Free story, vaccination adventures and more...
Apr 22, 2021 7:51 pm
Hello from London,
So much to say, where do I start?
If you took the time to listen to my Shadows audiobook last week, and in particular if you sent me your feedback, then thank you very much. It's nice to know so many of you liked the story and I appreciate your reaching out to tell me as much. The text of the story is released today to members of this list, you can find it below. The audio is still available.
The London climate has finally realized it's April and the sun is gracing our polluted pavements (sidewalks for those across the pond), and illuminating the local brutalist architecture. Spring in London is always a relief, as we are finally liberated from the grim clutch of a very grey winter. This year all the moreso because Spring is accompanied by the removal of Covid-19 restrictions, which means terrasses are popping up where previously there were only parked cars, and it's putting everyone in a good mood. My happiness is marred only by the flowering of trees in the olive family, which cause constant sneezing and itchy eyes, and which grow on the street outside my front windows.
This email is long and has many moving parts. Here's a map:
- I've had the Covid vaccine and it was horrible.
- Shadows is now published, download it here
- My review of Alice in Borderland, on Netflix
- Some promotions including free novels for your enjoyment
- Author spotlight - some books and authors for you to consider
The reason for the length of the message is the reduction in frequency to every two weeks. I thought I had nothing to say, and now I find I have too much for a short email.
In that spirit, I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes:
If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.
Which is not, actually, a quote, but a rephrasing of many, many quotes from a great many people, starting with the French philosopher Blaise Pascal.
I digress... onwards...
Covid, Vaccines, Pain.
Those of you following me for a while will know that I, along with my family, contracted Covid-19 a few months ago. TL;DR: It was unpleasant but not excessively so.
Last week, since I am privileged to live in a country that makes it possible, I received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. A procedure that started out painless and was soon followed by 36 hours of profound unpleasantness.
A price worth paying, but also worth noting. My immune system shadow-boxed the vaccine in preparation for future confrontations with the virus, which had the effect of putting me in bed with fever, the shakes and a smorgasbord of other symptoms I'd rather not revisit, even in writing.
To avoid boring you here, or triggering people with a sensibility for lists of symptoms, I'll refrain from going into detail. If you're interested in my vaccine adventure, and the associated pain/discomfort, I wrote about it on my website. You can read the article here.
Your free copy of Shadows.
Last week I released a free audiobook of Shadows (which you can still listen to by clicking here). The feedback was universally positive, which probably means that those of you who didn't like it kept that to yourselves. Your kindness does not go unnoticed.
I know many of my readers are not interested in audiobooks, and so in the spirit of equal access, I'm releasing the written version here. You can click the button below to download it.
For those of you on my Patreon (thank you, your contributions finance my coffee habit), you will have received a piece of content a few days ago that contained the original, very different version of this story, that I scrapped back in May 2020. For various reasons, I didn't like that original take on the concept of people losing their shadows, but it turns out a few people like it more than the final version. I will release it to this list in the not-too-distant future.
You can also read a short making-of stream-of-consciousness article on my website about the writing of Shadows, if that's something of interest to you.
Netflix's Alice in Borderland
Ever since I got sick with Covid and spent too much time watching bad TV, I've become slightly addicted to Asian (Korean/Japanese) sci-fi drama. I know, it's weird. What can I say?
I binge it, with my finger hovering over the "skip-forward" button because this style of storytelling has an annoying tendency to spend a great deal of time on either close-ups of faces or pointless and slightly childish side-stories.
What I like about this genre, however, is that it takes the whole "suspending your disbelief" thing to ridiculous extremes, and manages to get away with it. Watching this kind of fiction is a bit like a drug-induced high for those of us that don't do drugs. Is this what a good/bad trip would feel like?
Alice in Borderland is exactly this. With an up-front disclaimer: Trigger warnings for violence and gore; I can honestly say that I quite enjoyed my trip through the other side of this particular looking glass. By the way, it's all in Japanese with subtitles, just so you know.
You can read my review by clicking here.
I've just finished Sisyphus, a Korean sci-fi action drama, which I will probably review in a couple of days, once the bendy time-travelling logic straightens itself out in my head.
ps. I'm not affiliated to Netflix, and they don't pay me anything, I just watch it a lot.
Giveaways, Freebies, etc
Since I do this only every fortnight now, these build up and you get more of them each newsletter. Today I have three group promotions for you.
This first giveaway is for Kindle Unlimited books (look below for free books outside Kindle Unlimited), which means it'll appeal to you if you're a subscriber, because everything there is part of your subscription, including my Emily Voss books. There are a total of 27 books to choose from.
This second promotion is focused on unusual fantasy and paranormal. I'm not sure what that means, since to my way of thinking, everything paranormal or fantasy is unusual, but the 41 stories here contain a few that, judging by their covers at least, should appeal to my readers.
This final giveaway is one that I'm not going to use the image for, because it clashes completely with the style and content of everything I do, even if the content of the giveaway itself does not.
The theme here is female lead characters you can look up to. I'm not entirely sure Emily Voss (my lead character) necessarily qualifies, since her heart of gold is marinating in a vat of whisky, but I was drawn to the theme.
That's it for the group giveaways... now onto the individual author spotlights.
Author Spotlight
Here are my author suggestions for this newsletter. The first three are giveaways, the last two are links to their books on Amazon. Please click through if you find something of interest.
Writing in the Sand by David Munday
This is a preview copy of the full novel.
When Harper and her fellow colonists crash on a forbidden world, their fight for survival starts with a terrifying message in the sand. Can they decipher it in time to illegally establish Britain's presence in the Proxima system?
Atlas Nations military veteran Donald Stafford intends to protect his planet from a British incursion but first, he must face up to the sins of his past and broker an uneasy alliance with old foes.
And, as a serial killer stalks the streets of London, rookie journalist Washington Parker puts his life on the line to expose the unthinkable truths of the corrupt British government and their secretive colonisation programme.
The Black Hussars by Mitchell Luthi
This is a standalone novella and a prequel to the Plagueborne Trilogy
Yaro Anatoly commands the most feared regiment on the continent. His loyalty to the king has seen him wage war in the savage wilderness of Vorgar, the lawless free cities, and in Akasha, the domain of the southern princes.
But when the death of a saint triggers a revolution at home, Yaro finds his own loyalties divided. Can he really serve a king who hates his own people? And who are these new gods?
Into the Light by Margo Bond Collins
But sometimes all it takes is a single voice to spark a transformation that can change worlds.
This collection includes more than 30 paranormal stories of equality and justice from New York Times, USA Today, and bestselling authors.
Join these heroes and heroines bringing justice, peace, and respect to their interactions, transforming the lives of those they meet, and creating opportunities as they fight for human--and sometimes non-human--rights.
Hive by Jeremiah Ukponrefe
This is a free novella download.
The Collective military has spent its years destroying the last remnants of The Hive, an alien force that devastated the old world. bringing forth the apocalypse, and ushering a new age of warring factions.
Alexander King is a Collective soldier who during a mission monitoring the outskirts of Zone 6, discovers evidence that the Hives presence is stronger then commonly believed. With his new information it becomes vital that The Collective acts fast, for if they dont the world will be brought to its knees again in a wave of destruction that will end humanity forever.
That's all the news that's fit to print. As always, don't hesitate to reach out (hit reply). Here's hoping your Spring comes with fewer seasonal allergies than mine, and your vaccines with kinder side-effects!
All the best,
Nick.
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