State of the Author

It's been a while, I know.  But I have good reason, I promise.

For the past couple of years, I have been unemployed, despite my university education, thanks to the shitty economic situation here in Portugal.  I've been surviving (barely) on temporary, part-time, small jobs, plus the generosity of my parents.  Writing was a way to pass the time and feel like I still did something.  But last month I landed a new full-time job at a grocery store, making more than twice what I used to.

The bad side?  I'm on the evening shift, 1 to 10 o'clock, a schedule I'm really not used to, plus the work can be real tiring, physically and mentally (you can't imagine some of the stupidity I have to deal with!).  Which all leaves me with little time and patient for writing.

I haven't given it up for good, I enjoy it too much for that, and my fan mail has pretty much told me that I'm a half decent writer.  But I have decided that from now on, I won't post a story until I have completed it.  I can't guarantee when that will be, or what story.

I'm hoping that I will get used to my new situation and start writing in earnest.  For now, I still plan on updating this blog on occasion, so drop by every once in a while.

Dead and Back 8

It's been a while.  Sorry about that, but real life kinda got in the way of my writing.  

The latest chapter of Dead and Back should be up this weekend.  But, there has been an important change.  The end of chapter seven featured Desmond in a short fight, easily handling his opponents.  It was a bit too short and simple for my liking, so I rewrote it.  That unfortunately left the chapter a bit longer than I preferred, so I moved it to the beginning of chapter eight.

The Getaway Special by Jerry Oltion

Allen Meisner is a member of INSANE, the International Network of Scientists Against Nuclear Extermination. A card-carrying mad scientist, he develops a hyperdrive engine capable of taking anyone to the stars for just a few dollars. But after a demonstration aboard a space ship goes awry, Allen learns that there's no such thing as a free ride.

Allen's ideas do not have quite the effect he desires. While the ability to travel great distances excites some, it terrifies others. Earth is in chaos as governments prepare for war to control this unleashed power. With everyone waiting for the bomb - now propelled by hyperdrive - to fall, Allen and his shuttle pilot, Judy Gallagher, look for a way to save humanity.

With electronic parts from Radio Shack and a plastic septic tank from a lumberyard, they build their own spacecraft and go in search of habitable planets. Armed with new allies, an intelligent butterfly, and a temperamental tree, they return to Earth for a final showdown between fear and freedom.

The Getaway Special, and its sequel, Anywhere But Here by Jerry Oltion aren't exactly great works of science fiction, but they're still some of my favorite.  I love the concept of somehow jury-rigging a functioning spaceship, without the backing of a major government or company.  I also enjoy how a good part of the novels deal with the scary, life-threatening difficulties of spaceflight and exploration, and discovering alien ecologies.

DOWNLOAD from RapidGator

An Unconventional Family 5

Chapter five of An Unconventional Family should be up this week end.  Enjoy.

Been A While

Yes, it has been a while.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten much writing done, just a few sentences here and there.  Only this week have I actually started to get back into the rhythm of things.

As of this moment, I have about one third of the next chapter for Stronghold and Sellswords, Inc.  The next chapter for My Second Life is about half done, as is the one for An Unconventional Family.  Dead and Back's last chapter has suffered a rewrite - the fight scene has been redone and expanded - shifting its ending into the next chapter's beginning.

I am working again, and chapters will be written.  Hopefully, one will be posted next weekend.  Please be patient.

Monster Hunter Series by Larry Correia

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. 

It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit. 

It’s actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way. With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves. 

Business is good... Welcome to Monster Hunter International.

Larry Correia is a new author (his first book, Monster Hunter International, was published on December 2007), but he has rapidly become one of my favorites.  Thankfully, he is also quite prolific, having already published four novels in his Monster Hunter series (with three more planned), three novels in his Grimnoir Chronicles, and another two in his Dead Six series (with one more planned).

Trained since childhood to be a soldier by his war hero veteran father (who's either paranoid and crazy or prophetic), Owen Pitt wants nothing more than to be a normal guy.  Sure, he might have an unhealthy love for quality firearms, and paid for his accounting degree by participating in an underground fight club (where losing his cool nearly killed an opponent), but he's trying.

That is, until late one night at the office, his boss turns into a werewolf and tries to eat him.  Somehow, not only does he survive, but he kills the asshole, causing so much damage to the monster that it can no longer heal at a supernatural rate, and then tossing him out of a window, with a heavy desk on top.

After waking up from a near death experience (where he meets a somewhat cryptic old, Jewish spirit guide), he finds out that the world is a much darker place than he could have ever imagined, he apparently has a destiny he doesn't want but is uncommonly suitable for, and a new job, working under the girl of his dreams, killing monsters for lots of cash.

What's not to like about a story like this?

DOWNLOAD the 4 novels of the Monster Hunter series in epub format here, at RapidGator.net