THE WIDENING GYRE available for pre-order NOW!

The Amazon pre-order page for THE WIDENING GYRE went live today! The novel will be released as a Kindle exclusive on September 5, 2017.

Cover Reveal for THE WIDENING GYRE

Aaaaaaaand here it is! Cover reveal for THE WIDENING GYRE, available on 9.5.17 as a Kindle exclusive! Thanks to Nuno Moreira of NMDesign for capturing the essence of the novel in a single image. I love it!

Me? On the radio? No way. (Yes way!)

May 9, 2017, is going to be a very exciting day. Not only is it the publication day for THE ARGUS DECEIT, I've also been invited to join Patzi Gil on her "Joy on Paper" radio program!

Patzi describes her program as, "A radio program for writers and those who dream of writing--and for everyone who wants to know the story behind the book." She's based out of Clearwater, Florida, on 1340-AM and 106.1-FM on the Tan Talk Radio Network.

When I received the email from my agent telling me about the invite, I immediately looked Patzi up...her story is an inspiration for anyone who has a great idea and is willing to chase it until it comes true. As a writer who suffered through hundreds of rejections--but never gave up--her story really resonated with me. Here's a link that tells her story, from ePRNews. She had an idea, pitched it, fought for it, and after 2+ years her reach over the airwaves continues to grow; by the end of this year her radio show will be carried on over 100 radio stations across the US. Amazing. And, she even has her own billboard! How many people can say that? ;)

On Tuesday May 9 @ 11:00 a.m. eastern time, I'll be talking to Patzi about THE ARGUS DECEIT, probably my other books, and...oh my gosh I have no idea! *gulp* I've got to be honest here; a radio interview is plowing completely new ground for me...and I'm not even a farmer! Am I nervous? A little. Me no talk so good sometimes, and when nervous I am, like Yoda words from mouth spill out, yessss. Hopefully I don't come off sounding too much like a knucklehead! (Well, not any more than usual, I guess.)

I'm definitely honored to be a guest on Patzi's show, and I'm thankful for the wonderful opportunity she's providing to get the word out about THE ARGUS DECEIT. This book was an absolute blast to write, and I can't wait to talk about it! So if you happen to be in the Tampa Bay area on May 9, tune in to either 1340-AM or 106.1-FM @ 11:00 a.m. and give it a listen!

Goodreads Giveaway for THE ARGUS DECEIT

Do you want to enter a chance to get a FREE Kindle copy of THE ARGUS DECEIT? You have until 5.8.17 to enter. 100 copies available!

Click on the picture to see the giveaway...

BIG NEWS! Release Date for THE WIDENING GYRE, 9.5.17

My fourth novel, titled THE WIDENING GYRE, will be released as a Kindle exclusive on September 5, 2017! I'm so excited about this that I can barely see straight.

So why am I so excited, you ask? Well, there's a long history associated with this particular book...I typed the very first words of this novel about sixteen years ago (back when I still had a tiny bit of hair on the top of my head). Thanks to my agent Mark Gottlieb,  Trident Media Group and their Digital Media and Publishing team (Nicole Robson, Alicia Granstein, Emily Ross and Caitlin O'Beirne), a book that I've literally spent years and years crafting and re-crafting into the story that it has always deserved to be, will finally see the bright [professionally published] light of day.

Over the last couple of years, I decided to trash well over half of the manuscript and start fresh. After all I had learned writing THE GEMINI EFFECT, THE PHOENIX DESCENT and THE ARGUS DECEIT, I knew I could finally take this story exactly where I always wanted it to go. And I did.

It's a dark story. Good vs evil. A suspenseful supernatural tale that I hope my readers will remember long after they turn the last page.

And there very well might be more pages in the future...but that's a topic for another time.

Right now, the manuscript is in the capable hands of my copyeditor, and the cover is being designed as we speak; I should see the first draft cover concepts sometime next week. I'll share it as soon as it's finalized. Over the next month or so, we should see the pre-order page pop up on Amazon, too.

In the meantime, here's a little visual taste of THE WIDENING GYRE...

Booklist Review for THE ARGUS DECEIT: "Literary surrealism at its finest..."

Well, this is another first for me...a review from Booklist:

The Argus Deceit

Booklist

Carrie Rasak

March 24, 2017

https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Argus-Deceit-Chuck-Grossart/pid=8648440

"Literary surrealism at its finest, Grossart’s latest genre bender explores a life led under many identities. Brody Quail is a 10-year-old boy, a teenager, an embittered twentysomething Vietnam veteran, and a 52-year-old widower, all at the same time, living the same day again and again. Each time the events repeat themselves, there is something slightly different about his interactions with his family and friends. They behave strangely. Brody begins to remember things that he knows never happened to him. He questions his sanity as one world melts into the next. And through it all, a mysterious presence lurks in the shadows. The Argus Deceit is a wild ride as readers become absorbed in Brody’s different realities. Fans of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone will love the subtle reminders that nothing is what it appears to be in Brody’s day-to-day life, and will enjoy feeling a creeping dread as the novel progresses—until the truth of Brody’s fractured reality is revealed."

2016 Silver Falchion Award Winner

I'm happy to announce that yesterday I learned The Gemini Effect won the 2016 Silver Falchion Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

So...the next obvious question is, "What the heck is a 'Falchion?'" Um, it's a sword, so now that we've taken care of that, we'll continue on to the next obvious question...which is...

"What the heck is a Silver Falchion Award?" Hah! Thanks for asking! This might shed some light:

*

"The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award™ is committed to discovering new writers, as well as superlative books by established authors and, upon discovery, sharing those writers and their works with new readers.

This year, the awards were announced at the 2016 Silver Falchion Award Ceremony on August 20, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of the Killer Nashville Writers Conference.

The Conference was founded in 2006 by writer and filmmaker Clay Stafford as a trademarked charitable production of American Blackguard, Inc.  Since then, it has developed a reputation as a leading advocate for writers and readers of all genres.  Media analysis conducted by a third party in the fall of 2012 found that Killer Nashville was the most written about writers conference on the web..."

*

So there you have it! This link shows all the 2016 finalists and award winners.

"But wait," you ask, "if the awards were announced in August, why are you telling us now?" Well, to make a short story long, I'd asked my publisher, 47North, if they'd be willing to enter The Gemini Effect in the competition...and then I promptly forgot about it. I'm 52. It's a common theme these days. For example, I have no idea why I'm writing this right now, and I think I'll go downstairs and--OH YEAH! Now I remember! So, I was Google'ing myself last night (get your mind out of the gutter, Francis), looking to see if there might be any hidden early reviews for The Argus Deceit lurking out there, and I saw an entry for the Silver Falchion Award. "Why the heck would that be coming up?" I wondered, then after I clicked on it, I saw why. "I'll be darned," I said, then promptly forgot about it. Again. Until now.

I was certainly surprised, and happy. I'm honored that my crazy novel won the award, and very honored to join such past winners as Dean Koontz, Lisa Jackson, and John Sanford.

Thank you Killer Nashville, and to all the people who voted for The Gemini Effect. Way friggin' cool.

Publishers Weekly Starred Review for THE ARGUS DECEIT!

Well, this is a first for me...a starred review from Publishers Weekly for my upcoming novel THE ARGUS DECEIT!

"Grossart’s accomplished nonlinear novel is equally entertaining and suspenseful. The tale follows Brody Quail, whose existence is extraordinarily fractured. Slices of his memory have been lost or altered, and portions of his life are on endless repeat. He soon learns there is something sinister behind these gaps in his consciousness. As a man lurking in the shadows begins to hunt him, Brody is guided through his mental hell by Constance, a woman who has been in the background of all of his memories. Grossart’s narrative keeps the reader guessing; he draws back layers of mystery tantalizingly slowly, leaving the reader to piece together the grand puzzle, with an immensely rewarding payoff. His precise attention to detail stabilizes the disjointed narrative. Recalling Rod Serling’s setups in The Twilight Zone, Grossart plays with time and memory in a highly inventive way. He combines thought-provoking questions about memory with nail-biting suspense, creating a unique novel that shows what can be achieved when one pushes the boundaries of speculative fiction. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group."

Wow. Just, wow.

2016 Year in Review

Well, 2016, thank goodness I'm not a celebrity because I might just die before I finish writing this aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh.... [Insert vision of a fat bald man slumped over his desk *here*]

Better now. Last night's pizza, don't you know. Gas bubble. Huge. I fainted.

Anywhooo, all jesting aside, apart from a very fugly, life-sucking presidential campaign (which went on way, waaay, waaaaay too long IMHO), 2016 was pretty darned cool!

Splits

On 28 Dec 15, I published my first novella-length work, titled Splits--it didn't really start selling until the next month, so I'm counting it as part of 2016. So there. The larger publishing houses aren't too interested in novellas (unless your name is Koontz or King), so hello Kindle Direct Publishing! Over three thousand copies of this little bugger went out the door in Oct during a five-day span, so I was pretty happy about that. Reviews have been decent, too. For those of you who asked for a sequel, well...stay tuned. ;)

The Phoenix Descent

In February, I started seeing some of the early reviews for The Phoenix Descent, and boy was I happy. When the book launched in March, I'll admit it wasn't quite as exciting as when The Gemini Effect first came out (first book and all), but I was still pumped! In the weeks that followed, I watched Phoenix rise (get it?) to #1 on the US and UK Kindle best seller lists for post-apocalyptic science fiction, and even #1 on the Australian Kindle best seller list for dystopian science fiction. G'Day, mates!

The Argus Deceit

In May, I signed the contract for my third book with 47North, titled The Argus Deceit. This book was a BLAST to write, and I hope my readers will like it as well. The first early reviews should be out in January, so keep your eyes peeled. Oh, did I mention you can pre-order a copy right now? No? Well, you can pre-order a copy right now. And one more thing about this book: You can pre-order a copy right now. ;) Official release date is 9 May 17.

Vetust Vex

I had so much fun writing Splits, I decided to drag another story that I'd been working on for a couple of years out into the light of day. I released Vetust Vex on Halloween, and I really like the response so far. It's a horror story, plain and simple, so if you haven't read it yet, be forewarned. And, like the book description says, be careful what you touch. Mwah hah hah.

So, what did I read this year? I read a lot of stuff (mostly when I should've been writing my OWN stuff), but one particular set of books really stood out. I discovered Sam Sisavath's Purge of Babylon series, and BOY was I HOOKED! I highly recommend this series if you're fan of post-apocalyptic science fiction. Start with The Purge of Babylon, and then hold on tight through the next eight books!

Sam's characters are great, his "ghouls" are terrifying, and I couldn't stop reading one book after another! Sam is also a nice guy...I wrote him to tell him how much I liked his books, and he responded immediately. Give his stories a try!

So as 2016 draws to a close, I have to say it's been a great year writing-wise. I'm looking forward to the release of The Argus Deceit in May, and then hopefully a couple of months later we'll [REDACTED-I CAN'T TALK ABOUT IT YET] and that'll be cool! Right now, I'm working on another novel, tentatively titled The Erinyes Wave, that will hopefully find a publisher in 2017. Fingers crossed!

As always, I want to thank YOU, my readers, who make all the hours I spend at my laptop worthwhile. Keep reading, and have a wonderful New Year!

- Chuck

Great Interview with Mark Gottlieb from Trident Media Group

For everyone out there who is trying to land an agent, listen to what Mark Gottlieb from Trident Media Group has to say. Great advice for writers, and great insights into the differences between self-publishing and the traditional publishing process.

Loving the response for Vetust Vex!

So far, my novella Vetust Vex has garnered some great reviews! This little sucker has sat in my "to do" pile for a long time, and I'm glad I finally finished it.

If you haven't read it yet (and I hope you do), here's a little "heads-up" info: If you’ve read my short story Release (part of Scattered Bones), you know that story also deals with evil residing within an object. At the end of Release, I added a blurb that surely applies to this story as well: 

My wife and I sometimes like to browse through antique stores. We always end up with itchy, swollen fingers & runny noses from the dust (and God knows what else), but we enjoy it just the same. Personally, I like to look through the stacks of old pictures and wonder about the people staring back at me—surely long-dead and forgotten, but still alive in the form of a photo. What were their lives like? What did they do for a living? Were they good people? Or, maybe not so good? The stories those faces could tell.

I also appreciate the old books, not so much for the stories they contain, but more so for the people who have held them, tuned their pages, and escaped for a time within the printed words.

Pictures & books, all inanimate objects. Old, discarded, and for the most part, destined for the rubbish heap. But . . . are they really all that harmless?

A friend once told me a story about a painting she’d acquired, a somewhat creepy scene of a grizzled sailor and a lighthouse. It was a gift, so what does one do with a gift? One hangs it up, right? She did.

And that’s when the nightmares started.

Strange, upsetting dreams, unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

She got rid of the picture, and the nightmares stopped. Just like that.

Coincidence? It was, after all, just a painting. Oil on canvas, nothing more. But what if there were something more to it?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my fifty-plus years, it’s that we don’t know nearly as much as we think we do. Who’s to say the painting didn’t carry with it some of the less desirable qualities of its painter? Or, maybe the painter himself was trapped within the swirls of oil paint, radiating the twisted thoughts and dark intentions that guided his actions in life. Hmmm . . .

 

So again, if you haven't read it yet, I invite you to give it a go . . . but be careful what you touch.

BRODY4 has a new title...THE ARGUS DECEIT!

Well, it took over a month, and over 80 different title possibilities, but we (the 47North team and I) finally settled on a title that captures the novel perfectly. Look for THE ARGUS DECEIT this spring!

First Draft of BRODY4 is Complete!

It was after 11:00 p.m. last night, but I finally got to type those two little words that every writer strives for . . . THE END.

The first draft for BRODY4 is complete. My delivery date to 47North is 15 September, so I'm a little early. ;) The story really flowed, and was a lot of fun to write. Now, though, the hard work begins; editing. For the next week or so, my wife and I will be going over the manuscript line by line and making any corrections we think it needs before sending it off to Jason Kirk at 47North.

Reddit Author Spotlight THIS SUNDAY, 17 July!

If you have the time this coming Sunday, 17 Jul, I invite you to join me on Reddit.  I'll be hanging out on www.reddit.com/r/books starting at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. Look for an entry of mine titled "Author Spotlight" and come on in!  Ask me anything about my novels, short stories, or writing in general.  See you there!

Reddit Books Author Spotlight - July 17, 2016

Mark your calendars! Reddit Books has given me the opportunity to participate in one of their Author Spotlight sessions.

On July 17, 2016, starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT, I'll be hanging out here [https://www.reddit.com/r/books] answering any questions about THE PHOENIX DESCENT, my other books, my upcoming novel BRODY4, and writing in general (or whatever the heck you want to talk about).

Yeah, I know, July 17 is over a month away. SO WHAT! I'm kinda excited about this. I'll send out more reminders before the actual event . . . but I'll probably have to use another picture because as soon as my wife sees this one, she'll just shake her head, sigh, and say, "Charlie, you're weird.

Outstanding Pre-Release Reviews for The Phoenix Descent!

Every author enjoys seeing a work earn 5-star praise from a reader, but when it happens before the book is officially released, it's even more special. The Phoenix Descent, to be released on 15 March 2016, has earned two great reviews on Goodreads from early readers so far. Here's a couple of links; one to Raging Book Reviews (which also appears on Goodreads) and another to a Goodreads review.

I certainly hope other readers find The Phoenix Descent to their liking as much as these two did!

Current WIP - "The Coin"

I'm kind of in a lull right now--I have two novel proposals with my editor at 47North, and I'm waiting to hear what he thinks. In the meantime, I've pulled an unfinished short story out of my personal slush pile and started working on it again. As of today, I figure I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the initial draft, and it looks like it'll end up being my second novella-length work.  It's titled, The Coin, and here's a little taste:

***

Last written word of J. Winstead

Provided by Nebraska State Penitentiary staff, Lincoln, NE

[8/17/96]

8:54 p.m.

I’ll be dead in a few hours.

It’s an odd feeling, counting down the final minutes of one’s life, knowing full well what’s coming & being completely powerless to prevent it. For me, there’s no more legal wrangling to endure, no useless pleas for mercy. All I have left after seven years in this hell hole is a borrowed pen, a yellow legal pad, and my thoughts.

I don’t expect a last-minute call from the Governor to spare my life. If I were in his shoes, I’d let me die at the hands of the Great State of Nebraska, too. If you happen to read this, Mr. Nelson, you’re not killing an innocent man tonight—you can rest easy knowing that—but you are killing.

I often wondered—once I resigned myself to the fact there was no hope of avoiding my sentence—how it would feel when they carried it out. I’ve viewed these things before, in person.  It’s never pretty, even when it goes off without a hitch. When it doesn’t go according to plan, it’s gruesome. I’ve seen that, too.

I’ll admit, I’m scared.

Some would say I’ve “found God” while in prison, and I suppose that’s somewhat true. It’s a common thing for those who spend their days behind bars. You’d be surprised how many long-term convicts develop a passion for reading the Bible. Crappy timing, but better late than never, right?

When the end comes, some will choose to say something about going home, God forgives, Jesus saves, whatever. There’s no final peace waiting for me, though, no matter what I say.

Have I prayed? Of course I have, but I don’t believe it’ll make a difference. There are some wrongs for which a person can ask forgiveness—and receive it—but there are also crimes that are unforgivable. Even by the Big Man. Even if you beg.

***