Tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of the special I'm running on all of my paperbacks. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered; those will ship out Monday, if not tomorrow, and make their way to your door by Christmas.
And, of course, the Man of Wax special promotion where you give one ebook, get two ebooks free, takes place all month long. Thanks to everyone who's already participated!
Finally, I usually share reviews of my work that take place at blogs or elsewhere but never reader reviews from, say, Amazon. Not that I don't appreciate reader reviews -- I truly do, even when they're less than stellar -- but usually there isn't much to share. Except there's a review today for Phantom Energy from a reader whose handle is Bartleby that's just too good not to share. It's a story in review, if you will, and whether or not any of it is true, that doesn't matter because it's just so entertaining. Thanks, Bartleby! Enjoy, and make sure you check in Monday, as I hope to present you with something very exciting.
She was making a racket in the bedroom today. Books off the shelves. Stuff out of drawers. Closet a mess. All he wanted to do was sit on the couch and play Halo. But no. She comes over to him with a book, very excitedly, and thrusts it at him. "You have to read this. It's called Phantom Energy, by this guy Robert Swartwood. It's so freaking good." He barely looked at her. "Yeah, um, I'm not a big reader?" he said. That's what he always said when she tried to get him to read. Not a big reader, he'd say. You're the reader in the house. Stuff like that. But she was making those eyes at him, ones she hadn't made in a long, long time. "Is there like something funny in it?" he said. She smiled and said, "The stories are short. They're like little puzzles. You'll be done in no time." Well, she was right. The stories were short, interesting, puzzling but good. Only it didn't take him no time. He. Was. Not. A. Big. Reader. So he was there on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, until darkness closed in around him and he was reading by the light of the stalled video game. "Geez," he said. "That was good. Real good. Honey?" he called. But there was no answer. Her books, her clothes, his wallet and his car were gone. Long gone.