Brandon Zenner's Blog, page 3

Want to be a character in my next novel?

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I was talking to a friend of mine today who told me about a really cool promotional contest that an author friend of his had done, and I thought, hey — why not give it a try? It’s easy to enter, and the end result will be that your name could be used as a character in my next novel.

So here it is: all you have to do to enter is review my books on Amazon. That’s it. Honest reviews. Either Amazon US or UK, but the more the merrier, including Goodreads. To top it off, during this promotion, if you do not own one or several of my books, I will gift you any of my books for free. To be more clear, the reviews would have to be for the following: THE EXPERIMENT OF DREAMS, WHISKEY DEVILS, or THE AFTER WAR. Review one, it puts your name in the hat once. Review all three, and you have three chances to win. After you post the reviews just shoot me an email: brandonzenn@gmail.com, with a link. You can also use that email address to contact me for one of my books, and I’ll gift you an Amazon copy right away, absolutely for free. If you’ve previously reviewed all three, you’re already entered. Just email me to tell me so. THE AFTER WAR and WHISKEY DEVILS have far less reviews, so those are preferred … so … review one of them, and I’ll double your odds. To be clear, review all three, and you have five chances to win.

Here is a link to my Amazon page to navigate to all of my novels: Amazon

As of now, the tentative date for this contest to end is March 1st, 2017. But if I am told from readers that they need more time, I will extend the deadline to include everyone who would like to participate. The winner will be selected at random.

At this stage, I can’t say what the role will be for the character in the book, when the book will be released, or what the book will be about … I like to remain mysterious. At the moment, I am working on one novel and a short story or two. The winner will be contacted in that regard.

Good luck, and feel free to contact me with any questions, anytime, about anything. I would love to hear from you. I think this is a fun contest and I hope you decide to participate. The reviews do not have to be long or sappy. Short, fast, and honest works fine too.

All the best,

Brandon Zenner

 

Get a copy of The After War – Part I for free.

Story Cartel is a site where readers can receive free ebooks in exchange for providing honest and fair reviews. It’s used by both independent and traditionally published authors, and it’s a great place for readers to select their next read. For the next three weeks, they will be featuring Part I of The After War, and it will be completely free for anyone interested. Here’s the link: StoryCartel  

Please check it out and take advantage of this offer, and feel free to spread the word to your friends.

That’s all for now!

 

-Brandon Zenner

 

Looking for a few good reviewers

The After War

Hello,

I'm making an offer to anyone out there who would like a free copy of my latest novel, THE AFTER WAR - PART I. In return, I am hoping to receive honest reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or sites of your choosing. The novel is currently a semi-finalist in the BookLife Prize in Fiction, an ongoing contest run by Publishers Weekly. A quick description of the book:

Two years have passed since humankind faced extinction: Brian Rhodes and his cousin, Steven, are leaving the protection of their underground bunker for the first time, after a cataclysmic war and unrelenting disease ravaged the earth. On the other side of North America, young Simon Kalispell is leaving the safety and seclusion of his cabin deep in the woods, traveling with his aging canine companion, Winston. For individual reasons, these men are traveling east, facing the terrible wake of civilization left to prowl the landscape.

If you are interested, please reply to this post, email me at brandonzenn@gmail.com, or message me via Goodreads or any social media outlet. Again, I will send you a kindle edition of the book, absolutely free.

All the best,
Brandon Zenner

A short interview

 

As part of THE AFTER WAR’S ongoing book tour, here is an interview I recently did for Straight from the Library blog. As you’ll learn, I really do hate dog-eared book pages. Here’s a link to their site, which also has links for a $20 Amazon gift card giveaway. Check it out: Straight from the Library

 

What is the favorite book you remember as a child?

Hatchet was the first book that I read myself and enjoyed. It’s a great book for a young boy, it’s full of action and adventure.

Tell us about your current book in 10 words.

Two years have passed since mankind faced extinction

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading a few. I’m re-reading The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks and Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski. I’m also reading Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon for the first time.

E-Reader or print? and why?

They both serve a purpose. I like having a physical library in my house, where I can see and flip through my books on a whim. But I also think my e-reader is extremely useful. Having the world’s largest library on my nightstand, or backpack, or luggage during a trip, is amazing. It took me a while to get used to an e-reader, but now that I have, I like them equally.

One book at a time or multiples? Reading or writing?

The answer to both is multiples. However, I’m now going to try to be writing only one book at a time. Flipping back and forth between books, along with working a full time job, gets to be a bit much.

Dog-ear or bookmark? (don’t worry—Librarian Judith won’t hold it against you—much)

Bookmark. Or a scrap of paper, a Post-it, or anything really. Dog-ear is a big pet peeve of mine, seeing someone do it gives my anxiety for some reason.

Favorite book you’ve read this year?

The March by E.L. Doctorow

When do you do most of your reading?

Before bed. I used to be a big morning reader, and would like to one day get back into the habit, but ever since my daughter was born (about three years ago) I no longer have mornings free.

Do you loan your books?

Yes, all of the time. There a few that don’t leave the shelf, but if I think a friend would really like a book and I’m nervous of losing one of my more prized paperbacks, chances are I’ll buy them a copy.

Favorite book to recommend?

That depends on the person. The book that I’ve recommended the most is The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. Now, I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, it’s a very disturbing book. But when I find the right person, I typically buy them a used copy from Amazon. I think I’ve given away about ten copies of that book.

Character Interview with General Karl Metzger

 

 

As part of my ongoing blog tour, the following character interview was conducted with one of my favorites from THE AFTER WAR: General Karl Metzger. To read the blog post from its original source, click the link below.

Book tour & giveaway – The After War by Brandon Zenner

*****

Character interview

Interview with Karl Metzger

The following interview was conducted under circumstances that I was fooled into believing were for the good of fellow survivors. General Karl Metzger is the leader of a well-equipped band of mercenaries, calling themselves The Red Hands.

***

I waited for Karl in a small room, ruined by war. I had been escorted through the town of Odyssey under escort, and the smell wafting from the guards was horrific. One of Karl’s men stood by the door, an assault rifle strapped over his chest, and a thick, red handprint plastered over his chest, which is a symbol of their order. After a half hour the door opened, and in walks a towering man wearing crisp army fatigues with a sidearm strapped to his belt. The man shone a brilliant smile of straight white teeth, and shook my hand with ferocity. He introduced himself in a bellowing voice, and we sat.

***

Interviewer: Hello. My name is Brandon Zenner. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Karl: Likewise. I do hope you will find Odyssey to your liking, and your accommodations pleasurable. Would you care for a cigar?

Interviewer: I generally don’t smoke … but I suppose I can make an exception. Thank you. About the accommodations, I will be leaving shortly after the interview.

Karl: My home is your home. Stay a while and have a drink with my men—the finest assortment of fighting men you will find, this I assure you. I hear you’re a writer, a journalist. Not long ago, I would have thought your job to be an extinct practice. But I now see the errors of my ways. You have purpose to me.

Interviewer: Well … I see. Shall we begin?

Karl: Yes, of course. Ask away. (Karl leans back, putting his feet on the table, and for a moment the creaking of the chair suggests the wood might break under the man’s strong frame)

Interviewer: Fellow survivors speculate about your past, and some people believe that you might not even exist, and the tales of your exploits are only meant to intimidate your enemies.

Karl: Ha! Well, you see me before you, do you not?

Interviewer: Of course. But for the people out there, can you give me something from before the war and disease to prove your existence? Rumors have it that you were once an inmate in Hunterdon—

Karl: (Takes his feet off the table) Let me ask you this: would like to have your every fantasy played out? Would you like to live like a king?

Interviewer: Is this leading to an answer to my question?

Karl: Outside, there are three women, picked from the plunders of war, their beauty unparalleled in this existence or the next. They are yours, Sir Zenner.

Interviewer: I’m not sure how this pertains to my question.

Karl: It pertains to my question: a job offer, with a rank among the brotherhood befitting a man of your stature. My own minister of propaganda. Your words can have an advantage for me.

Interviewer: I … I’m not sure this is how an interview is conducted. I still have a number of quest—

Karl: I know (he leans across the table, the smoke from his cigar escaping with each word) how an interview is conducted. This interview is for you, not myself. Your words are mine to use and own.

Interviewer: I think—

Karl: Guard. (The man in the corner snaps to attention) Lead Sir Zenner to his accommodations. And please, make him feel welcome.

Guard: Yes, sir.

Interviewer: What the hell is going on?

Karl: (Stands and walks to the door) I will have an assortment of delicacies brought to your room; preserved meats and fruits, and the finest alcohol ever made. If you fancy something harder, we have a plunder of cocaine, heroin, pills. You will grow to see things our way.

Interviewer: I have people waiting for me. They’ll know if I’m missing!

Karl: That’s of not consequence.

***

It’s been a week, and I have not been let out of my room. But I do have a window with a swift stream flowing under, and not to sound like some hopeless romantic, because that is hardly the case, I do hope that someone finds my message in a bottle. These men, I fear that if I don’t do as they say, they will kill me. I’m in the town of Odyssey, follow the stream, and please, by God, help me …

*****

The After War

Top Ten Survival Items

In participation with Fabulous and Brunette Blogspot, I put together a top ten list as a guest post on her site. I’d like to share with you what I came up with. 

***

Top Ten Survival Items

If a doomsday event was imminent, whether by war or disease, the end result would be the same: the majority of the population would be wiped out, whole nations eradicated, and depending on the type of apocalyptic scenario, rivers, oceans, and large landmasses may be intolerable to life. So, on that happy note, if you were survive the apocalypse, what are the top-ten items that you would bring to keep you alive? Below, I compiled a list, making a few items a bit broader to encompass categories rather than specific components.

10) A large, weatherproof backpack

Even if you escape the apocalypse by car, and are fortunate enough that the roadways are clear to drive over, eventually you’ll have to traverse the land by foot. Gasoline will spoil in time. Even with stabilizers, fuel will go bad in anywhere from a couple of months to a year or two, when stored correctly. So, make sure you have a backpack large enough to hold all of your supplies when the time comes—because you’ll need it.

9) A compass

Let’s face it, we’re all now accustomed to hearing a pleasant sounding robot voice direct us to our destination, right from our cell phones. We even get updates when a bit of traffic will delay our commute by five minutes. But do you think our electronics will warn us when a roving pack of cannibals are causing a delay around the next bend? Certainly not. In a doomsday scenario, learning how to use a compass correctly will get you to that lake on the map rather than the mountainous edge of a cliff.

8) Spare clothing

Not only will your shoes wear thin much faster than you’d anticipate from the countless days of walking, your shirts and sweaters will get contaminated over time by a mixture of dripped food and body fluids. And don’t get me started on those nasty septic socks you’ve been wearing for days. Have spare clothing, and keep what you’re not wearing as clean as possible. Hygiene will be tough to keep up with, but an infection from a cut, or even a slight cold, can turn deadly fast.

7) Tools

An axe and a shovel are the most important. Not only will they help protect you when all else fails, and the zombies are overrunning your ability to reload your gun, they will be used for chopping wood, digging fire pits, and breaking down locked doors to storerooms full of supplies. You need good, heavy-duty tools.

6) Medical supplies

Remember when I said a slight cold could turn deadly? Well, here’s your solution. Get bandages, burn creams, ointments, and pills. If you can, stock antibiotics, IV drips, hypodermic needles, and painkillers. Get everything and everything that you can, because you don’t want to run out of Imodium AD when a case of explosive diarrhea comes about. The microscopic world of bacteria is far more deadly than the burnt shell of the earth you’re traversing.

5) Protection

What do you do when a violent, infected man turns his sights on you? When he comes running, mouth foaming, dark eyes bursting with disease—what are you going to do? Simply shoot him in the head and go about your business. This item can easily be moved higher up the list, especially with the case of having a good knife. Something big and strong, like a Ka-Bar or a fixed-blade Buck knife. But you’re going to want guns too, if you can get your hands on them, and plenty of ammo. A hunting rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol would be a good combo. But if you can get an assault rifle, preferably one that can support a scope and be used for long range hunting, that’s all the better.

4) Shelter

A quick, lightweight pop-up tent can be a lifesaver when the nights dip below freezing, and the winds come a-howling. But let’s face it, eventually the skin on a tent will rip, wear down, and let in the elements. As will a tarp. So when that time comes, and you’re all alone in the heart of the woods with the bogyman stumbling about, you’re going to want to be in a shelter. That’s why I want to broaden this category to learning how to make fast and easy shelters in the wild. A quick lean-to, a leaf hut, or an igloo will save your life. Google them now, before the cyber storm shuts off your computer permanently.

3) Fire

Another category that can easily be moved to number one. Fire. It will be needed for warmth, boiling water, sharpening spears, and keeping away the wolves and the undead. Bring lighters, weatherproof matches, and a good flint or magnesium fire starter. And just to be safe, pack a magnifying glass.

2) Food

Again, I want to broaden this category beyond the MRE’s, dehydrated meals, and the simple high calorie survival bars, that look and taste like wood. You need to eat; it’s as simple as that. Before you die of starvation, your brain will get cloudy and your body will be lethargic, making it all the more easy for that grizzly bear to finish you off. Learning a few basics about hunting can turn your rehydrated slop dinner into a lovely roasted venison loin. And even more important—learn how to forage. There are plants everywhere that can keep you fed. Seriously, they are all around. How do you think those expensive bags of greens wind up at the supermarket? Heck, I have those same plants growing in my backyard. If you don’t have time to learn from a professional survivalist how to identify plants, get a few books on the subject and pack them along. I recommend Tom Brown Jr.. His knowledge of wild plants is extensive, and he explains how to turn them into medicines and remedies.

1) Water

Are you surprised this in number one? Probably not. You will die if you don’t drink water, faster than it takes for the zombie virus to turn you undead. You have to drink. But carrying water is not enough. Pack a filter, iodine tablets, and a pot to boil the water in. Also, bring a length of plastic sheeting to make a solar still; it’s easy to do, and you can extract the water from any ground—even dessert sand. To make it, dig a hole and place a cup in the bottom. Cover with the plastic sheeting, use rocks to secure the edges, and then place another light rock on the center, above the cup. Moisture will form on the tarp through condensation, collect and drip into the cup. This can also be used to purify tainted water, even urine. Delicious, right? And if you want to be fancy, bring a length of plastic tubing to be used as a straw, so you won’t have to dismantle the still to get at the water.

***

That about sums it up. There are countless items you may want to add to your doomsday bag, but you will never know what they are if you don’t learn and prepare. When it’s time to hit the road and fend off the cannibal hoards, I hope you’ll be ready.

Bon Voyage!

-Brandon Zenner

 

Welcome to Brandon Zenner w/ #Dystopian #book ‘The After War’ @SlapstickII @GoddessFish

Casey M's Corner

Today we have author Brandon Zenner visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Brandon Zenner is an American fiction writer and an Amazon best selling author. His short fiction has been published in both print and online publications, the first being submitted when he was 19 years old. THE EXPERIMENT OF DREAMS, his debut eBook thriller, has reached Amazon’s best seller list many times. His second novel, WHISKEY DEVILS, was released in early 2016. THE AFTER WAR, a dystopian thriller, is available now as a pre-order, at 80% off the final sale price. You can follow the author on his Amazon page, or through his email list on his website. All email subscribers will receive his futuristic short story, HELIX ILLUMINATED, for free as a thank you. His genres of choice are thrillers, crime, dystopian, and science fiction.

Today Brandon Zenner will be talking about…

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Book Release and Blog Posts Galore.

Today is the day—THE AFTER WAR has been released! It’s been a crazy few months getting early editorial reviews, and trying my hardest to promote the novel while it was on pre-release. I’m happy to say that all of the early editorial reviews have been positive, and the first part, TO ALICE, has made it to the quarter finals in the BookLife Prize in Fiction, run by Publishers Weekly.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be featured on various blogs and websites, featuring interviews, top ten lists, guest posts, and in one instance, a post I made conducting an interview with one of my characters in THE AFTER WAR. That one was a blast to write. I will be re-posting some of the various posts here as they are published. For now, check out this list of sites that are featuring THE AFTER WAR today, right now, during its launch. I will be stopping into each site multiple times during the day to answer any questions and talk to anyone  who may want to chat.

1: Fabulous and Brunette

2: T’s Stuff

3: Book Giveaways

4: Kit ‘N Kabookle

5: The Avid Reader

6: Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin’

7: Sharing Links and Wisdom – review

8: Blog of author Jacey Holbrand

9: The Silver Dagger Scriptorium

10: Liz Gavin’s Blog

11: Randy Ellefson’s Fantasy Blog

12: BooksChatter

13: Welcome to My World of Dreams

14: It’s Raining Books

15: Wake Up Your Wild Side

16: Mixed Book Bag

17: The Silver Dagger Scriptorium

18: Houston Havens

19: Dina Rae’s Write Stuff

20: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love

21: Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

22: Author Deborah A Bailey

23: Books,Dreams,Life

24: Queen of All She Reads

25: The Blackwood Blog

26. Harlie Williams, Writer

27. Ms. J Mentions…

28. Harlie’s Books

29. Readeropolis

Last but not least, here is the link for the book: THE AFTER WAR

 

 

Enter to win a Signed First Edition Paperback.

To celebrate the launch of my new novel, The After War, I’m conducting a giveaway sponsored by Rafflecopter. Enter at any time between now and October 21st, for a chance too win one of five signed paperback copies of The Experiment of Dreams. If you want to better your odds, click on the option titled, ‘Check out my new novel, The After War,’ and you will be entered twice. Below, I’ve included the whole first chapter of my new dystopian thriller, The After War—check it out!

Click on the picture below to check out the novel on Amazon, and read the editorial reviews.

Enter to win by using the Rafflecopter sign up form here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

***

The After War

Chapter 1

Brian and Steve

Brian Rhodes cracked open the solid steel trapdoor of the bunker, using his shoulder to carry its weight as he stepped up to the next rung of the ladder. A rush of warm, dusty air sucked down the entry chute, pulled in like a vacuum from the plank-board shed built to conceal the shelter door and the two men who had been hiding below ground. Brian kept his pistol at eye level as the metal door creaked, and a horizontal slit of light—real sunlight—hit his eyes for the first time in over two years.

Adrenaline and fear pumped in his chest, distracting him from that first breath of fresh air. The loose wooden floor of the shed lifted as the trapdoor opened and fell off to the side, disturbing the settled dust that covered everything in that tiny room. Particle clouds rose, the motes illuminated in the strips of sunlight shining through the slats of the wooden walls. Brian stifled back a sneeze.

At the bottom of the landing, Brian’s cousin Steven Driscoll stared upward, gripping the sides of the ladder.

“What’s up there, Bri—”

Brian hushed him with a shake of his open palm and continued up the ladder until he was standing outside. With care, he rested the heavy trapdoor against the far wall of the shed.

Brian looked down the entry chute to Steven at the bottom. He knew that five minutes ago, the only thought going through Steven’s mind had been the complete and utter fear of facing whatever unknown nature of humanity might remain outside that bunker door. Now his cousin looked panicked as the filtered light reflected the sheen of sweat on his forehead, his body tensed, as if the all-encompassing blackness in that room was squeezing him toward the exit. Steven’s eyes darted over his shoulder in the direction of the one piece of equipment they had not shut down entirely—the walk-in freezer. The red, glowing light from the switch illuminated the far wall. Steven seemed frozen, transfixed.

Not the time to be thinking about what’s in there, Brian thought.

Steven shuddered and turned to the ladder. He was halfway up when Brian hissed down to him.

“The gear, Steve. Pass the gear.”

Steven jumped to the landing and hefted the first, and then the second military-issue backpack up the passageway to Brian’s waiting hands. The large backpacks barely fit through the narrow opening with all the detachable pouches filled to the brim and the secondary detachable scout backpacks stuffed with the essentials.

The blackness of the bunker crept over Steven’s hands as he shoved the packs through the circular opening, momentarily cutting off the sunlight from the outside. Brian saw that look in his cousin’s shadowy eyes, as if the darkness was seeping into his body and being filtered into his lungs from the air he breathed.

Brian was still heaving the second dark green backpack from the opening as Steven hurried to the mouth of the ladder, his expansive shoulders and chest pinched momentarily at the narrow, circular entrance before pulling himself free.

Steven’s eyes were darting about the walls of the shed like those of a caged animal. For a moment, they were both silent, listening to the wind outside and the occasional chatter of birds far overhead. They pressed their faces to the cracks between the plank walls, blinking their eyes at the outside world, but all they could see were slivers of the vast fields beyond.

“All right then,” Brian whispered. “You keep lookout. I’ll cover the hatch.”

Steven swallowed and nodded.

Brian closed the metal door and turned the circular locking handle on the top to secure it. He grabbed a rusted length of chain hanging on the far wall among other rusted tools, wrapped it through the handle and an eye-loop bolt, and padlocked it shut. He placed the scattered floorboards back in position, covering the stenciled diagram of an octopus that was etched into the top of the hatch door. A hammer and box of nails sat on the workbench where he had left them all that time ago.

A silky sheen of dust had settled over the handle, and when Brian brought the hammer down, the noise made Steven jolt. He turned to Brian. “Can’t you do that any quieter?”

Brian didn’t look up. His cousin was dumber than the box of nails rattling beside him as he hammered away. “What you seeing out there?”

“Ain’t nothing to see.” Steven turned back to the slat in the wall, and Brian continued hammering until the floorboards were secure.

When he’d hammered the last nail, Brian stood and dusted off his knees. “Give me a hand here.” He walked to the end of the workbench and took hold of the far corner. Steven grabbed the other end, and they carried the cumbersome piece of furniture over the hollow floorboards. Not that they had any desire to ever go back down into that underground room, but the sanctity of that place had to remain a secret … just in case. Plenty of food and water still remained in the storage room, and for all they knew, the outside world was nothing more than a burnt-out shell—the rivers dry, the soil infertile, and humanity wiped from the pages of existence like wet ink smeared over by a thumb.

They hoped and prayed that that was not the case. Not entirely, at least.

“You ready?” Brian asked.

“Hell, no.”

They grabbed their packs and hefted them over their shoulders, feeling the weight pull at them. Steven had his Winchester shotgun—passed down from his father—attached to the webbing of his pack, and Brian had his scoped hunting rifle attached to the webbing on his own pack. Both of these weapons had wooden stocks and were the only weapons in their inventory that were not jet-black and designed for warfare. They each carried identical assault rifles on tactical shoulder slings, and each also holstered a pistol. Spare magazines and ammunition for these weapons were stuffed in pouches and attached to their belts and gear. Most of their equipment was military issue and had never been fired.

Only moments ago, as they readied themselves to depart the bunker, they had traded in their well-worn jeans and flannel shirts for olive-drab jumpsuits, shin-high black boots, elbow and kneepads, and tactical vests. Brian thought the seams on Steven’s jumpsuit were going to bust as he watched his cousin wrest it over his expansive chest, his bear-paw hands fumbling with the zipper. Brian’s own jumpsuit felt snug, but he was nowhere near his cousin in stature.

They were late leaving the bunker. The date on the calendar came and went. Brian had crossed it off with the big black marker and then both men just stood and stared at it.

“We gotta get moving,” Brian had said.

Steven nodded, and then added, “We ain’t ready.”

As time passed, it had become obvious they would never be truly ready to leave their lavish bunker. Despite spending two years underground and feeling on the verge of insanity, their bunker had carpeting and fluorescent lighting, separate bedrooms with real beds, and a TV with a video game system. The kitchen and living room were at the very center of the bunker in a domed room with cylindrical arms reaching out in separate directions—like the octopus logo on the trapdoor—to the various bedrooms, generator area, and storage.

As far as underground shelters went, theirs was indeed luxurious. All the same, Brian and Steven had not seen the light of day for more than a fraction of a second—that one time they had to open the hatch door. It was time to come out of hibernation to face the road ahead, and complete the task they had promised their Uncle Al they would take care of.

They crouched by the shed door, assault rifles armed and ready. They were clean in their new army jumpsuits, freshly shaven with rough-looking red faces, their hair trimmed short. Steven’s dark-blond hair was already plastered to his forehead with sweat.

 Brian turned the handle of the door and pushed. The flimsy plywood bent in the middle, stuck at the bottom.

“It’s the vines there,” Steven said, pointing to the weeds protruding through the wooden slats. It took several shoves, along with a few hacks with Brian’s combat knife, until the door swung open.

The rush of air that hit their faces was laden with a southern dampness, smelling of wildflowers and the live oak trees covered in dangling moss that grew all over the property. Brian looked to the sky for the sun he so longed to see and feel, but the expansive heavens were overcast with rolling gray clouds.

They stood in the middle of a vast plain. In the distance was Steven’s house, where Brian had lived with his cousin for many years. An old plantation home, it had been passed down from generation to generation, until it was handed over to Steven. The luster and charm it once radiated was lost after the death of Steven’s parents, when he took up residence and failed to maintain the responsibilities of homeownership.

The house looked dark and cold on the horizon, a whispery building lost among the weeds and gray sky.

Brian turned to see the longing in Steven’s eyes. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “We ain’t going.”

Steven stared at the house—his house. The large picture window facing the valley was gone. Even from his distance, Brian could see the gentle inward and outward flutter of a large black tarp, perhaps a garbage bag, constructed to cover the window opening. There was a mound of something on the back porch that looked charred. This was not how they had left it.

Steven had that look that Brian knew so well. He was seeing red, but fear and uncertainty kept his anger from boiling over. Maybe all that time spent in solitude had given Steven the ability to control his anger, quell the tide of rage that so easily overtook him. Brian wasn’t so sure. How many fights had Brian pulled Steven away from throughout their lives, only moments before his cousin killed the other person? Brian couldn’t even guess. Once Steven would calm down, he’d go on to explain, “I just see red.  All I see is red, and I can’t—I don’t think.”

If he makes a charge for the house, Brian thought, I can’t stop him.

Steven spat in the windswept grass. “I know we ain’t going. I don’t wanna go.”

“Let’s get on then.”

Brian patted his breast pocket, a final check for the folded weatherproof map. The route east was marked with a permanent felt-tipped marker. It was the route Uncle Al had traced for them over two years ago. Steven had a similar map folded in the breast pocket of his tactical vest, and he took it out and looked it over. Brian doubted his cousin could discern much from the lines and colors—he had once got lost walking to a bar one town over.

The two men stood up from their crouching position in the tall grass, turned from their old house, and began their trek into the unknown.

—Check out The After War here: Amazon

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Cover Reveal and New Release, all in one!

The After War has been released!

Years have passed since I wrote the first lines of The After War, and it brings me immense happiness to say the novel is now complete. It is live in the Amazon store right now as a preorder. I’ve thought long and hard on the best way to spread the word about this novel, and this is what I’ve come up with: I am going to release the entire, two part novel, as a whole, at 80% off during the prelaunch. The official date it will go live is October 20th, and the sale price will go up to $4.99 shortly after. The book will also then be split into two parts, each single part being sold for $2.99. But until that date, I will be selling the entire novel for $0.99. And you are the firsts to know.

But enough about that, how about I give you a synopsis:

Two years have passed since mankind faced extinction. Brain Rhodes and his cousin, Steven, are leaving the protection of their underground bunker for the first time, after a cataclysmic war and unrelenting disease ravaged the earth.

On the other side of the North American continent, young Simon Kalispell is leaving the safety and seclusion of his cabin deep in the woods, traveling with his aging canine companion, Winston.

For individual reasons, these men are traveling east, where the fragmented lives of a small number of survivors will soon be decided by the choices of a corrupt few.

Simon Kalispell and Brian Rhodes are not yet aware, but the strength that resides inside them will soon be tested, and destiny will call for their fates to be forever intertwined.

I hope you like the description. Here is the link to the book on Amazon: Click Here