A few things to write about.

Some of you probably already heard that MM was free this past week. It was on for about 5 days on Amazon and about 2 weeks on Kobo. Why so long on Kobo–originally, back when I had MM optioned, I let it go for free on Amazon for a short time, but forgot to let it go on Kobo (or, at least, I couldn’t remember doing it).

A week and a bit ago, there were some movie rumblings, like the distant grumbling of thunder around mountaintops. I can’t talk much about what’s been discussed for fear of it all going to hell, but things have been talked about, and I’m learning about the movie business as I go. But there was some good news, which sparked the inclination to quietly make MM free for a short time.

Then I remembered Kobo, and decided to give a few copies away over there first. Amazon price matched later on in the week and last I checked, about 56oo copies flew out the door. At one time, MM was listed at number 2 on the free horror chart.  Funny, but, it took Amazon a week to price match Kobo when it was free over there, so I assumed it would take a week for them to notice I’d changed it back last night….

Not so.  o.O

Woke up this morning and MM is back to full price.  So if you got a copy, I hope you like the read. Will MM go free again anytime in the future? Unknown, but I’m leaning towards no. I’m not one for giving away thousands of free books, as I feel they’re discounted to begin with. And I’m always reminded of that around tax season. O.O

And speaking of books, development of MM4 has slowed down again. Hit a few snags and really struggling at times, but the edit slot I’ve reserved hasn’t been moved back or cancelled (it’s for mid-June) so I’m going to try to make that deadline. Why has it been a struggle? Short answer:  Zombie burnout and life. Right now it’s a big book sitting around 85K with what feels like a lot of story left to tell. I once thought to make the first 30K a novella, but the reader in me says ‘no’ and to keep it all together in one volume. I’m okay with that, except that it *might* have to be done for the paperback—paperbacks are expensive to produce, and the printer (Createspace) has frowned when I combined novellas with novels before (the 131 Days book).

Also, BREEDS is now available in paperback and I must say, it looks mighty fine. Finally got my proof copy a few days ago and I was really impressed with the quality.

And finally, but certainly not least, the Audio versions of The Hospital (free, by the way) and Mountain Man are now available from Podium Publishing. They’ve been on sale since the last of March and look to be doing well. I’ve listened to the samples and I have to say, I was never one for audio books, but RC Bray has made me think differently. He did a great job narrating the books (the man’s a natural storyteller) and the quality of Podium’s studio wizard is top-shelf.  Go sample.

131 Days readers–I took a week from writing MM4 to finish the second draft of book 3 tentatively called “House of Pain.” That one goes to the editor mid-May and hopefully will be a early summer release. Only hope you like it.

I have one other book to take care of before I move on to fresh stuff. The sequel to “White Sands, Red Steel” is here awaiting a massive re-write. I thought I could tweak it but now, I’m thinking the whole thing might have to be written from the beginning. That book is the last one I was tinkering with before life stepped in and judo tossed me, and I’d like to get that short-cut to the story’s working folder off my screen here. Once that’s done, I’ll look at what’s next on the list of projects.

And that’s it. Spring finally arrived and the thaw has begun in earnest. It was a long and weary winter. In March, I was cringing every time I heard “yet another low pressure system moving in…”

It’s over now. I hope you all made it through, and that your summer is a good one.