Category Archives: Newton’s Ark

Don’t shake hands

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From Newton’s Ark (published in 2012):

Cyrus looked at the offered hand. He didn’t have an irrational germ phobia, or dislike human contact. But if you wanted to rapidly spread infection through a population, you couldn’t do better than encouraging people to shake hands. It just seemed unnecessarily risky, and for what—to show your enemy you weren’t concealing a weapon? That seemed a little anachronistic in the twenty-first century when death tended to be delivered remotely and impersonally.

(page 47 in the paperback edition)

Newton’s Ark and Salvation

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I’ve just started watching a new CBS TV series called Salvation (well it was new in the US summer, I’m streaming it now on Amazon). My wife is convinced they stole the story from my first novel, Newton’s Ark, but humanity’s salvation ≠ virtual reality, so no.

Nevertheless, I’m struck by the many parallels (MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS for both the book and the TV series):

  • A previously undetected, extinction level asteroid is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth when it’s too late to stop it
  • The US government decides to keep the asteroid secret, with the DoD at the heart of the conspiracy
  • A wealthy industrialist – James Newton in my novel, Darius Tanz, who is basically Elon Musk, in the TV series – realizes the government can’t save humanity and comes up with an escape plan, an “ark” (mine is virtual while in the TV series it’s physical)
  • The industrialist enlists the help of a young, tech savvy guy – Cyrus Jones, a programmer, in my novel, Liam Cole, an astrophysicist, in the TV series
  • A plucky female reporter – Jenny Ryan in my novel, Amanda Neel in the TV series – realizes that the government is hiding something and sets out to expose the secret, and damn the consequences
  • The US president is overthrown and murdered…

What’s the lesson here? Perhaps that my ability to construct a story is good enough to write a major network TV series. Fortunately, with three more novels under my belt since then, my writing has improved!

Newton’s Ark – Countdown Deal

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This coming weekend (starting Friday 16 January US Pacific Time), I’m running a Kindle Countdown deal on Newton’s Ark. The price will be reduced from the normal $2.99 to $0.99 (£2.99 to £0.99 in the Amazon UK store).

If you are wondering whether it is worth your time or less than a buck of your money (seriously?) I summarized some of the reviews in this recent post for your convenience.

Unfortunately Kindle Countdown deals are only available in the US and UK stores at the moment. Hopefully Amazon will extend this to the other stores soon. My Aussie readers will be used to it though – being treated like second class citizens in a digital world that really ought to be the harbinger of a unified global marketplace. It will happen, eventually.

Newton’s Ark Promotion and Reviews

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I’m running a free promotion on Newton’s Ark on Amazon on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 September (free promotions start and end midnight US Pacific Time – I guess because Amazon are based in Seattle).

Since the relaunch, Newton’s Ark has been consistently getting very complimentary four and five star reviews (good for an author’s ego!) Here’s what some of the recent reviewers have said:

“This was an intriguing concept. I didn’t know what to expect since my husband downloaded it to my Kindle and I had no idea what it was about. That being said, once I realized what the Ark was all about I couldn’t stop reading it.” – RRB (Manassas, VA)

“What a wild concept! The way it was written makes it seem entirely plausible …” – Frank (Hollister, CA)

“Simply fantastic, it for me was difficult to put down … Mr. Hill, thank you for what you have accomplished with this, please continue.” – Joe (Pompano Beach)

“This book is phenomenal… a really good sci fi read, and the author incorporates a ton of believable military imagery… he knows his stuff…” – Eric Cost

“Footfall meets P.K.D. While reading I could (in my mind) see inspirations by authors like Larry Niven, David Brin, and Philip K. Dick, but never felt like the author was not owning their own style and stories.” – David Martin

“I’ve got to stop reading end of the world books…but this book’s introduction was so exceptional I had to read it!” – Jennifer Peper

“Good story, interesting ideas, believable characters and its well written. What’s not to like? I’ll be reading the second part of the trilogy very soon.” – Jack (Castellon, Spain)

“Most self-published authors should never be allowed to put finger to keyboard. D.A. Hills’ book Newton’s Ark is the rare, enjoyable exception …  The characters are real, the setting true to life and the story is believable. What more could you ask from an author?” – Daniel Cox “Doc” (Las Vegas)

“A very interesting series. Well written and very thought provoking …The books, in short are an exploration of humanity, in all it’s wonderful diversity. Good, bad and bland … Really looking forward to book 3. Please hurry Mr Hill!” – Druidgate on Amazon.uk

Kindle Unlimited

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Amazon have just announced a new program, Kindle Unlimted. For $9.99 per month subscribers (US only for now) have unlimited access to books in the program.

The included books are basically those already part of the Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL), currently available for borrowing by Prime Members. Both Newton’s Ark and Fuller’s Mine are available under these programs. Fuller’s Mine is doing a steady KOLL business following the recent very successful free promotion on Newton’s Ark (5,516 downloads!)

If Big Publishing thought Amazon were giving them hell, they’ve just turned up the heat. Time for the publishers to start innovating or die. Going to the barricades to protect old business models, which seems to be their strategy right now, will only delay the inevitable.

My one criticism of Amazon is that they could have done a better job of communicating with authors. There’s very limited information on how author payments for Kindle Unlimited will work. I think it’s similar to KOLL payments, but I really had to dig around the KDP website to find anything.

Newton’s Ark Reboot

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I’ve just published an updated version of Newton’s Ark. Look out for a free promotion soon.

The new version is about 6,000 words longer. The redraft keeps the story intact, but incorporates all the writing lessons I learned in the process of writing the sequel, Fuller’s Mine, to tell that story more effectively.

I also took the opportunity to drop in a couple of additional hooks to the later story!

If you previously purchased a Kindle version, you should be able to download this updated version at no cost. If you purchased an epub version (iBooks, Nook., Sony Reader) drop me an email at the contact address on this blog and I’ll send you a DRM-free update.

The updated paperback version will be available in about two weeks.

Something completely different

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I’ve started writing my third book. For those of you who have finished Fuller’s Mine and are (hopefully) awaiting the next installment, the bad news is I’m writing another story first. I am working on outlining book 3 in parallel, and have a broad idea of the story arc, but there are lots of details to be filled in yet – so this is your chance to ask the questions you think need to be answered in the final book!

The working title of my current project is Little Plastic Men: They aren’t green, but they are from outer space!

Obviously it’s still science fiction, but not hard sci-fi like the Emulation Trilogy. More like the sort of sci-fi in Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Hopefully it will also be amusing in parts, but I’ll be happy if I can be a quarter as funny as Douglas Adams.

Another important difference is that I’m writing it in the first person (or first alien, since the protagonist is not from this planet!) rather than the limited third person* point of view I used in Newton’s Ark and Fuller’s Mine. The big challenge is creating an alien character that readers will identify with!

* Limited third person means it’s in the third person, but told from the perspective of the characters, typically one at a time, vs. being told by a detached, omniscient narrator.

Now available in Aussie Dollars

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Great news today for my Australian readers, Amazon has just opened an Australian Kindle store.

That means my books are now available for purchase in Australian dollars. Not only is the price lower (e.g. AUD3.99 for Fuller’s Mine vs USD3.99) you can avoid paying the credit card companies another 3% in foreign exchange fees, and I get a 70% royalty rather than 35%. Talk about a win-win.

Here’s the links to the books on the Aussie store:

Note that the new prices may take a day to flow through.

Available eBook Formats

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There are two main formats in use for eBooks. The first – MOBI – is used by Amazon and the second – EPUB – is used by pretty much everyone else.

I made Newton’s Ark available in EPUB format via Barnes and Noble, Apple and Sony using Smashwords as the intermediary. I haven’t been entirely satisfied with that arrangement for a number of reasons, the most important being that it gives me very little control over the information that appears in those online bookstores.

I’m going to try a different approach with Fullers Mine. If you want a copy in EPUB format to use with your Nook or Sony Reader or Apple’s iBooks app, just send proof that you purchased the paperback or Kindle version to contact@dahillauthor.com and I’ll send you the file.