New Book(s) Coming from Windsor Hill Publishing

PRE-ORDER CHICAGO SWING

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During the next few weeks I will be posting a new crime thriller on Amazon. Called Chicago Swing, this is the first in a new series featuring Chicago in 1933 and the battles one detective, Tony Alfano, has with crime in his city. It is spring in the midst of the Depression and the opening of the Century of Progress World’s Fair is just a few weeks away. A new American president has been elected, a new mayor has replaced the assassinated Mayor Cermak and now a bomber is terrorizing the city. The mayor assigns Alfano the task of finding the bomber before the fair opens.

For police detective Tony Alfano, it was a typical Chicago morning: five bombings of businesses throughout the Loop the previous night, 200 pounds of missing dynamite, and one dead man in an alley off Washington Street. Is it the Outfit, the Mob, Bolsheviks, or the unions? In the dark speakeasies and nightclubs of Chicago’s underworld, Alfano treads the sharp edge of sanity and delusion, praying that it’s just mob vengeance and not Chicago politics.

In Depression racked Chicago, three people crash against each other, each hoping for answers, vengeance, and salvation. Alfano has seen it all in his twenty years on the force, but this is brutally different. And a corrupt mayor demands answers before the gates to the Century of Progress World’s Fair open in just a few days.

Later in the summer I will be releasing a new World War II thriller titled This Face of Evil. Exciting stuff. Check out the preliminary artwork below and let me know what you think. Look for information here and on Facebook, if you are not following me, go to Gregory C. Randall on your Facebook site and like me, friend me, or whatever you do to follow my work.

I am also updating the cover art for the award winning period novel, Elk River. It needed a little freshening to give it a now happening jive. After all, it is an edgy young adult story and a raven always means edgy. So look to the right side (scroll down) and compare the covers. In the next few days these new books will have their covers posted on this blog.

And follow me on Facebook.

More later . . . . . . . .

Book Clubbing

Today was one of those delightful days where you get to discuss your books, the reasons for your characters, why you write the way you do, and above all what excites you about writing. I sat down for a discussion and tasty lunch with seven of my fans at their monthly book club meeting. It’s also fun when they are all women and you are out numbered eight to one (my wife and muse also attended). This was the second time I’ve met with this group, the first was soon after the release of 12^th Man For Death (Book Four).

Every author must cultivate the local book clubs to both develop a solid following of loyal and local readers as well as practice the fine art of self-promotion. In today’s marketplace it is all about self-promotion and never passing up the chance to talk about your books and the business of publishing.

I am always surprised by the questions. By the second visit we are past the questions about how long does it take to write a book (I really haven’t a clue) and where do you get your fanciful ideas (ask Johnnie W. Red). The questions now are about the characters and story. Why are they doing this or that at certain parts of the story? Why did you choose Rotterdam? Is that bar in Lafayette the one you were thinking of as Geno’s? It is enjoyable to listen to readers talk about your characters in the second person: Is she going to do this in the next book? She really should fall for Clive Barrington (now that was a new one – got me thinking). Did you know that Bobby Gillis is exactly like a friend of mine?

I am grateful when they suggest new story ideas for my characters; they get me thinking about what my audience wants. I am also surprised when they want to discuss the business of publishing – especially self-publishing. What is POD? How are ebooks created? Are printed books going away? I discuss covers and ask what they like to see. What kinds of books interest them? To be honest, the scheduled two-hour talk and lunch quickly went to three hours.

What was really fun was that these seven women had read most of the books in the Sharon O’Mara series (5 total). They even remembered parts of the books (and secondary characters) I’d forgotten. One even read parts of my book she liked to the group. That was a wonderful first.

Book clubs are so, so clubby. We sit in civilized living rooms, with iced tea or coffee, with no time limits or limitations on the subject matter. The relaxed atmosphere (instead of tables and audiences with monitors and clocks on the wall), allows for a more thorough two-way understanding between the author and the reader. We both come away with a better understanding of the writer’s craft and the expectations hidden in a good book.

If I could I’d meet with two or three book clubs a month, they are that much fun. If you or you know someone who would like to book me for a session and/or lunch send me an email at rpd@lmi.net or windsorhillpub@lmi.net.

More later . . . . . . . .

200 Blogs and Still Writing

This marks the 200th blog I’ve posted about writing, editing, marketing, ebooks, paper books and the general state of the publishing industry. The first post was on January 26, 2011, almost exactly four years ago, and I’ve averaged 50 posts a year. Not bad considering each post is about five hundred and fifty words. All in all, at 110,000 words, this is a novel in and of itself. What is even more impressive is that I’m still writing the damn thing. It is as much a release of frustrations as a commentary on the state of the publishing industry.

I wish that every blog was pithy and smart, yet some were just silly and even dumb. Others have helped new writers into the world of self-publishing, showed how the barriers could be breached, and helped many to find the right path. When I started this blog the independent self-publisher/author/writer was an anomaly and shunned by the greater publishing world. Amazon was trying hard to fight the fight for the indie writer and Mark Coker, with his Smashwords’ “meatgrinder,” was new. Now they are the backbone of a innovative world of publishing and writing opportunities, and in fact Amazon through its various imprints and publishing houses, in now one of the biggest publishers on the street (and not just ebooks). And self-publishing has become the go to for many writers who have lost their gigs with the New York traditionals.

One of my earliest posts was about the scheduling of the writing of my third book in the O’Mara series, Toulouse For Death. It was an attempt on my part to set dates for the book’s development, I beat that first schedule. Since that first post I’ve written five additional books with new characters, plots, and even historical settings. I’m proud of the work, but I don’t schedule anymore.

I’m easily squirreled. Right now I am writing and developing five new books, each remarkably different than the rest. Which one is completed first remains to be seen, but in time they will all be written.

I am a storyteller, not a stylist. The fundamental truth about good and even great writing is story. While rich and well developed characters are critical to a story, if they don’t have something to do or react to they become flat and unresponsive. This debate will never end. Which is more important, story or characters? Right now I believe in story.

Where do I go from here? Easy to say. My goal this year is to publish three new works, and then follow up in 2016 with two more. Will I go traditional, not sure? Never saw a deal that was worth the loss of control and creativity, but then again the next book might be the one.

More later  . . . . . .

ANOTHER GREAT REVIEW!

 2-13-15

BOOK SIGNING 4:00 SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15^th  AT BOOK

 PASSAGE CORTE MADERA, CALIFORNIA – 

SEE YOU THERE!

Another Great Review!

What can I say? It is these kinds of reviews that make you know you are onto something. All the hours, rewrites, and editing are worthwhile when you get a review like this:

Diamonds For Death

"The gun fired with a concussive snap. The bullet clipped the right shoulder of the woman before shattering the driver's side window; she screamed and let her foot off the brake."

Most baseball fans in North America consider the sport to be an exciting pastime but little more than that. Even professional ball players tend to see it, at most, as a challenging and rewarding career. Yet for many young players in third world countries the game is a dangling golden ticket, a chance to escape poverty and carve out for themselves a new future if they can only be lucky enough and skilled enough to grab it. Toro Rodriguez, a Cuban slugger who is also an expert fielder, is one of the few fortunate ones to make it big in the major leagues, but the price he pays for his success and freedom is a missing family sequestered somewhere in his native country by a government that wants him back.

In this fast-paced fifth installment in his Sharon O'Mara mystery-thriller series, Randall combines the world of international baseball with political repression, diamond smuggling, and murder. O'Mara, a tough veteran of the Iraqi War and successful problem solver, is asked to go on a search-and-rescue mission to Cuba to retrieve Rodriquez's family. Meanwhile, her pal Kevin Bryan finds himself embroiled in helping stop a diamonds for guns operation that stretches from the Caribbean to Europe and then down into Africa. Both Sharon and Kevin will need all of their skills and wits to survive in separate assignments that are actually very much intertwined.

Randall exhibits all of the tools of a top-notch thriller writer. However, unlike many authors in the field he opts for more realistic action than the overblown variety. Expertly employing the techniques of backstory, character development, believable dialogue, and rising suspense, he has crafted a story that can stand toe-to-toe with some of the best examples in the genre out there.

Reviewed by John E. Roper – The US Review of Books

Didn’t I tell you? Makes one blush.

If there is one thing I’ve learned is that you can never stop learning, and to have a thick skin when it comes to publisher’s rejections helps. Let me say up front I am a committed practitioner of the art of self-publishing. But every once in a while it’s fun to wonder what might happen if I were to suddenly be accepted in the real world of traditional publishing (ah the horrors). I sent on my latest manuscript, that is literally only weeks away from publishing, to one of the crime publishing houses (dozens have popped up during the last five years) to see what might happen. Of course it was rejected. Not necessarily because of the story but because of some issues (in their minds) over the writing style. If you want to start an argument among writers criticize their styles. Then stand back.

But what the rejection did do was to give me a review (sort of) of the opening of the book, from this I crashed through another edit and the book is much better for it. So thanks Lee.

More later . . . . . . . . . .

Busy, Busy, Busy - and a Book Signing

Lots to catch up on. First of all, in celebration of Book 5 in the Sharon O’Mara series, Diamonds For Death, I have a book signing and reading at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California, Sunday February 15, at 4:00. Should be a lot of fun talking books and the writing process. Books are available for purchase at Book Passage as well as a few copies of the first four O’Mara thrillers. I hope for a big turnout, but even if a just a few friends and readers show, we will have a great time. And remember to post those reviews on the respective ebook sites and on Goodreads.

Sales of Diamonds For Death have been good, but I need you to tell your friends about Sharon and how absolutely cool she is. When I created her (so many years ago) I had no idea where she and her adventures would go (or take me). It has been a fun ride to Mexico, Paris, London, Cuba, Amsterdam, Argentina, and of course Venice as well as her home town, Walnut Creek, California. She is a dream character and continues to surprise me. Each book allows me the opportunity to explore all the aspects of her character, her friends, and how these interactions change when outside forces take her down paths not traveled.

I told you about my process for broadening the reach to readers into bookstores (online as well) that are outside of the Amazon cosmos of Kindle and CreateSpace. Well it worked! All the paperback books (Sharon O’Mara’s, Elk River) were posted to IngramSpark (POD and distributor) and are now available through the search engine of Barnes and Noble as well as available to all bookstores. This is so cool. And through Smashwords (ebook download site) these books are also available as ebooks at B&N, iBooks, Kobo and other ebook distributors. As I said, very, very, cool. It is critical to every independent publisher that they get their books to as many outlets as possible. There are many very successful authors that sell directly (and exclusively) through Amazon, I agree—to a point. But, if Budweiser only sold through Safeway how would that work? They need to be everywhere: bars, restaurants, 7-11’s, everywhere. Same with authors. And until the new publishing paradigm is finally defined and accepted (if ever), I want all my bases covered.

We, as independent publishers and authors, have a responsibility to our readers, customers, and profession to produce the best products to the highest standard (traditional and modern) we can. This falls on story, genre, structure, cover design, ebook design, editing, postproduction and of course marketing. Even knocking out a book a month or three or four a year requires this same attention to detail. We writers spend a lot of time writing and developing the damn thing; at least the final product should not be embarrassing.

There are a lot of exciting things coming this year from the Randall studio and Windsor Hill Publishing, two and possibly three new books. Two new characters, with their own series, to throw into the literary milieu. Remember these names: Tony Alfano, Max Kline, and the divine Regi Norcross, you will love them.

Well back to the books, I have four underway right now. A 1933 detective thriller, a new Sharon O’Mara (#6), a follow up to the award winning Elk River, and the sequel to this summer’s coming blockbuster This Face Of Evil. Never a dull day.

More Later . . . . . . . .