Dave Zeltserman's Blog, page 51

Over 20,000 Julius's and counting

Over 20,000 Kindle versions of JULIUS KATZ MYSTERIES have been downloaded since Amazon set the price to $0.00 last week. Tomorrow I'll be getting back into the trenches for the first time since I sold SMALL CRIMES to Serpent's Tail to talk about this.

Kindle publishing tip--better to use Author Central

I've had several writers recently ask me how I got the book titles bolded in the description for JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE, and the way that was done was using Amazon's Author Central instead of their KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) pages.

Author Central is just a much better way to enter you ebook description. You can bold and italicize text, and you can enter in a lot more information than you can from the KDP method. For example, using this approach you can enter 4000 characters for the book description, then another 8000 characters in the 'From the Back Cover' section, which is a good place to put blurbs for your book, as well as blurbs for other books.

You can take a look at my JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE page to see how much better this can look than using KDP.

Bookreporter.com on A Killer's Essence

Dave Zeltserman is arguably better known to literary critics and to fellow authors than he is to the public at large, which is puzzling. His output is steady and consistently strong. Best of all, his books have the potential to appeal to even casual fans of the mystery and thriller genres. His style and topics are meaty and accessible. Read the first page of any one of his books, and you will keep reading until the tale is told; read one of his books, and you will want to read them all. Part of the reason for this is that while Zeltserman deals with issues pertaining to crime in all of its manifestation, his stories also concern themselves with the affairs and situations of everyday living that are important yet often hobble us in the course of completing tasks that are (or seem to be) life-or-death matters.

So it is that A KILLER'S ESSENCE, Zeltserman's latest effort, concerns itself with the hunt for a serial killer in New York, and much, much more. It is told in the world-weary voice of Stan Green, a New York City police detective who is driven and dedicated, possibly too much so. Green is assigned to a case involving the brutal mutilation and murder of a middle-aged woman on a bustling street in broad daylight. There is a witness to the crime, who, interestingly enough, is unable to describe the killer. Green is saddled with a superior who is never satisfied, even with the best work. There is no succor for Green at home, either. He is living with a high-maintenance girlfriend named Bambi (who, he hastens to tell us, is neither a stripper nor an escort); to be fair, she is asked to put up with a lot. His children live with his ex-wife and her new husband out of state, and his promises to them are more broken than fulfilled.

You can read the entire review here.

A Killer's Essence, price cut for Dying Memories, more Julius Katz and Archie!

I'd like to thank Beth Kanell for sending over this photo showing a stack of A Killer's Essence being prominently displayed at the Mysterious Bookshop in NY.

I'd also like to thank Naomi Johnson for reviewing A Killer's Essence over at The Drowning Machine, and also to Bruce Grossman for doing the same over at Bookgasm.


Massive price cut for my thriller, Dying Memories, for the Kindle--$2.99 to $0.99. This is only going to be for a short time, so if you want to read a fun, fast-paced thriller that's very different from the norm (and very different from anything else I've written), now's your chance to pick this up for under a buck!


Over 12,000 kindle downloads of my award-winning Julius Katz Mysteries since this wen free 2 days ago! And there's been a carryover effect for JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE:

#17 in Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
#18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled

I'd like to thank everyone who's picked up copies of these, and let's help spread the word about JULIUS KATZ AND ARCHIE and get it #1 over at Amazon!

Award-winning Julius Katz Mysteries now a free Kindle download

[image error]
My award-winning Julius Katz Mysteries is now available as a free Kindle download from Amazon. That's right. $0.00, nada, zip, absolutely free. Not surprising that 1000s of readers have already taken advantage of this and that Julius Katz Mysteries is currently ranked third on Kindle's hardboiled mystery list. And here's the beauty of this--after reading these award-winning stories, the first full-length Julius Katz novel, JULIUS KATZ & ARCHIE, will be waiting for you as a $2.99 Kindle download. And other Julius Katz mysteries will be gracing the pages of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in the near future, the next one being ONE ANGRY JULIUS. So if you haven't discovered Julius Katz and Archie yet, now is the perfect time!

Blood Crimes -- Monster Librarian

The Monster Librarian recently reviewed a number of horror themed adventure books, and summed up their review of Blood Crimes with:

Strong language, gore, violence, and sexual situations give the first book in Dave Zeltserman's series a high-octane feel. The fight scenes are graphic and leave you feeling as breathless as the characters. Highly recommended.

To read the full review of see the other horror books reviewed, click here.

10 quick reasons to read The Caretaker of Lorne Field

Now that Caretaker is out in paperback, I thought I'd put together 10 quick reasons why you should read this book.

1) Short listed by the American Library Association for best horror novel of 2010

2) Dark Quill nominee for best dark genre book of 2010

3) "Delicious horror-ish novel...Zeltserman is fully in control." -- Newsday

4) "Superb mix of humor and horror...Zeltserman orchestrates events perfectly...Readers will keep turning pages to see how the ambiguous plot resolves." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

5) "Harrowing. Zeltserman colors it black with the best of them." -- Kirkus Reviews

6) "Crime writer Zeltserman has produced a nail-biter...The narrative is straightforward and gritty, reminiscent of works of Dashiell Hammett...gripping and actually 'horrifying,' this title is recommended for horror fans and readers who may relish unpleasant surprises." -- Library Journal

7) "This superbly crafted horror story explores the dichotomy between belief and rationality." -- Booklist

8) "The black comedy of errors that ensues invites comparison to storiesby Kafka, David Prill, James Hynes, William Browning Spencer, and other authors who have mused on the dark side of daily breadwinning... Though Zeltserman's approach is clearly tongue-in- cheek, he deftly balances the competing interests of the characters to keep the truth of the narrative events ambiguous. A few deaths at conveniently inopportune moments and several coincidental fades to black only add to the dramatic tension of the narrative. Stories of this kind are hard to pull off and often collapse under the weight of their outrageous premises long before they end. It's to Zeltserman's credit that his novel holds together up to and through the final paragraph, and that it compels the reader to stay with it for that long." -- LOCUS Magazine

9) "The Caretaker of Lorne Field succeeds as a horror novel, a psychological thriller and a haunting parable, even in some ways that Zeltserman may not have intended. There are dark levels to this work, some of which are immediately evident and others of which reveal themselves only upon later reflection. I don't know if the book will come to be regarded as a classic, either now or at some point in the future, but it deserves to be." --Bookreporter

10) "Throughout, the reader is not sure if this is all some sort of mental breakdown, building to a fever pitch of an ending. As a writer, Zeltserman is not just limited to doing gritty crime, but has the talent to give some horror authors a run. This might be one of the best books of the year, yet might slip through the cracks. The one thing most who read this novel will agree upon is the true sense of creepiness that Zeltserman layers on as each page is turned." Bookgasm

And now for a bonus reason--Aukwowies have never been cheaper or more plentiful, and really, is there a better gift to give for Halloween than a book full of Aukowies??

Hitting stores today + reviews

[image error]
The paperback version of The Caretaker of Lorne Field is hitting stores today. Aukowies have never been this cheap, nor this plentiful, and really, is there a better gift for Halloween than a book full of Aukowies? Find out for yourself why the American Library Association short listed Caretaker for best horror novel of 2010, and why it was a Black Quill nominee for best dark genre book of the year.

A couple of recent new reviews have shown up for Caretaker. I'd like to thank John over at Pretty Sinister Books for his thoughtful review, which opens with:

I may get flack for what I am about to do, but here goes nothing. Dave Zeltserman's exceptional novel The Caretaker of Lorne Field is a genre blending true original combining elements of the horror novel, the crime novel and...the fairy tale. And now that I've got you either scratching your head or rolling your eyes let me explain.

I'd also like to thank James Simpson from Australia, who also gave Caretaker a thoughtful analysis.

I must say I don't read a great deal of horror novels these days, but as a kid I certainly did. However I stumble upon one or two every now and then and a few months ago I came across one of the best. You'll have to go to the end of the fiction shelves to find this one (I know must customers never venture there but they should), it's by an author who's not normally a horror writer and is known more for his bad arse gets out of jail gets even with those who won't leave him alone books, however The Caretaker of Lorne Field is simply a masterpiece.

You can read James' entire review here.


Over at Ransom Notes, Jedidiah Ayres came up with an interesting list of recommended creepy mysteries for this time of year, and gave A Killer's Essence a nice nod:

Playing another riff on the theme of sight and perception, but from the other side of the effect this time, Zeltserman has his NYPD homicide detective trying to solve a series of killings in the midst of a multi-dimensional maelstrom of personal crisis saddled with a lone witness to the killings with an annoying extra-sensory perception issue. Last year saw Zeltserman's first long-form foray into horror Caretaker of Lorne Field and this one takes his new tools and ingredients to successfully blend mystery and horror to great satisfaction.

Finally, if you'd like a signed copy of A Killer's Essence, contact The Mysterious Bookshop--they have a lot of them ((or at least I signed a couple of boxes of books for them).

Julius Katz Mysteries now Free!

To celebrate Julius and Archie both being safe and sound, Julius Katz Mysteries is being made free over at Smashwords. This ebook contains last year's Shamus award-winning story, Julius Katz, and this year's Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner, Archie's Been Framed.

So go over to Smashwords now and grab Julius Katz Mysteries for absolutely nothing!

Son of a gun -- Julius is alive!

Anyone reading today's Boston papers already knows this, but Julius Katz is alive and well, and has identified to the police Anton Dupierre's murderer, and this culprit is the very same person who blew up Julius's townhouse, and surprisingly it wasn't Desmond Grushnier. Even more surprisingly, I was able to talk briefly with Archie this morning and he let it slip that Grushnier actually saved Julius's life. The call was brief given everything that was happening, and he apologized for ignoring my earlier calls, but he was under orders from Julius as the two of them went deep undercover to catch the person responsible for Dupierre's murder and all the rest of it. From what I've been able to piece together, after the explosion Julius called in a favor from the Boston Police Commissioner to report his death to the media, and that this was done equally to protect Lily as it was so he could continue his investigation in secret. I've also talked briefly with Julius, who is in surprisingly good spirits given the damage to his townhouse and the loss of his wine collection, and we're going to sit down together after his townhouse is rebuilt, and he'll be giving me the full story to write up.