The second book in the Gamers trilogy — Frags — is now available just in time for the holidays.  If you haven’t read the first book in the Gamers trilogy, go pick up a copy now at your favorite retailer.  The trilogy has been compared to a cross between the Hunger Games and the Uglies trilogy by many reviewers and readers.

When the Frags escape to the Freelands, they find freedom has its own challenges.

Without the familiar rules of LifeGame, Gabby and the Frags stumble from one dangerous Freeland to the next, while conflict in the group threatens to split them up. As the trail to Zaela becomes confused by the looming war, Gabby must reinvent herself or never see her best friend again.

The novel can be purchased by e-book at Amazon, B&N and Smashwords for $4.99, or as a paperback for $13.99.

In my Gamers trilogy people use auto-driving FunCars to get around while playing augmented reality games along the way.  The cars can be customized to look like anything you want them to.  The Toyota Fun-Vii concept video seems like a trailer right out of a Gamers movie.

I’m please to announce the second book in The Digital Sea trilogy — The Godhead Machine.  This one takes up a couple of years after the first book, when life has seemingly settled down for our favorite heroine Zel Aurora.  Here’s the back cover blurb:

When religions spread like computer viruses, even atheists have to take notice.

An old enemy seizes control of the newly expanded Wiki-religion to create a new world order.  To stop him, Zel must join forces with a mega-celebrity doing penance and an orphan girl out for revenge.  However, mired on a thawing city in Greenland, she cannot just use her considerable powers to bend reality and fix the problem.  Instead, she must turn her greatest weakness – understanding people – into a strength or doom the planet to endless religious war.

The novel can be purchased by e-book at Amazon, B&N and Smashwords for $4.99, or as a paperback for $14.95.

I’ve had strong feelings about this story since the moment I conceived it.  Seeing readers enjoy what I so lovingly crafted makes my heart soar.  In the last few days sales of The Cageless Zoo have really taken off.  It’s a science fiction novella for $0.99 that one reader said: “I am not much of a fan of sci-fi but this would make one cool movie.”

There’s a host of other quotes and I really appreciate the readers that stopped by to express their feelings about the story.  It helps remind me why I’m doing this in the first place–the readers.

And readers must be enjoying it because right now it’s #5 (or was this morning) on the sci-fi short story list and climbing on a few others.  It’s only a buck and worth the thirty minutes of your time for an enjoyable read.  And for those fans that hope that it will someday be a full-length novel, I intend to do that after I finish a few of my trilogies.  Stay tuned and pick up one of my novels while you wait.

Putting together an anthology around the concept of augmented reality has been one of my goals since I first heard about the technology.  After many years of trying to make it happen, I was finally able to pull it off this year.  I’m extremely excited to announce that the Mirror Shards Anthology (Volume One) is now available in paperback and electronic formats.

EXPLORE the edge of augmented reality in thirteen tales from thirteen fantastic authors.  When the digital world collides with our real one, bringing all its problems and benefits, mankind will have to relearn what it means to be human. 

In this glimpse of possible futures, you will go on the hunt to track down a fugitive on the other side of the known Universe.  Learn the price of ubiquitous knowledge, or find peace and understanding in the absence of it.  Dive deep into the ocean to avert a kidnapping using only the tools at hand.  Experience new realities underwritten by an alien love of entertainment.  Find hidden truths contained within our smallest gestures.   Hide something so valuable, it would drive a man to crime.  Or find that sometimes, what it doesn’t hide is what endangers us most.

The Table of Contents:

“El Mirador” by Alex J. Kane

“Music of the Spheres” by Ken Liu

“These Delicate Creatures” by Melissa Yuan-Innes

“Below the Bollocks Line” by T D Edge

“The Sun is Real” by George Page

“A Book By Its Cover” by Colleen Anderson

“Of Bone and Steel and Other Soft Materials” by Annie Bellet

“Witness Protection” by Louise Herring-Jones

“Stage Presence, Baby” by E.M. Schadegg

“Gift Horses” by K.E. Abel

“The Cageless Zoo” by Thomas K. Carpenter

“More Real Than Flesh” by Grayson Bray Morris

“The Watcher” by George Walker

Mirror Shards: Volume One can be purchased electronically for $4.99 at Amazon, B&N or Smashwords, or in paperback for $11.99 at Amazon.

Life as a writer, both indie and traditional, is filled with long quiet periods in which we question our commitment to the job.  We have keep our expectations in check and survive on the little things to keep us going.  August, so far, has exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds.  Besides a couple of bestselling short stories, my overall sales have taken a big jump upwards.  I’m also racking up great reviews across all my novels and stories.  I’m thrilled readers are enjoying them and will work hard to make sure every story is the best I can make it.  My readers deserve no less.

Here’s my favorite bit of feedback for my novel Gamers, from Amazon top reviewer Beth Kristen Nehme:

I love young adult dystopia novels. I’ve read several over the last year. To me this book ranks with some of the best including the Hunger Games and The Pretties series. Only the first book in the series has been written so far, so it’s hard to tell if the promise will hold – but I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Progress on the next book in the series, Frags, is going swimmingly.  I plan on releasing it right around the winter holidays.

But if you can’t wait for that, I have other things brewing for the fall, including a big announcement on Tuesday.  In honor of this impending doom, I offer a slice of Phil Collins.

One major allure of writing near-future science fiction novels is that the technology is right over the horizon.  So near you can almost reach out and grab it with your ape-like hands make magic happen.  Every year the technology that makes up the collective writings about augmented reality I call “The Digital Sea” moves closer and closer to reality.  After watching this video, I felt like the technology had taken another huge step forward.  It’s not commercially available yet, but it’s certainly possible.

And if that video intrigues you, stop by Amazon and pick up a copy of The Digital Sea or Gamers.

As a little experiment, I decided to make a couple of my short stories free on Amazon: Sagan’s Law and The Cageless Zoo.  I didn’t think much would happen and I pegged my expectations very low.  As of 5pm yesterday they were free on Amazon.  Exactly twenty-four hours later, they are #2 and #4 on the science fiction bestseller lists for free e-books (and Sagan’s Law is #99 on the overall free list.)  I’m flabbergasted by the number of free downloads and even more pleasantly surprised by the novels sold because of these free offerings.  My novels have jumped way up the rankings as well, though no where near as high as the shorts.  My guess is that a fair number have enjoyed the short stories and are willing to take the plunge with a purchased novel.

If you’ve been on the fence about purchasing one of my novels, here’s your chance to try a sample story.  If you decide you like, come back and pick up a copy of The Digital Sea, Gamers or the Fires of Alexandria.  I’m not sure how long I’m going to leave them up free, but get them while you can.

** Update — 8pm.  Sagan’s Law is #1 on the free sci-fi ebooks.  Rather strange to be next to George RR Martin (he’s tops on the paid list) but I’ll take it.

Between the grueling heat wave and the torrential storms, I’ve had plenty of reasons to stay indoors this summer and keep working.  I’m past the center post and it’s hard to imagine I’ll get as much done as I did the first half, but with many deadlines looming I have no choice but to keep steaming forward.  

Reviews

Great reviews still coming in for my first three novels (well, nothing yet for Fires, but many of the ARCs just went out last week.  It’ll be a month until we see the first one.)  The latest ones nearly bowling me over with comparisons to my favorite characters and writers.  See for yourself:

The Digital Sea Reviews

Gamers Review

“…If you’re a fan of science fiction, you’ll love this book. Especially if you like Scott Westerfield’s Pretties series. If you’re like me, and not a big fan of sci-fi (but you liked the Pretties), then you will also like this book. The action keeps the story alive and makes it hard to put down. Plus, the concept behind life being a live or die game is highly original, which makes the book all that much better. “

~ The Flashlight Reader 

Updates

The Mirror Shards Anthology is progressing at expected speeds.  Still on target for a September release date.  Also, finishing up The Godhead Machine, book two of the Digital Sea trilogy, and outlining Frags, the other book two on my agenda (Gamers Trilogy.)

Only a week left of the Smashwords Summer Sale.  I have a number of free stories and half-priced books up on the site.  Find Fires of Alexandria here for only a couple of bucks using the code SSW50.

Links

If you enjoy reading books on your smartphone and use iTunes to search.  See this link for my current titles–iTunes Book Link.  Fires of Alexandria should be available on iTunes in a couple of weeks when the book gets pushed to Apple.

Finally, a cool video about Heron of Alexandria and the “miracles” of the temples.

I want to give away free paperback copies of my newest novel Fires of Alexandria and you can help me do so and possible win a copy!  To enter the contest, just tweet or retweet this post and make sure to include my twitter address @thomaskcarpente in the tweet so I can count your entry.

The contest will run from Monday July 11th until Sunday July 17th.  If I get enough retweets, I will add a second copy to the contest.  Only one retweet per person, per day counts (you can do it as many times as you want, but I’ll only count one for the contest sake.)  I will randomly select the winner on Monday July 18th and ship it to your house free.  I will contact you through twitter if you’re the winner, so please follow me so I can direct message you.

 Fires of Alexandria

The greatest mystery of the ancient world remains the identity of who set fire to the Great Library in Alexandria.

One hundred years later, Heron of Alexandria—the city’s most renown inventor and creator of Temple miracles—receives coin from a mysterious patron to investigate the crime.  Desperate to be free of the debts incurred by her twin brother, she accepts and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the Roman Empire and change the course of history forever.

The novel can be purchased as an e-book at Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes & Noble for $4.99 or as a paperback for $14.99.