Life, The Universe And Everything

Hello dear, dear friends! And you as well.
I hope that you are all having a fantastic day, or at least a day that is better than the recent average.
In a couple of short weeks, I shall discover the secret to life, the universe and everything. This is my roundabout way of saying that it will shortly be my birthday, my 42nd birthday, to be exact, hence all the Hitchhiker's references...
God, I feel old.
Anyway, in celebration of this most auspicious of occasions, I'm making all of my books FREE for the weekend of my birthday, which is the first weekend of March (my birthday being on the 4th).
So that's all 4 of my books, for free, for anyone who wants to download them over that weekend!
They're quite good as well, and don't just take my word for it, positive reviews all round!
And if you'd like to give me a birthday present, I wouldn't object to some more positive reviews and it wouldn't cost you a penny/dime - just saying!
American Author's page
UK Author's page
Goodreads page

I'm currently writing the sequel to Heroes Wanted, which should be released later this year barring unforeseen catastrophe.

I've done a few more paintings, visible in my gallery, and I've opened up an Etsy store where you can buy prints and originals directly from me - check it out here!
If you fancy a commission, just get in touch through the Contact Me page or email ADonnellyArt@gmail.com

There are time-lapse vids of some of the paintings up on my YouTube channel, including my latest effort, a portrait of Chadwick Boseman from the just released Black Panther film, which I'm very excited about (and which I won't get to watch for several months at least).

All of that aside, I've spent altogether too much time watching the Overwatch League on twitch (ESports!), playing Overwatch, and breaking my nose (not an interesting story, I just slipped and face-planted like the clumsy dumbass I am).
Currently also watching Altered Carbon on Netflix - fine bit of cyberpunk sci-fi business, if you like that kind of thing. And don't mind nudity. So much nudity.

That's all for now.
Be excellent to one another, and happy birthday to me!
Al

And that's November done!

What a month, eh? I know, I know, let's not talk about it.
Let's be positive - I've done NaNoWriMo! 
Are those straws clutched in my hand? I rather think they might be.
Anyway, I've just gone past the 50,000 word mark on a novel despite the crushing, existential angst that is the default emotion of 2016. I consider that an achievement in itself, although to be honest, this year, just finding the will to get out of bed in the morning should earn you a medal.

This novel, which I've called The Beating of an Iron Heart, is actually the same novel I did for the 2014 NaNoWriMo (then called simply Ironheart - see, I came up with that name first, Marvel! You know, in the unlikely event that it ever gets popular enough to warrant attention from anyone who would care).
And there was another attempt at it earlier this year. Basically, this is my third try at getting this damned story to do what I want. It remains to be seen if this one will work out.
Hope springs eternal, right? Man, that phrase sounds hollow this year.

I don't have much else to offer, it's cold (except in the Arctic, but let's not talk about that either because Jesus Christ it's all just too much), and I'm going to pretend that everything isn't going to hell and have a coffee and Irish Cream to celebrate. I might even have a second chocolate biscuit.

Finally, congratulations to everyone who took part in NaNoWriMo this year!
Let's do it all again in 2017. Hopefully I'll actually have finished this story by then and the world won't have ended. Fingers crossed!

Al

World Book Day (oh, and some other day. Let's not dwell on that)

It's the 3rd of March, 2016, and it's World Book Day according to the hashtag on twitter. So happy World Book Day, everyone! Buy a book, read it, love it, leave a nice review, hug the author and tell them everything's going to be okay - don't worry about lying to us, we're very gullible.
You could even get one of my 3! Hell, you can even get the first one - Crystal Eyes - for free from Smashwords, iTunes and Barnes & Noble!

It is also, as I write this on the 3rd of March, 2016, less than 24 hours away from me, Allen Donnelly, exiting my 30s.
Tomorrow will mark the fortieth anniversary of my birth, way back in 1976.
God that sounds like a long time ago...
I remember thinking that forty seemed so far away, so oooold, as to be almost inconceivable. And yet here we are. Or rather, there I will be tomorrow.
Here's a pic of me at about age 4 or 5 I think. With some rhubarb. Not sure why...
I don't actually care about turning forty, it's just another number and, hopefully, we'll all get there eventually, but I do tend to get a bit maudlin around birthdays - I enjoy wallowing in existential angst too much not to indulge when give such an opportunity.
If nothing else, it offers an opportunity to look back at what you've accomplished over the last decade...

Moving on.
Let us save the wallowing for tomorrow, when I intend to do nothing but play video games, eat unhealthy food and probably drink some wine, and today focus on the here and now.
I'm still working on the sequel to Heroes Wanted. Some books, Heroes Wanted included, flow like water, the words all but tumbling out of me. With other books, like the sequel for example, every sentence is a battle, every word has to be dragged out as if it were blood from a stone. Every time you think you've got a hold on it, it twists in your grasp and you need to shift directions.
This one's been a battle and I'm still not done.

I've still not heard anything back about The Salvager from the Angry Robot open submissions thing. I desperately want to get that book out there because I think it's awesome but it's going to have to wait; tough for an impatient old man like myself.

Away from literature, I'm trying to get better at the arting and the drawing (which I tend to post on my Tumblr and DeviantArt pages). This drawing is supposed to be Furiosa from Mad Max, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.
I might try sticking some of the less crappy efforts on Etsy or something. Can't make any less money from it than I do from the book sales...
Ahem.

Well, I've managed to avoid doing a morning's work by writing this blog post so I guess it's lunchtime and I'm a couple of hours closer to being 40.
FORTY!

Have a great day!
Al.

It's Christmas Time!

And this Christmas, why not give the gift of Crystal? My critically acclaimed (by at least a couple of people on Amazon and Goodreads - that counts, right?) first novel, Crystal Eyes, is now FREE!

Unless you want it from Amazon, that is. They won't let you set the price of books to nothing so it's stuck at the exorbitant price of 99 cents on there.
I mean, I have no objections to you going to Amazon and giving me money for it - quite the reverse, in fact - but you can get it for nowt from pretty much everywhere else.

Am I not generous? Am I not benevolent? Am I not desperate for attention? The answer to one of those questions is definitely "Yes", I'll leave it to you to decide which one of them it is.

In other news, I've sent The Salvager in to Angry Robot's open submissions thing. As always, throwing anything at the world of publishers is a long shot, but so it goes. We'll see in a couple of months I guess. 
If that doesn't work then I might try an agent, or maybe I'll just put it up myself like I have with the last three.
I think it's a cool story (I'm biased, obviously) and Aimee, one of the main characters, is definitely a favourite of mine.
Right now, I'm still working on the sequel to Heroes Wanted, tentatively titled...erm...I got nothing so far. Heroes Wanted 2: Hero Harder. I dunno, it's a work in progress.

As for Christmas itself, I've done nothing. Well, that's not completely true - I've bought some food and sent some Christmas cards. The festive spirit is really something that happens to other people.
Also, I understand that some film or another has just come out that people are excited about. Tragically, thanks to my ancient, decrepit dog and her knackered heart, I'm not going to be able to go to the cinema to see it as I'm reluctant to leave her on her own for that long.
I suppose it's theoretically possible that I might be able to avoid spoilers until it comes out on disc or streaming but let's face it, the odds are not in my favour on this one.
Ah well, I look forward to seeing it in a few months. I'm talking about Star Wars, by the way. Did that need saying? Probably not but I thought I'd better be clear.

Finally, let me leave you with the traditional farewell for this time of year...
May the Force be with you!

And a merry Christmas as well, I guess.

New book announcement (and also parrots)

Hello, beautiful people (yes, even you), I hope you're doing well out there in internet land.
First of all, I am getting settled into my house in Kirkby Stephen. Still got a lot of decorating to do, not least because I bought some truly crappy paint that I tried out on one of the windows and I'm now going to have to remove. Seriously, it was like treacle. Some nice walking around here for the dog to look at while I'm carrying her because her poor old legs are tired.
Also, there are parrots. It's a truly surreal sight, seeing such a bright flash of colour go flying past against the backdrop of a cold, grey, wintry Cumbrian town (this place is a long way from resembling the Caribbean). They make a hell of a noise as well - get four of them in the same area and it's like a dozen cats trying to kill one another.
Here you go, in case you think I'm imagining things

View fullsize

They were on the chimney on my neighbours house. Very weird.
Also, I'm now officially announcing the forthcoming release of the sequel to Crystal Eyes - Sorrow's Herald, due out on the 10th of July!
The journey continues for Crystal and friends, trying to stay one step ahead of the Solanist preachers who are following their trail. With shooting, running, angst, more shooting, jumping, stabbing, fire, and even more shooting!
If you feel inclined to travel along with them, it's available for pre-order right...about...now! At least it's available from Amazon now, it's not quite filtered through to the other retailers yet but it shouldn't be long.
Here's a peek at the cover!

I'm also in the process of setting up the hard copy versions of both Sorrow's Herald and Heroes Wanted, soon to be available from Amazon!

Other stuff...I've been playing a load of Heroes of the Storm (Sylvanas for the win), and quite a lot of Elder Scrolls Online as well - definitely worth a look since it dropped its monthly sub fee.
Also, Star Wars trailer! WOO HOO! And that little droid thing was awesome, I badly want one.
Been watching Daredevil as well. Got a couple of episodes left I think. Man, it's good but it's not one for the kiddies - the whimsical, pithy Marvel of Joss Whedon it is not.

That'll do for now.
Later,
Al