I am asked regularly… perhaps more than anything else… where my characters come from. Often, the question has a hidden subtext, though. The asker is wondering if THEY might be a character. With about the same frequency, they are wondering if they know some other characters.

Yes, no, kinda, everyone. Read More

Anyway… that is how I create characters, and why there is a good chance that you ARE one, if I know you in more than a passing manner.

Competition sharpens the game.

I wrote Lucinda’s Choice for a short story competition. The quick version of the rules are as follows:

• Must include a black notebook
• The main character must have an unexpected windfall of $20,000. It can be from any type of source.
• The story must be between 600 and 2000 words.

This story punches out with just under 2000 words. I don’t want to give too much away, but someone gets $20k, and there is a black notebook.

For the rest of the story, all I will say is that it is a mystery/suspense story. To find out more, it doesn’t take long to read it. You should be able to knock it out in ten minutes or less.

Here is a link to the post on Vocal. It’s free to read… but I will get paid if there are a lot of readers.

Lucinda’s Choice

It’s my youngest son’s birthday, so to celebrate I’m, giving away the Kindle edition of Planning Vengeance all weekend. Of course it’s free on Kindle Unlimited, but you can download a copy without KU all weekend. Get it here! <LINK

Normally the book is $2.99.

Bill Prince and Ed Dixon are retired Special Forces Operators. Now they mostly teach their skills and support Operators in the field. But when their kids are threatened, they team up to deal with the threat.

Jack Dixon and Amy Prince are star-crossed teens. They met when they were younger, but circumstances pushed them apart. But when those circumstances end and they get together, Amy’s old flame is not happy. Unfortunately, he is also violent and strays into dangerous territory.

Part One is Planning Vengeance. Part Two is Dig Two Graves.

Print on Demand copies of Planning Vengeance are now available on Amazon.

This was my first Kindle book and launched the rest of the books in the series… currently at three published and one more waiting in the wings.

On the face, it is about Jonathan “Jack” Dixon and his relationship with Amy Prince, but underlying it is the story of Ed Dixon and Bill Prince. They are former SpecOps that have become instructors. When their kids end up in danger, they do what dads do… they dig in and protect. Enlisting the help of Gunny, a friend and Jack’s Scoutmaster, they do their best to keep Amy and Jack safe.

But Paul Murphy is a smart and wily foe, eluding all of the forces hunting him… except Antonio Sky. But will Sky help or hinder Paul?

Along with Dig Two Graves, Planning Vengeance (also on Kindle) is an exciting roller-coaster of a story.

I have another story from my fourth book… the one that isn’t published. This one isn’t a “shoot’em up” or anything like that. It is a little more on the romantic side.

If you’ve read Planning Vengeance and Dig Two Graves, then you might be wondering what happened to Amy Prince and Jack Dixon. If you’ve read You Don’t Know Jack, you know that they got married… but how did it happen?

The story is a little shorter and will be posted in five parts. I’ll have it posting up starting Monday, 24 February, then Wednesday, Friday, Monday and Wednesday the following week.

Broken Path Book Three

The third installment of the Jack Dixon Books, You Don’t Know Jack, hits Amazon today for Kindle. Of course, you can check out my author page on Amazon to see all of the titles currently available.

In You Don’t Know Jack, Jack Dixon gets his first big assignment as a professional photographer. He is headed to Arizona to work on a story about why people illegally cross the border. The year is 1987, and he is working with a writer and a local guide. They end up crossing paths with some members of a drug cartel, and things go downhill.

How will the three make it through? Will all of them find a way out?

And in a bonus story, Amy, Jack’s wife, and Nicole, his sister, are kidnapped. Jack searches for them and needs to call in help…

For all of the twists and turns, check out You Don’t Know Jack on Amazon.