| Howdy! I have been working a bunch this past month. Not just on my latest POTG draft, as I always do. But also on my long-term strategy. And the cover refresh from last month led me to make another decision. I’ll be using an advertising consultant in the coming months to help me implement a better strategy for getting my books in front of more readers. Part of that will be relaunching all the books with new ASIN (Amazon numbers) and ISBNs (International Serial Book Numbers). I’m altering the text a bit from my original newsletter to something more evergreen for the website blog entry. I’ll be relaunching the Repenter ebook on Amazon likely sometime in October 2026, but I’ll have the paperback re-released sooner in mid-August. If you’re reading this in the future, and have obtained a copy of Repenter, please consider giving it a review on Amazon. No need to leave 5 star reviews or a lengthy review. A simple “I liked it” or “I loved it” or “I somethinged it” will do just fine with whatever star number you think is right. Again, no pressure. But if you’re interested, I appreciate your help. |
| PLUS: Guess Who’s a Featured Author at Shelf Indulgence on August 13th? |
| Me. The answer is me. The current editions of the Players of the Game series, with their old-school covers reminiscent of the TSR-era D&D novels, are getting a grand send-off. Autumn Yosten with the Glenwood, Iowa Public Library was kind enough to invite me to the monthly Shelf Indulgence event. When: Thursday, August 13th from 6pm-8pm Where: Parea Lounge in Glenwood, IA, just south of Omaha and Council Bluffs I’ll be giving an author presentation. Here’s what I plan to chat about: Why I write. How I built my novels’ worlds Repenter’s main characters. I’ll do a reading of the end of Repenter’s first chapter. And talk about what’s next, which includes the relaunch. Plus answer any questions from the audience. I’ll also have a stack of my novels with the old covers to sell. And once they’re gone. They’re gone. Destined to be collector’s items. If you’re in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area, come on out to Glenwood’s absolutely rad downtown and say hi. I attended it last month at Chris Poore’s event, and I can attest that it’s a genuinely fun place. It makes fantastic drinks too! |
| Players of the Game Repenter Amazon A+ Content Preview |
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| This updated Amazon A+ content, or a variation of it, will be showing up on Repenter’s new Amazon Page. Looks pretty cool, me thinks. |
| Players of the Game Works In Progress |
| I’ll keep this section brief, as I covered a lot of it above. With Secret Fronts’ 2nd draft, I’m up to page 566 with 47 revised pages for the month. Better than last month’s 35 pages, which is pleasantly surprising. I’ve reached a section that requires less first-draft-style rewriting in the last week or so, and that let me open up the lead on last month. Especially encouraging, given all the back-end work I’ve been doing with the ramp-up to the relaunch. Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month: Corsis: “My children. My trusted agents. My other selves. Progress the Game in my stead. Make it entertaining.” |
| Recommendation Corner |
| Spider-Noir on Amazon Prime Nicholas Cage can be a lot for some people. I totally understand it. His delivery choices for some of his roles can be… confounding. But. He is perfect for the role of Ben Reilly in 1930s Manhattan as a gumshoe detective, who’s also this world’s Spider-Man. The show can be watched in black-and-white or color. I picked color, as the setting and character designs are so vibrant in that version. I might try black-and-white later. The plot is very noir with a femme fatale and a morally grey Spider, who’s caught between opposing forces. When he went undercover as a police union rep who says, “Yeah, see!”, it cemented him as one of my favorite actors. What can I say? I have confounding tastes. The Odyssey I’ve watched this movie 3 times. It is astounding. It has the same vibes as the LOTR trilogy for me. Though I’ll take Aragorn over Odysseus. Much better people leader, that Strider. Still. The Cyclops. The Laestrygonians (the giant knights). Circe and her body horror stuff with the pigs. And Odysseus tearing ass in the climax. Plus, the parallels to Oppenheimer with an equally famous and infamous feat that ended a war, that haunts the man who came up with it. Because such a victory breaks the old world. Great cinema. Highly recommended. |
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| That’s all for this time. Stay smart. Stay safe. Jim |
