R.A. McCandless's Blog, page 8

The Death and Life of iPods

So friggin' sweet!
Based on trial and error, I’ve discovered that it’s an error to try washing your iPod.  As the helpful lady at Verizon once told me: electronics and water don’t mix.
There are no problems, only opportunities . . . at least, that’s what my wife told me as I mourned the loss of another electronic device to our evil, evil wash machine. What has that washer ever done for us, except get our clothes clean and smelling like a meadow of flowers in the spring!?
Too young. That iPo...

September Giveaway (Newsletter Builder)

September is coming . . . and really should hurry up!
We’re doing another newsletter builder, giveaway in September.
This will include another $20 gift card and a four-volume eBook prize pack.
Of course, you can always just sign up for the newsletter, where giveaways happen every month, and you get the latest news on my various projects, appearances, and whatnots.
But if you want to wait for this particular newsletter sign up, it will start Sunday, September 1st and run through the end of the mon...

2019 The Numbers - Revised

If this is wrong, I don't wanna be right!This time it wasn’t me who was wrong.
Really, it wasn’t anyone.  It was just an oversight in the reporting.
A few days ago, I provided you an update on the sales for THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE. The numbers were good.  Very, very good.
Turns out, the numbers were even better than that. I’m still not in Stephen King/JK Rowling territory. I’m not even in S. Andrew Swann territory, but over the past six years I’ve seen some real improvement in the numb...

Company of the Damned by the Numbers

Wrong again, Hero!
As usual, I was wrong.
Also, thank you for proving me wrong.
The quarterly report for THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE arrived, and I was completely thrilled. The numbers were good. They’re never as good as an indie-author hopes. These aren’t Stephen King or even Hugh Howey numbers. You always hope that they report will show a couple of hundred sales. Really, any sales are reason enough for celebration.
That said, I’d thought I’d managed to sell at least 100 copies of TEARS OF HEAVEN th...

Carol G. Gives COMPANY OF THE DAMNED Five Stars!

If you want something done right, get Del.
A beautifully written, and wonderfully on point review of COMPANY OF THE DAMNED:
If you like epic stories of good versus evil, with some innovative takes on the battle, this book is for you.
If you like complex characters with human flaws combined with imaginative powers, this book is for you.
If you like badass babes, this book is for you.
This is not a same-old, same-old story. Company of the Damned builds bridges between myths and fables, introducing t...

MidWest Book Review of The Clockwork Detective

If ever we needed Aubrey Hartmann!
Hahaha! I received the following email this morning from the Midwest Book Review:
Dear Robert McCandless:
I'm very pleased to announce that the August 2019 issue of our online book review magazine "Reviewer's Bookwatch" features a review of "TheClockwork Detective (Constable of Aqualinne Book 1)".
Reviewer's Bookwatch: August 2019James A. Cox, Editor-in-ChiefMidwest Book Review278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575
Yeah, I don’t mind if MWB called me “Robert”. It’s...

Company of the Damned - Available Today!

Ever have one of those days?
It’s good.  It’s better than good. It feels absolutely great to have my first trilogy on the books. COMPANY OF THE DAMNED released last Friday, and the Kindle version is now available.
The print version will be along directly.
The audio version of TEARS OF HEAVEN is coming along nicely. The voice actor is doing an impressive job, and I can’t wait to see/hear the final version.
I’ve started work on a new Aubrey Hartmann steampunk book, but one of the characters fr...

Airships, Docking, and The Haenlein

Fits like a glove!
This thing is SOOOO gorgeous. This is something that should be framed and put on a wall. The diagram was part of the basis for the dirigible docking that takes place in the first chapter of THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE:

T he Haenlein’s twin Jupiter engines screamed into a higher pitch that shook the entire airship. The rattle ran across the open deck of the command gondola, over the sparse crew and up through Constable Aubrey Hartmann’s teeth. The vibrations in the floor made her l...

Greater Than the Sum

Usually, the corset-as-outerwear bugs me when it comes to steampunk fashion Traditionally, they functioned similarly to a bra, but also as a bit of a #Victorian torture device, shrinking the waist, and sometimes doing irreparable damage to the wearer. Both men and women wore corsets, but almost always under their outer layers of clothing.
There were actually “dress reformists” who viewed corset wearing similar to how some church groups in the 70s and 80s viewed rock and roll music or D&D g...

Everyone Likes the Airships!

Oh yeah.
A friend of mine wrote a delightful review of The Clockwork Detective. I suspect I may have to write a second book.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The story moved at a good pace, characters and their actions made sense, and before the end of the first page, I felt immersed in the setting. It is definitely not the kind of book you pick up when you have just a few minutes to kill because you'll probably end up negotiating how much time you actually have before you absolutely need to...