29 February 2012

Updates - Am I Bald?

There's nothing quite like having a laptop go belly-up for causing sheer panic. It didn't die, exactly, the Windows Installer file was deemed corrupted needing a Recovery return to factory settings. Cue a mad session of archiving to an almost full free-standing hard drive.

Recovery itself was fairly painless, as was reinstalling the files. It was the sheer hassle of re-installing the software that caught me unawares. I'd forgotten they, too, would all return to factory settings, needing passwords and all sorts of odd input. The amount of hair-tugging... it's a wonder I'm not bald.

However, as the saying goes 'these things, too, shall pass', and they did. Or, to be more precise, they are. I still have to reload Dragon Naturally Speaking, and for the life of me aren't sure where my 'profile' will be saved, so I may yet have to reteach it all my idiosyncrasies. And we were getting on so well.

Despite the set-back,  there is news:

Dead Men's Fingers is now live at Smashwords for those wanting ePub or other formats, and has already been placed on a reader's Favourites list. There is still a bit of tidying to be done with the admin for this alter ego of mine, like figuring how to run two Google usernames from the same account, but I'm getting there.

The Bull At The Gate, the second in the trilogy of contemporary paranormal thrillers which started with Torc of Moonlight, is finally rising through the gears after far too long a suspension. It feels good to be home.

10 February 2012

Tyler Brentmore Rides Again!

Another book cover, another ebook - this time a Western.  

Dead Men's Fingers was written some years ago due to my accepting a dare to write one. Much to my surprise it was taken by a UK publisher, but that publisher didn't want the author name Linda Acaster emblazoned across the cover, so Tyler Brentmore was welcomed to share my desk.

The novella - it's 35,000 words - is still around in normal and large print, so when the rights were reverted I sluiced the dust from my slicker and reacquainted myself with Tyler Brentmore. My androgynous counterpart has a website of his own http://www.tylerbrentmore.com, and its header carries one of my photographs, taken on location as our press officer might say. Well, if I can imagine a writing alter ego I can imagine a press officer.

I'll preserve the site for the Westerns. Yes, there may well be more, but don't hold your breath. I have a queue of ongoing projects to complete, so ideas resurrected from mere notes in a file will have to wait their turn. In the meantime I'll be adding interesting facts about the Old West - well, interesting to me, because that's what fires a writer's imagination.

At the moment Dead Men's Fingers is only available for the Kindle, but other formats will join it, just as soon as I figure how to manage multiple author-names in the software. Life is never dull, huh? God bless technology.

Currently available on all Amazon Kindle store sites including:
Amazon USA $2.99
Amazon UK   £1.95

If you have time, mosey across to read an excerpt.