This is for people who liked my “Zombie Cop” novel.
And, who wanted to have an update on when the sequel would be ready, what it’d be about, and what can be expected.
So, without further ado…
Let’s start with what it’s gonna be about.
After “Zombie Cop” I’m bored with zombies.
Not much else I can say on the subject.
So this next one will be about…
Vampires!
The working title is:
“Vampire Apocalypse”
And, I’m going to start banging out the first draft after next week. My goal is to hammer the entire first draft out in 7 days (14 chapters, writing 2 chapters per day). Will that happen? No idea. Probably I will run into some creative delays like I did on the first one (I hammered out the first 3-4 chapters in 3 days, then put it away for 3 months, go figure…)
But, that’s the plan.
As for the plot?
Well, I don’t wanna drop any spoilers.
But, I will say this:
I am going to do to the vampire mythos what I did to the zombie mythos — that is, tie it into some blatantly Biblical and historical events, and give my own unique “spin” on what I think vampires would really be like.
(i.e. And it ain’t anything Hollywood has done.)
As for the tentative release?
I’m shooting for sometime in December.
(Figure it’ll make a great “stocking stuffer”, yo?)
Why so long a wait?
Because my creative process works like this:
1. Write first draft
2. Let sit for at least 30 days (figure ’til after Labor Day)
3. Do 10 drafts — 5 of those drafts silent reading, 5 reading it aloud (this adds up to about 1 draft per week, which comes out to 10 weeks of editing time)
4. Send to my editor/publisher to edit
Anyway, so that’s the scoop on the sequel.
More info later as it becomes available.
Wait a minute…
What’s that?
You haven’t even read “Zombie Cop” yet?
Didn’t even know it exists?
Want to know more?
Well, anything I say about is is obviously biased.
But, I can say it’s gotten a ton of great reviews.
Including from writers and creatives I highly respect like Bob Bly (author of over 80 books, and easily one of the world’s top copywriters)… Greg Perry (the most published author of computer books on the planet)… and Kirk DouPonce (one of the most in-demand book cover artists in the industry — who designs covers for all the big publishers, like Simon and Schuster, McGraw Hill, Harper Collins/Zondervan and Thomas Nelson).
It’s also gotten lots of praise from my copywriting peers, too.
Like, for example, Jim Clair.
He’s the head writer for the #1 company on Clickbank.
He raved about it to anyone who’d listen when we hung out at our last couple Oceans 4 Mastermind events.
Then there’s also Kevin Rogers.
He’s a professional stand up comedian-turned-copywriter.
He told me on Facebook:
Zombies were never my thing, but you drew me in from the first chapter. You foreshadow like a master.
There’s also Carl Harvey — head writer at MindValley.
(Huge direct response marketing company.)
He told me it kept him up until 3 am and was “genuinely epic” — with the best opener to a book in ages. (He also said he read tons of Jack Reachers, John Grisham, etc and my hook is WAY more addictive.)
Agora copywriter Caleb Osbourne also chimed in.
He said (in his amazon review):
If you’re into ruminations about the secrets and mysteries of ancient times, Sacred texts, and the never-ending saga of supernatural battles of good and evil — again — you. will. love. it.
Anyway, I could go on and on.
Lots of great reviews.
There are a few nitpick reviews, too, of course.
(Including one where I got the reviewer to admit most of his criticism was inaccurate and that he hadn’t read it carefully enough, but I digress…)
But generally, the consensus is:
It’s a fun, easy to read book.
Gross?
Yes.
Violent?
Most definitely.
(One guy said he’d “pray for my deranged soul” after reading it. And my own cousin told me when her step daughter read it she said, “what’s wrong with your cousin??” heh)
A fast, entertaining read?
(Especially for people who don’t normally even read fiction?)
That was the goal.
And, the reviews all seem to say it succeeded on that level.
But, are they right?
Only one way to find out, babycakes.
That’s to read it yourself.
But don’t worry.
No need to read the whole book.
Or, even pay for it.
Amazon has a “see inside” feature that lets you read the first chapter and a half.
I always tell people to give it 3 pages.
If you don’t like it by then, don’t buy it.
You probably won’t like the rest of it.
Life’s too short — move on to another book.
Alright, enough of this clacking.
If you want to read the sample chapter, read through the reviews, and get a “feel” for if you should invest even a second of your time on it, then lurch on over to:
Sheesh this was a long email…
Ben Settle
P.S. If you’ve already read “Zombie Cop”, and would be willing to give it an honest review, I’d definitely appreciate it. Each review helps get it ranked better in amazon (from what I can tell, at least), and so each one counts.
Gracias in advance!
