No, that’s not the title for my next book. The proof copies of the print edition of Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet arrived yesterday and they are fantastic. I wasn’t expecting the books until Friday at the earliest so they came as a bit of a surprise. I resisted the temptation to open them while I was at work and held off until I got home so that my wife could be there for the big event. I must admit, I was getting a bit blasé about the book. Glitch has been through 6-7 drafts plus two editors and three proofreaders plus several rounds of tweaks during the formatting process. I’ve spent so long with the book now that it hadn’t really sunk in that I was actually going to be holding the book in my hands. And then I opened the box and took out the first copy. I just stood there staring at it, grinning like idiot, for ages. Then I put it down. Then I picked it up again and grinned even more. The books are beautiful, Mike Corley’s cover is even more impressive in real life than it is on a computer screen, the matt cover feels great and the interior layout is perfect. In short, it’s … Read More
Glitch Going Wide
Up until now my ebooks have only been available on Kindle. Amazon offers various promotional incentives for being exclusive to them (primarily the ability to easily run price promotions and inclusion in their subscription service – Kindle Unlimited), and I wanted to be able to try them out. For my next release, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet, I’ve decided to “go wide” and launch on all the major platforms – Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and Nook. The reason is very simple – I want as many people as possible to be able to read the book. Although there is a Kindle app for tablets and phones, not everyone uses it. If you’re an Apple user then you’ll probably go with iBooks. Nook readers will go with the Nook app. Kobo owners will go with the Kobo app. Although Amazon is the big player, there are a lot of readers using those other platforms and they’re loyal to them. Personally, I have a soft spot for Kobo. It isn’t as well known as Kindle in the US, but it’s much bigger in other countries – particularly in Canada. I bought my wife the first Kobo when it was released here – I had to queue outside the bookshop before it opened to make sure … Read More
Almost there…
The first proof of the Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet ebook arrived today… Just a couple of minor tweaks and it’ll be ready to go. This is your last chance to get a FREE copy of my science fiction novel, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. I’ll be giving everyone on my mailing list the book for free TOMORROW! If you’d like a copy, just sign up here – I’ll give you FOUR of my other ebooks as well. [Almost there… by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 10th August 2015]
Glitch Gets a Release Date
I tend to be cautious when it comes to release dates. There’s a lot of pieces that have to line up correctly before a book is launched, and I like to be sure that everything is going to slot into place before I start talking about dates. I sent the files for Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet to my formatter last week so I should get the first pass of both the ebook and print versions in the next day or two. Which means I can confidently announce the release date for the book. DRUM ROLL PLEASE . . . Tuesday, 25th August Here’s the description: A gateway to another world. A lucky contest winner. An adventure across the cosmos! Dwayne “Glitch” Mitchell has always been obsessed with space. When he learns that NASA has discovered an alien gateway, he’s the first to enter a contest to see the incredible phenomenon. Glitch wins and he travels deep within the Colorado Rockies to get a peek. He’s in awe, but he’s also in danger. As project head Dr. Zheng discusses the gateway, an armed man calling himself John Smith takes Zheng hostage and causes an explosion. When the rubble clears, Glitch is alive … Read More
Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet Cover Reveal
The exact release date for my science fiction novel, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is still undecided for now, but I figured it was time to unveil the cover anyway. Glitch started as a serial destined for the website but I enjoyed writing the project so much that it grew into a full length project. The novel my homage to the old Flash Gordon serials (I’m doing a rewatch of the 1936 Buster Crabbe series at the moment) so when it came to the cover, I really wanted to evoke the old Flash Gordon movie posters. About the time I was looking around for a cover artist, Hugh Howey mentioned the artist he’d started using, M.S. Corley. I really liked the look of his covers and ended up commissioning a custom cover for the Glitch. I’m really happy with how it turned out so, without further ado, here’s the cover for Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. A huge amount of work went into the image and it fits the action packed nature of the book perfectly. So, a massive thank you to Mike for creating such an amazing cover. The book itself is finished and edited and is now sitting with the first of several proofreaders. Once the … Read More
Get The Girl in the City for FREE
For the next few days, my science fiction novella, The Girl in the City, is available free of charge on Amazon Kindle (US UK Canada). This is the first time I’ve made the book available free and the offer ends May 2nd. Next month, I’m going to be “going wide” with The Girl in the City and making it available on Kobo, iTunes and any other ebook platforms I can find. That means I won’t be able to offer the book for free very easily. I’m also considering increasing the price at the same time. That means it’s likely to be at least a year before the book is available as a freebie. So, if you fancy reading an action packed science fiction tale, now is the chance to pick one up for less than the price of most things. Here’s the description… With the oppressive Transport Authority controlling every aspect of their existence, Leah and her father do what they can to carve a good life for themselves. Leah spends her nights scavenging in the rural zone around the City, risking capture by the Wild Ones as she hunts for salvage her father can trade for food and other essentials. But when Leah takes a bag of salvage … Read More
The Apocalypse is Coming and it’s Weird
Something interesting is happening next week. Or to be more precise, five interesting things are happening and they combine, like some literary Transformer, to create something very interesting – Apocalypse Weird is coming. Apocalypse Weird is a shared world project featuring a series of novels, each with their own post-apocalyptic scenarios – everything from diet pill zombies to giant squid to gojira. But there’s an underlying mythos that ties all of the books together. Over time, more and more will be revealed about the various players in the world of Apocalypse Weird until, eventually, the whole thing comes together in what will presumably be a cataclysmic finale of epic proportions. The first Apocalypse Weird book, The Red King by Nick Cole, was released in November of last year as a taster but the big launch is on Monday, 23rd February, when five more books hit the streets: Texocalypse Now by Michael Bunker and Nick Cole The Dark Knight by Nick Cole (the sequel to The Red King) Reversal by Jennifer Ellis The Serenity Strain by Chris Pourteau Immunity by E.E. Giorgi Each book is part of an ongoing series, and there are more titles coming beyond these initial five including books by some of the best indie and traditional writers out there … Read More
The Girl in the City – An Excerpt
The Girl in the City has been out for a week now, and I’m really pleased with how it’s doing. Feedback and reviews have been very good, and it’s steadily racking up the sales and Kindle Unlimited borrows. Interest in my short stories, Curfew, Saviour and Bottled Lightning has picked up as well which is good to see. During its free run last week, Bottled Lightning hit the #2 spot on one of Amazon’s short science fiction charts and was downloaded over 250 times in a single day – pretty good for a standalone short story. The Girl in the City and the short stories are available from Amazon for 99c/99p – US UK Canada. Here’s the opening of the book to whet your appetite. The Girl in the City LEAH GRABBED THE SALVAGE AND RAN. Metal and plastic clattered and rattled in the cloth bag hanging around her shoulders as she threw herself down the slope, slipping and sliding on the loose earth. The lights of the encampment behind her cast long shadows across the ground but made it just about possible to see where she was going. She heard the Wild Ones shouting as they ran towards the pile of discarded circuit boards, wires, and lumps … Read More
Four Free Books
To celebrate the launch of my science fiction novella, The Girl in the City (available from Amazon for 99c/99p – US UK Canada) I’ve decided to make all three of my Kindle short stories free for the next couple of days. And of course, you can get a free copy of Only Friends by subscribing to my newsletter. Curfew [raw] [/raw] Violent gangs roam the streets of a city in chaos, preying on the innocent and the careless. Friends die. Family die. But there are worse things in the darkness. Worse things beyond the curfew. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Saviour [raw] [/raw] For Yuki, the cave is a sanctuary. It’s somewhere she can shelter from the deadly heat of the sun until winter comes. If she can survive that long. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Bottled Lightning [raw] [/raw] For husband and wife team, Alex and Lisa, the trip across the volcanoes of Mars is a chance to escape the monotony of life at Gale Crater. But now they’ve found something, or someone, and everything is about to change. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Only Friends [raw] [/raw] My short story, Only Friends was originally published in … Read More
The Art of The Girl in the City
The Girl in the City really took on a life of its own last year. When I started writing the story, I wasn’t even sure I was going to release it. But as I wrote the first draft, I grew to like Leah and her story more and more. By the time I’d finished I was convinced I had a story that was good enough to publish. I can’t say that about all the stories I write, I’ve got a folder called Abandoned for a reason, but I could see Leah (as it was known then) had a lot of potential. For the first time, I sent an early draft off to some beta readers and got some very positive feedback. That feedback reinforced the feeling that I should release the book. I always use editors for my indie books but I also sent Leah to Joe Nassise for a development edit. I revised the story based on his feedback and then used Red Adept Editing for copy editing and proofreading passes. The end result is a story I’m really proud of. But while all that editing was going on, I had another idea. Michael Bunker commissioned illustrations for Pennsylvania from Ben Adams, a very talented artist that had … Read More