Shane Lusher's Blog

A few years ago, not long after putting New Blood out and hoping that it would magically make a million dollars so that I wouldn't have to work anymore, I started writing the second book. 

It was going to be the sequel to New Blood, set in Tazewell County, a few months after the happenings with Sheriff DuBois and Wayne Trueblood, and it was going to show Dana getting his feet wet again, getting used to his new relationship with Kelly, getting comfortable with his new life.

I got about fifty pages in and I shelved it.

There were two reasons for this: one, someone told me that I needed to go back and write the story of the Chicago Shopper, because THAT was a story, and two, because getting comfortable just doesn't make for anything very interesting.

Comfortable is what I was doing last night, which was binge-watching The Walking Dead because my wife was attending a birth (she's a doula). Comfortable is working from home and making my daughter go get the groceries (she's sixteen). It's ordering library books online and then waiting a few days to go pick them up.

But as far as mystery thriller / crime books go, comfortable is, well, meh. 

So I shelved it. I wrote Blood Origin, spent my summer being...comfortable...and then I picked up those fifty pages and started over. With a new idea. With something interesting, something fun. At least I thought so.

I found myself thinking back to a man whom I didn't even know, but whose girlfriend I took out on a date once, when I was in college. Without knowing she even had a boyfriend. A man whose face I saw across the quad, shouting out her name, before turning away and leaving.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Oh, that's just my boyfriend."

A boyfriend whose face I have never forgotten, although there is no reason for me to have retained the memory of that event. Even though it turned out that the relationship wasn't "already over," as far as I knew, he never did get back together with her (neither did I), and I can only assume that he went on to live a long and fruitful life, hopefully with someone more loyal than the woman in question.

For whatever misfiring-neuron strange reason I remember him, though, I started wondering: What if he didn't go on to have a happy life, but a very bad one, riddled with addiction and a bad marriage and death and all sorts of mental illness? And what if, in the process of reframing his life, he goes back to that one single moment and decides that's where everything first started to go wrong?

That this horrible, complicit, evil man who had stolen his girlfriend was responsible for all that had gone bad in his life?

More importantly, what if he decided to do something about it? Something just as bad?

At any rate, my friends, I don't want to spoil too much at this point. I just want to show you the cover. It would be great if you would let me know what you think. About it or anything else. Sometimes it gets lonely over here:

I almost forgot. There is a sale going on over at Book Funnel, if you need something to read. These books are not free, but they are discounted. Let me know if you find something good.

And watch out for guys across the quad. They might not come back to get you, but you never know how long they might decide to stay in your head.

Take Care, Stay Healthy, Stay Home and Read

Shane

Get ‘em while they’re hot. If you’re looking for more eBook freebies, you can’t go wrong with BookFunnel.

Good Afternoon from Vienna

The year is winding down, and I feel that there may be nobody who isn't happy to see it go.

Since all of you have been alive during the most of it, I would assume, I won't go into lockdowns, tests, home schooling and home office and the like because we're all sitting in the middle of it and there's no point in complaining about bad weather when we're all in the rain together.

That being said, there are a lot of things to be thankful for.  I am very thankful for the new subscribers who have just joined--welcome again to all of you!  As I just switched my e-mail sender from one to another, it is possible that some of you may have missed the mail for the free novella Maddie, which you can get right here for free (or anyone else, for that matter).

I am also thankful for the unprecedented amount of writing time available to me now, which means that it won't be too long before you'll be hearing about the next Dana Hartman instalment, Blood Tithes.

Blood Tithes

Blood Tithes is a working title, suggested by a reader, one of your own, and it is still a bit up for grabs.  I'm going to be showing you some cover art in a few weeks, and, as always, your feedback is welcome at all times. After all, I'm writing these things for you.

In the new book, we find Dana back home again in Tazewell County, a few months after the harrowing apprehension of Wayne Trueblood, getting divorced from Colleen and doing his best to carve out a life with Kelly and stop drinking. But his newfound celebrity comes at a price, and a figure from the past is not at all happy to see his return. In fact, he's set out to destroy Dana's life, figuratively and literally.

More on that later.

Happy New Year

I want to wish all of you a happy and, failing that, at least a healthy end to 2020.

I won't say that 2021 can get any worse, because we all know it could, but I do have the feeling, especially since the fireworks of the recent American election have died down, that there is more civility on social media than there was before. I'm actually seeing people holding doors for others, taking the time to listen, and if not yet being willing to change minds, at least to make the attempt to understand another point of view.

And of course there are always other things to do, like move to the mountains, live in a cabin, and read all day long. In fact, I've been telling my wife that I intend to do so if this lockdown goes on until summer (I will have a lot of persuasion to do if I want to actually go through with it). But in lieu of that, and in lieu of being able to celebrate New Year's Eve at all (ours is going to be board games around the kitchen table), there IS another Book Funnel promo I've got for you.

I've been told it is one of the biggest, ever, and it does boast quite a large palette of things to fill up your eReader. I realize that many of you have come to me via such a promo, but for those of you who haven't, you may want to have a look.

Dear Reader, have a good one, and stay healthy. I'll see you in a few weeks.

Take Care

Shane

The folks over at book funnel have done it again. This is one of the largest free book sharing promotions in the history of the platform, so you won’t want to miss out.

I hope this finds you comfortable, healthy and safe, wherever in the world you might be right now. The times, they are a tryin', but I'm convinced with a little effort, and a lot of good books, we will all get there.

Here in Vienna, we went from partial to full lockdown last week. This means of course: no bars, no restaurants, no stores--grocery stores, pharmacies and a few others excluded--no work and no school. Yay!

Wait. That's no PHYSICAL work and no PHYSICAL school. Our house is completely online now. It's like the Matrix over here.

So it's me, my wife, Barbara, and three kids, all locked up at home. We are all usually partially dressed. I spent last weekend making a desk whose design I copied from IKEA, and put a surface on top of a wiggly-but-stable thing I hacked together with my son out of old shelving. So now each of us has our own workstation. Each of us has something to do online. There really is no reason to leave the house, except for fresh air and green stuff.

And, of course, like probably all of you, we are tired of the situation. We keep ourselves sane by drinking lots of coffee and using nicotine pills as breath freshener, taking the occasional walk, and reminding ourselves that we are saving up mucho vacation days for whenever all of this fog lifts away and we have the opportunity to travel again.

We are loved, we have people around us, and we are employed. These are things enough people do not have, and so we count our blessings.

At any rate, I believe in my subject heading I promised you some things. Owing to the COVID-19 situation, many of us writers are trying to do our best to help readers get access to free books, and I'm not going to disappoint you today. I'm involved in a few loose-knit writer groups who pool our resources to offer these free book deals, as many of you I'm sure are familiar with.

One of these places is Book Funnel - and I will warn you in advance, a lot of them are coming over the next few weeks. Do you know what else is coming? Thanksgiving. Forget politics with the family. Eat the turkey and then curl up with a good book.

The first of these is Book Funnel's Black Friday Promotion. If you still haven't read New Blood, you can get it there for free, but more importantly, you might meet your next great author. As a reader myself, I spend lots of time on Book Funnel. There's a lot out there, and I will be honest: some of it is good. Some of it is not so good.

But when you find that new author, it's like meeting a new friend. At least it is for me. I just have one favor to ask of you: if you DO find that new author, please come back and tell me. I need new stuff to read, too.

Someone is torturing and killing the Chicago homeless. One a month, to be exact. The death toll is up to five, and the Chicago PD doesn’t have a clue.

Dana Hartman is not a police officer. Not even remotely. Dana is a project manager for a criminal corporation, running numbers all day and watching his marriage run straight downhill.

He does all of that before seven A.M.

But when Dana is overheard talking about the killer at a bar in the Ukrainian village, the police believe he may be able to help solve the case.

If you enjoy authors John Sandford and Karin Slaughter, you’ll love Blood Origin, the second Dana Hartman Thriller.

Get your copy here, now, at the Amazon Kindle Store.

Don’t have a Kindle? Want to read a real paperback book? Join my reader’s list and I’ll keep you updated. I’ll also send you a free Dana Hartman starter book!

Good Afternoon from Vienna.

I thought I would send a little bit of love and gratitude your way. I think maybe we all need a little bit of love and gratitude right now. I’ve just finished a novella, the sequel/prequel to New Blood, and it’s available right now, for free, for Shane Lusher’s Conversation members.

If you are already a member of The Conversation, then you should already know about it. I sent a mail yesterday.

If you’re not, all you need to do is go here, sign up, and you’ll get a mail telling you what to do.

Take care and stay healthy

Shane

Good Afternoon from Vienna.

I have decided to refrain from using the C-word in this post. It's everywhere anyway, literally and figuratively, and rather than waste your time with a bunch of complaining about what it's like being locked in, that will be all I say on the topic.

Though I will say that a random thought that occurred to me today was how hard this must be on the paranoids. The ones defined as "borderline paranoid," not the actual schizos. The actual schizos are used to being locked up, they're used to staring at walls, they're used to going through flights of fantasy where Voldermort or the Hell's Angels or the CIA are after them.

I passed a woman on the street, coming back from grocery shopping, and she jumped back into a doorway and mumbled over and over again, like a mantra: "be gone, be gone, be gone," and since I live in a city, I really didn't pay that much attention.

Later, I felt for her. I really did. I think that in times like these we learn to appreciate what we have, or we go crazy. Since I don't drink (anymore), this is what I do with my brain.

Also, the trees are blooming where I live. That's nice, too.

New Blood Relaunch April 8th

The Proofs Are In

So, on to what I have been doing over the past few weeks.

I got the first paperback proofs of New Blood ordered. After taking my photoshop and paperback cover course, I really had to get it into my hands. I am very proud and very happy with it. It came last week.

When you're an indie writer, you don't really have to do everything yourself, but my brain is such that it makes me want to. You can hire a cover designer, you can hire people to format your book and all of that, but if you're like me, you push your deadlines down to the wire and I just can't see calling someone up at two in the morning and asking them to change something last minute so I can publish at 8 A.M.

Free Stuff For Members

New Blood Bonus Material

Did you ever wonder what happened to Maddie?  The crazy girl, the one I really love to write?

Well, as part of my promotional relaunch, Maddie, a novella about--you guessed it--what happened to Maddie before and after the New Blood story, is going to be FREE for anybody who reads New Blood after the relaunch OR anybody who takes the time to join the conversation.

With any luck--Corona willing (sorry, I said the C-word)--this will be out by the next newsletter.  If not, since it's going into the back of New Blood the relaunch, it will be out by April 8th. I will still send the download link on the newsletter, so no worries for you. You're set.

The only thing is, I don't like the title. The People With the Dogs sounds like a good title, and dogs are in the story, but I'm not 100% sure about it. I've always struggled with titles. Maybe it comes from the times during my creative writing classes in college when my professor would write at the top "good story--don't like the title."

I thought about just calling it Maddie, because that's who it's about, but I'm still not completely sure about that, either.

If you have any ideas, or want to get in touch, feel free to send me an e-mail here. I appreciate any and all input.

Be Safe

Back when I was growing up, or at least by the time I got to college, "be safe" meant that you should protect yourself during romantic adventures. It was, after all, the high point of the AIDS crisis, and you couldn't walk anywhere on a university campus without being informed of the clear and present danger said romantic adventures might endeavor.

Now it can mean so many things. Wash your hands, get enough toilet paper. Make sure you don't get involved in a brawl at Wal-Mart. Don't get too close to the schizo lady.

Whatever be safe means to you, be safe. And stay tuned. It's about to get crazy.

Take Care
Shane

Good Afternoon from Vienna.

I should start out by saying thank you for opening this up. If you did, it means that you're not yet completely immune to the hysteria gripping much of the world that goes by the name of Corona. 

Here in Vienna, we had our first case last week, and then the police came out to lock down a school until one of the teachers could be tested. After that we were urged not to "overreact," to take precautions, and to try to go about our business as much as possible.

Now, sitting at home with a twelve-year-old fighting the flu (we think), we spend some time contemplating whether or not we should go get him tested, knowing fully well that if we do, his sickness will probably turn out to be the flu, will probably be over by Tuesday, and in the meantime our entire apartment building will be under forced quarantine.

Not by the police. They've stopped doing that.

Recently I spent some time in Vienna's beautiful Central Cemetery (it's what the Viennese do when contemplating death), where I took this photo:                        

Greetings From Vienna

Somebody Made Me a T-Shirt

Thankfulness. My man Emmett Wright, of Emmett Wrights Diaries, poet, prosist, and all-round great supporter and friend, made me a T-Shirt.

I'd never really thought about merch. I thought maybe someday I might get some books published and earn enough money to have a monk craft one of those 13th-century books on vellum, but I never thought about T-Shirts.

It's not for sale BTW.  But maybe, just maybe, someday:

New Blood Quote

Somebody Asked to Be in a Book

One of the most flattering things happened recently. One of my followers on Facebook asked me if he could be in one of my books.

When you are a writer--at least if you're this writer--you spend most of your writing time doing one of three things: writing, thinking you should be writing instead of things like work or bathing, and wondering whether or not you suck.

When someone hits you up with a "you can do it," it means a lot. When someone sends you a pic of a T-Shirt they designed online, with quotes from your published book, it warms you up.

And when somebody says "Hey man, I want to be in one of your books," you kind of just think "Why would he want to do that? It's not really very good."  Then you think "Wow, this is amazing. This guys wants to be in MY book."

So I am going to do it. I won't mention him by name, just yet (I have to figure out whether I need him to sign a disclaimer beforehand), but these are the things that cancel out the demons in the middle of the night that tell you that maybe you should just go back to school.                        

Relaunch April 8th

Stay Safe and Wash Your Hands

Last thing: even though it may not sound like I take this whole black plague thing seriously, I do. More sickness could possibly equate with less readers, and that just isn't good for anybody.

So stay safe, wash your hands, and feel free to join in on the conversation.

Take Care
Shane

I have been working hard. Really, really hard.

I’m sure you have too.

I’ve been cleaning up the second Dana Hartman book, Blood Origin, and writing on the third, AND I’ve been taking an online writing-as-business course, the fruits of which are this new cover for the relaunch of New Blood you see before you.

I had to learn photoshop. I had to watch one screen and work on another. It was lots and lots of fun. Really.

I barely have time to turn around, but in truth, I barely want to sleep. Which is good, because my to-do list is wrapped around the corner, getting a sandwich back there or something. There’s just so much writing to do. And so little time.

AND for those of you who have read this far, we do have an announcement:

New Blood’s re-launch is going to happen on April 8th of this year.

Stay tuned, because there’s going to be a free giveaway. There are actually going to be a few. We’re going to have so much fun we won’t know what to do with ourselves.

And, if you are so inclined, feel free to get in touch.

Take Care

Shane