U&F Underground. Episodes 7 and 8

Episodes 7 & 8 of Underground are now available at Patreon for sponsors at $+ a month. If you haven't signed up yet, do so now - give yourself an early Christmas present :-)

Underground: Episode 6

Underwood and Flinch: Underground. Episode 6 now available at Patreon for supporters at $3 per month and over. 

It's also my penultimate day in the UK. We're currently packing the last boxes and getting ready for the big move to Ireland tomorrow. I'm worried we may not have enough cardboard boxes. Where does all the clutter come from? (Answer: charity shops). We went for a last early morning walk. It was foggy, which was nice. Here's a picture of P enjoying it the mistiness.

And don't forget, it's day 3 of the 5-day Halloween book freebie at the Amazon Kindle store. If you haven't got your copies yet, get 'em now!

Underwood and Flinch Volume One: Resurrection

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

and The Complete Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and The Grotesque.

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

Sometimes Halloween Special!

Happy Halloween!! Wrap your ears around my Sometimes Halloween Special, which features episode One of H.P. Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep.  

Also, news of the Halloween Free ebook of the month promotion that I mentioned in my last post, but I'll share the links again because I know messing about between posts with phones is fiddly stuff.

Underwood and Flinch Volume One: Resurrection

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

and The Complete Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and The Grotesque.

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

The promotion starts at midnight tonight (PST) (which is 3:00 am EST, and 07:00 am UK  Saturday morning) and runs till midnight on Wednesday. 

All I ask in return is that you leave some stars on the books' pages, and perhaps a few kind words, if you have time.

Have a great Halloween!!

Happy Halloween! Here's 2 Free Ebooks!!

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate this year, I'm giving away two free ebooks.

Underwood and Flinch Volume One: Resurrection

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DWY4HSC

and The Complete Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and The Grotesque.

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AA7NZ6Y

The promotion starts at midnight tonight (PST) (which is 3:00 am EST, and 07:00 am UK  Saturday morning) and runs till midnight on Wednesday. 

All I ask in return is that you leave some stars on the books' pages, and perhaps a few kind words, if you have time.

Have a great Halloween!!

My Zombies Now Rotting and Rolling on Kindle

Hot news from my camp today is that my zombie apocalypse story, After the Plague, is now available to buy as an ebook from the Amazon Kindle store. An audiobook version will follow on Audible later in the year (and of course, you can get the podcast episodes by signing up to my Patreon campaign for $3 a month). 

Groovy undead cover art by Jon Cape

Here's the blurb:

A hotel on the outskirts of London in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. A brutal couple, Lee and Mandy, arrive in a van with two captive women held as sex slaves. Lee and Mandy think the hotel is abandoned, a place to find food and shelter. However, Terry, a former employee who has made the hotel his own, has other ideas. 

Tempted? Get it now while the flesh is fresh! 

Amazon USA 

Amazon UK

Amazon Canada

Amazon Australia

Amazon Germany

Disturbing the Devil on Audible and iTunes

At last! Underwood and Flinch: Disturbing the Devil is available from the Amazon Audible Store, and from iTunes.

Having processed the audio file to Audible specifications about two weeks ago, I just got the notification email through today. I'm delighted to finally see my stuff in the Audible store. Here's hoping it's the start of something exciting ... or at least something interesting ... though I'd settle for something awesome. Huzzah!!!

Last Day of the U&F Kindle Freebie Offer.

Today is the last day of the Underwood and Flinch: Disturbing the Devil  freebie run on Amazon. If you haven't got your copy yet, grab it today before midnight Pacific Standard Time. 

Here are the links:

Disturbing the Devil USA

Disturbing the Devil UK

Disturbing the Devil AUS

Disturbing the Devil CA

Disturbing the Devil DE

Here's the blurb:
February 1863, and the newly opened Metropolitan Railway is the toast of London. Among the travellers tonight are the vampire, Lord Underwood, and his guardian, Ben Flinch. But they aren't travelling alone, for Underwood and Flinch have been discovered by a group intent on their destruction.

Disturbing the Devil is a journey into the smoky depths of the Victorian Underground; a stand-alone short story in the Underwood and Flinch universe, written by four-time Parsec Award-winning author, Mike Bennett. Expect blood.

Disturbing the Devil - Free Amazon Ebook!!

Underwood and Flinch: Disturbing the Devil is now available as an ebook for Amazon Kindle. And for the next five days (starting today, 28th Sept), you can get a copy for FREE!! All I ask in return is that you please leave 5 stars at the Amazon store you buy it from (and maybe add a few kind words, if you have time). This will help the book fare better with readers who are unfamiliar with the world of Underwood and Flinch. It would also be mega-awesome if you could share the book on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. Many thanks!!

Here's the blurb:
February 1863, and the newly opened Metropolitan Railway is the toast of London. Among the travellers tonight are the vampire, Lord Underwood, and his guardian, Ben Flinch. But they aren't travelling alone, for Underwood and Flinch have been discovered by a group intent on their destruction.

Disturbing the Devil is a journey into the smoky depths of the Victorian Underground; a stand-alone short story in the Underwood and Flinch universe, written by four-time Parsec Award-winning author, Mike Bennett. Expect blood.

Here are the links:

Disturbing the Devil USA

Disturbing the Devil UK

Disturbing the Devil AUS

Disturbing the Devil CA

Disturbing the Devil DE

The book was available as a pay-to-download audiobook for the last year, but has now been withdrawn in readiness for its release on the audiobook platform, Audible.com. I've submitted it to Audible but it takes about ten to fourteen days for them to give it a green light (or a red one *gulp!*). Needless to say, when it does go live, I'll let you know. This will be my first Audible release, so I'm interested to see how well it fares. It could lead to a whole new audience, which is an exciting prospect. Huzzah!!

Underground - Episode 3 - Now Live!

A dead body is discovered in London. Enter Detective Inspector Clare Redmond and Detective Sergeant Lawrence Beck. Click here to meet the law.

Underground is a Patreon Exclusive at the $3+ level. That's less than the price of a decent coffee in Starbucks a month. Come on, Listeners - join the Patrons!

Blood and Smoke - Complete and Musically Restored

Underwood and Flinch: Blood and Smoke is now available in its complete and musically restored form from Podiobooks.com

My thanks - as always - to my wonderful sponsors at Patreon, without whom this book would have stalled at Episode 6, and U&F Underground would never have even got started. I unleash the bunnies of joy to share my feelings ...

"Patreon Sponsors - YAY!!!"

Underground Episode 2 - Out Now!!

Hey! Episode Two of Underwood and Flinch: Underground is now online at Patreon in both podcast MP3 and ebook formats! 

As you know, the podcast audio is available at the $3+ perk level, and the ebooks are available at the $1+ level. If you haven't signed up at Patreon yet, check out the new page at this site that explains how to take your first steps to becoming awesome.

Here are the links ... Audio Podcast  and Ebook Zip File (Mobi for Kindle and Epub for iPhone, Nook, etc).

Now go get 'em!!

Underground Has Begun

Underwood and Flinch: Underground has begun at Patreon. 

If you're subscribed at $1+, you can download the first ebook chapter in Mobi (for Kindle) or Epub (for everything else) formats. 

And if you're subscribed at $3+, you can hear me read it in all my ham actor glory on a downloadable MP3.

So come on, listeners - seize the day! ... Or the night, which might be more appropriate ;-)

Blood and Smoke - The Finale!

Here it is, Listeners - the final episode of Underwood and Flinch: Blood and Smoke. I don't want to inadvertently post any spoilers, so I'll just say, "bon apetit!"
You can download the episode here, or alternatively, to listen live, just click the player below!

And now support me at Patreon - you know you want to :-)

Blood and Smoke Q&A at Patreon

I finally pinned my wife down to doing the U&F Blood and Smoke Q&A with me. We used two microphones and two computers, which gave us an interesting sounding end result, but the Q&A content is all good. Questions provided by Patreon sponsors, and exclusively available at Patreon for patrons of $1+  Download it here

And speaking of Patreon, some people have reported difficulty fathoming the new play / download arrangements at Patreon, so I made a video to help illustrate how to do it :-)

Blood and Smoke 7 - Planetwide!

Hello Listeners!

The voyage of Underwood and Flinch now resumes in my public feed, courtesy of my sponsors at Patreon.com. This podcast consists of two original Patreon episodes (7 and 8) now joined together to make just one episode (7).

It's been a long time since we were in the company of Lord Underwood. The last time, you may recall, he ended up in cave following an explosion ... ? Actually, I can't say too much because the unaffiliated will start crying "spoiler!", but don't worry, I do give a brief recap on the podcast for those of you who can't remember what the devil's going on.

Here's a direct download link.

If you want to re-listen to the original 6 episodes, you can do so - for free - at my Creations Page at Patreon.com, from which you can also download them (see bottom of this post for individual links).

Once this podcast has completed in my public feed, the whole thing will be made available from Podiobooks.com as a complete audiobook.

On the podcast, I also give a shout out to John Mierau's Official Patreon Podcast, in which John talks to various creative peeps - including podcast superstar Mur Lafferty in Ep 4 - about the secrets of their success. John also has his own Patreon page for his Serving Worlds Podcast, which is a must for all Sci-Fi podcast fans.

Other links:

Hall of Mirrors: The Breakfast Service

The Colour out of Space Episode One

Blood and Smoke Episode 9 (though will the next episode and re-named "Episode 8" next month)

After the Plague 1 (my Zombie story) 

Blood and Smoke 1-6 at Patreon (Currently without music, but that'll be added when the final edited versions get to Podiobooks).

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

The Breakfast Service

After seven long years, the Hall of Mirrors re-opens at Patreon with a one-off tale of terror. 

If you're not a Patreon subscriber, hopefully this'll be something that can tempt you over. Once you're there, sign up at $3 a month (or should I say, a mere $3 a month) and you'll be able to get this story, plus all episodes so far of my zombie story After the Plague, and the final episodes of U and F: Blood and Smoke. So come on over to Patreon today and sign up, and I'll meet you in that old ruined pier at the darkest edge of the Internet.

Blood and Smoke - The Finale!

The final episode of Blood and Smoke will go live on my Patreon Creations page this evening at 21:00 UK time - that's 16:00 New York time, 13:00 Los Angeles time, and 06:00 Sydney Australia time.

- Special Red Finale Cover -

Instead of posting it as "Episode 10", I've posted it as "Episode 9 Redux". This is because the action of the chapter is constant and shouldn't be broken, so this new Episode 9 contains the previous Episode 9 and the new content of what would have been Episode 10. 

Confused? Watch the video below

The only reason I ended Episode 9 (original) where I did last week, was so I could get some content out to you. However, once Episode 9 Redux goes live tonight, you can delete your existing old Episode 9 and just settle back and listen to the final chapter as it was always intended to be: a big 52:23 minute finale episode that brings the Caribbean voyage of Underwood and Flinch to its end. Huzzah!

The Voyage Resumes! Blood and Smoke Episode 7 now at Patreon!!

That's right - change of plan. On my last Sometimes podcast, I said I was going to wait until I 300 patrons at Patreon until I resumed the Blood and Smoke podcast. Well, I got impatient. So I had a think about it and realised I was putting the cart before the horse somewhat. Surely the smart thing to do is put the content people want at the site, and then encourage them to sign up to go and get it, right? Right; that's what I thought.

Click this link for Episode 7 at Patreon

So, I recorded an episode. To make the writing and recording more manageable for me, the story content of the podcast isn't as long as the first 6 (which are now also archived at Patreon), but it's quality, not quantity that counts, right? Right; that's what I thought.

The first six episodes are still free, but to get your ears on Episode 7, you have to sign up to become a $1 a month or more patron. In UK Sterling, that's 67p. That's less than a Mars bar a month!!

So go on, do the right thing and help fund me into self-employment. My work is flourishing since I started this Patreon thing, and if we want it to continue, then this Patreon thing must continue to grow. 

And it will, right? Right; that's what I thought :-)

I salute you! 

Man / Woman

Spent ages writing - or rather re-writing - a scene in U&F 4. I had to change a character from a man to a woman. I thought it would be a fairly quick process, but oh no, none of the man's actions or dialogue worked anymore, nor did his partner's reactions to him / her, and so I had to re-do the whole thing - or the whole thing so far, anyway. But it's all good news as the scene is more to my liking now ... which is nice.

Oh yes, and as you may have noticed, I said "his partner". I'm writing police procedure ... which is also nice - and enlightening too.

After the Plague at Patreon

If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, Zombie movies or the We're Alive podcast, you may be interested in my take on the genre, which has now started from my Creations Page at Patreon. 

My story is called After the Plague. I started it in 2012 and gave up on it because I felt there was no point in trying to break into an already saturated market. But when my Patreon campaign started, I thought it might be a nice perk to share with my $3 and over patrons as a little something extra.

The response has been so positive that I've now re-booted the writing project (in addition to writing U&F) and have now posted a second episode of the story at Patreon. 

The long term plan is to complete this first story, called simply Hotel, and then move on to a second story set in the same apocalypse (the original title for the project was Scenes from a Zombie Apocalypse, but I thought that was too much of a mouthful). The stories are interconnected and will all come to a kind of collective finale ... or at least hiatus, depending on how popular the podcast is.

If you can spare $3 (£2.02) a month (a month - think about it, you'd lose that down the back of the sofa and not even notice, it's less than most coffees in Starbucks) then head over to my Patreon page today and sign up for After the Plague, and know that you'll also be funding the creation of U&F 3 and 4 (and U&F 4 will only be available from here and Payhip anyway, so you may as well get in early). You won't regret it, chums! Huzzah!!

Patreon Page Now Live

As referenced on my last podcast (Reanimator: Part One), I've now started a Patreon page. So if you want to give me a dollar a month, you now can (think of the dollar you lose down the back of the couch and the difference it makes to your weekly finances). 

This one's for genuine altruists rather than people who want big things fast: don't expect me to pull a novel out of my hat as soon as 3 people sign up to give me a buck a month wink emoticon However, you will get access to podcasts earlier than my main feed, exclusive audio bits and bobs (like outtakes and bloopers), and a Patreon content feed to which I'll add stuff that I won't share elsewhere. 

There are three tiers of patronage, so you can sign up for the basic $1-2 a month; the $3-4 a month (which right now includes U&F Disturbing the Devil); or the $5 and over category for the seriously amazing superfans out there.

Patreon - it's there if you want it, chums. Get on board and I'll love you forever. 

Link: www.patreon.com/mikebennett

Underground.

If you've listened to Blood and Smoke so far, you'll be aware that some of the action on the audio recordings that David is listening to takes place in Aldwych underground station, which was used as air raid shelter in World War 2. For years I've been trying to get down there, especially as I'm now writing about the place. Illustrations, maps, plans, photos and a whole pile of books are fine for research, but you can't really get a sense of the layout of the place unless you actually go there. However, this isn't easy because the station has been closed since 1994.

The London Transport Museum organise batches tours of the station every now and again, but tickets go very fast. I had tickets for a tour last June, but ultimately couldn't go because my dad was taken ill on the day of the tour. Then another batch of tours was announced in October, but I missed the news and only found out about it when it was totally sold out.

So anyway, there I was on Thursday, watching a Youtube video about the station and grinding my teeth in frustration that for the foreseeable future, this was the closest I was going to be able to get to the place I'm writing about every day. Finally, over-brimming with vexation, I decided to call the Museum and  see if I could get news on when tickets for the next batch of tours would become available. The guy I spoke to told me there were tours on now. I said I was aware of that but that they were sold out. He then told  me that there had been a cancellation and that a ticket was available for that night (Thursday). The resulting jolt of excitement I felt almost knocked me off my chair. I snapped up the ticket and legged it to the station. After battling my way through the London rush hour, I finally got to the Strand and joined the queue of fellow station enthusiasts. And then, oh joy, they finally let me inside.

I won't bore you with the details, (blah blah tunnel, blah blah staircase) but suffice it to say I had a wonderful time, and what I learned and saw in Aldwych will now make itself into one or more of the remaining chapters of Blood and Smoke ... and beyond.

Update: January

Yikes! A month has passed without a word from me. So, just so you know I'm not dead, here's an update. I went away on holiday for a week at the start of January and managed to get 15,000 words of U&F 4 written. Actually, all this numbers stuff is starting to make my head spin, so let's just go with titles from now on, and let's call U&F 1&2 by their old collective name of "Underwood and Flinch" (the first podcast). Then you have "Blood and Smoke" and then this new project, which is going by the working title of "Underwood and Flinch: Underground".

So, I went on holiday and got a lot of work done on "Underground". We went to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The weather was good, but I spent most of my time indoors battering away on a little lap top I take away with me for the specific purpose of holiday writing. I always write on holiday. Last year I wrote a huge chunk of "Underground" as well, so that's two years, two holidays, two huge chunks of "Underground" written. But this year, unlike last year, I've continued to write after my holiday. I've been writing today, and every day since I got back. I suppose you could say the muse is upon me, and "Underground" is coming along at a furious pace.

"But what of Blood and Smoke?" you cry. "When will we get the next episodes of that story?" Well, I've got the first drafts done of the remaining episodes, but I haven't polished them for recording. Not yet. Not until I have certain elements of "Underground" sorted out. Why? Because "Blood and Smoke" has numerous overlapping storylines with "Underground", and so it all has to tie up. I don't want to release those remaining B&S episodes only to find that I later need to go back and change them. So never fear, "Blood and Smoke" will finish in time. And "Underground" will begin when - and only when - it's finished and ready. As I mention above, I'm writing every day, usually over 1000 words, so hopefully I won't have to wait until my 2016 holiday to get it finished. Huzzah!!