Monday, November 29, 2021

My first new book in two years is now available!

 

(To those waiting for my traditional Monday morning "Memes That Made Me Laugh" post, it's coming!  Check back shortly after 9 a.m. Central time.)


The fifth volume in my ongoing Ames Archives series of Western novels has just been published, in e-book and paperback.  It's titled "Silver In The Stones".  (A grateful tip o' the hat to fellow author, blogger and good friend Alma Boykin for coming up with that title.)  The cover image is, as always for this series so far, one of Frederic Sackrider Remington's works.



The blurb reads:


What comes with a silver boom? Backstabbers, claim-jumpers and con men - and that’s just the start.

Walt Ames is working hard to keep his horse ranch afloat and his transport business in motion when silver is discovered on his property. It’s going to take cunning, determination and more than a little luck to investigate the claim while others are trying to kill him for it.

Can he keep his business and integrity intact, or is everything Walt loves going to fall prey to the perils of a silver rush?


For a foretaste of what it's about, I published two excerpts from it in prior "teaser" blog posts, here and here.

This is a very important book for me, because it's the culmination of two years of hard work to get back into the writing game.  After suffering a heart attack (my second) in November 1919, followed by two bouts with COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, my writing muse took an extended vacation and left me hanging.  It was a difficult time, because I depend on my writing to make a living.  Fortunately, I had some reserves, and sold a large chunk of my gun collection.  Your support through several raffles last year helped bring in enough to keep body and soul together.

I tried hard to keep writing, even though the medications I was using and general physical lassitude often made this difficult.  I found that I would often get bogged down in a particular book if I focused on it for too long, so I started working on up to six books at the same time.  If I found myself blocked on one, I'd shift to another, work a few days on it, then try a third.  That helped me to work through the mental and physical blocks, and produce at least some output.  As a result, all of those books are now well on the way to completion, and I hope to publish one every couple of months over the next year or so.  There are two new series (probably trilogies) among them, plus a number of continuation volumes of existing series.

This novel required a huge amount of research.  It touches on so many critical historical elements that I spent literally months going into them before I began writing.  (My wife described in an article yesterday some of the research we did in Colorado.  That trip was to prepare for this book and the next one, which will deal with the "railroad wars".  I traveled most of the routes described in this book, and saw most of the mining locations mentioned, both existing and "ghost" towns.  I learned a lot.)  Every fact I've mentioned in this book is historically accurate.  I hope you'll enjoy its wider, more in-depth look at the issues around the Wild West, compared to the usual "shoot-'em-up" scenarios found in pulp Westerns.

I'd like to ask for your help, please, readers, in two ways.

  1. I hope you'll buy and enjoy the book.  Please leave an honest review on Amazon.com as soon as you finish it.  Amazon's promotion of books on its site depends to a large extent on the number of reviews each receives, with 50 reviews being pretty much a minimum for any serious boosting.  (That's actual reviews, not just a star rating without an accompanying review).  I'll be very grateful if you'll leave honest feedback there.
  2. As I said, I've taken two years to come back from some pretty serious health issues, during which time my "visibility" in the indie book market has fallen away.  I really need help boosting the publicity for "Silver In The Stones", and being an independent author, I don't have a big-name publisher to do it for me.  Your help will be invaluable.  I'll be very grateful if you'll please mention this book (and my other forthcoming ones) on your social media accounts, in your blogs, and to your friends.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.

I hope you enjoy "Silver In The Stones".  Stand by in January, God willing, for my next book, Volume 6 of the Maxwell Saga, titled "Venom Strike".

Peter


20 comments:

  1. Bought, read, and, Amazon willing, reviewed.

    It's good.

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  2. As a newer reader of your blog I new to your fiction work and am looking forward to digging in and enjoying a new western! I grew up on Louis L'Amour's novels and always love coming across a new Old West adventure.

    I am, however, "Amazon-hesitant"; is there another way to purchase this or any of your other titles?

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  3. Looking forward to reading your work again. It’s about time to binge read the Maxwell books to get ready for the new one.

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  4. Can't wait to read it! I still like the Maxwell books the best though ...

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  5. Hey that would be November 2019.

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  6. @Unknown: Sorry, but I only sell through Amazon at present. That's because the return on sales there exceeds that from all other avenues combined, provided I'm exclusive. If I "go wide", I lose a lot of money. However, that's not to say I may not do so in future.

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  7. Bought. Can't wait to read. Review tf.

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  8. Yahoo! I've been waiting for this! Bought and downloaded, now all I need is time to read it.

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  9. Bought and in the reading queue.

    Not that you don't already have writing plans - but sequels to "Taghri's Prize" or "King's Champion" could be fun - I really enjoyed both of those stories.

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  10. "...I really enjoyed both of those stories as well"

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  11. Peter, weren't you going to do a second edition of the first Maxwell book? or was it an update?

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  12. Picked up. Will actually get it downloaded later.

    Also used what reach I have to get it out there to twitter.

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  13. @Tsgt Joe: Watch this space... big news coming about the Maxwell series, and a new addition to it, within a month or two.

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  14. I'm also not aware of any other sales channel with the reach of Amazon. And keep in mind the author keeps 70% of the revenue, so you're helping the author far more than Amazon.

    Got caught up on the Ames Archive. Glad you're publishing new novels again, Peter! I included Take the Star Road in my latest $0.99 sale here. Drop me a line - I'd be delighted to include Brings the Lightning or other of your excellent novels in future sales like this.

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  15. What Chris Kennedy and Baen do is offer for sale independent, before cuts released on Amazon.

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  16. Good to hear that the Maxwell Saga is about to grow!

    Excellent choice to use the Remington paintings for your Ames Archives covers. They are classic and a perfect fit.

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  17. I've bought and enjoyed all of your books.Thank you for struggling through your issues,it's great to hear that more of your writing will be coming out soon. Emmett

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  18. Read and reviewed. Great. Thanks for the hard work and accurate research. It shows.
    Another author told me that I could get you paid twice if I first read the book on Kindle Unlimited before I bought it, so I did it that way.
    Looking forward to another chapter in the Maxwell series.
    John in Indy

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