A Fistful of Credits: Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe (The Revelations Cycle Book 5) is now available. No, this is not one of my books, though in one way it is, since I have a story in it, along with thirteen other authors. The anthology was the brainchild of author and publisher Chris Kennedy. Chris and Mark Wandrey have developed a very interesting universe in which humans have one commodity they can sell on the galactic marketplace, their fighting skills. The Four Horsemen Universe is about mercenaries, not all of them human, taking on the contracts of other actors to defend or take resources. I’ve read the first two novels of the series, one by Chris, the other by Mark. Both were excellent. And then I was asked to contribute to it, and I jumped at the chance. Especially when I found out who some of the other authors were.
I’ve known Chris and Mark since my first LibertyCon, four years ago. Chris was doing well with a couple of books, while Mark was writing some good stuff that just wasn’t getting a lot of traction. He had later success with some urban fantasy, I think it was. Then they developed this series and it took off. I’ve known Kevin Ikenberry for five years, since my first year at Superstars Writing Seminar. I also met Jason Cordova at my first LibertyCon, and have known Brad Torgerson online for almost as long, since he was also one of the people associated with Superstars. And Chris Nuttall? Never met the man, but he’s simply one of the most successful indie science fiction authors out there, incredibly prolific, and with sales numbers to die for. I didn’t know much about the other authors; Terry Mixon, Jon R. Osborne, Jon Del Arroz, Kacey Ezall, Christopher Woods, PP Corcoran and Charity Ayres. But if Chris asked them to contribute, I know they must have something going for them, and they are names I will be paying attention to in the future. I know some of the people who will be in the second volume, and again they are good, very good. And Chuck Gannon, three time Nebula nominee, did the foreword, so even that lead in was first rate.
I have to commend Chris Kennedy for coming up with this idea. The guy is a promotional genius, bringing everyone together for a little bit of cross fertilization of fan bases. He also got everyone involved in the promotion, multiplying the impact. I still remember when Mark communicated with me about contributing, and the words ‘we want your fan base’ still stick with me. Fair enough. I want theirs, and Nuttall’s, and all of the rest. It was a great idea. Maybe someday I’ll get into another one by this pair. We had a release party at LibertyCon this weekend, and I got to meet and talk to some of the authors I wasn’t familiar with. All were great people. And during the party we learned that the book was already at number 4 on Amazon for all anthologies. Quite an accomplishment.
About the book. There are fourteen short stories by fourteen authors, all of whom have experienced commercial or critical success. My story was just under 10,000 words, and I suspect most came in at a similar mark. And there are excerpts from two other novels at the end. That’s the length of a very long novel, and at $3.99 it’s a bargain. Or you can get it on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Even the paperback is reasonably priced at $15.99 (and believe me, I sell my paperbacks at $17-20 and don’t make very much in the way of profit). I highly recommend this book to all of my fans. If you like my work, I have an original ten thousand word story in it. And so far it’s got a 4.9 star average with twenty-seven reviews. I am a big fan of the Four Horseman Universe. I will be reading them as they come out, and have already given the first two books five stars. Of course I won’t be doing a review on the anthology since I’m in it, but I’m sure all of us would appreciate it if you did. Thanks.
So click the link and get this book. A Fistful of Credits: Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe (The Revelations Cycle Book 5).