Fireproof Now Available in Paperback

For the first time ever, Fireproof is available in paperback.

Here's a little of what Ken Bruen had to say about it, once upon a time:

"Equally hilarious and jaw-droppingly violent at once. Reading this novel was a total blast."

Tempted?

Closing in on 50

I'd like my Amazon review-count for Fireproof to hit 50. Only 5 to go. Any volunteers? I'll send a free ebook. https://t.co/elIUtPnwfi

— Gerard Brennan (@gerardbrennan) March 31, 2016

HASTAC

Pronounced as haystack...

I've rattled out a few blog posts over at a collaborative scholarly-type site by the name of HASTAC. It's basically a social network to explore the digital world and attempt to harness it for the good of humanities. Synergy, baby.

Anyway, my blog posts might be interest to some of you. It might not. Here's the opening paragraph to the latest blog post. If you want to learn more then click on through to the HASTAC site.

Cheers!

"In my previous post I relayed some information on digital publishing, the emphasis being on the effects that a BookBub ad had on one of my novels. The ad was designed to inform BookBub subscribers that my ebook, FIREPROOF, would be available to download for free direct from Amazon's Kindle site (UK only -- I'll get back to that later). That meant that if you had a Kindle reader of any generation -- or indeed the Kindle app on your phone, tablet or computer -- you could read one of my novels for free. I held off on a follow-up post as I was aware that my publisher, Blasted Heath*, was pursuing a second ad for a second title..."

Click here for the rest.

Fireproof Freebie

So, Blasted Heath have secured a BookBub ad for my novel, FIREPROOF. The ad went out today as part of this week's BookBub newsletter. Interesting timing, this being St Patrick's Day. St Patrick was tasked with spreading Christianity to Ireland's heathen shores. And the rest of the island, like. The protagonist of my book is on a mission for the other guy. It's up to Mike Rocks to spread Satanism 'round these parts.

So, today I'm celebrating Anti-Saint Mike's Day. And the novel in question is free. If you haven't gone out and got yourself so drunk that your own ma' would be ashamed of you, then maybe take a minute to check it out. Probably not for the religiously sensitive, but then, I'm not seeing a whole lot of Christian behaviour going on today, either. Seems more like heathen mischief to me. More power to the revellers.

Contrary wee bastard that I am, if I do have a drink tonight, it'll be a dram of Scotch (though to be totally honest, I've a wild hankering for an Irish coffee).

Happy Booze Day, people.

If you're not signed up to BookBub, you can get Fireproof for free directly from the Kindle store.

Some Amazon links:

UK, US and CA

Unconvinced about the premise? Check out what the master wordsmith, Ken Bruen had to say about it below. If that guy can't convince you, I may as well burn the damn thing. Except it's Fireproof. Tee-hee.

“…Also, I'm in a monogamous relationship, so I don't really agree with orgies."
"Sacrifices and orgies have nothing to do with the religion. All that shit was developed by people who wanted to kill things and shag a lot. That's not what it's all about."
"That right?"
"Yeah. I've been working hard to try and shake that kind of misconception."
"Working as what?"
"A representative of Lucifer. I was sent here to build a Satanic Religion."

"Okay. Why did Lucifer think a tattoo parlour was the best place to start?"

“This is just one of the various scintillating hilarious surreal chats in Fireproof, the new novel from the excellent Gerard Brennan.
Phew-oh, GB's début was terrific but this is a huge leap forward, an assured fully-formed artist in total control of his art.
Equally hilarious and jaw-droppingly violent at once.
Reading this novel was a total blast.
Catapults GB to the very first league.
And… you'll never… ever see Cadbury's n' Nestle in quite the same or indeed sane fashion again.
Superb.
Thanks, Gerard, for a wondrous read.”

From Ken Bruen, Shamus award winning author of much genius.

Ken Bruen on FIREPROOF

“…Also, I'm in a monogamous relationship, so I don't really agree with orgies."
"Sacrifices and orgies have nothing to do with the religion. All that shit was developed by people who wanted to kill things and shag a lot. That's not what it's all about."
"That right?"
"Yeah. I've been working hard to try and shake that kind of misconception."
"Working as what?"
"A representative of Lucifer. I was sent here to build a Satanic Religion."

"Okay. Why did Lucifer think a tattoo parlour was the best place to start?"

“This is just one of the various scintillating hilarious surreal chats in Fireproof, the new novel from the excellent Gerard Brennan.
Phew-oh, GB's début was terrific but this is a huge leap forward, an assured fully-formed artist in total control of his art.
Equally hilarious and jaw-droppingly violent at once.
Reading this novel was a total blast.
Catapults GB to the very first league.
And… you'll never… ever see Cadbury's n' Nestle in quite the same or indeed sane fashion again.
Superb.
Thanks, Gerard, for a wondrous read.”

From Ken Bruen, Shamus award winning author of Headstone

Buy it here!

Publicity Fail!

So, two weeks since I got my FIREPROOF themed tattoo and there's been absolutely no perceptible spike in sales for the ebook (I'm judging this by casual checks of the Amazon ranking -- haven't bothered checking with Blasted Heath). Two local papers reported on the publicity stunt and published pics of my tattoo. The bigger papers weren't interested in the end. I almost got a radio interview and some TV coverage but that didn't pan out. A few people saw pics of the tattoo on Facebook and Twitter but to the best of my knowledge, those are the folks that already have copies of the book.

PR guru I am not. I think I'll leave the marketing to the publisher from now on.

But am I pissed off by this epic fail?

Nah, I got a badass tattoo at the end of the day. See me smilin'?

New Ink

My latest tattoo was inspired by my novel, FIREPROOF, with a hat-tip to the publisher that believed in the wacky story, Blasted Heath.

I'm a true heathen.

Buy FIREPROOF here.

UPDATE 25/11/12

The lovely Mrs B pointed out earlier today that I'll need to sell way more books to cover the cost of this tattoo. Maybe I'm not the marketing genius I thought I was...

Buy ALL my books, please.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I need the royalties.

FIREPROOF -- Out Now!

My second novel from Blasted Heath is officially out now. So far the reaction has been crazy-positive. I'm loving it but I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. No doubt there are many out there who will be offended by the irreverent treatment of religion in the book. Grand so. Nothing I can do about that. And until the crazies gather with pitchforks and torches, I'll just enjoy the ride.

If you want to download a copy and enjoy or take offence, here's the hub of activity -- Blasted Heath FIREPROOF page.

And should the book inspires you to start your own religion/cult just do me one favour: