About the Books & Series
You may read either of the two series in the CF universe first. Blades of Grass spins off from the events of the Cascadia Fallen trilogy, but with almost entirely different characters and settings. For BOG, The disasters are explained adequately to portray how the world dynamics shift into war.
Cascadia Fallen:
Tahoma's Hammer
Order Divested
Spiritus America
Blades of Grass:
Venom Spear
Dragon Unleashed
Blood Red Sky
Patriot Shield
Definitely not! I plan on two more, but depending on how those go, it could be three or even four. Here's the big delay.
I've had an opportunity to work with Aethon Books on a new series, something I'm working on hard and continuously through 2024. This was a chance to not only expand my experience, but take a needed break from Blades while I think through the stories a bit.
Possibly, but it would be at least three or four years down the road. I'm getting ready to try writing in an additional genre for a while. I do have one thread I left dangling in the original trilogy. I would chase that down. It would follow one of the Ranger veterans as he goes on a cross-world mission to save a girl from human trafficking.
I have no plans for hard cover or large print at this time. The audiobooks are on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books.....
BUT!
I also offer them here on this website for a lower sticker price than those sites. I can do this because I take a smaller royalty in order to not be exclusively bound to Audible.
Should you buy them from me, you will get a download link via BookFunnel nearly immediately. You can play them in any MP3 player, but BookFunnel happens to have a free app specifically for this.
E-books: because they are in the Kindle Unlimited program, they can only be sold on Amazon.
Audiobooks: On this site! And also on Amazon, Audible, and Apple Books.
Paperbacks: You can get autographed copies, sent right from my home (U.S. and Canada only) on this website. They are also on Amazon, and most of them are available through most major retailers.
About me (& some goofy business decisions) 🤣
In a way, this goofy call on my part turned out to have a silver lining...
When I started the CF trilogy, I worked for the DOD, so I felt I should "protect my identity" (see next question.) But I couldn't keep my yap shut, so all my peers learned who I was anyhow. But I've learned a lot about the writing craft...
As many authors (including Steven King) say, "the first million words are practice." Writing three series has helped me work out some bugs and improve my writing. Now I have the opportunity to be a better writer under my real name!
Let's see... So many goofy decisions here to choose from...
I thought the Navy would slap my hand, so fictionalizing the area and shipyard was a defensive tactic. I also thought it would enable me to make up settings on the fly if the story needed me to. And I saw a well-known "prepper author" do it, so I thought it was just what I was supposed to do 🤣
The truth? I'm burnt out on both reading and writing in disaster/apocalyptic/preparedness genres. My first love as a child was Hardy Boys books, followed by Ian Fleming. Then all the way to my 30s, I mostly read Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, and Harold Coyle. But I really don't want to write technothillers.
This DOES NOT MEAN that I'm abandoning this genre and pen name forever!
What I truly want to do is write mystery-thrillers in a few of the sub-genres.
Right now, it is 100% about a certain cat that kills a lot of vermin for us and has a very special place in our hearts. We live in the woods, but very close to a high-speed road that keeps coyotes off our property. It would be tragic if we brought home a dog and Combat Kitty fled to the woods or the highway and got killed.
Definitely my Newsletter. Here is the link to get on it. I will update this with a second link when I plan on building a mystery-thriller reader audience.
If you follow my Amazon Page from your account, they will notify you when I have books on pre-order (via an email about 30 days out) and also send an email on book launch day.
I also have a fairly active Facebook Page and Instagram. I will never have a Tik Tok.
Business Questions
YES! Every physical (non-digital) product has the cost of shipping covered in the item price, whether from my print suppliers or the autographed books I ship from home.
Absolutely NOT! I want YOU to write about your great idea! No offense, but I will never truly understand your vision. And I will only ever co-author with another established author.
And I'm sorry, but I already have to fend off quite a bit of "time theft" from well-meaning friends, family, and readers. I just can't take ten or twenty minutes every time someone wants me to hear their pitch. 🥺
The very first thing? READ: make sure you read in the genre you want to write in. Like, a LOT. I've heard "established authors" who haven't written in years say they don't "have the time." We all have the same 24 hours. Reading is critical to understand what the readers expect, what the genre tropes are, and how other writers write. "I don't read because I don't want to steal ideas or copy other authors." <— That is a crap cop-out excuse.
Next? Start writing. "The book aint gonna write itself!" And get one (or five) well-reviewed and highly-rated books on plots and story structures. "Save the Cat" is a good start.
Lastly? Join the "20 Books to 50K" group on Facebook. There are over 75,000 authors in there sharing for free. It is well monitored for spam, trolls, creeps, and nobody in there will sell you a thing.
You will ultimately want to take some paid courses if your goal is to turn this into a career. But if you're just getting started, you're a long way from that. This will become a years-long process. Trust me.
Feel free to email me at biz@pkdell.com.
Keep up on coming thrillers!
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