Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

The Limited Time Launch Offer Continues

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The response to The Medusa Coin has been staggering. I’m incredibly blessed to have so many kind readers out there. I’m lucky to have you here and will do everything I can to continue to earn those kind words. That’s why I am continuing the limited time launch offer on The Medusa Coin through the end of the month! The $0.99 deal for the book will end September 30th so help spread the word to anyone and everyone!

             

The limited time launch offer doesn’t end there!

launch offer

I haven’t been advertising it – I like to surprise people – but Signs of Portents and Tales from Portents have joined the offer and are currently only $0.99. I hope to grab as many readers as I can to share the world of Greystone with, especially with the final two books in the current arc coming your way next year!

This is an incredible way to catch up on the series. Plus, ebooks make great conversation pieces around the dinner table. Trust me.

MORE DEALS!

The Prolific Reader’s new site is up and running! Check out over 25 genres worth of FREE BOOKS!

Looking for a new release? Look no further than SFF Book Bonanza!

Author Spotlight!

Check out L.A. Frederick’s Government Rain series for a sleek Sci-Fi Urban Mystery.

New Hampton is bloodthirsty. The streets are a cesspool. Greed and corporate necessity rule the overcrowded city.

A mysterious doctor, his young protégé and a monstrous enforcer are playing gods, their wanton destruction going unchecked. The city’s Mayor seeks vengeance and believes the doctor’s work is the key to achieving redemption. These men will change the city forever, for better or worse remains to be seen. 

Crime is rife on the streets and only a few brave, have-a-go heroes, seem willing to plunge themselves into the depths of depravity to intervene and, ultimately, save the city from forces it is seemingly oblivious to. 

A handful of extraordinary individuals must decide where they fit in within the changing landscape of the indomitable city of New Hampton. Run? Hide? Fight? The ramifications of their decisions will echo throughout the city.

New Hamptoners look out for number one, slaves to the omnipresent man. Can the city survive this maelstrom or will the meddling powers-that-be doom everyone…

And for the horror fans out there…

Be sure to look up Baileigh Higgins’ Dangerous Days series!

Trapped in the shower by the monster that was once her husband, Morgan’s survival hinges on her willingness to kill the man she loves. She escapes, only to find that the horror has spread and now threatens everything she holds dear.

Logan returns to his childhood home and teams up with Max, an army deserter who is racing against time to save his family. Together, they face the real possibility that everyone they know is already dead. Or worse, undead.

As the sun sets against the backdrop of the Free State veldt and living nightmares walk the streets in the shape of their loved one’s bodies, humanity’s last hope rests in the hands of ordinary men and women called to do extraordinary things. Can they Last Another Day?

Happy reading everyone!

Genre Hopping

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This issue comes up for me more often than I’d like to admit – the choice of what’s next in terms of projects. Greystone closes out its first major arc next year and after that I have to decide where my brain would like to go – what world is out there for me to explore. Those discussions always bring me back to genre hopping.

Genre Hopping – the great conundrum for writers

It is and I don’t know why. Maybe it comes from a love of multiple genres growing up. I have to assume most feel the same way and don’t want to read the same thing over and over again – with various nuances, of course, depending on the author. Then again, maybe people do only read one type of story.

Yes there can be an infinite number of permutations of a dystopian novel or a romance novel but the structure, the rules of the genre tend to remain.

Looking ahead to my next project (or next series, depending…) I have no choice but to think about THOSE readers, and how any change might leave them behind. Greystone isn’t over, not by a long shot, but will they join me on the next journey if it doesn’t contain the same rhythm, the same elements or direction as introduced by this initial series?

Genre hopping isn’t common, not for the bestsellers. They write what put them on the list, what their readers demand with little deviation. Shouldn’t I follow the same road?

And the old fear kicks in with that thought.

Losing readers

If Urban Fantasy Thriller is what brought you to the table, will you stay for a Sci-Fi Military Thriller? Is it worth alienating an audience in the hope of growing a new one in the process?

I have to say YES.

What it boils down to for me…

I’m not going to be the next Brad Meltzer or Dan Brown. When you buy one of their books you know exactly what you’re getting. There will be a forgotten, historical element involved. You’ll meet a clandestine organization hiding in the shadows and secretly controlling the world. You’ll have a protagonist who has a love interest but is committed to solving the mystery/saving the day above all else.

You’re in safe hands.

When I read I want variety and I want to offer that to my readers. My voice remains my voice (to some extent) and my tastes filter in the background no matter what genre I find myself playing in for the time being. Is that enough?

I hope so.

After Greystone I want to stretch my Portents-laden brain a bit. I’m going to take you to the far edge of the universe to see war and strife put through a horror no one can walk away from. But it ends with a smile…

And then? I know what I WANT to share. An awesome experiment in storytelling, using a serialized “seasonal” structure. There’s psuedo-science, there’s government conspiracy, and as always jokes and sarcasm littered through the dialogue. Six books. One season. The beginning of a giant adventure.

Don’t fear genre hopping. Enjoy the hell out of it.

Greystone ends next year (for the time being). I’m sad to leave it behind for a bit. However, I am so incredibly supercharged to explore new worlds with you.

I hope you will feel the same.

Thanks for reading.

The Medusa Coin is on sale now!

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It’s the big day! The Medusa Coin is on sale now! The first cycle of the Greystone series continues in this thrilling installment.

From the back cover:

Death has come to the city of Portents.

Dozens have fallen before a mysterious menace hiding among them. Their only connection is the grisly condition of their bodies—hollowed-out chasms where their eyes used to be.

Setting aside the aging case on his wife’s murder, Detective Greg Loren has returned to the city with the task of stopping the bearer of the Medusa coin—an artifact with power over Death himself—from continuing to slaughter the people of Portents.

Soriya, no longer able to control the enigmatic Greystone, grapples with the decision to forge ahead in the case on her own, leaving Loren behind. But without the two counterbalancing each other, Death may be the force that levels them both.

Grab your copy now!

The limited launch offer continues. Only $0.99 for the ebook.

And don’t forget, if you order the paperback through Amazon you can download the ebook for FREE through the Kindle Matchbook Program.

             

Everything changes…

Medusa CoinWhen I set out to write the Greystone series, I imagined adventures with Soriya and Loren side-by-side, through every challenge set before them. A series that would be defined by their actions but would typically follow them working through case after case.

The Medusa Coin changes that. I fought against the change. I tried to steer it away from the shift coming in this book but the characters set the path ahead.

The shadows are growing and I don’t know if Soriya and Loren are going to be able to stop the darkness ahead.

And I absolutely love that feeling.

Already enjoyed the book?

I know some of my advance readers have already finished the book. If you’re one of them please be sure to leave a review at any and all retailer sites. Reviews are incredibly important to promoting the book and spreading the word to future readers.

I truly appreciate your help in getting the word out about The Medusa Coin.

            

 

Happy reading!

The Medusa Coin Primer

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It is time to get ready for the next installment in the Greystone series! The Medusa Coin arrives on September 12th!

the medusa coin

Previously in Greystone:

What do you need to know to dive right into The Medusa Coin? For me it is all about character. Events happened in the past, that’s going to be true for any novel, any series, anything. If I met you on the street I would know nothing of your past, only of the moment and everything preceding it would come later – or not. You don’t HAVE to tell me everything. I won’t get upset.

But when it comes to Greystone it all boils down to Greg Loren and Soriya Greystone.

Greg Loren is a broken man. He’s lost his wife, the circumstances of her death a mystery he has been unable to solve over the last four years. He can’t move out of the past despite his efforts to forget everyone and everything. And now that he is back in Portents, the past surrounds him on all sides.

And his dreams are getting worse. Beth calls to him, her fate tied to his future but in what way he still has no idea.

Yet.

Soriya Greystone lost her previous life in the burning wreck of a van at the age of four. Her parents, her very identity were stripped from her in that instant. The man known to her only as Mentor found her and offered her a new path, a new life.

Forged through endless study and struggle, Soriya learned the truth about the city of Portents and its need for a protector. Wielding the enigmatic Greystone and using its power over nature she stands as the last line of defense against the dark creatures of myth and legend that infect the city.

When Mentor fell his stone merged with her own, the secrets of the weapon hidden from her. Her true purpose and that of the object at rest tucked under the heart of Portents, the Bypass, a mystery that keeps her from fulfilling her destiny.

But all secrets come to light.

Nathaniel Evans’ plan to raze Portents to the ground and begin again failed. In its wake, however, new threats have been awoken. New plans put into motion.

The ultimate test for Greg Loren and Soriya Greystone is about to begin.

And it starts with The Medusa Coin…

The lightning struck…

For those who have finished Signs of Portents you know how it ended. The crashing of thunder, the lightning strike of justice ending another threat in Soriya’s city.

That moment changes everything.

You’ll see what I mean next time as a sneak peek into the latest novel.

Thanks for reading.

Remember…

You can pre-order your copy of The Medusa Coin now!

            

 

 

 

Writing Update – August 24, 2017

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I was away on Monday. It’s a rare thing and I took advantage of the time after a crazy summer of writing. I also learned a bit about myself in the process. I suck at down time.

It’s something I need. I recognize that fact. At this point in the game, however, I seem to be missing the capacity to handle such things. So what did I do?

I remodeled a bedroom. Spackle, paint, new shoe moulding. Fun stuff.

Writing-wise? I outlined two new series. That is the very definition of the OPPOSITE of down time. Stupid brain…

They’re pretty cool ideas too, some trippy futuristic sci-fi action and a YA Horror series. I don’t mind letting my mind work on things like that. My frustration comes from not being able to write them out from the word GO. Both of these will sit on the backburner until my schedule opens up (hmmm, 2019 maybe?).

Now, that is just a fact of life. There are only so many hours in the day and I have a commitment to the projects already on the slate. That’s the way it is and has to be or I’d never move forward on ANYTHING. I get that, I do. Most of the time. But yeah, down time and my brain have yet to reach the same page. For now…

Greystone

If you’re on my newsletter you already know, but if not I’m glad to repeat it as often as possible:

The Medusa Coin comes out in LESS THAN 3 weeks! I originally considered leaving it at the full price of $2.99 but as the days inched closer I realized that really takes the fun out of promoting it to you and all of my exceptional readers.

So I’ve brought the price down to $0.99 for a limited time launch offer! The book hits digital shelves on September 12th so order your copy today!

            

 

Paperbacks won’t be available until the 12th but if you order one through Amazon it will be part of the Kindle Matchbook program. What is the Matchbook program? It means if you buy a paperback you can also purchase the Kindle version of The Medusa Coin FOR FREE. I love this program and absolutely try to utilize it with every published work.

Pathways in the Dark

You’ll be reading much more about this project in the coming months but I am happy to say it is off to my editor for the next month. I’m happy to see it take the next step to completion. I think this collection went far smoother than I thought it would.

When I was putting down my ideas for where the characters should be, what beats they need to hit to propel them forward to the final book in this arc, they really took shape. Binding them with this theme of finding your way through the darkness of Portents really strengthened the project as a whole.

I’m excited to share more about what’s inside starting next month!

Book Five!

THE DRAFT IS DONE!

Knowing this will be the final Greystone novel for some time and the conclusion of quite a bit built up since Signs of Portents, it was tough to say goodbye to so many wonderful characters. The action is intense in this one, the threat larger than anything we’ve seen so far in the series.

There are some heartbreaking moments in the book, some revelations I didn’t see coming when I started down this road.

I start the self-editing process in a couple weeks. Each character gets a moment, each thread stretched through the first four books comes into play here. It’s the largest story I’ve ever conceived and it is going to surprise you where things go.

Reading? What’s that?

I keep thinking there will be more time for reading now that drafting is done. Guess what? Not so much.

I am planning on putting together a Fall Reading List as things fall off the schedule. Hopefully by next update when I take another crack at some down time. (HA.)

Until then, thanks for reading!

Writing Update – July 24, 2017

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Writing Update!

I worry sometimes – okay, ALL THE TIME – about these updates. I worry that one day there won’t be one to share, that the well will run dry and I’ll be stuck rehashing old stories over and over again with nothing new.

And then there’s THIS WRITING UPDATE!

The final chapter begins…

That’s right. I’ve been plotting and outlining for months. Every scrap of dialogue baked into this beast has been scrutinized and revised to death. The script is in hand and the Scrivener file is formatted.

Time to write the last book of Greystone (for now…)

I’ve said for some time there is a specific break in the series. Once the whole of the narrative was broken into three pieces, however I’ve come to realize it is more like halves. Book Five will be the end of Greystone’s First Cycle or the first half of the series.

There is a reason for it. There are things that happen in the book, threads resolved that lead to a moment of closure in some cases. It gives us all a moment to breathe before diving into the next epic – and yes, it will be EPIC.

Character’s fall. Trust is broken. Darkness surrounds everything.

And a circle closes around Soriya and Loren.

There is a lot at stake with this final chapter. More than the emotional core of the series, more than these character’s and the baggage they’ve carried for four books, but Portents itself. Every warning, every thread, is in here. Not every answer but some BIG ONES for sure.

It’s going to be a crazy, blockbuster style ending.

The Medusa Coin

The proofs arrived this week! There is nothing better than holding the finished product after slaving over a computer screen for six months.

I’m diving into it next week to make sure everything is buttoned up. Those of you on my Advance Team are hopefully doing the same!

Physical copies will be available on the release date of September 12th. I wish there was a way to do pre-orders but it does not seem possible with the current system in place at Createspace (Amazon) and Ingram Spark (Don’t get me started with these guys…)

You can, however, pre-order the e-book of The Medusa Coin RIGHT NOW.

Amazon   Nook   Kobo   iBooks   Smashwords

That way, when you wake up on September 12th and are debating whether or not to read the back of your cereal box for the 50th time – don’t deny it – or turn on your e-reader, the choice is an easy one!

Reading

I wish I had more to share this week. Not much reading going on as I crank up the drafting phase of the final book.

I have been reading a ton of comics with my four year old. Our current fascination is Tiny Titans, which is AWESOME. Art and Franco are an amazing team and inject wonderful humor into each issue of the book. My kid loves it and actually knows who Trigon and the Fearsome Five are, so AW YEAH, Tiny Titans!

Bookbub or Bust

I recently signed up for this one and can’t believe the response we’ve been able to garner already. Enter now for a chance to win a $350 gift card to Amazon. Yes, you read that correctly. To enter, all you have to do is follow any given author on Bookbub.

I didn’t realize how important this site was for authors. As a reader I get an e-mail from Bookbub daily noting all the incredibly discounted titles available for purchase. Multiple genres. Even free books.

And for authors? The more followers, the more Bookbub notices the author and the better the chances of being featured on their site. So I’m all for that! Help me and my fellow authors out and get a chance to win big with this promo! Ends July 31st!

Another awesome promo coming your way on Thursday.

Thanks for reading.

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