Update: Summer 2020

I thought it would be a good time to welcome the new followers to this page and give them a brief introduction. First let me say thank you and hope that you enjoy your stay. I try not to overdo it on the emails, and generally just provide information regarding the status of the books I am writing and info on future releases.

If you are interested in knowing a little about who I am, please check out the ABOUT ME page.

If you are interested in knowing the best way to read the series, then please visit the ORDER OF BOOKS page. While each of the stories have their own plot, there are sub-issues and character arcs that weave in and out of the books. If you would like to purchase any of the books there are links to them.

As longtime followers know, we lost our beloved dog, Jax, a month ago. Needless to say it has been a very difficult time here as we adjust to his passing. Jax was the quintessential gentle-giant and our lives seem so empty without him. It has been an adjustment period for us, as well as our other dogs, as we learn to move on without him. If you’d like to read more about this amazing dog, check out my tribute to him at: Remembering Jax: You Gotta Bee-lieve

My current work, titled: Awakening – The Crystal Coven Saga, is in the editing phase and should be released next month. This book is a departure from my previous works in that it is a mix of police procedural and supernatural. I’ve always been a reader of different genres and I thought it would be interesting to try and meld the two worlds. In this book, you are introduced to Karl Sigurdsson, an NYPD detective who finds himself drawn into a series of unexplained killings that have not been solved. Since the majority of the prior killings included an element of criminality, on the part of the victims, no one was concerned when the cases went cold. As he investigates, he can’t help but question whether something more nefarious is at the heart of these seemingly random murders. At the same time, he has a chance meeting with the alluring, Gabrielle de Mar, and the two begin a whirlwind romance. Sigurdsson soon realizes that the criminal justice system may be the least of his concerns, as he finds himself drawn into the labyrinthian world of modern-day vampires that could soon turn him from hunter into the hunted.

Also in the works is book three in the Angelo Antonucci Cold Case Series. When the body of a missing cop is discovered in a construction site, Police Commissioner James Maguire tasks Antonucci with identifying the killer and bringing them to justice. Soon Ang finds himself investigating the Crazy Eight Cowboys, a drug distribution ring that was run by the missing officer’s partner who was the subject of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation.  Hoping to have this novella finished before Fall. I know many of you have asked if there are any plans for a print version of the Antonucci books and the answer is a resounding Yes! It is my intention to do a print compilation as soon as I have enough pages to merit it. Depending on the length of this book, it could happen this time around or with the next Cold Case novella. I will keep you posted.

After that, it’s on to Book Four in the Alex Taylor series. I have the working outline nearly complete. This novel sees Alex leave the confines of beautiful Penobscot, at the request of her friend, New Hampshire State Police Captain Thomas Blackshear, to put a fresh set of eyes on a homicide case the Concord Police Department is investigating.  

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Remembering Jax: You Gotta Bee-lieve

Those of you who follow me know that our beloved Irish Wolfhound, Jax, died unexpectedly Friday morning. We knew our time with him was short, as he had the onset of congestive heart failure, but was being treated with meds and receiving regular care by our amazing local vet and the cardiac vets at the University of Illinois – Urbana. Unbeknownst to any of us he had stomach issues that went undiagnosed until it was too late.

No matter how big he got, he was always our puppy….

This is a long post and has taken me a week to write. I had to stop frequently, because these damn eyes wouldn’t let me see the keyboard, but I needed to memorialize this, for both him and I. As a writer, you would think that the words would have come easily, but they didn’t. How do you describe the pain of losing someone who was an integral part of your life?

Jax was the first dog I had as a puppy. We got him when he was only a few weeks old. Ironically, he was not even the dog we went to look at. We went to see his sister, Big Brownie, but she didn’t want anything to do with us, and then there was this little runt, Blackie, who wouldn’t leave us alone. He crawled all over us and played with the kids. It was as if he was crying out, ‘take me, take me.’ What can I say, we left with him and thus began Jax’s new life with us.

Nothing prepares you for life with a big dog and Irish Wolfhounds hold the number one spot as the world’s tallest breed. It’s like getting pregnant and finding out you’re having quintuplets. He looked like a puppy, okay a gangly goofy puppy, but that didn’t last long. People thought we were joking when we said we’d put him in the crate at night and he’d come out bigger. Folks, it was no joke!!

What were we feeding him ?

At times it was hard to remember he was just a puppy, because he soon dwarfed every other dog. But he was goofy and loveable and had the warmest brown eyes you’d ever seen. And he loved our cats and, weirder still, they loved him. During the winter months it was not uncommon to see them sharing his bed in the living room, next to the fireplace, and in the summer laying on the deck together.

You know you are loved, when the cats adopt you into their inner circle !!

Nancy used to complain that we didn’t run him enough, and I used to ignore it because hey, I don’t like running when I have to, which is never. In retrospect, I missed out. I should have. There was a time, when we would go for walks along our road, which is a mile long. One day I thought, well hell, I’ll give him a run like she wants. Yep, awesome idea….. For like 1.4 seconds. You see, Jax at full run had a leg span of over 6’ feet. In retrospect, it makes sense. They are not called wolfhounds because of appearance, but rather because they were trained to kill wolves. The breed did such a good job in Ireland that they eradicated wolves in the 18th century. Needless to say, my days of trying to run with Jax crashed and burned rather quickly.

One of the other bright ideas I had was to fence in our backyard, so he could have a large play area. We have a fairly large amount of trees, so I went to the home improvement store and got 5’ high snow fencing. I ran it around the trees and sectioned off what I thought was a decent area for him to roam and play in. Remember those legs? Yep, leaped it like a gazelle.

Ironically, as big as he was, he never knocked anything over, which is quite impressive for a dog that was nearly as long as our kitchen table and who’s face cleared the kitchen island with room to spare. In fact, one of his favorite things to do, while I was sitting at the island, was to stick his head underneath my arm and poke his nose through to see what was going on. He’d also leave the cutest little whisker tracks on the counter-top.

Another thing he loved to do was to spin around, 360 degrees, like a bucking bronco. It always amazed Nancy who couldn’t believe that, despite his size, he maintained such a tight circle.

And Jax loved the ladies. Anyone who came to our home would tell you, once they got over the initial fright of seeing this massive dog and hearing his window rattling bark, was that he would love to rest his face on the center of their chest and get love. No, I didn’t teach him that and apparently Jax was not keen on obeying any social distancing constructs.

One funny story was that Nancy had once been heavily into horse riding / instructing and had an old whip. One day, when Jax wasn’t listening, as he was prone to do, she said, ‘I’m going to get the whip,’ and she did. It has a rigid leather shaft of about five feet and then about four feet of braided leather that dangled. She got that whip and you would have thought she rained down fire. Now, we had no idea why just the mere sight of the whip commanded his instant attention, but it did and it shocked us. I mean we had him since a puppy, so he had never been mistreated, so it just kind of stumped us. But that whip was his kryptonite. If we had company come over and didn’t want him to get in everyone’s face while we were sitting down, we would just rest the whip in the door frame and problem solved. Looking back it was comical to think this dangly little whip kept him out of a room, but he would not cross it; this massive dog, thwarted by thin braided leather.

When we were refurnishing our home a few years back, we got a lovely chair to go in our living room which matched the décor. It was not a cheap chair and that was when we learned Jax also had good taste. One of his favorite things to do was go sit down and look out the window toward the pond. I always wondered what he was thinking. At times he would get a little too comfy and nod off.

Life comes at you fast……….

When you have a dog that big, you learn quickly that ads for dog treats, toys, and beds have a different meaning when it comes to an Irish Wolfhound. I mean, how many other dogs do you know that have their own single mattress? Yet, he always loved curling up on his memory foam bed in the middle.

Doesn’t everyone have a bed ?

And if he wasn’t sitting in his chair, or lying in bed, he’d curl up on the couch to watch me play video games. Apparently it was Jax’s world, we just lived in it.

Couch Comfort Level: Jax tested & approved

Our years with Jax were never boring. No matter where he went, he was the center of attention. Everyone was drawn to him by his size and gentle demeanor and he loved the attention. Friend or stranger, everyone wanted a picture with Jax and he aimed to please.

Jax loved my friend & fellow author, Larry Wilson

Even when he would go to the vet’s office there was never an issue. Jax never needed to be handled; he would simply just stand there majestically and let them do whatever needed to be done. I don’t think I could adequately describe the level of trust he had.

Irish Wolfhounds only have a lifespan of about 6-8 years, so we knew as the years passed what we were going to eventually face. As my puppy’s muzzle began to gray, he became my ‘old man.’ We did all we could to help him, including joint supplements and medications. A few years back he had a minor surgery to biopsy what turned out to be fatty tumors, but he didn’t bounce back easily from the anesthesia. That was something that weighed heavily on our minds going forward.

Last November, our son was walking the dogs, when Jax went down. I’ll never forget the panic as he ran up the backstairs to tell us.  I raced across the frozen ground to get to him. At the time we thought it was just exertion and cold. The vet told us to just monitor him, but he was fine. In February, we were outside and he came running up the hill and I saw it happen. He went down right in front of me. I laid on the ground holding him and Nancy got a blanket to keep him warm. At that moment I thought it was seizures. We got him into the vet and he said his heart wasn’t beating right. After a few phone calls, we were referred to the veterinary teaching hospital at U of I, where they had cardiac specialists. It was then that we learned the horrible news that he had dilated cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart, which the breed is known for. The doctors were amazed by his overall health and said with prescriptions and special food we could prolong his life, but they couldn’t say how long. We decided to do everything we could to give him the best chance possible.

And he was doing fine.

Thursday, May 21st, was like any other day. He spent a large part of the day just sitting outside while we were working in the garden. And for dinner he was thrilled when Nancy added some stew meat and carrots to his dinner bowl. Afterwards, we went out for a walk and then stood on the deck. A bumble bee came around and he leaped up to get it. Jax loved to chase after bumblebees. He never caught one (thank God), but he loved the chase. We quickly ushered them in and settled in for the night.

Just after midnight he was whining, and Nancy took him out. They had him on diuretics, so this was fairly common. Then around 1 am, he came over and rested his head on her and she took him out again. After she brought him in, she stayed up. Around 2 am, I heard him gagging and jumped out of bed. It sounded like he was trying to throw up. I got him out the back door, but he was just pacing and gagging. I quickly got dressed and called Nancy who was having coffee. He went down the back stairs and was wandering around. I knew something was seriously wrong. We were trying to get him back to the house when he collapsed. We stayed with him outside until he was able to get back up and we brought him in the house. Nancy began checking symptoms and called the emergency animal hospital in Springfield.

One of Jax’s favorite things to do was to go for car rides. Not exactly an easy thing to do with a dog his size, but fortunately we have a Suburban that accommodates him.

When your vehicle choices factor in all the members of the your family.

I’d open the back and he’d jump right inside, but not this night. I reached down and gently gathered him up in my arms and lifted him into the back. Twenty minutes later we were at the hospital. Once again Jax walked in with the tech, I guess he always knew they were only trying to help. Because of the damn virus, we couldn’t go back with him. I’ll never forget watching him walk into the hospital.

We got a call from the doctor who said he had a twisted stomach and would need surgery. We told her to go ahead and do whatever needed to be done. She said we could go home and pick him up at 7:30 and bring him to our vet for aftercare. We no sooner walked in the door, when we got the call. The damage was too far gone. They wanted to know whether they should sew him up and bring him out of the anesthesia, so that we could come back up and say goodbye, but we couldn’t do that, not to him. Nothing was going to change the outcome, and it was more important for us to let him go peacefully.

Jax had beaten the odds for his bread and passed away on May 22nd, 2020 at the ripe old age of 9 years.

Nothing beats the outdoors !!

There are no words to describe the feelings I have struggled with for the past several days, but suffice to say that my heart is broken. Going to bed at night and not having him come over to have his head rubbed, and then not having him laying in his bed when I wake up, is a constant reminder of the void in our home. There are no rooms in our home without memories of Jax, and this home only feels lonely without him here. His collar hanging on the hall tree, his empty bed at the base of ours, his toys in the basket, the prescription dog food in the closet, the errant clumps of wayward hair that never go away no matter how often you vacuum, the bed I had for him in my office; all constant reminders of our loss.

Can I sleep in your office, Dad ?

Friday we sat here numb, struggling with the fact that he would not be coming home. With tears in my eyes, I asked God for a sign, just to let me know that he was okay. As Nancy and I sat on the back deck, a bumblebee appeared. And for the next half hour that bumblebee hovered over each one of us. There are no flowers out there to attract them and yet this bumblebee came down and moved back and forth between me and Nancy for over a half hour. It’s been a week now, and every time we go out back, the bumblebee reappears and stays by us. At times I have held out my hand and it has flown over to me, hovering near my fingers. We’ve taken to calling him BumbleJax. I’m not sure of your belief system, but for me it was God’s way of letting me know my boy was fine.

In closing, I am reminded of the way Jax would rest his face on my chest and stare up at me with those big brown eyes. In those eyes was an unconditional love that speaks to just how one-sided the human / canine construct is. Our dogs never judge us, they never frown on our shortcomings, and they never not have time for us.  They just want to be with us and that is not asking for much. What I wouldn’t give to be able to lay down next to him on the floor and just tell him I love him one more time, but those opportunities are gone forever. Don’t let a day go by without letting your furry buddy know just how much you care. To that end, let us all strive to be the type of person our dogs thinks we are.

Rest easy, Jax. You are forever loved and will forever be missed. You weren’t just a good boy, Jax, you were the Best Boy!!

A memorial gift from one of Jax’s best friends, Liam. If only love could have saved him,……….

Why Do I Write ?

It’s a question that I have been asked probably a hundred or more times and it is a question you would think I would know the answer to, but incredibly it is one that I have struggled with, until now.

In the past I would simply say, ‘I have a lot of stories to tell,’ and while that is true, it doesn’t answer the actual question. Everyone has a lot of stories to tell, but not everyone becomes a writer. My first novel, PERFECT PAWN, came about because my wife dared me to write it, but seven years later I have nine novels, two novellas, and three non-fiction books published. I also have a tenth book ready to come out and two more outlines queued up and ready to go.

So why do I write?

The answer didn’t hit me until I read a blog post by Jason Allison, a fellow retired NYPD detective and author. Jason writes some terrific posts and I highly recommend you check them out. But it was one particular post titled: You Can’t Go Home Again, which really resonated with me.

From the ripe old age of five I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up, a New York City Police Officer, and for two decades I had a front-row seat to the Greatest Show on Earth. My time with the NYPD was filled with incredible experiences. To quote Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.”  There are no words to adequately explain a career spent with the largest police department in the United States, but one memory stands out and that was the day I retired from it.

After loading up my car and saying my goodbyes to my co-workers I walked out of my office, pausing for a moment to look back and it is this moment that is ingrained in me. My career was ending, but the job continued. It always does.

This month, the NYPD celebrates its 175th Anniversary. During that time, some of the most gifted and heroic police officers have been a member of the Department, but we all share a common legacy, and that is to say the job continued, long after we were gone.

It is true that my career gave me a lot of stories, both good and bad, that I draw from in my writings, but is that why I write? The answer to that question is no. I realize that the reason I write is to maintain that connection to the job.

As I sit here in my office, writing this post, I am surrounded by a collection of NYPD memorabilia that spans a period of time that is almost as old as the Department itself.  Sometimes I look at these items and think about the officers who wore or used them. What events, both good and bad, did they experience? Could they have ever imagined that the last time they touched it, that it would end up in the hands of another NYPD officer a hundred years later? The truth is that the NYPD is not who I was, but who I am.

My books are my link to the job. In creating the characters of James Maguire, Alex Taylor, and Angelo Antonucci, I have forged an eternal link between myself the Department. Long after I am gone, these characters will survive and so will my connection to the job.

Perhaps this is the reason other cops, such as Joseph Wambaugh, Ed Dee, and John Mackie, became writers, because as long as the characters live in the reader’s mind, so do you.

I could have retired from the job in 2005 and just walked off into the sunset, content in the knowledge that I had been a small part of the greatest police department in the world. But perhaps my greatest legacy will be that one day a reader will pick up one of my novels and say, ‘yeah, that’s what I want to do.’

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Dealing with the Issue of Critical Reviews

Being an author means you have to constantly question and reevaluate your writing, especially when it is based on reader feedback and reviews. If you don’t, then you risk committing the same mistakes going forward. Acting on constructive criticism, even when it bruises your ego, can mean the difference between staying a mediocre author and becoming a great one.

Bad reviews are part of the game and you have to learn how to deal with them. The truth is your book will not be a perfect fit for every reader. I know I have read some books I considered a challenge to finish. The thought of leaving a bad review didn’t cross my mind because I felt that it was a personal thing. Just because I didn’t connect with the book, didn’t mean others wouldn’t. I look at James Patterson’s first Alex Cross novel, Along Came a Spider, which has more 1-star reviews than all reviews combined of my debut novel, Perfect Pawn.

I have had some scathing reviews in the past about my editing, or lack thereof, such as this one 1-star review:

‘The author has a message and a knack for plot. Unfortunately, what he doesn't have is an editor.’ 

I liked the first part, but inwardly cringed on the second. Interestingly enough, the aforementioned Patterson book also got slammed in a review for grammar and typos. Being compared to James Patterson wouldn’t be a bad thing, except in this case.

I will not lie, a bad review hurts; a lot. You can’t help but take it personally. It’s the literary equivalent of someone saying your child’s ugly.

I’d like to say they were wrong, but the reality is they were right. The problem with being an indie author is that the vast majority of the time you are it. This means, besides writing, you also wear a multitude of other publishing hats. I don’t believe the average reader understands the financial costs of publishing your books, not that this is an excuse, but it is a legitimate roadblock for many indie authors.

Consider the following:

A ballpark estimate for an editor will run an author about $1000 - $1500. They can expect to pay about $250 + for a book cover. If they lack the skill, formatting your e-book and print edition can run another $200 to $300 dollars. These are all ballpark estimates, but, as you can see, the numbers add up quickly. That does not count advertising, which is crucial if you want to reach an audience that will generate sales. Depending on genre, that can run anywhere from $500 to $1000 per month, per advertising outlet.

Realistically speaking, the average cost for an indie author to publish their novel will be in the $2k range, not including advertising. This also does not reflect the author’s writing time. I know that my first book took a year to write. How much value do you place on that?  How many people would be willing to dedicate a year or more of their life without the expectation to get paid? Apparently we writers are a masochistic lot.

In all likelihood, an author will have to sell nearly 1k e-books just to break even on the initial production costs. I can tell you from experience that, without the help of ads, that milestone will take years to achieve.

Indie authors have a much tougher slog to achieve their literary dreams than legacy house authors, but that doesn’t mean we cannot accomplish it. It just takes more time and creativity.

I recently took a hard look at my earlier works. After doing re-reads, I can tell you I was dismayed to find that many of the more critical reviews were accurate. While the stories themselves are great, the literary errors could dampen the reading experience, especially for critical readers. As a result, I went back and began to re-edit my catalog of books.

 At present, I have re-edited and re-published: Perfect Pawn and Queen’s Gambit, the first two books in the James Maguire series. I have also completed the re-edit of Small Town Secrets, book one in the Alex Taylor series, and I hope to have this book re-published next month, with an updated cover. I am almost finished with the re-edit of Bishop’s Gate. As I re-publish each book I will make an announcement when it is available.  

My goal for 2020 is to give the reader the best literary experience I can by re-editing all of my books in chronological order. It’s the best I can do, unless someone out there knows Henry Cavill, of Netflix’s Witcher fame, and can get him interested in playing the part of James Maguire (Yes, he was the inspiration from the beginning).

Once again, thank you for your continued support. If you love my books leave a review, if you have issues please let me know.

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Challenges for Writers: Social Media

Social Media – It seems as if we are glued to it; both night and day.

Many authors, both legacy published and indie, immediately take to the social media scene and use it as a platform that consists of posts which amount to nothing more than: Buy Me, Buy Me, Buy Me.

Seriously - I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook now for well over a half dozen years and it has all blurred into the same thing. Now, I will be the first one to admit that I have previously used these platforms in the same way. Hey, we all make mistakes, but I can tell you, based on my experiences, these are really bad vehicles for promoting your book.

The problem is you are trying to read the tea-leaves and hype your book to a completely random audience. For example, even if you have an amazingly diverse number of followers, the reader who might be interested in your book has to be at their computer at the very same moment you post. What do you think those odds are?  There are over two hundred million Facebook users and nearly seventy million Twitter users in the United States alone. Something tells me you’re going to experience some type of scheduling conflict as you try to connect.

And it’s not just a matter of connecting; you also have to find them when they are in the mood and we all know how hard that can be……

The truth is, more likely than not, they are there looking for cute animal pics, inspirational quotes or to find out what they need to be offended by today. In fact, looking at sales trends on my books, I can’t recall any instance where anything appeared to be social media driven. Even when offering free or discounted deals, I didn’t observe any major uptick that coincided with social media posting.

That being said, do I think you should forego social media as a whole? No, not at all, you should make it part of your platform, but make it a well-rounded part. Don’t just use it for YOUR books, throw in the occasional cute animal photo and remember to promote your fellow authors as well. No one really likes that person who only pats themselves on the back and this is a bigger problem than you might think. If you have 5k posts on Twitter and 4.9k consist of ‘buy my book,’ you are going to want to re-think things. That strategy might work, if your James Patterson, but the average indie author is probably going to turn-off a lot more potential readers than they entice.

My social media platform consists of my website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. I also made sure to utilize the author pages available to me at Amazon, GoodReads and BookBub. 

Both Amazon and GoodReads are especially useful if you have a website / blog because you can also link those pages to show your most recent posts. Another nice feature of Twitter is that you can also ‘pin’ a post to the top of your page. I have a link to my books and this allows those who want to tweet me the opportunity to share it, without having to search through a ton of unrelated posts. I use this method when re-tweeting my fellow authors and let me tell you it is a blessing. If I have to scroll through dozens of tweets without finding one of your books, I simply give up. If you don’t care, I don’t care.

While I am on the topic of Twitter, let me provide some advice here. If you are an author, please, please, please: Reconsider whether you want to tweet that inflammatory political comment. Too often, many do not exercise caution or even good judgment when it comes to this topic. Mind you, I am not talking about re-tweeting things that are intellectually critical about a politician or a potential issue, but the ones that are downright mean-spirited. The reason for this is that there is a very strong possibility you will most likely alienate a potential reader.

I screen every new follower, to see what they post, when I am thinking about following them back. Often I see completely discredited commentary or inflammatory rhetoric. Not only am I not going to follow you, but I am certainly not going to buy your books. That’s not to say that I demand everyone to be like me, or to refrain completely from discussing issues, but I draw the line when it comes to crudely bashing someone simply because you disagree with them.  We need to return the word civil back to civil discourse. The literary world is tough enough that you don’t need to chase away any potential readers. 

Up next: Publicity - Fake it, Till You Make it.

This isn’t intended to be a complete list, but some suggestions as to what has and hasn’t worked for me.

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