The Worlds of Jonah Hewitt

Print edition of the book coming to Createspace

2012-02-24T18:21:00.000-06:00

The e-book revolution hasn't quite reached everyone. Many expressed interest in the book but had no desire to read it on an e-reader. I understand completely. E-readers have many advantages but there is an unmistakable tactile quality to a paper book, not to mention the reduction of eye strain. So I am making the book available on Createspace, a print-on-demand subsidiary of Amazon.com.

One year ago today (or close enough)

2012-02-21T23:41:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if is yesterday or tomorrow, or today, (I didn't think to remember it at the time) but this is approximately the one year anniversary of when I started my novel. Within about 15 days I had nearly 50,000 words written. Within a month and a half, about 130 thousand, and I wasn't even half done yet! That's when I started reading it to Jenn and she convinced me to finish it

The Weeping Woman

2012-02-03T13:34:00.001-06:00

Some people have asked me if any of my characters are based on existing myths and legends...So Ok, no one has asked me but the answer is yes anyways. Amarantha/Amanda is based on the legend of La Llorona. Mexican folklore tells of a woman who drowned her own children, so in punishment she is doomed to wander the earth looking for them. She is described as a tall spectral figure with long black

Another review on Amazon.com!!

2012-01-24T09:12:00.001-06:00

Joseph, whoever you are, thank you for a wonderful review! I'm going to name my firstborn after you. Sure, my firstborn was born 14 years ago and she's a girl, but I want my fans to know they come first. ;)The entire review is below, and he is absolutely right. The price is awesome. I seriously LOVED this book! It is definitely a MUST READ if you are into fantasy novels. The characters were

Musical Inspiration for the Next Book

2012-01-20T14:15:00.001-06:00

I'm writing the next book now. It's tentatively called Silver Chains / Silver Guitar, haven't quite decided yet. It revolves around a mystical object that is a Silver Guitar, but the silver chains are also important. Both are objects that have the power to control vampires, and more. It's a great story, because, well frankly, it's a love story, on the level of Verdi's more tragic operas.

Over 500!

2012-01-17T21:29:00.001-06:00

So with the promotion and the most recent sales, the book has been downloaded over 500 times! That's really impressive. I can't wait to see what happens in a month or two when those who downloaded the book start talking to friends. If you downloaded the book, first, thank you, and second, when you're finished, please write an honest review and share it with others.J.

379!

2011-12-29T08:57:00.000-06:00

Since we began the free promotion of the book, over 360 more people have downloaded the book! The total now stands at 379. To all of you who downloaded the book, thanks for giving the book a chance. I know that if you read it, you'll love it. Please write an honest review and recommend it to all of your friends. 379 is great but I hope we can do better. Let's try and get it over 500!! (

Merry Christmas!!: UPDATE

2011-12-24T22:16:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas everybody!! And I have a special Christmas gift for all of you and any of your friends. Starting tomorrow, and for the next five days, Limbo's Child (The Dead Things Series) will be available on Kindle Select, absolutely FREE!! I know a bunch of you will be getting Kindles for Christmas so give it a try. So please tell anyone and everyone about the book and this limited offer

The Ultimate Spoiler

2011-12-15T10:34:00.000-06:00

So it's been a long time since I've posted anything. (The day job takes a great deal of my time in early December. Yes...I'm one of Santa's elves. Long story and I'm sure you don't care to hear about my boring life, back to the book.) So I thought I would post something BIG to tide you over until the season is over and I can get back to regular blogging. This is the very last scene. Not of

My Nanowrimo Novella!!

2011-12-02T11:07:00.001-06:00

Well things have been a bit quiet on the blog lately. That's a combination of two things really, one, the day job, and two, I've been participating in Nanowrimo, this challenge to write a 50k word novel in one month. This had been my first year in Nanowrimo, and I'm happy to say I lived up to the challenge and hit the 50k target. You can check out my stats here. As you can see, there were a

First Half of Limbo's Child - FREE!

2011-11-23T08:51:00.001-06:00

As a way of saying "Thank You!" to everyone who has read and likes the book, I'm going to be giving away the first half of the book free tomorrow on Thanksgiving! Share it with a friend and let everyone know. Check back to this post tomorrow for updates and details! J.Update:I'll be enjoying the Thanksgiving Holiday with family like a sane person, so enjoy this little gift, while I take the

Getting the Band Back Together

2011-11-22T14:21:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since the last post and I since I will be kicking off for the next few days, (thanks to Thanksgiving, family and a desire to keep on track with Nanowrimo; I've already crossed 40k, but this is no time to get lazy) I thought I should give you something REALLY good. So I decided to introduce you to three new characters of the second book, Silver Chains (which I'm almost ready to

The Reviews Are In!

2011-11-15T10:13:00.001-06:00

Well a review (singular) is in but it's a good one. Check it out here, but I'm reposting it below too. Wow! I liked the product description for Limbo's Child, and I figured for $0.99 I'd give it a try. It was definitely a bargain! Limbo's Child is a fun, intriguing book, with complicated, well-defined characters and a fascinating plot. I liked the dual story-lines alternating between

The Cowboy

2011-11-14T09:53:00.001-06:00

Many of you know that I'm in the middle of writing the second Novel, Silver Chains, due to be out next October. I've been writing the thing as part of the NaNoWriMo Challenge. (You can follow my progress here.) In the future, I will post excerpts of the upcoming novel here on the blog, but I'm just having such fun writing about a particular character I thought I would introduce him today. This

Believe in Yourself

2011-11-10T20:10:00.001-06:00

Just a little inspirational lift for your day.

Reading a Book!

2011-11-10T09:37:00.002-06:00

Don't you ever interrupt someone reading my book. From the always funny Julian Smith It doesn't cross over into genius however until the bagpipes arrive. And as you know dear reader, we are always down with bagpipes.

NaNoWriMo

2011-11-09T12:25:00.001-06:00

No, it's not the name of some new alternative band, NaNoWriMo is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month! It's a challenge writers to write a 50k word novel by the end of the month. The rules are simple. You can have notes, outlines and whatnot, but the actual text of your novel must be written during the month.The prize is bragging rights and not much more, but it's a great way to get

Like the Book? Tell a Friend!

2011-11-07T11:18:00.003-06:00

First of all, let me say "Thank You" to all of my fans. That wasn't big enough. Let me try again. THANK YOU. Still not big enough. One more time. THANK YOU!!! Now imagine that you are seeing that "Thank You" from space written on the North American Continent and that it spreads from Eugene, Oregon to Pennsauken, New Jersey. Here's a map to help you visualize. View Larger Map Got it?

Last Day to Get the Entire Novel of Limbo's Child for FREE.

2011-11-05T11:06:00.002-05:00

This is the very last day to get the novel, Limbo's Child (The Dead Things Series) for FREE. (Part II will be available for one week more for those that have already downloaded the first part, but this is the very last time I'm going to make the whole thing available for free online, though the first 15 chapters will eventually be posted on this webpage. Chapters 1-8 are already available here

Chapter Nine: Meet Miles and Schuyler

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Miles and Schuyler. I've spoken of these characters before, here and here, and they are two of my favorites. The two are a natural pair, but not like peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly or Dr. Pepper and Evil. They go together more like oil and water, fire and ice, cops and robbers, bare walls and graffiti or vampire goths and sci-fi geeks at a comic con. Their innate qualities make

Chapter 8: The Bark of Nephys

2011-11-03T10:05:00.001-05:00

One of the iconic moments of Dante's Inferno is a scene where he and his guide, the Roman poet Virgil, embark across an ocean of damned souls in a small boat. When I knew that I would be writing a story set in the afterlife, I decided I had to put my characters in a small boat, and that the voyage would have to deal with the doubt and peril of the afterlife. Don't try to look for too close of

Character Playlist: Hiero

2011-11-02T10:20:00.000-05:00

How do you describe a character like Hiero? He's a homicidal psychopathic bagpipe with a giant butcher knife. And the "bagpipe" part above? That's not a metaphor. He's an actual bagpipe, a monstrous imp from the lower hells that popped out of the psychic trauma of hell fully formed, or rather fully malformed, with one pig leg, one goose leg, a bloody tongue and a huge butcher knife made of

Limbo's Child Part II - Available NOW - FREE!!

2011-10-29T18:15:00.000-05:00

For a limited time I am giving the novel, Limbo's Child (The Dead Things Series) away for FREE. For the next week both part I and part II will be available as a two part pdf download, after which only part II will be available, but only for one week more. After that, the freebies are over, I'm turning off the spigot and then you'll have to go to Amazon Kindle and pay the exorbitant price of

Book Two of the Dead Things Series

2011-10-27T13:51:00.003-05:00

Now that book one, Limbo's Child is on Kindle, it's time to start working on book two!Book two is tentatively called "Silver Chains" (but that may change) and I hope to have it ready for Kindle in October of 2012.(The following is slightly spoilerish if you haven't read the first book, so proceed with caution.)It's quite a departure from book one. Book one was focused primarily on Nephys, who is

Chapter Seven: The Accidental Character

2011-10-24T13:15:00.000-05:00

First off I want to say a big "THANK YOU!" to the four of you who have already bought the book on Kindle. I'll have more to say eventually about how important you early adopters really are, but for now, I want to just tell you how much I really appreciate it. Please, when you're done reading it, put up your reviews on Amazon.com and share the links with all your friends. Right now it's time

Watch those Adjectives

2011-10-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

Great article about the changing world of publishing and the coming revolution in e-books. Check it out. But here's the money graf: Back when publishing was expensive, agents and publishers were vigilant gatekeepers. It cost a lot of money to publish a book and publishers wouldn’t make that investment unless they thought the book could sell — or was of such enormous importance that it was

Kindle Readers for all platforms - FREE!

2011-10-23T09:28:00.004-05:00

I just want to reiterate that you don't need a Kindle to read Kindle formatted books. Amazon makes Kindle readers for Macs, PCs, iPhones, Blackberry's and every other device in your home short of the kitchen toaster (and I've heard the toaster version is in beta.) Best of all, the readers are free! The links for the Free Kindle Reading Apps will be permanent up on the banner and in the

FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK - FREE!!

2011-10-22T09:20:00.001-05:00

As promised...here is the link...to the first half of the book in pdf format. (Geez! Even in a blog post I overuse the ellipsis! Anywho...wait...I did it again!! Mrrggmble) This is the first 300 or so pages of the book, FREE, to you, but only for the next week. After that I will take it down and put up the last 300 pages, for FREE, but again, only for one week. Then the links and the pdf

Free Kindle Readers

2011-10-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

Now that Limbo's Child is available on Kindle, I thought it was a good time to point out that you don't actually need a Kindle to read the book. Kindle formatted books can be read with Kindle Readers, which are available FREE, for your PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, Android and practically every other device short of your kitchen toaster! (And I'm told the toaster app is in beta.) Check out the

Limbo's Child is Now Available on Amazon Kindle

2011-10-21T08:06:00.002-05:00

Do you see that link above. Do you see it? That's my book. On Kindle. Now. For only 99 cents!The WHOLE book. Buy it. Read it. It's only 99 cents!For those of you who need more convincing, starting tomorrow, I'll be posting the first half of the book online, for FREE, in pdf format, for the next week.And don't forget the first six chapters and prologue are already online here, here, here,

Short Skirt Long Jacket

2011-10-20T19:10:00.000-05:00

This is another one of my "Character Playlists" - songs that inspired some of the main characters. This one is for the villain, Amanda (Amarantha) Tipping. And believe me, she is "fast, thorough and sharp as a tack." Enjoy.

Chapter Six: Meet the Villain

2011-10-20T10:30:00.001-05:00

Watching the Kindle Direct Publishing page tick down until the book is finally, FINALLY online and ready for purchase is maddening. In the meantime, how about another chapter?! This one is a biggie. This is the heavy. The Dragon. The Villain. The Hard Cheese. (I have no idea what that means but it sounded good, please credit - Jonah Hewitt - for all further usages of "The Hard Cheese.")

Edge of Glory

2011-10-20T00:32:00.000-05:00

Victory. (FINALLY!) After nearly eight straight hours of hard-coding in HTML - you'd never guess one of my first jobs was making webpages back in '96 - I have finally managed to torture this thing into a form that will be legible on the Kindle. Go tell it on the mountain. In 24 hours, it should be available. This calls for a power song. (Side note: At some point I stopped being embarrassed

Chapter Five: Meet Maggie Miller

2011-10-19T11:23:00.002-05:00

Meet Maggie Miller. Maggie is the mother of Lucy, our second main protagonist that we meet in the new prologue and in chapter two. (Which was the old chapter one before we added the new prologue - I know, it's confusing, trust me. This post explains everything.) As always you can find previous chapters, here, here, here & here This chapter introduces us more to the world of Limbo, and how

Down to the Wire

2011-10-14T22:54:00.001-05:00

Well if you've been following this blog, you know that at the last minute, we decided to undertake a massive re-edit of the entire book, change the order of the chapters, all to accommodate a new prologue that I wrote on an impulse. I know...crazy right? Well it's 11 O'clock at night, we still have about 200 pages to re-edit and double-check, and the book is supposed to be up on Kindle by

Hungry like the Douche.

2011-10-14T11:16:00.001-05:00

If you've been reading the chapter excerpts so far, you've already been introduced to the main characters, Nephys & Lucy. (For those interested, the prologue and chapters one, two and three are available at the links. There is also a secret prologue, that contains spoilers and a NEW prologue that replaces the old one. Don't ask, it's complicated, I know I have a problem, just follow the links,

My Own Worst Enemy. (The New Prologue)

2011-10-13T09:46:00.003-05:00

When it comes to writing, I am my own worst enemy. Let me tell you a truth. I want this book to be successful. Not just because I have no other real financial prospects at the moment, but because I want the affirmation of other people who love the book as much as I do. I know the quote by Samuel Johnson, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." BTW, but it's bunk. Writers ARE

Chapter Four: Meet Lazlo

2011-10-10T11:10:00.002-05:00

Update: I changed the number of the chapters after I added a new prologue. This post explains everything.For those just joining us, I have been posting the first few chapters of the book in advance of the book's release this Saturday, October 15th. This is the third chapter of the book. You can read the Prologue, Chapter One and Chapter Two at the links (There is also a "Secret Prologue"

Witchfinder

2011-10-08T15:43:00.001-05:00

Sarah Hoyt, guru of genre-writing and future Garibaldi of the indie author movement is writing a novel online, Witchfinder and is posting the chapters for all to read.Chapter One, is here, where we meet the charming rogue, Seraphim, who is both Duke AND magician. (Imagine if Jane Austen wrote fantasy and that will hammer down the genre for you.)Chapter Two is here, where we find out the meaning

Character Play Lists.

2011-10-07T11:46:00.001-05:00

Music is a big part of my inspiration. Whenever I can't think of what to write, all I have to do is pop in some music and immediately the writing starts flowing. I never know what song is going to be the "power song" for the day, the song that will get me through. Some days it will be Vivaldi and the next day it will be ABBA (more ABBA than Vivaldi I'm not ashamed to say.) There was one song

Chapter Three: Meet Lucy

2011-10-06T11:47:00.003-05:00

Update:This post was changed to reflect the change in chapter numbers when the new prologue was added. This post explains everything.If Nephys is the first main protagonist of the book introduced in Chapter One, Lucy is the second. Lucy is the child of a necromancer, and the last necromancer of any significant power. Of course she doesn't know this until her mother dies in a car wreck. Lucy

Chapter Two: Meet Nephys.

2011-10-04T20:08:00.004-05:00