Friday, May 23, 2014

Spot the Error, Win a Book

Announcing a new, ongoing contest at Stone Soldiers--that can win you free books.


Errors--every book has them, no matter who edits them. Pesky little typos, missing words or even misspellings. They're an unavoidable part of writing that most readers simply pass by. But now YOU have the chance to help stamp out the errors and make Stone Soldiers better.

Here's how it works: spot an error in a Stone Soldiers book or short and be the first to report it and you'll win the next book or short in the series as a digital copy.

Simply report the error here at Stone Soldiers (either in the comments section for the book or on the new Error Contest page) or email your report to Detachment1039@gmail.com, and if you're the first to spot the error, you'll have your choice of a free download code through Smashwords.com, or a digital pdf copy emailed to you of the next book in the series.

(Limit on prize per book--you can report more than one error, but you'll only be rewarded with one book/short for each book/short you correctly report has errors).

When reporting, type out the entire sentence containing the error, then give a brief explanation, using the following format:

"He ran fast--enough to catch up, but not fast enough to arouse suspicion." (Missing word). Should read: "He ran fast--fast enough to catch up, but not fast enough to arouse suspicion."

Note that some characters will speak "incorrectly" on purpose and that grammar rules may be broken in the series for dramatic effect.

As always, thank you for supporting Stone Soldiers, and good hunting!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

PALE HORSEMAN (Stone Soldiers #9)

Up next in the Stone Soldiers series, a terrible tale of a supernatural serial killer, out to reap the souls of the wicked...


Summer, 2014--Los Angeles is under siege by a mysterious rider who beheads his victims and vanishes into thin air. Death has come to the City of Angels, to reap the souls of the wicked. Helping the super soldiers of Detachment 1039 this time around is an unlikely ally
--a psychic detective who can see the souls of the recently departed. With his help, can the Stone Soldiers stop this veritable force of nature, or will the supernatural horseman continue his reign of terror?

Available on Kindle, and coming soon to paperback.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

If you like... SUPERNATURAL (the TV Series)

Introducing a new feature at Stone Soldiers, If You Like... where we list similar-themed fiction and compare it to the Stone Soldiers book series. 



SUPERNATURAL


This long-running series on the CW features monster-hunter brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) as they track down the terrible and kill it.

In the many years the show has been on, the brothers have faced off against nearly every kind of monster and legendary being imaginable. And where once this wasa typical monster-of-the-week show, the series has developed to include long-reaching story arcs similar to the X-Files UFO conspiracy. 

In Season 8, viewers were shown a rebellion in Heaven, when a rogue Angel (Metatron, played by Curtis Armstrong) tricked series regular Castiel (Misha Collins) into sealing the gates of Heaven and casting out all the Angels. On the series, God has been absent over the past few seasons, as apocalyptic events have unfolded (and yes, the Winchesters have stopped the apocalypse on multiple occassions). In this power-vaccum, Metratron decides he's going to take over. The Winchesters have to figure out how to defeat Metatron as well as a host of other villains, including the last Knight of Hell, Abbaddon.

Supernatural features dark conspiracies, secret organizations, explosions, gunfu, butt-kicking and lots of clever dialogue. It airs weekly, on Tuesdays at 9PM on the CW. New episodes are normally posted to HuluPlus the following day, and you can catch up on past seasons on Netflix. 

Highly Recommended. 




Similarities to Stone Soldiers:

Stone Soldiers was at least partially inspired by Supernatural (I had recently finished binge-watching the series on Netflix right before plotting out my own series). But where the TV series follows two guys really, really good at killing monsters, Stone Soldiers follows a team of trained soldiers, backed up with the latest technology and the combined might of the United States Armed Forces. And while Sam and Dean may occassionally become supernatural, maybe even monsters, themselves, the Stone Soldiers are supernatural all the time, giving them an edge over evil--hence the book series motto Ex Malo Bonum:  from evil, good.

Both book and TV series further share a brand of sarcastic humor that is found in so many popular fictional properties. With a wisecracking Vampire that may just be a subconscious blending of Dean Winchester and River Song, a conspircy-theorist werewolf, a sardonic lightning-casting stone soldier and quite a few other homages to some of the finest SFF to grace TV in the past few decades. In fact, the character of Maria Guerrera, Mark Kenslir's amnesiac wife, was actually inspired by the true-life marriage of Jared Padalecki and series guest star Genevieve Cortese (as Mr. Padalecki might make a pretty good Mark Kenslir). 

Where the two fictional universes part company is in the world setting. Supernatural takes place in what is effectively the real world. Stone Soldiers' universe is one where magic has survived into the moden era. The population is basically aware that things not normal exist, but few want to believe. Stone Soldiers' universe lays somewhere between the real world and that of a comic book universe such as Marvel has created, but with a decidedly supernatural twist.

And of course, the Stone Soldiers don't have any cool muscle cars like the Winchesters' beautiful 1967 Impala. 

And there's way more explosions in Stone Soldiers. Which is a shame. The Winchesters could really use some bigger guns. 

If you like Supernatural, give Stone Soldiers a try. If you like Stone Soldiers and haven't watched Supernatural, you really need to lock yourself inside for a weekend or two and get a Netflix subscription. It's that good.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

ANNIVERSARY SALE

May marks the two year anniversary of Stone Soldiers in print.

To commemorate, Omnibus #1, Mythical, Brothers in Stone and Blood and Stone is going on sale.

For May only, get the shapeshifter trilogy for $2.99 on Kindle.


Friday, May 9, 2014

TERRORCOTA (Stone Soldiers #8)



New to Kindle today, the eighth installment in the Stone Soldiers supernatural military thriller series;


A rogue Chinese General with dreams of world domination has stolen an ancient alchemical weapon--the Nlai Wan--a bomb capable of turning human flesh to brittle clay. Bringing his weapon to America, the General hopes to unleash it on an unsuspecting populace and trigger a war he thinks only he can win. But even armed with the weapons of the Legendary Eight Immortals, General Zuo Zheng Duan is not as invincible as he thinks. America is ready for his invasion, and the Stone Soldiers are headed to Colorado for a showdown of epic proportions as East meets West at the brink of World War III.





Sunday, May 4, 2014

Stone Soldiers: Pirate Approved

In the grand scheme of things, it's good to know something's worth stealing. Imitation may be a sincere form of flattery, but knowing pirates think your work is worth the effort to steal has got be better.

It's now official: Stone Soldiers is a treasure. Book pirate  Voldizard http://kickass.to/user/Voldizard has given the series two hooks up, by posting it over at Kickass.to.

True, Captain V has stolen a lot of literary booty (check out his hundreds of uploaded books), but that just means he's well'versed in sailing the seven servers in search of loot.

So there you go, better than a review. Hackers, Pirates and readers agree--Stone Soldiers kicks ass.

(Note, a takedown notice has been sent to Kickass.to, so for those looking to deal with scurvy servers and publishing pirates act quick, or chek out Stone Soldiers on Kindle where your purchases will keep the series going)