Vampire Apocalypse and Permuted Press! Latest interview and Crimson Seas.

VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE
Great news! Permuted Press (my current publishers of my zombie novel, The Estuary and the ebook editions of the first three Vampire Apocalypse books) have picked up all publishing rights worldwide to the first three books and for the fourth book which I am currently writing - a four book deal! 

Here's how this came about: The current publisher of the print editions of my three Vampire Apocalypse books (KHP Publishers who I have been with since 2006)is moving their business to ebooks only and the print rights revert to me at the end of the year. I was sad at the thought of not having Vampire Apocalypse available in print even though a lot of my sales are ebook editions. There are still plenty of readers who want a physical book - myself included! Permuted were not only interested in the rights for the print editions for these three books but all publishing rights, and the same for book four! I am absolutely delighted now that contracts have been exchanged and it is all signed and sealed, so keep an eye out in 2013 for new editions with new covers and a re-edit.


LATEST INTERVIEW
There is a 5 minute interview with me over at The Ginger Nuts of Horror and you can have a read HERE


CRIMSON SEAS
My first novel set in the HMS Swift Adventures series, Crimson Seas, has been selling very well - way beyond my expectations! I am really delighted with this and hope all who purchased it enjoy the story. I have one concern though: I notice that is is being purchased by readers who love historical naval fiction. Although I clearly spell out in the description that it is a horror adventure, and those familiar with my work won't be surprised to encounter the odd zombie or vampire, I do hope the book description is being read and that readers are aware of the horror element. We can but wait and see as reviews come in...

Derek

Weekly Update

Wednesday's Blog ... sounds much better than Monday's blog doesn't it? No? Okay I'm late again. It was a Bank Holiday here so things got mixed up and the days blurred. I did get to see Skyfall though so that's a plus.

I always enjoy a good Bond movie - and this is very much a good Bond movie. No gimmicks, no exploding pens - just good scripting, great acting and a well spent 2 hours and change. If you haven't seen it then you should. This isn't the same on a small screen.

There will be an announcement soon on the Vampire Apocalypse series- so stay tuned over the next week or so. In the meantime my HMS Swift Adventures novel Crimson Seas is doing really well - so thank you all for buying it. It would be great to get a few reviews if you have the time - especially if you liked it.

Now the serious bit. We only see pictures over here of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy but our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected on the East Coast. Stay safe. The stories of heroic rescues serve to ground me and remind me what the human spirit is capable of achieving.

Until next week.

Stay safe

D

Weekly Update:New Ebook now available at Amazon and other news!

Another week and another book available on Kindle. This one is ‘The Last Stand’ and comes in at 350 or so pages. It’s an Anthology – most of the stories feature Apocalyptic themes, hence the title. There’s zombies, vampires and just plain strange in this collection. Before you rush off and buy it please be aware that it includes some old and some new stories. It includes The End of Things – new novella, A Prelude to the Apocalypse – novella (Vampire Apocalypse series), The Diabolical Plan – story (HMS Swift series), The Island – novella (HMS Swift series), The Third Option – short story, Payback – short story, It’s Your Turn – short story, School’s Out – short story, Collection Day – new novella.

A Prelude to the Apocalypse, The Diabolical Plan and The Island are all also currently available individually in Kindle editions priced at 99c at Amazon.com so it’s great value at $2.99 (£1.92 Sterling) when you get so many other stories. If you have these stories then please be aware before you buy. For anyone looking to dip into either my Vampire Apocalypse or HMS Swift series this collection is well worth it for the introductory novellas.

This week also saw the reduction in price for The Estuary. I love this novel, zombies, small town, oncoming Apocalypse – I mean what’s not to like? It’s even set in Ireland so the action is up close and personal, there’s no gun shops here, so it puts a different slant on how to deal with zombies. If it’s one of those you were looking at but putting off buying then this is the perfect time at $2.99 (£1.92 Sterling).

Vampire Apocalypse 4 is coming along and I hope to have some news soon on this series...

Until next week.

Derek

Weekly Update: New Ebook coming and Octocon

Well, it's Tuesday and Monday's blog is a tad late. Sorry about that. It's been a hectic week and everything got thrown out of kilter due to a family berevement (hence no post last Monday). On the positive side I have a new Anthology coming out that, hopefully, will make up for the late blog. The End of things includes two new novellas as well as a number of short stories that have been published over the years and might be hard to get now. I've also decided to include the 'Prelude to the Apocalypse' short stories and the HMS Swift introductory stories, 'The Diabolical Plan' and 'The Island' as an added bonus for anyone who has put off buying them individually.

This is great value as the three of them alone would cost the cover price and you get so much more with the novellas. This is a great opportunity to introduce yourself to the HMS Swift series and Vampire Apocalypse series. It should be appearing in Amazon listings next week as an ebook edition.

Octocon has come and gone for another year. It was great catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. The panels were as mad as ever but at least we now have a plan for the Zombie Apocalypse. Cork seems to be the consensus as the best place to be - so book your tickets early. Pictures and comments are available on the website, http://www.octocon.com/

Next week's blog will be on time, no matter what happens. How's that for tempting fate? Until next week then.

D

Weekly Update - October 1st 2012 - Whatever happened to the Vampire Apocalypse movie and graphic novel?

Monday again, they seem to come around so quickly. I saw a review today for the third Vampire Apocalypse Book, Fallout, where the reviewer loved the book (thank you for that) but was disappointed that all the story lines were not tied up in the trilogy. I must admit I don’t know where the term ‘Trilogy’ came from in relation to the Vampire Apocalypse series. I suppose it’s because there are three books available and I have taken a break to write other stories. There were, however, a few reasons for this.

Movie?     The first book A World Torn Asunder was optioned for a movie. This was very exciting at the time. First it was optioned as a low budget movie – any movie was a shot in the arm I must admit. Then it was optioned as a TV series – this made me over the moon, especially as there were a lot of really good TV series out at that time and I had great plans. Then that changed again and it was back to being a movie – but this time as a big budget movie with actors’ names I had actually heard of. I mean you would not believe the people who were offered the roll of Harris, I was in seventh heaven. Unfortunately the movie was not made as it turned out. There were many reasons for this but the final decision was to shelve it. So no movie I’m afraid. They paid me for a few years options so I can’t grumble and it was really exciting at the time. Maybe they will pick it up again – who knows?

f     Graphic Novel? The books were optioned for a graphic novel. I love and have always collected comics. I must admit to always having a dream of writing for Marvel and this was somewhat of a breakthrough for the realisation of this dream. It wasn’t Marvel who bought the rights but it was close enough for me. A prologue was produced of twenty or so pages and some lucky Con visitors will have copies that I signed! I still have copies in my room. It was beautifully printed artwork and covered the whole Prologue of the first book. I even took to writing some of the chapters, a totally new experience for me. Unfortunately, issues with late art deliveries and the project taking too long to finish made the publisher decide to go on to other projects. Ah well, Marvel will have to wait for me a bit longer I suppose.  

      Anyway with all the re-writes, screenplays and comic adaptions I was feeling pretty sick of re-writing the VA books so I took a break and went on to write The Gatekeeper, Gemini and Crimson Seas a novel set in the HMS Swift series. This allowed me to recharge and I am now busily writing the next installment in the Vampire Apocalypse series. And it is a series - please don’t assume it will be a quartet! I will continue to write books as long as I can come up with good ideas and as long as people are buying and enjoying the books. Thankfully people are still buying them, long may that continue, and I do have enough ideas – for now anyway.

Okay, that’s it for today – see you all next week.

D

Book Review/Interview: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke

I am a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, the monthly enewsletter from The International Thriller Writers and most months I have the pleasure of reading a forthcoming release, interviewing the author and writing a review. Although I write what are probably best described as horror thrillers, I do have a fairly wide taste in what I read so, I thought I should post a link at my blog to these articles to bring exciting new releases and introduce some new and talented authors to you - enjoy!

On a scorching hot summer day in Elkwood, Alabama, Claire Lambert staggers naked, wounded, and half-blind away from the scene of an atrocity. She is the sole survivor of a nightmare that claimed her friends, and even as she prays for rescue, the killers — a family of cannibalistic lunatics — are closing in.

Kealan Patrick Burke was born in Dungarven, Ireland and when this book came up I was eager to review it. Not just because he is a fellow Irishman but also because I have enjoyed his previous work; Carnival of Souls and The Hides. It was a happy co-incidence that I was in Dungarven for the weekend visiting friends when I began this novel so it seemed somewhat fated that I would get this book to review.

continue reading...

Weekly Update - review, currently reading and more...

Well, here we are and another week has flown by. True to my new regime and promise I am back with an update to the blog.

I have finished the review of ‘Plague of Lies’ and it will appear on the ITW website on the 1^st of the month, http://www.thebigthrill.org/ The newly designed website looks great and you can check out all the latest releases and author interviews by clicking the link. If you want to know if I enjoyed the book you will have to read the article, go on it’s free.

I got another few thousand words put to bed yesterday on Vampire Apocalypse 4 and the story is coming along nicely. Working title is ‘Trail of Tears’ though I doubt this will be the final one as I have a few other ideas percolating that may take a larger role yet. Early days but I think you’ll like where it’s going.

I am reading James Herbert’s ‘The Secret of Crickley Hall’ at the moment. Herbert has always been one of my favourites. If you haven’t picked up his books start with ‘The Dark’, ‘The Fog’ and ‘The Rats’ and just see if you can stop buying all of them. He is truly a master of the genre and essential reading for anyone who professes to enjoy horror.

There are a few more reviews on Amazon for VA and it’s great to see that they are still mostly positive. Please feel free to post reviews as I love to hear what you have to say, especially the good ones. There’s even one for ‘The Estuary’. For some reason this book has become a love it or hate it book with very few middle star reviews. The latest review is very positive so I was delighted to see that. It’s strange how some books are received. I loved writing ‘The Estuary’ and even had the next instalment sketched out. Maybe if I get more positive feedback I’ll write it ..hint. Still no reviews for ‘The Gatekeeper’ in the UK so if you’ve bought this one and read it please let me know what you think, again especially if you liked it.

Until next week.

D

Book Review - Hybrid by Brian O’Grady

I am a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, the monthly enewsletter from The International Thriller Writers and most months I have the pleasure of reading a forthcoming release, interviewing the author and writing a review. Although I write what are probably best described as horror thrillers, I do have a fairly wide taste in what I read so, I thought I should post a link at my blog to these articles to bring exciting new releases and introduce some new and talented authors to you - enjoy!



 Hybrid by Brian O’Grady
 A virus engineered for genocide has been released in Colorado Springs, leading to mass and seemingly unexplained violence. Some of the survivors of the infection begin to evolve into something that is both less than and more than human. The race is on to prevent world-wide release of the virus. Read my review and interview with the author over at The International Thriller Writers BIG THRILL

If you get a chance to read the book, let me know what you think!

Weekly Update - Vampire apocalypse 4, Crimson Seas, Writers Centre one day Horror Writing course, Octocon and more...

Okay, a new week and a new resolution. This blog has been very under used in the past. I am sorry for this but I have let myself get side-tracked way too easily and the blog has lost out. For those of you who come here to see if there is an update - I apologise and, to those who didn’t, well you didn’t miss anything. However, I have been sufficiently chastised by my web designer, editor and number one fan, (that’s my wife to anyone who doesn’t know), and I will be posting a blog every Monday from now on – I know this is Tuesday but this is the first one and it doesn’t count. Busy, busy, busy.

I have added another few thousand words to Vampire Apocalypse 4 this week so that is progressing well. Completion is a long way off yet but once started it tends to flow more quickly. I was wrestling with whether the beginning was too drastic for some time now but I have decided to write it and see where it leads. If it doesn’t work I can always re-write. I hate playing it safe though so I am going all out and it should shock a few readers. If I don’t use it in the final draft there’s always the Director’s Cut.

 I’ve started a new book as well for the International Thriller Writers. I review a book every month and it gives me a chance to try new authors that I would not normally have picked up. This month’s book is an historical crime novel by Judith Rock – A Plague of Lies. I’ll let you know how I get on.

 I’ve also been asked to give a writing workshop for the Irish Writers Centre, http://www.writerscentre.ie/html/courses/weekendindex.html, It’s a really big honour for me as I have never done anything like it before. It’s down for October just in time for Halloween and concentrates on horror and supernatural writing. Looks like it’ll be fun. October will also see Octocon, http://www.octocon.com/ where Liz Williams will be joining us as Guest speaker. I am on loads of panels this year and chairing most of them so lots of preparation work for that as well.

The books are selling well this week, so thank you to all who have bought them. The first novel in the HMS Swift series, Crimson Seas, was released last month and I am really pleased that so many of you have bought it. I love this series and had a brief outline for another book but had filed it away as I wasn’t sure it would ever get released. Looks like I will have to write it after all if sales keep going well. If you haven’t tried the HMS Swift series then have a look at the page dedicated to it, http://www.derekgunn.com/hmsswift.html Well, that’s all for today. See you next week, I promise.

 Regards,
 Derek

Crimson Seas, An HMS Swift Adventures Novel

Ebook edition - Now Available! 
Buy at Amazon.com Buy at amazon.co.uk

Crimson Seas is the first novel in my HMS Swift Adventures series. The year is 1791. It is a time of turbulent and fragile peace between the American Revolution, the looming French Revolution and the threat of Napoleon's growing empire.

Captain Thomas Butler and his crew of the HMS Swift, a Class five Frigate in the service of King George III of England arrive into port expecting a few months of rest while their ship is repaired and refitted. Immediately upon their return however, they are sent on a mission to investigate pirate-related reports affecting the lucrative trade routes to the East Indies.

The mission is a confusing one though. Their orders are suspiciously vague. The threat of piracy has not been felt for many years. Two ships have gone missing already in the area though it is inconceivable that mere pirates could have over-run a King’s ship. Butler and his crew find a seemingly abandoned merchant ship drifting at sea and discover the crew gutted and discarded in the hold. Their blood is smeared liberally throughout the ship forming strange and disturbing sigils that suggest devil worshiping.

As war looms and navies engage in heated, yet still sporadic engagements, it is left to the crew of the HMS Swift to face and defeat an evil that has lain dormant for years and now threatens to engulf the whole world.

Start reading the Vampire Apocalypse series for FREE!

My first novel in the Vampire Apocalypse series remains FREE at Amazon (ebook edition). It's Number 5 in science ficton/adventure at amazon.co.uk and number 20 at amazon.com.

Here's the links:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk


Enjoy!

D

Free ebooks and forthcoming titles! Spring Update 2012

FREE ebook of Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder

After including the first Vampire Apocalypse ebook in the Permuted Press Black December sale at $0.00, thousands of copies were downloaded and sales of the second and third ebooks went up. So, the good news is that Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (book 1) reamins free to download at Amazon etc. and sales of the subsequent books continue to soar!



A FREE Ebook every day week commencing February 6th 2012!

Yes, that's right! Each day next week there will be a different Derek Gunn novel/novella available to download for free at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. The titles that will be offered for free (ebooks) are A Prelude to the Vampire Apocalypse, Gemini, The Gatekeeper, The Diabolical Plan and The Island - Enjoy!



Forthcoming titles from Derek Gunn in 2012

May 2012 - the first novel in my HMS Swift Adventures (historical naval horror thriller series) - title and cover art coming soon!

November 2012 - The fourth novel in my Vampire Apocalypse series - working title Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears.

Visit www.derekgunn.com for more details