Walter Rice Books

Kindle Worlds titles are now also under the Kindle Unlimited umbrella, which means my science fiction novella Slapdown can be read for FREE if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. 

Slapdown is published by Amazon as part of The World of Kurt Vonnegut and as such leans on some of the Vonnegut oeuvre for inspiration as well as characters and themes. In this case, we’re talking about the infamous Kilgore Trout, the improbable Tralfamadorians and the case of missing gravity.

Yes, my title Slapdown sounds a lot like Vonnegut’s Slapstick, but you can write that off to the mysterious universe flexing its biceps.

If you feel guilty about reading the mind-expanding Slapdown for free, you can always buy the ebook for the steep price of $1.99. So it goes.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it has taken the shape of a published novella.

After a dark period of illness in the family this past winter and early spring, the outlook is now brighter.

My new novella, Slapdown, is part of the relatively new and growing Kindle Worlds publishing program. Specifically, this novella is in the World of Kurt Vonnegut. Mr. V is gone, but Amazon has taken appropriate steps with his estate to make this happen.

In the case of Slapdown, I have a Vonnegut character hovering in the background, the hack science fiction Kilgore Trout, as well as crucial sections involving the Tralfamadorians. The book also has quieter brushes with Vonnegut’s work that well-read fans of his fiction will notice. (If you know about German batball, raise your hand.)

Even the title, Slapdown, is only a few characters away from Vonnegut’s Slapstick.

The idea of Kindle Worlds, as I interpret the guidelines. is not to mimic the original source material—an impossibility in the case of Vonnegut—but to build on such elements as characters, themes, style and attitude to make a creative spinoff that can flex its muscles and stand on its own. Spinoffs of TV shows are good analogies.

Since I’ve done mostly crime fiction the past few years, jumping into a World of Kurt Vonnegut novella was a nice change of pace. Finding writing time for Slapdown was sometimes a challenge, but the words came with more ease than I expected. In many ways I enjoyed this adventure outside the bounds of mystery fiction, where pacing and the planting and discovery of clues often threaten to be all consuming.

The essence of Kurt Vonnegut is difficult to boil down, partly because his fiction flows over such a wide range, but I’ve arrived at a working definition that serves my needs, both as a reader and as a Kindle Worlds author. For me, Vonnegut’s fiction is the nexus of satire with a fairly wild form of science fiction. Then leaven that with a good measure of outright goofiness.

After I shout out the news of Slapdown to my own vast fan base, I hope to be back at the keyboard soon whipping up another adventure in the World of Kurt Vonnegut.

Oh, in case you want to browse Slapdown, head over to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072K743T9 . If you can’t resist the exploits of cosmic consultant Silo Rosewater Fish, you can get your own copy for a mere $1.99 US, plus tax.

As Mr. V might say, hi ho.

I had another Amazon ebook giveaway this evening. This time it was two copies of A Fine Death.

Odds were 1 in 10, meaning that the logical number of entrants for determining two winners was between 11 and 20. However, there were 26 entrants. That suggests that the entries came so fast, some possibly from bots, that Amazon’s computers couldn’t close the door fast enough.

Strange, but exciting if all the entries were from real live people.

Total time from the start email to the closing email was 32 minutes, even though I’d set the deadline out more than two days.

That sounds great, but 32 minutes isn’t the real story because at least half that time went to confirming the winners and having them claim their prizes. Based on what I saw on my Giveaway page, I’d say the real event lasted less than 15 minutes, maybe even less than 10.

So people like free and the Amazon Giveaway program is very effective at giving away Amazon products, especially on Saturday night. Whether it’s effective in helping authors promote their work and find new readers is a harder question to answer at this early stage.

I’m going to let the dust settle for a few days and see if clarity presents itself before I do another giveaway like this. Book giveaways are fun, but they do have a price for the giver, and surprise, surprise, authors are always looking for that elusive return on investment.

OK, I’m giving away a few ebooks.

Last night I jumped into the Amazon Giveaway program and handed out three copies of one of my Kindle mystery stories, Always Such a Quiet Street. 

Since the ebook is more than 10,000 words, it’s technically a novelette, not a short story. Or maybe it’s a long story. Whatever the label, I offered to give away three of these guys last night, and readers jumped into the action faster than 100 meter sprinters.

I set up the giveaway as a random choice, which Amazon managed, and put the odds at 1 in 4. In retrospect, I see those odds now as low-hanging fruit. Even at the time, I thought that might be a little too easy, but I wanted to make the offer attractive on my initial giveaway.

With odds at 1 in 4, the giveaway needed 9 to 12 entrants to be valid. It got 11, and 3 of them won the ebook. 

The astonishing thing, to me anyhow, was how fast the giveaway went. I set the deadline a little more than three days out, but the giveaway was all over in only 1 hour and 19 minutes. So I learned something for next time.

That brings me to my next giveaway, which is going to start this evening with a different title and different number of ebooks. Oh, and the fruit will be a little higher on the tree, but you knew that was coming.

Keep watching - and reaching for the fruit.

I have changed the cover for The Last Prisoner, mostly because of technical difficulties with the paperback cover.

Not all the pieces are in place yet online, but the process is under way. The geometric ebook cover is now set. The paperback cover still needs a tweak or two, and that should be coming within the week. 

Three cheers! The trade paperback for my novel The Last Prisoner is available at last. For several reasons, bringing out this version was an unusual struggle, but now the deed is done.

Meanwhile, the first-born ebook hovers in the background, saying “Me, me, me.” So what’ll it be? Paper or digits? If you can’t decide, try this: Buy the paperback on Amazon and add the ebook for only $0.99. That’s a deal.

The free days for my mystery story A Fine Death are over, and now the ebook is back at its regular price, a modest $0.99.

So thank you to those readers who did download a free copy on Amazon. You allowed me to show some of my writing to you, and I hope you enjoy the story and can share that enjoyment with a little review on Amazon.

The story is still free on KindleUnlimited, at least for a few more weeks, so if you’re a subscriber to that program, you still have a chance at a free story.

Free mystery story on Kindle for 3 days, Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Find it on Amazon.

Do you like free?

My mystery story A Fine Death is free on Kindle for 3 days, Friday-Sunday Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

What’s in this little ebook?  A cautionary tale on clearing the clutter.

Reviews welcome.

Get the ebook now for free on Amazon. 3 days only.

My new mystery novel The Last Prisoner is now on Amazon and other ebook sites. Kindle Scout declined to publish the book, but as we see, that’s not the end of the story. I may or may not have a comment on the Scout process later. For now? Onward.