Aliens Versus Zombies debuts! New Website!

July 10 was Release Day for Aliens Versus Zombies. It also was the day my new website officially opened.

Although the preorder special price of $0.99/£0.99 expired at midnight, a one-week promotional price of $1.99/£1.99 is now in effect, expiring on July 23.

As for my new website, it's beautiful. Check it out! Let me know if you'd like to see any new features. I'll see what I can do.

Here are the links to the book and my website.

The website has a blog feature, so I'll likely sunset this blog, once I get the hang of that new blog. :)

I'm already in the process of sunsetting my old website.

Friday, July 10 is release day for Aliens Versus Zombies! Also, new website!

Only 1 day until release!

Special preorder price: $0.99/£0.99 now through Release Day, Friday, July 10. On July 11, the price goes up.

Check out my new website, too: http://MarkTerenceChapman-Author.com.

Aliens Versus Zombies is a most unconventional sci-fi/zombie hybrid (not really horror, but still a zombie story, closer to Warm Bodies in spirit than The Walking Dead).

The end of the world began with a neither a bang nor a whimper, but with pain. March 23, 2033 was the day the Tibetan hemorrhagic fever virus jumped species.

Eighty-two percent of the human race—more than eight billion people—died within six months, screaming as necrotic tissue rotted on the bone. Of the eighteen percent of humanity that survived the pandemic, nearly all suffered through intense fever that resulted in damage to the higher brain functions. They didn’t die, but they also were no longer quite human. Instead, they became ravening feral hordes, forever hunting for living things to eat: snakes, raccoons, people—it didn’t matter. As long as it had a heartbeat, the zombies—for want of a better term—pursued and ate it. Yet, these zombies were not the mindless, shuffling, automatons of horror fiction. They were something else entirely. They were fast, cunning, hunted in packs, and could use simple tools.

The remaining eight-tenths of one percent of humanity—fewer than eight million individuals worldwide—were immune to the virus. However, with the collapse of all governments and military they stood little chance of surviving long-term against almost two billion zombies.

Fourteen months after the plague struck, a Drahtch invasion fleet arrived with more than twenty thousand armed ships, two million ground troops, and a half-million colonists.

Mankind doesn’t stand a chance.

Or does it?

For TWO FREE CHAPTERS, go to my website, below.

Aliens Versus Zombies is available on Amazon in 13 countries: http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies.

To find out more about this and my other novels, go to my old website at http://MarkTerenceChapman.com or my new site (see link above). @MarkTerenceChap

We Did it! The Thunderclap promo campaign for AVZ is a go!

Wednesday night, we reached our goal of 100 supporters for the Aliens Versus Zombies promo campaign. In fact, we exceeded it! The final tally is 103 supporters with a global social media reach of 96,703 people.

Once again, I would like to humbly thank all the supporters of this book. I have acknowledged the previous supporters in earlier missives. These are the latest:

Sean Leas
Gemma Carter
David M Crossett
Pamela Sims
Imani Jones
Julian W Thompson
Beau O'Dell
Kevin Davis
Rose Marie
Delores Walker
Wholohan Gffb James
Shelley M Hall
Angela Fristoe (USA Today bestselling author)
Michael Levy
CM Kaser
Alejandro Campos
Marie Kathryn Casalaspro
Michael Nelson

I hope I spelled everyone's screen names correctly. If not, I apologize.

For those of you who have preordered a copy of the book, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. If you haven't, that's okay, too. :) Your support in this campaign certainly will contribute to the success of the book.

If you would like a copy, or know anyone who might, here is the Amazon link (good for Amazon sites in 13 countries): http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies. The preorder price is only $0.99/£0.99 through Release Day, July 10. On July 11, the price goes up. If you're interested, now's the time to buy.

To read a two-chapter sample before the book ships, go to my website at http://MarkTerenceChapman.com.

Again, thank you so much for everything!

The Aliens Versus Zombies promo campaign is almost ready to launch. With a week left before the campaign kicks off, we have 96 supporters with a global social media reach of 84,000 people! That means only 4 more supporters are needed. (We can fly right past 100 if we want to. It means a broader social reach.)

As always, thanks so much to everyone who supports this book!

If you know of anyone you think might be interested in joining the campaign, feel free to forward this to them.

Thank you for participating in this social experiment.

Here again are the links to the campaign (https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/27110-aliens-versus-zombies#) and to the book age on Amazon (http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies). If anyone wants to know more about me or my books, here are my website (http://MarkTerenceChapman.com) and my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MTChapman.Author).

Preorder "Aliens Versus Zombies for only $0.99/£0.99 through Release Day, July 10

Special preorder price: $0.99/£0.99 now through Release Day, July 10. On July 11, the price goes up.

My latest novel, Aliens Versus Zombies is a most unconventional sci-fi/zombie hybrid (not really horror).

The end of the world began with a neither a bang nor a whimper, but with pain. March 23, 2033 was the day the Tibetan hemorrhagic fever virus jumped species.

Eighty-two percent of the human race—more than eight billion people—died within six months, screaming as necrotic tissue rotted on the bone. Of the eighteen percent of humanity that survived the pandemic, nearly all suffered through intense fever that resulted in damage to the higher brain functions. They didn’t die, but they also were no longer quite human. Instead, they became ravening feral hordes, forever hunting for living things to eat: snakes, raccoons, people—it didn’t matter. As long as it had a heartbeat, the zombies—for want of a better term—pursued and ate it. However these zombies were not the mindless, shuffling, automatons of horror fiction. They were something else entirely. They were fast, cunning, hunted in packs, and could use simple tools.

The remaining eight-tenths of one percent of humanity—fewer than eight million individuals worldwide—were immune to the virus. However, with the collapse of all governments and military they stood little chance of surviving long-term against almost two billion zombies.

And then, fourteen months after the plague struck, the Drahtch invasion fleet arrived with more than twenty thousand armed ships, two million ground troops, and a half-million colonists.

Mankind doesn’t stand a chance.

Or does it?

Aliens Versus Zombies is available on Amazon in 13 countries.

If you'd like to help me promote AVZ, just click on the Thunderclap promotional campaign link below. It shouldn't take more than a few seconds of your time; just a few clicks. All that's required is granting permission for Thunderclap to post one time to your FB and Tumblr accounts, and/or Twitter. (It's just a 140-character ad for my book. You can see the ad at the link below.) Thunderclap will do the rest automatically, on July 1. It's a one-time deal; your walls won't get spammed. The book ships on July 10.

I need only 100 people by June 30 for the campaign to go live (40 so far in less than 7 days. The social media “reach” is already up over 40,000 people.) The more people who click, the wider the message gets spread. Let's get viral!

Thanks!

To find out more about this and my other novels, go to my blog or my website, where there’s a free sample chapter. @MarkTerenceChap

Aliens Versus Zombies promo campaign reaches the final phase

With 11 days to go, the Aliens Versus Zombies promo campaign has reached the 85% mark, with a social media reach of more than 80,500 people. Only 15 more supporters are required.

As I've done several times before, I'd like to thank all the recently joined supporters by name. In order, they are:

Glenn Lockley
Brett Uren
Lisa Medley
Toneye Blakk
Biswadeep Pattnayak
Tom Kane
Shane Rees
Larry Diane Nebelung
Susie Hawes
Carolyn Hamilton
Marcha Fox
Carl Plumer
Andrea Gibson Mann
Heather Kirchhoff
P. Katherine Barkley
Scott Salow

(If I misspelled anyone's name I humbly apologize.)

Thank you all for helping. This Thunderclap campaign is something I'm trying for the first time. If it succeeds, it will be mainly due to you.

Here, again, are the links to the campaign and to the book page on Amazon (in 13 countries.

If you know of anyone you think might be interested in supporting this campaign, please tell them about it. :)

Thanks again.

To find out more about this and my other novels, go to my website, where there’s a free sample chapter. @MarkTerenceChap

Aliens Versus Zombies promo campaign surpasses the 70% mark

The promo campaign for Aliens Versus Zombies has reached 71% of the supporters necessary for the campaign to launch, with a social media reach of more than 64,000 people. That means only 29 more supporters are required.

As I've done twice before, I'd like to gratefully acknowledge another batch of supporters added since the last time. In order,they are:

Kate Watson
Princess Sin
Mikki Hoffman
Kenneth Coe
Calvin Dodge
Danielle Pasca
Dominick Dobson
MT Bostick
David A. Rupprecht
Sam Gregory
Acevongo
William Reece
Valli Pherson
Scott Michael Decker
D. Neil D'Silva
Brian McLaughlin
Norma Seitz
Blaine Coleman
Bex @ Aurelia {Lit}

I hope I spelled everyone's name correctly. If not, I apologize.

Once again, thank you all (and the earlier supporters) for your support!

Here are the links to the campaign (https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/27110-aliens-versus-zombies#) and to the book itself (http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies).

More later.

Another milestone reached in the Aliens Versus Zombies Thunderclap campaign!

I'm pleased to announce that as of three hours ago we have reached 50% of our goal! We still need another 50 supporters, but there are 24 full days left in which to do it.

As always, thanks so much for helping Aliens Versus Zombies get off to a rousing start. The first 50

supporters have a combined social media reach of more than 45,000 people. That's getting the word out. :)

In an earlier update, I listed the first 34 supporters. Here are the next 16:

Casey Harvell
Anthony D. Lombardi
Tony
Seth Newman
K.s. Crooks
Dale Stiffler
Janet Smith Brown
Brenda Lacy
Venus Morales Author
Kristin Lundgren
Linda Bouyea
Michael Peirce
Matthew Pittaway
Jay Brown
P.D.Roberts
Roy Goodwin

My heartfelt thanks to each of you for helping me with this campaign. :)

Now, let's go get another 50! Here's the link to the campaign: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/27110-aliens-versus-zombies#

And here's the link to preorder AVZ, if you're so inclined: http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies

Mark.

Major milestone reached in Aliens Versus Zombies Thunderclap promo campaign

As of a few minutes ago, the Thunderclap campaign for Aliens Versus Zombies has surpassed the 1/3 mark, with 35 supporters. Only 65 left to go, with 28 days left. Thanks so much to all of the supporters. The total social "reach" of the campaign stands currently at 38,734. We have a shot at reaching 100,000 people by the time the campaign is over!

In approximate order of sign-up, the list of supporters includes:

Charles Avant
Vegard Matias Lund
Chad Franklin
Glenice Taylor Minardi
Betty McIntyre
Stanislava Dobnakova Kohut
Tom Chlebus
Barry Flux
Chris Hawkins
Barbara Merritt Chapman
Claire Bear
Jonathan Meyer
Dionne Washington
Meghan Hamilton
Author Hugh B. Long
Dawn Napier
James Farley
Jamie Dietz
John Dowlen
Bruce Slaven
Krowdster
Bob Morrow
Denise Ellyson
Patty Haupt
Julian Barker
Linda Mefford
Clarissa Silva
Darryl Pierce
Gowtham Dravidian
Shaun Donovan
Susan Foster Hagy
Casey Harvell

I hope I spelled everyone's name correctly. I seem to be missing a few names. If I omitted yours, please forgive me. Let me know and I'll acknowledge you in my next status update. (Sorry!) Most of these people are on Facebook. A few are only on Twitter or Tumblr.

To join the campaign (which is free and takes only a few clicks) go to: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/27110-aliens-versus-zombies# .

For more information, or to preorder AVZ (for only $0.99/£0.99 on Amazon) go to: http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies.

Once again, thanks to you all! We're going to make this happen!

Aliens Versus Zombies Ordering Info & Preorder Price of $0.99/£0.99

I finally have an ordering link for Aliens Versus Zombies. It's available now for preordering, with delivery on July 10. As an incentive to buy early, the price is only $0.99 (US) or £0.99 (UK), with equivalent pricing in other countries, through release day. On July 11, the price goes up.

Aliens Versus Zombies is available on Amazon in 13 countries: http://smarturl.it/AliensVersusZombies.

To find out more about this and my other novels, go to my website: http://MarkTerenceChapman.com, where there’s a free sample chapter.

Aliens Versus Zombies, Update 10

Draft 2 of Aliens Versus Zombies is complete. I'm now looking for 10-12 beta readers for it. If interested, let me know. (https://www.facebook.com/MarkTerenceChapman). Be the first of your friends to read this new novel.

Here's what I'm looking for in a beta reader: constructive criticism. By that, I mean tell me anything that you like or dislike about the book (perhaps with a suggestion for how to fix problems). Comments like "I liked it" or "It sucks" aren't really all that helpful. Comments like, "In Ch. 3 where you said Daniels did [fill in the blank], I found the description confusing." or "I thought the scene in Ch.9 where the aliens did [fill in] didn't have as much tension as it should have" are much more helpful.

Feel free to comment on anything you want: pace, dialog, action sequences, the flow of the story, etc. I'm not expecting pointers to typos, punctuation, grammar, etc., (although you're welcome to point those out, too, if you feel like it). I'm mainly concerned about the big stuff. Is it interesting? Did you like the characters? Do I need more backstory for some of them? Should I include more information about the alien homeworld, or other details about them? Is the technology and military stuff convincing and interesting, and so on.

I don't want to make the process onerous for anyone. But the more info you give me, the better the book will turn out. Hey, If you're really helpful I'll even acknowledge you in the "front matter" of the book. How 'bout that?

To all beta readers, I hope you enjoy the story!

Aliens Versus Zombies!, Update 5

I had a good night of writing Aliens Versus Zombies!, adding 2,800 words and finishing Ch. 31 and half of Ch.32. I got right to the brink of when the final battle will start, but then had to stop. (Hey, it's past midnight.) AVZ! is up to 84,200 words now, within spitting distance of being finished. Only a few more chapters to go. :)

More good news. My cover artist (the talented Adam Pizurny) is busy working on the cover for the book. I hope to have a finished cover to unveil shortly.

#AliensVersusZombies #AVZ #MarkTerenceChapman

Aliens Versus Zombies!, Update 4

Status update on Aliens Versus Zombies!. Between a family outing on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday, I didn't have as much time for writing as I would have liked. But I did manage to write another 4,400 words on Friday and Sunday nights, bringing the total up to 81,400. I'm working on Ch. 31 now, and it's entering the end game, the final battle for the planet. :) There's still a ways to go yet, but it's getting close. I might have it finished in another week or less. (We'll see.)

My personal record for finishing a first draft was 69 days, but that was only 77,000 words long. It didn't reach 100,000 words for over a year. That was my first novel. I'm much better with first drafts now. If I want to match that number of days, I'd have to finish in the next 6 days. Of course, this draft is a lot longer than the first one, so it's really not a fair comparison. Anyway, it's getting there. :)

I'm still looking toward a July release date.

Now I just need a cover for it.

#MarkTerenceChapman #AliensVersusZombies

Aliens Versus Zombies! Update 3

Okay, I'm back on track with "Aliens Versus Zombies!". After two weeks of hardly having a minute to work on it, and then only to rewrite two chapters and actually go backwards on the word count, I was finally able to move forward today. I finished off Ch. 27 and added about 2,600 words, bringing the total up to almost 71.5K words. Only another 20-30K to go to finish the first draft.

With Ch. 28 I start building toward the (hopefully) exciting climax of the story. Stay tuned to this Bat-channel for further developments.

#AliensVersusZombies #MarkTerenceChapman

Aliens Versus Zombies! Update 2

There I was, making great progress on AVZ, when life happened. I had just hit 70,000 words, then my younger daughter came home from college. That pretty much killed my writing time, what with catching up and spending time together. Then I decided that I didn't like where the story was going, so I decided to rewrite the latest two chapters. I was able to reuse much of the content, but after several days of editing I ended up with just under 69,000 words.

So, on one hand I took a step backwards on the word count. On the other, I'm much happier with the direction the story is taking. Overall, it's a win. It just greatly slowed my progress towards the end of the story. Oh well. Better to fix the problem now than to wait until I've finished the story and then have to go back and fix a lot of chapters.

#AliensVersusZombies #MarkTerenceChapman

Aliens Versus Zombies! Coming to a bookstore near you soon (I hope).

Sometimes I drive myself crazy. There I was, making slow but steady progress on Mooncrash: The Fall of Mankind. I was about two-thirds done when I suddenly got a cool idea for a another sci-fi novel. What if, during the zombie apocalypse, aliens invaded? It was just weird enough to be intriguing. So I started writing down ideas. I wanted my zombies to be different from the typical shambling brain-eating creatures you always see.

Undead zombies don't make any sense biologically. If they're dead, their hearts can't pump blood to their stomachs, which means they can't digest the food they eat, and therefore they cant provide energy for their muscles to work. So how do they keep moving around even after not eating for months? The only answer is magic, and I don't do magic in sci-fi.

So I decided to have my Zoms (because they're really only half zombie) be people who survived the plague that killed off most of humanity. But they survived with severe brain damage (from high fever) to their higher brain functions. They're alive, with a beating heart and everything else working but their brains, but they're not really human; more like feral animals, who chase and eat anything with a heartbeat, not just humans. This adds a lot to the story. They're just as apt to eat the aliens as they are humans or snakes or cows. Plus, because the Zoms suffer differing degrees of brain damage, a few have a bit of intelligence left to them; just enough to relearn how to use simple tools or weapons. This makes them even more dangerous.

Their living human physiology also offers various other possibilities that I won't go into here. (Spoilers!)

And while you might think the aliens would have an easy time of it, with no governments or military to oppose them--only mindless savages and a few immune humans---it doesn't turn out that way.

Suffice it to say that I was so excited by this project I put Mooncrash on hold while I started work on AVZ. I figured I'd get a few thousand words into it to get it out of my system, then go back to Mooncrash until it was done, and only then return to AVZ.

It hasn't turned out that way. Even with limited time for writing the past couple of weeks, I've been racing through the book. Over 20,000 words in just over 16 days, and the ideas keep bubbling to the top of my brain. (Apparently I'm not a Zom, then.) I'm having a hard time keeping up with the ideas. I love it! Usually my writing is slow and methodical. Lots of research (into space elevators, orbital mechanics, how nuclear fission works, the names of lunar craters, and so on) slow down the writing process. But this project requires very little research (so far at least). I think the only thing I've had to look up is how hemorrhagic fever works.

If I keep going at this rate, I should have a finished novel available on Amazon by late July or early August. No promises, but everything looks good so far.

Keep an eye open for further developments on Aliens Versus Zombies! and Mooncrash: The Fall of Mankind. After the huge success of My Other Car is a Spaceship, I see great things in the future for this sci-fi thriller.

If things keep going at this rate, I'll commission a cover for it in the next month or so. You'll see it first here. :)