I sent Locked and Loaded off to my beta readers earlier this week. I’ve received feedback from about half of them and am just waiting for the remainder to give me their thoughts. Revision based on beta readings is one of the last things I do before submitting the final version to the publishing platforms, meaning it’s one of the last things I do to get it ready for you, my readers. I want it to be as perfect as possible, the best story it can be, before you get your hands on it, and so that’s why I take this step.
Working with beta feedback can be tricky, because you can’t possibly make every single reader happy. There’s just no way to do it. But I have a handful of beta readers who each have their own “specialty” in addition to giving me their overall impression–and it’s that overall impression that I have to weigh heavily before deciding what kinds of changes to make. If only one of them catches that I typed “to” when I meant “too,” that’s an immediate change I’ll make, but when it has to do with the story, I look for overall feedback.
But enough about that! Just know that Bullet #6 is less than a month away from being in your hands, hearts, and minds, and Zane and Jennifer are ready for you to read their story! Oh, yes, one last thing–I plan to set up pre-ordering for all remaining online sites that I can in the coming week, so you’ll be able to pre-order even if you don’t read on a Kindle.
And now, without further ado, is your first teaser from Locked and Loaded, the final book in the Bullet series!
~ ~ ~
“Oh, Zane, this place is amazing. Why haven’t I ever heard of it before?”
“I can tell you exactly why. Three reasons.” She raised her eyebrows as he raised his index finger. “One, it’s almost downtown, and I know you avoid downtown like the plague. If I recall, you said something about rather losing a limb than walk the Sixteenth Street Mall again.”
“I said that?”
“Yeah.”
“Well…maybe that was a little drastic.”
“Yeah, probably.” He lifted the bottle of Dos Equis and then said, “Two, it’s a little hole in the wall. It doesn’t advertise like some of the bigger restaurants—no billboards, no newspaper ads, shit like that.”
Jennifer nodded. “Okay, yeah. And what’s number three?”
Zane leaned over the table and whispered. “It’s kind of a dive.” Jennifer couldn’t help but giggle. “But in a good way.”
She laughed out loud at that. “Yeah, definitely.” She picked up a chip and dipped it in the warm queso next to Zane’s bottle. “The food is amazing so far.”
“Just wait.”
The waiter came by with a pitcher. “More water, señorita?”
“Please.” After the waiter was back on his way, she said to Zane, “I love it. I love the people and I even love that stupid TV in the corner.”
Zane glanced over. “Yeah, well…”
“No, seriously. They don’t have the sound on, but it somehow makes it feel like home in here, you know? Lights and movement, but the sounds are coming from the kitchen and some weird soundtrack.”
Zane breathed through his nose, putting on a look of mock horror and said, “What if it’s our soundtrack?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if this is our movie? A movie about our lives…and that’s the soundtrack?”
“Three things.”
Zane grinned. “What?”
“One…if this is our movie, it’s pretty damn boring. No car chases, no sex scenes, no snappy dialogue—”
“Says who? My dialogue’s plenty snappy.”
“Two, the soundtrack sucks.”
“Well, don’t be telling them that.”
“And…I don’t have a three. I guess just two.”
A smirk covered Zane’s face. “And we can take care of the sex scene later.”
~ ~ ~
Available for pre-order; release date is February 1, 2016.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1lWuUIF
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1QleUNe
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