J.E. Sutton Jr.'s Blog: Bold City Storytelling

Had a great day at San Marco Books and More today for Independent Bookstore Day. We signed some copies of The Failsafe Program and Cybernetic Resonance and made some new friends. The folks at San Marco Books could not have been more accommodating or easier to work with. This store is an amazing gem, and if you haven’t visited it, check it out. Thanks to everyone who came out and purchased a book. For those we talked to and didn’t sell a book to, we hope to get you into the family sooner or later.

The other thing we decided at the event today was to develop an audiobook for The Failsafe Program. This is an expensive endeavor for a new self-published author, but the interest was there at the show, and we are going to go forward with that project. More news to come on that front. Sign up for my newsletter to keep up to date with new editions, events, and other news.

Today, April 14th, 2026, is release day for my second novel, Cybernetic Resonance! The second adventure for Alan Harrison, an ex-insurance analyst turned private investigator, and Layla, his Artificial General Intelligence partner. This time, Alan, Layla, and Stacy are trying to get their new investigative agency up and running. Their first cases involve missing drones and vandalism at a robotics factory. When one of the engineers of the robotics company is murdered, apparently by his own home robot, the team has to solve the mystery before someone else is hurt.

The book is available in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo, Everland, and many other sites. You can see a full listing on my website.

My wife and I watched the launch of the Artemis II last night. The event brought back the wonder and inspiration I always feel when witnessing a new era of space travel. It has been far too long since humans last prepared to leave Earth’s orbit. As exciting and inspirational as the near-Earth orbit era has been it doesn’t compare to the site of humans preparing to explore beyond our globe to the larger space around us. It pains me that it took us 53 years to get back to this exploration. How much farther could we be if we had kept going in 1972. If we had gone back, if we had pushed ourselves to do both the near-Earth orbit work we did in the 80’s and 90s while still pursuing the ultimate dream, exploring the universe.

For those who say we are wasting money on this endeavor, I can’t support that position. Exploration is its own reward. The inspiration, the innovation and the feeling it generates are worth the relatively small amounts we spend on the space program. How many people will see this launch and be motivated to go into science and technology fields. Will they be the ones to unlock the breakthroughs of tomorrow? Will they be the future writers of inspiring fiction? Humans seem to be instinctive explorers, pushing out farther and we should not fight that instinct, we should embrace it and put more effort on that and less effort on destroying our world and killing our own species. Maybe space exploration is a key to giving people hope, something to inspire them to be better.

I know that I am inspired. I really want to figure out how to get Alan and Layla to the moonbase! Wow that would be something, wouldn’t it?

Dream. Data. Discovery.

J E Sutton Jr

 

The pop up book signing was a huge success. We met some new friends, chatted with some really good friends who showed up to support us. Made some sales and even chatted with a couple about investing in The Screaming Goat Coffee Company franchise (kidding…mostly). All in all a great Satruday morning and afternoon at Happy Medium Books Cafe. If you haven’t been there before stop by at 2724 Park Streek in Jacksonville. It’s a fun place with lots of good books, coffee and snacke and great company. We hope to be back there in a few months with Cybernetic Resonance.

I am doing my first in person book signing event this weekend Saturday March 28th at the Happy Medium Books Cafe in Riverside. FromI 11a-2p I will be there along with Jeanne my Co-Authored Life podcast partner (and life partner) signing books and talking about my upcoming novel Cybernetic Resonance. If you are in the Jacksonville Area come by and see us at 2724 Park Street. We would love to see you there!

It's been an exciting few months. I'm grateful for the overwhelming support for the novel that I have received from readers. And like all new authors, I am still working to build an audience, but those who have found me seem to enjoy the work, and that is the whole point.

I am excited to announce that the next novel in the series will come out in mid-April. I am finishing up with the editing now and will start releasing information over the next few days, with a title release this week and a cover reveal in mid-March.

If you want to be on the team that is helping me release the novel, head over to my website and sign up for our street team: Layla's Legion.

https://jesuttonjr.com/laylaslegion

More information to come soon!

We are recruiting for our insider (Street Team) in advance of the release of the second book in the Alan Harrison and Layla series. I think you will really like this new book, and I am excited to get it published in April. You can help with that.

Join today in the link for Layla’s Legion Signup. The benefits include advanced release of the title and book description. Participation in a book cover art presentation and a vote. And early access to the ARC reader group signup. We’ll share launch assets and event information with this exclusive group. It costs nothing to signup and we hope to have you as part of the team.

This week, A Co-Authored Life premieres. This podcast will feature Author J. E. Sutton Jr. and his wife, Jeanne (editor, cover artist, social media consultant, and more). The podcast will discuss the writing process, the work, our life together, and all things that interest us. That covers a lot of ground. I encourage you to check it out and let us know how we are doing.

You can watch the podcast on Spotify and YouTube. Check it out!

So Happy Holidays to all my Goodreads followers, fans, and passersby. Thank you all for the support in 2025 as I launched my first novel.

For the next 48 hours, Holiday Hustle, my Christmas story set in the Screaming Goat Coffee Company from the novel, is FREE to download from Amazon. Regularly $0.99, it is free until midnight tomorrow.

You can also still get The Failsafe Program in eBook from Smashwords for $1.24 for the next 7 days.

And if that is too much for you. (I get it, holidays are expensive!) I have a few free digital copies to give away on Google Play. Send me a note if you want to be on the list. Depending on demand, I'll give them out or hold a drawing.

Have a Happy Holiday and a great start to the New Year.

The giveaway was a great success. More than 2500 readers added The Failsafe Program to their Want to Read list. The three winners have been selected and will receive a signed copy of the paperback along with a couple of tokens of my appreciation. Those copies will be sent this week, so they should arrive by the Holidays!

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. If you didn't win, you can still get a copy of the book. In addition to a 60% off sale on the eBook on Amazon, there are 75% off Sales on Smashwords and Barnes & Noble. Check them out.

You can also read Holiday Hustle, which is a light holiday tale of fun, humor, holiday cheer, and chaos featuring some of the same characters.

Have a great holiday season.

J E Sutton Jr