Amazon is featuring the story behind The Dead Man original book series today on their Kindle blog:
I grew up loving those "men's action adventure" paperback novels of the 60s, 70s, and 80s…series like The Destroyer, The Ninja Master, Nick Carter: Spymaster and The Death Merchant. You could find them in finer supermarkets, gas stations, 7-11s and bookstores everywhere. They were the male equivalent of Harlequin romances, though the only romance was often between a man and his AK-47.
The books were short and tightly-written, with hard-boiled heroes, outrageously sexy women, and gleefully over-the-top plots. Nobody would ever mistake them for great literature, but they were enormous fun to read…and to write. I know, because I broke into publishing in the mid-1980s writing one of those series–357 Vigilante by "Ian Ludlow"–while I was still in college.
Sadly, the "men's action adventure" series novels are virtually extinct now, early victims of the narrowing of the paperback marketplace.
But the Kindle offers the perfect medium for the revival of the genre..
Please spread the word. Amazon was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to post on their blog and I want to thank them by bringing as many new readers to their blog as I can!
Congratulations – good luck with it.
Ugh, either I have commented twice or I’ll never be able to comment – either way, it’s uncool. Good luck with it, and congratulations on being asked to blog about your book by Amazon, Lee.
Also, I saw that you had mentioned Ken Levine’s book elsewhere – he credits you with helping him towards publication. I hope his book sells well. I’ll be intrigued to see how it does, considering what a huge following his blog has – he deserves to get some love back from readers.