The Well of Fortitude

[Sigma-6 29]

For anyone who is interested, I've finished my first novel, and before soliciting it, I'm attempting to sell it on Lulu.com as a way of gauging potential response. . .

It's a military thriller about a counterinsurgency operator (in a future cyberpunkesque North America) who suffers, in the course of his duties, something of an attack of conscience regarding the conduct of a global war. He is forced to confront the possibility that his only reasonable course of action might be high treason.

It's got Special Forces action (including a submarine insertion), full-scale armies clashing, air and land battles, and - of course - the obligatory political intrigue. The tech is current to future, including caseless weapons, metalstorm tech, psyops, and some other weird stuff that I won't wreck in a synopsis.

If you're interested, feel free to check it out, and let me know what you think.

The Well of Fortitude (link)

[[aps]gnat 28]

A man of many talents

[Sigma-6 29]

There are, by the way, Flashpoint Addons that go with the book. I haven't released them yet, but some 3d renders of the caseless weapons from the book; the models in the addons, can be seen on my website at:

Well of Fortitude Gallery from wilrichardson.com

If anyone would like to see them released, or would like to see a more in-depth rundown, I'm game.

There are three weapons, and their tech is based on the HK G11 and O'Dwyer's .metalstorm. They're caseless with prepackaged high-capacity magazines, and the rifles (like the G11) have a quick 3 round burst mode that puts all three in the same spot. I've also taken the liberty of postulating a magnetic recoil reduction system, as well as a number of other bits of high-tech gagetry.

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

Read the first couple of pages. Not bad...I must say. Quite a lot of effort has gone into this.

I am curious. How are the sales going? Published on Lulu before?

[Sigma-6 29]

This is the first novel I've ever released (though not the first I've written. . .) and so no, I've never published on Lulu before. It seems like any other online market; if you can promote, you could probably bypass the publishing industry, and I have a friend who seems to have done just that there. . . As for me, sales are what I might expect, given that I know pretty much no-one personally who likes, on principle, the type of book I've written -- that and the fact that it's only been available for a week -- which is to say, comparatively good. There are books up there that have been up for a year or more with no sales at all. . .

Of course, not to mince words, most of what is on Lulu is, like any other online marketplace, complete crap. You have to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there is certain stuff that is extremely good, usually (but not always) in the top sellers list.

[hellfish6 7]

To be honest, I was a bookseller for three years (indie stores and B&N) and an avid writer and reader and I've never even heard of Lulu until now. I'll give your book a shot, Sigma. Might inspire me to finish mine.

[Sigma-6 29]

Thanks, Hellfish.

Yeah, Lulu is pretty small and obscure; I'd personally only heard of them through a friend when I went to publish this.

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

It sure does sound interesting. What would shipping expenses be, if it was to be sent here to Denmark?

I ask because I would rather have the copy in my hands as a book. I dont like reading alot of pages on the Internet, since then I cant bring the book anywhere I want

[Placebo 29]

since then I cant bring the book anywhere I want

You should buy a PDA, I have an Ipaq rx3715, great device, read books on it, watch TV shows/movies on it, play games on it, even surf the net or take photos with it

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

hehe, well.. Heres the deal. If you buy me a PDA, I will buy myself AND you, the .pdf format of his book

deal?

[Placebo 29]

No, but nice try

[Sigma-6 29]

Hehe. . .

Well, frankly, I have nothing to do with the shipping expenses, since I don't ship it, but you can view the total costs before you purchase on the site. . .