Disappear - FREE on Kindle this weekend

Free for two days - Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June (Pacific Standard Time) go here to download for your Kindle from amazon.com -or- here to download from Amazon's UK site.

My previous novel explored the mystery of bodies that could not be identified. Who were they? My new suspense thriller, 'Disappear,' delves into the flip side of that scenario - the body of a man, a hit/run victim, whose body carries ID that clearly establishes who he is. However, Brian Parkes has been missing for eighteen years. His body has been found in the same street from which he went missing, wearing the same clothes - and his physical appearance is exactly the same now as it was then.

Previously published in Australia in trade softcover as 'The Silent Scream,' the novel has been revised and published in ebook and also in a new paperback edition alongside my novel 'The Delta Chain.'

In 'Disappear,' Parkes' widow, Jennifer, finds the memories and the grief of the past re-ignited when her husband's body is found. Successful and much wiser than the shattered young woman of almost two decades before, this time she is determined to personally solve the enigma once and for all.

'Disappear,' is available in ebook exclusively from amazon.com and also from the Amazon sites in the UK and Europe. For this special promotional launch it can be downloaded FREE this weekend for Kindle.

I hope you enjoy reading 'Disappear,' as much as I did writing it.

Cheers.

Cell phones and Kiefer Sutherland

What is it about actor Kiefer Sutherland and cell phones?  During the years of TV’s “24” series, (a personal favourite) Sutherland’s character Jack Bauer spent much of every episode on his cell phone, while at the same time pursuing terrorists by car, on planes, trains and buses or on foot across overhead passes and through underground tunnels.

While all this as going on, he was simultaneously talking on that cell with other agents, with the President, with his enemies, and sometimes with his daughter, Kim, while she was being chased by stalkers, kidnappers, psycho survivalists, various teenage delinquents and other assorted creepies. Just another day yakking on the phone.

In his recently premiered new tv series, ‘Touch,’ Sutherland plays Martin Bohm, the father of an autistic boy, who is mute, and who communicates his prophetic abilities via the use of numbers. In the opening episode  the boy writes these numbers down and manipulates multiple cell phones to ring with those same numbers. Yes. Cell phones again (more commonly referred to in Australia and the UK as mobiles.) Other plotlines in that opening epidode, and in subsequent episodes, have kept finding various uses for cell phones. (For the record, I'm enjoying 'Touch,' which explores the interconnection between all of us.)

Thriller fiction has always been adept at taking new technologies, which have become part and parcel of our ordinary, everyday lives and then casting them in a sinister light or as an unexpected ally to propel the suspense or horror being experienced.

And the good ‘ol cell phone has taken pride of place in being that object in recent years. These days everyone walks around with a phone glued to their ear as though it was another necessary appendage like an arm or a leg. We even have fake toy cell phones for kids. Next thing you know there’ll be cell phones for people’s pet dogs.

There’s something chilling when the most familiar, taken-for-granted items in our lives become the focus of something…else.

In Stephen King’s novel, ‘Cell,” a pulse sent out over cell phone networks turns most of the population into violent, mindless “zombies,” and the use of the pulse and the phones features prominently throughout. A cell broadcast that attacks the human race? These days there’s probably an app for that.

In the movie, “Cellular,” a damaged cell phone becomes the vital lifeline between a kidnapped woman and a young man who thinks the call he receives from her is a prank. (Okay, we all know someone who’s made a  prank call that's not much better than that.) 

In the film, “Buried,” Ryan Reynolds plays a truck driver who is buried alive in a box beneath the desert with just a cigarette lighter (for light) and a cell phone (for contact with the outside world which, despite its best efforts, cannot find him.) Suspenseful and claustrophobic, it’s a movie that realises one of everyone’s worst nightmares.

In Greg Bear’s novel, “Dead Lines,” a businessman launches a powerful new cell phone called The Trans – and we are plunged into a world of pure horror when we discover that these phones can contact the dead.

The cell phone thriller – it’s on its way to becoming a sub-genre of its very own.

And if a movie of King’s ‘Cell,’ is made – or some other cell-related thriller film, and the filmmakers need a lead man experienced in acting with cell phones?

Just give Kiefer a call.


Kiefer Sutherland image - © Davi Sales | Dreamstime.com

Interview with Digital Book Today

Anthony Wessel's interview with me is now at Digital Book Today, and I talk about the writing of 'The Delta Chain.' No ranting, no throwing phones. Just book stuff. You can find it here and make sure to check out the rest of DBT, lots of great info on authors and books.

The people who encourage and inspire us

A Writer's Sojourn

I was going to sub-title this post "A Writer's Journey" but the word "journey" has been so over-used on reality tv it has become something of a caricature of itself. And that's a crying shame as it is a perfectly good word, and an effective one when used correctly and sparingly.

Thankfully many reality shows have recognised this and are now encouraging their participants to use different words and phrases. Hopefully, then, "journey" will one day regain its rightful place. The English language can be robust like that.

The writing life is a little of both - the trip, and the temporary stays along the way.

But I digress.

My first writing sojourn began when I was very young, telling stories by play acting all the characters. If I'd continued down that path I might've been treading the boards as an actor but I didn't go down that path (too many strange looks).

I started using stick figures and props, moving them around the back yard. If I'd stayed on that path I might've been a Spielbergian-type director, treading the red carpet at the Oscars. But I didn't continue down that path and have a baby grandson named Oscar instead.

I began writing stories down in exercise books (I shoul'd've been doing homework.) I'm still writing stories down in exercise books when I'm not tinkering with them on laptops.

A couple of weeks ago the KDP Select Free Kindle/Promo Giveway for 'The Delta Chain,' exceeded my wildest expectations in reaching the #6 spot on Amazon's Free List for Mystery/Suspense and #1 on Amazon UK's Free List/Thrillers.

After the Free Promo ended, sales of the novel received a much-needed kick up the you-know-where, reaching #30 on Amazon UK's Paid Bestsellers List/Thrillers and #60 on the Mystery List.

Many authors have reported similar experiences with the Amazon promotional initiatives. It's much welcomed encouragement for authors and it caused me to reflect on the importance of encouragement for writers on their life-long storytelling sojourns (there's that word again.)

Several years ago 'The Delta Chain,' was taken on for representation by a leading UK literary agent, Bob Tanner of the International Scripts Agency in London. Bob loved the book and wrote me a letter, offering representation, that bubbled over with his enthusiasm for the project. Bob had an editor with a large UK book imprint wanting to publish and waiting on approval from his board. Unfortunately the acquisition fell through for reasons not fully understood but something to do with not enough votes to keep me on the island.

The editor was disappointed, I was disappointed - and Bob seemed even more disappointed. There were a few other setbacks and Bob suggested putting the manuscript aside for a while and working on another.

Unfortunately Bob passed away in 2009, after a forty-plus year career as an editor, publishing executive and literary agent. He founded the International Scripts Agency in 1979 and over the decades had worked with many authors in many genres, including Richard Laymon, Simon Clark and Dean Koontz. Dean Koontz's dedication in his novel,'Strangers,' was to Bob, and he wrote: "To Bob Tanner, whose enthusiasm at a crucial stage was more important than he can know."

In the brave new digital publishing world, many literary agents have expanded their role, in some cases becoming e-producers for their authors, or e-distributors, and in some cases going on to form their own e-publishing operations. Ever the entrepreneur, I've no doubt Bob would've been in the thick of it.

I didn't know Bob beyond some written correspondence and a couple of phone calls. He was in London, I was in Sydney but even from that distance his enthusiasm for my writing, his support and his encouragement made an impact that I've carried with me ever since.

In part it's the reason I pulled 'The Delta Chain' from the drawer and submitted it to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel award, where it was a 2009 Quarterfinalist. It attracted some good reviews, further prompting me as the ebook age dawned to publish the novel and then promote it via the Amazon/KDP Select promotional campaign.

When I saw 'The Delta Chain,' at #1 on the Free Books List/Thrillers, on Amazon's UK site - and then the following week reaching #30 on the Paid Bestsellers List for Thrillers, I was immediately reminded of Bob and his inspirational comments, and smiled at the irony that this first breakthrough for me was in Bob's country, not to mention the same country from which my Mum and her family emigrated to Australia after the Second World War.

I reflected on how vital those encouraging words were to me, from Bob and from others, during the years of this storytelling journey (ok, so I've used the "j" word.)

There is no question that those genuine moments of passionate support for an author, (or for anyone from any walk of life), be it from an agent, an editor, a reader, a reviewer, a friend, have a deeper and longer-lasting effect than the person who gives them could ever realise. (Relax, I'm not going to break into a rendition of 'The Wind Beneath My Wings,' and even if I did it wouldn't sound anything like 'The Wind Beneath My Wings.')

Even sports teams have their cheerleaders, rolling out the fanfare whether their team is on a winning or losing streak.

We all need our cheer squads, our mentors, our supporters. And we're all capable of offering our own cheer to others. We may never know how important that encouragement is, or how far-reaching its effect. Those positive comments, whispered in someone's ear, are like a ripple on the water, spreading out over the pond.

They just keep on going and going.

The Delta Chain debuts on AmazonUK Top 100 Kindle/Thrillers

It's been a breakthrough week for 'The Delta Chain,' debuting on the Amazon UK Top 100 Kindle/Thrillers Paid Bestsellers List at #91 and reaching to #30 last Thursday (and #207 in overall ebooks) and then hovering in the #40's (Thrillers) for the rest of the week.

Across the Atlantic at amazon.com the novels's overall ranking has risen from 400,000 and was hovering at around 5,000-6,000, not too shabby after last weekend's KDP Select promotion.

A big thank you to all those who've been supporting the novel and this blog, and my new Twitter ramblings @IainEdwardHenn

The Delta Chain - FREE on Kindle this weekend

Free for two days - Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th March,(Pacific Standard Time) go here to download for your Kindle

There's nothing quite like an idea that comes with its own intriguing built-in mystery, one that won't go away, that keeps nagging at you, that screams out for a solution.

Several years ago I read a news article about a body found in a local bay. After several months the police had been unable to identify the body, and no-one that had been reported missing was a fit for the man's description.

I did some research and discovered that each year, in the U.S alone, close to 1,000 bodies were found that remained unidentified for long periods of time. Some were never identified. There are similar numbers each year in many other countries, including Australia. Who were they, where had they come from, how could no-one have noticed they were gone?

That was the starting point for my novel, 'The Delta Chain,' in which the investigating detective and a feisty young IT troubleshooter are united by a shared grief. Across the Pacific, a retired Chicago newsman, visiting Florida, is drawn in when he stumbles across some startling facts.

'The Delta Chain,' was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarterfinalist that has received 4 and 5 star reviews. The ebook edition is currently exclusive to Amazon, available for free rental to Amazon Prime members, and this weekend as a special promotion is FREE as a Kindle download.

Books and blogs, it's a small world

Sometimes it's the simplest idea that jumps up and really grabs you. The title of Gregg Hurwitz's novel, simply "We Know," did that - along with the plot: an ordinary, everyday young guy is whisked away by a Government agency to confront a terrorist at a nuclear power plant.

When I saw a copy I bought it, lured in by the title and the concept. It's one of those thrillers that are lean, taut, tight and terrific (like an athlete's bod, the kind some have and the rest of us would like to have but without doing all the grunt work.) Hurwitz's novel also has something else that makes a great thriller stand out from the madding crowd - an emotional tug, tied in with the hero's predicament and his past, that keeps you turning the pages.

Thriller supremo David Morrell's work has always had that emotive wringer, ever since he introduced troubled ex-Marine John Rambo in "First Blood," and through to his many espionage tales ("The Brotherhood of The Rose" and its sequels) and his standalone suspense novels. "Long Lost," and "Burnt Sienna," are prime examples of electrifying suspense with haunting and ethereal undercurrents throughout.

Here's the thing: I first read about Gregg Hurwitz in a blog, and then in a comment posted to a forum, then I read "We Know," then I began checking out Hurwitz's own blog (an interesting background writing not just novels but comics, film scripts and academic Shakespeare articles) and now here I am blogging about the author and his books. Full circle. Maybe it really is a small world, and if that's the case, the blogosphere and the myriad maze of social networking platforms, as vast as they are, are also in their own peculiar way, a small world.

For example, David Morrell's Facebook page has become something of a meeting place for conversation on popular culture, as he'd hoped it might, containing broad views from many contributors on the latest projects and releases in books, film, television, and on what's happening week by week in those industries.

Discovery of a new blog/forum/website/online group or twitterer is just as exciting now as unearthing a new book or tv series or "indie" movie that's just right for you. And you'll probably start blogging and twittering about it.

I read David Morrell's novels for many years before 'discovering" his Facebook presence and now look forward to his breath-of-fresh-air posts as much as I do his new book releases.

And, like many others out there nowadays, the reverse is also true: I've found I'm discovering a blog or a website that I really like, and as a result then starting to read that blogger's or twitterer's books as well (that is, if they have them). Full circle again, but it's certainly not a vicious circle or a merry-go-round. Instead, it's more the "big bang' variety, a circular, ever-expanding journey to constantly new places.

I'm glad to be along for the ride.