Never before has a subsequent book of mine ranked so high so quickly. The Long Goodbye hit #1 in Dystopian in Australia particularly, and it wasn't trailing far behind in other countries as well. I'm awed and grateful to you all! That was completely unexpected. But it shows how beloved Graham's Resolution is and it's not over, it's only taking a sabbatical. đ đ€ Thank you!
Besides that...there's a lot of upcoming news. I'm excited, busy and I feel this tremendous energy coming. Fingers crossed it's not another apocalypse đ
Here are the updates:
Where to find books without Amazon/Kindle
Halloween & the yearly 20BooksVegas Convention
The Drone Keeper - Chapter 4
In the Meantime - Progress Report
Books on Sale
Buddy Book Mentions
âI can't do Amazon or KindleâŠâ
Independent Bookstores are the answerâŠ
Unfortunately due to the exclusivity factor for ebooks, many authors are restricted from selling ebooks on platforms other than Kindle. And for now, that is the only way to make a living as an author. So for those of you who want to read the books but cannot purchase them there, paperbacks are the best alternative. You can get those by request in person, or you can order them online through any independent bookstore. All of my titles are available in the Ingram Sparks Catalog and that's where they order them from. And it's a great way to support your local bookstores. This works internationally as well.
For example, in the United States, you could click the link below and my local independent bookstore's online catalog search for my titles and they will ship you the paperback. That way, they also receive a small payment. This works the same way for other countries. And it really helps support them at the same time.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!
I handed out candy in the same skirt I've worn for the last 20 Halloweens and still love it.
Speaking of The Drone Keeper, I've got an updated cover for you and Chapter 4.
Of course, remember that these unedited chapters are subject to changeâŠ
Chapter 4
Sometimes, while lying in the darkness, Steve really hated people. All of them. They were all full of greed and despair. Thatâs why a tiny part of him hoped Anabelle really was an AI because, for some reason, people liked her. Which meant he didnât have to deal with them so much. It was a good arrangement. He liked the arrangement, especially when the shotgun fired because Steve wasnât fast enough to hit the scramble mode. It was Anabelle that saw the danger coming and, in a microsecond, she enacted a shield. The problem was, he wasnât sure if she did it to protect the drones or to protect the thugs. Because if there was one thing he didnât tolerate was anyone touching his drones.
âTake it down,â Steve fumed at the man laughing below like a hyena. âIâm going to kill him.â
âOh, like Iâm going to take it down now. Moving on,â Annabelle said.
He actually stomped his foot against the stone floor. âI mean it, Anabelle. He broke the law.â
âSteve, come on. Itâs going to be a long day as it is. Killing him means a lot of extra pixel entries before the end of the day.â
Steve swallowed. âI donât want him to get away with it. Give me one second with him. You can turn your back if you need to and mute the cameras.â
She huffed. âAre you serious?â
He knewâŠshe knew he was dead serious.
âOkay, but Iâm not looking, so Iâm not a witness. This happened on my lunch breakâŠand Iâm not filling out the incident report.â She hit a key, and one drone appeared unshielded.
At a standoff range, Steve smiled and sent a high-energy laser into the guyâs arm, causing him to drop the weapon.
âLeave Steve. Leave now. Iâm detecting a high-level quantum sensor scan.â
He didnât stick around for another warning and instead sent the swarm on a scramble that met up moments later miles away. Then, quirking up the side of his mouth, he said, âWas it theirs.â
âDoubtful,â she said. âThey canât possess those, especially in Chicago. Itâs actually illegal. Unlike the weapons they carried.â
âWish we could have taken it with us,â Steve said.
She raised an eyebrow but kept typing. âWell, that thug wonât be using that arm for a while.â
âAnything else, or do we report it?â
âReport what?â she said with a blank look.
He smiled and âWeâre running late. Letâs get on with it.â
On the twelfth hour, theyâd completed another delivery job and then sent the first set of drones back. The previous drones went through decontamination, and then he lit the second wave up. And as they returned, a new storm cloud rose through the empty tiles in the old observatory and into the darkening sky.
âI thought you said it wasnât going to rain today?â Steve peeked out into the blanketed sky.
âI said it wasnât going to rain on the missions today. I didnât say anything about inclement weather locally. Or at least, thatâs what I meant to say. It doesnât affect things.â
Steve looked around and watched as the wind fluttered anything loose outside again. His thought briefly went to Randolphâs visit that morning. Something wasnât right there, but he didnât have time to dwell on it then. He would come back to it later.
âWeâll be fine,â Steve said. âShut the door, please.â
And when she hit the command key, everything inside stilled as the outside kept up its dance with nature.
âWhatâs next on the list today,â Steve said, and she gave him a look.
âAre you sure you donât want to take a break?â
âNo. Weâve been through this. I took longer this morning.â
âBut your insulin levels.â
âI feel fine.â
âYou are fine. Iâve been watching, but that can change quickly, especially if we have another incident like this morning.â
Without emotion, Steve said, âCan we get on with it, or do you want to run a full diagnostic on me now, too. Mother.â
âShe ignored him and brought up the next job.â
He read it at the top. His least favorite of jobs.
âTermination? Is this a Company job?â
She read something on the screen. âYes, I think so.â
âWhat do you mean, you think so?â
âItâs from a human resource contractor.â
âTell me he deserves it.â
She shook her head and made her mouth a straight line. âItâs just a termination order. Thatâs all I see. No explanation of the terms of dissolution.â
âOkay, letâs get this over with.â
While the drones sped around the world to a skyrise in London, Steve walked beside his empty shelves, trailing his fingers over the places where heâd yet to replace his antique book collection. He thought of the old relics, still packed in storage crates in Texas. Like a generation that once read and wrote in cursive, he still read the papers sheets between the covers. His fingers itched to feel them again. His eyes longed for the fading ink.
âWeâre here,â she said, knowing he was daydreaming again. She was probably checking his insulin readings at the same time.
âOkay, weâre about to make someone very unhappy.â
âYou donât know that. He might be thrilled. Maybe he wanted termination. Maybe he has a sick parent, or he wants to care for or a child instead of leaving them to the nursery agents.â
Steve looked at the guyâs image. He was balding in unfortunate spots. His skin had that livered yellow tinge indicating he was suffering from air pollution-induced liver toxicity. âI donât think so. When have they ever been happy for termination?â
Moments later, a drone left the group outside, entered the roof entrance, and stopped in front of an office where a woman with blond hair turned up in a tight bun stood at a control panel. She looked up. Her wireframed glasses held a screen as well. Steve watched as her blue eyes refocused, not on the tiny screen in her glasses but beyond. Heâd always found the contact versions more comfortable. However, the thickness still bothered those with sensitive eyes, and her eyes were a shade bluer than the sky on a warm summer day. The sentry drone moved a little closer on his command to get a better look at her irises. She might be wearing colored contacts as well but then backed off quickly when those irises focused on his camera. He realized then that nope, those were her natural eyes. Gorgeous.
âWhat are youâŠdoing?â Anabelle wanted to know.
âJust thought IâŠsaw something.â
The sentry read the order on the screen projection, and the edges of her full lips turned down quickly, and, in a flash, the show of emotion was gone. HmmâŠsheâs sympathetic to the mark, he thought.
Then she tilted her head toward a doorway of their termination target. It was as if sheâd expected them when these events were usually unannounced so that the employees were not tipped off to sabotage something as they left.
âYou like her,â Anabelle teased.
He cleared his throat. âSheâs not unattractive if thatâs what you mean.â
When they entered the room, the man they were looking for stood in the center. He wore an old-fashioned suit and tie with black lace-up shoes.
âThatâs him, but whatâs with the get-up?â Anabelle said.
It was a rhetorical question. Steve thought not to answer. Then the drone emitted the recording for termination, and the man did an odd thing.
The man began clapping his hands and blinking his glossy eyes.
âDoes that mean heâs happy?â Anabelle whispered.
But Steve was too busy looking around and running scans to make sure there were no weapons deployed to answer.
âYouâve finally done it,â the man said.
âDone what?â Anabelle said.
It was the blond that surprised them from behind with a voice light and airy. âCharles, donât make it difficult. Please go easy.â
âOh, I intend to,â he said, and then something rolled out of his suit sleeve into the palm of his hand.
This time, Steve acted first and arrayed the shield blocking the explosive from the woman behind them. But he had no idea if heâd succeeded because the screen immediately when blank.
âWhat happened? What just happened!â Anabelle yelled.
âCall in. Iâll get to the others inside if I can.â
As Anabelle relayed the damage report, Steveâs heart raced as he reconfigured another drone.
Then he heard Anabelle suck in a breath. âSteve, look.â
Steveâs eyes shot to the screen.
The building they were just in collapsed in a column and landed in a growing pile of rubble as they watched.
âWhat the hell, Anabelle?â
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BUDDY BOOK MENTIONS
The only thing harder than solving a murderâŠis giving birth.
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