Tag: Dead 2 Rites

Praise for ‘Dead 2 Rites’

Someone recently left this review for Dead 2 Rites:

Horror with a sweet sense of humor

If you enjoy breezy adolescent adventure novels with cheap heroics and villains made of straw, give this series a big miss. Why don’t you grow up already, with this coming of age confection? That’s right, big kid, the child in you will delight to the glittering, grisly action that recalls the Power Rangers episodes you devoured instead of studying. The adult in you will appreciate the ironic perspective you gain from Jake, the boy hero protagonist who is slowly piecing together the rotten puzzle of his post-apocalyptic world, and the hellish bargain his friend, the Dynamo of the title, has made to save it from final destruction. Dead to Rites has it all: Sailor Moon superheroics, Cronenberguesque body horror, and moral conundrums that would make Oscar Wilde light another cigarette in the holder. Get it, and let it get you twisted.

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The ‘Dead 2 Rites’ Paperback

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Here’s a look at the paperback version of Dead 2 Rites, the sequel to Jake and the Dynamo. As you can see in this picture, it is quite a thick book:

Dead 2 Rites spine.

In fact, it comes to 514 pages. As should be clear from this comparison, it is considerably thicker than the first volume:

Dead 2 Rites and Jake and the Dynamo comparison.

The text has the same luxurious formatting as book one, designed to be similar to a professional hardcover:

Dead 2 Rites interior.

Like the first book, this one includes full-color illustrations from Roffles Lowell:

Dead 2 Rites illustration.

Unfortunately, even though we worked to make sure the illustrations would look better in this printing, some of them have come out too dark. I’m not sure of the reason for this.

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‘Dead 2 Rites’ Now on Sale

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It’s finally here: Dead 2 Rites, the long-awaited sequel to Jake and the Dynamo, is now available in paperback, Kindle eBook, and Kindle Unlimited. As always, the eBook version is DRM-free and lending-enabled.

In honor of this new release, you can once again, for a limited time, get Jake and the Dynamo for 99 cents.

For the time being, this is an Amazon exclusive. Other buying options for both books are forthcoming; I’m currently arm-wrestling IngramSpark to convince them that, yes, I really own the ISBN.

I hope you enjoy. And please consider rating and leaving an honest review. Every review is an enormous help to a new author!

Dana Volt, eleven-year-old powerhouse, and Jake Blatowski, befuddled teenager, are back for more in the action-packed sequel to Jake and the Dynamo!

Just when Jake thinks he might finally get a break, he has to face down a murderous kaiju with a skin condition and join the city’s hardest-rocking magical girl in an underground battle against an army of bloodthirsty pastry chefs. As if that weren’t enough, he also has to deal with Pretty Dynamo’s newest rival, a human Swiss Army knife who revels in rule-breaking.

But behind the chaos of these latest threats to mankind’s existence looms a greater evil, for Lord Shadow’s baleful eye has again fallen upon the Earth. Now a conspiracy of monsters may awaken a mad god from the sea of uncreation outside the cosmos—and the only girl who could unite humanity’s defenders for a final stand is slowly succumbing to madness.

One Week Left to Pre-order ‘Dead 2 Rites’

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Only one week left to get your eBook of Dead 2 Rites, the second volume of Jake and Dana’s misadventures, for 99 cents. Bigger and better even than the first book, Dead 2 Rites features mystery, action, lots of girls, and, of course, lots of laughs.

Dana Volt, eleven-year-old powerhouse, and Jake Blatowski, befuddled teenager, are back for more in the action-packed sequel to Jake and the Dynamo!

Just when Jake thinks he might finally get a break, he has to face down a murderous kaiju with a skin condition and join the city’s hardest-rocking magical girl in an underground battle against an army of bloodthirsty pastry chefs. As if that weren’t enough, he also has to deal with Pretty Dynamo’s newest rival, a human Swiss Army knife who revels in rule-breaking.

But behind the chaos of these latest threats to mankind’s existence looms a greater evil, for Lord Shadow’s baleful eye has again fallen upon the Earth. Now a conspiracy of monsters may awaken a mad god from the sea of uncreation outside the cosmos—and the only girl who could unite humanity’s defenders for a final stand is slowly succumbing to madness.

‘Dead 2 Rites’ Is Ready to Launch

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p class=”has-drop-caps”>I just finished some last-minute alterations to Dead 2 Rites, which will improve the flow of some of the jokes. Remember, this DRM-free eBook is on sale for 99 cents only until September 1st, when it becomes available.

Final Edits to ‘Dead 2 Rites’

It’s been hectic in my neck of the woods. Right now, I’m finishing up some last-minute improvements to Dead 2 Rites. As of this writing, it’s still on sale for 99 cents and will be until it releases for Kindle and paperback on September 1. So if you’ve read Jake and the Dynamo and found it amusing, reserve your copy of the sequel now while it’s cheap.

I’m also working at getting the art for Rags and Muffin. I’m still hoping for an October 1st release date for that one but don’t want to pin it down yet. I really like the guys who did the covers for the Jake and the Dynamo books, but I think something a little different would be appropriate for Rags, so I’m hunting around.

I’m also currently at work on a planetary romance, a bit of a departure from my usual “theme.” I’ll discuss the details later. I have my fingers crossed for a release date before the end of the year. I really want four books out this year.

‘Dead 2 Rites’ Coming Up for Preorder!

I just submitted Dead 2 Rites for preorder on Amazon. As with the first book, Jake and the Dynamo, this should give me enough time to get th the kinks worked out before the book actually goes up for sale.

As stated before, I’m new to all this. I’m really glad I decided to have a preorder period even though, as a new author, I don’t have any name recognition to build excitement with. Thanks to the preorder period, I’ve been able to adjust keywords and categories to get Jake and the Dynamo situated where it belongs on Amazon’s site: It’s gone through adventure romance and gay romance, and appears to have finally settled in where it belongs with satirical works, harems, and adventure light novels. Next, I’ll email Amazon and ask for a manual adjustment to refine it further.

Then, once it releases, the ad campaign begins.

Even though Dead 2 Rites will not release until September 1, I am beginning the preorder period now so potential readers can see that this series already has two books and that they won’t have to wait long for a sequel. Both novels are only 99 cents on Kindle during the preorder period. They will also be on Kindle Unlimited for at least three months before I push them to other platforms.

Both eBooks are DRM-free with lending enabled because I believe the books you buy should belong to you. Paperback versions will also be available after the release dates.

‘Dead 2 Rites’ Is Good to Go

Obviously, I’m still absorbed in my projects over here. I worked with Barbusco Comics and Nodsaibot to fix the issue with the cover of Dead 2 Rites. They were both very accomodating.

As you can see from the post’s eye-catch, I’m looking over the previewer on Amazon’s KDP module to make sure the paperbacks look the way they are supposed to. Once that’s squared away, I can look over the eBooks.

I can see that Vellum, despite its gigantic cost, has saved me any number of headaches. Since this is the first time I’ve done this, I now know I did a few things in the wrong order—for example, I should have already uploaded the manuscript and reviewed it before commissioning the cover art. Fortunately for me, Vellum’s presets are built to accommodate Amazon’s requirements, so, for example, my inside margins aren’t screwed up. If I had to widen those, that would throw off the page count, which would then throw off the cover art again …

Anyway, it appears my first-time, amateurish disasters have been largely averted so far. I learned a few lessons, but they have been mostly pain-free.

Also, Amazon’s software is more user-friendly than I expected, at least when you have all your files pre-built. (I understand that trying to build your paperback from a Word file using Amazon’s software is a major headache.) It automatically checks the margins on everything, and it automatically requires a deeper gutter for Dead 2 Rites than for Jake and the Dynamo because the former is considerably longer.

At least for now, it seems that the greatest difficulty comes from the requirement that the cover—front, spine, and back—need to be a single image, which means the book dimensions have to be set in stone. On the other hand, that makes wraparound covers a possibility, and that’s what we have for these two books.

Final Cover Art Is In!

I just got the final covers from the logo artist, so Jake and the Dynamo and Dead 2 Rites are almost ready to go out the door. I need to get some last ducks in a row, but it’s now for sure happening.

I’m really excited and also nervous. I’ve never done this before, so in my head, I’m envisioning getting the printed paperback and finding the cover all screwed up because I miscalculated something. I suppose if that does happen, I can probably (?) go back to the artists to fix it. Both were a pleasure to work with.

I’m currently finishing up my final work on Rags and Muffin, so commissioning the art for that is on my radar along with the launch of the two for which the art is complete. Considering my experience, I might go back to exactly the same people for the artwork.

With that in mind, my thanks to Barbusco Comics for the art and Nodsaibot for the logos. Their prices were reasonable, their demeanors upbeat and professional, and their turnaround times good. Barbusco, especially, is crazy fast.

Jake and the Dynamo, Book 2 Cover

Here is a color version of the detail from the cover of Dead 2 Rites, which I previously posted in black and white. This is the sequel to Jake and the Dynamo, which will be available again soon in a newly revised text; when it goes up, Dead 2 Rites should simultaneously become available for pre-order.

The character featured here is Magical Girl Metal Huntress Vanessa Van Halensing, a vampire-hunting rock starlet who battles the forces of evil with her crucifix keytar. She plays, let us say, an instrumental role in the story that unfolds in this exciting second volume: Ancient conspiracies, alien gods, murderous cabals, and sugary foods come together in an effort to destroy the remnants of the human race—and only Jake and the Dynamo stand in the way!