Welcome, new folks!

Hi, there. If you've joined the mailing list recently, I want to make sure you get your free Frosthelm book, Traitors Unseen. If you haven't gotten it, you can get it free here (the site will ask you to sign up for this newsletter, which you're already getting) or here from Smashwords. It's also on Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Please, enjoy with my compliments.

Lots of Frosthelm for not much money!

-- One day only! --

I was able to land an elusive promotion through BookBub, my first one in three years of trying, so my Inquisitors' Guild box set, which includes Flames Over Frosthelm, The Outcast Crown, and The Woeling Lass, is currently on sale for only $0.99, or 33 cents per book. The sale will be going on until Friday morning, so if you act fast, you can pick up these three books for yourself or for a friend for less than the cost of a candy bar.

I've sold almost 1500 copies of the box set in the last five days. This hasn't quite made back the price of the promotion, because the royalties on a $0.99 book are very small, but this is still way more sales than I've ever had in that length of time. An interesting and exciting week. The sales are shown below - you can see the huge impact of the promotion on the 11th.

A bit frantic over here...

March is proving to be a very busy time for me. First, I got word that my next card game, Return of Doctor Esker's Notebook, is finished printing and is making its way here from India.

I don't mention my other gig very much here, but I publish a line of puzzle card games, kind of like little escape rooms in a deck of cards. I've been selling them via my website (Plankton Games), via Amazon, and in some game stores since 2020, and this past winter I ran a Kickstarter to print the third one. That was a fun process, and I had a lot of great support from Kickstarter folks. I sent the game away for printing in January, and it's on its way back here from Delhi to Charlotte. I'll need to get the games (1100 of them) through customs and delivered to me here in Greensboro, which requires a customs broker and some logistics work, and then I need to send the games out to over 300 backers and then get them set up to sell on Amazon and on my site, and then get some of them out to reviewers. All in all, a busy time, and then I need to do it again, because the Kickstarter reached one of its stretch goals, which is yet another game! So, I'll be going through the design, printing, importing, and shipping process again later this year.

If you're interested in learning more, the Kickstarter campaign is linked from the image above, and the main Dr. Esker's Notebook site is here.

Houses and other distractions

In other news, we have been house-hunting for almost nine months. My kids are grown, through college, and are living their lives elsewhere now, so our house for the last 20 years is pretty big and empty for the two of us (Christina and me). We finally found a smaller house that was within the size and price range we wanted, and most importantly, within walking distance of some great restaurants and a grocery store. We loved walking everywhere (along with using public transportation) when we lived in Munich for 5 months back in 2009, and we've been hoping to recreate some of that here in Greensboro. That's a challenge, because Greensboro is very car-focused, but we think this will be a really neat new adventure for us, and the house is cute and fun, a bungalow-style place built in the late 1930's.

Now, we need to sort through a few decades of stuff, find new homes for a lot of it, and move the rest across town, along with all the other challenges of relocating. The good news for you all (I hope) is that I'll have a great little home office space for writing and game design there, much nicer than my basement office here. I don't know if my books will change now that I'll be able to see the sun and sky, and now that our cats will be able to visit me (they're banned from the basement here), but we'll have to see. Maybe there's a cat-based solar exploration novel in me waiting to get out.

I've also been doing some writing for a computer game studio that approached me after a Daros fan recommended me for their project. Writing for video games is a ton of fun. I'll have more on that when the process is closer to completion.

Book updates

Although March has turned out to be busy, I'm still chugging away on the Kenai rewrite. The release may bleed into April given all the other stuff I have to do, but I should be able to get it to you soon. It's a really fun book, but it's complex, and I want to get the story right.

I've done some plot planning on my next thriller (currently about 90% done), and I can see my way to a better way to end it now through a couple of tweaks. After Kenai's finished, I'll get to work on that.

My new fantasy novel (maybe 7% done) is looking like it won't be ready for this year's SPFBO, but I have really enjoyed working on it, and I have some cool ideas to explore. I hope to get going on that one soon too. It's looking like it will maybe be set in the same world as the Frosthelm books, with a similar level of technology, magic, and societal development, but not in the city-state of Frosthelm. I haven't quite figured that part out yet, but we'll see how it goes. I kind of like the idea of a Dave Cinematic Universe approach, if it fits.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have The Female Breeders by Melanie Bokstad Horev, a story about a future where genetically modified superwomen from five clans rule an uneasy world. Men are relegated to arena combat to prove their genetic worth. So much dystopia here, and did I mention arena combat? This sounds awesome, and it's highly rated on Amazon.

Next up, Maisy's AI by Anna Janelle. This is a 40-page novelette with a stunning cover. A cautionary tale about the risks of AI unleashed, this quick read is only $0.99.

Next, I have Defiant Space by Richard Rimington. This is a space opera about a peaceful planet that gets invaded (to be annexed) by vile space villains. The residents of the planet have one ship, the Fidelity, out there trying to take on their enemies and save them. Sounds like a great space opera premise! Free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Finally, I have When She Touches by Sheryl M. Frazer, a genre-bending book - a psychic empath mystery about a woman who investigates mysteries using empathic powers. This is book two in the series, but it's a standalone novel. Free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Thanks

Thanks for reading! I never know how much you all want to know about my life, but I figured I'd give you a little window into some of it this month. Let me know if you'd like to hear more, or if you want it strictly about the books.

I hope you and your friends and family are having a safe and rewarding spring.

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave