If you read on Apple

I know that many of you buy your e-books through iBooks, so I thought I'd post a link to make it easier for you to buy some of my books... https://books.apple.com/us/author/j-alan-erwine/id380447524#see-all/books

Christmas in July at DriveThruFiction

Christmas in July has arrived at DriveThruFiction. You can save 25% off of my titles, this even includes the individual short stories. This sale ends soon, so shop today at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/browse/pub/16618

The Complete Ephemeris Bundle

 From the Nomadic Delirium Press blog:

We've combined all of the Ephemeris titles into one bundle. It features all of the large collections like The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica, and such, but it leaves off the individual titles that are included in those larger collections, so that it's easier for you to get everything without having to try to figure out what's in each collection...and the best part, it's all available for only $40.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/364674



Post-apocalyptic RPG

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of creating a new post-apocalyptic RPG. I have tons of ideas, but I'm curious to hear what people might want to see in a new RPG, and what kinds of things they think have been done to death.

Please feel free to comment and debate...politely...

 

A taste of Fight or Flight

 Robert Jenkins cowered in the corner of the disheveled building, sweat pouring from every pore. His grungy clothes were even dirtier than normal as he desperately tried to catch his breath. The patrol had almost caught him, and he knew what would happen. If he was lucky, a life in a Rocky Mountain States of America prison, but if the patrol had been too busy, or didn’t feel like following the “rules,” he’d be just another dead kid from the Wastelands left on the side of a street in Campo, Colorado.

The Rocky Mountain States were supposed to be so great, at least that’s what he’d heard, but what he had seen so far in Campo, abandoned buildings, dust, and high winds, reminded him a lot of Boise City in what used to be Oklahoma, but that had been long before Robert had been born. Now Boise City was just a series of ruins run by various gangs. His, the Rose Clan, had sent him to Colorado. He was supposed to make his way to Springfield, where he was supposed to steal some resources. That had been the plan, anyway. That had been when there were four of them. Jackson got fried in an electric fence while crossing the border. Evans was shot dead by some random hunter who thought he was a dear, or some shit like that. And Billings got hit by a truck just outside of Campo. They hadn’t seen any traffic since they’d entered Colorado, so Billings had thought it would be safe to walk down the middle of what had been Highway 287…maybe it was still called that in Colorado. In what used to be Oklahoma, it was just called The Road, a place where the gangs could try to take out the occasional truck going between the Rocky Mountain States and Texas, and those were few and far between.

Billings had been walking down the middle of the Highway when the truck came out of nowhere and took him out at 200 miles per hour. Now Robert was left alone to complete a mission that would probably require at least two of them, but if he returned to the Rose Clan empty handed, Jim Bob, the head of his clan would probably have him killed.

“Talk about lose-lose,” he mumbled to himself, and then quickly put his hand over his mouth as he heard a noise outside the “door.” The boarded over relic of a door had offered no resistance to his entering, and he’d hoped that he’d put everything back into place so that no one would notice that there might be someone inside.

But now the movement had stopped right outside of the door. Robert thought he could hear breathing, but maybe it was just his own.

Read More at:

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1093708

DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/363823

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0993ZZNHF

 

A very different writing experience

 I recently finished the rough draft for an Ephemeris RPG choose your own adventure story. This was a very different writing experience for me. In order to write something like this, you have to be able to maintain multiple plot lines, and remember what you've said about your characters in one line that you might need to say in another because you can't just assume that your reader knows what you're talking about.

When you're writing a traditional story, you're able to plant a piece of information about your character, and assuming your reader isn't skipping parts of the story, they'll know about it...but in a choose your own adventure, an important character trait that is mentioned in plot line A may be important in plot line B, but you have to mention it again. Overall, it was a challenging experience, but I really enjoyed writing the story.

Look for it to be released by Nomadic Delirium Press sometime in the next couple of months...

Fight or Flight

 

I have a new story set in The Divided States of America called Fight or Flight.

Robert grew up in The Wastelands, where kids are forced to grow up fast, or they die. Now as a member of The Rose Clan, Robert finds himself on his first mission outside of The Wastelands…a raid into The Rocky Mountain States of America, but nothing has gone as planned, and now he finds himself on the verge of death…but he’s been there many times before, and maybe death isn’t as bad as going back to The Wastelands.

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1093708

 Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/363823

Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0993ZZNHF

And the photo was taken by my amazingly talented photographer daughter, Juliah!

 

Don't forget the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale

 It's very hot where I am, so I know staying inside and reading is a wonderful thing, so how about picking up a few of my e-books from Smashwords during their annual Summer/Winter sale. You can save up to 50% off of a number of my titles...stories, novels, collections, anthologies, a one-act play, you name it, you can order it now at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jaerwine

Problems with my webhost

 The site that hosts my website has recently made changes that only allow users to use templates. I code my own site, as you can probably tell since it's not really professional, but it's easy for me to make changes, so I like doing it that way. As a result of their changes, I can't update my site. I'm currently looking into whether or not I want to start using one of their templates, or move my site. Both are a pain, and I don't have a lot of time...but I'll keep you updated.

The Solar Federation Stories 1-4 Bundle

 

You can now get the first four stories of my Solar Federation series for just $3.00 from DriveThruFiction at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/362962

Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale

 Through July 1st, Smashwords is running their annual Summer/Winter sale. This is a great chance to save on ebooks, and many of mine are listed at up to 50% off, so check out the sale today at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jaerwine