Annoucement: The Electric Mile

So team, big announcement today. Earlier this year I had a book called The Electric Mile up on Amazon for a cup of coffee before pulling it down for various reasons. Today, I'm happy to report that The Electric Mile is back in business all thanks to the good people at Baronet Press Publishing. Casey McKay and her team have been fantastic to work with and I couldn't be happier that they took a chance with a story that I consider to be one of my finest.


With its release right around the corner, what I'd like to share with you guys today is the awesome cover that their designer, Craig, came up with for the book.

To me, this perfectly captures the video game like feel that the plot line has.

Before I go, I wanted to bring back the playlist I listened to while writing this book. Some of you might remember it from before, but for those who are new, here's the 14 song mix-tape I created to jam out to while dropping some words on pages:

The Electric Mile Soundtrack

Thunderstruck - AC/DC

Bring Me to Life - Evanescence

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin

Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne

Creep - Radiohead

Here I Go Again - White Snake

War Pigs - Black Sabbath

Slow Ride - Foghat

Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum

Showdown - Electric Light Orchestra

Baba O'Riley - The Who

Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane

The Unforgiven - Metallica

Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce

I encourage you to get those songs through legal means and when you grab your copy here soon, jam out just like I did.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow for the second part of the Friday Freebies with Jack, as we continue looking into the past of Derrick Grimm, aka Death!

Jack

jack.crosby25@gmail.com



The New Grimm's Reapers!

A guy is gone for a month or so on business field trips and comes home to find his inbox full of angry messages about where the Grimm's Reapers series has gone. Here are a few examples:


Jack -
I purchased Death Among Us and Old War Stories. Where the hell are the rest of the books? Seriously not cool.


Mr. Crosby -
Just logged into Amazon to get Divide and Conquest and was told its unavailable. Is this an error? Can you please let me know when I can get the last book?


Grrrr,
I'm so mad that you pulled your books. NOT HAPPY!


As you can see, I'm not exactly Mr. Popularity right now amongst my good people. As I explained before, the reason for the pull was to improve quality. Just as many readers sent me email after reading one or two books stating how poorly edited they were. I was young, naïve, and thought I could handle shit on my own. I learned from those mistakes and wanted to put out a better quality product.


I'm happy to report today that by Halloween this year, all four books will be back out under new titles and 150% better. With the help of Jeremy Croston over at Bolt Publishing, the two of us were able to take my hot messes and make them shine. In April, Death Among Us was re-released as Demons in D.C. Here's the cover if you haven't seen it yet:





The second book of the series, Old War Stories, is just about done its makeover. Renamed In the Nyx of Time, it is up for preorder on Amazon with a release date on June 6th. If at any point you dropped the series due to the errors, I'd like to extend you a welcome back. The under construction signs are being torn down and The Chronicles of Death are sure to delight all you heathens.


Before I go today, here's the new cover for In the Nyx of Time. I love it.



-Jack
www.amazon.com/author/jackcrosby


PS - If you're still here, look for the Feast or Famine remake in August. Rumor has it that its new title will be Abaddon Rising...


*Special thanks to all the people who've helped me turn shit into gold: CG Blade, Stephanie Croston, Galuh Obodi, Cindy Calloway, Morganna Williams and many more.

Q and A - Death Among Us

So recently Death Among Us has picked up a lot of steam, reaching into the Top 100 Dark Fiction category on Amazon.  I'm really happy that new readers are finding my book and for the most part, enjoying my writing antics.  Over the past two days, I've received quite a few emails about my stories, with most questions centering on things Derrick does in Death Among Us.  Well, I'll do my best to answer these and more.


Q - As a reviewer pointed out, why didn't Derrick know who Maggie was already if she was a world famous historian?  I mean, they're having sex and he doesn't realize who he's in bed with?


A - Stay with me for a second.  You go into a bar and see this gorgeous lady, a few years older than you and she's staring you down.  You get some drinks, you make small talk, and then boom, you're back at her place doing the deed.  At what point in time do you know or care what she does for a living?  That was Derrick's frame of mind at the time in Chapter 1.  This was a hot lady and he just wanted to have sex with her.


Q - Follow up to that, why didn't Derrick just get the info he needed off the internet?


A - He's Death, one of the old ones.  As I've tried to make clear, he's not exactly tech savvy, nor does he believe information he can't verify.  It is totally within his character to want to find the source of the information and make sure it's legit.


Q - Death is this all powerful being that's been around since the beginning of time.  Why does he constantly want to have sex?


A - In this universe, spirits take shape in different ways.  Death happened to come out as an early 20's guy and with it, all the impulses that they have.  Sure he has a job to do and he's rather good at it, but he's also acting within the nature of who he is.


Q - You're writing style is a bit scattered.  What's up with that?


A - I'm not a classically trained writer and I don't pretend to be.  I get that my style's not for everyone and it might come off as clunky.  What I do try to do is improve everyday and get a lot of opinions from those around me.  What I write entertains me and I hope it entertains you.


Q - I love the interaction between all the celestial beings in the book.  Will we get more of that, perhaps visits to Heaven or Hell?


A - I don't want to give everything away, but ask me that again once you finish the 3 books available.  I'm in the midst of writing book 4 and you never know what might happen.


I hope this helps you when it comes to making a decision to buy my books.  I don't write serious material and I can't see that ever changing.  What I do write is silly, ridiculous, and hopefully fun to read.


One last thing before I go - I'll try to keep the blog updated more often as we are getting closer to the release of book 4.  Writing has been going well and the story is really taking shape.  Plus, you have more questions?  Don't hesitate to ask.


-Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Book 3 updates

Hey everybody, long time no blog.  I was on vacation for a week and a half and then I ended up taking a job in San Fran, helping an old friend of my dad's.  While all that was going on, I was still writing away on Book 3.


Honestly, I can't remember where we left off so I'll just take things from the top.  The title for book 3 is Feast or Famine and of course the titular Horseman will be making an appearance.  I don't want to say much about Famine's appearance yet, as it will be an important part of the story.


What I can tell you is the first part of the story takes place in Hell, as Derrick and a new ally are after an important artifact that will help out with another mission that's going on at the same time involving Derrick's brothers.  Of course in Hell, Derrick runs into more women problems (c'mon, Astrid is cool and all, but Derrick is well, Derrick).  The secondary female lead is an interesting character that might be even more manipulating (in a good way) then even Roxanne was.


Speaking of Roxanne, she still has an important part to play.  At the end of Old War Stories, you find out she's now in the employee of The Upstairs, specifically Michael.  She finds out her new charge will be on the scene in about 9  months...


I'm trying to instill both action, comedy, of course sex, and spin a tale that engages everyone.  I'm trying my best to keep this book light hearted and not take itself too seriously.  I have a clear path I want to go with everyone and that's helped out a lot.


I'm still on target for a Halloween release, hopefully.  Looking at my calendar, I have October 27th circled as my proposed release date, so we'll see.  The story kinda writes itself, but I don't want to rush things if it's not there.  Stay posted and I'll confirm that date a bit closer to time.<br>


I hope everyone has a great week and if you are new to the Grimm's Reapers books, I released a combined edition called Grimm's Reapers (clever, I know) on Amazon.  Buy or borrow, I hope you enjoy it.


Later,


Jack
jack.crosby25@gmail.com

Ramblings from a Mad Man

Hi everyone. Let me bitch for a moment. My boss (aka dad) gets a job for the company in Canada. He's the one who's supposed to take it. Well you damn well can't go on a job when you're scheduled for a Caribbean vacation. So he calls me and poof, I'm off to the great white north.

Thankfully I'm back. Canada was okay, but not my ideal place. Besides, the WiFi at the hotel was horrible. So when I got back I noticed a few emails that slipped through the cracks. Most were about Old War Stories. The readers have spoken and didn't quite care for the direction I chose to go.

I'm surprised as I like OWS more than Death. That's cool though, I appreciate the feedback and I'd be an ass to think everyone would like everything. So with that being said, I have good news. For the next installment, I'll be returning to the more light hearted adventure that Death was. That was always the plan in this 4 part story line, trying for some ups and downs.

Most importantly, thanks for sticking by me as I keep fine tuning my writing. Look for Derrick to return around Halloween for his most dangerous/crazy adventure to date.

-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