Promos & giveaways a-plenty

Free Books (reader magnets)

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Welcome to August! Who knows what's still to come this year?   To keep you going, or keep you distracted, or perhaps you're lucky enough to be relaxing on a beach somewhere, check out the plethora of promos and giveaways here. Sci-fi, horror, and cyberpunk.  On the Audible front, Flames of Apathy will shortly be with ACX awaiting for their approval. About a million emails later and STILL waiting on Neon Sands. I'm beyond frustration now, just waiting for them to get their arse into gear. Maybe next week!

Hire A Muse, Get A Nobel Prize Ex Machina meets A Beautiful Mind in this mind-bending sci-fi thriller. On the verge of abandoning his life-long project, an obsessive physicist hires the innovative service of an android Muse to help him finish his work. But when things start to go missing from his life, he must learn that not all is worth sacrificing on the altar of science before he has nothing left to live for.

Listen on Audible Click on your country below to link to this title on Audible. US, UK, FR, DE

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New year, new releases

Happy new year to all! If you celebrated the whole xmas period I hope it was merry and full of whatever things you like doing. New books, new word experiences and plenty of mouth pleasure, (that's all food is at xmas, right?!) Mine was family filled and new years eve was Srabble-icious, with some back to back comedies. Knocking out QUEUED for 105 points in the Scrabble game was probably my highlight, ha! (Lots of double letters and double words involved.)

January has started positively on the book front, with a few additions to the roster. Neon City Book 3, Purge of Deceit, is now out and available to purchase, or read in Kindle Unlimited.

With this one, I really wanted the characters of Elissa, Annora, Deke and Calix to be the driving force of the story, delving deep into their motivations while asking questions of the city. I also wanted to try and break down a lot of the narrative limitations that the city itself posed upon ME, the writer, so that I could go into the final trilogy (Neon Driver, see previous entries) with a little more freedom. I hope you enjoy it, readers. I had a lot of fun writing it.

If you're new to my writing, or at least new to the Neon City trilogy aspect of the Neon series, then the boxset is also now available, enabling you to purchase all 3 books at a reduced rate. 

Paperbacks (and signed)

I've also caught up with the paperback situation. All 6 books in the series are now available as paperbacks (if anyone wants the Neon Zero prequel book in paperback, let me know.) Neon Sands is now selling in my local store, so I have plenty of copies of this, should anyone like a signed copy. If you contact me via email or through social media, I would be happy to send you a signed copy for £10 (plus P&P if you're outside the UK).

The Risen Part II

I'm not sure if that should be part 2 or part II. I prefer part II, but what does that do to the algorithms, if anything? Something for me to research! Anyway, as a bit of a break from Neon, my next book is going to return to The Risen world. Looking back at the story and the reader comments, there's potential there for me to tap into, and I've wanted to do a first-person narrative for a while; and the way part 1 ends offers me a perfect opportunity to explore this. The world is your typical post-apocalyptic one, set in the UK, with a monster variety. However, there is a twist - you'll need to read the first one to find out.

The sequel is out on preorder now for a special price.

New year

This year will be different. There will be a revamp, both in the focus of my writing, but also in my online presence. My Instagram and website will no longer be Stranger Writings, but Adam J Smith Author - Sci-fi, Dystopian, and Horror. This will also be exemplified on my Twitter and Facebook pages. Find me, and you will know what I write. For many writers, writing the book is the easy part, it's maintaining an online profile and building up support where the struggle begins. I think it requires a discipline and certain extravagance that many, like me, don't have. We wish we could just churn out something and put it out there and by magic, people will find it. We have to advertise it, and us too, and I often forget that.

So this blog will play a role; a weekly update whenever possible. Connecting with other authors, and sharing more about myself , while also updating on book offers. I have a 2k mailing list, but that needs to grow, so I'll rejoin bookfunnel and storyorigin, and rebrand the newsletter. And I'll grow the Facebook page, sharing more posts both related to my work, but also to hashtags like #cyberpunk #scifi and #coolshit. Or something. It'll get something done to it.

About me

My stories percolate in the shadow of the Malvern Hills in Central England; just a few long strides from a glorious view, though one not so grand or as high as the sand mountain, no doubt. Rain dapples this quaint English town (of course it does) but on clear days you can see for miles as the land ebbs and flows, green and pale fields sliced apart by hedgerow and road. The occasional farmhouse unchanged for decades. Perhaps a boxy Grand Design or two.

This is nothing like Neon, and neither is the town plagued by an overzealous hierarchy. (At least to my knowledge, though fools and kings are so often interchangeable.) So Neon is my escape; while I dream of places like Tokyo and Google the dunes of the Sahara, hoping one day to visit. Who lives here? And what do they do? Why do they do it? These questions I try to answer, pointing the character towards a goal and letting them make their own decisions on the way. I’m often surprised by the result – I hope you are too.

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Every book 99c/p!

Hi subscribers, loiterers, casual passersby and accidental clickers. Who knew writing a novel would take so much out of me I had nothing left to contribute in the Writing a Novel series? Maybe there'll be another update shortly! Certainly when it's passed my final checks. In the meantime, there's a deal on. All my books are 99 pence or 99 cents, or some other lowest denominator in whatever country you reside in! Additionally, the Neon Sands boxset is 1.99. For now, this deal is ongoing. So check them out if you haven't already, or were waiting for one of the titles to come down in price. Neon City is still on preorder for 0.99 too. Happy reading!

COMPETITION: Neon Sands Trilogy SIGNED

Sign up the Stranger Writings Newsletter and be in with the chance to win the Neon Sands trilogy, signed. No location restrictions. Deadline April 1. Simple

The stars brought life to the planet, and the stars destroyed it.

Siblings Calix and Annora have spent their entire lives within Sanctum, the domed town that protects them from the dangerous sands that storm against the curved wall. But they are orphans, with questions about their heritage. With a childhood that prepares them to become scavengers. With a father figure in Kirillion who has an agenda all of his own - just what are they searching for when the scavenger crews depart?

All grown up, they join Walker's crew, scouring the sand in giant Crawlers, ready to dig. When an accident unlocks childhood memories and murder, questions arise within the crew about where their allegiances lie, and what their true purpose is. And then their search hits the big time.

A sci-fi dystopian adventure in an inhospitable landscape, Neon Sands is the opening book in an epic series that will explore Man’s technological and innate potential, and the search for hope when all looks bleak.

BUY NOW

Neon Sands on Preorder

It's finally happening! Neon Sands is on preorder until next Friday. Been a while coming, but book 2 and 3 won't be too far behind. Hanging around on Kindle Scout seemed like forever!

Kindle: http://amzn.to/2FX3tNT
Paperback: http://amzn.to/2ubcGwq

Also in Kindle Unlimited when out!

DailyFlash: Within Means

“How do you want them?” asked Mireille.
     The wanderer held her rations out. The temptation to eat them right away had slowly vanished the older she got. Now it was the exact opposite. “Dried.”
     Mireille took the fruit from her hands and placed them in the condenser. In an hour, the grapes would be raisins, the apples one third their size and hard, and all the liquid would be collected in the bottles. They would make a nice meal out on the sands, sometimes accompanied by jerked meat.
     It used to be a challenge to spread the meals out; make it last as long as possible. Now, she’d find shelter and be surprised by how much she still had left. Might even take fewer rations than offered.
     “Can I trade these for extra clothes anywhere?” she asked.
     Mireille looked at her as though she was crazy.

This flash fiction was inspired by the world of Neon Sands, the first in a trilogy currently accepting nominations on Kindle Scout. Like this world and want to read more? Please vote for Neon Sands on Kindle Scout and get a free copy!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/M0AVK7KHQVAB

DailyFlash: Lightning Rainbow

"The rains are coming on! The rains are coming on!" shouted the little boy. He jumped into an excited run and tried to pull his sister with him.
     She stood, knowing there was no need to rush. There was a little bubble of excitement within, but it wasn't quite as big as it used to be.
     The boy lead the way, bounding up the stairwell from level three where he shared accommodation with his family - and a few others. Neon strip-lights lit up as he passed beneath them. The girl watched him disappear into the courtyard of the dome through heavy double doors that swung back into her face.
     In the courtyard her brother was already standing with his friends, waiting for the weekly shower.
     "30 seconds..." said Kirillion's voice over the loudspeaker. The girl looked up to the apex of the dome and the saucer-shaped shadow of the watchtower from where Kirillion spoke. Where the important things were done.
     Then it began. The pipes that ran adjacent to the shaft leading to the watchtower gushed with water. She put a hand on one and could feel it vibrate. At the top, the pipe passed from their dome and into the outer dome - the Agridome - and there; they watched as the water cascaded in a rainpour they could see, but not feel.
     Lightning rainbows shimmered on the inner lining as the rain made its way down to the crops below, and all the kids "wooowed" in wonder.

This flash fiction was inspired by the world of Neon Sands, the first in a trilogy currently accepting nominations on Kindle Scout. Like this world and want to read more? Please vote for Neon Sands on Kindle Scout and get a free copy!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/M0AVK7KHQVAB

DailyFlash: Youth on Fire

Where the residents of Halbrook Street were in agreement was the need for extra policing. You can't turn the lights off and close youth centres and remove apprenticeships and not expect school leavers and younger not to get up to mischief! It was common sense. Worse, unnecessary. And yet, here they were, barricading themselves in at night in fear of youth-on-youth 'games' - the reality being streets on fire and music blaring loudly from bluetooth speakers connected to phones. No need for street-lighting with substance fires cutting up the streets like road-markings.
     Damn this fucking State, pushing blame onto the parents for their own failings! Greedy fatcat politicians, tearing it all down just to build it all back up again, lining their own pockets. Look at the kids out there with nothing to do but smash mailboxes and crush the souls of anyone who dares to walk the streets! Laughing, dancing and drinking in the orange glow, leather jackets and denim two-piece blends and halter necklines. We don't blame them. We want to join them. Maybe not too long from now we will.