White Walker brings a chill to the summer

When she was ten she made a promise to that which inhabits the winter storm. Now she’s twenty-six and pregnant, and the White Walker has returned to collect his due.

For Teddy his first day as shift supervisor could not have come at a worst time. A severe blizzard has shut down the region as old man winter refuses to relinquish his grip. Only ten percent of his team has shown up for work, and he learns upon arriving that one of his first duties that day will be to fire his girlfriend.

He believes it can’t get any worse than it already is. That is until one of his people dies at the hands of a legendary creature that inhabits the blizzard. A prehistoric deity once worshiped by ancient man on the vast Siberian plains. Brought to these shores by Russian immigrants seeking a better life in the deep coalmines that once dotted the hills around the Appalachian Mountain town of Frostburg.

Cut off from the outside world, stalked by a creature from the past, the survivors are forced to abandon the safety of a building that has been stressed to the breaking point.

But how does one escape a winter storm?

Amazon:

US  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KYDEMPM

UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KYDEMPM

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/447890

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/white-walker-richard-schiver/1119741761?ean=2940046010640

Want to try before you buy? Check out the first ten chapters for free at

http://www.rschiver.blogspot.com/p/white-walker.html

Can you beat the Reaper...or at least outrun it?

This Saturday, I will be taking on my longest obstacle course run to date (but not the longest on my schedule) as I assault the 6+ mile Reaper. I have been running the hills and trails around Estacada, as well as hitting the Spartan WOD in preparation, but you can't really prepare for what these runs demand of you.  In fact, I have one of these runs every weekend for the next few weeks. The biggest and scariest is on August 30th...a 13+ mile 20+ obstacle race called The Inferno.

The people who post videos for these are usually in awesome shape. Let's just say that I am in A shape. But those of you who follow, know that I ran the Rugged Maniac last month...here is a nice montage that shows all of the obstacles sort of spliced together to give an idea of what I conquered (or at least finished) on THAT run.

I will say that I have dropped 15 pounds (down to 250 for those keeping score) and plan on amping things up as I get under 220. So, for those who have some time on your hands, here is a GoPro vid of last year's run by some guy who killed the course.



And for those who want a shorter version (oddly lacking any sound)...



Wish me luck.

The women are KILLING men in this genre. Be AFRAID!

I am running this little gen again because my friend, Claire Riley, has ODIUM II (Just click on that title and it will take you there!) on sale today. For less than a buck, you can find out why women are starting to DOMINATE in what has been a genre dominated by men for a long time...and I say it is ABOUT TIME, LADIES!!!

 I highly suggest that you grab your copy now and jump on this bandwagon. Don;t worry, there is still plenty of room.

Odium II (which you can buy for yourself if you click on that handy little link) continues Nina's story. Nina is that strong female protagonist that the genre has been craving...needing...hungering for. Claire C. Riley has a fantastic talent when it comes to drawing you into her world. She writes in such a way that all your senses get involved. I said it before, and it bares repeating, Claire has a knack for vivid description. 

What I really love (so far) is just how brutal this world is that Claire presents. She is raw and gritty and makes you feel. That is talent...and it should be celebrated. The women of horror don't need a month...with the talent that I have been exposed to these past few weeks, I say we just call 2014 "THE YEAR OF THE FEMALE HORROR AUTHOR".  So grab your copy of Odium II. If you have not read book one, then grab that first. Just click HERE.

So, what's the scoop on Odium II?

Let's see what the talented Eli Constant had to say about her sister-in-horror.

"Okay, I don’t want to give too much away here. What’s another point I want to make… Oh, yes.

Sometimes, when you read this type of book (this genre, etc.), you end up with a book that is either ‘too brutal’ or ‘too vague’. For example, pages and pages of gore with no levity OR, endless movement through scenes that lack descriptions that really bring a reader into the landscape of the book. Claire threads levity and heartfelt scenes throughout her book in the form of a young couple that is clinging to the world that they ‘remembered’ so they could mentally survive the apocalypse. It’s strange and causes me to quirk an eyebrow, but it’s also a perfect picture of how different people may cope with the ‘end’. On the subject of descriptions and details- Claire is aces at it. She brings every sense into the read- even evoking a sense of smell, of touch. After some zombie-killing scenes, I could actually taste the rotting, pungent flesh. Gross, but highly effective.

Now, again, I don’t want to give too much away here, but there is a huge reveal towards the end of the book, when Nina is faced with the madness of certain new characters. Just when you think Nina’s had it, a twist punches the reader square in the jaw. And… oh… that reveal. Trust me, your eyes will widen, your stomach will drop and all you’ll be able to think is ‘WTF?!’."

I think that should whet your appetite. Now for the blurb and a nifty little video promo...

Fortune favors…the DEAD!

Some secrets are too horrific to ever be forgiven, and some people should never be trusted. Tortured, starved, and on the run, Nina thinks she’s faced the worst that mankind has to offer, but she’s wrong. She may have survived this long, but she hasn’t come out of it unscathed,  and there’s worse to come.

Nina’s trusty Doc Martens are showing signs of the zombie apocalypse, and she isn’t faring much better. With her snarky attitude guaranteed to get her in trouble, Nina needs to forgive the past, to live once more in the present, and learn that sometimes she needs to place her trust in other people.

She can be stalked at any of the following.

www.clairecriley.com
https://www.facebook.com/ClaireCRileyAuthor
http://bit.ly/clairecrileyamazon/
https://twitter.com/ClaireCRiley
https://www.google.com/+ClaireCRiley
http://www.pinterest.com/clairecriley/
https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/ClaireCRiley

Stop telling me the sky is falling.

One of the things that I hear from time to time is that “zombies are history” or “The market is over-saturated”. Five words: What a load of crap. People have been saying that about vampires for over a decade…guess what? Twilight blew away box offices despite all the people who openly grouse about it.

I have a different take; I think BAD zombie offerings are what are on the endangered species list. With so much out there, the readers can now be more selective. The days of just being glad you could find a zombie book on the market have been replaced by a wide variety and some very creative takes on the classic ideas.

I think most of the people banging the drum on the undead hordes are the people who either A) were never along for the ride to begin with; or B) can’t help but share the sour grapes in the bowl at their desk. One thing there has never been a shortage of is negative spewing, armchair quarterbacks.

As I write this, The Walking Dead is one of the most watched cable programs in history; the Amazon Top 100 Horror Writers list is like a zombie author minefield. And not too long ago, my friend John O’Brien was entrenched for several days at number three behind King and Koontz. I don’t care who you are, that is a horror writer’s dream to be sitting at that table.

So, I return to my premise that it is not the zombie that is old news, it is the abundance of mediocrity that has suffered a bullet to the brain. Not that they are gone, but I think that cream has risen to the top. That is a good thing. It makes it easier for those seeking to carve their own niche to find some quality examples because, let’s face it, that was a real hit-and-miss exercise just a year ago.

As a writer, I enjoy picking up a good zombie book and seeing where a talented author will take me. This past few months, I have had the pleasure of reading offerings by Claire C. Riley, Shana Festa, and the forerunner to snag my unimpressive but sincere award for “BEST READ OF THE YEAR”, Rhonda Hopkins; seriously if you have not yet read SURVIVAL, then you are truly missing something special. As a person who has watched the original Dawn of the Dead over a hundred times (not an exaggeration), I love zombies. A good book blows away a movie any day, and as recently as 2005, that was not easy to do by any stretch of the imagination. David Wellington’s Monster Island was one of the rare gems. Other than that, the offerings were sparse and difficult to find. At one point, I had every single title that Amazon had to offer in the “zombie fiction” search.

It is easy to forget that e-readers were still being resisted and the self-pub scene was comparable to FM radio in the early seventies. For those of you old enough to understand that reference, I think it might still come as a bit of a shock when you take in the landscape that unfurls before us.

So, let people continue to scream about how the sky is falling on the zombie genre. Those acorns that are falling are growing into mighty oaks.

We are not the only ones who hurt.

Guardian Image

Sometimes, it is easy for us Americans to get overly egocentric. We have Pearl Harbor Day in December and Patriot Day on 9/11. However, we have had it fairly easy by comparison. Just ask people in the UK about groups like the IRA. But we don't have to even go that deep...

Thursday, July 7, 2005, four Islamic terrorists were able to detonate four bombs, three in quick succession aboard London Underground trains across the city and, later, a fourth on one of the iconic double-decker busses in Tavistock Square. Fifty-two civilians and the four bombers were killed in the attacks, and over 700 more were injured.

BBC image

The explosions were caused by homemade  devices packed into rucksacks. The bombings were followed exactly two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks.

So, take a moment and send your best wishes, prayers, and good intent to the innocent victims of another terrible day that should not pass unnoticed.

Stop contributing to the delinquency of LUNATICS!

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”
- Albert Einstein

Today is a celebration of our nation's independence. Funny, but the war raged on for quite some time after July 4, 1776; still,this date is as good as any. So what has our freedom wrought? A lot of good, but there is always a downside. Our current culture is obsessed with social media. Even more entertaining is the degree of bravery that it has instilled in people who can sit in the safety of their mom's basement and spew whatever comes from their fingers. The problem is that people actually feed these idiots by engaging them. 

I originally wrote this post in 2012, and things have not changed much; if anything, it has only gotten worse.

Let's face it. We all stop and look when we pass by a car wreck. Do we REALLY want to see an actual mangled body being pulled from the wreckage? Perhaps some people do...but for the most part, the answer is no. Yet, we are compelled to look.

It is part of our culture now to gawk at the misfortunes of others. I hearken back to the Charlie Sheen meltdown. It was a national spectacle. He started selling tickets! He may have been crazy, but he was still thinking clearly enough to cash in on the public gullible enough to spend their cash.

We see it every day. Out loud, we complain to others. Yet, we have created the monster. You. Yes you. You are to blame for these nutcases. You engage them in debates that will have no winner. Yet, you feel drawn to try and state your case.

Stop!

All you are doing is feeding the sole purpose for a majority of these lunatics' existence: Attention. They crave it, and you give it. "But it is harmless," you reply. Really. Let's talk about some harmless nuts who sold their brand of crazy. Make no mistake, these are salesmen. And they only need to make you nod your head once to hook you. 

Names to remember: Jim Jones (The People's Temple), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), Marshall Applewhite (Heaven's Gate), Charles Manson.

Yes, there are certainly more extreme versions, but tossing those names out detracts from the idea I am trying to expound upon. My point is simple: Walk away from the madness. Hurt them where it matters...ignore them. If you are on the social media with these vitriol spewing folks, use the block function. If you are sitting on the sideline, waiting for the inevitable implosion...shame on you. Simply remove yourself and congratulate yourself for no longer being part of the problem. Because if you think you are not part of it in your silence...you are wrong. You are still an AUDIENCE. That is the desire of these pathetic individuals. 

Ask yourself this question: If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

The answer?

Who cares.

A punch in the face...and a hug.

Today I want to share something. It is real and personal. And I won't be pulling punches like I have for quite some time. While not exactly stepping off the Crazy Train, there will be a moment or two of "rant-like" behavior. So...if that is not your thing, move along. Oh...and I will be putting up an encore post Friday since it is the 4th of July and most folks here in the states will be celebrating our Nation's Declaration of Independence in the exact way that the Founding Fathers envisioned...Blowing stuff up and grilling copious amounts of meat (I will actually be wearing a replica of the British Flag at MY grill station in an ironic twist).

In the recent past, I have had my personal history exclude me from some of the "reindeer games" that many of my zombie author brethren have participated. A select (and I could add, COWARDLY) few have taken it upon themselves to basically bully others who might dare to include me in such things to the point where I simply stepped down to avoid others from sporting my mud on their shoes.

{An interesting note...this also ramps up whenever I have a new release.}

Let's get something straight...I have gotten to where I am all by myself. The only person whose belief in me I require is that of my wife. Everybody beyond that is a bonus...pure and simple. I would like to point out that I am probably the most transparent person in the business. What do you really know about your favorite writers and their personal lives? Because let's face it...everybody has skeletons. Sure some may be smaller, but they are there. Even more entertaining is what some people THINK they know. Umm...unless you were there, can I just say that YOU DON'T KNOW JACK.

However, despite the best efforts of the mindless militants (who I actually believe are motivated more out of petty jealousy and insecurity than anything else), there are some who refuse to be cowed or pushed around based on a situation that they don't honestly know the core facts (and let me say that in just under 7 years from now, I WILL be sharing MY side publicly). So, it is nice when you receive a letter like what I am going to share. NO, I will not name names and I have removed a few parts that could possibly give away the identity of the author.

"I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with so much author hate lately, too. I had no idea there was anything going on until I started receiving messages from authors telling me I needed to click links or pull my support from you lest my own reputation be tarnished by association. I can tell you that, as much as I’m finding people wanting to stir the pot, I have no interest in it. And I refuse to be bullied into thinking otherwise. Whatever you have or have not done is none of my business, nor will I hop on any bandwagons. (Hell, I won’t even click the links sent)

This was my response to a personal message I received “warning” me that supporting you, or allowing you to support me, is something I would ‘regret’ if I didn’t publicly denounce you...

“Thank you for thinking of me. I've decided to take the stance of Switzerland. While I by no means condone any acts as indicated by what others have alleged, I have decided not to engage in what is none of my business. Todd has been a valuable source of encouragement for me as a writer and has helped me tremendously in my journey. I have no knowledge of the accusations being spread about his alleged past and had to evaluate carefully how I chose to deal with this information. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it had no bearing on my life...”

I have been torn up about this for a month now. I don’t want to know anything about it, I am not looking for any explanations. But I wanted you to know, regardless of what actually transpired, I believe in rehabilitation, regardless of circumstance. I will continue to read your books, because frankly I enjoy them. Again, I’m sorry you have been dealing with this. And I’m annoyed with extremists...I’m sad at how rotten some people can be."

Now, this is NOT the first such email that I have received. Oddly enough, I have a large number of my peers who don't buy in to the threats of a few scrubs who probably got pushed into the lockers one too many times while at school. And here is the kicker...I do actually know who a few of them are, but I won't name THEM either. The last thing that I want are for a few of my friends, fans, or people who are simply bored and looking for the next broohaha, to start harassing or announcing boycotts of these sad and pathetic souls. Did you know that some of these wretched souls go so far as to click on the "no" button at the bottom when you can vote for any positive reviews written about other author's work? How sad is that?

My work stands on its own merit. Like it or hate it...that is a choice, and one that I will always respect. Any writer who thinks that he or she will be loved and adored by all is delusional and will probably always live in a self-created personal Hell that allows them no real joy. But here is a fact that the detractors and hate-filled souls will have to deal with: my books do have a following. I marvel at it daily...am thankful of it constantly...and I have done so DESPITE YOUR BEST EFFORTS. Hell, it is the sole reason that I was able to give my wife her dream house for her birthday and a bedroom set that brought tears to her eyes. How does that feel?