’Twas the night before Christmas, and all of that crap
Commander Dax Harrison was caught in a trap
And SAMM hanging clueless in low-power rest
Was no help at all with their unwelcome guest

Dax woke with a daze, head ringing like a bell
Tied up on the bridge and confused as all hell
When, what to his wondering eyes should appear,
But a space pirate jackass, perusing his beer

"What the hell is this?!" Dax said in a huff
"A robbery, Commander. I’m taking your stuff."
Dax glared at the intruder and reached for his hip
And the thief gave a laugh that rang through the ship

Dax’s gun rested in a belt near his crotch
And now the rat bastard was taking his scotch!
"Come on man, it’s Christmas. I was saving that," Dax pled
"What for? Just yourself? That’s pathetic," he said

It was true, Dax was all by himself on this night
With not even a Yuletide one-night-stand found in sight
Though he’d never admit it, he felt it to the bone
For all his fame, Dax spent most Christmases alone

"What a dump!" The thief barked, and Dax took offense
To him, the ship was as home as a white picket fence
"Where’s all the shiny? All the creds? All the loot?"
"In banks," Dax laughed. "You think I stuff it in my boot?"

"Enough," said the pirate. "I’m taking your ship!"
And Dax lost all care to reply with a quip
He thought perhaps maybe the thief would see reason
What better time to try than the holiday season?

"Look, take the booze. I’ve got some to spare.
How ’bout we part ways and get out of each other’s hair?"
"How ’bout I space you?" He resolved with murderous glee
But then Dax cracked a smile. "No please, allow me."

As the thief pondered Dax’s sheer lack of defeat
The Commander watched SAMM’s startup sequence complete
"SAMM!" Dax shouted. "WE GOT A CODE BLACK!"
And he grabbed something sturdy as the thief was yanked back

Away through the airlock he flew like a flash,
As the sudden change in pressure made the whole damn ship thrash
The moon shining brightly on the jettisoned pirate’s face
Gave a small twinkling lustre in Martian colonial space

The A.I. worked swiftly and resealed the door
And Dax’s dinner settled after a brief internal war
"Commander," SAMM posed. "Have you tried making friends?
You might spend Christmas NOT dodging untimely ends."

Dax considered this a moment, but concluded instead:
"Merry Christmas, Sammy. I’m going back to bed."

*************************************************************************
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all! Here’s to a lovely year in books and many more to come! By the way, if you would like to give a humble fledgling author a small gift, a review on Amazon goes a long way! Also, you can now order personally signed copies of the book directly at DaxHarrison.com. (I still have a few extras on hand!)

See ya next year!
-Tony

Yesterday was the holiday party at Mysterious Galaxy BookStore in San Diego! And apparently they let just about anyone in there. Look! Here’s some silly sci-fi writer peddling his wares...

Surprise! It’s me.

Many many thanks to everyone who came out, including some very awesome friends and family. Not to mention the dozen or so other authors signing books, mingling, and likely ingesting copious amounts of holiday sugar. Here’s just a small handful of folks in attendance...

Shared a table with these funny guys.

La familia. (Aunt and cousin)

Behind every creative dork is his mom cheering him on.

Even had a few hoodlums from the old day job show up!

I think we all wanted to take that insane tentacle tree home.

Somewhere there is video of me rambling into a microphone for a couple minutes. Perhaps I’ll share that around later. Huge thanks to Mary Elizabeth, David, Kelly and the rest of the Mysterious Galaxy staff for inviting me to join their little shindig. It was super fun, and I’m looking forward to partnering up with them again, hopefully in the near future. (Plans are a-brewin’...)

And finally, a massive thanks to my wife Meg. She not only cooked up a storm and entertained everyone at our Christmas party at home Friday night, but then worked a short shift the next morning, came home, and journeyed down with me to San Diego to support me at the book event. All on little-to-no sleep and fighting a nasty cold. She’s amazing, and probably reading this now, shaking her head at the disgusting levels of exploitative cheesiness. (Them’s the breaks. She knows who she married.) 😁

ONE LAST THING! (There’s always one last thing) Just another reminder that I’ve got a handful of these books left to sell directly to the world. I know I’ve been encouraging everyone to buy from the stores, but if you want to grab a copy from me, I’ll have it personally signed and in the mail for you before Christmas! Drop me a line at rockhollywood8@gmail.com.

Cheers!
-Tony

Hey there, readers!

.

Despite my battling the start of a nasty head cold, yesterday’s signing event at Barnes & Noble went pretty damn good! I sold a decent stack of books, chatted with some cool people, and probably drank an unsafe-for-humans amount of coffee. Special thanks to everyone who came by, and to the awesome BN staff that let me set up shop for the day.

And of 16 names in the hat, the winner of the poster giveaway is... MAY KAYYALI! Thank you so much May for grabbing a copy of the book! I’ll be in touch with you soon.

And now to San Diego, AWAYYYY!

This coming Saturday, December 9th, I’ll be at the Mysterious Galaxy BookStore (hopefully minus head cold). Starting at 2PM, a handful of authors (including yours truly) will take turns getting on the mic and chatting about their books. Then we will split off into individual signing tables. Come join the fun! See the links below for more info:

Mysterious Galaxy Holiday Party (Facebook Event Page)
Mysterious Galaxy Website

ONE LAST THING! If you wish to buy a signed copy of the book, but you can’t make it out to these events, send me an email at rockhollywood8@gmail.com. I have about 20 copies on-hand that I need to sell. If you order directly from me, not only will you get a PERSONALLY SIGNED copy, but I’ll also send it out ASAP in time for Christmas. Got a friend or family member who might like a silly space adventure? Drop me a line!

-Tony

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

HEY READERS!

One thing I forgot to mention earlier: Regarding signatures.

Yes, backers who pre-ordered and helped fund Dax Harrison were originally promised a book signed by yours truly. Unfortunately, that part of the deal was canceled on the publisher side sometime last year. As I understand, it’s pretty costly to ship a ton of books out, let alone shipping them twice. So sending them to me first for signatures just wasn’t feasible.

That said, if you reside anywhere near my stomping grounds (in southern California), I would be MORE THAN HAPPY to sign your book! Shoot me a message and we’ll make it happen. Also, stay tuned, as I’ll be working on some local book signing events and eventually setting up shop at a convention or two.

One more tiny last thing (Last thing, I promise!)

If you would like to keep up with my future projects, Dax-related or not, feel free to subscribe to my blog at TonyVWrites.com. It is by no means a professional author blog. I may talk books. I may ramble about whatever show I’m binge-watching on Netflix.

(Don’t worry, I will continue sharing all Dax updates here at Inkshares as well!)

-Tony

So a few of you got your books this week...

You all have a habit of making me feel special.

There you go, making me feel special, and then I get all mushy with the feelings, and it’s disgusting for everyone. So this is all your fault. You monsters. ;)

Today, Inkshares posted an image of a pile of DAX HARRISON books, ready to be sent out to all of you fine folks who backed it. The physical books, existing in real life, sitting in their office.

I re-shared the photo, and my little corner of the Internet blew up. The outpouring of love, support and excitement from friends, family, colleagues and so forth was ridiculous. I even had a friend or two saying "What?! How did I miss this?! Where can I get this thing?!" Haha.

By the way, if you didn’t catch my previous official cover reveal on social media, there it is, in all its glory. Another very special thanks to Jessica R. Van Hulle (theladyjessica.com) and Seth Kinkaid (sethkinkaid.com) for their stunning painting and graphic design work. You better believe I’m making posters of this baby for conventions and book signings!

"WHEN DO I GET MY BOOK, TONY?!"

Backer copies will be shipping out this week! I believe Inkshares should be sending out an email asking you to confirm your shipping address, but I encourage you to log in at Inkshares.com and double-check your saved address just in case.

For those of you who ordered e-book copies, you can expect an email with a download link sometime next week. If you accidentally lose the email, don’t panic. You can access your purchased e-books anytime at Inkshares.com under your "Bookshelf". And if anyone still has trouble, you can always reach me at rockhollywood8@gmail.com, or send questions to the Inkshares team at hello@inkshares.com.

You know what’s ironic about all these long updates I write? The book itself is actually a pretty quick read. You’d think I would have written a much more long-winded story. I guess I’m saving it for Dax 2...

That’s all for now. It honestly feels VERY silly making such a big deal over a little comedy book. But the world deserves laughter. It really, really does.

I hope Dax gives you a chuckle or two!

-Tony

CLICK HERE FOR A VERY SPECIAL DAX HARRISON VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENT!