(Another) Smashing Good Sale

From July 1st through July 31st, Smashwords is hosting their 14th Annual Summer/Winter Sale. If you’re a fan of ebooks, this is an excellent opportunity to stock up on some great titles.

I’ve decided to include all of my current titles. Sale prices should be reflected in checkout, without the need to use a coupon.

Ascension $1.24 (75% off)

The Four-Year-Old Guardian $0 (100% off)

Bravado/Dramatique $1.49 (50% off)

Together Alone $1.49 (50% off)

The Blood Contract $1.49 (50% off)

The Shadow Walker $0 (100% off)

The Shadow Within $1.49 (50% off)

Hope you’re all able to find some excellent deals on amazing books. And please remember, reviews are always appreciated. Whether they’re short or long, praising or critical, reviews are a vital form of communication between reader and writer and reader to other readers.

As always, thanks for reading!

S.L. Madden

Smashwords, Young Lad

Just a quick note, http://www.smashwords.com is currently have an Authors Give Back sale, good through May 31st. There are tons of great books for sale and for free, including mine! If you somehow stumbled across my blog and haven’t read any of my books, here’s your chance!

All seven of them are currently 100% off! It’s (exactly) like I’m just giving these things away!

Okay, as much as the salesman in me loves exclamation points, I need to stop using them so graciously. There really are some amazing deals and reads there right now. Which, let’s face it, who couldn’t use some fantastical worlds to lose themselves in these days?

Thanks for reading,

S.L. Madden

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha

A Google search will yield a half dozen ways to write out the titular sound effect, but however you choose to spell it, Friday the 13th instantly springs to mind.  In addition to a glut of hockey-masked slasher movies, this Friday the 13th you can also enjoy an array of books on sale, courtesy of author Angela Kulig’s “Books Are For Freaks!” sale through her blog, which can be found here.

I’m a latecomer to the sale, so I’m keeping my fingers I was able to enter my books in time.  If so, you’ll be able to find The Four-Year-Old Guardian, Bravado/Dramatique, Together Alone, The Shadow Walker, and The Shadow Within will all be on sale for $.99 apiece!  And if my titles aren’t enough to draw you to check it out, there’s over a dozen other authors offering their books at a discount, plus I hear rumblings of giveaways.  So go check out the selections and throw some love Angela Kulig’s way for putting this whole thing together.

Thanks for reading,

 

S.L. Madden

 

Only Human On The Block Sale

I’m still plugging away on The Blood Contract, book four of the Only Human on the Block series.  As of yesterday, I’m sitting at 73K words, and there’s quite a bit more to add.  Still, I’m targeting a June release (yes, I remain an optimist), and it occurred to me I haven’t had a sale on my books in some time.  So, in honor of the (hopefully!) June release of The Blood Contract, I’m going to have the first three books in the series on sale for $.99 each through June first. This will actually mark the first time Together Alone has been on sale since going live last December.

Each title can be downloaded from the Smashwords site, in whatever format eReader you prefer.  You will need a coupon code to get the discount, but I think saving $2 per book is worth inputting 5 characters.  Just click on the links below, input the given coupon code, and enjoy!

The Four-Year-Old Guardian – XG58W

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bravado/Dramatique – WV33W

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together Alone – JZ44Y
 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

S.L. Madden

 

Amazon Sale

Amazon currently has all of my paperback books available at a reduced price.  I’m not sure how long the discount will be in effect, so if you dig paper books over the electronic ones, this is a great chance to expand your collection.  I might even have to pick up a few copies for myself.

It should also be noted, like many products on Amazon, the shipping is free on orders $25 or more. Enjoy!

Ascension $16.19, regularly $17.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Four-Year-Old Guardian $11.69, regularly $12.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bravado/Dramatique $12.34, regularly $12.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shadow Walker $8.99, regularly $9.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shadow Within $8.99, regularly $9.99

The Maddening 12/22

I’d like to open this post by saying I’ve come to a realization these past few weeks: I get a lot more views when I actually update my blog.  It’s shocking news, I know, and if I had more time, I would dedicate some resources toward researching it further.  As it is, I feel pretty comfortable stating the more often I post, the more views I get.

Huh.

I’m hoping to start a tradition of updating my status on a weekly basis.  That way, it forces me to blog at least once a week, even when I’m buried in rough drafts and edits.  I think January is going to be a busy month, and I don’t want my blogging to get lost in the shuffle.

So, here’s what I’ve been up to the last week.  I present…The Maddening!

Books:

Only Human on the Block – At the time of this writing, I am 73% done with the rough draft for Together Alone.  It’s been going a little slower than planned, mostly because I’ve only been working on it during my lunch break.  I think I might take it home with me and try to get some work done this week.  I’d like to get the rough draft finished by the end of the month, which I don’t think is an unreasonable goal.  I’m estimating the finished book will be about 85K words.

Right now, The Four-Year-Old Guardian is available on Smashwords for $.99 by using the coupon code 5F69B and Bravado/Dramatique is also $.99 by using coupon code UL73V.

Unseen Things – We’re currently 67% through reading the rough draft for the second book, The Shadow Within, in group.  I think it’s going pretty well, but I also know there are some rough parts coming up, some chapters I’ll definitely need to put some polish on.  That being said, the second book came together much better than the third, whose identity is still very much up in the air.  I think I’ve come to the decision to split book three into two parts, but I haven’t decided if I want to make them completely different books or label them World of Shadows I and World of Shadows II.  I am pretty sure I don’t want to put it out as one big 120K book.  At least not digitally.  The more eBooks I read, the more I appreciate a shorter book.  And the fact the first two books aren’t terribly long would make the third seem like a bit much.

The Shadow Walker is $.99 at Smashwords right now, courtesy of coupon code  RV56Y.

Ascension – I have ideas for a few sequels, but I haven’t done any work on them and probably won’t until I’ve had a chance to finish up my current series and work on some other books I’ve been kicking around.  Still, a co-worker’s been reading it and telling people it’s “…good and weird and it makes you think” so yeah…there’s that.

Use code DT27K to snatch up Ascension for $2.99 (40%).
Games:

I’ve been playing [PROTOTYPE] in the mornings, so you can blame that on some of my slow progress lately.  It’s been a lot of fun, though, and has proven quite cathartic.  I’m reaching the end soon and I’m trying to decide what next to focus on.

I also tried out Rocksmith this last week.  One of the first things they have you do is tune the guitar and I ended up busting a string.  It wouldn’t let me go further without tuning, so I had to play the appropriate notes on the strings I already had in tune (fortunately, I know the guitar well enough to do that).  The game starts you out slow…really slow.  I played (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction from the Rolling Stones and scored 90% accuracy, even though I only had to play one note in seventeen (I’m guessing, but I don’t think that’s far off).  Then I played a fret game where you had to hit a note on the appropriate fret to shoot down a duck.  The first time I played I scored a measly 215 points.  The second time I scored over 14K.  So I’d say I improved a bit in the small amount of time I got to play.

I picked up Deadmund’s Quest Move Bundle, which includes the game, a copy of Sports Champions, a PlayStation Eye, and a Move Controller for an obscenely low price.  I haven’t had a chance to play it yet (by the time I charged up the controller, my time to play was up), but I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Music:

I bought an adapter to my external hard drive this past week, giving me access to numerous photos and videos I haven’t seen for some time.  Also on there was my entire MP3 collection from days past.  Needless to say, my MP3 player is bursting at the seams from bands I hadn’t heard for a while, from The Tea Party to Stabbing Westward and I’ve been reveling in the memories.  I also picked up Born To Die by Lana Del Rey and Lungs and Ceremonials by Florence + The Machine, which I’ve been totally digging.  We even downloaded a few tracks for Singstar, so I could be reminded how horrible a singer I am.

Well, that’s a brief snapshot of my sad, sad week.  I’ll try to do a better job of updating this blog, though I doubt I’ll be able to reclaim my glory days of NaBloPoMo.  In the event I don’t get around to writing more before the holidays, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas or the happiest of holidays you celebrate.

Thanks for reading.

S.L. Madden

Civil Twilight – Holy Weather

This is my second recommendation of music that inspires me.  I’ve only recently started listening to Civil Twilight, after my wife heard Letters From The Sky at the end of a movie.  She checked out a few songs on YouTube and liked what she heard, so she recommended it to me.  After listening to a few songs, I knew right away this band was a good fit for my tastes (which is odd, because it usually takes several listens before a new disc calls to me, never mind a whole new band).  I put it off for a few weeks, then took the plunge, downloading their self-titled first album, Civil Twilight and their newer disc, Holy Weather, at the same time.  As a result, I often mix up which song came from which disc, as they both went onto my MP3 player in their entirety and have been mixing it up with my other favorite tunage.

Both albums are fantastic, but for the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on Holy Weather.  This is due in part to a time-sensitive sale: Amazon currently has it for $3.99 for their Black Friday sale.  I’m not sure when it’ll go back up to the $7.99 I paid, but this is a fantastic deal.  If you’ve never heard of the band, I recommend watching some of their videos.  They remind me in some ways of Coldplay, Keane or even Muse (many people say they sound like U2, but I don’t personally hear it).  Either way, they definitely have their own sound.

Every song is good, but stand-out tracks (for me) are: Fire Escape, River, Holy Weather, Highway Of Fallen Kings, Doorway and Shape Of A Sound.  The music sounds great coming out of my car speakers, but it really comes to life when wearing headphones.  I’m still discovering the various layers of sounds in each song.

S.L. Madden

4 For 3 – The Shadow Walker

The Shadow Walker is available on Amazon as part of a 4 for 3 special.  Buy any four eligible items and get the cheapest one for free.  I wasn’t made aware of the offer (I just happened to notice while checking out my books), so I have no idea when it ends.  If you’ve been looking for a paperback copy and have a few other items on your wish list, this may be the perfect time to take the plunge.  If all goes well, the sequels will be available (relatively) soon.

S.L. Madden

Spooky Savings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In celebration of what is arguably the most fun holiday for grown-ups (perhaps Valentine’s Day runs a close second?), I’ve decided to lower the prices of three of my books for a limited time. From now through…I’m not sure, both The Four-Year-Old Guardian and Bravado/Dramatique are $.99 at Smashwords, down from the usual price of $2.99.  No coupon required.

If you’re not familiar with the series, it has demons, swordplay, magic, love and high school…not necessarily in that order.  It was written for the YA market, but I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from people young and old (not that I’m calling any of my fans old…*ahem*).

These two books are the first in the Only Human on the Block series, which is planned for a five-book run (and a trilogy off-shoot).  I’m currently working on the rough (read: typewritten) draft of the third book, Together Alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I’m not content merely offering those two books for $.99.  I also have The Shadow Walker, the first book of the Unseen Things trilogy, available at Smashwords for the low, low price of nothing.  That’s right, for a limited time, I’m offering this book for free!

But why, Steve, you might be asking yourself (which strikes me odd you’d call yourself Steve, unless that’s actually your name).  The answer is simple: I love this book and feel not enough people have been exposed to it.  I pushed hard to get it done and out to the public by last Halloween, then I sort of fell off the face of the earth.  I barely blogged and did very little marketing for it.  As a result, I think sales suffered a bit.

It’s a pity, because I’m really quite proud of the story.  It remains the one book of mine my wife has read (and, I should add, liked…so yay!).  Although I targeted it toward the same YA crowd that might enjoy the Only Human on the Block books, The Shadow Walker is quite a bit darker than that series.  It’s not overly explicit in any way, but there are certainly some scenes that I believe will stay with the reader.  I hesitate to call it horror, but it comes closer than anything else I’ve written.

I’m currently working on the follow-up, The Shadow Within (just passed the 40k mark this afternoon), and I plan to finish the rough draft by the end of the month so I can launch into the third and final book, World of Shadows.  Having spent the last month pouring over my rough draft of The Shadow Within, I’m nervous and excited for the direction the series is taking and can’t wait to get it into your hands to see what you all think.

But it all starts with The Shadow Walker.  If you haven’t had a chance to pick it up, now’s the perfect time. I can’t honestly say I’ll ever offer it for less than free.

As always, thanks for the support.

S.L. Madden

Smashwords $.99 Sale – The Final Plug!

Nobody likes to be sold to.  I know I don’t.  If a product interests me enough, I’m fully capable of researching it on my own and making an informed decision.  Thanks to the internet and the ability to read both professional and consumer reviews, I have more information at my disposal before purchasing than ever.

So, let’s not look at this as a sales pitch, shall we? Instead, it’s an opportunity to get a great deal on books you might otherwise have passed up, or worse, may have never even known they existed.

Take for instance Ascension, a SF book about alternate realities set in modern day Seattle. It’s been called “…absolutely riveting…” and “…a must read!” among other things, but has never been called boring. Using the code HR44U, it’s only $.99. (Some adult language and situations)

 

 

The Four-Year-Old Guardian is the first book in the Only Human on the Block series. Intended for a YA audience, it can be enjoyed by fans of action and humor in an Urban Fantasy setting.  The code to magically make it $.99 is VN65J. (Mild language and violence)

 

 

The sequel, Bravado/Dramatique features approximately 30% more demon-fighting action fun than the original (your results may vary).  It’s code for $.99 buying bliss is WP82U. (Mild language and violence)

 

 

If you’re in the mood for something a little darker (yet still YA appropriate), I recommend checking out The Shadow Walker.  I’m currently working on book 2 and will soon start book 3, so this is the perfect time to get into the trilogy.  Use code MX83N and it will be, yes, you guess it, $.99. (mild language and violence, some disturbing imagery)

 

 

The above-mentioned coupons expire tomorrow, 9/26.  Thanks for everyone’s support in this endeavor and I hope you enjoy.

S.L. Madden

~End Sales Pitch~