I’ve finished the Beta Draft of Betrayed! Anyone interested in being an ARC Reviewer?

As you can tell by the headline, I’ve sent out Betrayed to Sara for proofreading, and I’m hoping a number of you would be willing to be ARC reviewers.

Betrayed is the second part of the Oneiros Log Trilogy (Repressed is more of an out rigger novel).

Here’s a small summary/blurb:

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They were captured and tortured until their minds finally Broke, unleashing the latent powers inside them. The six members of Oneiros spent more than five years content to build their life together and use their gifts to help people. The government has other plans.

The nation some of them served, the nation that failed all of them, is about to betray them. These two forces collide in a war that will have deadly consequences for both sides. How will this declaration of war affect the team?

Former friends stand on opposite sides of the battle lines. Loyalty prevents them from finding common ground. Loyalty will be one’s downfall.

The peacemaker suffers silently, hiding a secret that threatens them all.

The violent beauty suffers from a past that will change all of their futures.

The young protege hopes to become a hero but doesn’t know the pain all heroes face.

The leader is falling, completely unaware of the corruption to which he’s succumbing.

Their creation broke them. This war will shatter them, and the secrets it reveals will change the world as everyone knows it.

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Caught was a horror story with a twist of action. Betrayed evolves into an action story with a bit of horror. If military action with psychic powers are up your alley, I think you’ll enjoy this installment of the trilogy.

My goals: What I truly hope is to find 50 dedicated reviewers, but given that I don’t have 50 reviews total, that goal would unlikely (but amazing). So instead, I’m setting a (far more realistic) goal of 10 ARC reviewers. I’m looking for ten (or more) volunteers to receive a PDF version of the story and prepare a review for the day Betrayed goes live (currently scheduled for April 1, which gives a reader plenty of time). If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to email me.

A note: This is an un-proofed draft. That means you’ll probably note typos I haven’t managed to polish out yet. While I don’t expect this to be riddled with issues, I will remind potential readers that this is the draft I finished before sending it to my proofreader. If you care to make note of them and tell me, I’d be grateful, but that’s not the need I’m trying to fill. Sara is great at what she does, and she’ll help me get Betrayed cleaned up before it goes to market. Sending the un-proofed draft to ARC readers just allows them time to read and me time to do the other things an independent author has to do to prepare for a book launch.

While I wait for edits (and hopefully reviews), I’m already toiling way on Discovered, the last book in the Oneiros Log. I’m a little more than halfway done with the discovery draft, and I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming out. It’s still very optimistic to think Discovered will be out in 2021, but I fully expect it to be out before 2022 comes to a close. That’s my main priority. If I do finish that draft, I’ll go back to Images of Truth, but I’d say it’s unlikely I’ll write another 50,000 words in a month. For those keeping score at home, you’re right. Discovered is by far the biggest of the three main books. Caught was somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 words, and Betrayed was just about 60,000. Discovered looks like it will land in the 100,000-word area. This is because I’m tying up all the plot lines and making sure fans of each character get a satisfying conclusion for their favorites.

As always, I’m so grateful to all of you who support my work. It’s amazing to think I’ve been at this for six years! I’m always working to be a better writer and a more successful business man. I can’t do either of those things without God allowing and your help. Thank you!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

A 5-Star Review for Caught

Greetings all,

I’m thrilled that this is the third week in a row where I have (at least) one review to share with you! We’ll see how this all progresses, but I’m just so happy that people are trying my work and enjoying it.

This five-star review comes from Kayla Krantz, who is an author. She has several books and collections available.

She reviewed this book everywhere, and that’s just so wonderful and kind.

Please see her review for Caught here.

This review is special because Krantz isn’t just an author; she’s an author in this genre. I love when readers like my work, but when my peers acknowledge it, I feel a special appreciation. To me it’s like getting a vote for the Top 100 in the NFL because the players also vote on that list.

If you like my work, there’s a chance you’ll like hers too. I haven’t tried her work yet, so if you do, and you like it, please let me know in the comments. My TBR has somewhere around 13 books on it (before the new Stormlight drops), so I’m just trying to get caught up before I add to that pile more than I already plan to.

Once more, I’m so grateful for the review, and I hope it encourages people to try my work. As always, if you’ve read some of my work, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Audible, or all three.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

An Update on Hazel and Other News!

Greetings all,

I’m happy to announce that Hazel is scheduled for shipping in February (I don’t have an exact day yet)!

To maximize exposure and get the product out there as quickly as possible, we’ve teamed up with another creative team. That means both of our stories are going to be split up over more issues. We’re still going to print each issue as a solo product, but that will come later.

We’re keeping the name of the flip book out for a while longer, but I’ll be sure to announce that when we’re given the green light as a whole. Issues 1 and 2 of Hazel are done, and Collin is a few pages into Issue 3.

So splitting these stories up allows us to get the story out more quickly while allowing Collin the time he needs to do all the insane work he’s doing.

We’re proud of Hazel and what her story is. I’m personally hopeful this endeavor is successful enough that they are willing to advance Collin for the other Hazel story Collin and I worked on. Whatever comes of it, I’m glad to see another project hitting the tables.

Want to help? The best thing to do would be (if you’re a fan of comics) to contact your local comic stores (when we release the title of the project). Tell them you’re interested in the comic. Tell them to bring copies in. The more stores who order copies of the book, the more successful the book will be.

I’ll naturally have copies available at any conventions too.

I hope you’re all looking forward to seeing it as much as I am.

I’m also happy to announce that Stealing Freedom is officially available on Audible!

This is just Lisa and J.M.’s narration from The Power of Words, but it’s only about two and a half hours. So if you have a drive that long, I think it’s a perfect audiobook for the trip!

Last but not least in any manner is that in honor of the Halloween season, Caught is on sale for 99 cents! If you haven’t given it a try yet, this is a pretty good chance to read a great book for less than a dollar.

On a final note, I made a commercial! This is a commercial I made for Bob Drifter. It’s just another tool I want to sharpen to see if I can’t spread my name out there in another way.  Give it a look and offer me your thoughts. If you’re an author, and you’d like me to make one for you, I’m willing to do so for $30 (It does take a few hours to put these together, and that price is just a bit under minimum wage).

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: Knock and You Will See Me by Andrew Cull

This book was my 2018 December Book Cover of the Month.

Spoiler Free Summary: In  Knock and You Will See Me by Andrew Cull Ellie Ray is still morning the death of her father when he delivers her a note. The crumpled, hand-written letter just asks, “Why?” This classic style ghost story gives chills in all the right places as creepy escalates to flat-out scary. Will Ellie find whatever it is that’s terrorizing her family? When she does, will she be able to stop it?

Character:  In too many horror stories (regardless of medium), the character always has some sort of moment of stupid. It’s a flaw of the genre that, thankfully, Cull doesn’t exploit. Ellie isn’t a genius or even particularly clever. What she is, is a realistic, thoughtful woman at her wits’ end. Some of the choices she makes have negative consequences, but they’re never just idiotic decisions just to move the plot forward or prompt a boringly telegraphed jump scare.

Exposition: First-person narrative sort of emphasizes the exposition in this story. There is some info-dump here and there, but I’d say it’s better than the average first-person story. The plot moves pretty quickly, and that is key in a good page-turning horror story.

Worldbuilding: You have to grade this on a curve. Horror is all about keeping information back until the right time. So while this isn’t full of detailed scenery and scope, it’s not supposed to be. The timing is great for the story. It does a great job of building suspense. Yeah, the ending is open-ended, and that always frustrates me, but it was honestly hard to put down.

Image of Mr. Cull taken from his Amazon page for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Dialogue: The good news is, I don’t remember it being bad. The bad news is, I don’t remember it at all. It didn’t bug me. There are a few conversations with the local sheriff (or law person) that provided some solid tension and sympathy, but I wouldn’t call it snappy or anything.

Description:  This was perfect, especially for the genre. It was creepy in all the right places. I was prevented detail when it built tension, but when that tension peaked, the description was vivid. I’d like to put a special note to the description that implied emotions. This is an area of weakness for me, and reading this book helped me add a few “show don’t tell” tricks to my bag. Cull does a great job evoking emotion without paragraphs of information or ham-handed descriptors.

Overall:  This story was fantastic and pretty hard to put down. I tore through it in about a week. I’d recommend it to any thriller or horror fans. This was just a great, classic horror story that I think would make Hitchcock proud. 

Thanks for reading

Matt

Free Book! Happy Birthday Caught!

Greetings!

I’m not actually that big on birthdays, but I like accomplishing things. Caught’s birthday is Jan. 28, and to celebrate my book’s second birthday, I’m giving it away for free!  The Kindle version of Caught will be free on Amazon from today until Jan. 29 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

I sincerely hope you give the book a try. Please recommend it to readers. I’d recommend this book to fans of horror, paramilitary novels, or superhero movies. It’s easily the most action packed book I have. It’s also easily the darkest book I’ve written. I think all the reviews for this are high (I don’t remember many bad ones. There was one that was deleted.)

Which brings me to my hope. I’d be eternally grateful for any reviews. One of the reasons I wanted to give away books for free on their birthday was to hopefully generate some reviews. If you’ve read it, please consider a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or both.

I look forward to hearing what you think. It’s so cool to think that I’ve had one book out for about four years and Caught has been out for two.  Now I have seven titles available and three more heading your way. It’s so cool seeing what God’s grace has provided. I look forward to this year and the rest to come. I hope you do too.

You can grab your copy here or the link above where I first name the title.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Would You Like a Free Audiobook? I’m Celebrating Caught’s Audible Release

Hey all,

I’m so thrilled to announce that Caught, narrated by Shawn Compton, is officially available on Audible.

To celebrate, I have 25 free copies of this version, so if you like audio books, free stuff, and horror, feel free to send me an email.

Shawn did an amazing job. I was super picky about the narrator I wanted for this story, and Shawn simply nailed Caden. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know that Caden is simply a huge challenge to pull of, and Shawn did it. I’m so lucky to be working on this project with him.

I’m always overjoyed to hear my characters come to life. I love audio books. The let me re-read stories so I can catch up before the next book in the series comes out (looks at Brandon Sanderson). They also let me basically double my reading pace on the drive to work.

I hope you’ll decide to give this book a try. You can use one of your codes, or you can even start and Audible account today and get a free copy of any book (it’s just mine’s better for the season). Of course, you can also just email me and ask for one of the copies I have. The first 25 to ask win.

Thanks for reading,

V/R
Matt

I’m Making Preparations to Develop the Audio Version of Caught!

Greetings all,

In some ways, this post is a tad lazy. If I’m being honest, I’m still recovering from my trip across the country.  Also, other social media issues have put me in a frame of mind where I feel I have to be careful, so this announcement serves that purpose.  It let’s me talk about some good news. It also helps me get word out and build momentum.

That said, I’m happy to announce that I’ve begin listening to auditions for narrators to produce the audio version of Caught.

If you’re a narrator (ACX or otherwise) and you’re interested in a 50/50 royalty share contract, please feel free to send me an audition.

This project has taken longer to get set up and done than I’d like, but it feels good to get things rolling.

I opened auditions a while back (June 4), but right about there is when life got a bit overwhelming. So I’ll probably keep auditions open for another two weeks (June 29), so I can better evaluate them and select the right person for the job.

I’m happy to get that done! I’m nearly done with the Beta Draft of Stealing Freedom, and Sara sent me the final edits on Repressed (with indications that it’s been well developed). That means a lot of my projected release dates are still right on schedule.

Keep stopping by for updates on this project and others.  Until then, have a happy weekend!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: Nothing Left To Lose by Dan Wells

This image was taken from Amazon.com for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Spolier Free Summary: Nothing Left To Lose by Dan Wells is a horror novel about a young man named John Cleaver. It’s the final book in the John Cleaver series. John has all the traits and desires necessary to be a serial killer. He simply chooses to be better. Lucky of him there are monsters in the world only he can hunt down. Unfortunately for him, his newest target has a reputation: “Run from Rain.” He’s alone. He’s being pursued by the FBI, and he’s facing the most feared creature on the planet.

Character:  John is one of the most compelling characters I’ve ever had the privilege to read about. I still feel strongly that the first three books were a more satisfying story as a whole, but the rest of the books were a fantastic extended look into someone you can’t stop listening too. If you enjoy deep characters with intense conflict, this is the series for you, and read the whole thing.

Exposition:  Wells doesn’t mess around too much with exposition. Even from a first-person narrative story, the information comes in a lot of ways. I said this is a horror novel, but it’s more of a twisted detective story. So yeah, there’s some exposition and pondering, but when the character talking is this wonderful, it’s hard to notice.

World building:  The biggest benefit to the continued series (a phrase I use to describe the other books in the series), is the world building. The first three books focus more on John and his conflict. The other book sin the series build on the method of the Withered. I was happy to get more information on this group, how they formed and how they work. The last three books answer all those questions and put a nice bow on the series as a whole.

Portrait of Mr. Wells was taken from his bio-page on his website.

Dialogue: This felt a tad heavy handed in this novel. These books have always been fairly cerebral, but I think there was more of this than I’d like. The reason for it is, like old Batman comics, John makes use of the other characters to explain his logic. It’s common is detective books, but it felt a little over the top for my taste.

Description: Easy to scan. Nice details. No chunks that slow me down. My kind of pace!

Overall: I didn’t want to put this book down. It drags the reader through an intense story. Yes, I’m still a bigger fan of the original three books, but this is a nice ending. It fits the tone and is probably a stronger theme than the third book. If you love gritty, monstrous detective stories, you’re missing out if you haven’t read this. Until further notice, this is the book I will compare others to when thinking of my top reads of 2018.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

A 3-Star Review for Caught

Greetings all,

I just wanted to share a bit of good news.  Caught has a new three-star review up on Goodreads. I’m always overjoyed at any review. I say it, and I mean it every time. Please feel free to look here to see the latest opinion on my work.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Brain to Books Cyber Convention and Book Expo 2017

So today kicks off a fantastic online event. Brain to Books is hosting it’s 2017 cyber convention, and I’m lucky enough to be a part of it.  The event goes from today until the 9th. So it’s pretty much a weekend of online frivolity.

What’s going on? Pretty much everything. I mean, I have to line everything up so I don’t miss JUST the things I’m participating in.  This virtual convention is pretty much a book convention without the costumes. (Actually, I’m probably wearing a costume, you just can’t see it).

At any rate, I’d like you all to take a look at the events I’m involved in. Please feel free to participate and share whatever you see.  I’m personally most excited about the panels (See below).

So, what am I up to this 3rd annual Cycon?

Author Showcase: This is where you can see all the authors involved.  There are a BUNCH of talented authors participating, including most of (if not all of) my beloved friends aboard the Slush Brain. You can click the above link for the entire list. If you’re looking for yours truly, I’m located in the 2017 Horror Showcase. This is because I think Caught fits best in that section. You’ll see Bob around there, too.

Book Expo: Letting people know what books are out there is important. This breaks the books down by genre.  You can see book blurbs and covers for all those books (and mine).

Character Tournaments: Sal, the main character from Caught, has landed himself in a character tournament.  I love these. It’s just natural nerd discussion. Who would win in a fight? You can head over to the link and vote for all the characters.  I don’t know how Sal would do against some of these guys, but I like his odds in Round 1.  Just as with my Book Cover of the Month, I only ask that you vote and vote in every match.

Book Cove Bracket: Speaking of book cover brackets, B2B has one of those as well.  Caught is lined up in the Horror category.  I’ll be paying close attention to the winners from each category.  I love my own project, and this looks to be like a good time.  I’ve seen some of the brackets already, and they look great! So do a guy a favor, and send some votes his way?

Panels: This is just awesome.  So Angela, Captain of the Slush Brain, Mistress of the Web Sea, Queen of Online Conventions (and the brain behind Brain to Books), set up a bunch of panels.  I’m in a fair number of them.  We talk about Anime (Naruto), Book Covers, Fantasy Fiction and Magic Systems, Doctor Who, and a lot more.  Just head over here, to get a look at all the panels.  This was so fun to do, and I hope you all take a minute or two to see some of the topics of conversation.

There’s honestly too much going on to go over in one blog, but there’s so much.  There are giveaways. There are blog hops and genre tours. It’s pretty much endless.

I hope you check out these events and get to know these authors the way I do.

Thanks for reading,

V/R
Matt