Unfurled: Heroing is a Tough Gig, Book 1 of the Unlikely Hero series, is out now in paperback and e-book format. For this one, I used the pen name Eric Padilla.

Heroing is a tough gig…

When seventeen-year old Daniel Nickers gains superhuman abilities, he believes his dream of becoming a superhero will finally come true.

But life isn’t like the comic books and the job’s harder than he expected. He’s constantly in mortal danger as crime in his city soars. He can’t control his powers, and he’s faced with criminals who act instead of giving speeches about their plans.

If that weren’t enough, a new supervillain named Crusher is gathering all the city‘s criminals together into one organization. Their first order of business is to eliminate the pesky superhero who is the city’s only protector.

Daniel must learn to use his powers to stop Crusher before the villain can implement his mysterious master plan or all that Daniel cares about could be lost—including his own life.

Until January 7^th, get this superhero action & adventure story for only 99¢. Click the link here (or on the cover graphic) to find out more, including the first 10% of the book as a free preview (use the Look Inside feature)

Book 2 in the Harmonic Magic series, Harmonics, is out in paperback and e-book format. Follow Sam’s further adventures in the world of Gythe.

A fledgling government in threat of extinction. Three artifacts of power that hold the key to safety, or to doom. A powerful energy user who will stop at nothing to rule over all.

Sam Sharp faces the end of all he knows and loves on his adopted world of Gythe. Ayim Rasaad, mage and expert fighter, along with her army of humans and mutated creatures, searches for three items of power. If she collects them, she will be unstoppable in her plot to conquer the world.

With only the smallest seed of a plan and not nearly enough information to act with certainty, Sam and his allies must foil Rasaad’s campaign or watch as Gythe is plunged into the darkness of her tyrannical rule. The people call him the Hero of Gythe. Now he needs to prove that he deserves the title.

For just a few days, get the second book in the Harmonic Magic series for only 99¢. I have also reduced the price of book 1 in the series, Vibrations, and the prequel novella, Gray Man Rising, to 99¢ for a very limited time. The audiobooks for the other two books are also available and if the e-books are purchased (or have been previously), you can pick the audiobooks up for less than $2 each. I will begin the process for creating the audiobook for Harmonics within a few months. Watch for news of its release.

The prequel novella to Vibrations is now available on Amazon in print and e-book formats. Click on the cover image to see the product page. The e-book is still available for free to members of my PEP News mailing list. If you’d like to join, click here.

The Gray Man’s power is growing. Is there anyone on Gythe who can stop him?

From his fortress lair, the Gray Man, possibly the most powerful user of the vibrational energy called rohw the world of Gythe has seen in centuries, is gathering troops and increasing his strength. The only obstacles to his total domination are the order of Zouyim monks, themselves masters of the rohw, and the women who call themselves Sapsyra Shin Elah, the finest warriors in the world.

In this prequel to the Harmonic Magic series, Rindu Zose, his wife Ylleria, and their daughter Nalia Wroun, protectors of the common people, are caught up in events that quickly spin out of control, resulting in the destruction of the famed Zouyim temple. Will Rindu’s magic and the martial skills possessed by Ylleria and Nalia be enough to combat the Gray Man’s ever-increasing power? If they fail, everything they know and love could be destroyed forever.

So, I had a video trailer made for my book Vibrations (you can see it here https://youtu.be/oR9YHbc7CVY). I have received several nice comments about it, but one question is asked more than any other when someone who has seen it comes face-to-face with me: “Was it really necessary to make a trailer?”

In a word, no. It wasn’t necessary. It may not even have been smart. That remains to be seen. Then why did I do it? I’d like to say that there was some grand scheme, some long-range secret plan, some brilliant method to my madness. I’d like to say that, but I can’t.

The simple fact is that I thought it would be kind of cool. When people ask what my book is about, now I can say, “Let me send you a link and you can see.”
In all seriousness, though, there were other reasons, of course. The coolness factor was a consideration, but maybe not the chief one. I tend to be a visual person, and I try to make my writing reflect that. I enjoy vivid descriptions that allow me to see things in my mind. Not too much detail, mind you, but enough to kickstart the imagination. Being visual, I enjoy snippets of video, clips put together in a meaningful way, but not something that tells me all there is to know. In other words, a movie trailer.

I have recently been guilty of paying way too much attention to the news, trailers, and (dare I say it?) gossip about the new Star Wars movie (The Force Awakens, out next month!). I can’t get enough. All the conflicting views and theories feed my imagination and fuel my anticipation of the film. The trailers give me just enough clips of the movie to whet my appetite and make me hunger for more.

By the way, no, I will not be fighting the crowds to get in on opening day. I have books to write, after all. I’ll see it soon thereafter, though. You can bet on that.

If the ad campaign, along with the gossip circuit that seems to have attained a life of its own, can do that for me toward Star Wars, it made me wonder. Could a trailer for my book generate some interest? Could it reach out and tap those visual people like me on the shoulder and say, “Check this out. You may like it,” perhaps resulting in someone trying out my book who may not have otherwise done so? It’s possible, but I’m not sure how probable it is.

In the end, it seemed like a fun thing to do. It wasn’t to get thousands of book sales, though it would be nice if that happened. It wasn’t just so that readers who have already experienced the story could see the core of the tale related in a general way in a new medium, though that was part of it too. It wasn’t only to try to lure other readers into taking a chance in reading my book, hoping they’d like it, even if I do hope that happens. It wasn’t solely because I wanted to see some actual video representing the story (though not exact scenes), despite the fact that I do get a kick out of it. And it wasn’t even to show it to my friends and family to feel like a big shot for just under the minute and a half it takes to watch it. It was all of these things, and none of these things.

Was it necessary? No, but it was another new thing in a long series of new things I have accomplished this year and I have to admit that I like the results. Sometimes we have to do things just to try something new even if it doesn’t have a potential tangible benefit. It’s the best way I know to grow. In that sense, I guess maybe it was necessary after all.