Archive
It’s Time for Some Payback!
No tricks and no fancy play on words today. This post is about the release of my latest novel, Silver Dragon. I’ve blogged about it a few times but now it’s finally here. Silver Dragon is the third book in my Blades of Leander Series (Child of Fate and Victim of Fate preceded it). It picks up the story immediately after Alto has buried his fallen loved ones and follows him on his path of revenge.
Rather than waste time trying to drop teasers without spoiling the story, here’s the blurb, cover, and links. If you enjoy an epic fantasy that has a little bit of everything in it, head on over and pick it up.
Alto’s hands are stained with the blood of the fallen. The only justice he can find must be had by the blade, but the path of vengeance shows him that he is but a pawn in a far more dangerous game. Sarya’s plans reach far beyond anything the young warrior could imagine and require a sacrifice from him greater than he can give.
Alto must make fear his ally if he is to lead his companions into the dragon’s lair with any hope of saving the woman he loves and the two nations he calls home.
Barnes and Noble (coming soon)
iTunes (coming soon)
Sony (coming soon)
Print (coming soon)
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Burning Books The Right Way
Wait a minute, I’m a writer. What the heck am I talking about burning books for? Especially given the positive context? Have I written one too many twisted scenes and pushed myself off the cliffs of insanity?
To the latter question: well maybe, but I leave that for those who know me best to decide. I don’t encourage or suggest burning books at any time though. Well, unless you’re trapped in an arctic wilderness and you need a source of heat to keep you warm and keep the hungry wolves at bay.
I’m talking about what I just managed over 8 completely normal days. 8 days where I spent time with my family, working out, and having a day job. 8 days where I wrote a book. A novel. 62,000 words. In 8 days. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty darn pleased with myself. I do not, however, expect to be able to maintain a pace like that. It did require some sacrifice on the part of my family and for that I’m grateful beyond words. Still, the book burning referenced in the title applies to the speed of the digital pen on the digital paper. You know, digital friction and stuff. Right, moving on.
It’s a good book too, I’m going through a self edit before I send it off to my editor this weekend. So far I’m adding some content here and there and straightening confusing bits out. Really enjoying the story though, it’ told from the perspective of Stephanie Martin, a young lady whose life was just turned upside down.
You see, she was skipping school one day and stopped to grab some caffeine and a pack of smokes when she ran into this amazing woman and made the mistake of looking into her eyes. That’s all it took. Her soda hit the ground and she realized everything had changed. She had no idea why until the woman took her and led her away.
Weird turned to crazy when the woman explained that she was a witch. In spite of how impossible it was, Stephanie believed her. Then her new mistress showed her the magic that she could one day possess.
It’s not all broomsticks and cauldrons for a witch though. Stephanie’s new life exposed her to cruelty and injustices beyond anything she’d imagined. The savagery of the Dark Earth her mistress took her required her to embrace the savage within her if she wanted to survive.
Soulmates is a story of human spirit and the things that can happen to it. The book explores how much pain and evil we can endure. At what point does the human spirit give up or become too stained with sin to recover? How hard must a person fall before they understand that life isn’t about hitting others, but learning how to survive being hit themselves?
Soulmates is the third book in my Dark Earth series. It follows Devil’s Icebox and continues to touch on the lives of Eric and Jessica Baxter, Lady Cassiopeia Nelson, and the rotten men and women that seek to ruin them all. It is a testimony to the sadistic nature of the culture of the earth’s parallel world that a juvenile delinquent with a manipulative and troubled past can hope to bring light to the darkness.
It’s being edited now, I hope to have it available in early March, following the pending release of Silver Dragon.
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Bounty Posted!
There are so many cheesy ways I can have fun with the titles of my sci-fi trilogy, Wanted. So of course, I’ve been doing my best to maximize the corniness for my own amusement! Take the title of this blog article, I’m specifically talking about how I just released it this morning in a print version available on Amazon or Createspace. That makes the entire trilogy available. Hmm, makes me wonder if I should make an omnibus out of it? That’d be a doozy of a book though.
In the meantime, I’m working hard on Victim of Fate, book two in my Blades of Leander fantasy series. Simultaneously I’m hunting for a new day job. That’s tying up a lot of time, I have to admit. I’ve had a few interviews and I’ve got more coming. I wonder how many I have to go through until I get a free set of steak knives?
Worth mentioning for my fellow computer programming geeks out there – I spent some time this weekend and this morning teaching myself hyperthreading. It’s pretty cool and I really wish I’d learned it earlier. So many windows and web applications I’ve written in the past could have benefited from it! C’est la vie, at least I’ve got the basics down now and I can boost it for the future – and talk about it intelligently during an interview!
Now enough about me, time for you to get yours! Here’s the links to Bounty:
Bounty on iTunes (coming soon)
Bounty on Sony (coming soon)
Bounty in print
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Guns and Boobs
What better way to spike testosterone in a man than to give him a hefty dose of boobs and guns? Maybe throw in a little 80s rock and before you know it hair will be popping out of his chest and muscles bulging! Well, it sounds good on paper. It certainly wasn’t my intention to focus on boobs and guns in my Wanted series of books but I just received a couple of great four star reviews from a reader that posited the books were filled with both. I was very entertained!
The reviews were positive and the reader claimed he enjoyed them very much, even if he felt they were boob-and-gun-centric. He questioned whether I was targeting an audience or if that’s just the way I roll. Well, I confess that I did grow up hunting and enjoying guns. I’ll also confess that I’ve participated in a few breast cancer events. Beyond that, I have no problem looking a woman in the eyes.
The third book in the Wanted series that became available yesterday is called Bounty. Yes, there are guns and yes, there are boobs. I think it’s fair to say there’s more of the former and less of the latter, but one of the main characters is definitely a free spirit that loves to shock people. Ultimately though Bounty uses the science fiction medium to tell a romantic story. Sure, there are guns and obscenities along the way, but the ultimately it shows the lengths some people are willing to go to – the sacrifices they are willing to make – for the people they love. Or, as I put it in a tweet, Bounty shows why it’s a very bad idea to attempt to kidnap or hurt Carl Waters’ family.
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
A Soldier, a Porn Star, and a Coed Walk into a Bar…
The subject might be a great lead in for a dirty joke or the next book in the 50 Shades series, but I just used it to pique your interest. Although to be fair, the book I finally released has all three of those characters in it. More importantly, it’s a book that people have been wanting me to write for over a year now. Bounty, book three in my Wanted series, has been released!
It was a close call, I admit. Writing the book, once the idea came to me, was the easiest part. It kept stretching out longer and longer as more great details and ideas emerged, but it never creeped so far out of scope that it became too long. Then I had problems with my content editor hitting my schedule, but those eventually sorted themselves out. Finally I ended up losing my job a couple of days before my copy editor finished with the book, preventing a timely payment – she was great and offered to give me a little leeway, due in part to her and her husband both enjoying my writing so much. Finally there was the issue with Amazon – they published it but the link wouldn’t open! I emailed them my concerns on December 2nd and they promised they’d look into it and have an answer by December 7th. 5 days?! Thankfully when I checked this morning it was finally cleared up and released. YAY!
So, without delaying any further, here’s the blurb, cover, and links so you can get your Bounty!
The U.S. government has reclaimed the abandoned western states but the law remains the province of whoever has the biggest gun. Life was good, if boring, for retired special forces operator Carl Waters and his wife Jessie until she received an offer to reprise her acting career and star in a new role. When a hired gun tries to kill Jessie on the set of her new movie they discover that their new found fame is not the blessing they’d hoped for.
Carl has to defend his family from the loose ends of their old lives. That, or avenge them.
Bounty on iTunes (coming soon)
Bounty on Sony (coming soon)
Bounty in print (coming soon)
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Slaying Dragons
Regular readers of my blog might have picked up on something, I’m promoting the snot out of my latest series, Blades of Leander (in particular the lead book in the series, Child of Fate, which I just released). This blog continues in the vein, although with a very personal twist. It also debuted on my friend J.E. Taylor’s blog last week. I guess you could say I’m guest posting myself. Um, or something like that. Anyhow, without further delay, here it is:
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I was a kid once, farther back than I want to admit. It was back in the days where television was analog and distorted by poor antenna reception. The invention of the VHS tape seemed like a miracle on par with curing leprosy. Unto this fragile and sheltered childhood entered the movie, Conan the Barbarian. In that 129 minutes my life was changed.
I began to seek out fantasy wherever I could. I started, of course, with the Conan books by Robert E. Howard (and later L. Sprague de Camp and others). I went from there wherever I could, to J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks and beyond. No matter the story, I was hungry for more. But beyond wanting a rich fantasy life I wanted to be like the heroes in the stories. As a kid I’d play and pretend to slay dragons and rescue maidens. Eventually I became too old to do that (especially if I ever wanted to have a girlfriend), but I never forgot.
Wanting to be a hero is a part of almost every boy’s upbringing. I won’t dare to guess how many girls these days want to be heroines rather than princesses (my own daughter wants to be a mix of the two). I grew up learning everything I could to make me able to be that guy that can take care of himself and help others when the situation called for it. Everything from first aid to joining the military to becoming a competitive powerlifter. I want to be the guy who a mugger will look at and decide not to challenge. I want to be the guy who can rip the door off the crashed car that’s on fire to get the people out. I want to be able to slay the dragon threatening the maiden.
With that in mind my newest book is a high fantasy book called Child of Fate. It’s the first book in the Blades of Leander series. The characters are as real as fictional characters can be, with quirks and weaknesses aplenty. They’ve got their talents and strengths just like a regular person, but what’s most important about them is that they’re identifiable. These are the kinds of characters that we like because we understand them. We can remember feeling the same way at times. By living vicariously through the characters in Child of Fate we can answer the “what if” questions.
And isn’t it safer to read a book than it is to buy a sword and drive to the nearest national border and start attacking the border guards? I don’t want you getting tased or enduring a body cavity search, so please consider Child of Fate a safer and more entertaining alternative.
Pick up your copy of Child of Fate at any of these sites:
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
The Majesty of the Printed Word
I’ve raved about Child of Fate being released a couple of times (and I’ll probably do it a couple more), but why stop there? Not only is it available at your favorite websites for your ereading pleasure, now it’s available for those of you that prefer the feel of a printed book. That’s right, Child of Fate has gone physical! Click on the pic below (or the link below it) to have a chance to snatch it up.
Child of Fate on Createspace (Amazon)
But why stop with just one? In true made-for-TV marketing, I have not one but two books that just crossed the threshold into the real world. Not only is Child of Fate available to read and then use as a paperweight, but so is Vitalis: Resurrection. Check it out!
Vitalis: Resurrection on Createspace / Amazon
Unfortunately that’s all I’ve got to offer today. Aside from news that I have finished my self-edit of Bounty and I was very pleased with how it turned out. Now it’s off to Lisa Shalek, my content editor. I hope she’s as happy with it as I am!
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Getting Right to the Point
Disclaimer: There is a potentially disturbing image in this post. If you’re upset by pictures containing blood, please point your browser elsewhere.
I mentioned the other day that I was putting in a home gym. Well today I purchased the first parts of it. A variable dumbbell set from Dick’s Sporting Goods going from 10 – 50 lbs and a olympic bar and 255lbs of weights. Loaded it up in my truck and brought it home, then proceeded to take it to the basement in several trips. I was near the end when I decided to cut open the box on some weights so I could take the box up and throw it in the trash. That’s when things went wrong.
I sharpened my jackknife the other day, a seemingly harmless task. It turns out it was far sharper than I expected. It cut through the strap on the box and then I thought my jeans had stopped it. Then the blood started raining down from under my jeans onto my sock and shoe. I looked at my knife and saw the blood on the blade, then closed it and slipped it back in my pocket while clamping my hand down on my bleeding calf. I held pressure on it for a minute but the blood kept soaking my jeans and shoe, so I kicked my shoe off (new white shoes, I was NOT happy). I risked pulling my pant leg up and found the blood was flowing out of the puncture wound. Flowing, as in a fountain. It was a little disconcerting.
“Honey,” I called out in a calm voice (I didn’t need my wife or kids freaking out), “could you come down and help me with something?” She took a few minutes taking care of things then came down and asked what I needed. “Well, grab some towels, I’m bleeding.”
Things went downhill from there.
She was less than model definition of calm. I let off the pressure to show her and what had been flowing earlier came out in a stream. That really tipped her over. She was bound and determined to call 911 but I talked her off that ledge. It wasn’t arterial, just a 2″ deep puncture wound into the muscle of my calf. Turns out there’s a lot of blood in the human leg! She ran off to go talk to our neighbors, the wife was a registered nurse before she retired. By the time she made it back I was upstairs and doing my best to elevate the wound and keep pressure on it (yes, I’ve been through this before – don’t ask).
The neighbor helped me get the bleeding stopped and bandaged it, then verified that it needed stitches. I didn’t think so at that point, the incision was only about half an inch across. My wife had heard the news though, there was no backing down. Fortunately the urgent care is less than a mile from us so it wasn’t a big deal for me to hobble out to my truck and crawl in the back seat while my wife drove me there. After some entertaining dialogue with a couple of nurses and the doctor, he decided to put a stitch in it. I talked him out of the anesthetic (lidocaine stings worse than the stitches do in my opinion) so he put a stitch in it and said he was leaving the ends open to allow drainage. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Got a tetanus shot and I was good to go.
After we got home I hobbled across the street with my wife to get our kids back. On the way I felt something give in my calf. I thought the stitch pulled through but that wasn’t it, where the muscle had pressed together inside had pulled apart. The waterworks began again. I clamped down and gimped my way back to my house so I could lay on the floor and elevate the foot up on a foot stool. That did the job nicely, except it was a night full of activity (work dinner with my department then some birthday shopping for my son’s pending birthday). Yes, my wife pushed me around the store in a wheelchair. It was humbling, to say the least. Good research for how a puncture wound would feel for one of the characters in my books though (honestly, there’s been no pain at all other than pulling the bandages off my leg and ripping out leg hair, even getting stitched up without anesthetic was barely a pinch).
There’s no moral to the story, it was just an accident, but it was entertaining. Between getting in trouble for joking that my wife attacked me with a butter knife to being called a tough guy by a nurse for not wanting anesthetic, it was certainly an eventful day. The day started off so positive too, with the release of my latest high fantasy novel, Child of Fate. If you’re feeling bad about my predicament, I’m not above suggesting contributing to my urgent care medical bills by going to buy the book (or any of my others). Or if you’d rather point at me and call me a dumbass for stabbing myself, I’ll accept that too since I probably deserve it.
And now for the image I promised above. This was the state of my jeans after I’d been stitched. The blood was what happened before I pulled my pants up to put pressure directly on the wound.
Later the next day I revisited the scene of the attack. There was more evidence left behind than I realized. I took another pic, including putting my foot where it was originally for perspective. If they ever open up a sport at the Olympics for blood spurting I suspect I might be a medal contender! The stains took place after I pulled my jeans up to check the injury. I immediately clamped my hand over it for pressure, but in the half a second or so prior to that this is what happened.
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Up Late for an Early Delivery
I agonized over a catchy title for this post but nothing was happening for me. Maybe it’s too early in the morning or maybe I was out too late celebrating the release of my latest book. The coffee’s strong and slowly entering my veins though, so I figured I’d better share.
Yes, you read that right, I released a new book. A week ahead of schedule, Child of Fate is available for your downloading and reading pleasure! It’s the first book in a new fantasy series but, I confess, I haven’t nailed down a good series name yet. Pretty embarrassing, I admit, but it doesn’t stop the book from being great. In fact, here’s the blurb for it:
Early winters and distant cities make the northern reaches fit only for adventurous homesteaders. Alto is on the verge of becoming such a man when his father is ambushed by monstrous raiders from the mountains.
Determined to find help for his father Alto leaves his home behind and sets out with a group of adventurers tasked with learning the true nature of the raids. Help for his family grows more and more distant as the boy is swept up into a budding war with a neighboring nation and the threats of evil forces from the mountains.
A fiery-tempered princess from the eastern kingdom falls into Alto’s hands by twist of fate. The fate of two nations rests in their hands, provided they can keep them off of each others throats.
Sony (coming soon)
iTunes (coming soon)
Print (coming soon)
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
Lessons Learned
Halloween is a fun time. Kids and adults alike get a free excuse to dress up and do some role playing. To the large man wearing the sparkly dress and handing out candy to my kids, you might be letting taking it a little too far. But for everyone else it seems to be okay.
It was cold and rainy for us this year. Oh wait, it’s been that way for the past five years, including the one where we lived in the high desert of southeastern Utah. The kids and adults had fun though, so that’s what matters. But there are other observations as well that the Halloween season brought to my attention.
Costumes. The costumes for women keep getting sexier and sexier. I’m not protesting this, just observing it. Men, on the other hand, aren’t offered sexy costumes. We have superheroes and monsters. Speaking as a man, that’s pretty cool. We want to be powerful so why not spend a night pretending we can save the world or at least scare the crap out of people? The thing is, unless we custom make something our costume choices are limited by what the manufacturers want us to have. It’s kind of like free will – we can want anything, but only among the options given to us.
So the next question is, since men want to dress up to be something they don’t feel they are normally (powerful, scary, or in a few frightening cases a large hairy woman that wears shiny skirts), does that mean women go for the sexy outfits because they don’t feel they can look attractive normally? Is it a cultural or societal statement that we are repressed and inhibited and can only share what we really want when given an excuse (and possibly alcohol)?
I think to some extent that’s true. I think a lot of us, men and women, are holding ourselves back. When the opportunity presents itself I encourage my wife to dress to the nines and go all out there, but she usually reigns it in so she will fit in and not upset anyone. Crazy, I know, but I watched some feathers get ruffled a few years back so I know it’s real and how uncomfortable it can be. I like to think I’m open minded enough to not care about such things, but then the image of the big guy wearing drag keeps popping back in my head and it makes me cringe. Where’s Tim Curry when you need him?
It’s topics like this that rattle around in my head and help me write more believable characters. The social dynamics we accept and roll with on a daily basis are amazing, especially when trying to implement them in a fictional setting. It’s daunting, to say the least! But it can be fun too, as it allows control freaks like me to show characters and situations with a twist towards how I feel things should be, or at least how a character that’s important to me can cope with situations like this.
And maybe, just maybe, I can exert a tiny bit of influence through my books that makes people think that they’d like to do something that empowers them, rather than hides them behind the grey blanket of conformity.
And speaking of books, my newest fantasy novel Child of Fate should be available very soon! I have the proofread copy in my hands, I just need to go through it and then go through the steps of making it available. I’ll be sure to post more, including links, as soon as its out there!
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
