Jon Pew's Blog

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Hello again from the freezing country of Kentucky, not for the last time, but that is soon to come. I have had a crazy busy last couple of months and I’ll not lie to you, I haven’t blogged like I should to keep my author persona in the public view. However I did manage to get several things done and have a couple of new projects underway.

One of the more exciting projects I’m working on is for my job as a soldier. For the last couple of years I have been my unit historian. I was given the assignment because I write novels and I believe the hope was that I could get the bigger picture and share more than just raw facts about the Pachyderms colorful and truly historic journey through the ages of war since Vietnam. I have managed to acquire many Commander and First Sergeant names and am trying to put together an effective timeline. But truly the more important part to me is to get a few stories of previous Pachyderms to put in so we can all reminisce on each others experiences. As of now the book isn’t long by my normal standards, but I think it’ll be fun to read for those who love Chinooks and the history of one of the oldest units around. Keep an eye out, Pachy 6 and his next unit historian will manage the domain and keep things up to date.

The other work I’m trying to get through before I move to Hawaii in December is my book Sword of Achilles. As you may or may not know the manuscript is done, but is extremely rough. I have made it through the first half of the book on my first pass, and as soon as I get it done I’ll send it to my editor and then go through again. My goal is to have it done and hopefully released in the next month but I’ll have to keep you up to date on that. So far though, it is by far the best thing I’ve put on paper.

This post is a movie review for 2 movies I really enjoyed, Thor 2 and Catching fire the second hunger games movie.

Thor was a surprise to me. I enjoy comic book movies and as Marvel has a near monopoly on the market they have plenty of money and effort to put into them. The first Thor movie was a set up for something else that was upcoming, the Avengers and did a fine job in establishing Thor as a hero. This second installment of the franchise is along the same lines, however, the head honchos at Marvel did this one much better. The story line is much deeper, the character development comes in faster and the action sequences are more along the lines of what you’d think a movie about Gods would be. The Dark Elf part of the conflict is well done and the special effects done distract from the overall scheme of what their message is. Loki is back and up to his usual tricks and Oden is wise and venerable. Thor at times shows his true power and strength as the God of Thunder, though they do try to humanize him a bit, which to me takes away from his status. This movie was funny at times, actiony nearly all the time and Natalie Portman is her usual gorgeous self. I enjoyed the whole movie and consider it a massive step up and brought the Thor franchise back from the edge of losing itself entirely, I look forward to the next one. I give this sucker 4 stars and recommend it for kids 9 and older. (my 9-year-old did just fine.)

Now for Catching Fire. As an urban fantasy author I was drawn to the Hunger Games series as a unique and outstanding idea. It was extremely well written and moved fast as I think a war type book series should do. The first movie was slow and didn’t quite catch-all that the first book in the series represented. I still liked it unlike many other purists. Many of the criticisms I hear are that the emotion of the book didn’t get through, and that too many small parts of the story were cut out. To those I answer, are you crazy? there is no way to convey the complete emotion of that first book on-screen, and I thought Jennifer Lawrence did well trying to bring it out. Her problem is that Katnis isn’t a very emotive person, so hard to act that out. they may have needed a narrator. (LOL) This next installment however was spot on. This book, for almost the first time in all my book reading/ movie going experience actually did the book justice. We all know that no movie can mimic the book perfectly, however this one conveyed the complete story and not just parts and fillers. The arena is amazing, the characters look and sound like what you’d think from reading and as I’ve read elsewhere, Jenifer looks great. No spoilers here, but if you liked the book, you’ll like the movie, it’s that simple. I give this 5 stars, it is one of my favorite movies of the year and it’ll definitely be in competition for the actual movie of the year post coming up in January. As for kids, I don’t think I’d take ’em younger than 10 unless they read and loved the books. otherwise, enjoy!

Well that’s it for this edition, as always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth.

“Well here I am again!” (If you know where that quote comes from you are a true believer.) I’m very sorry for you who have followed this blog, wanting to follow my books and me as a person. It has been a very busy couple of months. After that long trip to Texas we came back home without a helicopter, so some other guys from the unit had to go bring it back. I missed the fam too much and had to bail. Any way since I’ve been home I finished my first college course and got an A thank you very much! I’ve now finished Sword of Achilles initial manuscript and have revised Transition Man. I feel awful about this. The T-Man version I used, I thought was good to go, being the one from my former publisher, come to find out, it wasn’t. So I revised and it’s getting re-edited now, if you’ve bought the version released under my own name keep an eye out and you will be able to get a fresh copy from any website you originally downloaded it from. If you have any trouble please message me and I’ll see to it you get the correct version of the book. Like is said, busy.

On the family front, Jaxon had an entire season of Soccer and his team finished around .500 on the season. He learned a lot and was a good defender. Laynee also played sports and was one of the best players on her volleyball team. We had a great time running around and watching as many practices and games as we could. Evan missed out on soccer, but did find a fun thing, the base running club. Turns out I have a runner in my family. (very strange) We have run 2 5K events together, the Trot for Troops, and the Go commando. Evan finished 3rd in the first and 4th in the second, I am a very proud papa. Jules is doing great having fun with the kids and taking some self-help classes. On a sad front out minivan died on us and we were forced to get a new car. Jules hates it when I call her new vehicle a car, it’s a truck. She picked out a 2011 Chevy Silverado Z71 SLT, a very nice truck.

My little Lexi has grown from a 25 lb. baby to a 55 lb. girl in a couple short months. We are getting through some of the growing pains of a pup and having a great time watching her grow. (which happens every single day.) We are making plans to move to Hawaii and really enjoying the last few months and hopefully last few seasons here that we will have for a few years. I have decided to sell my beloved cruiser (motorcycle) and try to get a different type of bike to ride for when we get there. Plans change and with the government shut down we aren’t sure when we will be leaving but we are excited to go when it happens. In the mean time I’m just working hard and trying to get through this last book before I take a break.

Once T-Man comes back from the editor and Achilles is done and released I am making plans to submit my work to some of the larger publishers. I find I have very little time to commit to promotion and that is 75% of the book publishing world. I can tell a good story, but it’s hard to get that story out for others to read. I truly have no idea how to make it most accessible for those who would read it and so I’m afraid back into the world of having a publisher I go. I stick by the older posts I have on the subject of small publishing houses, so I am only submitting to successful houses that sell books. A friend of mine asked me what would happen to me if they said it wasn’t good enough to publish? I told her that I would be disappointed, but that at least I would have an answer and would know this is just a hobby and I could adjust fire from there.

The truth is its very hard to sell books. I may be one of the best authors the world has ever known ( not really) and no one will ever know because I don’t have the time or experience to get the proper exposure that I need to keep the titles in the front of the pack. I am super happy with my covers and the editing and so I feel I will be presenting my best effort to the would be publishers I hope to get picked up by. We shall see.

With all the crazy stuff going on in life constantly I am going to try to do a weekly blog post every Sunday night, that will keep up with what’s happening around me and my family, as well as my books. So keep tuned in and share me around, I promise to make things more interesting and even get some guests on here. Until that time as always I am proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy Planet Earth!

Well hello again from Corpus Christi Texas! It’s been hot and muggy here for the last couple of weeks, with a few nice days mixed in. I’ve managed to get a full diet of fresh fish and fun while I’ve been here. I’ve missed the fam and things back at home like my new dog, but I’ll get over it. It looks like we’ll be heading home via commercial air rather than on the helicopter and that’s a bit disappointing, but I can’t stay any longer, nearly 3 weeks away from home so soon after a deployment is long enough. I’ve had the privilege of speaking with Maria Edwards of Navigator books. She is a publisher, but has a soft spot for Vets like me so has kindly offered her help, which I graciously accepted. (Laughing to myself, don’t know how gracious I can be, but I was eager none the less.) She spoke for a while about wanting to help veterans suffering from PTSD, or other dysfunctions brought on by war and other stressful situations the military can put people under. I truly admire her and what she hopes to accomplish with the different programs she’s involved in. This conversation, paired with a couple of others recently made me think about this Blog post, and what I might say that would be of interest to others. A question I get asked a lot (surprisingly) is, “What’s it like to go to war?” That’s a loaded question, but I’ll bite.

“Another day at the office”

dust landing, infill/exfill

I planned to do a movie review today. I have seen 2 Guns, Elysium, Percy Jackson, The mortal instruments and more. I will do a review, especially of mortal instruments as I’m an Urban Fantasy guy, but for some reason I felt this was an important post to do today. While I will give you some idea of what going to war is like, and how it makes soldiers like me feel, for each person the experience is different. I’m also no expert. I’ve only been deployed for a total of 13 months. Some guys did more than that on their first tour, and more often we have some who have spent 7 of the last 10 years in the desert fighting to maintain our freedom. These gentlemen and lady’s are true heroes, but maybe I can give you an inkling.

Team Shank OEF 12-13

Pachyderms

I have been in the Army now for 4 years, my first 9 months were all training, so that doesn’t really count to me as true active time, but the 3 years I’ve been on station, I’ve spent 1/3 of that time in Afghanistan, and another nearly 1/4 of the remainder in training of some kind, so being separated from family is a bit of an issue. That kind of time apart grows calluses on heart-strings that make it easier to go away when needed, and that isn’t always easy to undo. The separation doesn’t just take a toll on the soldier but also on the loved ones they leave behind. Children, spouses, pets and extended family all feel the tear of this separation. Not only that, they don’t heal instantly just because we come home from war. These tears and breaks in family relationships take time to heal and usually leave a scar. Even spending as much time together as possible  and doing fun things when we get home don’t fix what was torn, it just puts a bandage on it until the healing process can get moving. It requires time and patience and even then an acceptance that those months and precious experiences are lost and can’t be redone. I don’t mean this to sound horrible, the sacrifice is something every soldier is willing to pay, and most are happy doing their duty. It does wear on us over time, and those family strings of love and connection can be re-established after the cut and even become stronger over time than they would have been had we stayed home and not gone away.

Another aspect of war is what happens to the mind of a soldier. I have many memories that will stay with me for a life time from my two separate experiences. I’ve made friends that I will genuinely love as family and if they need me, I’ll be there for them no matter the cost. The war stories we share with each other make us laugh and sometimes feel sad depending on what we’re talking about. Most people listening from across the room won’t understand, but we do. A loud noise, a distant alarm, gun fire, helicopter rotor report, TV shows and sometimes a smell or waking up out of a dream can take us back to a scary place in an instant. It doesn’t mean we want or need to talk about it. For most people, they wouldn’t understand if we tried. It doesn’t mean we are broken, or scary people, or “potential terrorists” because we have seen or felt the reality of war. It simply means that the world looks and feels different to us than to others. If you see me and my eyes are unfocused and I seem to be staring off into the distance, it doesn’t mean I’m back in my tent on the FOB, or in the bunker after IDF hit near where I slept. I’m probably thinking about the novel I’m writing, or seeing my beautiful wife in her new dress (or out of it). Regardless I have to say, I appreciate your concern and the answer is “no thanks, I don’t want to talk about my feelings right now.” when you ask about what it was like to go to war.

(Yours truly, looking awesome!)

I never planned to share my experiences in this post, nor do I now. I can however give you a little more on what it’s like to be there, not just to go and come home. War is a place where soldiers die to protect our people’s freedom here at home. For some it’s where they thrive. For others it’s what nightmares are made of. For yet others it is simply another duty station, or anther assignment from Uncle Sam and they just do their job, and look forward to going home. My experience was a lack of sleep, crappy food and a sometimes stressful situation that I didn’t fully understand. I felt like I was doing my part, I felt and feel grateful to God to have come home safe. I’m glad to know we killed or captured bad guys who wanted to hurt others and take away their freedom and I would do it again if called on. I’m glad to have done my job, and I hope done it well. “What’s it like to go to war?” The answer is varied and complex, but over all I would say “It is what you make of it, a lot like anything else in life.” Getting over it and having to explain to your loved ones that the world just doesn’t quite look the same as it once did is difficult, but not impossible and I’m glad to have the opportunity to try.

Well that’s it for this edition, look forward to the movie reviews I’ll try to get that done in the next day or two. For now as always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And…. you stay classy planet Earth.

The post “Whats it like to go to war?” appeared first on Jon Pew .

Hello from humid Corpus Christi Texas! I’m sorry I’ve been missing from the net for a while, and that I’ve been not keeping up with the commitment I have to write and promote the books that at least few people want to read. Let me do a quick catch up and then I’ll do the update on books, writing and what’s going on with the world of Jon Pew Author. The kids are doing great! Jax and Laynee have started middle school and are doing great! He is getting to know his surroundings and is excited about playing in the band. He’s chosen the trombone to play and has borrowed one from the school, I’m out of town and haven’t heard him play yet but I’m wanting to hear it! Evan is the last in elementary school and he is enjoying being king of that particular castle. Laynee is starting to play volleyball this fall and she’s loving that! Jaxon is on a soccer team and we are hoping that they will find another coach for Evan’s age group. All the teams filled up and they said I couldn’t coach because it would take too long for the back ground check so I got shot down on that but anyway here’s hoping. Jules is doing well she’s running the show while I am gone and is doing a good job. She’s missing me as much as I miss them, but we are getting along. Alright, here’s the update on books! So to start with Transition Man, we are selling copies again! We are staying ranked which means I’m selling a few books a week. I also am getting a lot of feed back from my readers that says it needs to be re-edited so, I am having that done as we speak. Twisted Souls is fully finished! The original release was an advanced readers release, but now the full version is done and ready, so enjoy and let me know what you think and if you can leave some reviews! Genesis is consistent it the top 100 of Christian fantasy, and ranks usually in the top 300k over all. That may not be a massive ranking, but it is very satisfying for me. All the books are still on sale through the end of the month. I’m placing my final order when I get back from this trip which should be the end of next week so get your copy while they are on sale! Sword of Achilles has been on the back burner for a few weeks now. I have been swamped by the work load of being a soldier, and publishing 2 books and cleaning up a 3rd. However now that I am feeling a bit more on top of things I am going to get back to it. I expect to have the manuscript finished before I head home from Corpus here and hope to have it edited and ready for cover art and reviews by the end of September. After that you author here is taking a break from writing until I get settled into my new house in Hawaii. I have written nearly 2/3′s of the novel and s0 now need to review the last chapter and pick it up again. I left off where Patroclus fights Hector. As you might imagine, it is a very different battle scene when they are using rifles and grenades, and not swords and shields. I have been struggling a bit trying to decide how to have the battle between Achilles and Hector which is the ultimate fight in the book. In the classic it was a 1 on 1 fight, but we don’t do that in modern warfare, so it’ll have to be modified a bit. I expect to have that fight during a battle between the Myrmidons and the Apollonian Guard. Either way, I can tell you it will be awesome! the excerpt I am giving today is one from the battle scene between Patroclus and Hector to catch you up on where the book is and how it is going to feel as you read through it. Try and remember it is very rough, and don’t judge on grammar and spelling, but check out the content and the design of the story. I hope you like it. Next blog post will not be about me but about a subject I find interesting or something most writers can relate to as a struggle for indie authors. I hope you enjoy the excerpt from the book, and please message me about anything you would like to have me blog about. As Always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth!   Patroclus broke cover and charge at Hector AK up and started to fire trying to end the great captain before he could lead his men back to safety. Shots rang out and Patroclus had good target on Hector, he smiled confident he had the drop, and he would be the one to slay the mighty Hector. The Trojan Prince located the source of the fire holding him down and rolled behind a rock and using his pistol shot at Patroclus throwing him off balance and forcing him to move to the right. He rolled back and threw a grenade to where he thought Patroclus would be. Sabre dove behind a rock when he saw the fraggo in flight and covered up just in time. Both men got up and identified their opponent. Both knew what defeating the other would mean to their cause. For Hector, he could cripple the Myrmidon ability to make war. For Patroclus he could destroy the only hope Troy had of victory. Both men dropped their mags in simultaneous movements and released their bolts forward. They opened fire while tactically avoiding the others incoming rounds. Neither had made contact and both slung their rifles and pulled their pistols. Hector was a little faster and put a single round in the center of Patroclus breast plate. Ajax gasped and reported to Achilles that his friend was down, but not out. Hector charged forward not bothering to reload, he knew he had 5 shots left. Patroclus rolled to one side and tried to get up firing his pistol wildly over his shoulder.  Hector raised his weapon and dropped to one knee and put one in his shoulder and one in his hip. “All units this is Knife, charge ahead and cover Sabre, MOVE!!” ordered Ajax over the radios The men responded instantly and rushed forward. Paris killed the first 7 men to get to their feet and start the forward charge. Mustang 1 and 2 sank to a knee and laid down covering fire as Hector moved in for the kill. Knowing he had won but still being cautious, this was Patroclus, one of the greatest warriors in the world, and he wouldn’t underestimate his foe. With a fully loaded magazine and slide released Hector closed the last 20 meters and pounced on his enemy. He drew his knife and rolled the downed man onto his back. As Sabre rolled to the sun, he had his pistol held at hip height and fired 2 rounds, both hit the edge of Hectors armor narrowly missing vital hits. Hector sat back on the ground and heard the click of the trigger being squeezed by Patroclus over and over again. “You’re empty brother.” Said Hector Patroclus turned the weapon sideways stared surprised at the empty chamber, the slide locked to the rear. He dropped the pistol and looked Hector in the face. “Well I guess you are the better man.” Hector shook his head, “Not better, just faster today. On a different day it would be me lying there, and you in my position. Good fight, rest well, I’ll see you soon.” Patroclus removed his helmet and nodded his assent. The shot to his hip had glanced off bone and cut through his leg nicking his femoral artery. The shoulder shot had found meat but had cut two veins in his muscled limb. He was bleeding profusely and it was only a matter of time until he was dead. Better to get it over with than to suffer. “I’ll see you soon. Farewell.” Said Patroclus and removed his breast plate as well It was a tradition among great warriors of the day to make their final kill with a blade. Gunshot wounds were too messy, and there was usually a state funeral to farewell the deceased. He lay back and exposed his chest. Hector loomed up and looking into his fallen enemies eyes he had nothing but respect for this great man. He’d fought as a true hero, and a great leader. He was sure that under different circumstances he and Patroclus would have enjoyed sitting on the walls watching the sun go down and enjoying a beer after a fine day of labor. But they were fated to be enemies on this field. He raised his knife overhead and plunged it into his enemy’s heart with surgical precision ending his life without further suffering. Seeing the life bleed out of his eyes, Hector gathered the dead man’s armor and retreated back to his man and the escape route they’d planned.

The post Long time no post…(excerpt of Achilles as promised!) appeared first on Jon Pew .

Hello again from muggy Fort Campbell! The summer is coming to an end and I am supper pleased with how things have gone. Returning from deployment was an adjustment, but not a difficult one. I had a most enjoyable time watching the kids play, get wet and spend time sleeping in and having sleep overs. I have been able to reconnect with the wife and spend a lot of time with her. I bought a new motorcycle, well new to me and enjoy going on rides with my buddies from work. I have managed to continue to lift and spend several hours a week in the gym and that has helped relieve some stress and frustration. I am trying to shred some fat and hopefully expose some of the muscle I’ve managed to add, but so far no luck. Don’t worry I’ll keep working on it. The soldier thing is as mind numbing as ever, I’m trying to get my head back in the books, and the Chinook is an amazing machine, but the rest of the army is pretty blah sometimes.

Now for the plug, I am having a book sale for the next month! https://www.facebook.com/events/188521861323265/  I have the digital copies of the book on sale for .99 through Smashwords. I also have my books discounted through me only. Paper copies of any of the books I have published are 10 bucks out the door, signed and numbered. If you want the set its 27 bucks, an even better discount and it’ll come with some swag. (book marks and such.) Please order some books, and spread the word I’d love to sell you some books cheap and hopefully get a few reviews out of it. I also have a blog tour going on through Crimson Flower Reviews and the first stop is Sarah J Carr’s blog. She’s posting a character interview with my Jordan Hall, one of my female Hero’s in the Griffin Chronicles. She plays a very prominent role in Twisted Souls, so check out the blog, and check out the books. http://www.sarahjcarr.com/2/post/2013/08/character-interview-jordan-hall-is-in-the-hot-seat.html    (You can also see Jordan’s interview @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O30Bs8hPj_CfQIcaiQLegEFAY_oyDAmgd58ODhDchFE/  )

Alright now on to the fun part for me. I have a few movies to review. I went to see Pacific Rim, thinking I would have a bad review to write and then I could clean up with the Wolverine, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Pacific Rim is a futuristic movie in which an alien race is trying to take over the world through a wormhole under the pacific ocean. They are unleashing massive monsters to destroy our cities and people so they can come along and be the new owners of a an uninhabited world. They are known as Kaiju. The military is caught unprepared and it takes so long to kill the first attacker he destroys an entire city before they stop him. The world decides to create huge robots to battle the Kaiju called Jaeger’s. These leviathan’s require two pilots who work together through a mind meld of sorts to control them. The campaign is supper successful and the Jaeger pilots become stars, and are revered. Over time the world does the usual thing and thinks the huge robots are too expensive and so decide to save money by building a massive wall to repel the Kaiju and prevent them from destroying the world. You can probably guess where this is going, and all I can tell you without ruining it is all your over the top robot action will be fulfilled. The animation is great, and fun to watch. The story is completely unbelievable, and fake. I really felt like I was watching Power Rangers for adults. The pilots join minds and control the Jaegers from the head area. The female interest in the movie is attractive, the male lead is terrible and over all the movie is just a great time. On a side note, do not believe that 5 Chinook Helicopters can lift a Jaeger, just sayin’ I do that for a living and we’d need like, a hundred. I give this movie 4 stars for fun and amazing animation, and for kids, as long as they can handle Transformer level violence, they’ll be fine with this.

Next I’m going to hit Despicable me 2. This movie tops the charts of everything. All your favorite characters are back and more lovable than ever.

The Minions sing some wonderful new songs, and are actually the center piece of the plot. What we got here is a Gru with his girls at home, completely domesticated and trying to not be evil anymore, but the world needs his expertise to stop a different super villain from taking over the world. He gets recruited by a loveable character agent Lucy Wilde of the Anti-villain League, and together she and Gru work to stop the new bad guy from carrying out his plans. Gru’s girls are super cute, and over all you’ll laugh no matter what age you are at the funny stuff they come up with in here. This is designed to be a kids movie, but there is plenty for adults to enjoy as well. Take the whole family and put butter on the popcorn.

I’ll finish up the movie reviews with the Wolverine. I have seen this twice now. (That should be enough to tell you what I thought of it.) I am a huge comic book van so I was very interested when they were going to follow the line to Japan. I was skeptical of what they would put in and how they would carry it off. Overall I think they did very well. Even though Hugh Jackman is aging a little he’s still the image of a living Wolverine. This movie isn’t a prequel its taking up the story following the end of X-Men united, or X3 if you prefer. He is haunted by the knowledge that he killed Jean, his only (remembered) love. He is hiding in the mountains having taken a vow never to hurt anyone again as penance. He is found by a wonderful actress Rila Fukushima who plays Yukio. She has the right amount of spunk and pin-ash to get Logan on a plane to Tokyo for her boss, who is an old acquaintance, and dying. Once there, action and destruction ensue as the plot thickens and Logan’s power to heal and his life are being threatened to be stolen by his new enemy. I think they have actually managed to bring out some good points of Wolverine from the comics in this one, they haven’t trimmed his claws so-to-speak. He smokes, he cusses, he kills a lot of people, and he doesn’t care much about bad guys. He of course gets a new love interest in this one, Mariko, who is very pretty, and has to save the damsel in distress, by being chopped to bits but being able to survive. Because of the swearing and the skimpy outfits I wouldn’t take a child under 13 to this movie. The violence isn’t at a crazy level, but the other parts in this dad’s view are beyond the pale. If you and the Mrs. are going out or have older kids, take ‘em and have a great time. I would recommend Hot Tamales with this one, and a large soda of choice. I give it 4 and 1/2 stars, and put it up there with Man of Steele.

Well that’s it for this episode, sorry it’s been so long, but last week was a little crazy for me. As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth!

The post A Plug and a Movie review or three. appeared first on Jon Pew .

Well hello again from lovely Fort Campbell! It’s still hot and sticky here and can be so uncomfortable, but my garden is doing great and the air conditioning works, so we get by. We have enjoyed a month without sports, thinking we’d have a relaxed time, but we have been busy as ever! Jaxon has been going to the youth center and doing activities everyday.He’s also just tried out and got the part of Toto in the Wizard of Oz play, the performance is on Friday so we are happy about that and will give you a totally biased review on Saturday morning. Laynee is having a fun time being lazy and hanging with her friends. Evan is doing summer enrichment, which is just going to school, voluntarily during his summer holiday, we are very proud. (Laughing our heads off, but happy.) Jules is working hard with her doctors and trying to make sure her meds are perfect, I think she’s doing fantabulous!

On the soldier front, it’s the Army. We are back to work with a vengeance. We will be flying a lot, doing tons of extra duties, and trying to keep up with aircraft as we go. We have a lot of change of Command ceremonies and that isn’t a lot of fun in the summer heat. (Not that they are any kind of fun pretty much anytime.) Either way, being a soldier is definitely a full-time job and I find myself searching for time to write and work on the author side of Jon Pew.

On that front I’m working on promoting as much as I can for the books already published. I am also trying to get Achilles finished up for the September release. I can tell you we are definitely releasing in September, I just don’t know what day yet.

On the Book front, the Twisted Souls release was a big success! We gave a few copies away and had some fun with pictures and chatting about characters and such. Again a big thanks to my promoter and friend Aurora Martinez for all her hard work. That makes 3 books published this summer with 1 to go, but more on that later.  Genesis has rocketed up to #60 in Christian Fantasy, and in the top 80K over all in the paid store. I can only thank those who bought books pushing us that far up the charts. My humble request is, read, review and recommend. I could use all the help I can get pushing my brand name out, and getting more sales so I can afford to keep this up.

Now for my subject. I have learned a whole lot in the past few months, not just about what it takes to publish and sell books, but about me as a person. I have owned several businesses, worked as an independent contractor, been a soldier, and now I’m throwing my hand in at publishing. (just for myself) I can tell you that it’s not all roses. The challenge of finding people you can work with and understand you and your point of view on the process of publishing is difficult. Luckily I have found several people who I work with very well, and who buy into what I want to do with my work, but not all who try it find this help as I did. I can also tell you I love the Army! I haven’t had to suffer waiting on every sale, and hoping it’ll be enough to feed the kids at all, which has made the choices of publishing and cost much easier to  bear.

But my friends…what an amazing experience! It sure doesn’t take long to find out who your real friends are. Most of us have several hundred if not thousands of online “friends” who are nothing more to us than a potential customer who might buy a book, do a review or recommend us to a friend of theirs spreading our effect. However when you’re in the process of editing, cover art, final prep and formatting and need a hand, and don’t have the cash to pay for the help you’ll need, your real friends show up. They stay up late with you working on the tweaks needed to make the cover exactly what you want it to be. They read through your work and have the guts to tell you when something you think is amazing is crap! They show up to your release event, not to get all the free stuff, but to support you and encourage you to continue in a hard business like books. They buy copies of your books, not because it’s a world-wide best seller, but because they want to help you along.

I also found the depths of my own understanding and motivation. It’s very hard to work a 10-12 hour day, come home, edit, and format to keep to a deadline. It’s sometimes very difficult to take criticism and grow from it. The hardest thing some of us may ever do is keep pushing the little keys and getting that last page written, and not rush it, but slow down on purpose to make sure it’s right. You learn what you’re willing to accept on what your finished product will look and sound like, what over all feel you want your readers to experience when they turn the pages. It’s all so wonderful, exhilarating, exhausting, and frustrating all at the same time, and it’s something you just never forget. Being the boss through the entire process and then getting the box in the mail that has your finished book in it, is truly a unique experience that is hard to acquire.

I have many thank-you (s) to say today, and so many I’ll forget that I really don’t want to try, but here’s the ones on the top of my head. First to my heavenly Father for giving me a gift I never knew I had. To my family for their patience and support. To Aurora and her team, for her friendship and willingness to keep me going. Most of all to those that are reading and enjoying my books, it’s because of you I keep doing this hard work, and I promise I’ll keep it up. (at least for a little longer.)

Well that’s all I have time for today. As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet earth!

Well hello again from lovely, humid, hot, sticky, but clear skied Ft. Campbell! So a few things to report on the family front. (This post is mostly going to be about the coming release of Twisted Souls.) The kids are having an awesome summer. Laynee just got back from her trip to Ohio and New York with the church, and had a moving experience bringing her closer to God. We have been blessed. Jaxon is really enjoying his summer at the youth center here on post. He goes there everyday just about and gets to do something amazing. He’s been to Olive Garden, Bowling, Swimming, the arts and crafts center, the movies, archery and more and more. He’s going Kayaking tomorrow, and skeet shooting next week! If you can’t tell, this dad’s a bit jealous.  Evan has been around the neighborhood a bit more where he has lots of friends and small pools to play in. he is going to spend the next few weeks until school starts going to enrichment to get his school head back on and ready to go for August. Jules is doing well, keeping up with the munchkins now that I’m back to work. She’s a happy mother playing taxi, and helping get kids signed up for the next big thing. Our new pup Lexi is getting huge! She’s already gained about 7 lbs. in 2 weeks. In another 2 she’ll be bigger than Jessie our heeler, and that will be interesting. For those concerned they are getting along great and having fun together.

Now for the big thing, Twisted Souls release party will be this Saturday the 20th of July! Pretty slick being 1 year to the month that Transition Man was released. I have been working hard with my editor and publicist Aurora to make sure everything’s ready, and I think we’ll make it. I wanted to give you a few insights into the new book, so here ya go.

In part 1: Transition Man, Wesley Griffin, a Vegas king pin has a near death experience and comes back to life after he’s shot by Jordan his best girl. He then spends the rest of the book trying to figure out what he is and who he is supposed to be. He gets help from a variety of different characters and in the end wins a huge battle but loses someone close to his heart. Part 2: Twisted Souls pretty much picks up where we left off. Griffin and Jordan make their way back to Vegas and start working on saving souls as soon as they arrive. Jordan goes back to school and tries to make sense of everything she’s learned and Griffin tries to put his losses behind him and try to clean up his miss-deeds and get into the light where he wants to be. But the evil inside him isn’t gone, in fact it’s growing.

My wife thinks it’s funny that I wrote a book series about a guy who has multiple personality disorder, but I think it adds a lot to the story. Wesley is the dark side of our hero, and he’s not very happy about the current situation. Not as powerful or potent as Griffin he is always watching and waiting for his chance to take the lead and use all the amazing powers that Griffin has in his arsenal. In Transition Man, he is able to do this several times and each time he does the body count flies off the chart, Twisted Souls is no different. When Griffin is hit by even more hard news, and is driven deep inside himself, Wesley takes the lead, and not just for a battle, but for long enough to put his overall plan into action. The fall out is massive and the Strip suffers with Wesley as he tries to take total control starting at that place.

In Twisted Souls I manage to tackle crazy huge subjects, the creation of heaven, spirits, powers and angles. I try to explain the seven angels spoken of in the book of Revelations, and manage to introduce a new love interest and create the strangest love triangle I have ever read. Jordan takes a more prominent place in the book series, and Griffin’s father Cliff is also brought on board. Also there are a couple of references to the villain for the next book as well.

As the title suggests there are a lot of twists and turns in this book. I also manage to try and get out how twisted it is inside Griffin himself. He wants to do the right things and rediscover who he was, and in turn figure out who he is supposed to be now. Wesley wants to use their power to control everything and everyone around him. Bitter and angry about  is circumstances he takes his frustrations out on everything and everyone, and that is dangerous for everyone else, considering who he really is. (We get a lot more info on that front as well.) Talon of course is always wherever Griffin is, so he’s around doing his best to reclaim his old friend. Emmerick and Daru are back as well, and have a massive battle to make up for all their bad blood.

In short, there’s a lot going on, and this is an action packed book from start to finish. Remember this is part 2, I think this series will have 4 parts overall, so obviously there is a good hint at the end to lead us into part 3, which I am going to try and get out next summer, in July. I am so excited about this book. Continuing the story has been so fun. My method of writing doesn’t tell me how this is all going to end. I have a few notes on where I want the story to go, and how I think it’ll end, but I’m not exactly sure as things change when I sit down at the computer. I want to read the next book, and that means writing it. I’ve had the same team helping me with the editing process, Colleen Kiefer has done a great Beta for me, and Lee Gardner has done the editing. It’s the same team I had for Transition Man so it should be very similar and feel like a straight continuation of the first book.

For any of my T-Man fans out there, Twisted Souls is available for pre-order on my website at the store. http://www.jonpew.com/store/. I am also having a FB event on the 20th from 6-8 pm so please come and join me for some fun, and certainly some excerpts and giveaways. Hope to see you there. https://www.facebook.com/events/681944128497825/

As always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win! And you stay classy planet earth!

Hello again from Fort Campbell! We had a rainy but cool 4th, and I don’t know if you read it but, I wrote an amazing piece on what it means to be a citizen. (If I do say so myself.) We have been having a lazy month. The kids haven’t done a whole lot, but that’s about to change. Jaxon is signed up for  something every day for the rest of the month through the youth center here. He’s got bowling, a trip to Olive Garden, Archery, Kayaking, swimming, and more. We are very excited for him. Laynee is having a great time babysitting our newest addition, Lexi our Great Saint pup. (Great Dane, St. Bernard mix) She is however going on a trip with our church to Kirtland OH, and Palmyra New Your. For LDS kids, it’s a big deal. Evan is having a great time playing in the neighborhood and getting into trouble. Jules is about to kill he doctor, the medicine she’s on is giving her trouble. So, going to be a fun last couple of weeks before school starts up again.

I unfortunately had to go back to work. I only had a month off, but I still want more. Actually I’m kind of glad to get back to work, it puts things back on a regular schedule, and helps me not spend my entire paycheck going to the movies and buying stuff for my motorcycle. Plus I get to see my other friends and that’s nice too. From what I hear they are giving us some money to fly around. And it’s not a little bit either, so I should be able to get back in the saddle again and gaining more experience.

On the author front, we are steaming along to the release of Twisted Souls. the FB online release event is set up and ready to go. https://www.facebook.com/events/681944128497825/                                                                                                                                                          Please come and join me, and we’ll have a great time. Next post I’ll put up stuff about the new book, and a good excerpt. I promise.

I’ve had a friend at work who said to me “I need a list of other authors that inspire Jon Pew author.” I thought, now there’s a good idea for a blog post. but not just a simple post, it’s a request for your favorites as well. For me, I have a lot of authors who I read, but not that I necessarily used to create me own writing style.

I’ll give you a few of my favorite authors and books they’ve written, who I enjoy reading but that have absolutely nothing to do with how I write. The first and one of my absolute favorites is Dean Koontz. This author writes murder mystery and suspense books. They are all third person and often take a unique twist on strange topics. I love his lovable heroes and horrible villains. Plus he’s got a million books, so you’ll have a hard time reading the list. Another is Christopher Paolini. He’s just got the Inheritance Cycle, 4 books, terribly addicting and a lot of fun, but there is no way I could write as thick and rich as he does. Here’s a few more rapid fire. Steve Berry, very fun historical action books, John Grisham legal books awesome if you like a real intellectual read, I love the Rick Reardon books, (Percy Jackson) there are several more I’m sure I’ve forgotten, but all of these, are some of my favorite authors that are nothing like how I write.

The authors I have taken ideas and styling form are as follows. Probably the one that I would love to imitate is Clive Cussler. He has a series of amazing stories and his title character Dirk Pitt is one of my all time favorites. Let me give you a few more. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series taught me a little  about comic relief, with my favorite character, Ron. Stuart Woods taught me to be fun and a little racy, CS Lewis helped me to stay true to my beliefs and make sure I don’t go beyond what I’m comfortable with. I again could go on, but there are 2 authors that have really affected me. First is Dan Brown. He’s very methodical in the way he writes a book. His research and brainstorming are amazing. He’s puts together an outstanding read no matter what subject he tackles. I’ve tried to put that into what I do. I search out my subject, try to find out as much as I can about it, then I start to frame my story. The last author and the one that got me into reading let alone writing. JRR Tolkien this guy is a master! He’s not just written an amazing set of stories, but he’s made up an entire language. His classic is now one of the most well-known  series ever. His books are a combination of first and third person. He also has a cool narrator thing going on, and it works!! Truthfully, my books are nothing like his, but what I get from him is a love of entertainment. He is the most entertaining author I’ve ever read and that is what I’ve tried to put into my work. From him I found an author I didn’t have any issues with, and have completely enjoyed all his books. my wife calls me a huge Tolkien nerd, because I have studied the Middle Earth history.

If I am completely honest, the last part of my writing style isn’t a book, or author at all, it’s movies. I love everything about the cinema. The world of make-believe and visual entertainment is how I try to write. Jurassic Park, The Matrix Trilogy, even Back to the Future gave me ideas and inspiration that I’d never have gotten anywhere else. My latest book, the Sword of Achilles came to me after I’d watched Sucker Punch. Steam punk is awesome and I think I’m going to get into that genre for real very soon.

So there you go. Hope you enjoy it, check out these books, authors and movies. Tell me what you think, and who you read and how they inspire you.

As always I’m proud of my wife and my kids. Play to Win!! And you stay classy Planet Earth!!

Well hello again from a rainy Fort Campbell! The fam and I are hoping the rain will stop long enough to see some fire works tonight. Nothing new has really happened other than the usual household stuff. We had a washing machine break, but I found a repair man to fix it for cheap so no worries. The Lord blessed us because with the broken machine we found a huge mold problem behind the machines we never would have seen otherwise. The last week before work has been really great, lots done and a lot of fun.

As far as announcements go with books and such, I posted last post that Twisted Souls the second Griffin Chronicles book is to be released July 20th. I haven’t set up the event on FB event yet but I will, so look for your invite and please come. Also on the book front I have a few amazing things that have been done in the last week so let me catch you up. 1st- on my website  I have had a bookstore built where anyone can order copies of the book. www.jonpew.com/store/ I have posted paper copies of Genesis, Transition Man, and the upcoming Twisted Souls will also be there. You can also get digital copies for your Kindle or Nook, or eReader. They are all the same price as Amazon, but if you order a paper copy from me, you get a signed copy, but it’ll take a couple extra days to get to you. It has to come to  me, then sign, then on to you. So go check it out and support my work so I can keep writing and publishing books.

The last cool part is that my first book trailer is done!!! Transition Man has it’s very own book trailer!!! I’m very excited about it and think its been very well done! I have to throw out a huge plug for Elizabeth Delena Rosa Author services who did the trailer, and Aurora who has worked so hard to get it done! I’ll be linking it here so check out the awesomeness!!!!

The subject of this blog post is the 4th of July, and that its more than just another holiday. (I feel so strongly about Christmas to, but since its July we’ll talk about the other holiday that is huge!!) We are Americans, but more that we are citizens of the United States of America. Most today don’t understand what it means to be a citizen, nor do they understand that part of that title is a requirement. A member of a society is an important person, they are a part of what makes a group of people unique and different.But a member of a society isn’t a citizen of a republic. It’s a hard thing to contemplate but to be a citizen of the greatest republic ever created, one simply has to be born on the correct continent, further to be born in the correct country. So many of our people really haven’t earned the title of citizen. They haven’t served in the armed forces, they don’t get involved in the political process, and they don’t vote or give two cents about what is happening to the country as a whole, only what is happening with them individually. A citizen should care about all these things.

Not every citizen is required to serve in the armed forces that keep them safe and preserve their liberty, but they at least should support them. In Roman times people saluted the warriors that fought for their freedom, in Sparta and throughout Greece when freedom was first brought about the soldiers were the top of the food chain and were given special rights and privileges, yet in our country, which has made its mark on history by our military might, our warriors are looked on as lower class citizens. The politicians are actually talking about armed veterans as potential terrorists. Nearly all the Veterans of our country’s wars would pick up those same weapons the government wants to take away from us, and defend our country by going to war again if called upon by the needs of our great republic. I am a soldier and I’m not looking for a big pat on the back, or for people to stop and let me pass by in line, but I don’t think it would hurt for our citizens to vote to ensure that those of us sacrificing so much get to keep our healthcare benefits, and our regular paychecks and inflation matching increases. If our citizens would unite in support of our warriors the military wouldn’t be getting asked to balance the budget on the backs or the 1%. As it is we do as we’re told and try not to complain, but if we had real citizens rather than members of society we wouldn’t really be having some of these debates.

The necessity of a citizen to participate in the political process is another area of which most members of our society don’t understand. Most common people only care about what government program best helps them, instead of why the program exists in the first place, who wrote it, and how it’s supposed to be implemented. The Washington bureaucrats have become what the citizens of our republic have let them become. The lobbyist’s, career politicians, presidents, judges, advisors and counselors are manipulating the system and earning a living because we have allowed our system of government to change and alter to cater to our desires instead of the best interest of the nation. Individual state representatives find ways to slip incentives into budgets to bring higher government revenue to their states, and districts. The career politician design government programs to attract voters instead of what is really best for our people. As a result the role of the citizen has diminished to a point that we are all becoming just members of society, needing our federal government to tell us how to live. But if we would pay attention to what our leaders are doing and get involved by writing letters, making phone calls, electing honorable men and women who want what’s best for the country and not for themselves, we might actually have space for the citizen again. Only citizens elect good people and hold their feet to the fire. Only citizens demand the right to be heard and taken seriously even if they won’t gain anything from it personally, but they know it’s what the country needs. We need those types of people to reclaim the title of citizen.

The last part of my post is that if our people would try to look at the issues that plague our time and would try to find answers for the republic, for the country and not just for themselves we might return to our republic roots. Our world has become so centered on wealth and prestige that the ordinary man or woman who works their fingers to the bone and sacrifices to bring their children up with an understanding of what it means be a citizen, not just a productive member of society, are not only over looked, but looked down upon. The political leaders of our time show us that they would rather have a society than a republic, which is what we were founded to be. The national tendency to be interested in our own self-interest has changed our great republic almost to a socialist haven for those who don’t want to work, and want a hand out from those that do. This entitlement society we have become is a disgrace to what we once were, a great republic full of informed and active people who fought for the right to have freedom and be called Citizens.

I don’t mean this to all sound like doom and gloom, we are still the greatest country on earth, but the last election and results from it have caused me to take time to consider where our people are going and what it is we can do to counter the path and slippery slope we are now on. The danger to our way of life and freedom is very real and we need the great citizens sitting silently in our midst to stand up and raise the banner of liberty and freedom once again. We need our silent citizens to lead the way, to teach the young the truth, not the skewed reality those that oppose God and freedom would have them learn. We need our citizens to get into the political arena to make change, not to make money. Mostly we need our citizens to demand of those that are in leadership positions to take responsibility and to immediately begin to take steps to stop the bleeding or our national pride and greatness into the gutters of socialism and societal equality. We need our citizens to be the hero’s the 4th of July was created for. This day is not just another holiday, it’s a day to remember the citizens who have gone before and strive to be those kinds of great men and women ourselves.

That’s it for this edition, as always I’m proud of my kids and my wife. Play to Win!! And you stay classy planet Earth!