Smashwords


A Death In Didsbury

A Death In Didsbury is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and other online stores.

When a woman is shot dead on a quiet street of trendy shops, Detective Sergeant Kay Wood is reunited with an old acquaintance, and has to work with retired intelligence analyst Irwin Baker to help them out.

Unexpected violence flares on the streets of the Manchester suburb of Didsbury, and the investigation is soon tangled up in links to Russia and crimes dating back to the Second World War. As the intelligence services are drawn into the mystery, two witnesses find their lives turned up side down, and threatened, by their connection to the victim.


Petition to Insist Amazon Pay the UK Its Fair Share of Taxes

This presents a conundrum for me. I sell Kindle books through Amazon and, when I start making enough money from them, I shall pay tax on that income. Meanwhile, the company plays all sorts of games to make sure it pays the bare minimum tax.

I think Amazon should pay a fair amount of tax on the trade it does in this country, so I’ll be signing the petition. But I won’t be boycotting them. I hardly ever buy anything through Amazon at the moment, so the only boycott I could do would be removal of my own books from them, and that would hurt me, and the British economy, more than it would hurt them. If you want to join the boycott, please remember that my books can also be purchased from Smashwords and other sites.

Insist Amazon Pay the UK Its Fair Share of Taxes – The Petition Site.


New from Garth Owen- GOD Hunt

The first short story in the Mongrels series is now out through Smashwords. You can buy GOD Hunt for just $0.99

Tammy, Tatiana and Miko- cyborgs working for a mysterious artificial intelligence- must infiltrate a secret Eastern European base where combat robots are being built and sold to the highest bidder. But has someone, or something, already killed everyone in the underground complex?


The Kindle Windmill

Hay on Wye is home to the Hay Festival, the “Woodstock of the mind”, one of the world’s most celebrated literary festivals. To get himself some attention ahead of this year’s festival, one of the town’s booksellers is calling for a ban on Kindles at event.

Apparently ebook readers are “soulless” and are destroying the written word. Or, at least, putting some bookshops out of business.

As someone who makes a little bit of money publishing books for the Kindle (and other ereaders) I’m bound to defend the little grey tablet. Ebooks and readers are a boon for writers and readers- indie writers can deliver stories to readers for less and still make a decent amount on each sale. They’re not so great for bookshops or publishers. I like wandering around a bookshop, and I’d hate to see any good ones close, but that’s not enough to persuade me to ban ereaders. If the Luddites want to find something to get really angry about which could cause long term damage to the nation’s literacy, they should worry about library closures.


Sounds of Soldiers Summer Sale! 99c/69p until August

I’ve dropped the ebook price of Sounds of Soldiers for the summer. If you’re looking for an interesting and different story to load onto your ebook reader (or phone, laptop etc.) to read over the holidays, then now’s the time to get it. For the Kindle it’s 99 cents at Amazon US, 0,99 euro at Amazon Germany or 69 pence at Amazon UK. For just about every other ebook reader it’s available from Smashwords as well.

I’m currently working on two new tales in the Irwin Baker series. If you’d like to catch up on the Irwin Baker series so far, just follow the link.


Slashed is now available from Smashwords

Slashed is available in Epub, pdf, RTF and more from Smashwords. The Kindle edition should be available in the next couple of days.

Warden’s Lodge has a blood soaked history dating back to before the Civil War. After a violent massacre it has stood empty for over twenty years. The locals keep their doors locked and are never far from a gun, fearing what they think lives in the lodge.

When eight teenagers turn up, determined to have a party in the lodge despite the warnings, blood can’t be far away.

In one long, violent night the lodge is going to claim more lives.

A house with a grisly history.

The killer who calls it home.

Eight teens planning a party.

But who’s hunting who?


Spinneyhead Shorts 2 – Fast Fictions

Spinneyhead Shorts 2 - Fast Fictions coverThe second Spinneyhead Shorts collection is now available through Smashwords.

Thirteen tales- from flash fiction to short stories- from Ian Pattinson. Encounter battling aliens, creepy graffiti, combat rats and the US Navy’s least popular ship, amongst others. What they lack in words, these stories make up for in ideas.


Boyfriend Season at Smashwords

Spinneyhead Shorts 1- Boyfriend Season is available through Smashwords in multiple ebook formats.

‘“Autumn is boyfriend season. With the nights drawing in and the weather getting worse it’s the right time to have a man to keep you warm and stuff.”

I was with Lauren and Vanessa, a few pints into the night somewhere in Didsbury, when Lauren had dropped this concept into the conversation.

“And in Spring you can dump them because there’s so much else to do.” Vanessa added.

I think I did a guppy impersonation for a while. It was only later that I thought that men are at their horniest in Spring. It’s all sunny and the serotonin levels are rising again. I’d probably have been told that that’s just the way it goes.’

James is looking for love, so it’s good that the season’s turned and the girls are hunting boyfriends. A short romantic comedy about speed dating, blogging and drinking after work.

Also includes How Deep Is Your Love? Find out what happened to James next.


So Much To Answer For at Smashwords

So Much To Answer For is now available through Smashwords, in formats to suit just about every ebook reader out there.

Tommy Hill walked back into Manchester on the tail of a thunderstorm, promising easy money and atonement for his former sins. Joe Wilkinson doesn’t want anything to do with his former friend, but it’s not going to work out that way. Once again the Police think he’s involved, and some want revenge for Hill’s escape last time, and there are some dangerous characters who already think he’s Hill’s bag man. Can Joe stay out of jail and alive long enough to keep his name clean? And who is the mystery blonde who wants to buy his art?


Sale! Get Sounds of Soldiers half price from Smashwords

As I’ve only just started publishing at Smashwords I’d like to get things going with a sale. You can get Sounds of Soldiers for half price if you use the coupon code KA58W on checkout.

Tiger is also available for $1.00 if you use the coupon code UQ93B.

Both offers are valid until March 15th.


Sounds of Soldiers is now available in various formats through Smashwords

You can now get Sounds of Soldiers for ereaders other than the Kindle. Smashwords have it in Epub and other formats, including rich and plain text for those of you who like to just dump a text file onto your phone and read it. The price is $2.99.

Get Sounds of Soldiers at Smashwords.

Here’s the extended blurb I recently wrote-

Five years ago the United States began to self destruct. As momentum toward a nuclear civil war grew at home, US covert kill teams- and then the military- rampaged through Europe attacking imaginary enemies. The USA found itself at war with former allies. Great Britain closed its borders and stayed mostly neutral.

Robert Jones didn’t get on the train out of Paris after it was bombed. He chose to stay on the continent and make a name for himself covering the conflict with reports on his blog. He saw the first blows, witnessed nuclear explosions lighting up the Mediterranean and was present for the final acts.

Now the borders have been reopened and Robert Jones is back from the war. He has returned to Manchester to reconnect with friends and family, to investigate the changes the city has gone through and to find out what life was like away from the warzone. He’s striving for a new, peaceful life, but there are still some ghosts and secrets from his time on the continent which are ready to come back and shake it up.

A novella about what happens when a technothriller goes horribly wrong, Sounds of Soldiers is part travelogue from the future, part war story satire, and takes a look at how the civilians usually ignored by the big war fantasies cope and survive.