Frank Shaw

  • Book Release Schedule

    ByJohn Brown

    The artists were the wild cards with my delivery schedule. Now that I’ve secured the artist for all three books I want to release this fall, I can finally give some target dates. Here’s the schedule:

    1. SERVANT (The Dark God book 1) — last week of September, 2013
    2. BAD PENNY (a Frank Shaw novel) — first week of October, 2013
    3. CURSE (The Dark God book 2) — first week of  November, 2013 (I’d like to make it Halloween for the fun of it, but we’ll see)
    4. AWFUL INTENT (a Frank Shaw novel) — June, 2014
    5. GLORY (The Dark God book 3) — March, 2015

    I want to get GLORY out sooner, but it’s going to be a big book, and I’m not going to rush the editing phase. I don’t want to release shoddy work. Furthermore, it’s almost the size of two normal 100,000k novels. I hope to significantly accelerate the schedules for both AWFUL INTENT and GLORY, but we’ll have to see if I can make the necessary arrangements.

    After GLORY, I will publish another Frank Shaw novel. And then I begin the LORD OF BONES epic fantasy series which is going to be structured differently that much of what’s out there. The concept excites me and allows me to take the story in all sorts of directions. It’s going to be a blast.

    Can’t wait to get these books out there and let them find their audience. Thanks to all of you who have hung with me, sending me emails or posting comments of support. It’s much appreciated!

    EDIT: I keep the release schedule up-to-date on the Calendar page.

  • Writing Update: Awful Intent

    ByJohn Brown

    Folks, I just finished the first draft of my working outline for AWFUL INTENT. I’m stoked. Lots of research and lots fun and sometimes maddening work to get to this point. Here’s the current version of the summary, which will change.

    Southeastern Utah. 30,000 square miles of red-rock desert and wilderness.  One of the least populated places in the United States. The perfect place to hide just about anything.

    Frank Shaw is just passing through. He was once an elite soldier, trained to see what others want to hide. Then he made some terrible mistakes and fell from grace. Except the old skills never went away: they were only heightened during his time behind bars. Which is why Frank notices the fearful woman in the McDonalds and the killer watching her. 

    Frank could move on. He’s got a life to put together and a sandwich to buy. But some things are more important than a Big Mac. Frank follows the man who follows the woman, and that one decision leads Frank to a ranch that isn’t a ranch and into a plot of awful proportions.

    When Frank and the strong female Sheriff from the small town a number of miles away discover the truth, they try to get back and call for help, but the rancher is on to them and sends a private army out to hunt them down in the wilderness. Frank and the Sheriff will need to use all their combined skills to survive. Because time is running out, and thousands of lives are at stake.

    My agent got back to me on BAD PENNY. I will be focusing on some tweaks over the next two or three weeks. Then we need to get that moving forward.

    Finally, I know some of you are wondering about the DARK GOD series. And why wouldn’t you be with my earlier post? Things haven’t been finalized. Soon, Grasshopper. Soon.

  • Bad Penny – working title

    ByJohn Brown

    I’ve decided to tentatively call the first book in my Frank Shaw series “Bad Penny.”  This is the thriller I’ve been talking about. It’s a working title, so it may change.

    As for progress, I’m close to 14,000 words. Huzzah! And I’m having a blast writing it. Every day I look forward to my writing time.

    For those curious, the book takes place in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The plot will move it across eastern part of the state and then down into Colorado.

    Frank Moses Shaw, ex-con . . .

    Ah, folks. I’m just loving it.

    I’m also generating options for a pen name.  Althought I know there’s overlap between readers of epic fantasy and thrillers (hey, look at me!), I still think the genres are too different to try to spread a brand name across both.  I read about Tess Gerritsen, who started in romance, using the same name for her thrillers, which is all I think she writes now. She reports that she had a number of the thriller readers pick up her romances and vice versa, and then get frustrated because her brand meant one thing to them, but they got another.

    If I was writing thrillerish SF, like Card’s Ender’s Game, or thrillerish fantasy, like Correia’s Monster Hunter, then maybe the stretch wouldn’t be so far.  For those of you who are thriller readers, I’ll be posting some possible names in the near future. I’d like your reactions on the options, so keep a look out.

    As for CURSE OF A DARK GOD, no word yet from ye Editors. I’m expecting a reply March or April. Yeah, I turned it into my agent end of November. She submitted it to Tor in December. No, I don’t like these lead times any better than you do. But it is what it is. My job is to produce. My target this year is two novels–DARK GOD’S GLORY (book 3 in the series) and BAD PENNY. My stretch goal is to finish the working outline for the second Frank Shaw book (already have the premise) and actually start on it before the end of the year. We’ll see what happens.