Neon Driver cover competition

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Art / Graphic design competition - Neon Driver

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I would love to be able to afford to hire an artist to create some amazing, cool, cyberpunk-style artwork for this, but alas, I am poor. Maybe the promise of credit and 5 free hard copies of Neon Driver would be enough?

I'm opening up a competition which won't close until the final book proof has been made: design me a book cover that you think would match well with this story, or even just artwork in general that I could use to adorn a website, and I will post you 5 hard copies of the finished book. Email me submissions or questions to ajsproof@yahoo.co.uk.

Artwork and covers I love (ha-ha, I'm dreaming)

http://josan.bigcartel.com/category/original-art

https://igorpiwowarczyk.artstation.com/

http://thanuka.com/kubrick/

http://amzn.to/2blPXCo

Neon Driver chapter one draft: Kingdom City

Readers, friends, comrades; behold: Neon Driver's opening chapter has passed its first draft. Since this is my opening foray into cyberpunk and sci-fi, and because it's generally a good idea to get off on the right foot, I have made it available to download in PDF form. I would massively appreciate it if any of you could take the time to read it and complete the questionnaire (all links below). Anyone who does so will receive a free review copy of the finished book. Comments also welcome here!

'Til the darkness takes over...

Download link: http://bit.ly/2bujqbZ
Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/72FD5LH

Having fun with covers and new novel update

Walking around bookstores and looking at horror and thriller covers, I came to the conclusion that I didn't like mine much! So I changed it up and 'rebranded' my image slightly, setting a template that I could use for future books. Here are the results. Check out the blurbs for Spirits of Eden and Neon Driver to see if they whet your appetite!

The journey of a novel

My journey for The Risen was a pretty pragmatic one. I've procrastinated for years (in part because I didn't feel ready though) but last Nanowrimo I told myself to complete a project, and so I wrote it in a month, doing around 2,000 words or more a day. I began with a theme and a couple characters, and an idea of the world, and that was it. Previously I had planned too much and what I was coming up with didn't feel very natural. With Nanowrimo, the goal was to let the characters lead the way, and to write an adventure-style narrative; and overall, to go for quantity over quality. It was a lot easier afterwards to edit, as the hard work had already been done. When you're so involved in your story every day, you live with it, and ideas come easy. I didn't know the ending until half-way through, but when it came, it was very natural.

Short Story: Hereafter

I'm perhaps overly protective of my short story 'Hereafter'. Or overly keen about it. It has a dual meaning for me: it reminds me of one of my favourite books, 'The Virgin Suicides' and is also the first thing I wrote consciously.

That sounds odd. But also right. Everything before had an unconscious element - a lack of connection with anything, a lack of substance. I just... wrote, without much thought aboutwhat I was writing, or how.

So I still see 'Hereafter' as a turning point. I just wish I could claim its content, and its tone, as my own. But I can't. The characters are Eugenides'. The tone is Eugenides'. It exists because of him. The trick now is to create things that exist because of me.

'Hereafter' has been uploaded to Goodreads in its entirety, should anyone care to read it. Just click on the Read Book or Download eBook link.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30623567-hereafter

24 Hours on Free

So, 24 hours of being free and The Risen has - risen - from around 2,000 to number 23. Hopefully the downloads will exponentially increase the higher it gets and the more exposure it gets. At least in my mind that's how it should work, logically. We'll see.

It's one thing to know a handful of people were reading the book, but now knowing the number will likely be in the thousands by the end of the week - and then anxiously awaiting some non-friend reviews - is a bit exciting!

Whatever happens, it's a bit addictive. Makes me eager to finish my next one!

Grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H9VETZ4

The Risen Promo

In the interest of spreading the word and climbing the auspicious Amazon ranking ladder,The Risen will be available as a free download for Kindle from the 25 - 29 July.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H9VETZ4

Otherwise, it's only £0.99 or $0.99, so grab yourself a copy now if you like stories that are simultaneously awesome and about apocalypses and zombie-like undead that are so numerous they are like a carpet of flesh clogging the daily commute run. Also, sex, because books with sex sell. Also, shit hitting the fan stuff. Also, horrible things in general happening.

Do hashtags work here? #KindleUnlimited #KindlePromo #Horror #Suckit

Edit: No

My thoughts on the EU and the UK government

It's been two and a half weeks since the EU referendum, and we've seen a lot of change (what an understatement). Most of us would not have watched BBC News 24 or Sky News so much in our lives before. (How many of us have wished for an alternate, exasperated by the continuing propagandising - have we not learned anything from the referendum result?!) I think first and foremost that it's great that so many people are actively involved in politics, in discussions, in debate. That's why it's taken me this long to even contemplate writing anything down. There's been so much talk and upheaval I'm not even completely sure what I think of it all.

When it was announced that Leave had won, I do remember that my first thought was of this video:

Goodreads blogging

I'm now blogging on Goodreads! here's the first.

Congratulations to everyone following me before the inevitability of my novel The Risen becoming this summer's blockbuster. You'll be able to say you were there on the ground floor - the very first of my amazing, loyal, well-adjusted and highly informed fans.

I can see it now; you're sly, knowing look as someone around the water cooler mentions my book in passing - this new kid on the block. You'll nod and skulk away with a grin on your face, remembering you were the first review, the first star-rating. You began the groundswell of success.

Maybe you'll get a little jealous. Maybe you'll think you deserve a little of that sweet Kindle Unlimited pot. Maybe you'll track me down, bundle me into a van, tie me up and perform horrific acts on me until I relent and agree to have your name in my next novel.

I guess time will tell on that. One thing's for sure: I thank you for following, and for taking a punt on an unknown writer without a star or review to his name. I'm sitting here, seeing the pagereads and wondering - Are they enjoying it? Are they moved or vaguely interested at all? Time will tell on all that while I wait for the reviews to trickle in. Be sure to let me know what you think.

If you entered the Goodreads Giveaway - and indeed if you won - thanks again and congratulations. Signed copies will be in the post on Monday. I'll have the tracking info, so if you get worried, drop me a message or comment and I will see why the postal service is being slow!

Spirits of Eden

There's another novel incoming - hopefully in a couple months. So soon, yes. But I'm a frustrated 33-year-old writer with 23 years' worth of ideas to fulfill. And so the journey begins now, and I hope you'll follow me. Spirits of Eden is a ghost story set on the Frontier, In Montana, where the Frontier itself is the narrator, and where past and present merge. I'll post more info as it develops, including extracts. 

Well, it's Sunday, and the roast is waiting. Not long now until I can afford a live-in chef. Until then - I best go get my hands dirty.

The Risen Preview

Any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch!

Novel The Risen now available - plus giveaway!

The Risen By Adam J Smith

Blurb: Embark on a mind- and body-changing horror-adventure with Nate and Ruby; two souls struggling to cope in the fallout of an international epidemic. In the months following an apocalyptic event, we find Nate, struggling to survive in the new landscape, trying to provide for his mother and brother while avoiding the infected and lethal non-infected. In middle-England, they feel cut-off from the rest of the country; London in particular, and have been forced to ‘sit and wait’ for a solution to come by. But then tragedy strikes, leaving Nate alone and without purpose. And then we meet Ruby; imprisoned by a monster taking advantage of the lawlessness. Will she escape? How will she live with the consequences of her actions? We follow their journey – Nate’s and Ruby’s – discovering along the way the rules of this new world. Are they infected too? Why are the infected getting stronger? What purpose has life when everything they treasured has been lost?

Physical copy:

UK: £6.80 http://amzn.to/24ZtigY USA: $9.85 http://amzn.to/26bqcZM

eBook:

UK: £2.80 (FREE on KindleUnlimited) http://amzn.to/1OxqyFE USA: $4.02 (FREE on KindleUnlimited) http://amzn.to/1PB6jSn

For a chance to win a free review copy:

    Enter Giveaway

Tom Clancy’s The Division: It’s great, but it could be even better

Originally posted here:
http://www.threeifbyspace.net/2016/03/tom-clancys-division-great-even-better/#.VzRu7IQrJpg

Tom Clancy’s The Division has been out for a little over a week, and even though I was lucky enough to start playing a day early, I’m far from the max level of 30. This is fine. I’m okay with that – I’m in no rush. Whenever I’m able to grab half an hour here, an hour there, I’m enjoying strolling the streets, searching every nook and cranny, wiping the snow from my shoulders, and closing every car door.

On Nanowrimo

So I'm doing Nanowrimo, I'm nearly 12,000 words in, and I haven't enjoyed the writing experience so much in years. There's a freedom to writing for quantity over quality that really suits the story I'm telling.

Here are some tips for Nanowrimo that I've discovered along the way:

Nine reasons to check out The Leftovers

You’ve not heard of The Leftovers? Sacrilege. Oh you have? You just haven’t given it a go yet... okay, you’re forgiven, all is forgiven, all is okay, there is still time...

Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane by William Peter Blatty Book Review

The first thing I do when I pick up a book like this is give it a good sniff. If it's from the 60s or 70s you can guarantee that those yellowed pages of sepia-tone nostalgia will greet you with a warm, musty scent, reserved for tightly-packed second-hand bookstores and the forgotten back-rooms of thrift shops. Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane smelled great, and had a cover that reminded me of The Exorcist version that I read years ago, with its simple black background and stark white writing.