u/david29753

Achilles looked past him briefly, toward the ash-fields where Troy still replayed itself in broken echoes.

“Was it worth it in the end?” he asked.

Odysseus paused. “The battle, the victory?”

“No,” Achilles said. “Living.”

“You would have had glory.”

“Glory,” Achilles said softly. Then he laughed once. Small. Dry. Almost kind.

“I heard that word a lot when I was alive.”

He looked at Odysseus more directly now.

“If I could return,” Achilles said, “I would choose to be the lowest man alive over all of that glory.”

Then, almost quietly: “Go home,” he said. “Or don’t. It makes no difference to me anymore.”

And just like that, the greatest hero of Troy stopped being part of the conversation.

Read the rest of the story: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX31M4MQ

THE TWO WARRIORS STOPPED about twenty paces apart. For a moment neither moved. Wind rolled across the plain. Dust shifted around their feet. Then Hector charged. Faster than I expected a man wearing bronze armour could move. But Achilles moved faster. As they came together Achilles took one step sideways. Then his sword flashed once through the morning light, and that was it. No long duel. No dramatic struggle. Just one impossible strike and Hector’s head hit the dirt before his body did.

I just stared at the battlefield.

“Righto,” I whispered quietly to myself. “So that’s what a demigod looks like.”

A MODERN ODYSSEY, Available now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX31M4MQ

THE TWO WARRIORS STOPPED about twenty paces apart. For a moment neither moved. Wind rolled across the plain. Dust shifted around their feet. Then Hector charged. Faster than I expected a man wearing bronze armour could move. But Achilles moved faster. As they came together Achilles took one step sideways. Then his sword flashed once through the morning light, and that was it. No long duel. No dramatic struggle. Just one impossible strike and Hector’s head hit the dirt before his body did.

I just stared at the battlefield.

“Righto,” I whispered quietly to myself. “So that’s what a demigod looks like.”

A MODERN ODYSSEY, Available now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX31M4MQ

To celebrate the release of Ashes of Angkor, book 4 in the Jack Rourke series, the 3^(rd) book in the series, The Blue Diamond Affair, will be free as an eBook on Amazon for five days only starting today. So get your free eBook now, and if you enjoy it leave a review on Amazon – thanks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSKLNP8M

Just published my 4th Jack Rourke adventure, so I am giving the first in the series for free, hopefully as a starter. Enjoy it, then buy the next one!

https://preview.redd.it/9drpw4byve5h1.png?width=532&format=png&auto=webp&s=52a3027400a0464723fd0f925a3e0694ca5a283e

I am giving my first book for free for a limited time - I have just released the 4th book in the series, and there are references to characters and events from the first book. So to make it easier for readers, here is the first in the series for free. Grab your free book, buy the latest in the series, and all will become a lot clearer. Whatever, it's a great read on its own, so give it a go. Oh yes, when you go to the Amazon page it lists all the books in the series. So I don't have to.

A love story for the ages set in New Zealand and the Pacific- He wanted adventure. Instead, he found her, an unexpected passion that turns into a fight for survival, and a journey into danger that could destroy them both.

Coral Grave by Harry H Black– unputdownable, unforgettable, and a powerful ending that defies all predictions.

eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GMPCMTYV

FREE EBOOK! THE SECOND TITLE in the Jack Rourke adventure series is free to download from 28^(th) May for a limited time!

A love story for the ages set in New Zealand and the Pacific:

Coral Grave by Harry H Black– unputdownable, unforgettable, and a powerful ending that defies all predictions.

I read a lot about a good way to promote your book is to use Free Book deals or Discount deals. Coming from a strong retail background I have some doubts about this. Heavy discounting cheapens the value perception of the product, and giving it away free drives traffic but without revenue, and there is no guarantee customers will come back and then pay full price. Am I wrong?

If you want an updated version of the Odyssey, read : Odysseus and Kev, the long journey home. Brings the story up to date as told by an Aussie on a stag do in Turkey who gets misplaced and ends up as Odysseus's best mate. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX31M4MQ

This was one of my weirdest experiences as a writer. Writing the memoirs of an Aussie drug and sex addict and his crazy adventures in Thailand and Cambodia. He was a real psycho, wavering between threatening me, insulting me, and being my best mate. He spewed out a long stream of disconnected memories over a few weeks and I had to make sense of it all. I am not sure if I believe it all, some of it is pretty outrageous, but he insisted it was all true. So anyway I finally finished it and published it, its on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But what a wild ride....the guy was, and still is, a complete head case. I published it not quite under his name, but close to it, rather than mine.

https://preview.redd.it/km2q3dsd432h1.png?width=1500&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2355cf5cc007d9d576dbb2ddd06ada8a30e1313

I am a writer, written some books about bar girls in SE Asia. A while ago got into an online argument with a guy who reckons he had been everywhere, done everything - ice addict, sexpat in Pattaya, prison time in Klong Prem, Cambodian gangsters, all sorts. So I said, that would make a great book. Long story short we wrote his memoir together - him writing a continuous stream of consciousness diahorea and me trying to organise it, make sense of it, and put it into chapters. Some of it was basic, some so outrageous I am not sure if I believe it all. Anyway it's finished and published. I am not here to advertise, just to say it was a weird experience, ghost writing the adventures of a drug addicted patty monger. Actually proofreading it I really enjoyed it, might read it again for fun. Let me know if anyone is interested.

I am a writer, written some books about bar girls in SE Asia. A while ago got into an online argument with a guy who reckons he had been everywhere, done everything - ice addict, sexpat in Pattaya, time in Klong Prem, Cambodian gangsters, all sorts. So I said, that would make a great book. Long story short we wrote his memoir together - him writing a continuous stream of consciousness diahorea and me trying to organise it, make sense of it, and put it into chapters. Some of it was basic, some so outrageous I am not sure if I believe it all. Anyway it's finished and published. I am not here to advertise, just to say it was a weird experience, ghost writing the adventures of a drug addicted patty monger. Actually proofreading it I really enjoyed it, might read it again for fun. Let me know if anyone is interested.

I finished my latest book last week, had a couple of read-throughs on my laptop, picked up some errors, fixed them. Then just to be sure I converted to epub and downloaded to my Kindle, to get the real 'reader' experience. Immediately picked up a missing word, 'shall' in the epigraph. Read it through, picked up some small errors (an 'an' instead of 'a', missing 'r' in 'angrier'). Read it through a second time, found some spacing errors I had missed before. Changed some phrases, the odd word here and there. Finally decided to publish and be damned, I could spend the rest of my life on this thing....any other new authors have this problem?