Two free titles on Kindle this weekend!

Two of my Scott Dyson stories are free on Kindle this weekend, starting today, for five days.  The KDP Promotion starts today (January 29) and runs through Monday, February 2nd. 

Here are the links to the titles (which include SIX short stories!!) on Amazon:

JACK'O'LANTERN (and THE MOMENT and SARAH'S PUPPY)

THE GATEWAY (and AMERICA'S PASTIME and HOT SPOT)

Please download them (even if you're not crazy about reading them)!  And if you do enjoy them, consider leaving a review on Amazon. 

AMERICA'S PASTIME describes a horrific scene at a major league baseball stadium...but probably not what you're picturing...how's that for a sports blog tie-in?

Thank you!

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Busy Chicago Winter...

So a lot has been happening in Chitown sports.  I don't have time to do much in-depth writing about anything in particular, so I'm just going to touch on the high points:

1. Bears go 5-11, fire Emery, Trestman, Kromer, and every other coach.  They turn around and hire John Fox, fresh off a playoff appearance with the Broncos after being in the Super Bowl last year.  Fox has hired good coordinators (a d- coordinator from the 49'ers who's supposed to be great, and the o- coordinator from Denver who seems pretty good too) and a bunch of decent position coaches.  Chicagoans are giddy about having a REAL head coach who knows how to run an NFL franchise.  Oh, and they hired a young fresh GM named Ryan Pace, who seems to not be threatened by making strong hires like Fox.
2. Cubs already had announced Joe Maddon as their field manager, and then they turned around and grabbed Jon Lester, the top free agent pitcher.  They made a few other signings as well, including Jason Hamel (who was traded with Samarzidja  for the A's top prospects last summer) and a catcher (name escapes me) from the D-backs.  Then they traded for Dexter Fowler, a high OBP guy from Houston and a switch-hitting CF.  
3. The White Sox made headlines by trading for Samarzidja, getting him from the A's for a package of prospects.  They also signed Adam LaRoche and a closer named Robertson.  They should get significantly better next year.  
4. The Bulls were doing great but seem to have hit a wall, with injuries slowing Noah and Mike Dunleavy, and with Jimmy Butler coming back down to Earth after a pretty incredible start to the season.  Taj, Derek and Hinrich have also missed a few games (as has Butler) due to injuries and illness.  The best thing has been Pau Gasol, who has been absolutely outstanding at the PF for the Bulls.
5. The Black Hawks look a little inconsistent, but they're coming off their All Star break, and they should look better into the second part of the season.  Their rookie, Tavo Taravinin (I know I butchered that spelling) has received some valuable experience, as has rookie goalie Scott Darling.  Kane and Toews are doing great, and Sharp is back from an injury.  Versteeg is out currently, but should be back sometimes soon.  
6. Ernie Banks died at age 83.  Was there a better person to represent Chicago baseball, indeed, Chicago sports?  Incredible player, and as nice a guy as you'd want to meet, by all accounts.  He's one of the players I never had a chance to get an autograph.  He was never down in Arizona for spring training.  (I got Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and Ron Santo down in Mesa, and got guys like Hundley, Beckert, Kessinger, and many others at my one and only Cubs Convention.)  

So that's about it.  There is plenty to say about each and every one of those topics, but for now, that will suffice.  Now go buy a Scott Dyson horror short story!  (Thanks, if you do so...)

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Free ebooks for Amazon Kindle or Kindle App users

Should I be writing about the Cubs?  Yeah, probably.  After all they signed Jon Lester to a 6 year deal, and look to be going for it next year. 

But I'm not going to.  Instead I'm going to write about the two ebooks that I have on free promotion from today (12/10/14) to Sunday (12/14/14). 

SOLE OCCUPANT is a 2400 word short story with a 700 word bonus short included (called THE ONLY SOLUTION). 

DEAD OR ALIVE is a 7800 word short story, the first of a trio of short stories that are also collected in THE STRIKER FILES. 

Here's the links:

SOLE OCCUPANT

DEAD OR ALIVE

On the off chance that anyone looks in here and sees this, please feel free to download them!  Review them if you like them!  (Or if you don't...)

You go to Amazon and purchase them with the 1-Click ordering.  Thank you!

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Off Topic - New fiction release: DIE 6, a 6-short story collection

Sorry to interrupt your busy sports news with this tidbit, but I've released a 36,400 word collection of short fiction titled DIE 6, available in the Amazon Kindle Store for $2.99.  It contains 2 science fiction stories, three horror/ghost stories, and one that I suppose is fantasy.  Here are the titles:

• An Artificial Yearning
• Blood Ties
• The Fun House
• The Tooth Fairy
• Time Heals All Wounds
• The Ghost Train

Please feel free to check it out on Amazon at this link.  Please download a sample and see if it's the sort of thing you might like. 

Thank you! 

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QUANTUM ZOO is live on Amazon!

The SF/Fantasy anthology QUANTUM ZOO is available for purchase at the Amazon Kindle Store for the low low price of $0.99.  It's currently on sale to celebrate its release, but it will go up to regular price soon, so if you're a fan of those genres and enjoy short-form fiction, give it a try! 

My own story in there is called "Playing Man", and it envisions a future where Earth is a wildlife reserve and botanical garden, as well as a source of natural resources for a space-faring human civilization.  But strange things happen when you take humans out of the picture on Earth while leaving the other life forms to their own devices. 

It's one of 12 stories themed around the word "Zoo".  Other excellent authors in the collection include Bridgette McKenna, J.M. Ney-Grimm, D.J. Gelner, John Hindmarsh, and seven more (besides me). 

Please take a look!  Here's the link:  QUANTUM ZOO for Kindle

Thanks!

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Cover Art for QUANTUM ZOO!!

Here's the cover art for the anthology where my story "Playing Man" (by Scott Dyson) will be appearing with 11 other stories:

More details will be forthcoming!

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In the meantime, feel free to check out my title , Doing Disney: How To Spend A Week At Disney's Florida Resort   It's available on Amazon for $2.99.

Thanks!


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Off topic - More Short Story Releases...

I've been able to release two more short stories on Amazon for Kindle.

The latest is NIGHT FAMILY, a 8400 word short story about spoiled rich girl, Lisa Warwick, who goes looking for "something different" with her friends and finds it in a "goth" club called Skid Row.  It is the first piece of new fiction I've published (the others were all written over ten years ago).  It's a prequel to another piece I've recently published, called DEAD OR ALIVE.  You can buy it here at Amazon for $0.99:  NIGHT FAMILY

The other is DEAD OR ALIVE, a 7800 word short story about detective Rick Striker, who takes on the missing persons case of Lisa Warwick for her father.  He finds that the trail leads to a club called Skid Row and that the people involved are even stranger to him than he expected to find in a goth dance club.  DEAD OR ALIVE was originally written in the 1990's but was expanded from its original 2500 word length to its current form.  You can buy it here at Amazon, also for $0.99:  DEAD OR ALIVE

I know it isn't sports, but it's all I got right now.  (Well, that's not really true.  I have plenty of thoughts about the Cubs, the Sox, the Bulls, the Hawks and the Bears' off season, but I haven't really had the time to put something coherent together.  Soon.  That's assuming that anyone even reads this blog...)

Thanks for checking out my short stories.  Please download samples and check them out, see if they are something you might be interested in reading (if you like reading stories in the horror genre...)

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14 DARK WINDOWS is live on Amazon!

I'm happy to announce the publication of my short story collection, 14 DARK WINDOWS, on Amazon for Kindle.  It contains 14 short stories, 10 of which are available as pairs or trios in four different Kindle short books, and 4 more that have not been published before.  It is available for purchase for $2.99.

You can check out the title here:  14 DARK WINDOWS.

Thank you for any interest!

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