This deal’s for you.

Like action, jokes and sexiness delivered at machine-gun speed? For a limited time, you can pick up this deal: the first three books in the Hit Man Series for only 99 cents. You also get a sneak peek at Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller and, if you only buy paperbacks, pick up the omnibus in dead tree form.

To check out all my books on your local Amazon store, click this universal link.


That bit was about the deal was to benefit me, of course. Read below for something to benefit you in life (besides the three books packed with entertainment, I mean.)

After I read Blake Crouch’s Run, I decided I wanted to emulate that same fast pace. That inspiration led to Bigger Than Jesus, starring Jesus Diaz. Some writers outline and others discover the story as it goes along. With Bigger Than Jesus, I would paint my funny little Cuban hit man into a corner. I would head off to bed each night wondering how he would talk or fight his way out of trouble. That’s how I learned to trust the power of the hypnagogic state.

What’s the hypnagogic state?

Each night, my last thought before I went to sleep was a question: What will Jesus do next? In the morning, the answer always came to me. (The benzene ring was discovered the same way.)

As I described in detail in
Do the Thing, I find that in that short period between sleep and full wakefulness, I hit peak creativity. That’s when the answers to plot problems (and other issues) arrive.

I’ve learned a lot from my writing life. One of those lessons was to trust the process more. I’m more relaxed in the face of chaos, more confident it will all work out right as long as we keep working at solving problems.

What’s the Hit Man Series about?

As a child, Jesus Diaz fled Cuba with his family. They didn’t make it out of the water. As soon as he got to Florida, he was kidnapped and held for years by monstrous people. First Jesus escaped to the streets, then into the military. Upon his return, he got mixed up with the Machine, New York’s Spanish mob. The story is told in an unusual way from an unusual POV but the attitude, jokes, and action remind me of old noir movies packed with witty dialogue.

In
Bigger Than Jesus, his only goal is to get out of New York and the mob with his girlfriend, Lily Vasquez. (That and take some stolen money to finance his stab at a new life.) Vigilante author Claude Bouchard describes it as “Wickedly real and violently funny.”

In
Higher Than Jesus, we find out about Diaz’s struggles with addiction as he does his best to save a woman from her demons and a very bad arms dealer. A lot of things explode in Chicago.

Jesus tries to go legit and work for a security firm specializing in protecting celebrities. Going legit doesn’t last long when he encounters a sex trafficking ring and has to confront pursuers both from the FBI and the Machine.
Hollywood Jesus is full of twists as Jesus goes up against a bad guy who is even more deadly at the hit man game.

Resurrection can be read as a standalone

After a hiatus from this series, it was time to get Jesus back in the action. However, in Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller, the story is told from the point of view of Lily Vasquez. The storytelling has the same quirky sense of humor of a Coen’s brothers’ movie (complete with plenty of movie references!).

After Lily escaped from New York’s Machine, she thought she was free to live how she wanted. In
Resurrection, Big Denny De Molina has a long memory and he wants the money she stole. She’ll do anything to stay alive and Jesus Diaz will do anything to protect her. The action bounces from Europe to Miami and back to New York as the loop from Bigger Than Jesus is closed.

Here’s that universal link again so you can be taken to your local Amazon store for all my books.

~ I write killer crime thrillers and apocalyptic epics. I’m always on the hunt for super readers and I hope you become one of them. If you’re a big fan, join us on the FB fan page for daily updates, jokes and peeks behind the curtain.

Bang! Pow! Resurrected!

I liked the original cover I had for Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller. Then along came this beauty:

Amazon.com link: http://bit.ly/RCCResurrection

This is so strong because, of course, it pops. It’s also in keeping with the feel of the other covers in the series (only more so)! Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller is the fourth novel in the series but can be read as a standalone.

In the first three books of the Hit Man Series, the suspense unfolds and the action speeds along from an unusual POV: second-person, present tense. There was a good reason for that. Jesus Diaz, my funny Cuban hit man, copes with his struggles by imagining he’s in a movie. Given his unusual and torturous childhood, it’s expected he’s a little wacky. In Resurrection, the story is told from Lily Vasquez’s point of view. She was Jesus’ girlfriend in Bigger Than Jesus. Hunted by the mob, she’s just as deadly as her ex and will do anything to stay alive and free.

The storytelling in Resurrection is perhaps more in line with what readers of the genre expect. However, it’s still packed with jokes, sexiness and clever action sequences. You’re going to love the movie in your head.

Special thanks go to Kit Foster of Literartydesign.com who came through with this surprise killer cover. It’s a great match for this killer crime thriller.

Pick up Resurrection now and let the crime spree begin!

The Hit Man Edition (plus blowing up in Hollywood!)

Chazz is back! And so is the hit man! That can’t be a coincidence. Anybody seen these two guys in the same room at once?

Today we continue with the author reading of Higher Than Jesus. Meanwhile, the third book in the Hit Man Series is suddenly available. Don’t know what I’m talking about? It’s the funny/hardboiled adventure with my luckless Cuban anti-hero, Jesus Diaz. Come for the action and surprises. Stay for the jokes.

Good news! All three books are also now available in one ebook edition: The Divine Assassin’s Playbook, Omnibus Edition! Read all three crime novels — Bigger Than Jesus, Higher Than Jesus, and the latest, Hollywood Jesus — for one low price.

Check out all the books by Robert Chazz Chute at AllThatChazz.com. Talk to the Divine Assassin directly on Twitter @AssassinsPlayBk.

Hire our sponsor and amazing graphic design genius, Kit Foster, at KitFosterDesign.com.

The next book in the Hit Man Series is…

The third book in the Hit Man Series, Hollywood Jesus is almost here.

The editorial pipeline is full and humming with hardboiled activity.

Hearing happy things from beta readers. (Much thanks to the Steel Falcon Beta Read Team!) Aiming for launch October 1 for Hollywood Jesus, Rise of the Divine Assassin. It’s fun, funny, violent, poignant and violently funny. (I’d planned on calling it Deader Than Jesus. Then I decided to hurry up with the rebrand of the series.) Here’s what the cover will look like.

Cover blurb supplied by Hit Man fan and horror multitalented author Armand Rosamilia.

HJ COVER FINAL LADY IN REDFind Jesus on Amazon October 1, 2014.

Deader Than Jesus: The Hit Man Movie

I’m working on the last draft of the next instalment of the Hit Man Series, Deader Than Jesus. My luckless Cuban assassin has big plans for tonight. Here’s an excerpt from today’s revisions… 

Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, the character of the clever hit man will be played by Jesus Diaz. The actor’s motivation will be supplied by his lost childhood and tortured fool’s soul.

Take a deep breath. Step closer to the mirror. Look into your eyes and try to find the man behind the scary luchadore mask. What happens tonight shouldn’t be narrated by Morgan Freeman. Tough guy voice over work for tonight’s adventure should be supplied by the cowboy in the Big Lebowksi, Sam Elliot. Or maybe Dennis Leary could put a funny, edgy spin on what’s about to unfold, like he does for those truck commercials.

Somebody really badass should play you. If John Leguizamo isn’t available, can Jason Statham play a short Cuban?

I think the book will be out in a month (or less.) Stay tuned, and be sure to read Bigger Than Jesus and Higher Than Jesus. You can jump in anywhere, but you’ll get the full flavor if you start at the beginning. Enjoy.

Podcast: A Kiss Before Dying

I miss America. It was awesome. However, with the plague coming, it was going down anyway. This Plague of Days, my world flu pandemic/autistic/zombie apocalypse horror serial will be released soon.

(Check out ThisPlagueOfDays.com for sneak peaks and to find out more.)

Meanwhile, in this episode of All That Chazz, I read another chapter from my crime novel, Higher Than Jesus.

The Story So Far

Higher than Jesus Final NEW copy 2Cuban assassin-for-hire Jesus Diaz has come to Chicago to escape all the trouble he started up with New York’s Spanish mob (as told in Bigger Than Jesus). After killing a bad guy on Christmas day, he finds himself in the middle of an arms deal going terribly wrong. Two groups: a gang called the Victorious and a group of religious nuts called the Recipients are vying for the same arms shipment. Diaz has fallen for his new boss’s beautiful daughter, Willow Clemont. Chill, the bodyguard has to keep Willow safe while Jesus deal with the bad guys. Last week’s episode got sexy. Things are about to get hotter, but not in a happy way.

For all the links to all the books, go to AllThatChazz.com and click the Shop tab.

Photo on 12-12-05 at 4.33 PMThis podcast is sponsored in part by Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. Music today was Mechanolith and What You Want #2, both supplied by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com.

If you love the show, feel free to donate to help me with the bandwidth costs, buy the books or leave a happy review in iTunes to help more people find me. Thanks! I appreciate the help and I appreciate you!

Cheers!

Chazz

Writing the novel: Overcoming plot problems & cranking up the pace

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM…

I’ve been stymied. I hate that. I’ve been working on the new novel in the Hit Man Series, Hollywood Jesus. Several chapters went well, but there was something missing and I just figured out why it wasn’t firing on all cylinders. I was holding back. I wasn’t being reckless enough.

MY SOLUTION…

What makes Bigger Than Jesus such a great read is that it has the pace of a long chase scene with lots of twists and cliffhangers and no chance for anyone to catch their breath. I wrote Bigger Than in a certain way that was braver and less calculated than what I have been doing. As I wrote Bigger Than, each night I finished a chapter I often had no real idea how I’d get Jesus Diaz out of the corner I’d written him into. The next morning the answer came. (Sometimes it didn’t and I had to think longer, but when you ask the right question, the answer always appears.)

CUTTING & REWRITING…

The first stab at Hollywood Jesus wasn’t all bad. The chase scene with the cops and the scary way Jesus gets out of it? I’m keeping that. The meeting in the office? I’ll lose that. It’s too static and talky. I’m also keeping the big ending I’d planned, but the plots and plans and surprises go deeper and I’ll introduce new motivations. 

The first two books started out with a murder. This time? It’s different, but no less scary and creepy. The key to making the character work for the reader is that he was terribly abused as a child and my funny hit man identifies with innocent victims. Jesus has a code and he always tries to make sure no civilians are hurt on his missions. Now that I see how this plot is going to unfold, it’s a much bigger, more sweeping story that has roots all the way back to the heart of book one of the series.

Jesus Diaz was in deep trouble with my first attempt at this book. I understand now how I can shove him down so deep, Hollywood Jesus will have a deeper emotional impact as well as more action with a pace that matches Bigger Than Jesus. Maybe even faster.

THE BIG PICTURE…

Bigger Than Jesus

New York; Opens with fast, perilous action; it’s a quest for money, love and escape with the alluring Lily Vasquez. 

Theme: A man stands up to the Machine. He is not a cog.

Higher Than Jesus

Chicago; Opens with increasing tension, battling drug addiction while fighting  two opposing forces over an arms deal and trying to save the body and soul of the sexy glamazon, Willow Clemont.

Theme: To become who you are meant to be, you have to conquer your failings.

Hollywood Jesus

L.A.; Opens with a rescue; opens old wounds in a war with multiple, powerful enemies, a slavery ring that hits Jesus very close to his heart and two beautiful women. Expect betrayal. Even so, you’ll be surprised from whence it strikes.

Theme: Sacrifice for the greater good…sucks.

I got my groove back, Stella! (That’s a dated book and movie reference, but it made somebody reading this smile briefly.)

~ Get all the books by Robert Chazz Chute here.