COMING SOON

These days I put most of my writing focus on SF novels, trusting my agent to find a publishing home for them. But many of my short stories have found homes over the years. Sadly, when I decided to check the links on my Short Stories page recently, I discovered that a lot of my published stories are no longer available. Of course, I've also written some that have never been made available to readers.

I've decided to change that.

In the coming weeks, I'll be releasing nine of my SFF short stories (some previously published, some not) in ebook anthology form, collected by theme. Each volume of the Beyond series will offer three stories. Volume One will be related to Space Travel, Volume Two involves Time, and Volume Three will explore Technology. I'll make them available through my webpage Bookstore, but also at your favourite online store.

If you still prefer to hold a print book in your hand, don't worry. My plan is to put all of these stories, and a few more from other e-anthologies, into one volume that will be available by print-on-demand through most major online outlets. Hopefully before the end of June, in time for summer reading!

Watch This Space For More Details!

ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN!

Earlier this month lovers of audiobooks had a chance to win a free download of a compelling mystery thriller. My award-shortlisted novel Dead Air is now an audiobook, narrated by me (because I was a radio broadcaster for thirty-five years—I kind of know my way around a microphone). It’s the gripping story of a radio morning show host who’s marked for death by unknown enemies and his struggle to face an unthinkable situation. Reaction to the audiobook has been gratifying, and I’d like to spread the word to even more potential listeners—and readers too.

So I’m going to do it again. Give you a chance to win the book, that is. But this time, with some bonuses.

Here’s how it works: when you sign up for my newsletter on my homepage www.scottoverton.ca before the end of October 2016 you’ll be entered into a draw to win one of ten free downloads of the Dead Air audiobook from Audible. But if you don’t listen to audiobooks and would rather read Dead Air on your own, just let me know. I’ll contact the ten winners and give you the choice of receiving the audiobook or ebook version of Dead Air. You get it in the form you’ll enjoy the most. In fact, if your household includes an audiobook lover and a dedicated ebook fan, I’ll give you both versions!

It’s as easy as filling out the signup form, and I give my solemn promise that I won’t give your email address to anyone else or spam you myself—you’ll only get news about my books and career when there’s some solid news to tell.

But here’s another bonus: If you also invite someone you know to enter the draw, and they do (and they tell me it was your idea), then both of you will be given two entries—a double chance to win the draw.

I think it’s a pretty sweet deal. So if you’re looking for some absorbing reading—or listening—enter the draw now on my homepage www.scottoverton.ca and tell your friends and family.

Because good reads should be shared.

WIN THE AUDIOBOOK OF MY NOVEL DEAD AIR

Although I consider myself a science fiction author, my first published novel was a mystery/thriller called Dead Air, the story of a radio morning man who discovers that someone is out to kill him. Well, I’ve now published it as a complete audiobook and you can win a free copy! See the details below.

I was a radio broadcaster myself for more than thirty years, most of them as a morning show host like my character Lee Garrett in Dead Air (except I’m a nicer person with a much happier life!) So I was drawn to create a story about the vulnerability of radio personalities, while giving readers an insider’s look at the broadcasting business. Most of us listen to the radio every day—how much do we know about what really goes on behind that microphone? Dead Air answers that, as well as offering a gripping story of an ordinary man faced with an extraordinary struggle. What would you do if you learned that someone wanted you dead?

You can read more about the plot of Dead Air here.

Though the novel has been available in print and e-book formats for a few years, I decided to help it find a new audience among book listeners. As a career broadcaster, it made sense for me to narrate the book myself, so I produced it first as a free podcast which is still available through iTunes and directly from my web page. Now the unabridged Dead Air audiobook is available through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes (under Audiobooks/Mystery/Scott Overton). Even before launching it, I’ve been getting great comments from those who’ve found the audiobook by accident.

The audiobook isn’t free, but it can be for you! Beginning today, and for the first two weeks of September only, I’m holding a draw to give away ten free copies of the Dead Air audiobook. All you have to do to enter is to sign up for my mailing list using the form on my home page before September 15, 2016. Don’t worry—I won’t spam you. I keep all email addresses confidential and I only use them to send out news about my writing and such when there is news. After September 15, I’ll contact winners individually with the code for your free audiobook.

If you love audiobooks, if you love mysteries with lots of action, if you love very human stories…well, you get the idea. The Dead Air audiobook is for you. Enter now and best of luck!

30% OFF MY NOVEL DEAD AIR

I've had great response with special sales of my ebooks at Kobo, so they're doing it again.

September 18 - 21, 2015 the 30% off sale at Kobo includes my mystery-thriller novel Dead Air. It's a suspenseful but sensitive story of a morning radio guy who's landed in deep trouble. You can see a whole lot more about it, including a sample and the video trailer here.

To buy the epub version of Dead Air at 30% off, here's what you need:

Promo Code: SEPT30

Sale page: https://store.kobobooks.com/p/sept30

You'll need to create a Kobo account to buy (very easy) and then use the promo code during the checkout process.

The 30% off sale includes a lot of other terrific books too, so it's a great chance to stock up on reading for the cold winter months.

Grab Dead Air, save 30% off the list price, and enjoy staying up until the middle of the night reading (sorry about that--sort of).

THE HEALING TOUCH SHORT STORY NOW AT AE

The most gratifying times as an author are when we’re able to make our work available to more readers. Every reader is truly appreciated. Still, I’m pretty picky about choosing the publication markets for my short stories.

I’m very pleased that AE—The Canadian Science Fiction Review has just published my short story “The Healing Touch”. It’s a love story, but with a twist, of course. AE uploads new content every Monday, and it’s always well worth a look. Especially since it’s free of charge! So I urge you to check out “The Healing Touch”.

I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, feel free to share it with your friends.

NEW SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY EBOOKS

While I’m working at finding a literary agent to handle my books, I’ve decided to test the self-publishing waters with some collections of stories. If you’ve wanted to read some of my science fiction, here’s your chance. There are two anthologies of three short stories each.

The first is Body Of Opinion and other stories which features some rather dark stories with a kind of noir feel to them. It totals about 10,000 words. It’s available from Kobo and Amazon as well as other online sellers for $2.99 CDN (may be less in USD).

            No Walls: When a man discovers that he has the ability to pass through walls, he thinks it’s more of a curse than a gift, only useful for petty crime. Until a secret intelligence organization gets its hooks into him. Then his real troubles begin. (First published in “Neo-opsis” Issue #18, 2009).

            Lockdown: In a future society, criminals on parole don’t even dare to think about committing a crime or their bodies could go into complete lockdown. So how does a guy get revenge on those who’ve wronged him?

            Body of Opinion: For a dying man, a replacement body is a godsend. Unless the body turns out to be a used model with some serious glitches, and the only solution is to discover what happened to its first owner.

The second is Disastrous!: Three Stories of the End of the World which pretty much tells you what it’s about. The total length is about 16,000 words. You can find it at Kobo and Amazon and elsewhere. Also $2.99 CDN (may be less in USD).

            Tartarus Rising: The most critical business centres of the world are suddenly swallowed into the ground, a chemical explosion devastates New Jersey, and survivors flee the rumours of invaders from beneath the Earth. (First published in the anthology "Doomology" from Library of Science Fiction & Fantasy Press, 2010).

            Saviour: A killer asteroid is headed for the Earth and the defence against it depends on one man. But what if he’s the wrong choice?

            The Cleansing: The people of a far-future pastoral Earth discover that their forbears genetically modified their crops to be protected from mutations by occasional die-offs. Except no-one has a plan when all of the crops start to die at the same time.

No Walls and Saviour have previously been available on my web page, but they fit the themes of the anthologies.

I had a lot of fun writing all of the stories and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them.

DEAD AIR BOOK TRAILER

"Dammit, Jim, I'm a writer, not a web programmer."

OK, so I'm still stumbling my way through this new world of author promotion. And maybe I'm a little bit slow off the mark in producing a book trailer for a novel that's been out for a couple of years. But I figured "better late than never", so here's the new trailer for my mystery/thriller novel Dead Air.

Of course you can find out a lot more plus read reviews and a sample chapter here.

Enjoy!

ON SPEC--GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

Good news this week is the release of the anthology Casserole Diplomacy and Other Stories: An On Spec 25^th Anniversary Retrospective by Tyche Books. It includes my story “A Taste Of Time” (in fact, the blueberries in the bottom right corner of the cover would be mine, I believe). To have a story chosen as one of the best representatives of such a high quality magazine from the past twenty-five years is an incredible honour. Once I’ve had a chance to read the anthology, I’ll certainly put a detailed review on my Goodreads page, but frankly, as a reader, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this book sight unseen. It’s guaranteed to be a showcase of Canadian speculative fiction without many equals, and that means a juicy read, to say the least.

That brings me to the bad news of the past week, the news that the Canada Council for the Arts has turned down On Spec’s application for funding for 2015. This means a loss of up to $25,000 to cover production costs (including paying writers). Certainly a shock to the Canadian SF community (and very unfortunate timing, to have the elation over the launch of the anthology punctured by such a disappointing decision). But even harder to understand was the jury’s criticism of the magazine’s quality of writing and production values.

On Spec holds a special place in my heart because my very first short story sale was to them, a story called “The Wind Man”. That was a tremendous validation because I had great respect for the quality of writing that On Spec consistently displayed. In fact, “The Wind Man” didn’t end up being my first published story because On Spec’s commitment to thorough proofing and editing took more time than other publications. On Spec doesn’t just supply the mind-expanding ideas and lustrously-imagined landscapes of good science fiction and fantasy, but also the richness of literary prose. For the Canada Council jury to criticize the quality of writing in the magazine is mystifying. Some of my compatriots in Canadian science fiction have suggested it’s because of an age-old prejudice that genre writing of any kind cannot rise to the level of “literary fiction”. I hope it isn’t that. One would think that in light of work by David Mitchell, Michael Chabon, Margaret Atwood, and so many others, such a bias would once and for all have been put to rest.

I haven’t submitted to On Spec in some time because I’m concentrating on long fiction these days, but I would do so again in a heartbeat, and my subscription to the magazine is my best endorsement. If you’re not familiar with On Spec or Canadian SF in general, give it a try. A year’s subscription is a bargain. Or buy the anthology. Or both.

I don’t want to envision a future without On Spec.

LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT TO GET DEAD AIR FOR $3.99

There’s less than a week left to take advantage of the discount offer from my publisher for ebook versions of my novel Dead Air. It’s a rich mystery thriller about the radio business (which I’ve inhabited all my life).

What would you do if you learned that someone wanted you dead, and was taking action to make it happen? That’s what radio morning man Lee Garrett faces in Dead Air, and you can read about his trials for just $3.99 if you buy an ebook version of Dead Air before the end of June.

Read the first chapter here and follow the links to buy your copy.

SOME NEW READING FOR YOU

I've been kind of lax in keeping the content of my STORIES page fresh. So this week I took down a couple of stories that had been available for a long time and posted two new ones for you to enjoy.

"Sand From A Broken Hourglass" is about a man who wants to find someone else to blame for his alcoholism, and turns to a radical experimental method for retrieving repressed memories. But the walk down memory lane is a lot more hazardous than he bargained for.

How does a man exist in two realities at once? In "Shakedown" a prototype nanomachine is being developed to perform medical miracles within living bloodstreams using a Virtual Reality control system that will demand all the skill its gaming champion pilot can muster. Then the government comes calling with an urgent mission far into untested territory, and this "Shakedown" will be anything but smooth.

ALSO remember that through the month of June the e-book of my radio industry mystery/thriller novel Dead Air has been reduced from $7.99 to just $3.99, available from Kobo, Amazon, the iTunes Book Store, and Barnes & Noble. Read the first chapter here.