FUN TO READ

I am a regular contributor to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog. My articles appear on the first Thursday of every month. I have four books currently in print, a game, and two anthologies that I have either written for or edited. I have at least three other projects in the works and bound to be released soon.

I don't always do well in promoting myself and the stuff I have out there that readers might enjoy. I've always found self-promotion rather unsavory, the people quite adept at it equally as brutish and unpleasant to be around. But I really do think there are a lot of readers out there who will enjoy the books I've written, so when I encourage you to buy and read my books, it is only partially self-serving (I actually don't really make much on sales of my work) but it truly is an honest desire to share with others some fun, interesting, diverting, and quite entertaining stories and really do believe they will get a kick out of.

Maybe my books don't become you're favorites, still I promise you a fun time, something you'll enjoy, and even share with friends. Check out my books and if you like them, post an online review, I really do read those.

PATRICIA DUFFY - FROM PLAIN TO PLAIN AWESOME!

    Patricia Duffy is the foremost female heroine in my latest thriller, Presence of Malice. Many readers have asked how someone as nice as Patricia ended up working for such a prick as Dr. Gerald Gannery, and moreover, why she stayed.

    Such things happen gradually. To a wide-eyed college student still several months away from graduating from business school, it seemed like a dream job come true, at first. Not only was one of New York's most prominent plastic surgeons and purported philanthropists willing to hire her as his business manager before she graduated, but he would pay all of her student loans and buy back the mortgage her parents had put on the family ranch to pay for it. When, after a year beyond graduation, Gannery never did get around to signing the mortgage back over to her parents, well it seemed ungrateful and rude to press him on it. So she waited, hoping he would remember his promise himself.

    The job itself never quite seemed to rise to the level of Business Manager, either. While she was given free reign over his schedule and appointments, many of which were for consultations but none of which were ever for the actual surgery itself, he remained quite secretive about the practice's books and investments. It wasn't for some time that she realized he wasn't being cautious, he had no intention of sharing the books or other aspects of the business with her, and her job quickly devolved into little more than Secretary, though she preferred Executive Assistant.

    Patricia was raised on Midwest Judaeo-Christian values, to respect authority and one's elders, to show gratitude to benefactors, to be humble and never boorish or overbearing. When Gannery expressed dissatisfaction with her performance, she strove to do better. When dissatisfaction became disdain, and disdain gradually gave way to outright disrespect, still she tried to work harder to please him. By the time things had progressed to full-blown abuse, she wasn't in a position to recognize it right away. Her focus still remained doing a better job to please her boss.

    So what finally gave her the spine to rebel? It was a combination of factors really. His most recent tirade when she failed to book a socially advantageous lunch date for him led directly into his public humiliation of her on national cable television. That left her in just the right resentful mood when she spotted Gregory, Jet Gatling's paraplegic brother, hacking into her employer's computer. Suddenly, lashing out, getting back at Gerald Gannery was all she wanted to do.

    Read the exciting Presence of Malice and see how she does it!

Jet Gatling - Man of Mystery

Jet Gatling is the central character in my latest book, Presence of Malice, and yet very little of the book is told from his point of view (only two short narratives, in point of fact.) I did that deliberately, I wanted Jet to remain a mystery to the reader, with a big question - is he the good guy or is he another bad guy? If a bad guy, why didn't he outright kill Dr. Gannery, the man he'd been contracted to take out, given multiple opportunities to do so? If a good guy, then why doesn't he warn of the bomb that takes out an entire hotel floor?

These and other burning questions are answered in Presence of Malice, hopefully to the satisfaction of the reader. All except one - how far is Jet willing to go? What lines in he willing to cross? What, if anything, will make him stop and reconsider his rage-blind determination to accomplish what he sees as necessary?

Add Jet to any situation and he immediately becomes the wild card. There's no predicting what he's going to do, or how he'll go about fulfilling his contract. Is he constrained by the same laws and moral code as the rest of us? Or have his years as a Navy SEAL, carrying out black ops for his government, placed him above the law? Did eight years as a prisoner in a Chinese prison, disavowed by the same government that used to employ him, tortured endlessly by his captors for information, unmoor his moral compass, send him adrift amid his own roiling rage, to redefine justice...his own way?

Read Presence of Malice and decide for yourself!

THINGS TO DO IN VEGAS WHEN YOU'RE UNDEAD

Sorry it's been a while since I posted on this blog. Been busily promoting the release of Bloodtrail, the enthralling sequel to Bloodflow. Sales are steady and we're pleased. I'd like a few more reviews on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com but I am pleased with the ones I have. It strikes me as I read these reviews though, that many readers are reluctant to reveal certain details about the book for fear of giving spoilers. Well, as the author of the book there are certain details I don't mind you knowing, as I think they help readers see what a fun and exciting adventure the book is!

So below is a list of some of the details I don't mind you knowing about Bloodtrail before you buy:

• In the first book, Bloodflow, Kate only had enough time to learn a few things about what it means to be a vampire when it became necessary to betray Darkthorne and help Litchner's militia destroy him. Even then, she was in a haze of denial. Now, in Bloodtrail, a year later, she still hasn't fully come to grips with what it means to be one of the undead. She has made the necessary concessions to her new nature - she only works at night, she feeds as her animal counterparts, the Falcon and the panther, and no longer eats regular food. But she is still striving to live her life as normally as possible. She avoids the use of her new capabilities where possible, has refused to explore what other powers she may have that Darkthorne didn't have time to teach her, and has otherwise entirely ignored the fact that she is no longer human. But this sort of denial of her true nature is a time bomb, and on her new assignment to find a poor misguided runaway teenaged girl, Kate will find herself confronted with the realities of her new form of existence in brutal ways that will no longer allow her to deny it - she is a vampire!
• Kate runs afoul of a cabal of creatures that look entirely human but who are able to draw off of the most foul, greedy, prurient, unsavory emotions of human kind as if it were a narcotic. They are addicted and have resorted to hosting a series of gruesome and bloody gladiatorial games to elicit these emotions from their guest in order to get their fix. The creatures are able to recognize Kate for what she is, and she them, but as they lack any real power Kate dismisses them as no real threat. But struggle as Kate might with the moral and ethical implications of what it means to be a vampire, the leader of these creatures, a Mr. Konig, entices her, tempts her, and seduces her to drop all pretense to the hero's ethic and fully and freely indulge her power, take her place as superior to the humans around her, and rule them.
• In all his eight centuries of roaming the Earth, Darkthorne claimed to never have met another vampire like himself, except those he, himself, fathered and later destroyed out of self preservation. Kate herself learns what this means first hand as she inadvertently encounters a newly-minted vampire and must fight him to the death in all their animal forms - she the panther and the falcon, he a hyena and a giant bat.
• As in the first book, Kate finds herself pitting her supernatural powers against man's technology in a climactic scene, trapped in the belly of an unmanned fighter jet that is targeting two innocent young people fleeing for their lives.
• Early in the book Kate saves the life of a very unlikely ally who, in the end, defends, protects and nurses her as she strives to recover from a catastrophic, near-fatal conflagration.

These are just some of the thrilling adventures waiting for you in Bloodtrail, sequel to the equally as exciting Bloodflow!

NEW RELEASE: ROGUE AGENDA

ANNOUNCING THE OCTOBER 1, 2013 RELEASE OF...

ROGUE AGENDA
A Lainie Parker Adventure

A Novel by Kevin Paul Tracy

Description
"Lainie dropped to the mud, on her belly. Propping her elbows into the rain-sodden ground, she peered down the barrel of Sayed’s gun. She’d fired more guns since this entire ordeal had begun than ever before in her entire life. She had failed to hit a single target at which she'd aimed. But now, with Simi's life in the balance, she put such thoughts out of her mind and took careful aim."

Lainie Parker is the most popular telephone sex-line talent at Capri Entertainemnt. She is not a spy. But since witnessing the murder of one of her customers over the phone and trying to get someone - the police, the FBI, anyone - to believe her, she has been stalked and attacked, drugged and kidnapped, and suspected of murder and arson. Now, as crazy as it seems, pretending to be a spy may be the only thing to clear her name...and keep her alive. That's only if she can stay one step ahead of a hulking murderer, a sadistic terrorist, a brother-sister pair of tag-team kidnappers, and a wily CIA agent with dreamy eyes and a deadly way with a garrote.

GIANT GUMMY BEAR CONTEST

How would you like to win this giant, 5lb gummy bear?

All you have to do is help spread the word about the impending release of my new book, "Rogue Agenda," and you'll be entered in a drawing to win this and other great prizes!  There're two ways to enter...OR enter BOTH ways and DOUBLE your chances of winning!

ENTRY METHOD 1: TWITTER

STEP 1: Go to my twitter link above or go to http://www.Twitter.com/KevinPaulTracy and FOLLOW me.
STEP 2: Tweet to all your followers about the pending release of "Rogue Agenda" and include a link to this blog post.

THAT'S ALL!

ENTRY METHOD 2: FACEBOOK

STEP 2: Go to the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rogue-Agenda/312424322236297 and LIKE the whole page.
STEP 2: Post a status on YOUR Facebook page about the pending release of "Rogue Agenda" for all your friends and include a link to this blog post.

THAT'S ALL!

RULES

I will use your Twitter "FOLLOWS" and Facebook "LIKES" to view your tweets and posts to confirm you followed directions, above. Those who follow BOTH the Twitter and the Facebook methods of entry will have two entries into the contest for TWO CHANGES TO WIN!

CONTEST ENDS FRIDAY AUGUST 30, 2013 AT MIDNIGHT

On Saturday August 31, 2013 I will draw three entries. The first name drawn will win a giant, 5lb. gummy bear! Second drawing will win a Rogue Agenda promotional mug. Third name drawn will win a Rogue Agenda promotional T-shirt.

I will announce the winners here, as well as tweet and post a status on Facebook, so keep your eyes open for that announcement. It will be up to the winners to contact me to arrange delivery of their prizes. All shipping and handling will, of course, be paid by me.

! GOOD LUCK !