Ronan Cray Takes Manhattan!

If you happen to duck into St. Mark's Bookshop in Manhattan; if you happen to browse the Mystery section for the likes of Robin Cook, Michael Connelly, and Harlan Coben; and if you find yourself staring into the eye of a hurricane, it's your lucky day! You just found a signed, first edition copy of Red Sand. That's right, Red Sand is now available in stores!

Kickstarter with Emma Larkins and Mechalarum

How often do you get a drink named after your book? For Emma Larkins that moment came last week as she launched her Kickstarter campaign. The Mechalarum, a supreme green concoction mixed exclusively at Chelsea Manor in New York City, launched her guests into outer space just as she launched her effort to publish the book of the same name. Check out her seductive video and pitch in a few tenners here. 

What is the Zombie Death Toll?

Day 1
In a city like Shanghai, with 24 million people, 570 people die every day. Let's assume for the sake of argument that whatever causes zombies (alien slime, radioactive water, bacteria) has infected everyone in the city, so whoever dies turns into a zombie. That makes the math easy. That's 570 undead on day one.
Let's say each of them manages to kill, or cause to be killed, one person. Not greedy. You know, loved ones, neighbors, innocent bystanders.
The "cause to be killed" part is crucial because over a few days the death toll leads to mobs, riots, supply chain disruption, fires, anarchy, military crackdowns, martial law.... you get the picture. But I'm getting ahead of myself. On day two:

How do Zombies Taste?

Bitten by zombies? Bite back! Harcos Labs found a way to disinfect festering zombie parts and transform them into tasty snacks. What better way to amble through the zombie apocalypse than munching on a bag of Zombie Skin? Have a hankering for beef jerky? Snap into a Zombie! Need trail food? Zombie toenails make a crunchy treat. Thirsty? Nothing satisfies like detoxified zombie blood. They munched on your friends. Time to return the favor, but remember: revenge is a dish best served cold.
*nom nom nom*

Name This Book

I need your help to name my next book! It’s a zombie adventure with an ensemble cast that takes place around the world (no, not like World War Z. okay, maybe a little). The project is currently called “Dust Eaters”, but maybe something else is better.

Vote for your favorite on Twitter by typing in “ @ronancray #title “ or comment here or on my Facebook page. Thanks for your help!
(Is that right? I’m not too good at Twitter)

Here are the titles I’m considering, and why.

Dust Eaters
The Waiting Dead
Kings of the Apocalypse

Pros/Cons:

Dust Eaters
Pros: No known titles similarly named. Refers to, “Eat my dust”, cause they’re slow, and the characters refer to zombies as Eaters.
Cons: Evocative? Makes you want to read it? Meh.

The Waiting Dead
Pros: Has the word “Dead”. Sounds like “The Walking Dead”. A new way to describe being a zombie
Cons: Has the word “Dead”. Sounds like “The Walking Dead”. “Waiting” isn’t a compelling word for an action book.

Kings of the Apocalypse
Pros: Sounds kick-ass.
Cons: Hard to spell when searching for the book. Long. Sexist, considering the main character is a woman.

No Mulligans in Life

My Grandfather on the Ranch

We live and learn. We die and forget. Such a shame that all that accumulated knowledge and experience should disappear. In everything we do, we make mistakes, learn from them, and (hopefully) do better next time, but in life there is no next time. Or is there?

What if some medical breakthrough allows us a do-over, maybe places our brain inside a cultivated young body or rejuvenates the cells to youth or allows us to live forever (which, even at 100, would make us remarkably young)? What would you do differently?

Life is a Circus

What are you looking at?

Life is a one-ring circus.

When you were young, the circus brought joy and wonder and amazement. You marveled at animals right out of storybooks. You gasped when beautiful women defied death through the air. You cried with laughter at colorful clowns. Invincible strongmen gave you hope. Magicians made you believe.

Then you aged. Every night, from the same uncomfortable seat, through the same tired acts, you see a different show.

You don't laugh at the clown after you learned he's suicidal.
The trapeze artist slept with you, and everyone else.
One drunken night, the magician betrayed his tricks.
The elephants don't remember the veldt.
The fire breather spits mineral oil.
The strong man cries at night.
The tigers have no claws.
The ringleader is a brutal jerk.

Worst of all, they've learned your faults as well. Even in the dark, you feel them watching you.

You pity the people around you, so easily amused. You recall older acts, better acts, but no one listens.

You want to leave, find a new circus, start over, but you know, you know, every circus, in every town, will, over time, mirror this one.

Every night you buy a paper ticket and take your seat.
Every morning you worry they won't give you one this time.
You go. You go.
It's the only show on earth.

Judge a Book by its Cover

Go ahead. Judge a book by its cover. Distill years of work into three seconds. If the name on the spine didn’t sell you, why spend more time on it? You still have to READ the book, so the less time spent in the store, the better. Ever your humble servant, I spent thirty seconds of my own to recommend ten books, in descending order, based on my own assumptions of the title, none of which I have read. It begins with a question…Click Here to read it on The Scrib.

How to use Formulas for Writing

How to Write, Part III 

How to use Formulas for Writing

With an infinite range of characters and plots, how do you consistently make the storytelling interesting for the reader?  Think about a scientific book about the first trip to the moon. The most amazing event of mankind! A feat of engineering genius! The pinnacle of evolution! Yet, your eyes droop, your mind wanders, you reach for the remote. No plot is compelling in its own right. What matters is how it’s told.

Over the years, I've noted some of the techniques other authors use to spruce up their stories, plots, and character development. You’ll forgive me if I make as many film references as I do novels. Scriptwriters are writers too, and in many ways even more attuned to keeping an audience enthralled. Here they are, in no particular order:

How to Escape from Zombies

How do you survive a zombie apocalypse? Are there any tricks you can learn before it happens? Are you ready? 

An explosion in obstacle courses follows that age-old question: are all those hours in the gym making us any more competitive in a Darwinian sense? Joining Tough Mudder, Spartan Beast, and Warrior Dash is new kid on the block Run For Your Lives, a straight up 5K obstacle course with a twist of zombie. Like many keyboard pushers, I thought I'd test myself against the real undead. 

Run for Your Lives complicates a 5K endurance obstacle course with ambling, flesh-eating zombies. To ensure realism, I did not train prior to the event. I haven't run 5 feet in as many years. When there's a fire, I'm the guy walking, not running, for the exits. I wanted to know if I could get up from my keyboard, off my pudgy ass, and run like hell if the occasion called for it.