Ho ho… oh hell!Is that sleigh bells ringing in your ears or a few rounds from an M60?
You wanted the jolly fat man to bring Yuletide joy, but the season has gifted you with a heart breaker and a life taker — Badass Santa.
Grab your eggnog and camouflage candy canes, strap on your bulletproof holiday stockings, and prepare for thrills and kills.
From blood-stained rebellion at the north pole to a black ops raid on a distant planet, these eighteen action-packed tales will show you Saint Nick as you’ve never seen him before.
This anthology includes my Phoebe the Tank story “Operation Sleigh Ride” where Pheobe, Santa Claus and a hacker take on human traffickers during a Christmas Eve truce.
So, I’ve been working to get my books into indie book stores around Iowa. If you want to pick up signed copies of my books, they’re available at these great places!
I lived in Burlington, Iowa as a kid, so I’m very pleased that the Burlington By The Book was willing to host my books. It’s definitely cool to have my books available in a place I lived, and where I first saw Star Wars (I watched A New Hope at the drive thru theater).
This was my first stop on my birthday book store run back in October. The folks at 2 Sisters are amazing, and were happy to work with an indie author. They also work with other local authors and have a whole store beyond just books. If you’re looking for a great book and other gifts, they’ve got what you’re looking for!
Beaverdale Books is a great book shop in the Beaverdale area of Des Moines. Along with a wide variety of books in every category, they support a lot of indie authors. So if you’re in the Des Moines area, swing through and check them out!
I stopped in here on my daughter’s recommendation and it was worth the time. The Captain is a great guy and full of both fun stories and knowledge. With a collection of indie authors and collectable books, you’ll find something at Captain’s, whether it’s the book you’ve long sought or a fun story!
If you can get to Indianola, please take a bit of time. It’s a neat town near Des Moines. Pageturner is a great book store. They have a wide variety of books in both fiction and non-fiction, with a healthy science fiction section and they support a lot of us in the indie author community. So, if you get a chance, check them out!
Pella Books is a great place I found shortly after we moved to Pella. They’re a used book store, and they’ve been very supportive of indie authors! Since they’re an indie book store, it’s been a great relationship! Check it out, and wander about a little, since the building was originally a church and has a historic marker. After you buy some books, wander over to a local bakery and get some Dutch Letters or other baked goods, and maybe stop for a meal at one of the down town restaurants!
If you can’t make it to these fine establishments and are still looking for my books, slip over to my bookshelf page where you can link to the stories directly, or email me at Keith@keithhedger.com if you want a signed copy directly from me!
Just posting that I’ll have a vendor table at Nerd Nexus in Kearney, Nebraska on the 6th and 7th of September!
I’ll let everyone know what my schedule is at the con, but I’ve got a load of my books, and a couple of anthologies that I’m in that will be available.
If you want to pick up a signed copy of any of my books, this is a great time to come by, support a new convention and meet great creators in the midwest!
I’ve even got Moving Target and Easy Jobs with their new covers! Tiffanie Gray did an amazing work with both books!
If you want to learn more about Nerd Nexus please hit their main page or their Facebook page!
So, I’m writing two stories and editing a third story at the moment.
The good news is that I found a home for Date Night, a romance novella based around Burn and Bad Karma going on a date. Well, after dealing with some other people’s shenanigans, and a bit of gun fighting, a car chase, and some gun slinging before it’s over. It also involves an Eastern European mob. In Atlanta. And, yes, I did check with TA Walker, who writes romance. She confirms that Date Night is a romance story.
I’m also working on a military fantasy short story about an ensign who’s interning with a mercenary marine infantry formation. This is for the Butter Bars anthology I’m working on with Henchman Press. Hopefully, I’ll get this finished in the next couple of weeks so I can start sharing some snippets.
Last, I’m working on the rough draft of the sixth novel in the Burn and Bad Karma series. I’ve got too many story lines, and my ADHD is showing hard right now, but I’ll get it done and then clean it up in edits. I’ve posted a few snippets of this one on social media and people like what they’ve seen!
So, that’s where I am in the world of writing. Things are busy and I’m juggling a lot of projects, but they’re getting done as fast as I can get words into files and then cleaned up in edits!
Thanks for all your patience as I keep rolling toward new stories going into the world!
As I’m working through rebranding and getting new covers on my books, I’ve had the great fortune to work with Tiffanie Gray, who has nailed Moving Target and Easy Jobs.
As is usually the case, authors have a view of what their covers should look like. This idea usually has little connection to what readers are looking for when they look for books in their preferred genre. Tiffanie does a great job of pointing out the marketing needs of the cover, as well as incorporating ideas that work and help the cover become part of the story I’m trying to tell.
As you can tell, Tiffanie does excellent work and creates outstanding covers!
If you need help with covers, get in touch with Tiffanie at tiffanie_gray@sbcglobal.net
The best news for Burn and Bad Karma is that they rarely have to attend any staff meetings, and if they do, the group is usually new people.
Seriously, though, it can be complicated for them to get through a job that should have been straight forward, simple and over with. That would also make the stories both shorter than expected and it wouldn’t ring true to real life. At least for most of us.
Since Easy Jobs is already in the title, I’ll use it as an example of complicating things for the characters. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t read Easy Jobs, maybe go read that one first (or listen to the audio book).
The first thing that happens is that Hitcher, who’s exiting the Holy Mexican Empire’s embassy in Atlanta, gets spotted and chased by security personnel. Prioritizing not ending up a prisoner of the Empire, he accidentally kills one of the security team, and hurts a few others. Between the data he took, and the death of one of their own, the Empire’s local leadership wants their data and to make an example of Hitcher, so they set up a bounty for him, employing their own assets and mercenary forces in the Southern States Union.
Next, we meet Burn and Bad Karma conducting a data theft in some corporate executive’s skyrise condo. They’re professionals. Highly skilled. They reconned the condo, checked schedules, and did all the right things. And, of course, there was an unknown occupant in the condo, who came out armed. Data theft escalated to a self defense shooting, followed by the pair having to rappel down the building, getting into a short gun fight with a security team on the ground before stealing a car.
Micky then calls in Burn and Bad Karma to get Hitcher to Pittsburg. This involves dodging mercenaries, disrupting a gang robbery in a fast food place, illegally crossing a border, and, finally, a show down with the Empire’s hirelings and their ringer and high level killer.
Does it seem convoluted? Because it does. However, for the story to feel real, and to give the characters changes to shine and do what they do best, I had to find ways to increase the intensity. Burn and Bad Karma were focusing on steal and speed to get Hitcher clear. But they’re too people against a group that national resources to leverage, even if they have to so in a hostile nation. And I don’t want the Empire to seem incompetent. They aren’t. In setting, the Holy Mexican Empire controls everything to real world Panama, and is doing well in battle in the former US states from California to Texas. If they were incompetent, Hitcher would have gotten away clean in the first place.
So, writers have to find ways to increase the intensity and concern for the main characters. Some times, its the bad guys getting players on the board and messing up the main characters’ plans. Other times, it’s a matter of dumb luck braking against the characters. The gas station fight in Easy Jobs was a combination. Hitcher stepped in front of some mercenaries that were looking for the bounty on his head.
When we do this right, readers get a fun story that rings true and keeps you turning pages. Not that I, or any writer, nails that every time.
But here’s the secret: if the story needs a kick, I can add that in re-writes. I don’t have to write a perfect story the first time out. I can write the first draft, and when I re-read it, I can make notes going “hey this is too easy. Give them a threat or problem.” If you’ve read Easy Jobs, they literally had to swim across a river to get from Kentucky to Ohio. Why? Because at that point in time, the fictional United States and Southern States Union had no open check points or crossings. Burn and Bad Karma had no way to scam IDs that would allow such a crossing at that time. So, they had to slog it across and work their way to a town so they could secure another ride.
Along with that, they discuss the issues with the amount of surveillance they needed to avoid, and how they would, along with the risks of dealing with law enforcement, and how they would approach that. None of that would allow them an easier delivery.
So, hopefully, this gives you the readers (and any writers out there) some insight on how the stakes get increased in a story, even when the task should be simple and straight forward, an easy job. And we writers how you enjoy these stories!
Life, family and writing have all gotten busy lately. I’ll update you as best I can!
The signing event at Pella Books during Tulip Time was successful. I sold a couple of books, met some really great local authors, and ate too much ‘fair food’ while I was up town. This annual event is always enjoyable, and it’s a great chance for me to get to know more local creatives, and meet people in the local community.
I finally got a box of author copies of Moving Target with the new cover by Tiffanie Gray. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to unbox the new books yet due to other issues going on.
We received sad news that The Curiosity Shop is closing at the end of the month. They’ve been great to work with, and their shop will be missed by many of us!
I’ve gotten started on story selection for Tales of the E4 Mafia 2 and Butter Bars! Large and (Not So) In Charge, but it’s been slow going between work and other issues.
Unfortunately, a family member has had a significant health issue, so the last few days have involved a lot of time in a hospital and tracking what’s going on.
May 31st, 11 AM in Rooms 313-314 : Fitness for Time Crunched Creatives, where I’ll give tips and advise for writers, creators, fans and anyone else who’s overworked and still trying to improve their health and fitness!
June 1st, 3:45 PM in Room 315-316: Everything I Wish I’d Known When I Started Writing – this is a panel for people getting started on their writing journey, looking for ways to progress, what marketing is, why editing your work is far more important than you think, and why you should not take Mom’s word that your story is brilliant, among many other lessons I’ve learned (far too often the hard way!). I’m even developing a presentation for this one!
So, there you have it and thanks for reading this far! I hope you’re all doing well. Reach out or comment if you’re having a busy time, and how you handle it when things feel like they’re all happening at once!
I finished the rough draft of ‘Corporals’ the other day, and thought you all might enjoy a snippet of the story. In this story, Burn and Bad Karma are recruited into Rangers due to some issues that come up with Karma’s past.
Enjoy!
“Training under an identity we’re building for you. Makes it more complicated for politicians. Tossing people with no numbers under tank treads is easy. Soldiers and Department team members get ugly for them fast,” the sergeant major explained.
“We haven’t been a country long enough for politicians to be voted out,” Burn faced the soldier.
“Three politicians had tragic accidents,” the general noted, “And the investigations came up to purely accidental causes. Clearly.”
“Wasn’t me,” Bad Karma said.
“It wasn’t,” the sergeant major smiled, her cheeks rising as she spoke, “We checked.”
“What, exactly, are you trying to say?” Burn’s fingers pressed against the table, turning white.
“That it appears that trying to use the Ranger Department for political advantage can be detrimental to one’s health. Many veterans of the war are outspoken about using individuals as trading chips. The Department, of course, is absolutely loyal to the elected leaders of our nation and our constitution,” the sergeant major said.
Silence settled across the room. Burn noted the buzz of the white noise generator and that her comm systems were showing no signal.
“It appears we can trust you. So, why HALO jumping?”
“It’s the nearest start date we have for any training,” the general shrugged, “And I doubt you two would do well in Ranger School.”
“Why’s that?” Bad Karma asked.
“Ranger School lasts for three months. Freefall school is three weeks, and you don’t have to go in knowing military tactics,” the sergeant major noted, “First, you don’t want to be out of the loop in the dropped numbers world for three months. Second, you don’t need to go through the usual military training program. We just need you in a school to have your new core IDs solid. Third, the training will be useful to you and to us, as it opens some options when situations needing your skills come up.”
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