The first draft of the trilogy took two years to write. As I expanded the story to go beyond one family’s fight to survive, I made it a global conflict with an evolving bioterror threat that would change the world. Revisions took another year. Plans for an audiobook are in the works and soon I’ll reveal a new look for this trilogy.
For the next few days, the ebook for This Plague of Days will be on sale for just 99¢.
This Plague of Days has been my bestselling series for a long time. However, change is coming. It’s time to revamp the covers. We’re working on that so, in the meantime, I’m having a Goodbye TPOD sale. The first season will return to the regular price on September 3, 2019.
But did you know I have other books set at 99¢?
This collection of shorts explores various apocalyptic scenarios. All Empires Fall packs in a lot of fun at a low low price. If the end of the world fascinates you, pick this one up!
Besides apocalyptic epics like The Dimension War Series, AFTER Life and Robot Planet, I also love to write killer crime thrillers.
The cops always show up late so this short story collection mostly focuses on my specialty: Bad versus Evil. Villains, anti-heroes, complicated people who don’t understand their place in the world. That’s my sweet, sweet jam. It will be yours, too, and for just 99¢, you can get a cheap sample and lots of entertainment in Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close.
To grab your deals, the links to the right will take you to Amazon.com.
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.
I’ve been working for a long time to build up to this moment. I love getting new books out into the world. It was a ton of hard work but I just hit publish on a short story collection, a box set, and a new thriller! Then, this morning, the car had to go to the shop, the drugstore informed me that something our insurance had covered no longer did and bam! There’s that nasty eye infection. HA! Crazy ups and downs, right? Ow, my eye hurts.
Still, it’s a good day. I’m at the coffee office waiting to hear from the garage, working away fairly happily and waiting for my doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I can complain, but not too much.
The new books, Rob. Tell us about the books!
Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.
My funny deadly hit man, Jesus Diaz, is back in Resurrection, A HIt Man Thriller!
In Bigger Than Jesus, his goal was to escape New York’s Spanish mob. His ex got out of the gangster life with two bags of stolen mob money. Now the Machine is after her. Hunted and cornered, the little Cuban hit man and the lovely Lily Vasquez will have to team up to survive. Lily is deadly, too. When trouble comes knocking, she asks herself, what would Jesus do?
Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close is available on Amazon in ebook and paperback. The ebook is only 99 cents!
Seven crimes, seven stories. This anthology (only 99 cents!) will keep you turning pages through the night. Each short story is set in a different place but each one hits hard, sometime soon, somewhere close. Discover the gripping story behind the missing fisherman in Nova Scotia. In Detroit, witness the aborted birth of a monster. In Ames, you’ll find a bullied boy’s inelegant solution to stop his pain. I love these shorts. Bonus, the anthology is not that short. There’s plenty of meat in this collection of new fiction to keep you reading through the night. Enjoy!
The fun of this series comes from the witty dialogue, hardboiled action and a whole heapin’ helpin’ of “How the heck is he going to get out of this one?” The storytelling is unusual and the plots are unpredictable.
For a limited time, the first three books in the Hit Man Series, are available in this e-box set for just 99 cents! I know many of my readers discovered my fiction because of my most popular series, This Plague of Days. I appreciate it, but I hope some zombie/vampire/human conflict fans will give my noir crime stories a chance, too. (You get all the action and all the fun of three suspenseful thrillers for less than a buck. In print, it would be over 700 pages!) So, if you don’t know Jesus, get Bigger Than Jesus, Higher Than Jesus and Hollywood Jesus all in one fun package.
BONUS: Not sure about taking on the roaring rapids in Resurrection? You’ll get a sneak peek at Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller at the end of the box set.
I’m off to yet another doctor’s appointment now, but despite life’s speed bumps, I’m feeling great about these new books. You’re going to have a lot of fun with them. I had a great time writing them, especially the Nova Scotian dialogue in Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close. Some of us talk a little funny so…well, you’ll find out.
Happy reading!
~ I write suspenseful books in several genres. Just when you’re sure you know what’s about to happen, something else surprising will happen. I’m always on the hunt for super readers. Please sign up for updates here and if you dig my sling, please spread the happy word by reviewing the books on Amazon. Thanks!
My contribution to this major sale is Bigger Than Jesus, the first in my series about a funny hitman on the run from the mob, his past and the FBI. Just 99 cents!
Inexpensive books plus a chance at winning a kindle! I mean, c’mon and come on over! Click the pic above.
Crime thrillers, cozies, suspense! A kindle! Act now!
You can read Hollywood Jesus as a standalone thriller beginning October 1, or read the series from the beginning, in the The Divine Assassin’s Playbook, Omnibus Edition.
FYI: The Omnibus will contains the first three books: Bigger Than Jesus, Higher Than Jesus and Hollywood Jesus and will launch at the same time.
