Tag Archives: Greg Ballan

Great Reads for the New Year

Happy New Year! The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale ends tomorrow. Many of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ve been highlighting them right here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

With the sale drawing to an end tomorrow, I thought I’d highlight a few fun books to jump into with the new year.

The Astronomer’s Crypt

Two years ago on a stormy night, in the dead of winter, Mike Teter experienced something that would change his life forever. Mike was a telescope operator at the world renowned Carson Peak Observatory in New Mexico. We won’t tell you what he saw that night on the mountain nor what happened afterward on a dark stretch of highway, because it would haunt you just as it has haunted Mike. But what we will tell you is that Mike is back at Carson Peak. And what he witnessed that night two years ago is about to become a reality…

Chris Wozney of The Nameless Zine says, “In the best tradition of horror fiction, we have courageous protagonists, characters who cross the line of good and evil in both directions, unspeakable evil from a forgotten age, and a villain behind the scenes who is attempting to bring back dark powers in the (no doubt mistaken) belief that he can control them … Strongly recommended to all who enjoy Stephen King’s novels.”

My novel, The Astronomer’s Crypt, is pulled from over twenty years experience operating telescopes at observatories around the Southwest. You can make this journey into the dark side of astronomy for 75% off with discount code SEY75 through tomorrow at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1025608

Lost Sons: The Battle of Manhattan

Clash of the Titans!

Duncan Kord has traveled the world for many lifetimes. The thousand-year-old Viking warrior was given immortality by an advanced race of beings who literally snatched him from the brink of death on a battlefield in Norway centuries ago. Not only did they save him, they infused his body and mind with the essence of a powerful dragon. Despite his powers, Kord kept mostly to himself, wandering the world, guarding his secrets. Kord’s life changed when he discovered the invader responsible for killing his wife and family and destroying his village all those years ago, is alive and well, and living in New York.

William Jefferson Sagahr has amassed a fortune over many lifetimes. Now living in Manhattan, the powerful magnate is head of a multi-national oil company. The thousand-year-old mercenary warrior was also given immortality and special powers by the same beings who gifted Kord. But Sagahr is nothing like Kord. A twisted evil resides within him, bursting out to wreak havoc on low-income neighborhoods in New York.

Kord travels to New York to confront his ancient nemesis and avenge his Nordic people and his dragon brethren. Sagahr wants to avoid his immortal enemy and hold onto his financial empire while feeding the darker urges burning inside him. A clash of these immortal titans in the heart of Manhattan would mean thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in destruction. Industrialist Brian West and police Lieutenant Robert Mackey must corral these two ancient warriors and keep their powers from leveling the Big Apple.

Lost Sons: The Battle of Manhattan by Greg Ballan is available for 75% off the cover price with discount code SEY75 through tomorrow at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1161235

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys brings you two weird western adventures by authors David B. Riley and Laura Givens. Their heroes ride boldly out of the Far East to find their way in a mythic land of danger, romance, and adventure.

In “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” by David B. Riley, a wandering businessman encounters a Mayan god, crooked enterprises and Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, when all he really wants is to open a gun store. Ling Fung is not any ordinary Chinese entrepreneur–he’s highly skilled in Kung Fu and he can shoot good, too. While his heart is set on business, providence seems to have other plans for him.

Laura Givens brings wily acrobat Chin Song Ping to the Wild West in search of adventure and fortune. He finds little fortune, but plenty of adventure. Chin Song Ping is a scoundrel, a gambler and a trouble magnet. His heart of gold lands him in schemes to outwit would-be gods, cannibal ghosts, insane robots, Voodoo despots and the ultimate evil–bureaucrats. But he is a romantic, and the love of his life is the true treasure he seeks. The odds are always against him but if he survives he will become the Western legend he always was in his own mind.

The Wild West just got a lot wilder!

Midwest Book Review says, “These two Western novellas are seasoned a dash of exotic adventure, featuring cowboy protagonists who hail from the Far East and pursue their dreams in the tough-as-nails frontier. Riveting from first page to last, Legends of the Dragon Cowboys is enthusiastically recommended for public library collections and connoisseurs of the genre!”

Get the book for 75% off at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751811

Discover Hadrosaur Productions

The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale is underway. Many of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ll be highlighting them over the course of the next two weeks here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

My company, Hadrosaur Productions, has long sought to introduce readers to great writers, but we understand choices about where to start when trying a new writer can be difficult. Today, I’m featuring some great books by our authors which serve as an introduction to their worlds. All of these books are 75% off the cover price.

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Upstart Mystique

On its way to a distant colony world, the space vessel Marco P loses all power and an unknown force convinces the navigator that a distant, dead world is the vessel’s true destination. Commander Malcolm Carpenter orders the crew to abandon ship to protect them and to learn how to defeat whatever force has intercepted his ship. The crew discovers a small group of inhabitants, the only people on the planet who were not uploaded into a vast computer network—a computer network captivated by upstart humans and their imaginations. To free his crew and his navigator from the planetary network’s grip, Commander Carpenter must face a moral dilemma. Can he save his crew without condemning a planet’s inhabitants and their digital ancestors to death?

Get Upstart Mystique for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1010602. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

The Way-Out Wild West

Lyn McConchie’s The Way-Out Wild West is a short story collection set in Bodie, Arizona along with a handful of other western locales.

Bodie, Arizona can be a difficult place to locate on a map. Some say it’s because Bodie has been home to inventors who meddled in things humans weren’t meant to know. Others say it’s the visitors from the stars who seem to frequent Bodie. It’s just possible Bodie has become unstuck in time, making it a difficult place to pinpoint. Being unstuck in time, Bodie may have drifted close to the boundaries between life and afterlife. Whatever the case, Bodie is a wild place. In this collection, Lyn McConchie chronicles the adventures of Bodie’s denizens and those of nearby towns, counties and states from the nineteenth century to the present. Saddle up for this collection of twenty-two tales where you will glimpse the way-out, wild west.

The Way-Out Wild West is available for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1125221. Coupon code SEY75 should be applied automatically on checkout.

The Battle of Manhattan

Today finds me at Bubonicon in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I have a busy day scheduled on panels and in the dealer’s room. If you’re in Albuquerque today, I hope you’ll drop by and say hello. Today also marks the release day of Greg Ballan’s latest novel, Lost Sons: The Battle of Manhattan, which I edited this summer. This is a truly epic novel, featuring Greg’s character Duncan Kord. Here’s what the book is about:

Clash of the Titans!

Duncan Kord has traveled the world for many lifetimes. The thousand-year-old Viking warrior was given immortality by an advanced race of beings who literally snatched him from the brink of death on a battlefield in Norway centuries ago. Not only did they save him, they infused his body and mind with the essence of a powerful dragon. Despite his powers, Kord kept mostly to himself, wandering the world, guarding his secrets. Kord’s life changed when he discovered the invader responsible for killing his wife and family and destroying his village all those years ago, is alive and well, and living in New York.

William Jefferson Sagahr has amassed a fortune over many lifetimes. Now living in Manhattan, the powerful magnate is head of a multi-national oil company. The thousand-year-old mercenary warrior was also given immortality and special powers by the same beings who gifted Kord. But Sagahr is nothing like Kord. A twisted evil resides within him, bursting out to wreak havoc on low-income neighborhoods in New York.

Kord travels to New York to confront his ancient nemesis and avenge his Nordic people and his dragon brethren. Sagahr wants to avoid his immortal enemy and hold onto his financial empire while feeding the darker urges burning inside him. A clash of these immortal titans in the heart of Manhattan would mean thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in destruction. Industrialist Brian West and police Lieutenant Robert Mackey must corral these two ancient warriors and keep their powers from leveling the Big Apple.

This is the second novel Greg has written featuring Duncan Kord. The first novel is Lost Sons, which you can find at Amazon.com. I read the book and really enjoyed it, so I was delighted that Greg submitted the sequel to Hadrosaur Productions for publication.

Lost Sons: The Battle of Manhattan is available in the following formats:

A Deal on the Hybrid Series

The annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is underway. It gets its name because where I live in the northern hemisphere, readers are loading up their e-readers for great beach reading and vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter and people are spending time in a warm and cozy place reading. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are available at deep discounts this month and I’ll be highlighting them all month long here at the Web Journal. If you’re looking for a specific title, you don’t have to wait for me to highlight it, just visit http://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.php and click on the book you’re interested in. On its page is a link to Smashwords if its available there. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device.

Today, I’m highlighting the Hybrid novels by Greg Ballan. These books feature Erik Knight who has alien DNA which give him superhuman powers. However, he doesn’t know the extent of those powers and that scares him. The series consists of two duologies. In each case, the first book is just 99 cents and the second is half off. In Hybrid, Erik first learns about his powers. In Hybrid: Forced Vengeance, he’s confronted by both terrestrial and extraterrestrial threats. In the follow-up Ethereal War duology, Erik finds himself caught in the middle of the ultimate war, the war between heaven and hell!

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for just 99 cents! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387

Hybrid: Forced Vengeance

In Hybrid: Forced Vengeance, Human/Esper detective Erik Knight has kept his bargain with the US government by functioning as an undercover operative and CIA Cooler for more than two years. But while away on assignment, Erik’s life is shattered when he finds out his wife has been killed in a car accident. After attending her funeral, Erik can still feel a subtle trace of his beloved in his mind even as he throws himself back into his work to cope with her death. When the daughter of the French president begins getting death threats, Knight is assigned to protect her. After he foils two attempts on her life, he discovers that the radical group accused of the act is not involved. Joining forces with the group’s leader, Knight discovers that the plot originated from inside his own government — and that the connection between the assassination attempts and his wife’s death goes beyond anything he’s ever faced.

Hybrid: Forced Vengeance is available for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1133832

Armageddon’s Son

In Armageddon’s Son, the forces of Light and Dark wage war on and above Earth as each side seeks human allies to advance either the destruction or salvation of an ignorant mankind. In one bold, desperate act, an agent of Chaos has stolen the most powerful and coveted holy relic from the very heart of Vatican City, The Ruby Crucifix of Christ. This powerful relic was carved from the very cross where the savior was nailed, and is stained with His blood. This holy relic is said to be the instrument to end Armageddon and herald a new age of Man.

Ex-CIA Agent Erik Knight is recruited to assist his mentor, Martin Denton, in discovering the identity of the mysterious thief and locate the stolen relic. The agents soon realize the clergy of Vatican City have secrets and political schemes surpassing even Washington DC’s politicians. In order to solve the mystery, the agents must break through the papal code of silence and accept that the world as they know it is mere illusion, hiding a brutal physical and spiritual war of ‘Good’ versus ‘Evil’. As Erik Knight digs deeper into the mysteries of faith, he realizes his own alien ancestry is linked to biblical prophecy. Is he the fabled ‘Armageddon’s Son’?

Armageddon’s Son is available for just 99 cents at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928557

Battle Lines

In Battle Lines, the hidden battle between good and evil approaches a boiling point. Each side accuses the other of violating rules set down by the Creator at the dawn of time. The theft of The Ruby Crucifix from Vatican City enrages the forces of light, while the unauthorized birth of Armageddon’s Son spurs the forces of darkness to take desperate, hostile action. As both sides prepare for war, a third party, the rogue arch demon Molec, escalates hostilities by issuing a forbidden soul bounty on light’s new prophet, who happens to be the son of the Hybrid, former CIA Agent Erik Knight. The Hybrid and his trusted ally, Martin Denton, must confront demons, angels, aliens, corrupt politicians and evasive clergymen each with their own agenda and hidden motives as they hunt down Molec in a desperate, final attempt to avoid a catastrophic, world-ending battle which would have repercussions across the galaxy and the multiverse.

Battle Lines is available for just $1.99 at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/957504

Read an Ebook Week 2022

I’m pleased to announce that several of the books I’ve edited are part of the thirteenth annual Smashwords Read an Ebook sale which is running through March 12. We have books that will transport you back to the weird and wild west, books that will take you to other realms and books that will transport you to the distant future. All of these featured ebooks are 75% off the cover price, which makes most of them just $1.00. Read on to learn more!

The Way-Out Wild West

The Way-Out Wild West by Lyn McConchie is largely set in Bodie, Arizona. Bodie can be a difficult place to locate on a map. Some say it’s because Bodie has been home to inventors who meddled in things humans weren’t meant to know. Others say it’s the visitors from the stars who seem to frequent Bodie. It’s just possible Bodie has become unstuck in time, making it a difficult place to pinpoint. Being unstuck in time, Bodie may have drifted close to the boundaries between life and afterlife. Whatever the case, Bodie is a wild place. In this collection, Lyn McConchie chronicles the adventures of Bodie’s denizens and those of nearby towns, counties and states from the nineteenth century to the present and beyond. Saddle up for this collection of tales where you will glimpse the way-out, wild west.

In this collection, you’ll find tales of ghosts and tales of magic. You’ll also find science fictional tales. In some stories, aliens visit the wild west. In others, we see the wild west’s sensibility move out into the stars or even across universes.

Get The Way-Out Wild West for just $1.00 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1125221

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys brings you two weird western adventures by authors David B. Riley and Laura Givens. Their heroes ride boldly out of the Far East to find their way in a mythic land of danger, romance, and adventure.

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys

In “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” by David B. Riley, a wandering businessman encounters a Mayan god, crooked enterprises and Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, when all he really wants is to open a gun store. Ling Fung is not any ordinary Chinese entrepreneur–he’s highly skilled in Kung Fu and he can shoot good, too. While his heart is set on business, providence seems to have other plans for him.

Laura Givens brings wily acrobat Chin Song Ping to the Wild West in search of adventure and fortune. He finds little fortune, but plenty of adventure. Chin Song Ping is a scoundrel, a gambler and a trouble magnet. His heart of gold lands him in schemes to outwit would-be gods, cannibal ghosts, insane robots, Voodoo despots and the ultimate evil–bureaucrats. But he is a romantic, and the love of his life is the true treasure he seeks. The odds are always against him but if he survives he will become the Western legend he always was in his own mind.

The Wild West just got a lot wilder!

Midwest Book Review says, “These two Western novellas are seasoned a dash of exotic adventure, featuring cowboy protagonists who hail from the Far East and pursue their dreams in the tough-as-nails frontier. Riveting from first page to last, Legends of the Dragon Cowboys is enthusiastically recommended for public library collections and connoisseurs of the genre!”

Get the book for just $1.00 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751811

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for just $1.00 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387.

Upstart Mystique is an exciting science fiction novel that takes a good hard look at what makes us human.

Upstart Mystique

On its way to a distant colony world, the space vessel Marco P loses all power and an unknown force convinces the navigator that a distant, dead world is the vessel’s true destination. Commander Malcolm Carpenter orders the crew to abandon ship to protect them and to learn how to defeat whatever force has intercepted his ship. The crew discovers a small group of inhabitants, the only people on the planet who were not uploaded into a vast computer network—a computer network captivated by upstart humans and their imaginations. To free his crew and his navigator from the planetary network’s grip, Commander Carpenter must face a moral dilemma. Can he save his crew without condemning a planet’s inhabitants and their digital ancestors to death?

Get Upstart Mystique for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1010602

Hybrid: Forced Vengeance

Around the end of 2015, my editor at Lachesis Publishing urged me to read the novel Hybrid: Forced Vengeance by Greg Ballan. I really enjoyed this fun thrill-ride of a novel. A little over three years later, Lachesis announced it would not be publishing new novels and Greg mentioned he had two new Hybrid novels. I knew I wanted them for Hadrosaur Productions. More recently, the rights for Greg’s two novels with Lachesis reverted to him and he asked if I would be interested. There was no question I wanted the complete set of adventures featuring Erik Knight. I published Hybrid back in June. Today, I’m proud to announce I’ve come full circle with the sequel and the Hadrosaur Productions edition of Hybrid: Forced Vengeance is now available.

Detective Erik Knight has both human and Esper DNA. The Espers are an alien race which lived on Earth in the distant past. Now in the present, Erik has kept his bargain with the US government by functioning as an undercover operative and CIA Cooler for more than two years. But while away on assignment, Erik’s life is shattered when he finds out his wife has been killed in a car accident. After attending her funeral, Erik can still feel a subtle trace of his beloved in his mind even as he throws himself back into his work to cope with her death. When the daughter of the French president begins getting death threats, Knight is assigned to protect her. After he foils two attempts on her life, he discovers that the radical group accused of the act is not involved. Joining forces with the group’s leader, Knight discovers that the plot originated from inside his own government — and that the connection between the assassination attempts and his wife’s death goes beyond anything he’s ever faced.

Here’s what I wrote on Goodreads after reading the first edition of the novel: “Through the course of the novel, Knight gets caught up in a web of intrigue, suspense, and government conspiracy. Ballan introduces us to many characters, each with their own agendas. Most important of all, Hybrid: Forced Vengeance never forgets to be a fun-filled, action-packed ride. At times, Ballan threatens to go over the top with some of the situations he presents, but superhero stories are supposed to be morality plays that pit the best heroes against the worst villains in the most extreme circumstances. Forced Vengeance delivers just that.” That still sums up my opinion in a nutshell. I think we’ve strengthened the novel for this new edition and added a touch of veracity to those points where I think Greg threatened to go over-the-top. In the process, I don’t believe we took away any of the fun. If anything, I think we smoothed out the language just a little bit so the fun comes through even better.

You can get Hybrid: Forced Vengeance in a beautiful print edition at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SP6GQHX/

Hybrid: Forced Vengeance is available for Kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/Hybrid-Forced-Vengeance-Greg-Ballan-ebook/dp/B09SYGMCVJ/

The novel is also available for Kindle, and just about every other e-reader device and app imaginable at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1133832

Copies will be coming soon to the Hadrosaur Productions store and to other online retailers in both print and ebook formats.

Great Starter Books

The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale is underway. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ll be highlighting many of them over the course of the sale here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

My company, Hadrosaur Productions, has long sought to introduce readers to great writers, but we understand choices about where to start when trying a new writer can be difficult. Today, I’m featuring some great books by our authors which serve as an introduction to their worlds. All of these books are half off the cover price.

Hybrid

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Upstart Mystique

On its way to a distant colony world, the space vessel Marco P loses all power and an unknown force convinces the navigator that a distant, dead world is the vessel’s true destination. Commander Malcolm Carpenter orders the crew to abandon ship to protect them and to learn how to defeat whatever force has intercepted his ship. The crew discovers a small group of inhabitants, the only people on the planet who were not uploaded into a vast computer network—a computer network captivated by upstart humans and their imaginations. To free his crew and his navigator from the planetary network’s grip, Commander Carpenter must face a moral dilemma. Can he save his crew without condemning a planet’s inhabitants and their digital ancestors to death?

Get Upstart Mystique for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1010602. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically on checkout.

Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel is the story of Mabel, an angel from Hell, who accompanies General Grant’s army during the last days of the Civil War only to discover that Martians are watching the Earth with envious eyes and slowly drawing their plans against us. Not only that, but Mabel has to contend with her evil sister, who wants to have humans for dinner. Although Mabel and Grant get the upper hand before the war ends, the battle of good against evil isn’t won so quickly. Several years later, in San Francisco, Mabel just wants to have fun with her friend Miles O’Malley, when she discovers her sister and the Martians have joined forces with a college fraternity and humanity may be on the dinner menu.

Christine Wald-Hopkins of The Arizona Daily Star writes, “This quirky new novel by Tucsonan David B. Riley is a cross-genre romp, religious fantasy meets historical fiction, science fiction, zombie ‘Animal House.’”

Get the book for 50% off at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/924099. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Already read these, or just want to browse for something different? Every single Hadrosaur Productions ebook at Smashwords is on sale through January 1. Find the complete listing at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/davidleesummers.

Publishing Update, Autumn 2021

This autumn finds me in full-out editing and layout mode. I’m working on some of my own titles along with some books by other authors, all to be released through Hadrosaur Productions. I thought I’d take this opportunity to glimpse at the books that will be appearing in the coming months. Note, links in this post will take you to pages where you can learn more about the books I mention.

Greg Ballan should be no stranger to fans of Hadrosaur Productions. We recently published the second edition of his novel Hybrid featuring detective Erik Knight who learns he carries the DNA of an ancient warrior race and can literally transform into a super-powered being to protect the Earth. We also published Armageddon’s Son and Battle Lines, which form the Ethereal War duology in which Erik Knight literally battles forces of heaven and hell. I’m currently editing Greg’s novel Hybrid: Forced Vengence which bridges the gap between Hybrid and Armageddon’s Son. While Erik is on assignment overseas, his wife is killed. Erik is soon sent on another assignment to guard the daughter of France’s president from a suspected terrorist plot. While there, he starts picking up hints that his wife may not be dead after all. Instead, she might have been abducted for a sinister purpose.

Also in the wings is another book by Greg Ballan called Lost Sons: The Battle for Manhattan. While Greg’s Hybrid novels present his take on superheroes, the Lost Sons series combines elements of mythology, folktales and kaiju.

I’m also excited to be editing a new collection of short stories by Lyn McConchie called the Way Out Wild West. Like Greg, Lyn should be no stranger to Hadrosaur fans. Her stories have appeared in both Hadrosaur Tales and Tales of the Talisman. As you might imagine from the title, this is a wild assortment of weird western tales. If you like tales of ghosts, strange inventions, and mysterious happenings in the old west, you won’t want to miss this book, which should be available in early 2022.

While we’re talking about the weird and wild west, I can now announce that new editions of my Clockwork Legion novels will be appearing soon from Hadrosaur Productions. Sky Warrior Publishing has released the rights to me. As of this writing, I’ve completed typesetting of the new edition of Owl Dance and I just have a few finishing touches to put on Lightning Wolves. As soon as we’ve worked out a few behind-the-scenes details, I’ll be uploading the new editions to ebook and print vendors. I expect the new editions will be available by the end of the year and will make an announcement as soon as they’re available. New editions of The Brazen Shark and Owl Riders will also be forthcoming, but they will happen after I get a few of these other projects caught up.

For a while, I’ve also been working on revising and reissuing my Space Pirates’ Legacy novels. I’m currently working on the final novel in that series, Heirs of the New Earth. As with the other novels in this series, I’ve been sharing my analysis of the books and updated chapters with my patrons at https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers. I was expecting Heirs to be complete by the end of the year, but these additional projects have slowed me down a little. Still, I’m making progress and expect to release updated edition in early 2022. If you want to help make any of these novels happen, be sure to visit my Patreon site. The money I earn there goes to pay cover artists and pay for expenses. One of those recent expenses did actually represent an exciting milestone. Way back in 1994 when we started Hadrosaur Productions, we purchased a block of 100 International Standard Book Numbers. We are coming to the end of the original set of numbers and actually had to purchase ten more to accommodate our forthcoming books!

Finally, there’s yet one more project in the wings. I can’t say much about it yet. What I can say is that in 1995, we started Hadrosaur Tales as a way to showcase the talents of authors. In 2005, we added beautiful artwork and a stronger sense of presentation to the mix and created Tales of the Talisman. This new project is a next step on the journey.

If you’ve kept count through this list, you’ll see we have nine books in various stages of production. I hope the first two of these will be out within the month and the rest should follow in the coming months. Watch this space to learn more about each of these projects as they’re released.

Hybrid Novels on Sale

The annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is underway. It gets its name because where I live in the northern hemisphere, readers are loading up their e-readers for great beach reading and vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter and people are spending time in a warm and cozy place reading. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are available at deep discounts this month and I’ll be highlighting them all month long here at the Web Journal. If you’re looking for a specific title, you don’t have to wait for me to highlight it, just visit http://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.php and click on the book you’re interested in. On its page is a link to Smashwords if its available there. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device.

Today, I’m highlighting the Hybrid novels by Greg Ballan. These books feature Erik Knight who has alien DNA which give him superhuman powers. However, he doesn’t know the extent of those powers and that scares him. In Hybrid, Erik first learns about his powers. In the follow-up Ethereal War duology, Erik finds himself caught in the middle of the ultimate war, the war between heaven and hell!

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Hybrid is available at Smashwords all this month for just 99 cents! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1086387

In Armageddon’s Son, the forces of Light and Dark wage war on and above Earth as each side seeks human allies to advance either the destruction or salvation of an ignorant mankind. In one bold, desperate act, an agent of Chaos has stolen the most powerful and coveted holy relic from the very heart of Vatican City, The Ruby Crucifix of Christ. This powerful relic was carved from the very cross where the savior was nailed, and is stained with His blood. This holy relic is said to be the instrument to end Armageddon and herald a new age of Man.

Ex-CIA Agent Erik Knight is recruited to assist his mentor, Martin Denton, in discovering the identity of the mysterious thief and locate the stolen relic. The agents soon realize the clergy of Vatican City have secrets and political schemes surpassing even Washington DC’s politicians. In order to solve the mystery, the agents must break through the papal code of silence and accept that the world as they know it is mere illusion, hiding a brutal physical and spiritual war of ‘Good’ versus ‘Evil’. As Erik Knight digs deeper into the mysteries of faith, he realizes his own alien ancestry is linked to biblical prophecy. Is he the fabled ‘Armageddon’s Son’?

Armageddon’s Son is available for just $1.99 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928557

In Battle Lines, the hidden battle between good and evil approaches a boiling point. Each side accuses the other of violating rules set down by the Creator at the dawn of time. The theft of The Ruby Crucifix from Vatican City enrages the forces of light, while the unauthorized birth of Armageddon’s Son spurs the forces of darkness to take desperate, hostile action. As both sides prepare for war, a third party, the rogue arch demon Molec, escalates hostilities by issuing a forbidden soul bounty on light’s new prophet, who happens to be the son of the Hybrid, former CIA Agent Erik Knight. The Hybrid and his trusted ally, Martin Denton, must confront demons, angels, aliens, corrupt politicians and evasive clergymen each with their own agenda and hidden motives as they hunt down Molec in a desperate, final attempt to avoid a catastrophic, world-ending battle which would have repercussions across the galaxy and the multiverse.

Battle Lines is available for just $2.99 at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/957504

Hybrid by Greg Ballan

Hybrid by Greg Ballan

Today, I’m proud to announce the release of the second edition of Hybrid by Greg Ballan. The first edition had been published by LBF Books, which also published a number of my titles. When his contract reached the end of its term, Greg’s publishing rights reverted to him. In 2019, Hadrosaur published Greg’s Ethereal War duology which is set in the same universe and continues the story of Erik Knight, protagonist of Hybrid. So, I was pleased when Greg submitted Hybrid to Hadrosaur. I re-edited the book. Both Greg and I have learned a lot since our early days with LBF Books and I think this new edition really shines.

Hybrid tells the story of Erik Knight, a small time private investigator, who always knew he was different from everybody else. Keener senses, heightened awareness and an enhanced physical strength that could be called upon by his sheer will. Erik becomes involved with a team of high profile investigators and local police trying to locate a girl who was kidnapped in the middle of a playground amongst dozens of adults and children. None of the adults saw anything and what the children claim to have seen is too farfetched to be believed. The search evolves into a full-scale manhunt into the dark and desolate woodlands of the Hopedale Mountain. After a lethal encounter and a fatality, Erik, the investigators and police realize that what they’re dealing with isn’t a man and possibly isn’t of this world. What they’re dealing with is a sentient evil that has an appetite for young children.

Greg shares the following about this new release:

I am so excited to see Hybrid released by Hadrosaur Productions! I am blessed and grateful to David Lee Summers for rescuing this tale and bringing it back to life. This novel is special to me. This was my first story, created thanks to encouragement from my then 14-year-old son, Thomas. I have great memories of us talking about specific plot points and getting his feedback on chapters as I finished them. This is the beginning of the Erik Knight saga! I never would have believed one tale would evolve into four compelling stories (and a fifth in outline form).

The one constant I’ve had throughout the entire series of books is the creative collaborative partner in my son, which makes each story a personal treasure. I’ve watched my son grow and develop into a talented writer and artist in his own right and have been privileged to share my insights on his own creations. Countless hours have been spent at Honey Dew Donuts in Milford over coffee and blueberry muffins talking about our projects, sharing ideas and even constructive disagreements on the creative process. Every writer should be as fortunate as me to have such an amazing muse.

I’ve matured as a writer over the last fifteen years and it’s rare an author has the chance to take a body of work and make it better. I’ve been lucky to have that opportunity. Hybrid will always have a special place in my heart because it was the beginning of a journey down a path I didn’t believe I could travel. Five novels later, I’m still writing, learning and making life long friendships.

I invite you into the world of Erik Knight; a place of mystery, intrigue and often danger where people aren’t always what they seem and there’s always a mystery to be solved.

You can get Hybrid in print at:

The ebook of Hybrid is available at:

You can learn more about the Ethereal War novels at: