Tag Archives: books

Become the Thing they Fear

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Cover Reveal and Pre-Order!

She’s coming back. Forge of the Assassin will release on July 15, and is available for pre-order now (currently only Amazon and Google, but the rest will come soon)!

arianneelliott.artstation.com

Codename Ares. A legend. A ghost story. They say that seven years ago, she rained down hell from the stars, cutting through everyone in her path: cops, intelligence officers, assassins. All for a baby girl. They say that if she really was just one person, she died under a thousand tonnes of rubble.

They’re wrong.

Alexiares has kept Baby safe for seven years, staying one step ahead of assassins and hunters. But one step isn’t enough. Not when their new enemy reveals himself. Her worst nightmare becomes reality: Baby is ripped from her. Taken to be made into the perfect assassin – something Alexiares promised she wouldn’t allow.

The clock’s ticking and her failure is almost complete. She must work out why she’s still alive while staying ahead of the assassins, a government task force, and the malevolent whispers of her own broken mind. She must find a way to rescue Baby. And she must remind them all of one thing…

She is the only thing they fear.

It probably goes without saying that this is a sequel to Church of the Assassin, so if you haven’t read that yet, now would be a good time to catch up! I have something weird and new coming soon to go with the pre-orders, and in the meantime, because it seems to have become a thing I do now, here’s a soundtrack thing:

The Devil’s Daughter

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Time has flown, and it’s already been almost a year since Fear of the Dark released. In that time, I have been working on, as writers tend to do, the next book. It will be coming later this year, and the release date will probably come with the cover reveal, as usual. Alexiares and Baby are back for a direct sequel to sci-fi thriller Church of the Assassin, and the title is…

Forge of the Assassin.

The next few books are locked in: both Church and Fear were the first in trilogies (I think of them as character trilogies, not story trilogies), and because they tightly interweave, I’ll be alternating. Assassin 2, Fear 2, Assassin 3, Fear 3.

As well as this next book, I have something else exciting coming in June or July. It’s something that I have wanted to do for some time, and which a lot of people have asked for, and will hopefully be the first of many! As soon as it’s finished and I have a release date, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, you can subscribe to my extremely infrequent newsletter for a free copy of Acts of Violence and, hopefully, something extra for this next release. And/or you could pick up Church of the Assassin to get a head-start on the story.

If you buy your books through Google Play, you can get all 6 books for a 50% discount!

Sky Full of Stars

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Getting reviews for books is even harder than actually selling books. A fraction of the people who read a book will review it, so when I got out of the shower the other week to a surprise email telling me I’d won a bundle of five reviews from Readers’ Favorite for my contributions to their forum, I carefully avoided mentioning that I’ve only posted there twice.

I chose to have Church of the Assassin reviewed, because it probably has the widest potential appeal of all my books, is probably my favourite, and has very little attention.

The result is five 5-star reviews with some nice, quotable lines! Unfortunately, they can’t be posted on most sites like Amazon or Goodreads, because Readers’ Favorite is a professional company, not a customer; however, they’re still nice to get. Here’s a snippet of the book’s six 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite:

Christian Sia – “Ross Harrison plots like a genius, filling the story with twists that readers won’t see coming. The conflict is well-written, and I liked how the author explores the shadowy sect to which the heroine belongs, allowing its effects on her to shine through the story. Church of the Assassin is fast-paced, a real thrill ride and a brilliantly executed page-turner.”

Alex Ndirangu – “I found Church of the Assassin to be spellbinding. Things get even more exciting when fate adds to Alex’s responsibilities. She inherited a baby girl and will run like the wind to keep her out of harm’s way, but first, she will shoot, and she never misses.”

Vincent Dublado – “It is a surprisingly moving sci-fi action novel with a compelling emotional arc.”

K.C. Finn – “Ross Harrison knows how to keep sci-fi fans on the edge of their seats with this fast-paced, cinematically drawn novel that never lets up on the action. […] The worldbuilding is off the scale for its depth, even down to the parlance and cultural attitudes of the characters, which gives Church of the Assassin an immersive quality throughout. This is a highly recommended and accomplished novel that grips readers hard and never lets go.”

Sheena Monnin – “Church of the Assassin by Ross Harrison is masterfully written. The reader will be neck-deep in the quagmire of lies, deceit, action, and murder from the very beginning of the story. […] This is a hair-raising adventure book that is impossible to put down, containing great characters, an excellent plot, and thought-provoking themes throughout.”

Alma Boucher – “Church of the Assassin is jam-packed with action, fast-paced, and never has a dull moment. The storyline is complicated and intriguing. […] Church of the Assassin was worth every minute I spent reading it.”

Starting on December 15, Church of the Assassin will be on sale for 50% off during the Smashwords Winter Sale, and I’m currently writing a direct sequel to it, so now is a good time to read!

Google’s Auto-Narrated Audiobooks

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Finally, after years and years of not trying, I have got my books onto Google Books.

After doing so, I had an interesting offer: be a part of their beta for auto-narrated audiobooks. Auto-narration means that a modern day Microsoft Sam reads to you, entirely failing to understand nuance and emotion, but randomly being pitch perfect when you least expect it. Usually when he has to swear.

Given the number of people who have recently asked me if I have audiobooks available because they can’t read for various reasons, such as dyslexia (it’s three – three people asked), and the currently-prohibitive expense of flesh and blood narrators, I thought I might as well give it a go with book one, Shadow of the Wraith. The result isn’t terrible, bar for the inability of the platform to let me control the length of pauses or use any kind of emphasis. I quite enjoyed listening to it, even if the content itself did make me acutely aware that I wrote most of it when I was twelve and thirteen.

The partially robotic delivery certainly won’t be for some people, and I obviously intend to eventually make real audiobooks – probably after Hollywood gives me an advance for the Avengers-style film series it wants me to write and direct – but hopefully this will allow some people who are interested in the book, but can’t read it, to enjoy it.

Listen to a sample here.

Meanwhile, Shadow of the Wraith is currently free as a clever/crafty way to try to get more sales for the better other books. Find your version of choice here.

Fear of the Dark

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Fear of the Dark is out now for Kindle and in paperback and hardback! This space opera is standalone, and you do not need to have read the previous books in the series (although it helps).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4GPSF18

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B4GPSF18

Do you fear the long dark?

– A dark planet on the galaxy’s edge. A primordial predator. A desperate hunt for a dangerous secret.

When the medical frigate Ruby Rose picks up an SOS from the planet’s lightning-ravaged surface, the medics do not hesitate to drop into the raging storm. But the innocuous little planet is home to something sinister. Something desperate. Something that will stop at nothing to find what it’s looking for.

Across the galaxy, the crew of the Star Wraith receives a call for help. The captain of a medical frigate has lost his medics, and one of their names is all too familiar. But how could the Wraith’s crew know that a simple rescue mission will lead to a string of murders and a waking nightmare that will leave them forever changed? –

Read about the main characters, Archer and Juni here:

Fear: Cover Reveal and Pre-Order

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Fear of the Dark will release in just 20 days, on 9 July, and is now available for pre-order!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4GPSF18

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B4GPSF18

Here, at last, is the cover:

Do you fear the long dark?

– A dark planet on the galaxy’s edge. A primordial predator. A desperate hunt for a dangerous secret.

When the medical frigate Ruby Rose picks up an SOS from the planet’s lightning-ravaged surface, the medics do not hesitate to drop into the raging storm. But the innocuous little planet is home to something sinister. Something desperate. Something that will stop at nothing to find what it’s looking for.

Across the galaxy, the crew of the Star Wraith receives a call for help. The captain of a medical frigate has lost his medics, and one of their names is all too familiar. But how could the Wraith’s crew know that a simple rescue mission will lead to a string of murders and a waking nightmare that will leave them forever changed? –

Fear of the Dark is the sixth book in the NEXUS series but, like most of them, it is standalone. If you happen to know book one and two, though, that will help, because this is finally the return of Archer and Juni!

Character Spotlight: The Assassin

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Juni Lien was supposed to be a woman, not a killing machine. But perhaps for the daughter of three assassins, there was never anything else in the cards.

Juni is second-in-command of the Star Wraith, but sitting in one place is not something she’s used to, and the sense of confinement is growing when we meet her again nearly a year on from books 1 and 2. Working in a team, coming to terms with the fact that she’s in possession of feelings, having to confront herself as a person rather than drifting through life as a weapon…it may be too much. Perhaps she made a mistake in not pulling the trigger when she had Archer in her sights.

For the rest of the team, Juni is an unknown entity – a predator carefully placed among her prey, yet choosing instead to fight alongside them. She could be a valuable and fearsome ally…if she can be trusted.

The assassin will slip out of the shadows soon, in Fear of the Dark…

Arianne has done all of the art for my books since book 3, and you can find more of her work here: arianneelliott.artstation.com

Character Spotlight: The Freelancer

Posted by Ross Harrison on

One of the two main characters of the NEXUS series, I technically haven’t written a book about him for 10 years! Travis Archer is a freelance bounty hunter with just a little obsession with the idea of being a space cowboy.

Archer is half human and half Necurian, an ancient race with psionic abilities. Although Archer can use these abilities, his lacking knowledge of how to do so safely may have caused some problems, just beginning to manifest when we meet him again, a year after the events of books 1 and 2.

He is the de facto captain of the Star Wraith, having uncovered the ship’s ugly truth almost a year earlier. Plagued by nightmares about the things he has been a part of since then, he knows that it isn’t a position he deserves.

The freelancer will drift into town soon, in Fear of the Dark…

Arianne has done all of the art for my books since book 3, and you can find more of her work here: arianneelliott.artstation.com

Authors Give Back

Posted by Ross Harrison on

POSTER ALL

I should probably have written about it before, since it’s already been going for a month, but Smashwords is running a sale during the pandemic to help people stay sane. There are huge discounts on a large number of books, which can be downloaded for any e-reader, including Kindle. This sale, unless it is extended again, will be running until May 31.

It would be nice for authors, in the same position of decline in work and income as everyone else, to see a rise in downloads through this and other legitimate sites, rather than on torrent sites. And don’t forget to take a couple of minutes to post a review when you’ve read them; it only takes a small effort to support all of the authors here providing their hard work for drastically reduced cost, or even free!

Click here to start browsing this vast library of discounted books.

My own books are all anywhere from 30-100% off:

TwitterHeaderGhosts

Pre-order Ghosts of the Fallen

Posted by Ross Harrison on

Ghosts of the Fallen is now up for pre-order (ebook version only) on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. It will be sent to you the moment it is published on November 24.

This is a direct sequel to Blades of the Fallen, so if you haven’t read that, you can use this code to get it for 75% off ($1): TU36E.

Pre-ordering goes a long way to helping the book’s visibility on launch, so any pre-orders would be appreciated.

Kindle-GhostsCover-Med

Four inquisitors, four paths. The path of justice. The path of vengeance. The path of love. The path of fear.

The Vanguard is still reeling from Bane and his master. There are still scattered remnants of the Fallen to hunt down. But so too are there unknown elements moving in the shadows. A cult whose path to their god of war is through the death of inquisitors. An empire on the path to something terrible. And meanwhile, a familiar darkness rises anew.

The little girl with accelerated ageing asked only one thing before she died: don’t let them do this again. It was a promise they could not keep.

Ghosts of the Fallen, coming November 24, 2019