I was invited on Pro-Gun Millenial’s new podcast and got to talk about my books and myself for an hour last night. Then I had to help put the kiddo to bed, so I missed the second portion.
That means when it comes out, I’ll be half as surprised as everyone else at what is said. 🙂 When I logged off, they were complaining about Staccato pistol costs and purposes. So there is no telling what paths they wandered down.
It was a blast though. Once it’s published I’ll post a link. No video, just audio. I planned on trying to video record my end of it at least, but time got away from me and before I realized it – I had fifteen minutes left to figure out how to download/join/work the software.
But 2 out of 3 of the guys on the podcast are West of Prehistoric fans. The third guy was downloading it as we were talking… because saying it’s about ‘cowboys and dinosaurs’ is usually enough to get someone interested. 🙂 So, lots of good questions and answers from both readers and a curious mind without any spoilers.
On the shooting front, there is a steel match this weekend that I plan on attending and beating at least some of the other competitors at. (The more the merrier.) I just have to avoid the icky cooties my family currently has for the remainder of the week so I can go out and play with my friends.
On the writing side of things, it continues. Nothing really new to report except I’ve got some pretty solid titles picked out for the WWII Sea Monster books.
First book: Trample the Weak
Second book: Leap the Dead
Third book: Eat the Survivors
Just kidding on the third title… I only plan on two books for this little series. And with luck, I will get them both written in a very timely fashion and release within a month of each other. That’s the goal… and apparently what the Amazon book selling algorithm likes most.
Somehow I also need to set aside some time for the website. Which would require a mini-photo shoot of books and guns, and figuring out how to get Amazon links to work again on the right side of the page. (Bottom if you’re on your phone.) Somehow they broke, and I haven’t been able to fix ’em yet.
Speaking of ‘Randomness’ I added a page to the website. So far it has the interview I did with Real-Life Fiction and the lone short story I’ve written on it. I plan on adding more short stories as time goes on and other such things.
On the writing side of things, not much to report. Just grinding through it. Putting a bunch of words down, then rewriting them, then editing them, then deleting them, and writing them back better. 🙂 It’s going okay. I’m not blazing through it like I hoped since I already had an outline. Mainly because of the research I’ve had to do. Writing about my beloved Corps means I want to be accurate and badass at the same time.
Conquering Prehistoric is still going strong. I really appreciate all the buyings and word of mouthings and everything else that went into this book being a success. I can’t wait to write more… eventually. 😉
In other news, at the risk of some moronic dipshits calling my daughter a ‘future white supremacist’ again… (Which the only proper online response to is – LOL, Go F*ck yourself. In person it’d be a throat punch, but these dweebs never have the gall to say such things to your face.) I’m going to post a couple pictures of her with a little update.
Her health is… still pretty messy. We’ve got a few big appointments coming up, one for seizures. Hope to get some progress there. But she is mostly back in school. After missing about a year and a half, it’s a good step in the right direction.
And she got her first pistol a couple of weekends ago! A Ruger Mark IV, 22/45. Purple.
There’s a neat story to this gun. The local gun store had a pair of them, one with an optic and one without, for at least two years now – if not three. So every time we’ve gone in, since she was five, she’s wanted one of them.
Finally, the non-optic gun sold about a year ago. And the more expensive optic mounted gun sat there.
We went into the store, I was actually looking at trying to get a nice .380/9mm sub-compact to carry in my new Eberlestock Bando Bag. And she went straight to it and told me once again that she was in love and they still had it.
I noticed it’d been marked down. And while I was looking at it the owner of the store gave me an even better offer I couldn’t refuse for it. Called it the ‘dusty box’ price as he wiped the dust off the Ruger box.
So it seems that gun had just been sitting there waiting on her to get old enough to handle.
We took it to the range with Grandpa to try it out.
She did magnificent. She was listened, she was accurate, and she was safe with the manipulation and handling of her new gun.
Really proud of her.
Then Grandpa and I shot it, and we shot garbage groupings. Apparently we need more practice with optics, being iron sighters has left us behind the technological curve. 🙂 (Now I’m looking for a sub-combat with optics, lol)
So that was fun. But I need to get out to the range more often and get back into competitions as well.
Speaking of the Eberlestock Bando Bag that I mentioned before… This thing is neat.
The XL can hold my G19 as shown above. Only complaint is the ‘little stretchy thing’ that holds the gun in place is junk. I replaced it with a MTAC Gun Holster. It has velcro on the back and will cover the trigger and hold the gat in place better.
And the Bando Bag is great for carrying while wearing gym shorts. (Which is my typical summer attire these days.)
As long as you are comfortable wearing a glorified fanny pack…
There was a lot of complaints about the waist strap not being long enough, but I can tell you as a fit guy gone fat… it will fit your big butt. And they sell an add-on strap to make it even bigger. (I guess for people in hover rounds…)
My wife and daughter also brought home a stray dog five weeks ago. We took her to the vets, dropped $300 bucks on getting her dewormed, vaccinated, ears cleaned out, and some pills for whatever allergy was making her hair fall out, etc. Looks to be a pitbull mix of some sort. She has a mouth like a gator. But super sweet and loveable puppy.
Then we tried to find the owners.
No luck there. But we found a nice lady wanting to take her, only problem was she is in the middle of closing on her house. So we’ve been boarding the dog for five weeks now… and today she is being picked up for her forever home.
Here’s a picture of her next to our Bull Mastiff. It was hard to get because they are always playing, but it shows just how monstrous our Roxy is.
We look forward to going back to three dogs tonight. Four is too much for us. 🙂
All that being said, it’s been a fairly eventful month at the Testerman Compound.
This is super cool. 100+ books sold/read in the last 2.5 weeks since it came out.
2. I had a thought a few days ago… Of Jed standing on the palisade wall of Whitesberg with the first wagon train of settlers streaming out the gates and into Prehistoria.. and all the adventure that would be had…. I couldn’t help myself and had to start writing. This book is coming eventually. (But first I’ve some contracted books that need writing.)
3. I need a new background photo for my FB and Blog. Because this one is outdated now.
Anyways. Back to bed.
Thank you to everyone who made Conquering Prehistoric a successful launch!
It’s a great feeling to have something you worked hard on come to life after such a long time. Especially in this case… this book took much longer than typical due to some external reasons and I’m grateful it’s finished and publishable. 🙂
Link is above.
Kindle is out now, paperback should be out within a few hours/day… and audible should be out in a few months.
This is a bitter sweet moment as I leave the world of cowboys and dinosaurs behind to work on some other projects.
I really just want to keep going…
But, writing is a business and needs to be treated as such. Thus, I must go out and gather more readers by writing various things. The good news is that a rising tide raises all ships. By bringing in readers to my upcoming WWII series and the modern day action-adventure series that are in the plans now, I’ll be introducing more people to my work and in turn, to the world of West of Prehistoric.
Which means I can and will return. 🙂
I’ve already been rolling around ideas on how to continue and the series is certainly set up for some more fun and violence down the road.
So, here we go.
Tell your friends about it, buy family members copies, mention it in passing to your coworkers and neighbors, if you can without being weird about it. The more readers the books get, the sooner I can return.
Writing this series has been a dream come true.
And ironically, I believe it was a 4th of July Weekend in 2018 when I first started writing the opening pages for this series. So it’s fitting that this one should come out on the same weekend six years later.
I never thought I’d find this measure of success. I just hoped to write something that didn’t suck that would entertain people. And while these books may not be the next great American novel they’ve done just that… they’ve entertained many a person in a satisfactory manner.
And I’m eternally grateful for you giving my books a chance.
Gunpowder and Ink! 