Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Update: The Key to My Heart Granted Smashwords Premium Status


Well, good news! The Key to My Heart has been approved for Smashword’s Premium  Distribution, which means it will be soon available on such retail websites as Chapters Indigo,  Apples iTunes and Barnes and Noble.  Meanwhile, you can always buy it here.

Meanwhile, as I said, I’m reading the latest installment in Taylor  Anderson’s long-running Destroyermen series, The Iron Gray Sea. I’m about half-way through it, but by now, you should know that I’m a dedicated fan of the series who is eagerly wondering how the whole thing must end.

At one point soon, I’ll also be talking about my next favorite, Charles Stross’ spy/horror series, The Laundry Files, which I can only describe as Len Deighton meets H.P. Lovecraft.  Not that it has much to do with alternate universes –some—but it is a darn good read.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing my other two books, Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

An Excerpt: The Key to My Heart


I knew she was trouble as soon as she stepped into my office. The type of trouble that only gets talked about by lonesome men in dusky bars over gin in dirty glasses. The type of trouble that leaves a smile on your face and you begging for more. The type that if it hasn’t killed you stone cold, it’s only because it’s driven you nuts first.
She wore a long black cape with her hood up and under it, a hint of long blonde hair. Her cold red lips parted in a ghost of a smile. “Mr. Gannon,” she said. “Chance Gannon.”
“That’s what it says on the door,” I said, sitting up behind my desk. Behind me, a tabletop fan battled the steamy August night air. I could tell by the sweat beading on my forehead it was losing. Somewhere, the latest Dorsey tune droned from a radio. A half-read pulp magazine – Amazing Stories- lay unfinished on my desk with a shining finned rocket ship sitting tail-first on a moonscape with jagged alpine peaks in the background and planet earth glowing in the sky above. It was a cinch I wasn’t going to finish that. “Have a seat. What can I do for you Mrs...?”
“Miss,” she smiled. “Miss Melody.” She lounged in my sofa, her long tanned legs peeking through her cape. “Mr. Gannon, six months ago, you were retained by an associate of mine, the late Walter Carswell.”
I said nothing. But I remembered Carswell.  He vanished just after I started to work for him. Never knew what happened to him; but she seemed to.  I slid my hand towards half-open desk drawer where my .45 lay.
“That’s all right; I know. Before Walter died, he placed something with you for safekeeping. It belongs to me.”
“You’ll have to excuse me, but I’ll need a bit more proof than that before I hand anything over.”
“Carswell said when the time was right, I should come to you and give you this.” She stood up and placed it on my desk. The golden heart basked in the weak light from my lamp’s 40-watt bulb.
I picked it up. “There’s a little tarnish on your heart.” 
She smiled. A gleaming 9 mm automatic appeared from the folds of her cape. “Give the item to me, Mr. Gannon. Now.”
I dove for my drawer and my .45, but she’d fired first. Two slugs bore into me, burning hot pokers of pain into my leg and my thigh, tearing into already scarred flesh. As I lay up against the wall in a pool of my own Type “O,” I looked up at her as smoke curled up from the barrel of her gun. We could both hear wail of sirens coming down the block. That’s what you get for having nosy neighbors. “Guess you lose, babe. You don’t get it.”
“Next time, Mr. Gannon,” she smiled, walking for the door. “Next time.”
She’d be back. And I don’t think it was because she loved me. As her heels clicked down the linoleum of the corridor and the sirens got closer, I slumped back against the wall. The pain shooting up through my body, it wasn’t nearly as bad as when I got shot up after jumping into France back in ‘44. But four years later, on damp mornings — which are most mornings in San Francisco — my knee still ached and I still walked with a cane. And I didn’t like the idea of carrying more lead in my body.
I looked up to the sound of flat feet charging up the hall. I knew the uniform that came through the door, gun drawn: Bertinelli. Holstering his revolver, he walked over and knelt beside me. “Jeez...Chance!”
“I’ll live,” I croaked. “Anyone see the woman who did this to me?”
“A skirt.” Bertinelli got to his feet, smiled as he picked up the phone to call for an ambulance. “Always figured it’d a be woman who’d do you in.”

Copyright 2013, Michael Cnudde
####


And the mystery, as they say, only deepeens.  Liking what you read?  You can buy The Key to My Hearherefor just $2.99. 

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing my other two books, Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Key to My Heart Launches on Smashwords!


I must apologize.  I’ve missed a whole month on this blog; but rest assured it’s not been in vain.

I can now announce that my latest novel, The Key to My Heart is now on sale as an e-book via Smashwords.

Chance Gannon is washed-up P.I. who survives in post-war San Francisco by taking divorce cases and drinking himself to sleep at night. When he’s gunned down in his own office by a mysterious and beautiful femme fatale, it launches him on one last case that not only threatens his life, but the entire world!

The Key to My Heart is my homage to hardboiled detective fiction, complete with the femme fatale, the loyal girlfriend, and the hard-nosed cop who’d just as soon see Gannon behind bars.

But… if you know me, I’ve also thrown in a dash of SF – something about aliens and time-travelers, if you can believe that, plus a few other things.  But I'll say  no more, because I’d be spoiling it. 

As The Key to My Heart is not yet available through Smashword’s Premium distribution system, you can buy it here, for just $2.99. Watch this space for further announcements regarding this.

As an update, I'm also reading the latest installment in Taylor Anderson's long-running  Destroyermen series, The Iron Gray Sea.  I'll talk about it in a future posting.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing my other two books, Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.