Mick Trubble Returns in Red-Eyed Killer

| November 25, 2012

First of all, I want to thank my peers here at ‘Punks who have gone out of their way to support this series. The feedback from the readers has been fantastic, and truly appreciated.

So I’m pretty excited to release the next installment in the Troubleshooter series: Red-Eyed Killer
.

Details: In the prequel to New Haven Blues, Mick Trubble is a partial amnesiac who barters favors in order to survive. His deals place him at The Luzzatti, an apartment complex where he works for the owner and eventually befriends the family. In short time his search for answers is distracted by taking cases and by his conflicted feelings for Natasha, Mr. Luzzatti’s daughter.

But Mick’s peace is short-lived, because Mr. Luzzatti is caught in a business deal gone sour, resulting in murderous loan sharks looking to rub him out along with his family. Mick has to quickly gather his wits and resources in able to protect the Luzzattis before they become the next victims of New Haven’s most notorious hitman: the Red-Eyed Killer.

Purchase details here.

Special thanks to Stefan for an outstanding cover. Eye catching, yes?

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The Troubleshooter Giveaway

| September 18, 2012

A Stefan/Mark Krajnak production

Ok ‘punks, so if you’ve been following my recent series of articles, then you know that I’ve been yadda yadda all about my recently published novel The Troubleshooter: New Haven Blues. Looking for a shot of noir, a dash of dieselpunk and sci fi shaken well and poured over a dystopian future? You got it.

“So what?” you say. “Self-published books are a dime a dozen. Why should I be interested?”

Well, that’s a good question. And here’s the answer: free.

That’s right, free. As in no cost, limited time offer and whatnot. You see, I just put the finishing touches on the official Troubleshooter website, and figured I could celebrate that by giving away digital copies of the novel free for let’s say a week, give or take a day or two. More specifically, until this coming Friday.

There you have it. If you own a Kindle, Nook, iPad, or e-reader of another kind, then you have a chance to check out my debut novel for free.

And if you don’t, no need to feel left out. I’m also sponsoring a giveaway of an autographed copy of the print version as well. So you at least get a chance of holding that Mick Trubble flavor in your hands and savoring the aroma of bourbon, cigarettes and gunpowder.

The giveaway is through Smashwords.com using the coupon code SK55Q. All details can be found at the website here. Go get it.

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Red-Eyed Killer

| September 17, 2012

 

And speaking of red…

Here is the cover for the novel “Red-Eyed Killer”, by Bard Constantine. “Red-Eyed Killer” is a prequel to “The Troubleshooter- New Haven Blues”: http://micktrubble.jimdo.com/  Those who haven’t read this masterpiece of Dieselpunk/Noir/Retrofuturism litterature by Bard Constantine, well… should hasten to get their own copy: this is an ongoing saga and as such, there is definitely a point in getting all the how and the why right from the beginning!

“In events that take place before New Haven Blues, Mick Trubble is a penniless drifter with a bad case of partial amnesia. Without employment he gets in the business of favors, which lands him an permanent apartment at the Luzzatti in exchange for chasing down past due tenants and playing watchdog. While developing his reputation as a Troubleshooter, Mick finds himself with something he never expected: friendship with the Luzzatti family. Torn between finding the missing pieces of his past and his developing feelings for Natasha, the Luzzatti’s beautiful daughter, Mick finds himself in even deeper trouble than he bargained for. When he discovers Mr. Luzzatti’s business dealings with loan sharks that have a reputation for deceit and murder, he steps into a world of double dealing that puts him on a collision course with one of New Haven’s most notorious assassins: the Red-Eyed Killer, a surgical hitman that can’t be identified by anyone because no one has lived to tell the story. But then again Mick Trubble isn’t just anyone. And the New Haven underworld will quickly learn what it is that a Troubleshooter really does…”

If this doesn’t whet your appetite…

Mark Krajnak is his usual good-looking self as Mick Trubble in this cover: http://jerseystylephotography.zenfolio.com/

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We Got it Covered: Evolution of the Troubleshooter Cover

| August 11, 2012

The cover of a novel has to be special. The image has to catch the eye, fire the imagination, impel the potential reader to pluck it off the shelf  -or in this modern world, click on it with their mouse. The font has to be readable and attractive. And it all has to look good in thumbnail size so that book browsers can see it online. Because that whole thing about not judging a book by its cover?

A lie.

I’m not an artist, photographer, or graphic designer. Creating a cover is something I’m not exactly creatively inclined toward. On my previous publishing efforts I simply browsed through stock photography to find a striking image and then let the tools available do the rest. With The Troubleshooter, my first full-length novel, I wanted something different. And so I went a more definitive direction.

I got lucky.

I knew the image I wanted. A film noir style detective cloaked in shadow and holding a gun. Easy to find, right? Well, yes. A Google image search or two produced a number of images that fit the criteria. Finding images online isn’t a difficult task, as you know. Tracking down the original photographer? A bit trickier.

But I clicked my calloused fingers until I found a few really great photographers. One of those happened to be Mark Krajnak of Jersey Style Photography. Unlike many of the other photographers, Mark was his own model. He created a Man In the Hat noir character and took outstanding photos of himself in detective mode. What stood out about Mark’s work was that his was the first photos that seemed perfect for the character of Mick Trubble, the protagonist of my story. Mick is a chain smoker, a heavy drinker, a rough and tumble type of mug who charms the dames, shoots the bad guys, and take life on with a world-weary dry wit. Looking at Mark, I knew I had my guy.

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Stacatto (A Troubleshooter Short)

| July 7, 2012

With the release of The Troubleshooter: New Haven Blues, I thought I’d share a short story featuring the protagonist Mick Trubble…

I heard the staccato of her heels down the hall…

Smoggy days, rainy nights.  The windshield weeps under the glow of tacky neon lights.

The good thing about being depressed in New Haven is that you can always take a field trip out to a joint where you can feel even worse.  In this case it was the Gaiden, a high pillow Downtown nightclub that was celebrating its reopening.  Course, the irony of mebeing there was I was the one who burned it down in the first place.  In a roundabout way, of course.  Kinda the story of my life. 

Everything I touch goes up in smoke.

I was on a case back then.  Along the way I’d gotten into a heap of trouble, but by the end I was out of a heap of debt.  I still didn’t know if the exchange was worth the cost.  ‘Course if I had to do it again, I don’t guess I’d change anything.  It’s not as if me and trouble haven’t been acquaintances for the longest.  In this town I’m known as the Troubleshooter.  The name strongly implies what it is I do.

I’d been nursing a shot so long at the bar so long that Ed the barkeep threatened to charge me rent.  For a synthetic humanoid, Ed was a real wise guy.  Synoids must be getting sarcasm upgrades these days. 

I tapped a few buttons on my holopad and mumbled something far less eloquent in reply.  Dibs exchanged, and another whiskey floated to my spot, making Ed and me friends again.

The joint was set just right for my state of mind.  Dim lights where gasper smoke created a haze that made it easy to fade into the background.  Quiet, private booths where cool cats and smooth dames made coy exchanges between martini sips.  On stage Fats the Jazzman wept into his sax while this skinny dame in red poured her soul into the microphone, crooning of lost love and broken spirits.

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The Troubleshooter

| May 18, 2012

“The Troubleshooter is a blend of old and new genres that Bard Constantine coined ‘dystopian noir’.  Part of the developing Badlands universe, it introduces Mick Trubble, a character Bard describes as “a blend of noir detective and hard boiled antihero, blended with a generous amount of sarcasm.”

The story takes place in the dystopian city of New Haven, where it rains every day, and every night the dark and desperate haunt the foggy streets.  It is a melting pot of bad men and badder dames, gangsters and players.  There are secrets buried in the shadows; behind sealed doors and the minds of men and women who won’t hesitate to kill in order to protect them. 

This is the world of Mick Trubble, who has a knack for two things:  Getting neck deep in trouble, and shooting his way out of it.” 

Here is the cover for this latest novel by Bard Constantine I’ve had the privilege to design. Learn more about the literary work of the talented Bard Constantine at: http://knightvisionltd.jimdo.com/home/the-troubleshooter/

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