"Hound of Winter" now available

Pardon me for a post.  I am about to indulge in a bit of shameless self-promotion.

I have just released a novella on Smashwords!  Hound of Winter   is available for most every e-reader platform as well as online reading (just click the linked title.)  You can even download a file for print copies if you prefer or if you just haven’t been able to get an e-reader.  If that’s the case, I certainly understand with the economy in its current state.  That’s why I’m selling it for just 99 cents.
Yes, only 99 cents!  Come on, you’ve spent a dollar on dumber things than my book.  Maybe not many things, but a few nonetheless, right? 

But Jon, I hear you ask.  What’s it about?  Glad you asked.  Here’s the summary from the back cover of Hound of Winter:

“A day can mean everything in the world to one person.
To someone else…it’s just Tuesday.
Blaine is a damaged soldier.  He has a business transaction with a London escort, an Asian goddess named Alana.  Snow is falling and she asks him to spend the night and for a while, Blaine knows pleasure and refuge from pain.
A few hours later and Alana is gone.  Blaine sees her leaving with a boss in the Russian mafia.  Thinking that she couldn’t have left him by choice, Blaine goes after her.  He’ll kill his way back to her, march through the worst winter Europe has ever seen, anything…just to be back in those arms.”

This thriller is very much in the style of the pulps and film noir.  I know it’s a departure from my usual science fiction writing but I believe variety is a virtue in an artist’s repertoire.  The novella  is also postmodern in the sense that it ebbs and flows seamlessly (I hope) between periods in a man’s life as while experimenting with the concept of the unreliable narrator; a broken, stunted, but fundamentally good man that I hope the reader will root for…despite the hopeless path he has chosen.

You might also be wondering why I have chosen to self-publish in e-format.  I have two reasons.  One, books are going to be increasingly available online and in certain cases, available online only.  Two, I find fewer and fewer reasons to go after an agent/publishing house deal.  Were I to succeed in the traditional sense, i.e. get an agent, get print books out, etc. I really wouldn’t be getting ahead in the game.  Publishers allow you little control over your book in terms of cover and appearance, they will take the majority of your profits, and the sales and marketing end of things are completely up to you, the author.
How am I coming out ahead in this again?

I’m done worrying about getting a “gatekeeper’s” meaningless seal of approval for my work.  I care about what you, the reader thinks about it.

So if you are so inclined, please download Hound of Winter.  Give it a read, it’s short and you can probably get through it in say…two commuter train rides.  Then let me know what you think about it.  Thanks!

By the way, if you like the art for the book, it was done by the ever-wonderful Jessica Good at 3AM Fright.  Writers...if you need a book cover or any other artwork, contact Jessica at angelgrunge@gmail.com .  She does great work for a very affordable price and gives you service you couldn't hope to get anywhere else.

Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets