#360: Poisoned Ground.  I just reviewed Sandra Parshall’s new Rachel Goddard mystery for Book Pleasures.  If you missed it, you can also look in the section “Book Reviews” of this blog.  It’s an entertaining read for all mystery fans.  Ms. Parshall is a cut above Mary Higgins Clark and Carla Neggers, those Big Five superstars; she doesn’t receive enough recognition.  But there are many authors like that who have written very good books but are unsung.  I try to do my part by pointing them out to readers.

#361: Vengeance is Mine.  I also just reviewed Harry James Kreb’s mystery on Amazon (I’ll repost this review next week here).  Unlike Sandra, Harry is an up and coming mystery writer who is a bit of Robert B. Parker, Jeffery Deaver, and James Patterson all rolled into one.  Read my review and check out the book.  Looks like this is mystery week at “News and Notices”—I’m working on finishing and content editing of The Collector, a new Chen and Castilblanco mystery that I hope to release this year.

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#354: Aristocrats and Assassins.  The release is a wee bit delayed, but it will happen real soon now.  Someone said that good things are worth waiting for.  As I age, I have more problems with that adage—my patience threshold is worse than before.  But I’ve always been impatient.  I had my entire undergraduate study planned halfway through high school.  The summer I turned thirteen, I wrote my first novel, but I figured even then I would starve as a writer, so I became a scientist, and, PATIENTLY, postponed my writing career.  So, have patience with me, dear reader—your ebook tour of Western Europe with Detectives Chen and Castilblanco will soon be available!

#355: A thorough rewrite.  My next release will probably be the complete rewrite of Solders of God.  It’s only in pbook format right now, my only novel not in ebook format.  The rewrite will be a second edition.  You will recall that it’s a bridge between “The Clones and Mutants Series” and “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” so it plays an important role in my opus.

#356: Other ebooks in the works.  After Soldiers of God, there are several other novels on my to-do list for this year.  I have two stand-alones in progress (i.e. not part of the timeline of my usual fictional universe) and another Chen and Castilblanco mystery (see the excerpt at the end of Aristocrats and Assassins).  Phew!  It’s going to be a busy year.  No guarantees on release dates.  (Yes, I often have parallel projects going on.  I learned to do this as a scientist.  I’ve found it keeps the mind agile, the writing fresh, and facilitates content editing.)

#357: Donating ebooks to libraries.  I’ve been trying to do it for a while.  Joe Konrath is starting up something that looks like a good idea where a library can pay for one ebook and then lend it out multiple times without further charges to them or their borrowers.  Sounds like a way to donate if there’s a mechanism so I can pay for Joe’s one-time charge.  They’re still working out details, though, so stay tuned.  [Apparently, they’re not answering queries, by the way—maybe because I’m not a library?  You’d think they’s want to get both libraries and ebook authors on board…sigh….]

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#346: Aristocrats and Assassins.  This fourth novel in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is in final edit and will soon be ready for my illustrious formatting and cover team of Donna Carrick (of Carrick Publishing) and Sara Carrick (graphics artist).  I hope to release it by the end of this month—if not, in early March.  (In this blog, I put out a pre-release excerpt some weeks ago.)  I was tempted to call this tale Castilblanco’s European Vacation, but that can imply comedy.  This thriller is definitely not a comedy.  It hops around Europe as my detective duo thwarts the plot of a terrorist who is kidnapping members of European royal families—not your Daddy’s Frommer’s, to say the least.  Like all novels in this series, you can read it independently of the previous ones, but they’re loads of fun too!

#347: The missing links.  An FYI for my readers: in case you didn’t realize it, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan and Soldiers of God are two important links between three of my series.  The first connects the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” to the “Clones and Mutants Series”; the second connects the “Clones and Mutants Series” to “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.”  You have an ebook version of The Golden Years (now back on Smashwords for those with non-Kindle ereaders, although that free Kindle app allows you to read .mobi files on most any device).  I’m working on an ebook version of Soldiers—it will be a second edition.

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[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog?  I’m not asking if you like the posts, just whether you read them!  If so, don’t be passive.  React.  Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please).  You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook.  In general, buy, read, and review some of my books.  Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website and my ebook releases.  Be active.  Help indie authors provide you with inexpensive entertainment.  It’s a two-way street, folks!]

#341: New books coming in 2014.  I can’t stop writing them.  I’m addicted now.  I know some of you are enjoying them, so please tell your friends and acquaintances.  My first release of 2014 will be Aristocrats and Assassins.  Yeah, I know, it sounds like historical fiction, but it’s another entry into the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” (C&C are aging—aren’t we all?—but they still have many cases left that you will enjoy hearing about).  This time the NYPD homicide detectives struggle against a terrorist who is kidnapping members of the European royal families.  His motivation is a frightening warning about how far terrorist organizations might go in order to bring Western civilization to its knees.  A pre-release extract will appear here soon.

In case you haven’t noticed, all my novels so far are related, points on a continuous timeline from 2014 (The Midas Bomb, the first C&C novel) to the far future (Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in your Hand!, the end of “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy”), even though I often talk about three series within this group (“The Clones and Mutants Series” is the third).  In 2014, I’ll start producing some stand-alones, novels that are independent of this timeline (don’t worry—C&C will also have another mystery to solve).  These stand-alones will introduce new protagonists and stories about their struggles and successes.  Two on the immediate horizon are sci-fi thrillers (surprise, surprise!).  In future “News and Notices,” I will provide a few more teasers.  Who knows?  Maybe new series will come from them.

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[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog?  I’m not asking if you like the posts, just whether you read them!  If so, don’t be passive.  React.  Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please).  You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook.  In general, buy, read, and review some of my books.  Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website and my ebook releases.  Be active.  Help indie authors provide you with inexpensive entertainment.  It’s a two-way street, folks!]

#336: The First Excellence.  Some of you might know Donna Carrick as the exceptional formatter of my ebooks.  Donna is also an excellent mystery writer.  While The First Excellence isn’t her first excellent work, it is in promotion.  I’m not sure how long this promo lasts (I think it only applies to the ebook), but here’s your chance to grab one of the best mystery stories I’ve read—it has a great plot, interesting characters, and fantastic insights into Chinese life.  You’ve probably seen it listed in the “Stealth Reads” section of my webpage “Steve’s Bookshelf.”  Even if you miss the promo, you should get the book—it’s a great read.

#337: Like sci-fi?  Perhaps you’ve heard of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game?  (I missed the movie—I’ll have to download it when it’s released online.)  I reviewed a philosophy book about Ender and his xenocide on Wednesday.  You might want to take a look at my review and the book.  Yeah, I’m reading philosophy now—go figure.  What occurred to me reading the book is that Card didn’t really solve the problem of communication between ETs and Humans (the real cause of Ender’s xenocide).  I presented this problem in Sing a Samba Galactica, the second novel in “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.”  Card also borrowed the idea of the ansible from Ursula Le Guin as a solution for FTL communication.  Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand!, the third novel in my trilogy, considers another solution that causes so much trouble that a collective intelligence known as the Swarm readjusts physical constants to rid the Galazy of it.  Have fun with these books—you might want to start with Survivors of the Chaos, the first book in the series, though.

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#329: New feature.  Starting next Wednesday (Nov. 20), I’ll start posting movie reviews, when available.  Because I see many movies, I thought it might be useful to readers of this blog to have an outside opinion about certain movies.  (By “outside opinion,” I mean (1) I’m not a professional movie reviewer; (2) I express my own opinion, often contrary to popular fads and pundits; and (3) I have no hidden agendas, actors in my family, or any connection to Hollywood, Bollywood, or Broadway.)  Sometimes my review will simply be: “I won’t see this movie because…” (that’s not really a review of the movie but a prejudice, but it can possibly help you in your viewing decisions—for example, the fiasco associated with casting Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher).

Caveat emptor: as usual, you can certainly disagree with what I write in the movie review.  You’re entitled to your opinion, but comment on the post then—other moviegoers might enjoy your opinion, whether you agree with me or not.  The posts in this blog are always open to reasonable comments—we’re a community of readers and writers and the intelligent exchange of ideas is priceless.

#330: New contest.  Every month, I’ll give a free ebook to the first person who mentions the MAGIC WORD in a reasonable comment to a blog post (see my webpage “Join the Conversation” for the definition of “reasonable comment”).  Your comment on the post has to refer to the post, of course.  In other words, it has to be more than “The Magic Word is XXX,” but the Magic Word doesn’t have to be cleverly included as part of your comment—you can finish your comment with that sentence, substituting the Magic Word for XXX, of course.

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[A heartfelt thanks to you! I don’t say it often enough here, but I want to thank every person who reads this newsletter, my other blog posts, and, of course, my novels and short stories.  My goal is to entertain.  If I’ve entertained just one person with any sample of my writing, I feel successful.  If I’ve made you pause and reflect, even better.  And, if you’ve enjoyed my writing, please pass a kind word on to your friends and relatives.  In spite of today’s internet marketing, word of mouth is still the best marketing tool an author can have!  Read on for some freebies.—Steve]

#323: Amazon promos of my new releases.  Just for you, my faithful readers of this newsletter, I offer this advance notice: My two new releases, No Amber Waves of Grain and Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape, are available as freebies on Amazon from Thursday, October 17, through Monday, October 21.  The first ebook, a sci-fi thriller, completes the “Clones and Mutant Series,” initiated by Full Medical and Evil Agenda.  The second ebook, an anthology of speculative fiction, contains the novella “Flight from Mother World,” several Doctor Carlos stories set in a future beyond that of the “Chaos Chronicles Series,” and many short stories about zombies, ghosts, weird and/or humorous situations, and unconventional sci-fi themes (please note that these short stories are no longer available in “Steve’s Shorts”).

Here’s the blurb from the Amazon webpage for No Amber Waves of Grain:  “Steve Moore’s new sci-fi thriller carries the reader beyond government conspiracies and political intrigue to world-wide suspense and action. His new addition to the “Clones and Mutants Series” features many players from Full Medical and Evil Agenda: Kalidas Metropolis and friend, two clones, and your favorite evildoer Vladimir Kalinin aka Rupert Snyder aka Sergio Battaglia, who will surprise readers of the first two books in the series. But this country-hopping tale also stands alone as a glimpse into a possible future where forces, both good and evil, aided by science and technology, fight to the death.”

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#317: Wish Donna well!  On Sept. 19, mystery writer Donna Carrick, co-founder of Carrick Publishing with hubby Alex, had surgery.  Donna’s book, The First Excellence, is a great mystery story set in China.  She also has other works to quench your thirst for a good mystery.  For those in the know, she’s also my trusty ebook formatter.  Wish her a speedy recovery.

#318: Full Medical might not be sci-fi.  My sci-fi thriller Full Medical (now available as a second edition ebook) was written before Obamacare and painted a dystopic world where only the rich could afford complete medical coverage and a black market in body parts was pervasive, not to mention those obtained from illegal human cloning.  Now that the Speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, is holding Obamacare hostage, with approval of the budget and increase in debt ceiling depending on cancellation of the medical program, events in my book could become painful reality.

By the way, Full Medical is followed by Evil Agenda and the soon-to-be released No Amber Waves of Grain.  Look for the latter—coming real soon!  It completes this “Clones and Mutants Trilogy.”  For all lovers of good dystopian sci-fi thrillers.

#319: Welcome Scott Dyson!  People might know Scott as a frequent commenter to some of my blog posts.  He’s embarking on an indie writing career…let’s wish him success!  Check out his speculative fiction short stories “Odd Man Out,” “The Gateway,” “Jack’o’Lantern,” and “Sole Occupant”—all $0.99 on Amazon.  I read the first and last—a lot of fun!  Thanks, Scott, for that opportunity.  Visit Scott at his website.

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#314: New books, old books….  This week you were able to read a pre-release excerpt from my new sci-fi thriller No Amber Waves of Grain, closing the “Clones and Mutants Series.”  My other new book out this fall is the speculative fiction anthology Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape—no excerpts here because you’ll find some of the stories in the “Steve’s Shorts” category of this blog (they’re re-edited and reformatted for you in the new ebook).  All my other books are still available as ebooks except Soldiers of God (someday I’ll get around to releasing a second edition of that because it’s the sequel of No Amber Waves of Grain and prequel to Survivors of the Chaos).  You can check out all the “old books” here.

#315: Interview preview.  For sci-fi fans, look for my interview of prolific sci-fi writer Sabrina Chase next Wednesday.  She gives candid answers to my interview questions.  If you’re an author who wants to be interviewed here, use my contact page and I’ll send you a list of questions.  Like my reviewing activity, these interviews are examples of my efforts to give something back to the community of indie writers and readers.  Of course, as readers, you can help indie writers by simply buying, reading, and reviewing our books.  I can’t over-emphasize this.  The DIY indie movement in writing needs your support!

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#307: Curious phenomenon.  About the same time that Amazon bought the Washington Post, the New York Times had an editorial toning down its support for Apple’s position in the ebook price-fixing scandal.  A bit before that, the Boston Globe was sold to the owner of the Boston Red Sox.  Perhaps the Times, which I commend for having a digital edition for a while, is quivering a little.  They might prefer to work with Bezos than the New York Yankees’ organization?  The amount left on A-Rod’s salary would be a good down payment if the Yankees were interested.  Just sayin’….

#308: Calling all sci-fi addicts.  People have read my Survivors of the Chaos.  It even has a 5-star review on Amazon by a Pulitzer-nominated author, David Menefee.  That said, I don’t understand the neglect of the other two books in the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” Sing a Samba Galactica and Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand!  Maybe this is just non-productive whining, but this trilogy is my Foundation series, with the International Trade Union of Independent Planets (ITUIP) taking the place of the Foundation, and a power-hungry shipping magnate taking the place of the Mule (I didn’t write my trilogy with the Foundation trilogy in mind, of course—it just grew into a trilogy by itself, more or less, as often happens).  If you haven’t read Asimov’s trilogy (and later books in the series that meld it with the robot books and The End of Eternity), you have definitely missed some classics.  I’ll just say that my themes and settings are a bit more modern and there are ETs in my novels.

#309: Coming soon!  The next book in the “Clones and Mutants Series,” No Amber Waves of Grain, and a new anthology of speculative fiction, Paso Dobles in a Quantum Stringscape, are in final editing.  Look for them.  I’m hoping for a fall release.  Pricing is yet to be determined, but they will be a bargain.  I might even open with a freebie promo on KDP Select, so stay tuned.

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