Spring Break Giveaway

Looking for something to read on Spring Break or on an upcoming vacation?  If you have a Kindle, or a device that can read Kindle files (so, practically anything), and you’d like to try my books for free, then mark your calendars.  Wednesday, March 6, through Sunday, March 10, I’m giving away the Kindle edition of my short story Dangerous Hunts: A Zombie Father’s Day Tale and Forging Truth.  My goal is to give away truckloads, so tell your friends.

If you enjoy the books, I’d ask that you throw something up on Amazon to let others know to give it a read.  Reviews are an independent author’s bread and butter.  Without them, we just cannot get the ranking and sales that we need to survive.

I really, really hope you’ll enjoy the reads.  Thanks for helping me to Spread the Truth.

Sincerely,

Raymond

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

A Not-Too-Desperate-Request

Hello, all.  Tonight I come to you for a favor.  I hope this doesn’t come across as desperate (it is, I just don’t want to sound that way).  Heh.  It’s been almost a year since I published Forging Truth, and I have received only one (1) review on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Forging-Truth-Raymond-F-Masters/dp/1468096214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353895795&sr=8-1&keywords=forging+truth

If you’ve honestly read it (no sympathy/buddy reviews) and like the sucker, even a little bit, I’m calling on you to do me a solid and throw up a small review.  This is the stuff that’ll make or break an aspiring author.

If you do not rate/review the book, that’s okay, too.  I’m stink at remembering to review my purchases.  Like for real.  If you feel like giving me an early Christmas gift, however, then knock yourself out.

Much obliged,
Raymond

Memphis Comic and Fantasy Conventions, November 9-11

MCFC Poster

Guess where I’ll be this weekend. Yep! I’ll be there promoting Forging Truth and my other writing across 3 different panels. Here’s a link to where I posted on GeekDad about it: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/11/join-the-fun-memphis-comic-and-fantasy-convention/.

• Friday, 5:00pm-6:00pm — Getting the Gizmo/Science Right
• Saturday, 12:00pm-1:00pm — Getting Visual: Writing Scenes for Comics, Books & Movies
• Saturday, 2:00pm-3:00pm — Q&A with Raymond Masters

Lucifer Haynes: Lucifer in a Small Town

Want to know what my NaNoWriMo novel is going to be about?

“Is a man more than his name? We’ve all been teased, from time to time, about our name. The fact remains, though, we weren’t the one’s to choose what we were to be called. Lucifer Haynes: Lucifer in a Small Town tells the story of one man, who has had to suffer the burden of his parents’ unfortunate naming decision. This twisted prank has cost him everything he’s ever held dear; and it’s kept him from finding lasting relationships, stable employment, and a place to call home. Recently, though, things have begun to slowly turn around for him. He’s upgraded to living out of an extended cab Ford, with room to stretch out; he’s befriended a kindred spirit with ample under-the-table work opportunities; and his love life isn’t quite as non-existent as it once was. He’s even started going to church. Luc Haynes is on the path to achieving all he’s longed for.

Until now, Luc has thought of his name as a sick gift from long-deceased parents. Unfortunately for him, he’s about to learn that, perhaps, things aren’t exactly as he’s believed. With several unnatural deaths pointing toward his involvement, will Luc be able to hold on to that which he has worked so hard? Or will one man’s namesake bring a small town to complete desolation?”

20 Copies of Forging Truth

With only 60 hours left to reach my Kickstarter goal, I posted another update. Here’s the link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/669727244/fund-the-truth-saga-book-2-and-get-books-1-and-2/posts/233995

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Well, I received my order of 20 copies of Forging Truth. You would have thought it was Christmas around here. It might as well have been 200 copies, instead. My wife got a kick out of the fact that I made her feel how heavy the box was.

“Your books are pretty heavy.”

“I know.”

It’s a good feeling. My parents gave me $100 to go toward it. I’ll get to put some in a mom & pop store down the road. I have a few folks who have been waiting on me to get some more physical books, too. Also, I’m going to send one off to the powers-that-be at Books-a-Million to see about landing it on their regional author shelf. If so, I’ll get to do a book signing there, too.

Fingers crossed.

Kickstarter Upadate: A Thank You to My Wife

Just published this over at Kickstarter. There are only 4 days left, and I badly need your assistance. Go here to check out my campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/669727244/fund-the-truth-saga-book-2-and-get-books-1-and-2/posts/232336

******

If you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to use today’s update as a way of saying thanks to my wife of THIRTEEN YEARS TODAY!!!

*Ahem.*

Sorry about that. Anyways…

We met in 1998 and married in ’99. I began writing in 2002. She had no idea what she was getting into. 🙂 Being married to a writer is probably not all it’s cracked up to be. At times, she probably feels neglected. The blank page is my mistress and sometimes, it’s hard to fight her tempting embrace. I lay next to my wife, tossing and turning, praying my ideas will remain fresh through the night. She pretends to sleep as I give in and slip out of bed to sneak in just a few last words for the day. There probably shouldn’t be a time I shut my door to her, yet I have to close out the world when I’m in an urgent frenzy.

Then, there’s the financial side of it. As an Indy author, I am not given an allowance from my publisher. No, it comes from my wife. To be honest, I probably have to cut through just as much red tape. And it’s for the best. My wife knows that should she loosen the purse strings, I would return it wrong side out and threadbare. Author’s copies aren’t cheap when you print-on-demand. My cover artist, though reasonably priced, still enjoys being paid. And advertising? Well…

But bless her… My wife is always there for me. Steadfast, she watches over me to make sure I’m spending wisely, saving my sales receipts to pay for the next batch of books, and not wasting away my “free time” on the Internet. It is because of her that I click and clack at the keyboard when I really just feel like putting in the next disc of whatever series we’re watching at the time.

After all, if I don’t crank out the next volume in The Truth Saga, she’s threatening physical violence. And that is the hard love for which I am most thankful.

Happy anniversary, baby! I’ll get you that book soon enough.

– Raymond

Hellenic Immortal Review

Hellenic Immortal by Gene Doucette

Note: Be sure to check out GeekDad.com on 5/1 for “Another Interview by an Immortal.” [I’ll update with a link at that time.]

Last April, I hosted an excerpt to Gene Doucette’s Immortal to help out his blog tour. As I indicated, it is one of my favorites from recent memory. Naturally, when I heard that Doucette was coming out with its sequel, I jumped all over it. I wasn’t sure if Hellenic Immortal would be better than the original, but I knew it would have to really blow me away for that to happen. Well, let’s just say it happened.

Once again, Doucette gives the reader a fantastic voice to “listen” to in Adam. Oh, but I might mention that Adam isn’t always referred to as Adam. I mean, let’s face it … Wouldn’t you be bored if you had to retain the same name for 60,000 years? Plus, there’s the whole blending into society thing. How far would Adam get if he were to still introduce himself with a grunt or some other guttural sound?

Sorry, I got off track for a moment. What was I saying?

Ah yes …

Kickstarter Update #7: Forging Truth Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Meeting Caduceus

Chapter 2: Sightings

Chapter 3: Coming to Terms

Chapter 4: Searches

Chapter 5: In Training

Chapter 6: Paved With Good Intentions

Chapter 7: Meeting Aesculapus

Chapter 8: Invasion

Chapter 9: Recall

Chapter 10: House Calls

Chapter 11: Reunions

Chapter 12: In the Beginning

Chapter 13: The Boys Are Back in Town

Chapter 14: Brothers’ Keeper

Chapter 15: Over There

Chapter 16: Dead of War

Chapter 17: Enemy Mind

Chapter 18: All Together Now

Epilogue

Forging Truth Blog Stops

Since its release, I haven’t really done too much PR work for Forging Truth. So, over the next month or so, I’m conducting a blog tour through the kindness of some of my fellow authors and bloggers. I’ll be doing several giveaways during this time, too. Of course, I still have 40 days or so left with my Kickstarter project, if anyone’s interested in donating there.

Here are the dates that I have so far. There are about 10 more that haven’t been finalized. That still leaves several, so if you are interested in hosting a stop that’s not filled in, I’d more than welcome it. I’m open to an excerpt, and interview, a giveaway, or a book review. I can also do a guest post if you give me an idea of what you’re looking for.

April 15: Kickoff post on raymondmasters.wordpress.com

April 16: Giveaway announcement on http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/24257-forging-truth (LINK UPDATED) (This actually went live on 4/17.)

April 17: Podcast interview about turning the geeky things I love into creative works at http://www.robf.com.au/ (It was recorded and should be up later this week, complete with uhs and ums.)

April 18: A book review by my nephew (Hey, I have no shame!) over at http://codyaray.com/2012/04/book-review-forging-truth#comment-10145 (Updated with correct link)

April 19: OPEN

April 20: OPEN

April 21: A guest post about Forging Truth http://christa-polkinhorn.blogspot.com/

April 22: OPEN

April 23: OPEN

April 24: OPEN

April 25: An interview, discussing what got me where I am today at http://marlenedotterer.wordpress.com

April 26: Author Interview at http://www.shannonmayer.com/ (Formerly scheduled for 4/20.)

April 27: A guest post about writing over at http://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/

April 28: OPEN

April 29: A guest post about Kickstarter, crowdsourcing, and the self-pub pros and cons http://paperlessreading.com/

April 30: OPEN

May 1: Book review here: http://swtft.com/blog

May 2: OPEN

May 3: Learn a little more about my book at http://bexbooknook.wordpress.com/

May 4: OPEN

May 5: OPEN

May 6: OPEN

May 7: OPEN

May 8: OPEN

May 9: A guest post with topic TBD at http://www.tktoppin.blogspot.com/

May 10: OPEN

May 11: OPEN

May 12: OPEN

May 13: OPEN

May 14: Interview, excerpt, and giveaway at http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/

May 15: Wrap up post on raymondmasters.wordpress.com