Happy Book Day: The Small Town P.I. Series bundle

Pretty simple, folks: As I explained Monday, I uploaded the Small Town P.I. Series ebook bundle on Sunday, and now it is fully published across the four major ebook chains this morning. Links for the book are below.

For those of you not familiar with the Small Town P.I., Alex Bourque, the series is a three-book adventure set in and around my hometown of Fitchburg, Mass. The last book, Beach Blanket Bloodshed, came out in June.

Here’s the kicker in all of this, everyone: I’m introducing this set to you at $2.99. Each book separately is priced beautifully at $2.99. Together? $2.99. Apart? $2.99 each.

See what I’m driving at? You can get an absolute steal—three books for less than the cost of a cup of coffee at any place that serves coffee—for three books instead of paying triple. But get it now before I jack the price up.

If you liked my Jaclyn Johnson series, you will like the Small Town P.I. series. If you like the first-person storytelling of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser character, you’ll definitely enjoy the Small Town P.I. series.

Thanks for giving it a shot.

The description:

Follow P.I. Alex Bourque through this fun and fast-paced three-book series based in author Sean Sweeney’s native Massachusetts!

In Cold Altar, Alex is fresh out of college and he has started his private investigative business. His first case: a cold case once investigated by his father. With ever-so-randy girlfriend Lauryn’s help, Alex digs deeper into the clues his old man missed.

In Voir Dire, Alex is on jury duty, and after being challenged by the prosecution, starts working for the defense attorney. His job: to get the attorney’s client cleared of a murder he obviously did not commit—but not everything is copacetic between the parties involved: the client is protecting something, and that’s the truth.

In Beach Blanket Bloodshed, Alex and Lauryn are enjoying a well-earned vacation on sunny Cape Cod when a body rolls up on the beach behind them. The widow soon gets Alex involved in the search for her husband’s killer—and along the way, Alex and Lauryn get involved in a sandy, sexual tryst neither saw coming.

Three quick whodunit stories that’ll have you flipping pages in search for the killer!

At the moment, it is only available in digital form, but that may change. Get your copy for only $2.99 at the links below!

Kindle US
Kindle UK
Nook
Kobo
iBooks

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Happy Book Day, folks--BEACH BLANKET BLOODSHED is here!

It is my great pleasure to announce that today, the First Day of Summer 2016, is Book Day around these parts.

Yes, friends. Beach Blanket Bloodshed: An Alex Bourque Mystery has arrived and is available on all ebook retailers. Links are below.

I had been thinking of this one for a couple of years, ever since Jen and I returned from one of our joint trips to Truro, Mass., where her grandmother lives. Remember that she has been done there plenty of times, while I've only been going down there since August 2012. The idea hit me in 2013, intensified in 2014, and finally, in August 2015, with some time on the writing calendar, the story spilled onto the screen.

Of the three Small Town PI books, I feel this one is the best: it has the best writing, and by far has the most consistent storyline of the three. I'm not bad-mouthing the first two, but this one... this one I'm truly proud about.

Hope you enjoy it.

P.S.--If you're interested in a paperback version.... shoot me an email. I need some interest in them before I create them.

Here are the links: US Kindle, UK Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple iBooks

And remember: the other two books, which I revised and tightened last summer, are now re-branded to connect the series together. They are all available in my bookstore. Hope you enjoy them.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

An Alex Bourque Re-Branding

You'll recall that in Spring 2014, I underwent a massive re-branding of my Jaclyn Johnson series. With the help of author pal David Wood, we managed to create a distinct brand and a direction for future books in that particular series. David has it down to a science now: He has his template for me, which includes my name as well as the AGENT title du book, and he just slips the background image in depending on the city in which I'm writing. I suspect he'll have the TICKET AGENT cover for me soon.

You'll also recall that in Summer 2015, I underwent a massive re-edit of some of my books; I aptly called it the Summer of Edit. In that exercise, I took books that weren't exactly my best and spruced them up, polish-wise, getting rid of passive voice and making the books stronger. Two of those books were Cold Altar and Voir Dire, the first two stories in my Small Town PI series, set in my hometown of Fitchburg, Mass. Doing that led into the book I was about to write, Beach Blanket Bloodshed, the third book in that series.

Even though I had accomplished the Summer of Edit and felt happy with those fixes, I still had a quandary on my hands regarding the covers of the Small Town PI books. They didn't match up together, the branding non-existent. While Voir Dire's cover had actually looked something close to what you'd see on the dust jacket of a New York-published hardcover, Cold Altar's cover... wasn't. It was pretty bland: I recall it was actually hard to manipulate the image enough in order for me to do what I had to do to get my name on the thing.

The original two covers. Not exactly a match. This was on account of me not exactly knowing what to do; I had branding in mind, but I also had getting the book out at any cost in mind, too.

So when I wrote Beach Blanket Bloodshed last August, I had this quandary in mind as I let my fingers fly: How would I fix this re-branding issue, knowing I had already re-branded Jaclyn (and saw a nice sales bump in exchange) and had to create three new covers and make them all the same once I had BBB ready for publishing. I also realized I couldn't exactly break the bank on this, either. I had to do it on the cheap, but couldn't make them look cheap.

I went through a couple of drafts on these covers, but with the help of author pal Elizabeth Ann West, I managed to concoct a simple cover which conveys the overall arc of these stories: they are campy mysteries that aren't supposed to strain one's mind, but they needed the edge of my Jaclyn thrillers in order for me to see a return. Cold Altar is a good first story: it introduces the characters of Alex Bourque and his girlfriend, Lauryn Kennedy, but like I said, you're not supposed to strain your brain in finding out who the killer is with this book. Voir Dire follows it up nicely. Beach Blanket Bloodshed gives a new wrinkle in their relationship, and is a solid beach read for Summer 2016. In fact, all three are.

As a result, we've come up with these new covers:

Not too bad, if I say so myself, and better than some New York-published novels. Everything is tied together, the branding the same. We've uploaded these covers to their respective placements across all platforms (We ran into a problem with Voir Dire on Nook; Nook users can go to Smashwords to get the epub file; it's in my bookstore on my website).

Expect a newsletter to announce Beach Blanket Bloodshed's release soon; sign up for the mailing list at the top of the blog to be among the first to know of its availability!

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The next twelve months or so for this author

Even though I’m under no obligation to do so as an indie, I like to set goals and—even more importantly, from my point of view—deadlines for my work. It’s something that not only keeps me sane, but also keeps me focused on the writing.

With the Summer of Edit finally in the rear view mirror, it’s time to take a look at the projects I’m working on over the course of the next twelve months or so. Be careful: your eyes may spin by this somewhat absurd, breakneck pace. Keep in mind, these dates are all tentative, and are subject to change without notice. Publishing dates, though... we'll do our best to hit those.

Mid-August to Oct. 1—Beach Blanket Bloodshed: An Alex Bourque Mystery.

I haven’t decided if this will be a novel or a novella; I'm kind of writing this one from the seat of my pants. I have some ideas of how this story will go, but no idea as to the length. Much like Cold Altar and Voir Dire, I will tell it in first person. The hope is that I can have a full first draft done by Oct. 1; if it’s a novella or a short novel, then that date is no problem. Anything longer than 60,000 words may push it, but we’ll see.

In addition, I’ll brainstorm a project later in the fall, as well as the subplot for Chemical Agent.

Oct. 1 to Oct. 21 or so—Final read of The Obloeron Saga.

This will be the final time I ever read this series before I re-upload it. I’ll read it on my Kindle, and my hope is that if there is anything wrong—misspelled words, passive voice—that the change in font will point it out to me for correction. Then I’ll format and get it ready for publishing.

Oct. 22 to Oct. 27—First read/edit of Chemical Agent: A Thriller.

Oct. 19 will mark four months since I completed the first draft of the seventh Jaclyn Johnson novel, so I’m hoping that I’m fully free of the story by then. That way, I’ll see any problems and correct them. In addition, I’m going to add a few thousand words to the existing story as I work on the subplot.

Immediately after that until the end of January—Working on the first draft of a project I don’t believe I’m allowed to speak of just yet. I’ve been invited into a shared world, and that’s about all I can say on this for now.

Nov. 2—Publishing The Obloeron Saga.

Self-explanatory. A reminder that the entire saga includes the as-yet unreleased third book of the prequels, Krampel's Revenge, along with never-before-seen prose..

Christmas Week—Second read of Chemical Agent.

It would have been about two months or so since I had finished the first round of edits by the week of Christmas. I’ll look at it again at about this time, changing the font on the manuscript to see if anything sticks out. Then, the hope is to send it off for a proofing by Christmas morning. That is if everything goes well. Cross your fingers.

End of January—Final read-through of Chemical Agent, start brainstorming the eighth Jaclyn novel, first read-through/edit of Beach Blanket Bloodshed.

Feb. 1-May 3—Working on the first draft of a D.L. Boyd romance novel/novella involving a sportswriter.

End of February-early March—Publishing Chemical Agent.

End of March--Second read/edit of Beach Blanket Bloodshed, send to editor.

May 4—First read-through of secret project? Then start the first draft of JJ8, which should take me up through the end of July.

Memorial Day—Publishing Beach Blanket Bloodshed. Timely.

Early August—First read-through of the D.L. Boyd romance, then start brainstorming Cedar Junction, a standalone thriller that I will write in the fall of 2016. The romance will be published around Thanksgiving, maybe Christmas.

The hope is that I'll stick to the schedule. Of course, if I finish anything early, I’ll get to work on the next thing right away. Lather, rinse, repeat. And again, everything is tentative, and I reserve the right to make changes if necessary.

Stay tuned. It's going to be a great year.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Recipe Wednesday: Chicken, Ziti, and Broccoli

One of my favorite things to make for dinner stems from my hometown of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. And seeing as I'm going to write about Fitchburg again--well, the Small Town PI series, which is normally set in my hometown but will be focused on Truro, Mass. for this one--I might as well share one of my favorite recipes.

Before I met Jen, I used to eat quite a bit at Slattery's, a nice little eatery with a full bar not too far from where I lived. In fact, Jen and I met at Slattery's, set up by mutual friends of ours. And one of the things I ate there--heck, always ate--was Chicken, Ziti, and Broccoli. I've adapted the recipe a little, and I make it every so often. Jen loves it, and it's pretty filling.

Here it is:

Prep time will vary.

We start off by boiling water in a large pot. I usually add olive oil to the water and bring it to a boil. I add the pasta; penne takes about 10-12 minutes to cook to the desired texture. Penne is smaller than regular-sized ziti at my grocery store; rigatoni is too big. Any tubular pasta works.

In a small saucepan, I mix olive oil along with several tablespoons of butter, and then throw in some fresh, chopped garlic. I automatically set the burner to its lowest setting. I sprinkle in some dried basil, and I'll stir this mixture every few minutes up until about 15-20 minutes have passed.

In a large, oiled skillet, I place sliced, tenderized chicken breast pieces and pan-fry on medium heat for about 15 minutes total, turning occasionally. Midway through, I'll grind up some salt and pepper, then turn again. At 10 minutes in, reduce heat and sprinkle on some grated Parmesan/Romano cheese. I will also sprinkle in some bread crumbs; if you want, you can use panko. We tenderize the chicken so that it is done in 15 minutes. Your chicken should be golden brown.

For about 10 minutes or so, steam your broccoli. I don't want my broccoli soggy; I want it firm.

Once everything is done, layer your dish: pasta first, followed by your chicken pieces, then broccoli. Spoon in your garlic/butter/oil on top. Sprinkle on some additional Parmesan/Romano to taste, and top with parsley flakes or fresh parsley from the garden.

Hope you enjoy this Sweeney Family favorite.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Cape Cod pictures from Ballston Beach in Truro

After I hit 35,000 words in CHEMICAL AGENT's first draft, Jen and I packed up the Honda and headed down to her grandmother's house in Truro, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. I've written about this old homestead before.

Anyway, one of the things we like to do during our Cape trips is take a walk up to Ballston Beach, not too far from the homestead. It's just a little bit of a walk, and I had to stop a few times for breath. And seeing as if pretty much everything else is closed, the beach is a good option--especially this time of year, when the human congestion is nearly at nil.

With it being low tide at this point--we arrived at the beach about 10 minutes before low tide at 10:35 a.m.--I whipped out my camera and started taking some pictures.

Two different pics of the same dune, with the top picture being from today. The bottom one is from January 2, but in the afternoon. I believe it was medium tide in the second one. I like the contrast in the colors here, mainly the shading and the changing of the erosion from January to now.

I got on my side, right down on the damp sand, and got a got shot of all these stones that had washed up and had stayed as the tide retreated back into the Atlantic. All stones of all shapes and sizes.

I saw this and had to have a picture of all this driftwood, seemingly embedded in the sand. It made me wonder from where did all this wood come? Were these timbers from a downed ship that had once sailed in the 1700's, during Colonial times? I've written about one such ship, in David Wood's Dane and Bones series.

I found these slabs next to a tidal pool. I wonder about this, too.

Quite possibly one of my favorite pictures from our excursion to the beach. The earth's gravity is taking the opportunity to suck the remaining water from the beach, and it's cutting rivulets in the sand. It's like a babbling brook, and with the wind biting your ears, it's a majestic symphony. I think I stared, on my stomach, at this mini waterfall for about five minutes.

I'm just a lonely pole, and nobody loves me.

And this was the coolest shell on the beach.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com