Double Up On Adventure!

Winters' War in Paperback!

The newly released Gritty Press edition of WINTERS’ WAR is now available in a handsome paperback version. Clocking in at 220 pages,WINTERS’ WAR is perfect for the beach, the campground, the back deck, the tree house…. Rather have an e-version? No worries! It’s available now on the Kindle and on the Nook!

Wrong Town Now on Nook!

You heard right, the soon-to-be adventure classic from Gritty Press, WRONG TOWN (ROAMER Book 1), is taking Barnes & Noble shoppers by storm! They can’t get enough of this manly read. Don’t have a Nook? No worries, WRONG TOWN is available on the Kindle and as a handsome paperback, just right for a bit of brutal reading in between changing tires and fighting fires.

Make an Appointment with Doc

Pretty soon I'll be reissuing one of my western series, The Accomplice. I had a lot of fun writing these books since they're about my favorite Wild West personality, Doc Holliday. Although the accomplice from the title is a fictional character, the events are based in fact and Doc is where he should be at the various time frames in the books. I got to put my spin on moments in his life and tried very hard to keep it true to the man himself.

The series was published a few years back under my pen name, Marcus Galloway. In fact, a review for the third book in the series was just posted on another blog! Check it out by clicking here. Now, once I get some newer, spiffier covers, I'll release them in ebook format. Check back here for more details.

And...since these are already written...they don't impede the progress of the next entries in the Gillis Ledgers or Skinners series. I'll let you know when there's more to know.

NEW ... AGAIN!

I’m pleased to announce the release in ebook format of my 2007 novel, WINTERS’ WAR. Never before released in the US, this novel began its life in hardcover for the Black Horse Western line by the publisher Robert Hale, London, UK, after which it was released in large-print as a softcover. Now revised and expanded — and with stunning new cover art — the new Gritty Press release of WINTERS’ WAR appears as I originally intended it, as the first in a series of accounts about the Winters family, ranchers in the shadows of Wyoming Territory’s Teton Range more than a century ago.

Since WINTERS’ WAR first came out, readers have asked, “What happened next to Jenna and Niall Winters? Will there be more stories about the Winters family?” I’ve provided some of those answers and hinted at others in this newly revised and expanded version of WINTERS’ WAR. This new version establishes it as the beginning of a family saga, not unlike “The Big Valley,” “Bonanza,” Dr. Quinn,” and Louis L’Amour’s Sackett series.

As mentioned in the novel’s new Foreword, not long ago while out West on a research trip I found a trove of old, forgotten documents at the abandoned Winters Family Ranch in Wyoming. They chronicle that family’s long, rich history. And as I continue to explore them, I imagine I’ll be riding shotgun exploring the West with various members of the Winters family as they slide into scrapes, track rustlers, instigate hijinks, love and grieve, find and lose fortunes, and in general, live full lives at and around the Winters Family Ranch. Saddle up, it’s going to be a heck of a ride!

Click here for the Kindle version. (Coming soon in an epub version and a handsome trade paperback version….)

Building Steam

I love steampunk!!
Just wanted to get that out there. In fact, I love it so much that I've got two steampunk projects in the works as we speak. One of them is a western and the other is more traditional Victorian era steaming with a non-traditional twist. Actually, steampunk itself is non-traditional so does that make mine traditional? Eh, forget it. You know what I mean. Both of these projects are being polished up and edited, so it may be a little while but they will be out before TOO long.

Actually, I came up with these ideas at around the same time I came up with The Gillis Ledgers. I think it's pretty clear that Jake's version of Cincinnati was steampunk inspired, but I couldn't really call it that because there's no steam anywhere. I know...the technical aspects of writing imaginary places. Very cumbersome. Heh.

I'll keep you posted about the approaching steam....uhh....storm? No. Too many storms and too many power outages. Let's call it the approaching steam-pocalypse. Yeah. If any of you have read Skinners, you know I love a good apocalypse. Since this is more of a beginning, though, let's just call them "those two steampunk projects". Sometimes simpler is better.

Making the Rounds

Part of the book business has always been marketing. Until recently, however, it was never MY part. Oh,sure I served my time at plenty of signings where I was mistaken for a gift wrapper or other-type employee at whatever store I was at. I talk up my books whenever I can, but there was always a department somewhere I figured was pulling the real load where it came to marketing. Big publishers have those departments, right? Well, yes but they're busy making sure everyone knows about Snookie's newest masterpiece.

So here I am at AF and the marketing is up to us. Turns out it's not so bad. I signed up with Twitter today. I know it's been the craze for quite a while and all the cool kids are doin' it, but I don't usually play well with others. That's why I've dedicated so much time to making up people to play with. If you want to check me out on Twitter, I'm at @Marcpelegrimas. Yes that was two "at's" and no I don't usually go by Marc. It was either that or @MarcusPelegrima. The first one looked better.

Now that  I've entered the Twitterverse or whatever, I've got ANOTHER place to talk about what food is capturing my interest or how much I hate mowing my lawn. Lucky Twitterverse, right?

ICON? LEGEND? OH, BOY!

    

     Yes, when you’ve been around as long as I have people start throwing around names like Icon and Legend. I say, oh boy. It’s just me. And I ain't that old! While Booklist may have said that I may be the last of the pulp writers, it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m on my last legs.  And while my output of novels may be nearing 600, I’m far from done. So here I am, joining with two youngsters, Marcus and Matthew, who show tons of talent and promise, to take advantage of the new technology.

      While I HATE Kindle and Nook as a reader, because I LOVE holding books in my hands, I do recognize that we as writers now have a new outlet to take advantage of. So I will do my best to entertain, which is all I’ve ever wanted to do.  When I’m writing The Gunsmith series as J.R. Roberts, or Rat Pack mysteries under my real name, or launching a new Peacemaker series right here at the Adventure Factory, I hope you’ll agree that I’ve got a lot of entertainment left in me. And I’m going to do a bunch of it at the Adventure Factory.

And here..we.....GO!

When you're a writer these days, it's easy to get wrapped up in a myriad of things apart from writing actual books. There's marketing, publicity, sales figures, formatting, bullet points, and a whole mess of other crap that reminds me how many marketing, publicity, sales and bullet point creating classes I skipped in college. Those things are necessary evils when publishing your stories independently, but that don't mean I've gotta like 'em!

Seeing this site brings me back to why I do what I do. It's fun! Put all the audience analysis and marketing surveys aside. Writing about mechanized hitmen and building impossible gadgetry is EXACTLY what I signed up for when I committed my life to this craft. I feel like I'm in good company here. No, I feel honored to be in the company of these two at Adventure Factory and I'm looking forward to supplying some good books for your perusal.

Plus, we get to spout off about whatever is on our minds. Could be about our own books. Could be about each other's books. Could be about movies. Could be about a flavor of M&M that simply shouldn't exist. I'm just excited to see where this site takes us and, more importantly, I'm pumped to write some Tommy Gun shootin', airship explodin', trans-dimensional ebook goodness!

I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!