It’s release day! For Steadfast, book three of the Character Bleed trilogy – the final (well, sort of final – we’ve got Leo’s spin-off novel coming!) installment of what might be my favorite thing I’ve ever written! It’s certainly the story I’ve poured the most words into – and emotions, and random trivia, and thoughts about their future! And it’s definitely got the most bread-related puns!

Steadfast is out now! It contains happy endings for characters on screen and off, a road trip, an accidental proposal (or two!), the best sheep-themed hotel ever, a completed movie, and the aforementioned bread puns, because why stop when we’re on a roll? You can buy it here at JMS Books (on sale this week – only $4.79!) or here at Amazon !

And it comes with bonus scenes – one about Jason and Colby moving in together, one movie review, one commentary track, one about two grumpy old men finding each other, one about Jason’s best friend (and asexual character!) Evan getting his own happy ending, one with an awards ceremony and Colby deciding to reward Jason after…and more!

These stories wouldn’t exist without everyone reading and supporting and sending me excited comments that make me have more thoughts – really these are all for you, all of you. I love you like Colby loves his giant cinnamon roll. Also, some news – there will be a Character Bleed holiday novella, probably out in early December! Contract signed and everything! It’s Jason and Colby and three chapters that’re snapshots of their first holidays together – decorating for Christmas, New Year’s, and then Colby’s birthday on January 2! So look for that happening soon…

If you haven’t, come pick up Books 1 & 2 from JMS Books here on my author page or here on my Amazon author page, and get caught up!

Apologies that I have been out of touch for a while. I think I can find some reason to blame 2020, but the reality is over the last six months, I’ve gone through three more major drafts of the book. Each stage involved putting the manuscript aside for a few weeks and then reading it objectively and thinking hard about what was working in the story and what wasn’t. A lot of effort was spent beefing up the characters to make sure the story felt authentic and modern, rather than just some ’50s noir pastiche. 

There was also a major improvement a few months ago which involved changing who the killer is. That took a lot of thinking but surprisingly it did not require that much rewriting, impacting only the last quarter of the book. Nonetheless, it greatly strengthened the theme of the story which centers around the relationship between two brothers, one of whom dies in World War II while the surviving brother deals with the loss. 

 This is a good segue to let people know that this has not been a solo effort. My brother Mike has been my uncredited co-author for quite some time now. He’s forced me to give up some of the early writing that I’d clung to for too long, sometimes expressed by writers as “Kill your darlings.” Having a co-author meant I could finally let that happen but I didn’t have to witness the gruesome deed myself. 

 The book is now called “The Man from Mittelwerk,” which puts the story’s historical context front and center. I’ll be sending it to the publisher Monday. No doubt there be a few weeks before we get his feedback and then hopefully only light editing will be required. Given the impact that Covid has had on the publishing industry, I suspect the publication date will be some time next year. 

 As always, thank you for your support of this project. If you want to drop me a line and tell me what you’re up to, I would love to hear from you. Don’t hit reply to this email. Instead email me at ZUrlocker@hotmail.com. With that, I’m gonna have a beer. Cheers!
--Zack
PS. Here’s a picture from last year’s Bouchercon writer’s conference where I met a favorite author Max Allan Collins. He has a terrific series that features a writer / detective named Mallory. One of his books in this series is appropriately enough called “Kill Your Darlings” and is set at an earlier Bouchercon conference.    

Hi readers!

Thank you for your continuing interest. I am no longer active on Inkshares, but Writing Bloc is releasing my collection Silly Little Monsters in time for Halloween.

Silly Little Monsters is a whimsical collection of nine tales to chill your spine and tickle your funny bone. These aren’t your typical bedtime stories. From “Alpha” to “Omega”, everybody wants to make sense of their world.

To find a place to belong.

To connect.

What can be scarier than that?

The e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon. Paperbacks will be available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble by Halloween for that fantastic new book smell. The stories span different genres from urban fantasy to realistic fiction. They are intended for young adults and up due to thematic content, and some adult language and situations.

Meanwhile it’s a race between two exciting works in progress, A Better Me and Fallen (formerly Grimalkin), to see which will become my debut novel.

To stay updated on additional release dates, visit http://www.alywelch.com

Aly >;;;;^..^

Hello there! Been a while, hasn’t it! I wanted to pop in and let you all know about my latest project, The Red Opera RPG which is currently in its last 24 hours on Kickstarter! This book was a collaborative effort with some other awesome authors you all may know, Rick Heinz, Pat Edwards, Joseph Asphahani, and others! Come take a look!

We’ve got a lot of awesome stuff over on our Kickstarter, even a handmade Leather version of the book, too! So epic! 

Additionally, as our last Stretch Goal, we even have a guest appearance by Domadred Steele, one of the main characters from my novel, Rune of the Apprentice! So head on over to our Kickstarter page and...

It’s been a long time. I know yes.

 

It’s been a difficult two years for me March 7, 2019 I was in a car accident. While I was not seriously injured I still had a long recovery. 

Then we all know what happened this year. Covid 19 eh.

So while I was recovering I didn’t rewrite or create anything new. Say what? I know but as my recovery ended another thing hit on top of Covid, my mother had a stroke and a few months later I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It has been difficult to adjust to all these happening at the same time. 

The last two months I have been trying to finish the last three stories for "Tales from Mist Lake"

  

Hopefully soon I will start to promote for reorders again or self publish by other means. I haven’t fully decided. We shall see. Wish me luck and hopefully it won’t be almost two years for another update.