Andrew Dudek's Blog

Coming Halloween: Down the Shore, Book 5 in the Dave Carver series. Check the blurb below:

“Dave…I think I’m in trouble.”

When his friend Krissy Thomas calls Dave Carver with these words, he knows it’s serious. Krissy is a fellow knight of the Round Table, which means she’s one of the world’s most dangerous monster hunters and she’s no pushover. She’s gotten herself involved in some treacherous matters, though, and she doesn’t want the rest of the Round Table to know about them. Krissy’s boyfriend has gotten himself embroiled in some dark magic, and Dave knows that if it’s discovered, Christian Kean could find himself losing his freedom…or his life.

Dave, of course, agrees to lend any assistance he can, even when that means he needs to travel down the shore on the Fourth of July, even when that means he’ll be cut off from most of his friends and his usual allies. It seems like a simple job, a breeze for an experienced warrior like Dave.

But the town of Violet Bay, New Jersey, is more complicated than it seems. It’s got beaches and boardwalks, but it’s also got sirens and mermaids. It has bars and a Ferris wheel, but it also has a werewolf biker gang and a boogeyman.

Worse than that, though, Dave discovers that there’s something dark underneath Violet Bay, something old, something hungry. And Christian may just have woken it up…

This is gonna be a good one, you guys. Stay tuned for cool new updates like cover art and such!

Andrew

It’s been pointed out to me that Best Served Cold, more than any of the other Dave Carver novels so far, requires some knowledge of the events of Dave’s past.

Considering this, the Dave Carver prequel novella, First Kill, is totally free for this week. That’s today, May 22, 2017, through May 26. Have you read Thicker Than Blood, To the Dogs, Sword for Hire, or Best Served Cold? Want to know more about Dave’s time as a skinny street kid, living underground and fighting vampires with a makeshift family of other orphans? Now’s your chance to get that, I think, valuable insight into what makes David William Carver tick.

Haven’t read any of ’em yet? That’s fine, too! First Kill works perfectly if you have no prior knowledge of the character. It’s a prequel, after all, so there’s an argument to be made that it’d actually be even better to read it first. Here in the States, Memorial Day weekend is coming up, so if you’re heading to the beach and want some new reading material there’s never been a better time to hop on board the Dave Carver series.

Happy reading!

Have you ever read a collection of short stories and skipped through the author’s introduction for each story? Yeah, neither have I, but a lot of people do. For Best Friends, my first collection I decided not to include introductions or explanatory texts. I wanted it to be a streamlined little book, tight and lethal, and, really, I figured the stories speak for themselves. That said, these stories are interesting to me, and important in my development as a writer, so if you’re the kind of person who–like me–wouldn’t skip the intros, you’re in luck.

If you’ve ever wondered where writers get their ideas, keep reading: I’ll give you some insight.

“The Yellow Flour”

About two years ago, a friend of mine was sent a bouquet of sunflowers. They didn’t have a name attached, and to this day we have no idea where they came from. She had a secret admirer, I suppose, and nothing ever came from it, so I suppose it was harmless. Or, maybe that’s just what the admirer wants us to think. Maybe he’s lulling us into a false sense of security…

Anyway. I did a little thinking, and the mysterious yellow flowers morphed into mysterious yellow flour, and this story took shape basically fully formed. It’s a pretty good one, I think, and suitably creepy.

“Condor’s Point”

Not too much to say about this one. I liked playing with the idea of the magic of hometowns, the allure and problems with small rural towns, and growing pains.

I had a lot of fun with this one, and the earliest drafts were much longer than the final version. In the earlier incarnations, Lottie had to face off against a whole lot more of mythical creatures, including werewolves, ghosts, and a particularly grumpy Sasquatch. Maybe one day we’ll see more of her adventures in Condor’s Point.

Oh, and for the record: the condor in the story is my representation of a thunderbird. It’s a creature from Native American beliefs, and I find them fascinating. My version is very different from the traditional Native beliefs, and I mean no disrespect.

“Best Friends”

Here we go. This one’s a doozy. Our narrator here is a stunningly unlikable person. He’s jealous, bitter, and dangerous, and he feels entitled to things that don’t, by any measure belong to him. When I’m writing–especially when I’m working in the first person–I find myself getting trapped in the head of the protagonist. For the days I spent writing this story, I found myself sharing head space with this guy who is, really, a monster. I didn’t like myself much during those days.

It’s an unpleasant story, but life is sometimes unpleasant, and I think it’s something that needs to be examined.

For all of that, this is an important story for me. It’s the first piece of “adult” fiction I ever completed, and it was the first time I really felt the pull of a narrative’s inertia pulling me forward. You read introductory essays and stuff, and you see writers talking about how a story basically writes itself. I used to think that was just talk, self-mythologizing to make their work feel “bigger” or more important, but man… This one basically wrote itself. The story of Tommy and his best friend came out in three huge bursts, and I wrote it in a weekend.

This one came to life when the earlier version of the first line popped into my head one day: “When I was seventeen, I killed my best friend…”

I’m not sure what that says about me. Better not to worry about it.

“Cousin Jenny’s Museum of Marvels”

Two summers ago, I had a date scheduled with a young lady I’d met on a dating app. We were going to walk along the boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and maybe check out a show at the Stone Pony. The young lady never showed up. As I was walking back to my car in defeat, I saw a very attractive young woman standing outside of one of the shops that line the boardwalk. I didn’t talk to her, but by the time I got back to the car, the seeds of this story had been planted.

This one went through a dramatic rewrite in November. The earlier draft was a little more optimistic, but after the election, I guess I wasn’t feeling particularly positive. For what it’s worth, I do believe if we don’t do something the future that Cousin Jenny describes will come to pass.

Anyway, I’m getting off my soapbox now.

“Hall of Futures”

This one is my mother’s favorite story in the collection. (Hi, Mom!)

“Hall” started life as a novel, and our protagonist, Kevin, was nowhere in sight. It was going to be an urban fantasy novel, along the lines of The Night Circus or Something Wicked This Way Comes, about an actual magical circus. It was going to be called The O’Carroll Family Circus and it would have been about a traveling circus run by a real magician. O’Carroll, who you will see in the story, finds himself in debt to a vampire and he has to perform shows nonstop until he…well, I was never quite sure what happened next, which is why I never finished.

As a kid, I was bullied. I know, shocker! A nerdy kid who liked horror stories and comic books got bullied. Anyway, I was reading about the bullying epidemic on our high school campuses–which has apparently only gotten worse since I graduated–and I decided to write about it. The idea came to me that a bullying victim would find himself able to see into the future, to see what his life would hold if he allowed himself to be ruled by his bullies. How does he see the future? By walking through an enchanted Hall of Mirrors, of course! And from there, the O’Carroll Family Circus, which was in mothballs inside this beady little head of mine, came out of storage.

Maybe someday we’ll see more adventures of the mysterious Mr. O’Carroll. In my mind, he’s still out there, traveling around the world on his magic train, and helping people who need him.

Okay! I think that’s enough for today. Watch this space for Part 2 of a Conversation with Your Friend, where I’ll be discussing the rest of the stories in the book.

–Andrew

Hey everybody!

My first collection of short stories is OUT NOW! (Get a copy here, if you want: Best Friends and Other Stories.)

I’m pretty excited about this one, because it represents my branching out as a writer a little bit. If you’re into the world of so-called “genre” fiction at all (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, thrillers, etc.), you’ll probably find something you’ll like in here. It’s mainly horror, though–there are ghosts all over the place in here, and more than a few monsters.

Some of these stories are pieces I’ve been working on for years. A few were conceived and composed within the last few months. It’s weird–but very, very cool–to see them all out there in the world like this.

For you Dave fans, he’s at the party: “Haunted House” takes place just after the events of Thicker Than Blood, and it works as a glimpse into his mindset during To the Dogs. If you thought he was a miserable bastard in that book, this story will give you a little bit of an idea as to why. If you haven’t read Thicker yet, and you think you might like to, you might want to skip “Haunted House” for now. We’re talking major spoiler territory here, folks.

The current cover is something I designed myself–I know, I know. I thought I could take a crack at it, but it turns out I have very little talent in the graphic design world. I’ve contacted an artist, and I’ll have a better one in the next few days. Stay tuned.

Watch this space in the coming days for something I’m calling “A Conversation with Your Friend.” It’s gonna be a blog post that will function as an extended introduction to the collection. I’ll go into detail about the history of each story, as well as describe a little bit about what it means to me, personally. If that’s something you think you’d be into, well, click the “follow” button and keep an eye out.

Not much else for me to say, but this: enjoy! Maybe sleep with the lights on. You never know what’s out there in the dark. Happy reading!

Andrew

Happy 2017!

I’m still hard at work putting together my first collection of short fiction. Sorry about the wait, but it’ll be here soon. Promise. Inspiration struck late this time, and a new story came to mind almost fully formed–characters, plot, and what I think is a pretty unnerving ending.

The title story, “Best Friends,” is one of the first pieces of “adult” fiction I ever finished. So it’s an important piece of my development as a writer, but… I don’t know how I feel about it these days. I’m proud of it, to be sure, but I’m also sort of uneasy about it. It’s…well, you’ll see when you read it.

I’m pretty excited about it. Look for Best Friends and Other Stories by the end of February.

Also coming out this year will be the next two books in the Dave Carver series. Best Served Cold will be out at the end of March, and Down the Shore will be out in October. Both of them are, if I do say so myself, really good. BSC especially puts Dave through some serious emotional hoops. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I think you’ll enjoy reading it.

Beyond that, I’m excited to announce the title of Book 6: Under the Sea. That’ll be done in early 2018. After that, Dave will probably take a break for a bit, while I start working on some other stuff, including a new science-fiction trilogy that I think speaks a bit to my feelings on the times we live in.

One thing I should note: Best Friends includes the first Dave Carver short story. “Haunted House” takes place immediately after Thicker Than Blood, and I bet you can’t guess what it’s about. A little shameless self-promotion time: You can grab TTB, and the other extant books in the Carver series by clicking here. That link’ll take you to Amazon’s page for the Carver series, so it will always show you all of the books that have been published so far.

Some other things in the pipeline:

Missing Persons, a new standalone (ish) urban fantasy novella, set in the Carver-verse, but not featuring Dave or any of the characters from the main series. Call it a spinoff
Mine, the first volume of that science-fiction trilogy I mentioned
The Adventures of David Carver, a collection of short stories about some of the missions Dave completed before the events of the main series. Each one will be a standalone, usually featuring Dave teaming up with one of his allies or friends and fighting some monster or another.

Whoa. That’s a lot of information, so that’ll do for now. Stay tuned, ’cause I’m planning some cool stuff for this blog, including some exclusive pieces of fiction that you won’t be able to get anywhere else.

Later!

 

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had an exciting Thanksgiving!

I’ve been busy, hard at work on Best Served Cold, Book 4 of the Dave Carver series. Stay tuned, ’cause I’m gonna have some exciting information about that soon.

In the meantime, there’s some news about some of the previous books in the Carver-verse.

Sword for Hire, Book 3, is available for purchase now. Get a copy for your Kindle here

Also, you can get it on Barnes and Noble’s Nook by clicking here

If you’re an Apple fan, it’s also available on iBooks. Grab it here

And, of course, if you want an .epub or .pdb copy, those are available on Smashwords, here

Finally today, I’m excited about the holidays coming up. Because I’m cool like this (and definitely not because I totally forgot about it!) I’m not running a Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotion. Instead, I’ve got a Cyber Tuesday through Saturday deal for you. Starting tomorrow (that’s Tuesday November 29th, 2016) and ending on Saturday (December 3rd, 2016) “First Kill,” the prequel novella to the Carver series, will be totally free for everyone on Amazon’s Kindle store. Click here to check it out. (Just a reminder, the deal doesn’t start until November 29th, and it ends December 3rd, so if you click this link before or after then, you won’t see the discounted price!)

Happy holidays, everybody! As always, watch this space for more updates about new books and exciting deals!

Andrew

Sooo…

This is exciting.

Sword for Hire, book three in the Dave Carver series will be out this coming Tuesday (October 25th, if you’re keeping score at home)! I know! That’s so soon!

I’ll have some more news about things like cover art and ordering information on here over the weekend, but for now here’s a description of the book to whet your appetites…

The dead are walking in New York City.

Admittedly, that isn’t all that unusual in the life of Dave Carver. But this time the dead who are walking are a little more…aggressive.

Dave is a Knight of the Round Table, a clandestine organization of monster hunters whose job it is to defend humanity from the creepy-crawlies of the world, and even he hasn’t seen anything exactly like this.

When tragedy strikes in the suburbs, Dave—alongside his friends, a beautiful prospective knight and a grizzled occult bounty hunter—is called into investigate. Dave will uncover a secret conspiracy—one that involves an oddly familiar strain of evil black magic—that’s already claimed the lives of three innocent people, and may kill some more. Along the way, Dave will find himself face to face with a bitter goblin warrior, an angry homicide detective, and one of the most powerful necromancers of all time.

Zombies are coming to New York. All part of a day’s work for Dave Carver, but this day at the office…well, you could almost say it’s a killer.

I know what I said.

I said that my first collection of short stories would be available on August 30, 2016.

I’m sorry,  but I was wrong.

I’m not saying that Ian Malcolm was wrong when he said , “Life finds a way,” but in this case, yeah, he was wrong.

Because this time… there was no way.

I’m only human, and this week there was no way around it…

This week, a great man–a man named Tom Roth–left this world. He was the brother of my grandfather–a man named Charles Roth– (my personal hero, and he fought like a bastard to hang in there in this world). He’s gone, and I already miss him like…god, I don’t know what…

Christ.

I’m a professional writer, and I don’t know how to explain how much I’ll miss this man, but I’ll do my absolute best:

I love you, Uncle Tom. I truly do, and I’ll miss you. I already do.

There are tears in my eyes as I write this, and there’s nothing else to write but this:

“Rest east, Uncle Tom. Say hi to Charlie, and  I’ll see ya when I get there.”

This is an exciting day!

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the day I took my first steps into this crazy world of independent self-publishing. (Coincidentally, it’s also the twenty-seventh anniversary of the day I was born!)

The past year has been incredibly exciting for me, and I can’t think of a better way to express the gratitude I feel to each of you who’s helped me along the way or read the book than with a celebration of “First Kill,” the prequel novella to the Dave Carver series.

So, in that spirit, I’m happy to announce that “First Kill” is available, absolutely free, from Amazon’s Kindle Store from today, 8/11/16, to Monday, 8/15/16. Also, if you’re a member of the Kindle Unlimited program, you can always read “First Kill” for free.

If you haven’t read this, the first adventure of Dave Carver, now’s your chance to get it–again, totally free–and if you have, well, maybe you can download a copy for a friend.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0178ENBC4

There’s not much more I want to say, except for this: Thank you. Thank you for downloading this weird little book about an orphaned boy who finds himself caught up in a bloody war with evil. Thank you for sticking with Dave as he grew up and got even more embroiled in said war.

Thank you for your support, and thank you for reading.

Seriously. Thank you so much.

Happy anniversary, Dave. Here’s to many more.

–Andrew

Afternoon, everyone.

Turns out blogging is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I figured I should post a couple of updates ’cause some big news is in the works.

First, I’m happy to announce that Sword for Hire, book 3 of the Dave Carver series is all but finished. It needs a few more rounds of proofing and copyediting,  but I expect to have a preorder link up soon. The book itself will be released on October 25, so make a note of that.

More immediately, I’ve got a collection of short work coming out at the end of this month. It’s called Best Friends and it’s a bunch of short stories that I’ve written. Some of them are pretty disturbing. At least one of them actually kept me awake for about two weeks straight while I was writing it. Look for that on August 30.

And in less pressing news, I’ve finished the first draft of Best Served Cold, which is book 4 in the Carver-verse. It’s the longest novel I’ve written yet, and I really put poor Dave through the ringer on this one. I had a lot of fun with it, and I think you will, too.

Finally, it’s August! If you haven’t read To the Dogs yet, first, what’s wrong with you? Second, and more importantly, it takes place in the (ahem) dog days of August, so now might be a good time to check it out. Snag a copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ESCNBXI

Alright, that’s all I got for now. Talk to you soon.

-Andrew