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

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.