Vengeance is here!

That's right! Gray Vengeance, the latest installment in the Tom Gray series, is now available.  Here's the blurb:

Da Sunan Annabi has a ruthless new leader whose aim is to train British nationals to bring England to its knees.

As their plans unfold with deadly precision and Britain is crippled by a series of attacks, the government is forced to deploy its new secret weapon: a surveillance network that can spy on nearly every human being on earth. It is nearly foolproof—but is it ethical? And does that even matter now?

Soon, Tom Gray and his daughter are in the militia’s sights, and their lives depend on Gray finding the man behind the recent atrocities. His desperate search leads him to Africa and Cuba, for a final showdown with an enemy he could never have imagined.

Gray Vengeance, the fifth book in the action-packed Tom Gray series, leaves you breathless until the very last page.

Gray Vengeance is available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and lots of other Amazon territories. 

Gray Vengeance Giveaway

I regularly host giveaways on my Facebook page, but this one is rather special.

Gray Vengeance, the fifth book in the Tom Gray series, will be released on May 26th, but I am offering my readers the chance to win one of EIGHT copies on May 4th.  Five will be signed paperbacks, and the others will be the Kindle version.

Here's the blurb:

An African militia has a new leader—and Tom Gray has a deadly new problem.

Da Sunan Annabi has a ruthless new leader whose aim is to train British nationals to bring England to its knees.

As their plans unfold with deadly precision and Britain is crippled by a series of attacks, the government is forced to deploy its new secret weapon: a surveillance network that can spy on nearly every human being on earth. It is nearly foolproof—but is it ethical? And does that even matter now?

Soon, Tom Gray and his daughter are in the militia’s sights, and their lives depend on Gray finding the man behind the recent atrocities. His desperate search leads him to Africa and Cuba, for a final showdown with an enemy he could never have imagined.

To take part, visit my Facebook page and follow the simple instructions.  As always, no purchase necessary:  https://www.facebook.com/GrayJustice

Best of luck!

Cover reveal - Gray Vengeance

With only a couple of months to go until the fifth Tom Gray adventure hits the shelves, it's time to reveal the cover created by my publisher, Thomas & Mercer.

Gray Vengeance will hit the shelves on May 26th 2015.  here's the blurb:

An African militia has a new leader—and Tom Gray has a deadly new problem.

Da Sunan Annabi has a ruthless new leader whose aim is to train British nationals to bring England to its knees.

As their plans unfold with deadly precision and Britain is crippled by a series of attacks, the government is forced to deploy its new secret weapon: a surveillance network that can spy on nearly every human being on earth. It is nearly foolproof—but is it ethical? And does that even matter now?

Soon, Tom Gray and his daughter are in the militia’s sights, and their lives depend on Gray finding the man behind the recent atrocities. His desperate search leads him to Africa and Cuba, for a final showdown with an enemy he could never have imagined.

Gray Vengeance, the fifth book in the action-packed Tom Gray series, leaves you breathless until the very last page.

Dilemma: how do I up the word count?

Actually, it isn't word count per novel that concerns me, it's words per day that has been letting me down.

Here's one of my recent days:  I'm up at five in the morning, so after taking a bath and getting dressed, I've got about an hour to write before I have to go to work.  Unfortunately, I have my social media to take care of, too, and that can often take up a whole morning.  That was the case on Thursday. Then it's off to work, and that keeps me occupied for the next nine hours.  I'm back home by 3.30, just in time to break up the first argument of the evening.  Much as I love the girls, they fight like cat and dog.  Once everything has calmed down, it's usually time for dinner, then getting the girls ready for bed.  Only then can I think about getting a few words on paper.

Okay, that was an extreme example, but despite that, if I could get 500 words done in a normal day, I called that a success.

Until now.

Five hundred words a day meant one book a year, and as my following has grown, I know that will never be enough.  That's why I've decided to quit the day job and concentrate on being a full time author!

I will take the next two weeks off to spend Christmas with my girls, and from January 5th 2015 I will sit down each day with a minimum  target of 1500 words per day.  That should enable me to write a book in three months, which means at least three new adventures every year.

I've already started book 6, which once again sees Tom Gray leaping into action, this time to rescue a friend from some Russian mobsters.  After that, I plan to write three spin-off books starring MI5 operative Andrew Harvey and his sidekick Hamad Farsi.  I think my readers will agree that Tom needs a rest!  I also have the seed of an idea for a standalone featuring brand new characters.

That's the next year and a half plotted out, and I should know by then if my decision to quit the day job was a wise one.

In the meantime, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Cover Reveal: Gray Retribution

I love this part of the writing process, because it means the book is just about ready to be unleashed into the wild.  

It has been a while since I completed Gray Retribution, and in the intervening months I have been through a series of developmental edits and proofreading, and several iterations of covers.  We finally settled on the one below, which I think looks really good.

Why a picture of a plane crashing into the jungle?  You'll have to wait until July 8th to find out!  Fortunately, you can pre-order it both in the UK and in the US.

On a different note, I've been told that AmazonCrossing are going to be translating the first Tom Gray novel, Gray Justice, into German.  They should have it ready for the end of this year, and hopefully I'll find a Teutonic fan or two!

Okay, back to writing book 5...

2013 - not a bad year, all things considered.

I know there are another few weeks to go before we welcome 2014, but I think now is the right time to let you know how 2013 has been treating me. 

Sales of the Tom Gray thrillers have exceeded all expectations.  In fact, I was forced to register for UK VAT earlier this month after reaching the threshold.  The early months were nothing special, but once Gray Justice went onto the Amazon free list in late February, they exploded.  Gray Justice spent over 8 weeks as the Amazon UK number 1 free download, which led to bumper sales of Gray Resurrection and Gray Redemption.  To everyone who purchased a copy, I'm truly grateful.
Sadly, the tax man will get roughly half of the royalties, and my wife has her eye on a new bathroom and kitchen, so I can kiss goodbye to the rest.  I was hoping to use the money to fund a 2-year hiatus from the day job so that I could write full time, but after the above have had their share, I’ll be lucky to get two weeks off.

In the meantime, there’s good news and bad news for Tom Gray fans.  I’ve been working hard all year on his next adventure, and I’m glad to say I've finished it.  The bad news is, it isn’t going to be released until July 2014.

Why not, I hear you cry?

It’s because I was approached by Thomas and Mercer, an Amazon imprint, and offered a 4-book deal for the Tom Gray series.  I penned the agreement in October and they are currently working to edit and proof the first three books prior to a re-release in January 2014, along with some brand new covers.  Book 4 is going to be put through the wringer, too, and while that’s going on I’ll start work on my next title.  At this stage I don’t know if book 5 will be another Tom Gray thriller, but I’ll keep you all posted.  As it is an Amazon company, the books will be exclusive to that site, so if you’ve previously purchased the Tom Gray books from other distributors, I’m afraid you’ll have to download the Kindle app to continue enjoying the series.

I’m really excited about this deal.  Every author wants to get noticed on Amazon, and my books should get a fair few days on the front page.  You can’t ask for better exposure than that.  I may realise my dream of paying off the mortgage and quitting work to write for a living, I may not.  I guess I’ll know in the next 12 months.

So, all in all, not a bad year for Tom Gray and the gang.

Book Launch - A Difficult Mirror

Four-year-old Justine has been lost to the world and with her an ability feared by many. But the balance of power has been shifting for years, and Justine may be able to tip those scales for good...if someone can find her in a pitiless place of sorrow and pain.

When Marie Evans meets a strange man on a deserted road and a body is found mutilated in the desert, a deep resentment teetering on the edge of release is about to explode. Someone, somewhere has drawn a line in the sand, and when Harlan Reese, Marie's ex-lover, enters a forest in central Arizona looking for his daughter, that line will be crossed.

In a world between Heaven and Hell, the past becomes the present as Harlan and Marie find each other once again. Their journey across an unforgiving land to find a way home with Justine by their side will be wrought with both pain and triumph.

Life is, after all, A Difficult Mirror.

Launch date: September 23rd 2013

Quotes

"Combining horror, fantasy & mystery with elements of the traditional hero's journey, A Difficult Mirror contains a unique & detailed plot, rich characterization & a very real sense of danger..."

- Michael K. Rose, author of Sullivan's War, Chrysopteron and Darkridge Hall

"...Wretlind conjures visions beyond your wildest nightmares"

 - Bruce Blake, author of the Icarus Fell series and Khirro's Journey epic fantasy trilogy

About the author

Benjamin X. Wretlind ran with scissors when he was five. Consequently, he likes llamas, although it's widely known that llamas don't care one way or another. He is the author of Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors, Sketches from the Spanish Mustang and Regarding Dead Things on the Side of the Road: Collected Stories.

He lives in Colorado with his wife and kids...but no llamas (yet).

Where to find Benjamin:

http://bxwretlind.com/mirror.php

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18462418-a-difficult-mirror

http://bxwretlind.com/blog/

http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-X-Wretlind/e/B004X2O624/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

https://www.facebook.com/bxwretlind

https://twitter.com/bxwretlind