For Readers (and Authors, too)
This blog is for anyone that reads my books, as well as for anyone else who is self-publishing, thinking about self-publishing, or just curious about what it’s like to be an author during rapidly changing times. Whenever you visit here, I hope you’ll share your own comments and thoughts. If you’d like to know whenever I post a new entry, please type your email address into the box in the right-hand column and check the appropriate box (and the newsletter one, too, while you’re at it).
Ch. 11: Be Careful What You Ask For
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
Dimitri Federovich Ustinov, Superintendent of Blockchain Activities for the Department of Information Technology in the Sphere of Budgeting and State and Local Finance Management – a name that barely fit on his business card – was feeling both self-congratulatory and insecure. The former, because the Deputy Director of the Ministry had recently commended him in writing on the success of the Russ blockchain. And insecure, because he knew how little credit he deserved; surely that would become apparent with time. Worse, he had only a general idea how that success was achieved, or to whom the real credit was due.
Today, he hoped to reduce that insecurity by forcing the issue with Mikhail Semyonovich Filitov, the Managing Director of RussCoin. Until today, they had communicated exclusively by telephone and email. Now Ustinov would meet Filitov face to face. read more…
A “Friends of Frank” Rethink
I’ve been blogging for quite a while now, beginning at my other blog way back in 2003. I posted my first book a chapter at a time over there, where thousands of readers read each weekly chapter. When I published the book, I looked forward to great sales and promotional help from those thousands of readers. Sadly, I got little. True, they’d already read the book, so why buy a copy? But still.
I’ve pondered that result for years and wondered what I could do to get a following that felt more invested in my books to the point where they would take an interest in spreading the word – a “street team” in book marketing gobbledygook. Rolling out the “Friends of Frank” program was my effort to achieve that end.
But lately, I’ve been having second thoughts, and now I’ve decided to put that program on hold, at least for the time being. The good news is that I’ll still be posting a chapter a week here at the regular Tales of Adversego blog, and will start by making the already posted chapters visible here as well. read more…
Ch. 10: Welcome to the Club
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
“Hey Frank,” a familiar voice said through the phone. “Got time for coffee?”
“Are you calling on a disposable phone? I thought I was still on the pariah list.”
“Yeah. Well, as they say, that was then, and this is now. Also as they say, something’s come up. Anyway, can you still fit me into your busy schedule? Or are you spending all your time in your swank New York penthouse now?”
Frank paused. How would George Marchand, his former boss and sometime-handler at the CIA, know he had a fancy apartment in New York? It wasn’t public knowledge. Was the CIA keeping an eye on him? read more…
Ch. 9: (Oops!)
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
Sarah Swit saw the two black SUVs coast slowly cross the intersection and glanced at her watch. Darn. Now she was going to be late.
She slowed down as a third black SUV coasted to a stop in the middle of the intersection, blocking the northbound traffic lane, and a fourth sealed off the southbound one. Two men got out of each car and took his place at one end or the other of his vehicle, darting glances in every direction. Oh well. She picked up her cellphone, set it to video, and got out to get a better view of the intersection. read more…
Ch. 8: From Russia, Sans Love
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
By the end of a long day of analyzing code commits at GitHub Frank had learned a lot about who was doing what in the GFBS code base, who carried weight among the developers, and who did not. But he hadn’t found anything that aroused his suspicions. As he logged off his computer for the day, his phone rang.
“Hello, Marla,” he answered. “Good to hear from you.” read more…
Interview (and download The Alexandria Project for Free)
One of the strangely little known sales strategies for Indie authors is advertising your books through the many daily discount and free eBook newsletters that abound on line. While there are scores of them, only a small number produce lots and lots of downloads and subsequent sales. Today, I’m using several of them to offer the first book in the Frank Adversego thriller series, The Alexandria Project, for free. At one of the newsletter sites, you can also find my interview as Author of the Day. read more…
Ch. 7: Quizzing Dirk, Gently
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
Frank stared at his computer screen. On it was a breakdown of all significant thefts of cryptocurrency since bitcoin was first issued. The great majority of the thefts were relatively small and resulted from successful phishing exploits – meaning that the bad guy had sent an email convincing enough to persuade an alt coin owner to click on a link they shouldn’t have, or perhaps to get them to send cryptocurrency to the wrong person. read more…
Ch. 6: I Have Met the Enemy, and He is Fang
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here
Frank returned home from San Francisco dead tired after a sleepless night on the redeye flight. Under the mailboxes in the foyer was a large package with his name on it. What could that be? He carried it upstairs and opened it in the kitchen. Oh, right. Birdseed. After he got some sleep, he even got around to filling the feeder his daughter had given him for his birthday.
For the next several days he looked for birds whenever he passed the door to his porch. But no luck. No birds, and the feeder was still full. Oh well. It had been a nice thought on Marla’s part. read more…
Ch. 5: Happy Birthday!
Start at the Prologue and First Chapter here.
“Open it!” Marla said over the phone.
“Don’t you want me to wait till you’re over here the next time?”
“No, today’s your birthday, so go ahead.”
Frank looked at the package and frowned. He gave it a gentle shake, but heard nothing.
“I hope you didn’t get me anything alive this time,” he said.
“Well, not exactly. But anyway, you know you like Thor.”
“Okay, I do. But I don’t want to be running a menagerie here.”
“Quit carping and open it.” read more…
Ch. 4: Heads, You Lose, and Tails, the Banks Win
Find the Prologue and first chapter here.
Frank was almost done with his lunch, as well as with a quick scan of The New York Times web site. Huh. A blockchain article on the business page. That was unusual. The Gray Lady hadn’t paid much attention to blockchain yet.
The title of the article was Your bitcoin or Your Life.
A pop-up alert opened on Frank’s computer, interrupting his train of thought. It said it was almost time for his call with Vijay Patel, the guy he was replacing on the GFBS Foundation Board. Okay. read more…
Follow Us!