Friday, December 10, 2010

You could think of him as Tricia's stepbrother . . .

You might be surprised to find out that writers/authors actually fall in love with their characters.  Not the same way we fall in love with our significant others ... but they can become as precious to us as our pets and maybe even children.  (Um, I don't have kids, so I can't verify the last bit of that statement.)  We love them, care about them, and want them to do well.

I wish I could say that Jeff, Richard, Brenda, and Maggie have done well.  The honest truth is they haven't yet.  But, I still have hope they're going to find a new audience via e-books.

Between books, I've "played" with Jeff many times.  In fact, I have a whole notebook of short stories that explored his background and his rocky relationship with his brother Richard.  Because these stories are not mysteries, I decided not to share them with readers.  Well, except for one.

Humbug.sm I wanted to bridge the gap between Cheated By Death (the third Jeff Resnick mystery) and Bound By Suggestion (the fourth, which I have not yet released).  So I wrote a story that lays the groundwork for one of the subplots in Bound By Suggestion in a little story called BAH! HUMBUG -- and it just so happens to be a Christmas story.  It's available from Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's NOOK, and for other e-readers such as Sony and via Kobo, Apple (iPad) and Diesel--and of course via Smashwords.

BAH! HUMBUG takes place on Christmas Day--the day after the end of Cheated By Death.  Jeff and Maggie spend Christmas dinner with Maggie's relatives.  It's a Christmas to remember ... but who wants to?

Don't have an e reader?  You can download free software from Amazon and Barnes & Noble to read ebooks (or short stories) on your computer and other electronic devices.

By the way, you can try a free sample of the story via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords and then decide if you want to purchase it.

Why not give Jeff a try?