| Hey hey! The full-court press continues with the 2nd edition relaunch of the Players of the Game series. And not even a historic torrential downpour that seeped into my lower level will stop it. Though it will slow me down for a few days as things get dried out and carpet replaced. All is on the right track for getting restored on the home front. And the restoration of the POTG line continues. Using a marketing/ad consulting group to be more data-driven about getting ads in front of the right folks with the magic of two omnipresent corporations’ algorithms. Getting paperbacks soft-launched weeks to months in advance of their Kindle launch with big spikes to promo sites and methodically tracking what ads convert to sales. It’s a whole thing. I’ve already reached out to a few of you, but if I haven’t, and you want to assist with leaving reviews on the Brigands, New Players, and Breakers paperbacks, please let me know and I’ll throw you an ARC copy and the Amazon link to post your review. And no prob if you’re not interested. I remain optimistic about the potential of the POTG series as an epic story. It is a tale that must be told. Here’s the schedule for October PLUS bonus novellas on the house. |
| Repenter and Brigands: Relaunching on 10/20/2026 |
  |
| Repenter and The Brigands are getting a simultaneous spike Kindle launch on October 20, 2026. I’ll be throwing out a quick reminder email closer to their launch date. Their paperbacks are available now. Along with their companion novellas. |
| Complimentary Bonus Novellas on Bookfunnel. Available Now. |
  |
| Hidden Chapters and The Favor are now perma free in ebook form on my website with Bookfunnel links. The paperbacks are available on Amazon, BN, Bookshop.org, and other retailers. |
| Players of the Game Works in Progress |
| In case it is not apparent, I shall make an explicit statement: It has been an extra busy September. Spinning up bunches of processes. Reaching out to reviewers. Getting questions answered by smart people and smart Claude chatbots. Lots of pushing forward. Sadly, my writing productivity has taken a temporary hit. The revision of Secret Fronts clocked in at page 616, with just 15 pages for the month. I expect to ramp it back up once I have a business-as-usual mode established for all things marketing. I’ll keep at it. And then keep at it some more. Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month: “And then we escalate by discussing an expanded partnership with an old friend,” Gath said. “And with luck, also new ones.” “Not luck, Inventor.” Nadia kept her socket-based eyes leveled at him. Resolute. Hard. “Preparation. A century of it.” |
| Recommendation Corner |
| The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen What if Star Trek: Voyager started after they got home? That’s the hook of this novel. A science vessel called the Horizon has only recently returned after getting stuck in the Gravity Well. A place where universes overlap and ships get caught. The crew is a skeleton after suffering attrition of surviving on their own for nearly 10 years. And their depleted ranks get filled by an extra-dimensional alien and a human. All while a civil war against staying in a different war simmers at the periphery. Or at least Demi, the captain, thinks it’s at the periphery. It’s already on her ship. She just doesn’t know it yet. Really compelling space opera with an exploration/science bent. Highly recommended to folks who aren’t feeling the new Star Trek stuff. Resident Evil (2026) Holy Eff. This movie is how you should adapt a video game. It takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2, or shortly before. And it’s more of a remix. Undead Zombies from the first three games are replaced by the tentacle exploders from RE 4. The main character is an organ donor courier who makes the mistake of taking a job to carry something to Raccoon City. Some people don’t like his mumbling quips. I thought they were funny and helped balance the tension. But man, was it still tense. Especially with a jump scare that literally made me toss up my hands and yelp. P lus the video game over-the-shoulder and first-person shots. If you’re looking for a solid, unnerving horror movie. You can’t go wrong with this one. I’m not usually a horror movie guy, but there’ve been a lot of good ones this year. |
 |
| That’s all for this time. Stay smart. Stay safe. Jim |
