The post where I grovel

UPDATE: Sold two copies last night. Only six more needed to make the monthly goal. 

It's time for the end of the month begging post.

In the past I was shy about sharing numbers. Part of me was embarrassed. The other part was proud. My sales numbers have never been great. I'm OK with that now. They are what they are. I'm a virtually unknown writer. I didn't have an online following because of short stories. I didn't have a previous three-book deal with a publisher. I'm just a guy trying to make a go of the writing thing in a changing writing world. It was foolish to think they'd be anything other than what they are.

I added all my sales up earlier this month before I released REUNION. It's been nine months since I released CHASING FILTHY LUCRE, and it has sold 130 copies. Those aren't stellar numbers. I was hoping for more. I was hoping that it would take off. Go great guns. Out of control. But it didn't. Still, it's averaging more than 10 copies a month and that's not bad. I know there are authors out there who'd love to be able to say that. And I've met some great people and gathered some great reviews. Nothing less than four stars. That makes me happy. There are people who truly enjoyed the book. That feels good. Perspective. Perspective. I'm not doing that bad.

All that said, I did call this the begging post. So far this month we've sold 12 books total between REUNION and CHASING FILTHY LUCRE. I'd love to sell eight more before the end of the month. That would bring us up to 20 for November. For anyone who also earned a liberal arts degree, that means, basically, selling eight books on November 30. Is it possible? Absolutely. Eight isn't a big number. It's more than I've ever sold in a day, but not impossible.

If you are among those who haven't read either of my books, then help me out and buy one. If you've already read one, then buy the other. They are definitely different books, but I guarantee that if you liked one you'll like the other.

I've got all of your e-reader needs covered. You can find both books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Smashwords. And there's even a print copy of CHASING FILTHY LUCRE at Amazon if that's more your speed.

My own Black Friday deal -- updated

UPDATE: The sale I mention at the bottom of this post has been extended until 10 p.m. Sunday night. That's a full weekend to jump on this buy-one-get-one deal. Don't pass it up. Buy CHASING FILTHY LUCRE and get my new short story, REUNION, free.

It's the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. We call it Black Friday. All the stores have crazy deals that only last a few hours, and people rush out in the early morning to scratch and claw through the crowd to make sure they get whatever it is they came out for.

Gina and I have done the early-morning-get-there-before-they-open thing once. Office Max was selling a digital camera for a really cheap price and there was one around the corner from where she lived. This was before we were married so I got to her place extra early, and we waited in line for half an hour for the doors to open. We were in and out of the store in less than five minutes.

These days we don't bother with the early Friday deals unless there is something we think is too good to pass up. There wasn't anything this year, especially since I don't have a day job still. We'll go out later in the day. We've actually found this a a good day to go shopping if you wait until about noon to go out. All of the serious shoppers have already come and gone, and the stores are mostly bare. You may not get any of the early-morning big deals that were advertised, but there are usually other deals that are going on all day.

Here's the real reason for this post, though. This is the first time I've had something to sell on a Black Friday and I want to get in on the fun. Here's what I'm going to do. A free story. If you buy a copy of CHASING FILTHY LUCRE any time between now and 10 p.m. tomorrow night, I'll send you a coupon code for a free copy of REUNION from Smashwords. How does that sound? Think of it as a buy-one-get-one sale. Or 33% off the complete Jarrett Rush collection.

If you want to take advantage of this deal, after you buy your copy of CHASING FILTHY LUCRE send an email to jarrettrush@yahoo.com or leave a comment on this post. Let me know where you bought it and leave an email address so I can send you the coupon code for the free copy of REUNION.

The only thing I'd ask is that after you read each of the stories that you'd leave a review to let others know what you thought. Reviews are key for those of us just getting our feet wet in this writing game.

To help you out, You can get CHASING FILTHY LUCRE here:
Amazon: http://bit.ly/fdPGAo
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/gfFg44
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/fa4Rbl
Print copy: http://bit.ly/nKdIag

Go get my newest, Reunion

I teased everyone with a new cover a few weeks ago. It was for my short story Reunion. It's the first in a series of stories featuring Jackson Cane. I've struggled with a way to describe what it is he does and finally settled on using the term I've been using informally since I've had him in my head. Cane's a member of the Freak Police. And to find out what that means you're just going to have to buy a copy of the story. It's available now at Smashwords and Amazon. It should be showing up on Barnes and Noble soon, so if you're a Nook user then check there later today or tomorrow.

And please let me know what you think. This is a bit of a departure for me, but a total blast to write. I'm already halfway through story two and am hoping to have it available very soon.

Sample Sunday: Chasing Filthy Lucre

I haven't participated in a Sample Sunday in a long time. Here's a little something from Chasing Filthy Lucre. Hope you like it. If you do, leave a comment. If you really like it then buy a copy. It's in all the usual spots. For direct links click the "Where to read me" tab at the top of the page.

 There was an older gentleman who spent his nights sitting in the lobby watching the people pass on the street and reading a book. He couldn't sleep and he'd rather be downstairs than up in his apartment. At least he told me that’s why I always saw him when I came in at night. A nice guy. Never said more than a few words to me.

“Good evening, Mr. Rexall,” he said when I’d come in late.

“Please,” I’d say, “call me Weber.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Rexall.”

That was it, our entire exchange. It always made me smile. He was there when I got home that night carrying my haul from Raul’s.

I climbed the stairs to my apartment. I sat the bags down in front of my door and fished in my pocket for my keys. Inside, I sat the bag from Raul's on the kitchen counter. If this were a few years earlier, I would have plugged in as soon as I was inside my apartment. The port in my arm would have itched, would have begged me to put it to use.

There was a wire straight from the wall, added as a convenience years before I moved in. Easy data access for anyone with a terminal. I’d had it converted to my own personal hot jack. Plug in. Heat up. Pass out.

Plugged into the feed, I could forget about life for a few minutes. The experience started as a tingle near the port where the wire connected to my arm. It started like something crawling under your skin but quickly turned to a burn that rushed across the entire body. For a few minutes it was uncomfortable. You wanted to pull off your skin. But, if you could wait -- if you could push through the hurt -- your body would settle into the rush of data that was assaulting every last nerve. You would calm. You couldn’t hear anything. You couldn’t think anything. You just were. For your time on the wire you didn’t have to deal with life in the present or remember life in the past. All of those things you’d seen or done were gone. They weren’t affecting you anymore. That was the appeal. That’s why so many soldiers were the first to abuse the technology.

When someone said they were "on the wire," the wire referred to was the one that ran from your port to your brain, not the one from the source to your port, although that’s what most people thought. It was an understandable confusion.

It was a technology developed by a team of Dutch doctors and scientists. Exactly how it worked I couldn’t tell you, but it’s made up of three parts.

There’s the port. It’s typically inserted into the arm, but really it could go anywhere. The older a person was the more discrete the location of their port. The younger, the more visible. Many kids were opting for a port in the neck. The thinking was that the shorter the distance from the port to the brain, the more intense the sensation. How much more intense the experience needed to be, I wasn’t sure.

The second element was the wire itself. It’s a fine piece of microfilament that ran from the port to the brain and the third element, the net.

A net, also made of microfilament, was woven into the different parts of the brain. The digital came into the port, ran along the wire, and then spread across the net and into the user's head.

The original applications were military. Soldiers were given their mission details with the port. They’d plug in at night and wake the next morning with their orders and all pertinent background information.

The original ports came with a governor that controlled the flow of data to the brain. Hackers cracked those soon after ports were approved for commercial use.

Mine was a military unit, first generation. I had it cracked in a small computer shop two blocks from base as soon as I was discharged. Done by a hack in a back room. Me laying on a table and him plugging a beaten up laptop into my port.

He punched some keys and I laid there and felt the flush of digital for the first time. It started with a tingle that ran up my arm and into my shoulder. It crossed over to my neck and then into my head. It became an intense heat that left me dizzy and light headed.

From my head, it ran down my chest, past my waist, and into my toes. For the first time I felt my head tip back and my mouth drop open. I could no longer think. Nothing was in my head. All the things I’d seen and done had been replaced by the heat of the data.

After thirty minutes and twenty bucks I was on the wire.

Autographed print copies available

I finally set up everything needed to sell autographed print copies of Chasing Filthy Lucre. It's the box over there at the top of the right column. So if you were waiting with bated breath, wait no more. Click on the "Buy Now" button. I'll send one your way.

Coming soon

A little sneak preview of something I've got planned for release soon. Hopefully before Thanksgiving. Should be 99 cents. It's a little different for me. No sci fi in this one but there is a bit of paranormal.This is the cover. Let me know what you think.