Thank you all so much for the positive reception of City Limits here on SOL. I won't belabor the fact that I put a lot of planning and effort into this book nor will I neglect to thank my team of editors on this project, Kathy, Michele, and Lyndsy. These ladies, representing three different decades of women in editing the story and reining in my tendency toward male-based sexuality so I would have a general audience book, volunteered countless hours reading multiple drafts. One is a professional author and two are professional editors and I was so incredibly fortunate to have their services for this project.
The official release of City Limits to the public was Saturday June 23 with a reception and launch party at Chandler Reach Winery in Woodinville, WA on Sunday afternoon. This coming Saturday (6/30) I will be at the Book and Game Company in Walla Walla, WA for a signing. July 14, I will be at the Sun Meadow Resort in Worley, Idaho for a reception and signing during the Skin to the Wind Festival. (See http://www.nathaneverett.com/events.html)
Over the weekend, I rocketed an order of magnitude into the top 10% of selling authors on Amazon. Yes, I know what an order of magnitude is. I went from number 500,000 to number 48,000 in the rankings. Wow! But let me tell you that it took only about thirty sales to make that jump! This is indicative of the number of books and authors in the market and how poorly books actually sell if they are not written and marketed by one of the massive publishing engines that still control the market.
Nonetheless, I consider the launch a resounding success and will continue to sell and market the book. But I will also leave it here on SOL, not hidden behind the paywall as previously announced, because the thing that is more important to me than sales is readership and I am happy for every one of the more than 3,000 readers who enjoyed the story here. If you are able to purchase the book and leave a review on Amazon, that would be a boon beyond compare, but please just enjoy it here and tell others.
RANT: I try not to be defensive about criticism. A mediocre review and very poor interview with me on a book review blog this week was something I determined to ignore. The interview was an excerpt provided by my publicity agent and was pretty much irrelevant to the topic of City Limits. We've had words. The review was lukewarm. I get that. Not every story is going to hit the sweet spot for every reviewer, and this one had some legitimate gripes. Maybe I didn't wrap up enough of the story threads in the first book, but I've always considered it "Season One" if you will. There's more to the story and I'm working on the sequel. (And thank you to all of you who have suggested it be made into a TV series!)
But here is an excerpt from the review that does irritate me:
Also, (I really didn't think this weird, but I didn't care for it)…. the local Christian pastor is portrayed as an overbearing fanatic, a religious zealot who is also a pedophile, in charge of a kidnapping and child trafficking ring, and makes illegal drugs that he uses with the consent of many of the church to drug not only the kidnapped kids, but the members' kids as well to brain wash them and make them "more obedient". While I know all professions have good and bad people in them, and people running around with the title of "Man" or "Woman" of God have used that label to do much evil through history I still think the silent majority is good. I am getting quite sick of seeing Christian pastors in literature (and movies) portrayed as scheming crooks, strange quacks, and heinous criminals or just plain idiots. I wouldn't mind so much if in the same piece, and opposing good one was presented. With all the focus so much all the time on this twisted view, I think it gives a negative perception of Christianity and Christians in general as greedy, intolerant, violent and mentally ill, which I do take offense at.- https://twogalsandabook.com/city-limits-blog-tour-and-interview-with-nathan-everett/
Okay, I understand people not wanting their religion portrayed in a negative light. As far as I am concerned, I hold the pastor and the deacon to the exact same standards that I would hold a policeman, politician, school teacher, author, corporate executive, or radio pundit. Why would we be upset about the portrayal of a Christian pastor-in fact why would we even give him that appellation?-instead of being incensed that charlatans masquerading as religious leaders are defended by the 'genuine believers' on the grounds that they claim that religion's name?
If I had a conscience and cared about such things, I might have phrased this as follows:
An overbearing fanatic-a religious zealot who is also a pedophile, in charge of a kidnapping and child trafficking ring-has taken control of a church by subtle manipulation, distortion of Christian messages, and possibly even use of drugs. The City Champion and the investigative reporter attempt to awaken the congregation from their blind stupor but such is the hold the minister has that few can break free. It makes me mad that such obvious charlatans can still-and obviously do-deceive and entrap people in the guise of Christianity.
In fact, any criticism that didn't shift the reality by claiming, 'but we're not all like that,'-sound familiar? Read the daily news-would have been acceptable. But whether the religion is Christian, Judaism, Islam, Buddhist, Republican, Democrat, or any other religion, the prevailing modus operandi is to attempt to hush conversation about the offenses being committed in the name of the religion in a misguided effort to preserve its good name.
Until and unless the people of Rosebud Falls and, in fact, the United States and the United Kingdom-who are good people, offended by the acts of these charlatans-stop defending them out of the misguided sense that calling them out would make the religion or political party look bad, their salvation will be left in the hands of non-believers, non-politicians, non-power-mongers who will call a spade a spade.
Of course, I would never put this message in a more public forum than here on SOL. Because God forbid that I contradict a reviewer or defend my work from one. And believe me, my being offended that people of a religion defend the hypocritical practitioners of it instead of purging them would only be considered a defense of my book against an unkind review.
END RANT
So now I have to give you my first warning about the upcoming serialization of For Money or Mayhem. It's not a happy story. It's a cyber-mystery in a noir world. The virtual world overlaps with the real world as Dag discovers an online predator is a real-life kidnapper. This can't be good. Somebody's going to die and you won't like who.
When I finished writing the first draft of the story in November 2011, I was devastated. I was hoarse from crying in my office with the door closed tightly. To make matters worse, that night I climbed into my bed only to be hit in the face with the reality that my marriage was over. Oh, it took nearly two more years to get through the death throes, but I knew the end had arrived.
A few days later, I began posting my first story on SOL as aroslav, The Art and Science of Love. I wrote that story for no other reason than that after the end of For Money or Mayhem and the end of my relationship, I needed a story with a happy ending.
So, here's fair warning. There's a little romance but no sex in For Money or Mayhem. Remember that is one of the things that differentiates the work of Wayzgoose from that of aroslav. It doesn't have a happily ever after ending. That's another distinction in our work. It comes from some of the darker places of my soul. It's loaded with triggers.
My advice to you is ignore this book and go read The Art and Science of Love. Or better yet, wait for the sex-packed Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain that will begin nearer to the end of the month (July). On the other hand, if you'd like to read something in the vein of Chandler, Hammett, Larsson, or Dietz but set in the world of contemporary computer forensics, I invite you into my web.
For Money or Mayhem begins on July 13. I'll see you then.