StanleyWheeler

 

Well, Pilgrim, if you're wondering what all the fuss is about, I'll explain it to you.

 For your reading pleasure, I've attached two excerpts from The Shrinking Zone, which is still available for only 99 cents in ebook, and $9.99 in paperback. Links to all of my books are directly above. You can also find them here.

I selected these two excerpts at random, with the only proviso being that they didn't give away too much of the story, or spoil for future readers the outcome of the scenes from which I took them. As always, the author has generously approved my use of these excepts.

Excerpt one:

Rodrigo waited for Vince to tear out on the four-wheeler before he sent the Jeep hurtling through the sagebrush and the darkness. He rapidly increased his speed, going straight for the space between two sets of headlights. The one on his right must have caught sight of him, for the black SUV veered away and slid to a stop. Rodrigo didn’t slow. The other SUV didn’t stop, but instead turned toward the Jeep. The maneuver sprayed a plume of dirt into the air.

Rodrigo cut hard left, going through the dirt-laden darkness the SUV had vacated. The SUV spun around in pursuit. Everything not locked down in the Jeep bounced, rattled and banged. The jockey box which hadn’t latched properly flopped open when the front end of the Jeep found a badger hole. The box of shells bounced out when the Jeep came down. Bullets spilled from the open box to scatter like frightened mice on the floorboard.

Rodrigo couldn’t spare a hand to shut the jockey box or to...

Excerpt Two:

Outside a few torches appeared in the night. Red eyes gleamed in the torchlight.

Don pushed the two women out the back door. "Go. Ride. Hurry, or you’ll never get out of here.”

...

A torch appeared from the corner of the house. Diana’s M4 spit a single shot. The torch and the exper who held it fell back around the corner.

“Don’t forget these,” Kim said, tossing Don the keys to the Buick.

“Go.” Don slapped the horses as they turned away.

Horses and riders disappeared into the night.

Don moved to the hayshed and peeked around to where he could see the lane. The first set of headlights started to make the turn to come to the front door. A storm of rocks and a piece of rebar struck the F-150.

Another fine review posted on Amazon for The Shrinking Zone last week. I'll share it in my newsletter which you can get here.

In other news, the review and edit of the new short story are complete. I implemented most of the changes my proofreader suggested. I will give the story another once over before I send it off this week.

I begin phase III of my workout program tomorrow. It's not part of some new year's resolution. I started the program in November. As you may suspect, my new year's resolution was, "I aim to misbehave." Which reminds me that I'm in the middle of a Firefly rewatch. I highly recommend it as instructional material on the elements of good story telling. It's also great fun. 

I've gone over the first 20K words of the next book in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series, adding and subtracting along the way. Antonio is the brightest light in that part of the story, but Alex and Lucette are getting the next steps in their respective adventures set up. Alex has made a particularly exciting advancement in his use of the essence. I still need to outline, at least in some general way, the next part of the tale for Iago and Atu, as well as for Akram and the other dragon hunters with their new acquaintances Frode and Njal. Lt. Roberts and his new pet are going to be a formidable obstacle for Alex and the patriot soldiers. The Commander is also likely to return to the New World, bringing the death and destruction which attend his presence both on and off the battlefield.