Now thru Friday, you can order the paperback edition of GIFTS OF THE MAGI: A SPECULATIVE FICTION COLLECTION at 15% Off, delivered just in time to fill out your Christmas list! Click here to read all the details on the SFG Website!
Nell Williams has created a new Blue Christmas image for 2014, a (mostly) annual tradition of putting my characters in various holiday scenes for Christmas time, with the tag “Have a Blue Christmas.” This year, she Nell rendered a scene directly from the new short story “Blue Christmas” as featured in GIFTS OF THE MAGI.
Here is the base art:
Which she cropped to this.
Variations for Facebook memes:
And I cropped further for this portrait-like view of Blue and Chip.
Personally I love this rendition of the characters, particularly Blue. She’s grown a lot and been through a lot in two novels, and Nell captured the growth and maturity of that journey, something I didn’t expect from a fun little marketing piece. It makes me excited to write the next book in her story. Hmmmm…..
Past Nell Williams Blue Christmas images:
and…
This Thursday, from 5:30-7 pm, I’ll join seven other authors at Indy Reads Books in downtown Indianapolis in support of Gifts of the Magi: A Speculative Holiday Collection. We’ll each read a excerpt from our short stories and remain available to sign copies and hopefully raise a lot of money for a good cause.
I’ll be reading an excerpt from the my short story in the collection, “Blue Christmas.”
Gifts of the Magi will be offered through Indy Reads Books, while I’ll have copies of Haunting Blue, Haunting Obsession, and Virtual Blue for sale. And of course, you can browse offerings from our other authors. It should be a great time and a fantastic opportunity to check off a lot of people on your Christmas list.
Click here to join the Facebook event page.
Click here to read all the details.
So today is Cyber Monday and Seventh Star Press is putting two of my titles on sale (plus an anthology in which I can be found) for 99 cents each. Respectively, with page links, they are:
Haunting Blue, the first of the Paranormal Trilogy:
Haunting Obsession, the standalone followup in the Paranormal Trilogy;
Vampires Don’t Sparkle, a short story collection that includes my popular short story Robot Vampire.
I have made three videos promoting the sales, which you can find here.
If you have not read my books before, this is a great opportunity to jump in at a huge savings. If you have, please consider purchasing an ebook as a gift for a friend.
If you’re wondering how else you can support me, please email, tweet, or share on Facebook the link to this blog on your wall. Post the videos, If you feel inclined to praise the books when you do so, that might also help.
Thanks for your consideration. Whatever happens from this is every bit as much from the efforts of my readers as it is from me. Have a great Cyber Monday.
As promised, here is the reading of the start of Blue Christmas, as featured in GIFTS OF THE MAGI: A SPECULATIVE FICTION COLLECTION available now.
All proceeds from this collection benefit Indy Reads Books.
So because I can’t leave a good thing alone, I made more videos to promote the Cyber Monday sale. I now have three, giving me (*monster emcee voice*) A CYBER MONDAY TRILOGY OF TRAILERS!!!
I’ll be posting and tweeting them next week, and of course Cyber Monday, but here they are arranged in a blog post for your viewing leisure.
For Haunting Blue
For Haunting Obsession
And because of the short story Robot Vampire in Vampires Don’t Sparkle edited by Michael West, here’s a promotion for all three titles.
The Cyber Monday 99 cents sale is a promotion by Seventh Star Press. Pricing on Amazon will auto-drop Dec 1, so you can grab up all three titles and many more from the Seventh Star catalog.
Come back Monday: for a new blog in which I read part of my short story Blue Christmas, part of Gifts of the Magi: A Speculative Fiction Collection.
Here’s a little something to help you plan ahead for Monday, Dec. 1, when Haunting Blue goes on sale for one day only. If you already know it and love it, make sure to tell your friends. As most of you know, this is the first book of the series, so “hook”ing new readers with this one is what it’s all about. (Yes, I went there.)
So check it out and remember to head to Amazon on Cyber Monday!
Yep, I made a new video. I learned the limitations of the program and took on something less ambitious. My first project, the book trailer for Gifts of the Magi, took a day and a half. This one took half an hour. Progress! That means there may be more of them.
Hey, ma, look what I did!
So here’s what I’ve done with my last day and a half, though to be fair, it should only have taken me a few hours if not for the free interface on a certain popular video site that won’t let you save your work. So I had to start over three times. That means, yes, I know about the typo, and no, I can’t fix it, because that means starting over. Again.
But y’know what, I’m proud of it anyway, and I hope you dig it, too. Click the image to check out the official book trailer to Gifts of the Magi: A Speculative Fiction Collection.
After months of preparation and weeks of teasing, I can finally share the big news about the NEW ORIGINAL collection of holiday stories co-edited with my good friends John F. Allen, E. Chris Garrison and me.
The anthology is called Gifts of the Magi: A Speculative Holiday Collection and features new tales by our friends and ourselves, most of whom have series’ in progress, and feature a story set in the world of that series. And yes, I have a new story in this collection.
That’s right, Blue Shaefer and Rebecca Burton are returning in a brand-new short story that takes place on Christmas Eve! In it, Rebecca gets word that someone is trying to cause trouble for Blue, so she crashes in on Blue and Chip’s celebration, and they’re off on another paranormal adventure. I think it strikes a great balance between addressing her past and setting her up for an exciting future. The title, of course, could only be Blue Christmas. I hope you all love it as much as I do.
Besides featuring a new story for Christmas, Gifts of the Magi offers a number of other firsts. It’s my first attempt at co-editing an anthology (a stressful endeavor that can test the strongest bonds and make them even more strong afterwards) and my first venture into indie publishing under a new brand, in a co-partnership between John, Chris and me, SFG Publishing. It’s our first attempt at supporting a local charity. In this case, every cent raised goes toward Indy Reads Books and the good work they do.
Besides a new story by me, you’ll find a new Ivory Blaque tale by John, a new story set in Chris’ Tipsy Fairy Tales / Road Ghosts world, and stories set in several of my favorite worlds, created by authors Chantal Noordeloos, Katina French, Debra Holland, and an awesome standalone story by my good friend A.D. Roland that blew me away, and many more!
Copies will be sold at Indy Reads Books and online in both Amazon ebook and paper versions.
Click here to learn about the December 4 book signing at Indy Reads Books Indianapolis, with the editors and several of the authors present.
But don’t let me keep you from finding out more. Click here to read the official announcement with full details and the preorder link to get yours!
While hiking through wild forest in western China, a young explorer lost his footing and tumbled down a hill. Not seriously injured, he and struggled back to his feet and started dusting himself off, when, between two trees, he spied what looked like a panda holding a baseball.
I couldn’t have seen that right, he thought, and rubbed his eyes to be sure. But when the spots had cleared, sure enough, the panda still stood before him several yards away, and still held a baseball.
He might have stood gawking for several minutes except for what happened next. The Panda cocked its arm and pitched the baseball in the opposite direction. The ball zipped in a blurred beeline, and the distinct crack of wood on leather broke the silence.
Still unnoticed by the beast, the explorer headed into thicker brush and snuck in closer. What he saw astounded him.
Three round markers were placed in a clearing in a traditional baseball diamond shape, and, huddled together near home plate, three panda bears stood nearby. The “pitcher”, the panda the explorer had first seen, stood in the middle of the diamond, though the spot lacked a proper mound. The pitcher waited, its paw once again palming the baseball, for one of the three panda to step up to home. It was at this point the explorer noticed the panda on first base.
He’d just wandered into a panda baseball game.
At this point, he removed his binoculars and focused on the proceedings, and as his magnified gaze panned across the field, he noticed something odd about the bases. Curious, he closed in on one.
It was a human skull.
Startled, the young explorer took a step back. His foot found a loose twig, and a loud “snap” echoed through the forest.
All furry black and white forms turned toward him, each with a look of fury that froze the young man’s blood.
The pitcher panda showed its white teeth, its lips pulled back in a sinister grin.
As the panda drew his paw back, the explorer turned to flee.
The world slipped away into sharp agony.
****
Cal-doo waited for the next batter to step up. Kra-li always managed to hit a double, but this time, he thought his fastball would get the better of her. As he prepared to throw, his foot pressed upon the new, round, pearly white pitcher’s mound, the one they’d added shortly after the human had stumbled onto their game. Perfect! After all these months, they’d completed their baseball field.
The above was written during a writing exercise (polished slightly for its public debut) given the following prompts / props: a baseball, a stuffed panda bear, and a human skull (rubber facsimile). This story was the result of that exercise, polished slightly for its public debut. Click here to read E. Chris Garrison’s story from the same prompts. Special thanks to Nicole Cushing for assembling the props and running the exercise.
R.J. Sullivan Fiction 