Clan Brennan Free Giveaway for St. Patrick’s Day

So how’s this for a St. Patrick’s Day, I ask you? No parades. The bars are still open for now but highly inadvisable. Even mass is affected in a bunch of little ways to avoid sending those older parishioners off to their reward before their time.

But we all do our best, don’t we? My wife and my sister and I had our own little celebration with corned beef and cabbage and potatoes and a viewing of The Boondock Saints.

In the same spirit, you might consider making it part of your celebration to read the story of an Irish family who continue St. Patrick’s tradition of driving out the dark things.

So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, The Clan Brennan Family Album is available for free Kindle download now through Thursday 3/19.

And hey, if you still need something to read after that, my entire library is always available for free reading on Kindle Unlimited.

PS – If you like Clan Brennan, please leave a review!

I Answer Questions From My Fans #1

At last count, Hometown was up to 57 reviews, and most of them were very positive (52% 5 star and 25% 4 star bay-beee!). Unfortunately, I haven’t received the boost in readership that I expected when I hit fifty reviews. Apparently, while something does in fact happen at twenty reviews, the additional boost at fifty is a hopeful indie writers’ urban legend.

As I read through these reviews, though, I’ve seen a number with questions or issues that I’d like to address. And no, that’s not my way of saying I’m going to go through and curse out my 1- and 2-star reviewers. That’s just self-destructive and pointless. There’s some genuinely interesting stuff here.

Continue reading “I Answer Questions From My Fans #1”

President’s Day Thoughts On The State of the World

How do you celebrate President’s Day? Other than mattress sales, I mean. Most holidays have a theme of some kind, something you’re supposed to contemplate as you go about your day off, but President’s Day is just celebrating these two vastly different men’s lives. It isn’t even their birthday. But what is the one thing they had in common? Politics. And so…

Three quotes that sum up our moment in history:

  1. “The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.”- attributed to Davis X Machina, at Balloon Juice.  And the reason for this is…
  2. “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” (Origin unknown) (I would argue “Equality or even relative decrease of privilege feels like…”)
  3. And for the upper echelons of conservatism: “Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain’t satisfied ‘til he rules everything” – Bruce Springsteen

The lady in this next one lets the mask drop and shows what she really believes in. She says it was taken out of context, but what context she gives us doesn’t make it better.

Next, Fred Clark reminds us what true righteousness means:

Then we have an example of how White America has denied black Americans as much of the wealth of the land and the full benefit of being American as possible:

How The GI Bill’s Promise Was Denied to A Million Black WWII veterans

“Fun fact”, mentioned in the article: New Deal programs were also deliberately structured to exclude as many black people as possible.

And finally, something from back in the Fall, to remind us what “ready for school” means these days.

Hometown Got A Wonderful Review!

Erik Henry Vick, another author at Bookbub, has given me a five-star review! Head on over and check it out!

Here’s a sample:

Where do I start?

Oh, how about this: You went to high school with these characters. Oh, sure, their names were different, and maybe even they were two or three people, but still… Every single one of them.

This book is set in small-town America (specifically in Upstate NY) in the ’90s. It’s your typical high school–drama club, psychos, chorus, child prodigies, football, monsters, field hockey (??), more monsters, preppies, murderers, homecoming, insatiable evil, racist assholes, prom, parties, ghosts, friends-turning-into-lovers, strict parents, bad parents, the hip hangout joint run by a hippie, lynchings, grandparents, a horrible, horrible past, and completely inedible school lunches. See? Just like your high school.

Check out the rest of the review! And when you’re done with it, check out Hometown!

Hymn For The 81%

81% of American Evangelical Christians support Donald Trump, despite his resemblance to a certain Biblical Man of Lawlessness. 19% don’t, probably because of his resemblance to a certain Biblical Man of Lawlessness.

A leader among that 19% has written a beautiful song that reaches out to the 81% and tries to call them back from the Outer Darkness:

See this post at Daily Kos for more information on the singer and the song.

And see this post for a response to the song from another liberal Christian. Short version: it’s a beautiful song, brother, but you must have learned better from the Gospel itself, because they are not better than this and haven’t been in your lifetime.

And Speaking of Reviews…

I’ve got good news and bad news when it comes to the reviews I’m getting for Hometown. The good news is that I’m up to 45 reviews, tantalizingly close to the 50 reviews that will get Hometown into Amazon newsletters and other promotions. The bad news is that I’m starting to get my first one- and two-star reviews, which are bringing my overall rating down.

So if you’ve read Hometown and liked it and haven’t reviewed it on Amazon yet, now’s the time!

Thanks in advance!

I can’t believe I forgot to do this!

I must have been too caught up in the hubbub of the holidays.

Well, that situation is now corrected. The Clan Brennan Family Album now has its own entry on the books page! Have a look, and consider getting your own copy, reading it on Kindle Unlimited, and leaving a review!

Hometown Sale!

Shadows walk in the autumn mist.

It’s the Fall of 1994 in the small milltown of Belford, New York. The leaves are turning, the kids are going back to school, and the heat of Summer is giving way to a cool, misty season. It happens every Fall.

Only this Fall, people are disappearing into that mist. Some people are found torn apart, some people are found dead for no reason, and some people aren’t found at all. Other people see strange things in the mist: ghosts and campfire stories.

There’s something out there in that mist. Something old. Something that has slept for a long time, but has now woken up hungry. Maybe the people of Belford could resist it, but as the terrible Fall wears on, more and more of them start…changing. Acting bizarre and violent. In the end, only a small group of teenage defenders are left to make their stand.

Hey all!  In conjunction with the Bookbub promotion starting tomorrow, I have dropped the price of Hometown to 99 cents!  The promotion lasts 11/16 through 11/23, but you get the lowered price NOW.  See how I take care of my fans?  Of course, it was always free on Kindle Unlimited.  And if you like it, consider checking out the rest of the library.

Great News!

After literal years of trying, Hometown has finally been accepted for a BookBub promotion!

For those who aren’t familiar, BookBub is one of the most well-known and respected book promoters on the internet.  Hometown is about to get a BIG boost in visibility.  Hopefully the rest of the library will get pulled along on its coattails a little bit.

The reason that’s good news for YOU is that Hometown will be available for download for $0.99 from Saturday 11/16 through Saturday 11/23!  That’s 1/3 regular price!  If you missed the free giveaway back in September (sorry, Amazon only lets you do so many of those), here’s another chance to save some money.  And of course, it’s always free on Kindle Unlimited

Don’t forget to leave a review if you like it!

(And if you really like it, consider checking out the rest of the library – more books coming soon!) 

If You’re Looking For A Gift Idea…

Hey all.

It’s my birthday this weekend! If you’d like to give me a gift, leave a review for Hometown. If you’ve read it and liked it, of course. If you’re feeling extra generous, review my other stories. If you’ve read and like them, of course.

Remember, reviews make a very tangible difference in how books are treated on Amazon! I’m trying to get Hometown above fifty and the other stories above twenty!