Walter Rice Books

My new sci-fi detective ebook, now on Amazon. Solve the mystery with energy cop Kyle Corson. Beware that his detective methods are a little strange.

Let’s talk a little about Konshu and the Nightshift, published just a few days ago. It’s my new ebook about a cop who uncovers an energy theft operation in an exciting but unconventional way, and it’s on Amazon for a modest $1.49. It has a good description with two excerpts, so click the Zon link for more on that.

Konshu is also on Kindle Unlimited, which is another way of saying that subscribers to the service can read it for free, at least for the next few months. Being on KU, Konshu can’t appear on other ebook sites during the 90-day commitment. I’ve had mixed results with Kindle Unlimited, but hope has again surfaced like a spring flower.

Konshu is great reading, but it could be confusing on two points. First, it’s a novelette, and that means it’s longer than a short story and shorter than a novella, which is shorter than a novel. If you want a word count, that’s 9,745. When I was in college, fiction was either a novel or a short story. The terms novelette and novella were never used, but we read them anyhow. Now writers have finer gradations for length, even if the reading public hasn’t fully caught on.

The other point to clarify is the genre. Publishing is largely set up to classify fiction into categories, and the system works pretty well until two or three categories are fused in the same literary work. What we have with Konshu, is a police detective story set in the near future (science fiction) and executed with a paranormal flavor. Oh, and there’s even a touch of romance.  Call it a mashup if you like, but I’m calling it a sci-fi detective tale. 

It’s time to let everyone know that I’m writing a sequel to my mystery novel Smarty Havarti. The project has been in my mind far too long, but at last the book is really happening. I have about 31,000 words in the bank and can see light at the end of the tunnel. In this new novel, Jason Stallings returns with friends (and a certain young lady) to unravel secrets and mysteries that some people would like to keep under wraps. Locations include Seattle, the untamed Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, and nearby Vancouver Island and Victoria in Canada. If that isn’t enough, garden gnomes take on major non-speaking roles, and the long dead Dutch artist Vermeer makes a cameo of sorts.

Well, that’s a little strange, talking about a book being born when the subject of the book is death by murder. Maybe it’s just one of those paradoxes, sort of what T.S. Eliot meant about a particular spring month of growth and greenery being cruel.

Speaking of April, here’s my new title from that neighborhood: Such a Cruel Month. If you click on that link, you’ll be jetted over to the Amazon page where you can learn more about this mystery novella, read a sample and buy copies of the ebook for yourself and your friends. You can also give one to your not-so-friends, but I take no responsibility for how that will be received. The book is also on several other book retail sites, but you get the idea.

Just a few notes now for inquiring minds:

1) The title is pertinent to the book, which at times is more literary than mystery, so I’m happy with that.

2) This is the first time I’ve drawn a main character from the senior ranks, but that’s what the story demanded. That might not happen again so prepare to put on asterisk on this one. My approach is to tell stories (of whatever length), and for me that means the character arises out of the story rather the other way around.

3) Such a Cruel Month started as a short story, but the storyteller in my head had more to say than that format would allow. So I kept writing until I had 17,600 words. In the hierarchy of fiction word counts, that slides in as a short novella, though I’d much prefer you didn’t actually count the words but just enjoyed them and the story they tell.

4) As usual I’ve thrown in a truckload of twists and turns, which makes driving difficult on mountain roads, but in the end it all works out. Speaking of the end, please read to it. The last page might be such a head-snapper that you’d want to reread the book to see how the magician pulled an elephant out of his hat. OK, rabbit, or whatever.

Later.  

My paranormal story Mrs. Crothers and the Everything Box is free on Kindle through Sunday March 18. No obligations. Just go get it, but don’t get caught in the time loop.

The Goodreads giveaway for my mystery novel The Last Prisoner ended Sunday night with 477 entries for two paperbacks. Quite an amazing number.

I had to go out and get mailing envelopes, and then yesterday I sent those two books to the winners in California and Pennsylvania. I think at least one of the books should arrive by the end of the week.

It’s not only your lucky day. It’s your lucky three days.

My paranormal adventure Mrs. Crothers and the Everything Box will be absolutely free on Amazon Kindle this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 19-21, 2018).

If you like odd things, this story is for you. And the Everything Box is more than odd, as Monica Crothers learns.

I call this a story, but it runs almost 11,000 words, which puts it in that loosely defined novelette range between a short story and a novella. You could call it a long story. Amazon estimates its print length at 43 pages. 

Whatever label works for you, this story is fun, scary and provocative all in one. It’s also a change of pace for me. For instance, no one dies here - except possibly one person who is already dead. Sort of. 

Since I had never done a Goodreads giveaway until this month, it’s a little strange this week that I have two paperback fiction titles available for a giveaway. If you’re a Goodreads member, it’s free to enter. First, it was the novel The Last Prisoner (last day Jan. 21). Now here’s the second book, The Kansas Cross-up: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/274616-the-kansas-cross-up

The time has come. U.S. readers can now enter a Goodreads giveaway for The Last Prisoner, my latest mystery novel.

I’m giving away two trade paperbacks copies ($12 list), and the giveaway ends Jan. 21. This giveaway might not happen again, so jump on this link now at Goodreads. 

After letting my Goodreads author page languish, I have updated it with all my titles found on Amazon. 

I have a few more reader questions to answer, but you can go there now to find my page. 

Compared with Amazon and other retail book sites, Goodreads is fairly quirky for authors to navigate and manage. But with the help of the patient librarians there I’ve been able to get all my books added. I’ve also updated my profile and made current book covers the defaults.

No doubt I’ve overlooked some elements of the site and need another tweak or two, but I’ll take care of that as soon as I can.

If you want to ask me a book question there, I’ll be dropping by frequently to see what’s new.