Explore several compelling doomsday scenarios in All Empires Fall. How do you think the end of the world will come? Meteor strike? Pandemic? Check out these possibilities, choose your hero, and see if your avatar survives.
This anthology is a fun short read to keep you turning pages and wondering what might come next.
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If it seems to you like the world has devolved into chaos, you are not alone. We are all looking for more control in our lives. In Amid Mortal Words, that wish is granted to Lt. Col. Zane Salvador. The results could be wonderful for the human race. On the other hand, Zane might end up summoning the apocalypse.
The story begins with Zane Salvador on leave from NORAD. He awakes on a train bound for Chicago. Beside him sits a mysterious stranger with a book that has the power to delete all the evil in the world. The catch is, how much collateral damage is acceptable?
This may sound crazy, but I got the idea for Amid Mortal Words as I was surfing the internet and reading comment threads. It seems that no matter how benign the subject of a post, a tweet or a YouTube video, there is always a troll ready to pull the trigger and snipe with some awfully negative comment. It’s draining. These people are quick to tear things down but have they ever brought anyone any joy?
I’m not even sure how many trolls actually mean what they say. Some merely enjoy cranking up a fight. There are dumb and negative people who genuinely believe the nonsense they spout, of course. It occurred to me, as I’m sure it has occurred to you, that life would be better if all these trolls suddenly got raptured to Stupid Heaven, erased or otherwise deleted from public discourse. That was the seed of Amid Mortal Words.
I used to sit on a committee for freedom of expression. I was a rabid free speech advocate. I even believed the old saw about how I would support your views but I’d die for your right to express them. Um. Not anymore. After trying to digest some people’s views, I can say with certainty that their shitty ideas and lousy prejudices aren’t worth my life. They aren’t worth an iota of my time, either.
We all play King or Queen for a Day in our heads, imagining how the world might run so much better if we were in charge. Amid Mortal Words is a surprising exercise in wish fulfillment. However, all good things come at a cost and Lt. Col. Salvador has to figure out the cost/benefit analysis on eliminating evil from the world. Together with his guide, a mysterious young woman named Quire, Zane travels across the United States to figure out how he’ll handle the awesome power of the killing culling spells in Amid Mortal Words.
If you’re into apocalyptic epics, I’m sure you’ll have fun with this adventure.
There’s a good chance you found my books by reading This Plague of Days, the trilogy that brought you zombies, vampires and humans versus humans. (Can’t forget the mute boy on the spectrum who is our one chance at survival of the human species!) But that’s not all I have for you!
I basically write in two genres: apocalyptic fiction and killer crime thrillers.
Did you know I have another zombie trilogy? It’s called AFTER Life.
The story begins in a lab in downtown Toronto. Nanotechnology delivered what was supposed to be a medical miracle. Weapons manufacturers have turned what could be a boon to all humans into a deadly parasite that turns normal people into rampaging killers.
SWAT officer Daniel Harmon’s job is to secure the lab. Dr. Chloe Robinson is the one woman who might be able to stop the zombie invasion of the United States. The action is fast and the twists come at the speed of your brain on speed.
This series is fiction that is rooted in near-reality that may not be far off. If you enjoyed This Plague of Days, give AFTER Life a try!
I’ve been writing steadily but it’s been a long time since I published anything. If you were a fan of This Plague of Days, I think you’re going to dig The NEXT apocalypse series. My new end-of-the-world epic is called AFTER Life. The three books of the trilogy are Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. It’s about a bio-weapon that gets out of a research lab and voila! Zombie apocalypse! There’s industrial espionage, military sci-fi and betrayal aplenty in AFTER Life!
I held off on writing another story like this because This Plague of Days was a hit in its genre and I was worried about comparisons. The story shares a few bones with TPoD but is significantly different in a few key respects. This Plague of Days went deeper on religious quandaries while AFTER Life is much more based in the science of the brain, nanotechnology and genetic manipulation. While TPoD was more literary, expect more action and a faster pace to the new series, something I know many SF fans crave.
You can still expect that I’ll go deep on character development and the plot is packed with twists and surprises. It’s always been my policy that no character, no matter how small their role, knows he or she is a redshirt or a bit player. Whatever happens, the context must give the fiction enough veritas that you care. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy AFTER Life!
This Plague of Days is a sprawling epic with zombies and vampires versus the world’s most unlikely champion. Jaimie is an autistic boy out to save the human race, even though he’s a selective mute and civilization is falling apart.
The Haunting Lessons is about an unlikely champion, too, but just because it’s the end of the world doesn’t mean we can’t laugh a lot. Tamara Smythe is a young woman from Iowa who planned a nice cozy life for herself and her boyfriend. Then, when tragedy strikes, she discovers she can see ghosts. But the ghosts aren’t the problem. The demons are.
In this very Buffy take on Armageddon, Tamara joins the Choir Invisible to try to save the human race from an invasion from another dimension. Complications ensue and swordplay is only part of the action.
This series presents a fascinating and original take on the zombie apocalypse story. I was drawn in from the opening scene…and I found myself instantly connecting with the fate of the Spencer family. The writer did an excellent job interspersing the family’s story with details about the broader world. Every time it seemed that something was understood or under control in that sphere, the story would shift to reveal a new wrinkle in the plot.
The TPOD Omnibus won honorable mention in Genre for these awards in 2014.
Next month, the second book in the Ghosts & Demons Series will launch. In the meantime, get in on the ground floor of this really cool series with The Haunting Lessons. It’s a little bit Buffy and a whole lot of fun.
I’m pleased to announce that the TPOD Omnibus is now available in print. It’s a big book and it’s only been made possible through the imaginative and artful formatting work done by Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign. It’s a thing of beauty to behold. On the print version, you’ll also notice an extra sticker on the cover:
Honorable Mention from the Writer’s Digest Self-published Ebook Awards
has two creepy ghost stories in Kindle Short Reads.
Check them out by clicking the covers below:
It’s been in the Top 100 Kindle Short Reads list since its release!
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If you liked This Plague of Days, you might like this!
Following a terrible tragedy, Tamara Smythe, a girl from Iowa discovers their are phantasms everywhere, watching us and waiting. But ghosts aren’t enemy. The Unseen is much bigger and more dangerous than Tamara imagined. Click it to get it!
To claim the free book, readers go to a secret YouTube link at the back of the book, answer a simple question and send me an email address. I haven’t asked anyone to sign up for a newsletter or anything. Readers get the new book delivered to them immediately via Amazon. Easy-peasy.
But you know what the best part of the giveaway is?
Hearing directly from happy readers! I need reviews of my books, of course, but it’s also been truly wonderful and educational. It’s wonderful to hear how readers engaged with a mystery that is sifted through the story. I’ve got so much feedback now that I can say with confidence that the plot worked effectively the way I hoped it would. It’s also educational in that, with a little pull and a push, I’ve hearing from a lot of readers who wouldn’t ordinarily leave a review. (Again, I need those happy reviews and encourage them but the comments I’m getting are fun, too.)
I hope new readers will dig what I’m doing with my books and, heads up, if you liked This Plague of Days, you’re going to love my next book.
The truth is, I had a time travel book in the editorial pipeline, but, to be honest, it’s not ready for primetime yet. The time travel novel is a very complicated story and I can’t let anything come farther down the editorial pipe until I’m satisfied with it. It’s on hold for now until I can rework it. So let me tell you something about my next book, The Haunting Lessons.
A publisher approached me about contributing to an anthology. I was interested, but I wasn’t sure about the subject matter. It had a supernatural theme that I did not groove on. Still, it kept me awake nights in much the same way This Plague of Days did. How could I take the familiar and give it a nipple twist to make it work? I never want to do the expected. When I figured it out, I couldn’t wait to get the first draft down.
This one is a lot of fun. It has a strong female protagonist with a quirky sense of humor. Here’s the deal:
The Haunting Lessons is about a girl from Iowa named Tamara Smythe. After a shocking and tragic accident, she discovers she has acquired supernatural powers. She reveals the truth which, of course, lands her in a mental hospital. Not for long. Soon she moves to New York to begin a new, better life and to forget the past. Instead, she runs straight into a supernatural war.
The hook is ghosts. The twist is demons. The Haunting Lessons is a heartfelt and funny training manual for any who would join the fight to save the future for humanity. Forget winter. Armageddon is coming and it’s Hell hot.
This one is shorter and has a faster pace than This Plague of Days. I love TPOD, of course. Remember, I don’t let anything out of the bunker unless I love it. But the jokes and action in The Haunting Lessons come faster and are packed tighter. This Plague of Days was, in part, an homage to Stephen King’s The Stand. I don’t know what to compare The Haunting Lessons to, though there is a tiny influence of Harry Potter and not a little Hunger Games in there, I suppose. But with more jokes. And swords. Lots of swords! This is apocalyptic fiction with a paranormal twist that takes the story in a fun and funny direction (with just enough tragedy to make it matter.)
You’re really going to like Tamara Smythe. I’m hoping to have it ready in time for Christmas.
In the meantime, be sure to finish the Omnibus before New Year’s Eve when the offer of the gift of Intense Violence, Bizarre Themes runs its course. (Sorry, can’t give a novel away free forever!)
In the book I’m working on now, Tamara Smythe suffers a tragedy and a paranormal world, once hidden, opens up to her. Now she’s in New York, touring a secret society’s fortress in the middle of Brooklyn:
The top of the wall was just wide enough for two people to stroll abreast. Shards of broken glass and crosses lined the top of the stone parapet.
“This is our bailey,” Victor said. “It’s the outer wall of our little castle. One of New York’s first Roman Catholic churches once stood here and this rampart kept men out of the nunnery. That’s the legend. I think it’s true. This is our sanctuary from the war.”
“No sentries on your castle wall?”
Victor looked pleased. “Observant. Good. Most unusual. People rarely see what’s in front of them. Fewer still think to ask what is missing.”
“I watch a lot of Game of Thrones.”
“What’s that?”
I thought of the armoury and the Blade Room, stocked with so many swords. “It’s kind of like your life, Victor. You’re just short one handsome little person and a lot of gratuitous nudity.”
I think this new book will be a nice follow-up to TPOD. It has fun supernatural elements plus funny pop culture references readers have come to expect from the crime novels. Some of it reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except Tamara doesn’t really have superpowers. She’s smart and strong, but other than that she has the same experience of anyone who can see dead people walk the earth. Oh, and there’s a war coming and she’s out to save humanity, between working shifts at a funeral home, picking up and dropping off corpses.
This one is going to be a lot of fun.
~ Check out the podcasts and books by Robert Chazz Chute at AllThatChazz.com.
I see the actor's picture. I think it's Sam. Sam...what? Sam... I look him up. Sam Elliott. For some reason, I neve… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…5 days ago
I’ve been writing steadily but it’s been a long time since I published anything. If you were a fan of This Plague of Days, I think you’re going to dig The NEXT apocalypse series. My new end-of-the-world epic is called AFTER Life. The three books of the trilogy are Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. It’s about a bio-weapon that gets out of a research lab and voila! Zombie apocalypse! There’s industrial espionage, military sci-fi and betrayal aplenty in AFTER Life!
This Plague of Days 