Contest Time! (Your Name in a Book!)

Morning everyone. I'm stuck here in Dallas for what looks to be two weeks. This poor guy's computer system is in terrible shape and needs a total overhaul. The good news is that means I'll be able to do a lot of writing in the evening. And this is where you come in.

The main bad guy needs henchmen and henchwomen - more than likely you. If you want to be one of the demon general Kyrule's lackies, drop your name in the comment section! Please be advised there is probably a real good chance your character will end up as cannon fodder, but that's okay. You're in a book damnit!

Here's the kicker, someone will need to survive and move on to book three. I don't know who it'll be or what, but know by dropping your name to me in either an email or just in the comment section, you might be that person. Spots are limited, I probably only need between 3-5 names. I might choose first come, first serve or by coolest name. I'll announce my picks next week sometime and go from there.

Again, either email me or drop a line in the comment section. Hell, bonus points to people who tell me why they should be kept alive and move on to the next book. Good luck to everyone and let's see what kind of crap we can get ourselves into. If you haven't ready Death Among Us yet, I strongly suggest you do before asking to be apart of Old War Stories.

-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Book 2 - Chapter 1

I made it to Dallas.  It's not nearly as cool as Albuquerque, but I have a job to do.  I meet up with the guy in about two hours to see what the dealie-o is.  He runs a signage warehouse and needs to upgrade his POS system and also needs new cables ran.  Something tells me I'm going to regret this one.

Anyways, real quick, my author friend Jeremy Croston has a new book coming out tomorrow, The Wrath of Pan.  Its a sequel to The Cactus Killer (which I haven't read yet, but I'll get to soon).  Congrats to him and I hope it does well.

Last week, I made a promise to you guys that if I finished chapter 13, I'd put up the first chapter of my draft for you to read.  Well last night I put the finishing touches on 14, so it's time to pay up.  Keep in mind this is just my rough draft and I'm sure there are a ton of errors.  If grammar pisses you off, you might want to wait until the edited version comes out later spring/summer.  Also, as always there is sex, swearing, and all that.  You've been warned.

-Jack

Old War Stories Preview

Chapter 1 - A Baby Among Us

“Wahhhhhhh!”

“Roxanne, come get this thing!  It’s making noise and it stinks!”

Walking into the room, “Derrick, it is just a baby!  Come here precious.”  She reached down and took the thing out of my hands.

“Just a baby?  That thing is a terror!  It’s worse than those two Greed demons we put down by the docks.”

In case you’re new here, my name is Derrick Grimm and the good looking lady holding the kid is my sidekick Roxanne.

Getting slapped on the head, “Oww!  What was that for?”  Roxanne’s eyes were flashing red.

“I am far more than just your sidekick!  Don’t you make me sound like some waif who is reliant upon you!

“Wait, how did you know what I was thinking?”

With an evil grin, “I know everything.”  With that, she took the baby and walked back to the kitchen.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, I’m Derrick and that was my business partner, girlfriend, and all around awesome lady Roxanne.

“That is much better!”  Good lord, I need to be careful around her.

Anyways, the two of us run this little private eye agency in south Philly called Death Among Us.  We handle very sensitive cases if you catch my drift.  We’re also a lot more than what we seem, which is a nice way of saying we aren’t human.  Don’t worry, neither was the little kid I was holding.  No, that thing was a lot more than just a baby.

“Have you gotten to the part where you told the people I’m a sex demon and you’re the horseman Death?”

“No I haven’t and you just ruined it for me!  C’mon, why do you always do this to me?”

There was no answer.  That figures, she takes the thunder and leaves me with the small details.  Well, she’s right.  I’m the horseman Death, brother of War, Conquest, and Famine.  Those three hang out in Eden, the Garden of Eternity while I slum it up on Earth.  As for Roxanne, she is a Lust demon (a succubus if you will) and the daughter of the most dangerous one, Lilith.

So, how did we get paired up?  A very interesting question with an equally interesting answer.  Well she tricked the shit out of me to take care of her former boss, and lover, Beelzebub.  In the process, I was able to tap back into my spirit fire and regained a bit of my former glory.

So the two of us stuck together after that, settling in Philadelphia and opening this little agency.  So far, most of our clients were humans who’d dabbled in something they shouldn’t have and brought a demon over.  Those were the easy jobs that paid well too.

Unfortunately with our current case, it seemed something a bit more was happening.  I guess we should take this story from the top.

**Two Days Earlier**

“AHHHHH FUCK ME!!!!”

Good night she was loud, but it’d been a few days and Roxanne was horny.  I hadn’t even made it to the bedroom before she jumped me.  Not that I’m complaining, trust me.

The Lust demon was mounted on me, my pants still halfway on, and giving into her inner desires.  “Impale me with your scythe!  Ughhhh!!!”

She was a bit campy when she got into this state, but I was too caught up in the actual physical acts to care.  It had been a few days for me too after all and I was enjoying the extra special care I was receiving.  The best part is when she was totally gone like this, she did most of the work.  Granted in a few hours or so, I’d be expected to pay back, but que sara.

She ripped my shirt away and grabbed my shoulders for leverage.  It happened before I could do a damn thing about it.  She tightened up around me and a few extra gyrations for my benefit.  She looked me directly in the eye, “FILL ME NOW!!!”

That always does it.  I don’t know about you, but when a hot girl commands me to do something, I tend to go along with it.  I finished up well before her, but she kept working and coaxed out another, smaller, orgasm from me.

When she finished, she collapsed on the floor beside me, the sex minx gone, replaced by the sweet Angel-Friend the Arch-Angel Michael had bestowed her as.  “Phew, I needed that!  You shouldn’t keep me waiting lover boy!”

I was insulted.  “Umm, you were the one saying I needed to take on more clients.  I do believe you told me the rent doesn’t pay itself.”

She poked me on the nose.  “You’re so cute when you’re riled up.  Oh yeah!”  She jumped up and hiked her skirt back up, “Veronica called and is on her way over.”

“Roxy, you’re killing me, you know that?”

She just winked and scattered off to get ready for our visitor.  Veronica was an Angel and a particularly cool one in my book.  She got me out of a bad contract I once signed with a traitor named Yuri.

I too got myself presentable and went out to the front office area of our apartment/agency.  We got a great deal on the office front and the one bedroom pad right behind it.  And by ‘we,’ I mean Roxanne.  She charmed the pants off the landlord, literally.  It was quite the embarrassing scene, especially in front of his wife.

“Hey, you made dinner?”  I walked in to the kitchen full of wonderful smells.  Tonight it seemed meatloaf was on the menu.

“Of course, I thought it would be rude to at least not invite for to dine with us.”  She bent over and popped open the oven.  In one swift motion, she pulled out a perfectly cooked meal.  “Stop gawking at my ass and set the table.”

“Yes dear.”  Caught again!  None-the-less she wasn’t wearing any underwear and my curious nature was rewarded.  Doing as I was told though, I got three places settings in order just as the office door bell rung.  Our guest was hear.

“Rox, Derrick, you two here?”

“Yeah, come on back to the kitchen.  Roxanne made you dinner.”

It only took a few moments, but a beautiful blonde Angel walked in.  As always, she was dressed in a business suit and had a brief case with her.  She smiled as she walked in.  “Rox, you did not have to go to the trouble.”

“It was nothing, besides what you don’t eat, the garbage disposal,” she pointed at me, “will take care of.”

The three of us gathered around the table.  Sure enough, I put away quite a few pieces of meatloaf, plus two baked potatoes.  Neither of the girls ate that much, which gave them ample time to talk about way Veronica was here.

“I have recently received a disturbing request in this area.  I know the agreement is no longer in place, but I thought I might try to bring you in on this one Derrick, if you are up for it.”

My mouth was full, so Roxanne answered on behalf of both of us.  “For you, we will do anything.  Tell us more about this request darling.”

She grabbed her briefcase and pulled out a file.  “About three city blocks from here, a woman and her child are apparently being pursued by Greed demons.  Obviously the woman does not know this, but the local guardian reported it.  When he went to investigate, he disappeared.”

Well that didn’t sound good.  “How long ago did this happen?”

“Last night.  At first we were tempted to handle this on our own, but after a meeting with Michael, it was decided to reach out to you.”

“Hmm… where did all of this happen?”

She handed me the report to read while she talked.  “Down by the docks of the Delaware River.  If possible, would you be able to go down there tonight and see if we missed anything?”

As I nodded, Roxanne broke in.  “What of the woman and her child?”

Veronica’s face got all red.  “This is where it gets a bit sticky.  We do not know exactly where they are.”

I would’ve said yes just to get rid of the Greed demons from the city.  But, as soon as Roxanne heard there was a missing woman and a child, she jumped to her feet.  “Derrick, you’re done eating.  We must find help immediately.”

“But I’m still hungry…”

Brewery Thoughts

So yesterday I went out to explore Albuquerque and a few local breweries.  I never made it passed the Broken Bottle.  That place was awesome and deserves some recognition.  The beers were amazing, especially the AFD Red.  I love a good red beer and this one definitely hit the spot.

I also want to give a quick shout out to Bobby, Kim, and Macey for the exceptionally fun evening.  It turns out Bobby has read Death Among Us and nearly shit his pants when I was able to prove I was the author.  Unfortunately that meant giving him a sneak peek at Old War Stories, so if any story secrets are leaked, I'll know where to come.  In all seriousness, New Mexico has some really cool cats and besides those three, I had a great time with a bunch of locals.

I'm sure the main reason you read this blog is for story updates.  I finished Chapter 11 today while nursing a bit of a hangover.  I'm about a third of the way through the story (shooting for 34-36 chapters) and I'm getting to the point where I want to start sharing a few tidbits here and there.  I probably won't be able to write anything more until I get settled in Dallas and take stock in my next IT job, but when I get through Chapter 13, I'll post a blog with the first chapter.  It'll be a rough draft version, so pardon my grammatical errors, but something is better than nothing.

I hit the road for Dallas in the morning, so I'll catch up wit hall of you guys later.  Keep the emails coming, your thoughts are priceless.

-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

New Mexico is Cold

Greetings from Nex Mexico! Albuquerque to be exact, as I am on my way from Silicon Valley to Dallas. My Jeep is holding up well on this trip, but I'm afraid when I get back home, it'll be time to upgrade my ride. Fortunately, book sales aren't too shabby so I might even look at a car with under 100K miles on it. Who am I kidding? I'll be getting another Jeep just because I love 'em so much.

So I'm taking two days to hang out in New Mexico. I'm not due to start my next gig until Friday, so I figured I'd take today and tomorrow to check out some sites, mainly breweries. Today I'm hoping to get to the Broken Bottle Brewery and Chama River. If I remember, I'll post a review of the places tomorrow morning for all of you.

Right now I'm sitting on the little ouside porch to my room. I thought New Mexico was supposed to be hot? According to iWeather, it's only 48 degrees out here right now. Oh well, there goes the pool later.

I got in late last night to my hotel, and before I called it a night, I worked some more on Old War Stories. I had a great idea and ran with it. Before I knew it, I'd finished two chapters and began to get to the heart of the story. After I get my beer fix, I might knock out some more.

Well, I guess it is time to start getting ready to do some exploring. Before I go, if you'd like to tell me some of your favorite beers, especially if I can get them in the southwest, I'd love to hear. Beer = Inspiration.

-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Sequel and Cover Updates

Morning everyone. It's way to early to be up, but I'm still not used to west coast time. My inner clock says its almost nine, but my physical clock says its not even six a.m. Most mornings lately I've been writing a chapter of the next book in the Grimm's Reapers series. Yesterday I put the finishing touches on chapter five so all is going well.

My research into the field of writing tells me that the cover is the most important part. I guess I'm different than some authors where I wanted to have a title to the story and cover finished before I started writing the story. For Death Among Us, I went simple with just a scythe thinking that would best symbolize the book. I was wrong. Since the new cover featuring Roxanne went live a few days ago, sales have picked back up.

When my friend made the Roxanne cover for me, he also gave me a concept for the next cover. Part of me really wants to show everyone, as I think it is totally ass kicking. The other part of me wants to wait a bit and let the anticipation build. I mean books sales are based on creating a buzz and getting people to a fever pitch right?

Screw conventional thinking!!!! Here's the cover!!!!

As you can tell, the stories name is Old War Stories and the cover is featuring Veronica, our friendly neighborhood angel. That's all I'm giving you people, at least for today. Also, tell your friends, I'm sure they'd like to see it too.

-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Books on the Road

Whoa - color me surprised with the reaction to my blog. Thanks to everyone who read and especially those who emailed me with some cool questions. Lizza's question was the first one I got, so I figured I'd answer hers today. She asked me since I'm on the road a lot, what books have I read.

Over the years I've read quite a few books, but with the advent of the kindle, the book revolution has exploded. I couldn't imagine life without the kindle now frankly. Its helped me discover plenty of really good fiction. So today I'm going to list my top five favorite books that I've downloaded (this does not count my paperback and hard cover collection).

1. Fimbulwinter by E. William Brown: This book is crazy. Daniel Black is a regular old guy who's about to get divorced. Well until he ends up getting sucked to a new dimension by Hecate and meets up with two witches. He finds out his video game skills have made him a wizard which helps him stay alive during the Fimbulwinter. This is the epitome of guy's action fantasy.

2. Wizards by John Booth: Jake is a wizard with a dragon. Even though that sounds cool, wizards are pretty well hated on every realm. Jake's other problem is he has a girlfriend on Earth and one in another dimension who happens to be a princess. Whenever there are multiple women invovled, it's going to be a headache.

3. Hard Day's Night by John G. Hartness: Jimmy and Greg are a pair of hopeless vampires who run the Black/Knight detective agency. They tend to be clumsy, useless, and really really funny. The story goes Jimmy got turned by a hot vampire when he was trying to hook up with her and then the following day he turned his best friend Greg into one too because he needed a meal. A definite read if you like vampire novels that go against the grain.

4. Power Play by Jeremy Croston: This is a norse based adventure that is crazy fun. Jack is a minor league hockey player with not much of a future and a pretty crappy past. All that changes when he finds out his teammate is Thor and he gets sucked to Asgard. Throw in a super hot dark elf, an insane bad guy with an awesome name (I could say Azmodeous all day long), and tons of action. **I do work with the Two Dudes, but I wanted to read their books before I joined up officially.

5. Exiled by M.R. Merrick: Chase is a young guy without a home. The protectors he was born into threw him out because he never gained an element. His dad hates him. His mom is not telling him the whole truth. There's just a lot going on with the poor guy. However, he does meet Marcus and the hot witch Rayna, which ain't half bad. With them, he learns how to stop whining and kick some ass. You go Chase!

So those are my top 5 current reads. I plan to read a bit more over the summer as I have two more stops in California before I make my way to Texas. Feel free to shoot me some of your favorites, I'd love to see what everyone else is reading. As I sign out, I'll leave you with my current to-read list.

1. Jake's War (Wizards Book 2)
2. Zero Sum
3. The Cactus Killer
4. The Haunting of Pico
5. Plain Dealing Villian

-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Intro

Hey everybody, welcome to The Crosby Files. My name is Jack and I'm the author of Death Among Us which I'm excited to announce will be part of a series entitled Grimm's Reapers. If you have downloaded my book off of Amazon, hey thanks! If not, WTF is wrong with you?!?! Just kidding... I think.

So, a bit about me. First, I'm self employed, working as a free-lance IT guy. I travel the country helping different companies get their networks in order. It's not as glamorous, high paying, or fun as it seems. That's why I channeled my inner deviant and started writing. It gives me something to do between awful gigs.

Currently I'm in California working helping a small auto parts store get there inventory system in order. But really, I'm starting the second book in Grimm's Reapers. Derrick and Roxanne are back and even through the first chapter, shit hits the fan. If all goes well, I'm hoping for a mid-summer release on Amazon.

Last, I'd like to thank Jeremy Croston and Jeff Trelewicz for their help in getting this project off the ground. I had no idea what I was doing and when I reached out to Jeff, he got his buddy involved and poof, the book became reality. Their company name is Two Dudes, Brews, & Books, so please give them a shout out too. We all need some help and after plenty of rejections because of my material and 'I'm too busy to help you peon,' those two guys did me a solid. In fact, it was Jeff that encouraged me to start this blog, so if you hate it, spam him on twitter @Trel67. You can also annoy Jeremy @jeremycroston81. Tell them Jack sent you.

Well, I have to get ready to go tell an old man that his internet connection is 800 years obsolete. While I'm suffering, try out my book, Death Among Us at http://www.amazon.com/Death-Among-Us-Jack-Crosby-ebook/dp/B00SYVPPV6/

-Jack Crosby
jack.crosby25@gmail.com