name of research I did climb 200 feet up the nearly vertical face (70-80 degree pitch – rated 5.8 for those of you who know what that means) of Lover’s Leap in South Lake Tahoe using nothing but my hands and feet.

This was my first serious rock climbing experience, and frankly I still can’t believe what I did. My instructor, M. "Petch" Pietrolungo, just climbed up the cliff face like he was walking to the store – and then I followed. Unbelievable. I was expecting to start with some rocks, and then a hill, but Petch took me straight up a granite monolith.

Turns out you need two things to do this: 1) the right shoes, and 2) the ability to remain calm in an insane situation. Fortunately I gave Kyle Achilles both those things in the series.

Those are my feet, with Petch down below. This is about 100 feet, btw, we went twice that far before I'd decided I'd gone high enough for my first day. What can I say, I'm no Achilles.

How Not To Die

A good friend recently recommended this bestselling health & fitness book to me, and it’s changing my life. I think it’s a book EVERYONE should read, and will be glad they did.

In HOW NOT TO DIE, Dr. Greger, the physician behind NutritionFacts.org, takes you through reputable, clinical evidence supporting the treatment and prevention of most major maladies with diet. It’s full of practical advice and fascinating statistics, for example, that a single hotdog has as many carcinogens as four cigarettes.

The conclusions are so profound that at first you’ll wonder why they aren’t more commonly known. Then you’ll come to understand that our dietary beliefs are based largely on what we’re told by organizations (pharmaceutical, agricultural, governmental) with agendas rooted in profits and self-preservation. As Dr. Greger notes, there is no “Big Beet” but “Big Pharma” spends billions.

The short of the book is that most of the diseases we’re facing, including all the big killers (coronary disease, stroke, diabetes) and the smaller ones too, are directly linked to the consumption of animal products.

Since that’s a hard pill to swallow, or rather the implications to your diet are, I highly recommend you read the book. It’s exceptionally compelling.

If you do read the book (or listen to it as I did, read by the author) I can virtually guarantee that the only thing standing between you and a longer life, will be a bit of will power, and Dr. Greger will help you summon that as well. He provides scores of tips to facilitate a easier transition to a healthier, happier, more energetic you.

In closing, I’ll note that I have no financial interest in this book, and that in fact Dr. Greger is giving his profits from this book to charity.  

Czech? Check!

The blurb for the first novel I ever wrote begins: “The phone rings and the offer is made ….” It’s a call out of the blue, and it’s meant to be menacing. This morning I received my own call from the blue, and it was anything but. The same publisher that launched Harry Potter and Fifty Shades of Grey in the Czech Republic is interested in translating my thrillers. Good morning indeed!

The launch of Pushing Brilliance seems to be tipping the scales, scales that I’ve been leaning on with everything I’ve got for over a decade now. But the most exciting part of this portion of the never-ending journey is all the support I’ve been getting of late from my fans, and particularly my beta readers. I’m feeling truly blessed, and I wanted to use this moment to say Thank You, or as they say in the Czech Republic, D��kuji

A Morning with The Martian's Andy Weir

My latest novel, Pushing Brilliance, is an upcoming selection of the ClubSport Book Club. This month, the honor went to Andy Weir, author of The Martian. What a fantastic presentation Andy gave! (I'm sure he's had a lot of practice.)

For me, the most striking part of the morning was how little the fame and fortune seem to have affected Andy. He's still a modest science nerd who brought his proud father John along, and spoke of his celebrity encounters the way I expect you or I would if we were so fortunate.

Here's a video of the talk, taken on my iPhone, so you can enjoy it for yourselves.

 

I hope to ultimately enjoy some fraction of Andy's success, and to remain as unaffected as he has. Well almost. While we were talking afterwards, I asked him, man-to-man, what he was driving now. "A Mazda 3." (Coincidentally the same car I bought my mother-in-law.) I have to admit that I'll likely go a bit more exotic if I'm cashing Hollywood checks. I have a need for speed, as Top Gun's Maverick liked to say.

One interesting bit of trivia, the name Mark Watney was devised as follows: Mark comes from the Latin for Mars, while Watney was the last name of the Boston TV reporter on the screen at the time Andy needed a name.

My fellow authors will be interested to know that Andy was simultaneously writing three series at the time he wrote The Martian. (Details in the video.) The other two are still available for free download on his ORIGINAL website.

Andy's next book, title to be announced, will come out late next year. It's set in a city on the moon in the year 2080, and he assures me that the colony there will be based on a plausible economic model. Personally, I can't wait. I expect some 10 million other readers are similarly eager.

To close on a personal note, I'm thrilled to see good fortune bestowed upon such a great guy. If that were always the case, the world would be a much better place.

Creamer Anyone?

Those of you who read BETRAYAL will appreciate this picture from the galley on my latest flight. That's a liquor-bottle carrying case suspended on the airplane's emergency exit.

This is the configuration Southwest Airline's latest aircraft -- which is a particularly gratifying coincidence as those aircraft play a starring role in my latest novel, PUSHING BRILLIANCE.

Those of you who haven't read BETRAYAL, what are you waiting for?

Predicting History

In a move as surprising to England's voters as Donald Trump dropping out of the presidential election would be to America's, Boris Johnson announced today that he would not seek election as Prime Minister.

Why? Good question.

In CHASING IVAN, published earlier this year, I explore exactly that topic. In Ivan, it's the London mayoral race that's at stake -- something Boris Johnson actually won. I'm not saying Boris's reason is similar to that of my fictional character, but one has to wonder.

This isn't the first time I've seen my fiction brought to life. BETRAYAL's publication was delayed by years because it predicted a tactic that terrorists threatened using -- and still might.

While both titles are available on Amazon, you might consider visiting timtigner.com, where you can get your copy of CHASING IVAN for free. Then let me think if that's why you think Boris Johnson turned down the opportunity he's been pursuing his whole life. Between you and me, I think it is. But then, I love a good conspiracy. Do you?