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Dark Metal
I mentioned this a couple weeks back – now it’s out in the world and waiting to be read! Dark Metal, book 9 in the Dark Universe setting by yours truly. Dark Metal picks up a little while after Under the Dark ends. Mirabel and Challee are both part of Aden’s crew on board Aden and Sierra’s ship, the Sentinel, but that makes for a very full ship.
At the same time Captain Amber Hanes is struggling with her ship, the Uma. She’s a bit beyond struggling, to be honest, but Aden has a plan. Dark Metal is all about turning that plan into reality. The thing about plans is once the first punch is thrown (or shot fired), it all goes down the drain. There’s a lot of flushing in Dark Metal!
My goal in Dark Metal was to focus on more edge-of-your seat flow. I was going for a lot of suspense and thriller type activity. Even to the point where the chapters were arranged in mini-story arcs kind of like what might be seen in a television series. The overall plot and threat are always there though, hovering and waiting for the opportune time.
And that’s really about all I can say without giving away spoilers! So, rather than me do that, go and read it yourself! It’s a ton of fun, I promise! It should be available everywhere even on my new platform, Patreon. Check out the links below to find Dark Metal.
Now Patreon… I vomited words all over the screen about it recently so I’ll spare you that. I will say I really like it. I’ll also say it’s been almost a complete flop so far. I’m baffled – but I’m also patient and understanding. And I’m trying to build up a better reason. Case in point, in the last 10 days I wrote another book (which I discussed in my prior post). Early mornings and late night – 80,000 words and I released it chapter by chapter (one a day, pretty much), on Patreon for my readers. I’m on book 2 now – and already 3 chapters in to that one. I’ll share more about it as I go on, but I have to say I had a lot of fun with this character and book and so far I’m getting some great ratings and reviews on it!
But hey, this is about Dark Metal. Try it out, if you don’t love it I promise I’ll write another one and keep on writing until you do!
To learn more about Jason Halstead, join his Patreon page, visit his website to read about him, or sign up for his newsletter.
Drugs, Guns, and Topless Sunbathing
Queue the deep announcer voice: In a world brought to the edge of civilization by terrorism and economic collapse, one man… ah, screw it. That’s too cheesy even for me.
I am very happy to announce the release of Marshal, the fourth book in my Wanted series! Is there terrorism and economic ruin and all that stuff? Sure. But it’s in the past mostly by this point (in other words, read the first three books and start with Wanted – it’s free!). Marshal pits Federal Marshal Carl Waters against some new adversaries that are doing their best to lay the groundwork for an extensive drug, weapons, and human trafficking network throughout the American southwest before the United States government is able to fully reclaim the area.
The excitement doesn’t stop there though. Carl’s daughter, Allison, has followed in his footsteps and used her tech-savvy skills to become a deputy marshal on his team. Jessie (Carl’s Wife) is back and has used her entertainment industry skills to turn herself into a producer as well as an actress.
Tanya Kurkova, billionaire ice princess, and her devoted bounty-hunter turned personal assistant Sarah Gibson are back as well. And wow, are they back. In fact, one of the main plots of the book involves Tanya inheriting the corporate empire from her father. Of course that brings another character out of the past to stir up some trouble. Tanya’s brother, Dustin. The same Dustin that once hoped to have his sister killed so he could become the sole heir.
So Marshal’s got drug dealers, corporate intrigue, romance (including some twisted up love triangles), family struggles, undercover police work, a private pool with clothing optional sunbathing, and some international travel. There’s a lot going on and it’s a lot of fun watching Carl try to maintain his tough guy image while spending time with his daughter and reaching deep to try and offer a more sensitive side to support both friends and family.
Barnes and Noble (not available yet)
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.
Fricking Awesome
I’ll admit I’m not usually given to such eloquent words of praise. In this case though I think it’s very applicable. That’s how I feel about what a reader just said in a review on Amazon about my Lost Girls series, in particular the final book, Black Widow. Don’t believe me? Here’s the 5 star review in full:
Bound to End Up On Your E-Reader
…I hope! Bound just happens to be the name of my newest release. It’s an edgy romance novel, and by edgy I mean it has some delightfully naughty points in it. The story centers around a boy who makes a mistake and spends the next ten years of his life paying for it, then he has the chance to start fresh but realizes he doesn’t have a clue. Enter the female lead – the same young lady who was indirectly responsible for ruining his life in the first place. His father warned him about girls like her…
Wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he committed, James Macavoy’s regimented life is suddenly turned upside down when he’s released from prison into a world that’s all but forgotten about him. Sabrina’s the one person that remains for Jimmy, the woman who’s very existence made it possible for Jimmy’s life to be ruined.
If adapting to a life without walls isn’t hard enough, Jimmy must decide if he can love her or hate her.
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.
It’s Bound to be a Good Time!
And by bound I don’t mean nylon rope and / or handcuffs. Although I suppose that’s not too far off, in hindsight. The Bound I’m referring to is my latest book that I finished the rough draft on last night! I’ve got some minor revisions to make and then editing to do, then the usual cover art and such. What’s that mean to interested readers? It means look for Bound sometime in late July or, possibly, early August!
But wait, what is it and why should you care? Well, it’s my writing, which is fast paced and filled with fun, combined with a touch of romance. Okay, more than a touch – the plot pretty much revolves around a romance between two characters that are about as star crossed as they can get. The book starts out with a hefty dose of stereotyping and racism and then spends the rest of it trying to recover from the damage a single moment in time can do. Bound takes place in my Dark Earth setting and I do have a a reason for that (let’s call it an ulterior motive so it sounds more devious), but as a stand alone book the setting is irrelevant. For the faint of heart let me offer warning, there is some bloodshed in the book, though I only go into semi-graphic detail at one point. There is also an unusual amount of, ahem, adult behavior. Personally I don’t think it’s enough to earn it the title of erotica but others may disagree. The book is not about bumping uglies at all, it’s about two people finding each other and persevering in spite of the difficulties along the way. And bad guys – what fun can there be without bad guys?
Bound came to me out of nowhere on my ride down to Florida on vacation. I’d just finished Voidhawk – Lost Soul, and I was wondering what I wanted to do next. Bound slipped into my head somewhere between Ohio and West Virginia and I just knew I had to write it. Well, 19 days later I’ve finished the first draft of it. I know it’s good because when the words rush out of me like they’ve been doing lately, there’s no other option.
For the Dark Earth setting fans Bound fits in the same general timeline that Voices is in – kind of before The Lost Girls series and concurrent with it.
So stay tuned, my friends, Bound will be available before you know it! As for me and what’s next… I haven’t thought about that yet. First I want to tidy up Bound then I’ll get into thinking about what comes next. It might be Black Widow, book 4 in the Lost Girls series, or I might write Vitalis part 8. It’s good to have options!
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 Value of Mistakes
In my last blog post I mentioned that I made a potential mistake – I read a recent review on one of my books. It turned out to be extremely encouraging and left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling that lasted for quite a while. The only problem was that experience could hardly be classified as a mistake, thus I had little to learn from it. Quite the opposite, rather than learning I believe it conditioned me much like ringing a bell would make Pavlov’s dogs start to drool.
Yes, I went back and found another new review to read. This time it was for New Beginnings, the first book in my futuristic science fiction series titled Vitalis. Imagine my dismay when I read this review:
Jason Halstead wowed me again. I took a chance on him and read Wanted and still remember the vivid characterization even a couple months later, despite reading many books in between.
New Beginnings drew me in immediately. I turned the pages quickly, anxious to see what happened but didn’t expect the outcome at all. I’m looking forward to reading the other books in this series, as I believe the conclusion of this initial book sets the stage for things to come. Keep writing, Jason; you’re even managing to hook readers like me who would never have considered myself remotely close to being part of your target audience.
Woe is me! How am I ever supposed to learn my lesson when my dopamine receptors keep buzzing with good vibes from these kinds of reviews? I looked a little deeper into the New Beginnings reviews and found four reviews in total, rated 5 stars, 4 stars, 5 stars, and 5 stars in order of review date. All in all, I’d say that’s enough of a buzz to get me through the coming week!
Sadly, there’s no lesson to be learned about focusing on the writing rather than the review reading. In response to past reviews I did make a move to break my Dark Earth series up. Originally I’d called The Lost Girls, Traitor, and the immediately pending Wolfgirl part of my Dark Earth series. Well that is no longer the case! A few people were disgruntled at the span of time, distance, and lack of relation between Dark Earth and The Lost Girls so I’ve now reserved my Dark Earth series for Dark Earth and the sequel, Devil’s Icebox (which is due out in the second quarter of 2012). The beginnings of a ideas for a third Dark Earth book is forming in the back of my head as well.
As for The Lost Girls, Traitor, Wolfgirl, and Black Widow (due later this year) – they now comprise The Lost Girls series, which takes place in the Dark Earth setting. Hopefully that will clear up any future confusion and not mislead anyone.
But for now, if you haven’t checked out New Beginnings here’s your chance! As Norma Budden and a couple of other people have told me – it’s a story that pull you in even if you’re not a sci-fi aficionado.
- Vitalis – New Beginnings, on Amazon
Vitalis – New Beginnings, on Amazon
Vitalis – New Beginnings, on Amazon UK
(for now that’s it – my Vitalis books are exclusive to Amazon so as to be part of the Kindle Owners Lending Library)
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.
New Book Released – Vitalis book 1: New Beginnings
I’ve been babbling about it for a while now and here it is, finally hot off the virtual presses!
Book 1 of the Vitalis series, by Jason Halstead
Here’s the blurb:
Humans have advanced to span multiple solar systems, diminish the effects of aging, and conquer the human genome, yet their cruelty towards their own kind binds them to the stone age. The rim worlds are the outer solar systems for human civilization. Men and women earn their living with their wits and talents, although treachery often nets a bonus.
The Rented Mule is a ship with a crew seeking to earn an honest living in a realm of dishonesty. No stranger to trouble, they know the unwritten rules of the trade and have avoided being claimed as “salvage” for many years.
On a routine transport mission the Mule has to struggle with not only the usual dangers of traveling through rim systems, but also a new navigator with a troubled past and a romantic interest in the ship’s engineer.
Plagued by threats from without and within, the crew’s only hope when the Mule suffers catastrophic damage may be an uncharted planet. The fate of the Rented Mule and crew is in the hands of the neophyte navigator.
And here’s an Excerpt:
“Kira!” The navigator groaned as the words filtered through the disturbing images of her dream. She’d been reliving some very pleasant aerobic activity with Eric one moment, then felt as though she’d been sucked through the wall of the ship to be immersed in the absolute zero temperatures of deep space the next. She coughed, feeling like her lungs were coated in ice water. Somebody grabbed her, helping her up and over a metal ridge that pressed painfully into her ribs. She gagged some more, dry heaving until she could hear straight. Spittle hung from her lips and chills racked her body.
“Kira, we’ve been dumped out of cold sleep, your prox warning is going off, what’s going on?” Captain Sharp demanded.
Kira looked up slowly, wincing at the pain in her chest, throat, and head as she did so. He looked pale and miserable, but his actions spoke otherwise. She nodded and forced herself up, fighting back a wave of nausea. “C..c…cold, Sir!”
“Walk it off, damn it!” He snapped, perhaps a concession to his own condition.
Kira nodded and pulled herself out of the pod she’d been in. The others were either doing likewise or were standing around in robes. She felt a tug and looked down, her head clearing as she realized she was still fully integrated with the hibernation chamber. The light blanket that had covered her nude body was still on her, but she’d given the Captain quite a show in spite of it. She glanced up when she heard a scuffling sound and saw Eric was struggling into a robe and trying to join them. He brought a spare robe for her. That’s nice, she thought, then her view of her recent lover was blocked by the Captain. “Kira, snap to!”
“Sorry, Captain,” she mumbled. “Never been dumped before.”
She reached down and removed the catheter, grimacing as she did so, then slipped the sensors that were adhered to her body and head off. She held the blanket tight and forced herself to climb up and out of the cocoon like bed, taking the robe from Eric with a grateful smile and slipping it on. Her feet were cold on the steel floor but she could tell from the Captain’s tone she had no time to worry about that. “Prox alert, gotcha Sir!”
Sharp and Eric followed her as she walked stiffly out of the hibernation room. Her body warmed and began to obey her as she walked, allowing her to pick up the pace. By the time they reached the bridge, only a few short minutes later, only a faint headache persisted. She touched the data port on her palm to the matching port of her station, then proceeded to mentally send the navigation system commands. The large display at the front of the bridge responded almost immediately, allowing them all to see what had transpired.
“That’s not an asteroid!” Sharp growled. He turned to Eric. “Get Tarn up here now!”
Eric took off with barely an, “Aye, Captain!” tossed over his shoulder.
“That’s why the dump from cold sleep, Sir,” Kira said. “The autopilot adjusted course but so did the other ship. It’s closing with us fast. ETA is less than ten minutes. It must be accelerating,” Kira muttered to herself as she fed more commands via the cybernetic link into the computer. “I don’t understand, even a cold dump takes hours – this hit my outer threat range seventeen minutes ago.”
“Had some modifications done to our chambers,” Sharp explained. “You’re going to feel like hell for a week or so because of it, but most of the time it’s only temporary.”
“Most of them time, Sir?” Kira turned to look at him.
Sharp shrugged. “Guy who done it said he only had one case of somebody suffering permanent brain damage.”
Kira swore. “Hey, you prefer to let them board while we’re still snuggled up in dreamland? What happens then? Pretty thing like you might get raped a few dozen times before they sold you as a slave. The rest of us most like get our throats cut – if we’re lucky.”
She nodded at the Captain’s logic. He said no more until Eric returned with a grumbling Tarn behind him. “Tarn, where’s your threat sensors? And the plasma defenders? Why aren’t they online and tracking?”
Tarn ignored him, staring at the screen and deciphering it. “Fuck, must be bugged up,” he muttered, then turned away to head over to the security station.
“Don’t give me that, you said everything was fixed!” Sharp roared. “Get them up and running now or I’ll shoot you at them!”
“Sir, we don’t know who it is,” Kira pointed out. “It could be another transport or even a naval vessel.”
“Uh-uh,” Eric said, slipping up quietly beside her chair and pressing his hand against her shoulder. Kira glanced up at him and smiled. This proved he wasn’t the kiss and tell type and that he would still respect her in the morning. Then again, after the things she’d made him do in the heat of the moment she wasn’t sure she could respect herself.
“Free agent would be steering clear of us,” Sharp confirmed. “Naval vessel would be broadcasting to us. This ship’s silent. You tried hailing?”
Kira nodded. It was standard procedure on seeing another ship, especially one with an intercept vector. “No response, Sir.”
“Tarn?”
“Hang on,” He grunted. “Must be a bug in the activation code, the program’s in there but it never executed properly.”
“What about our guns?”
“Enemy ship is out of range. They’ll be ready when it gets closer though!”
“What’ve they got to use on us?” Sharp asked.
Tarn laughed bitterly. “This is a transport! No sensors worth a damn on here. Mining rig’s got better eyesight than this thing does.”
Kira looked at the Captain and saw the muscles in his jaw flexing. She felt Eric squeeze her shoulder again. Her own free hand went up to rest on top of his. “Are these Pirates?”
“They’re not a welcoming committee,” Tarn muttered.
Kira stared at him, eyes narrowed. Eric gave her shoulder another squeeze forcing her to relax. She looked at the display again. Even though they could all see it she felt the need to announce, “Seven and a half minutes, Sir.”
“Tarn, how long until they’re in range?”
“Four minutes.”
Sharp swore. “Glad I spent so much on the weapons you recommended!” The ex-Marine wisely chose to stay quiet. “Kira, what’s our position? How long were we under?”
“A little over a month, Sir,” Kira had already figured that much out from the data on the display. She input several more commands to analyze the stars and compare their position. “Otherwise we’re on course for the mining region, roughly two months out. The rotation of this system’s planets and stations are further from us than a return to the jump station would be.”
Sharp swore again. “No outrunning them either I bet.”
The display popped up a new frame with calculations and text within it. The answer was clear seconds later. “No Sir,” Kira parroted the system’s visual display.
“You better hit those sons of bitches so hard they get turned into a wormhole.” Tarn grunted as he sat sweating over his chair.
Kira stared. She could see the sweat running down the side of Tarn’s face. She was still chilled to the bone and only the adrenaline of the moment was keeping her from falling to the deck. She glanced up at Eric again and saw the misery in his own eyes. He smiled in spite of it when she caught his eyes, which prompted a strange flutter in her own stomach. Her first real relationship and he was an engine jockey on a dead end tanker in the middle of nowhere. She bit her lip to fight back the tear, then smiled back at him. It wasn’t his fault that she’d fucked her own life up so badly that a desperate shot at running away on the Rented Mule was her only way out.
“Five minutes, Sir,” She croaked loudly.
Sharp’s hand rested on her other shoulder, squeezing so firmly it hurt. Then it was gone. Kira felt her heart thundering in her chest, something she had read was next to impossible after being dumped out of cold sleep.
“Where are Jeff and Kevin?” The Captain asked.
“I told them get suited up and stand by for emergency repairs,” Eric said. “They can handle pressure leaks and basic electronics, I’ve been showing them a few things.”
“Might need you in the engine room.”
Kira felt Eric’s hand stiffen on her shoulder. It might have been because she was suddenly squeezing his so much harder. “Aye Sir, I’ll keep an eye on things. Call me if I’m needed.”
He pulled his hand away but the warmth of it lingered on her shoulders. Kira set her jaw and blinked away the tears. After everything she’d done and all the sacrifices she’d made this did not seem like a fitting way to die.
“Sir!” She screamed, looking a fresh readout on the display. “We’re being—“
Lights flashed and an alarm went off, even though nothing seemed amiss. “We’re under attack Sir!”
“Damage?”
“It was a relativistic projectile, no breech but it definitely hit us on the port side.” The inertial suppressors eliminated the shock from spreading throughout the two thousand ton ship. It was neither graceful nor pretty, but the Rented Mule could certainly take a beating.
A few second later another alert sounded, followed by fresh damage indicators. This continued for several more rounds, each spaced a few seconds apart. “Sir, they’re firing something large enough to clear our avoidance field but not big enough to do any serious damage.”
“Tarn!”
“Just a damned minute!” He growled. Then he slammed his finger on the panel, triggering the plasma defenders.
Sharp stared at display that showed the star field in front of them, watching a green mist streak out so quickly it was barely identifiable. It disappeared into the blackness, giving no indication of what had transpired. “Well?” He asked, his voice overpowering the steady chirps that indicated fresh hits form the enemy vessel.
“Limited sensors, Sir,” Kira said.
Tarn let out a whoop. “I got the bastards!”
The ongoing alerts continued. “Why are we still being fired upon?”
“Didn’t say I killed ‘em,” Tarn snapped. He went back to his display and began hammering in fresh commands. He snarled as two more plasma shots went out, both missing.
“Sir, less than two minutes until they’re on us!”
“Roll us twenty degrees so I can bring both plasma guns on line!”
“Do it!” Sharp snapped.
Kira rolled the ship, firing the thrusters manually to save time. She arrested the roll too late, but Tarn had already triggered his attack. The star field display went blank. One of the frames on the main display stopped scrolling updated data.
“What happened?”
“Something else hit us,” Kira stammered. She was desperately trying to make sense of the data, inputting fresh queries to the system. “An energy weapon I think, looks like they found our primary sensor modules.”
“So we’re blind?”
Kira fought with her system several seconds before she slumped in her chair. “Looks like it…Sir.”
“Shut those damn alarms off, internal sensors will still tell us if there’s a problem.”
Kira silenced the alarms and stood by, expecting to have to cancel a new one in a few seconds. She realized she’d have to do it constantly and wondered if there was a way to issue a command so that only a different type of alarm would sound.
“Did you cancel everything?” Sharp asked her as the seconds ticked past silently.
“No Sir,” she said. “Trying to figure out how to differentiate between the existing attacks and more serious ones.”
“You may not need to. They’ve stopped shooting at us.” Sharp stared at the unmoving displays then turned to the ex-Marine. “Tarn, did your last shots hit?”
“Of course! Both barrels down the throat!”
“Your sensors show the damage before we lost them?”
Tarn grunted as he tapped clumsily away at the display. “Feedback from the sensor loss must have wiped out the logging.”
“So you don’t know for sure.”
“That range there ain’t no way I could miss!”
Kira glanced up and saw the stare down between the Captain and the security officer. She looked away, hoping she could ignore the growing tension in the room. “All right no, I got no way of knowing what shape they’re in now.”
Sharp stabbed the intercom button. “Everyone suit up now! Our attackers have destroyed our sensors but we believe they’ve also been damaged. If they board us they won’t give us the time to arrange a welcoming party — they’ll just blow the hull. Suit up and stand ready to repel boarders.”
“Sir, should I—“
“Go get your suit, I’ll mind your station until you get back.”
“Yes Sir,” Kira hopped up and hurried to the air lock. She met Eric on the way and they grabbed each other’s hands briefly, then let go and hurried on when Tarn came huffing along behind them. The suits were unisex and universally uncomfortable. Kira grabbed the tallest one and turned to glace at Tarn. Eric looked up, catching her gaze, then slipped between them while the ex-Marine busied himself with displaying a very hairy back and butt so he could slip into the suit.
With him distracted, Kira shucked her robe and jumped into her suit, zipping it up quickly before fixing the helmet on. The onboard system powered up and did a system check. With a few adjustments it read off a list of green statuses. Kira turned to see Eric helping Tarn into a different suit, then waited patiently for the porcine man to be ready.
“Get back to the bridge,” Eric told her. “I’ll help Tarn finish up, you’re needed up there.”
“Be careful!” She whispered.
“Careful’s my middle name, Legs!” Kira squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fist at Tarn’s voice over the suit-to-suit radio. He chuckled even as she turned and stormed off.
Her station at the bridge was far from comfortable in a bulky space suit. They had evolved and improved over the years but still weighed twenty five pounds and remained bulky enough to make even a runway model feel like they were wearing a fat suit. She settled in as best she could and then had to break the seal on her suit so she could route the suit’s internal data cable to her palm. After she resealed it, and noticed the Captain trying to look everywhere but at her, she applied the external cable to her station to allow her direct input to the system.
“Sorry, Sir,” she said, somewhat out of breath. “I’m ready now.”
“Kira, the bridge is yours. Do what you think is best should the situation require it.” Sharp gave her tap on the shoulder that she barely felt through the suit then he turned and left the bridge.
She stared after him for a long moment, then turned back to look at the partially functioning screens. She swallowed loudly, aware that the only thing she could hear was inside her own helmet. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got left,” she muttered, feeding fresh commands into the computer as quickly as she could think them up.
But wait, there’s more! How about a link to a downloadable PDF for a sample of it too?
Book 2 has been written (rough draft), what remains is cover art and editing. October – November launch date planned. So snatch this one up quick so you can be ready for the next one!
Books by Jason 