A New Book!!! By Me!!! That You Can Buy!!!

Note: I think I usually get too cutesy-clever for my own good with the headlines for my posts, so I decided to be as blunt as possible today. Slowly but surely I think I'm getting the hang of this crazy "marketing" thing....

A few months ago, I did some hinting around about various irons in my writer-fire. Well, one's finally nice and hot and ready to burn my name into the hogtied, bellowing heifer known as the book world. (Gosh, it's easy to take this "irons in the fire" metaphor too far.) It's called Cadaver in Chief and it's a horror-mystery-satire that's jam-packed with political shenanigans and flesh-munching maniacs and other zeitgeisty whatnot. To misquote Jimi Hendrix -- 'scuse me while I pitch this guy.

The dead have risen from their graves, and society hangs by a thread. But America's political parties aren't going to let a little thing like the zombie apocalypse get in the way of a presidential election. There are nasty whispers about the incumbent, though, and they have nothing to do with where he was born.

The rumor: He's dead.

Could a zombie be running for President? It's up to ace Washington Tribune reporter Jan Woods to find out. Cadaver in Chief follows Woods on her search for the truth...a search that puts her up against the most dangerous ghouls in Washington. Oh, and zombies, too.

End of pitch.

Some of you are probably saying, "Sounds like fun!" Some of you are probably saying, "But I want historical mysteries about Sherlock Holmes-loving cowboys!" And some of you are probably saying, "Honey, where's the mustard?" because you got bored with all this and wandered off to make yourself a sandwich. Allow me to address the second "some of you" for a moment.

Be patient, my friends. Big Red and Old Red will ride again. And do you know what'll get them back in the saddle faster? If Cadaver in Chief does very, very well. Should that happen, I'll have the freedom to write whatever I want. And you know and I know what the next iron I pull from the fire ought to be, right...?

Cadaver in Chief is available from Amazon in both ebook and print editions.

Comments

[Steven T.]

Hey, is Blarney really "My Dog Needs Surgery" repackaged?

[Steve]

Nope, though there's some overlap. Blarney is My Dog Needs Surgery minus the essays about writing but plus six more short stories. And those six short stories (most of them about Indiana P.I. Larry Erie...remember him?) aren't short. Several would qualify as novellas. So Blarney has almost 50,000 words of material that weren't in the earlier book. (Blarney is really, really long for a collection -- which is part of the reason I feel like it's a good deal even for someone who dropped 99 cents on My Dog Needs Surgery.)

[Bertie.W]

It's been purchased! Even if I don't like it (but how can I not, if it's by one of my favorite authors, ever!) I consider it an investment worth making for my Big Red/Old Red love.

[Steve]

Thanks, Bertie! I (and Big Red and Old Red) appreciate your roll of the book-buying dice. Despite the zombie element, Cadaver in Chief is actually more of a mystery than a horror story, so hopefully Holmes on the Range fans will be pleased.

[Bedlamite]

Picked up Cadaver in physical form from Amazon. It arrived Thursday, and I finished it up on Friday afternoon.

A lot of fun, and a great Hockensmith fix. This is a perfect e-reader book. A bit short for a physical book, but absolutely perfect for the Kindle. However, I'm a bookshelf guy so I had to have the real deal.

Then I sprang for Dear Mr. Holmes and Blarney in physical form as well. They should be here on Tuesday. Then I went ahead and got John Wayne's Hatari because Amazon told me that people that bought Cadaver in Chief also bought that.

Okay, I bought Hatari because I dig me a John Wayne romantic comedy with great music, but it did pop up on the list of other things bought.

All in all a groovy read!

Thank you Mr. Hockensmith for turning my "sick day" strung out on anitbiotics into something a lot more fun, and most of all thanks for the entertainment. I appreciate it!

[Steve]

Thanks for the great review on Amazon, Bedlamite/Shawn! Getting a five-star thumbs up right out of the gate is really important when self-marketing a book, so you've done me a real solid.

I hear you on the length of the print version. I know it's a bit short for $7.99, but (A) I have fans who don't own ereaders yet and I didn't want to exclude them and (B) if the price were any lower I'd be making less than a buck a copy. The $2.99 ebook is the best deal all the way around, both for readers and for me, but like I said -- I didn't want to give anyone an excuse not to read it!

Ahhh, Hatari. I remember almost nothing about it except that it's not bad -- it's a John Wayne movie directed by Howard Hawks, after all -- and Henry Mancini's score is really fun. I love Mancini's swingin' late '50s/early '60s stuff. Ever seen Experiment in Terror? It's a pretty lame Blake Edwards thriller, but Mancini's score is dynamite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHks9RDRA4

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, man. But hey -- I'm glad I (and Cadaver in Chief) could be there for you. I'd love to be *everyone's* go-to sick day writer!

[Bertie.W]

Oh my god, Steve replied to me!!!!

*squeals* *throws panties* *faints*

[Scott Weber]

Currently reading and enjoyng Cadaver in Chief. Will post review as soon as I am done. Good Job Steve.

[Steve]

Oh! So it was you throwing the panties, Bertie! I was wondering. I found them on the porch this morning and thought, "Wow...the kids around here are getting *wild*."

Thanks for the progress report on C in C, Scott! Hope you keep digging it all the way through to the last page....

[gutenbergsson]

Any chance of finding a copy on Amazon.ca? I've checked several times but doesn't seem to be available here in the sticks yet.

If only we hadn't won the war of 1812...we wouldn't have to wait on Amazon to get their act together!

:)

[Steve]

Well, that's a bummer. It should've popped up on amazon.ca by now. Shoot me a line at steve at stevehockensmith dot com and we'll see what we can do....

[Scott Weber]

Finished it and really liked it. Posted reviews Amazon, Goodreads, and at wordpress.scottweberwriter.com. Hope it does well for you, but I really hope that it helps to get the next Holmes on the Range published. Keep writing!

[Steve]

Thanks for spreading the luv around the 'net, Scott! Reviews and likes and shares and RTS and such really, really help.

As for Big Red and Old Red, their return may or may not be imminent. I'm wrapping up some work-for-hire this week, then I'll be revising a new, contemporary mystery novel that's almost ready to shop around. After that...well, we'll see....