Wild-Side
Today

I was moving fast. Far faster than was safe, given the three-quarter moon, the rough terrain, and the dangers of the creatures stalking the wilderness. They called it the Forbidden Zone for a reason. Actually, they had a lot of names for it, but none captured the horror that the people of that world felt for the untold miles of untouched forest surrounding one of their few small cities. The city walls had been enough to keep the denizens of Wild-Side safe until recently, and I still didn’t know if the few who had gone missing had somehow been taken or had just wandered off before falling prey to creatures from their darkest nightmares.

While I still had hope that the city walls held integrity, there was no question the Elend were growing bolder as they became more organized. They were also expanding in numbers; the truth of the correlation was still only a suspicion as I plowed through the thick brush and vegetation. The wilds of the Reaches resembled those of the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest of home. Tall trees consisted of everything from conifers to massive oaks, redwoods, and elms. But it was like the size restrictions of my world—Our-World—didn’t apply there. It was common for hardwoods to be bigger around at the base than the bedroom I had as a child. Maybe it had something to do with the population of Wild-Side. Though the people were unquestionably more technologically advanced, somehow, they had evolved in small numbers and managed not to overpopulate their world. They never became a burden on their natural resources, and it seemed their technology evolved quickly enough to keep them from making the same mistakes as Our-World.

Nearly the entire population lived in five small cities situated across two large continents. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles of virgin wilderness separated each city. And somehow, it worked. The people, for the most part, lived healthier and more content lives than the people of Our-World. They were intelligent, had resources, and their technology benefited them without damaging their environment.

Unfortunately, they were no longer at the top of their food chain. Something happened just over a year before that day in the woods. It shifted the balance of power, not only for the Seeley but for Our-World, too. Looking back, stopping it was obviously beyond my ability. A doorway was opened, and though I played a part, from what I’m told, it was certain to happen sooner or later. If not for me at that time, it would have been someone like me, perhaps generations later.

It was only ever a matter of time. Regardless, what happens next is on me. I can and will bring balance to both worlds… even if it is the last thing I ever do.

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My new book is tentatively called Worlds Collide. While the name and content are subject to change, I’ll use this site to publish a new chapter each week. As of today, that’s a 29-week commitment. That’s intimidating, but it will motivate me to hammer out the second draft and maybe get some eyeballs on it along the way.

Unlike my other books, Worlds Collide is intended to be a one-and-done release. This isn’t the start of a new series. And for better or worse, the page count reflects that. Like the rest of my books to date, readers can expect action and suspense with a liberal splash of science fiction. And while the subject matter could be seen to trend slightly more toward the horror genre than is typical of my work, that is more than offset by what I hope to be a tone of humor from the first-person character driving the narrative.

Anyone reading these releases as posted can expect typos, glitches, and mistakes common to a work’s second draft. I’ll publish the story to this site, warts and all, before the book is sent to my editor or even my beta readers.

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The latest releases in the Cyrus Cooper series have been in the works for a long time, but I think the new books will be worth the wait. After the big reveal at the end of Halon-Seven, there were so many directions I could take the story. My problem was that I liked many of them so much that selecting a path was difficult.

As the title suggests, Surviving Origin (SO) brings the fringe technology cult into focus. The group was peripherally mentioned in Rouge Faction Part 2 and Halon-Seven. These new books pull harder at long-standing plot threads, such as Cyrus’s origin, the murky past of the Coalition, and Gertrude Waterford’s paranormal experimentation in Rouge Faction 1 and 2. I plan one more book in the series, pulling all these threads and more into what I expect to be an exciting conclusion.

For now, I am happy to announce the print and ebook releases of Surviving Origin, Part 1 and Part 2.

It has been a while since my last published book, but that hasn’t been for a lack of writing. If anything, it’s because I have been working on too many projects at once. Today, I released the first book in a new series, Black Rock: The Rising, Death Curse.

While my past books have been primarily action/thriller with a twist of sci-fi, this book trends a little more toward the supernatural with concepts like remote viewing, mysterious disappearing islands, and witches burned at the stake. But not to worry, there’s also mystery, adventure, mafia enforcers, and characters that make it all worthwhile.

As always, I write the kind of stories I want to read. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The Amazon ebook lands today and the print release can be expected closer to the end of May.

The latest release in the Cyrus Cooper thriller series is now available in Kindle e-book format and trade paperback at Amazon and other major book retailers.  Though Halon-Seven is book #4 in the series, it also works well as a standalone introduction to the series.  New readers are offered a heart-pounding introduction to Cyrus Cooper.  Fans of the series will find him at a pivotal new point in his life.  If you’re new to the series, Halon-Seven offers tantalizing hints about Cyrus’s past.  Some secrets are covered in the earlier books but some will be revealed with the release of book #5: Surviving Origin.  If you’ve followed since book #1, you’re not going to believe where this edition ends up.

In any case, this is the best book yet.  I’m certain of it.
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Book #3 in my Cyrus Cooper thriller series is available today.  This is part two of the Rogue Faction story arc, and the conclusion of an important transition in the character’s life.  The book is available now for all Kindle compatible devices.  The print version will ship in approximately two weeks.

The books are serialized, in that the events of each new release build on everything that has come before them.  One of the things I did to try and make this obvious is to put Book One, Book Two, and so on in the title of each.  The characters evolve and develop over time, just like anyone.  By the end of this book, the protagonist is very different from the young man introduced in book #1.
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The second book in my Cyrus Cooper series went on sale through Amazon first thing this morning.  Rogue Faction Part 1 is the first half of a pair of novels that comprise a single larger story.  It has everything you would expect: murder, mystery, mayhem, and lots of action.  If you were wondering what comes next for Cyrus Cooper after the events in Dangerous Minds, I don’t think you will be disappointed.  Cyrus is back in action, this time working a new case that’s near and dear to his heart.

Part 2 of this story should be released shortly after the first of the year.  Since Part 1 is “To Be Continued,” I don’t want anyone left waiting for the rest of the story.  Part 1 is action packed, but Part 2 is going to take folks places they didn’t expect.  It should be a lot of fun… and it might pull at some heart strings along the way.
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The blog tour: one author tags three others, and they share information about themselves and their work.  In this case, J. Kent Holloway has tagged me.  You can read his blog post here.

1) What am I working on?

I am in the process of pulling together revisions on the final drafts of book #2 and #3 in the Cyrus Cooper series.  The books will be titled Rogue Faction Part 1 and Part 2, respectively.  The project was too big to fit into a single release, so I’ve split it into two parts—both of which will be longer than book #1, Dangerous Minds.

Since I don’t like the idea of leaving book #2 on a cliffhanger, I’m planning to release book #3 soon after #2.  Both parts have already been written.  It’s just a matter of finishing work with beta readers and the editor before I can put the books on virtual shelves.

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