If you answered yes to any of these questions I have good news for you…
From August 15 – 19 my most recent novel Doomed to Repeat is FREE!!
…actually – the last question has nothing to do with anything, but who doesn’t like pie?
Doomed to Repeat, my 11th novel, was released in November of 2018 and has been highly praised!
The story begins in a top-secret Nazi bunker during World War II, but soon lands in modern day Flagler Beach where three men wash ashore – two with amnesia, one dead. Ike (our hero) tries to help the survivors, but when the dead body is discovered, a routine autopsy results in an international incident. Now Ike has to figure out why the FBI, the KGB and a racist politician are all after his new friends.
It’s a fast and fascinating read, the ending of which may leave you with more questions than answers…
Get Doomed to Repeat FREE from August 15th thru the 19th!
Since then it’s been read by my crack team of beta readers, and thoroughly picked apart. I’ve also gone through it several times to clean it up and plug the holes in the story.
I’m really excited about releasing this one, not only because this story appealed to me from the moment I conceived it, but because all of my beta readers have said it’s my best work.
In another week or so it will go off to the editor…a month or so later it will be released.
I’ve also renamed the book. Up until about a week ago I had been calling it Time After Time – a title that fit the story really well, but didn’t appeal to me at all.
After a lot of thought I have settled on the title Doomed to Repeat.
Both titles fit the story, but I prefer the new one. Only one of my betas disagrees with the change, so I’m happy with it.
While all this is going on I also initiated the cover design process – which is the reason for this post.
Here’s the thing…
We all know how important the cover of a book is. I once read that a potential book buyer will look at the cover of a book for ten seconds or less. If it appeals to them they’ll flip it over and give the back cover another ten seconds to convince them to buy it.
That’s it.
Twenty seconds (give or take) is how much time an author has to sell a book that probably took a year to write. Seems a bit unfair, but it is what it is. Of course, buying books on the internet is different, especially on Amazon where you can actually peek inside the book, but if the cover doesn’t grab you, you probably won’t waste your time peeking. In a perfect world we wouldn’t judge the book by its cover, but the world is far from perfect, so…
I need your help.
I’m going to show you the first conceptual cover design of the new book and I’m going to ask for your honest (brutal if necessary) opinion.
You see…I’ve gotten some feedback from my betas on it already and a couple of them expressed the same concern. I’m not going to tell you what their concern is, I want to know what you think.
So take a look at the cover…
Now read this blurb…
In a top secret bunker during World War II Hitler’s best scientists worked feverishly to complete a project code named Die Glocke (The Bell). Hitler was convinced that The Bell would change, not only the outcome of the war, but history itself.
But what exactly is The Bell?
Flagler Beach, Florida, 2019; Three men emerge from the surf. Two suffer from amnesia – the other is dead. The survivors decide it would be in their best interest to put some distance between them and the corpse. They meet Ex-Navy SEAL Ike, who befriends them and tries to help them with their memory loss.
When the body is discovered, a routine murder investigation turns into an international incident.
Ike has to figure out what the CIA, the KGB and a corrupt U.S. Senator want with his new friends.
It’s a race against time, and time is not on his side.
…now tell me what you think – please.
Be honest – brutally if you like. Don’t hold back – I’m really looking for honest input.
We use it to measure everything from how long to cook an egg to how long we’ve been on the planet.
Time is used to determine winners and losers, and to mark history.
In fact, without time, there would be no history.
The rate at which time passes is inversely proportional to the desire of what one is waiting for.
There have been more songs written about time than there are seconds in the average song.
According to Albert Einstein, time sums up his most famous theory…
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.”
We blame time for all kinds of problems because there never seems to be enough of it…unless we have too much of it on our hands.
Time is money, it waits for no man, and it heals all wounds…
Those two announcements came nearly fourteen months apart – a long time considering I had released at least one book each year between 2009 and 2016 – with a few years seeing two or three releases.
Ironically, 24 Minutes – a book about the passing of time, and also my shortest book – took the longest time to write.
Which brings me to the point of this post.
(I know – it’s about time!)
On July 5th, 2018 – less than eleven months after the completion of 24 Minutes’ first draft – I completed the first draft of my next book. That’s more than three months faster than 24 Minutes.
I’m pretty happy about that.
Ironically, this book also deals with time.
The working title – which will definitely change as soon as I think of a better one – is Time After Time.
I call it Time for short.
For a long time (no pun intended), when people asked me which genre my work would fall under, I had trouble answering. My standard answer is usually something like ‘my books are fast-paced, humorous, crime stories’, but that doesn’t cover it really. Unfinished Business had a hint of the paranormal, Full Circle was a bit on the metaphysical side, and 24 Minutes was a psychological thriller.
Even though they all had characteristics of my self-described genre, they weren’t your off-the-shelf crime stories.
So it is with Time as well.
Time combines my standard genre with some historic fiction and a bit of sci-fi thrown in to really make it different.
No spoilers here – but the story begins in a Nazi bunker during World War II and ends in Flagler Beach, Florida in 2018.
If you’re keeping score, that’s about a 75 year time span.
Ike and the usual cast of characters, Brewski, Ralph and Bill Eldredge, all return to save mankind from a plot devised by Adolph Hitler himself, taking on the CIA and the KGB in the process.
Obviously, neither of those agencies know who they’re messing with!
So, without wasting any more of your time…
Time After Time will now go to my crack team of beta readers…while they are ripping it to shreds I will also go through it again and plug any gaping holes in the story.
Then it’s off to the editor before it is released.
Right now I am anticipating an October release, but you never know…
…after all, when you need it the most, time flies.
blindoggbooks 