Category Archives: Writing
Keep the west weird
Hell yeah! I’m thrilled to be part of the Ceaseless West weird west anthology with my first Angel Azrael story, “The Angel Azrael Rode Into the Town of Burnt Church of a Dead Horse.” Get a whole whack of six-gun strangeness for only $3.99 later this month. Just check out this table of contents:
A Feast for Dust • Gemma Files
The Angel Azrael Rode into the Town of Burnt Church on a Dead Horse • Peter Darbyshire
Mister Hadj’s Sunset Ride • Saladin Ahmed
Hangman • Erin Cashier
Bandit and the Seventy Raccoon War • Don Allmon
The Good Deaths, Part II • Angela Ambroz
Between Two Treasons • Michael J. DeLuca
Splitskin • E. Catherine Tobler
The Sixth Day • Sylvia Anna Hivén
Enginesong • Nathaniel Lee
The Crooked Mile • Dan Rabarts
Walking Still • C.T. Hutt
The Heart of the Rail • Mark Teppo
The Judge’s Right Hand • J.S. Bangs
Not the Worst of Sins • Alan Baxter
Songdogs • Ian McHugh
Haxan • Kenneth Mark Hoover
Pale • Kathryn Allen
Ebooks back online, self-destruct sequence terminated
In a celebration of spring, the ebook versions of my Cross books, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and The Dead Hamlets, have returned. The books disappeared a few days back as my publisher, ChiZine, switched distribution providers. But now the Kindle and Kobo versions are back, and the other formats will be online again shortly.
And the flowers did bloom and the clouds did part, and the angels did sing their glorious song. And then Cross murdered them for their grace.
Well, that was unexpected
Updated to reflect the new rankings. OK, I really have to go and do some work now!
One of the interesting things about watching The Dead Hamlets go out into the world — don’t forget to call, Hamlets! — is the way the book has renewed interest in the first Cross novel, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. I knew some people would come to The Dead Hamlets first and then pick up The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, but I’d just assumed it would give the ol’ Mona Lisa a minor boost in sales.
Instead, the two novels have been running neck and neck, and The Mona Lisa Sacrifice has had intriguing spikes in sales where it shoots ahead of The Dead Hamlets. (Yes, I compulsively check my Amazon ratings, just like any other author. I need to do something when I’m not writing but the baby is napping on me!) So it’s nice to see the second book renew interest in the first one — or generate new interest, whatever is the case.
I was blown away and excited to see The Mona Lisa Sacrifice hit No. 5 in Amazon.ca’s Contemporary Fantasy bestseller list, while The Dead Hamlets hit No. 9. Mona Lisa also hit No. 7 in Amazon’s Historical Fantasy bestsellers, while Dead Hamlets hit No. 9. I don’t think any of my books have charted that high before. As a bonus, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice hit No. 25 in the CanLit bestseller list. I never expected to be a CanLit bestseller at all with these books!
Anyway, thanks for reading my Cross books. Knowing there are people out there who like them makes it that much easier to finish the third book in the series.
Ebooks now 50% off!
My publisher ChiZine is selling all their ebooks at 50% off until Sunday, March 15th, to make up for the technical difficulties as they switch ebook distributors for Kindle, etc.
Get The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the first book in the Cross series, for $5.
Get The Dead Hamlets, the sequel to The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, for $5.
That’s right, you can get each book for less than the price of a Starbucks drink. And they’re better for you than that Starbucks junk. Well, better for your body. The books are probably kind of harmful for your mind….
Awwww
My two Peter Roman books are like best friends on the charts. I can’t wait to see how they get along with the third book!
Some more review love
I was happy to see a nice review of The Dead Hamlets in the Vancouver Sun, one of my hometown papers. Actually, it’s a nice review of the Cross series, so that’s even better. My favourite line: “Come for the chase scenes and the grave-digging, stay for the literary references, strewn like candy thrown from a parade.” He’s right — I am having a great time writing these books!
We have a winner, may his soul rest in peace
The dice have spoken and there’s a winner of the Black Quill giveaway contest I held to publicize my new novel, The Dead Hamlets. I will be dispatching the dreaded Quill and a free copy of the new book by undead courier, post-haste. I won’t speak the winner’s name here for fear of summoning various unnatural things, but rest assured that he was most instrumental in getting word of the new book out. So blame him for all the ails the book causes in the world.
I had a great deal of fun with the contest, and I’d like to thank everyone who took part. Thanks for helping promote the new novel — it certainly needs all the help it can get in these uncertain times for the publishing industry.
The Dead Hamlets is featured on The Hook
I had the distinct pleasure of kicking off The Hook, a new guest post feature on Alex Shvartsman’s site. Alex is the author of Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma, which is perhaps the best title for a book ever. And it’s only $5 and change on Kindle! Why are you still reading this and not buying the book?
Anyway, Alex just launched The Hook, which lets writers explain why they opened their books the way they did. So click the link to find out why I began The Dead Hamlets on a dark and stormy night!
Thanks, Alex!
There’s a long tradition of dark and stormy nights in the theatre — lots of blackouts and thunder sound effects. The first stage directions of Macbeth, for instance, are “Thunder and lightning.” So I was hinting at the subject matter of my book in its opening lines. Shortly after that initial scene, I have Cross stumble into a theatre full of the dead — at which point things really get dark and stormy!
Finally — some value for your dollar
Hey, I think the third Cross novel is the first of my books to break the 100,000 word mark. I’m really starting to ramble in my old age!
Sweet, sweet 16
Hey, my new book, The Dead Hamlets, hit No. 16 on Amazon.ca’s Contemporary Fantasy list. That’s probably as high as it’s going to get. There’s no way I’m beating How (Not) to Kiss a Were-Bear. That book’s got crazy ratings! It’s free if you’re on Kindle Unlimited, too, so go and get it if you’ve ever fantasized about were-bears. Hey, I’m not judging.
peter darbyshire 