Xander WeaverNotes from a thriller writer’s desk

Rogue Faction Part 1 & Kindle Scout

Amazon launched a new crowdsourcing initiative earlier this week called Kindle Scout.  Authors can submit previously unpublished books into the program and Amazon then gets a 45-day exclusive with that manuscript.  A sample is made available to Amazon account holders and readers then effectively vote on the books they like best.  The so-called winners get a publishing contract with one of Amazon’s imprints.  I’ve submitted Rogue Faction Part 1 into the program.  You can find it here: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2XMSEJY3JFKJ6.  Read the sample.  Give it a vote if you like.  The program will be …

By |2017-04-21T17:29:07-05:00Oct 30, 2014|Misc., Writing|

Ten Books that Have Stuck with Me

The social circus has been buzzing with a question that I found interesting.  What are 10 books that have stuck with you?  The idea is to create a list of books that had an impact on you the lasted for months, or even years.  It’s a great question, and one I only needed to give a little thought to before creating my list.  The major shortcoming of the meme that’s making its way around the social networks is that it doesn’t ask people to explain what it …

By |2017-04-21T17:30:56-05:00Aug 25, 2014|Misc.|

Welcome to the Blog Tour

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 …

By |2017-04-21T17:32:29-05:00Aug 11, 2014|Progress Updates, Writing|

Dangerous Minds: Available Now!

I’m excited to announce the release of the first novel in the Cyrus Cooper thriller series: Dangerous Minds!  I was trying to get it posted and available on Amazon.com for June 1st, but I actually beat the deadline by 2 days.  So while June 1st was the official launch date, those who were watching Amazon closely, noticed that the book arrived slightly ahead of schedule. Here’s the copy that’s currently displayed with the book on Amazon: When test subjects participating in secret experiments begin to mysteriously die, …

By |2017-04-21T17:34:24-05:00Jun 1, 2014|Progress Updates, Writing|

Progress Update: Lots of Changes

I’ve made a lot of changes since my last post.  Not the least of which include new titles for the books.  While I liked what I had previously, those titles seemed more pretentious than they did creative.  And while the original titles were good because they were unique, the new ones are more down to earth and simple.  So why did I like the originals so much in the first place?  First of all, they were creative and highly relevant to each novel.  But just as importantly, each title was …

By |2017-04-21T17:35:40-05:00May 1, 2014|Progress Updates, Writing|

Halon-Seven: Editing

The first book I wrote is called Halon-Seven.  I sent my best effort to my editor on August 5th, 2013.  I refer that that as my best effort because, at that point I had read the book several times.  I had already completed 5 full edits on my own.  These included massive editing contributions from my wife, family, and a very good friend.  In an effort to put my best foot forward, I had logged dozens of hours on those 5 edits before ever sending the …

By |2017-04-21T17:37:15-05:00Jan 31, 2014|Progress Updates, Writing|

The Beta Praxis: First Draft

I've finished work on the first draft of what I'm calling book #3.  It's titled, The Beta Praxis.  While something of a unique name, and praxis is a fairly unfamiliar word, it's quite appropriate considering everything that is happening in the book.  Title's always kick my ass.  That, and cover art.  The need to reduce the essence of hundreds of pages of story into a few simple images or a single phrase seems to have detrimental effects on my mind. The Beta Praxis is shorter …

By |2017-04-21T17:38:39-05:00Dec 15, 2013|Progress Updates, Writing|

The First Draft of Project Lamplighter is Complete

I posted about this on Facebook this morning, but I thought it was worthy of a quick site post of its own.  I finished that last chapter of Project Lamplighter last night.  This is my second novel and the prequel to Halon-Seven, which I hope to release by year-end.  Written entirely in my spare time, the first draft of Project Lamplighter was started July 1st, 2013 and finished on October 30th, 3013.  It's 182,000 words and took me a grand total of 170.23 hours to …

By |2017-04-21T17:39:58-05:00Oct 31, 2013|Progress Updates, Writing|

Preparing for the Release of Book #1: Halon-Seven

As I prepare for the release of Halon-Seven, book #1 of an as of yet un-named series, I'm getting the web site ready for prime-time.  My social profiles have been live and active for a while, so I hope folks have found me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  I've been trying to post notes as regarding my progress on books one and two as work through the various pre-release stages. The good news is that Halon-Seven is getting closer to release.  It's been with the …

By |2017-04-21T17:41:01-05:00Oct 29, 2013|Progress Updates, Writing|
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