Since all of my previous countdown deals have been in the US territory, I thought it would be nice to mix things up a little and offer my British readership the chance to get my work for less. As of now for five days all of my books are available for the minimum kindle UK price of 99p each! Tell your British friends they have the chance to grab one of their fellow countrymen’s work for a paltry sum.
As promised, I would like to expand on something I glossed over in my interview on Catholic Geek Radio, but now that I look back on it, played a much larger part in my motivations as a writer than I realized. It concerns how I moved from one university to another. It is not something I am proud of – instead it is something I am grateful for, since reminding myself of it is an effective defence against pride. This post will involve some painful memories, so please bear with me. Continue reading
On this sombre day, I will briefly mention my appearance on the Catholic Geek Radio podcast, where we briefly discuss this sad anniversary before moving on to lighter topics, such as superversive fiction, my background as a writer and the hope and beauty I try to capture in my work. The interview was recorded three days ago and will be available to listen to at 7pm EST today. There was one subject in the interview that I glossed over, and subsequently realised was worth covering in some depth, so I will follow up with a blog post on that in the next few days.
Once it goes live, the interview will be available here:
Dragon-award-nominee Marina Fontaine, up high in the echelons of the Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance, had some very kind words to say about both of my novels, highly recommending both and mentioning them in the same breath as the works of the great masters C.S. Lewis and John C. Wright.
To say I am flattered to be mentioned in this way would be a great understatement, it was Lewis who first fired my literary imagination, whose works I have read more of than any other author, and it was his type of literature that I was consciously trying to hark back to when I wrote Nobility Among Us. John C. Wright is of course a major influence in Beyond the Mist, the plot being based on some of his philosophical essays, among other things.
You can read for yourself what she had to say over here:
http://marinafontaine.blogspot.cz/2016/08/book-review-two-for-one-ben-zwyckys.html
The 99 cent deal on both books (and on Selected Verse: Heroes and Wonders) is still running for another day and a half, so take the opportunity to take a look for yourself for less.
Another multi-parallel kindle countdown deal means that all of my books are now available at amazon for only 99 cents each until the end of the month. Grab them while you can!
Go out into the webiverse and spread the word! I do not send you out on this great task unarmed, however. Here are a selection of mighty memetic weapons with quotes from my two novels to aid you in your quest. Behold their majesty and choose your rhetorical blades!
Fly, my pretties, spread widely and infect as many minds as possible with these noble thoughts, Muahahaha!
*ahem*
Why yes, I was sleep-deprived while writing this, why do you ask?
*EDIT* I’ve replaced one of my paltry efforts with a much more awesome version produced by Matt Margolis.
The Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance is running another book bomb for twenty books today and tomorrow (22nd and 23rd July 2016). Nobility Among Us is on the list, as well as the second of L.J. Lamplighter’s excellent Rachel Griffin series.
A book bomb works by lots of people going on amazon and buying the same book on the same day, which boost’s the book’s rankings in amazon’s algorithms and makes it more visible to potential new readers. The author also gets paid for his work, as it should be. If you already have one of these books, please leave a review on Amazon (even if you don’t have much to say or someone else has already said similar things), as that also helps to boost that book’s visibility in amazon’s recommendations algorithm. If you’ve already done both of those, please tell your friends about this event in any way you can, on your blog, on twitter or facebook or any online community you are part of. (Please do that even if you haven’t bought it yet, spread the word as widely as possible!)
Let’s give these authors a boost! Click on the book picture to read more and buy:
Everything they say on the news is a lie. To question that lie is a crime.
Sometimes, history can be murder.
Death stalks the Reservation.
A missing spacecraft, a cryptic message, and a fearsome secret hiding in plain sight.
Before coming to Roanoke Academy, Rachel Griffin had been an obedient girl—but it’s hard to obey the rules when the world is in danger and no one will listen.
The untold acts of valor by some of America’s most highly decorated combat veterans, the brotherhood they shared, and the fighting spirit that kept them alive through the war’s darkest hours.
Can Linda truly put aside her past? Or is she to be forever damned by it?
It’s not really cheating if it’s only a fantasy … right?
They picked a fight with the wrong species.
Cut off from his chain of command and hunted by a fanatical East German State Security officer with his own agenda, Sandoval must call on all of his skill and risk everything in order to survive and succeed.
It’s the fourth year of World War II, and both sides are using every trick in the book, dirty, demonic and otherwise.
A noble family’s quiet revolution against a crumbling hierarchy of tyrants.
A story so scary you’ll wet your pants laughing.
A group of misfits, including aliens, psychics, mercenaries, and a rogue assassin, struggle to escape an alien prison where survival is measured in hours.
Non-fiction: An unlikely duo goes up against town hall and the ALA when they discover lewd goings-on in their local public library.
They subverted science, rewrote history, and corrupted society. Now he knows. And he’ll prove it, if they don’t kill him first.
Levon’s trade is death.
A short science fiction story about growing up, guns, and the gravity of the situation.
A paraplegic serial killer whose daughter was killed in Los Angeles by a hit-and-run driver now targets the guilty for murder with the help of a pet monkey.
Penniless Texan guitar goddess teaches British engineering professor. Hearts beat in harmony. The world has other ideas.
Another reviewer has nice things to say about the paperback version of Selected Verse – Heroes and Wonders, though this time from a much more down-to-earth angle. J.D. Cowan has this to say over at amazon:
Thoughtful and Wondrous
I don’t know much about poetry, being an uncultured rube, but I know what I like. Reading Ben Zwycky’s “Heroes and Wonders” was a reminder into what I do like from poetry. This is inspirational in the best way. Each poem is an ode to beauty, love, God, and all the great things this world offers. It’s a shock to the system to read something so pure and straightforward without cynicism and bleakness attached. It was a joy to read.
Highly recommended for those who want to be inspired, and those who tend to forget that life offers many great things. It’s a cure for the rainy day.
This kind of response to my work really makes my day, especially when it’s the type of literature they wouldn’t normally look at.
Take a chance on Heroes and Wonders, you might just like it more than you expect 🙂
Speaking of paperbacks, the second edition paperback of Nobility Among Us is now only $9.99 at amazon!
Checking my post-countdown sales figures to see if the final day’s momentum was being continued, I noticed an unusual (and very welcome) upturn in sales of Nobility Among Us yesterday and today. A quick google search revealed the source, Nobility Among Us has the honour of being being featured at Instapundit, thanks to the ever-awesome Sarah A. Hoyt. People in the comments have been saying some nice things about my writing, making me literally jump for joy (causing my middle son to come running into the room to find the source of the loud thumping noise) 🙂
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/234415/
Click the image below to take a look at the book itself.
EDIT: The Amazon ranking for the book has beaten its previous best record:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,144 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
Less than 24 hours left on the Kindle countdown deals for both Nobility Among Us and Selected Verse: Heroes and Wonders (the deal for Beyond the Mist will continue for an extra two days, the price for Selected Verse – Faith and Family is permanent). Grab them while you can!
Beyond the Mist has started its second Kindle Countdown deal, so now all four of my books are on sale for 99 cents until midnight PST at the end of the 19th. Grab them while you can!
The Zwyckyverse 