Ghost Soldiers (Nightfall Syndicate 2) Out Now!

Yeah, this book has been a long time coming. I really like that moody cover. I think Kanaxa (the cover artist) did a great job capturing the feel of the book.

Get in. Do the job. Get out. If only it were that easy.

The Nightfall Syndicate, Book 2

Vampire hit man Karl Vance has a new target: a rogue, charismatic sorcerer building an army of paranormal creatures in Eastern Europe. The stakes have never been higher, nor the odds so long, but he’s in too deep to turn back. If Karl fails to kill, the powerful Order of the Thorn will hunt down Maria Ricardi, the vampire he loves, and destroy everything he’s fighting for.

When Karl is cut off in enemy badlands, he’s reduced to survival mode, doing the kinds of things he’d sworn would never be part of his vampire existence. Things that will forever color his relationship with Maria…if he survives to see her again.

In Boston, Maria is haunted by disturbing dreams of Karl as she struggles to keep control of her mafia syndicate against a growing tide of threats—traitors, FBI agents, hostile crime families, and the fear that power will turn her into a creature like her hated Master, Delgado. Then she discovers Karl is walking straight into a deadly trap…and there may be nothing she can do to stop it in time.

Product Warnings

Explicit language and intense, violent content. Assassinations, betrayals, paranormal warfare, explosions, gangland slayings, chaos, calamity, rampant pandemonium, and an occasional fiery explosion.

***

It was good to be back writing about Karl, Maria, Xiesha, and the Nightfall world. The book is, of course, very different from the crazy/absurd world of the Zero Dog Series. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Zero Dogs and all the zaniness (yes, I waited a long time to include the word ”zaniness” in a blog post–what can I say? I’m easily amused), but it felt good to be back in the high-tension, dark, serious world of the Nightfall series. I did try to up the amount of humor in Ghost Soldiers versus Blood Vice (which perhaps feels its lack), but kept it in line with the overall tone of the series. Far less vampire angst. Far more rampant supernatural and mafia mayhem.  Some big events and some serious character changes…but I’ll say no more.

For those interested, “ghost soldiers” is a term that refers to Sicilian hit men brought over to carry out a hit, then leave the States and return to Sicily, making it nearly impossible for law enforcement to identify who did the shooting. Since they aren’t part of an American mafia family, it’s hard for other syndicates to know for certain who ordered the target whacked.

It’s my sincere hope that everyone who read and enjoyed Blood Vice will enjoy Ghost Soldiers. There’s only one more book to go in the series ! The as-of-yet-untitled grand finale.

For those interested, the eBook is available at these fine retailers (the print book will release in 9 months…next April):

Ghost Soldiers Samhain Store

Ghost Soldiers Amazon

Ghost Soldiers Barnes and Noble

Ghost Soldiers Kobo

Ghost Soldiers Apple iTunes

Ghost Soldiers: Nightfall Syndicate 2 cover art and blurb

 Here is the cover art and blurb for the sequel to Blood Vice. It releases July 12th, 2011.

Ghost Soldiers by Keith Melton

Ghost Soldiers

Keith Melton

ISBN13: 978-1-60928-498-5

Length: 103,000

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Cover by: Kanaxa

Publication Date: July 12^th, 2011

***

 

Get in. Do the job. Get out. If only it were that easy.

 The Nightfall Syndicate, Book 2

Vampire hit man Karl Vance has a new target: a rogue, charismatic sorcerer building an army of paranormal creatures in Eastern Europe. The stakes have never been higher, nor the odds so long, but he’s in too deep to turn back. If Karl fails to kill, the powerful Order of the Thorn will hunt down Maria Ricardi, the vampire he loves, and destroy everything he’s fighting for.

When Karl is cut off in enemy badlands, he’s reduced to survival mode, doing the kinds of things he’d sworn would never be part of his vampire existence. Things that will forever color his relationship with Maria…if he survives to see her again.

In Boston, Maria is haunted by disturbing dreams of Karl as she struggles to keep control of her mafia syndicate against a growing tide of threats—traitors, FBI agents, hostile crime families, and the fear that power will turn her into a creature like her hated Master, Delgado. Then she discovers Karl is walking straight into a deadly trap…and there may be nothing she can do to stop it in time.

Warning: Explicit language and intense, violent content. Assassinations, betrayals, paranormal warfare, explosions, gangland slayings, chaos, calamity, rampant pandemonium, and an occasional fiery explosion. 

 

I’m a Featured Author at the Barnes & Noble Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Forums

Great news! I’m a Featured Author at the Barnes & Noble Paranormal/UF forums for all of February…

….Or at least until they kick me out.

I’m talking about Blood Vice, about small presses and why readers will be rewarded if they seek out lesser known writing/writers, and touching on cover art philosophy.  Also, I’ve made my desire known for someone to write Moby Dick: The Vampire White Whale in the same tradition as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I know a paranormal Moby Dick would be pure gold.

I encourage everyone to swing by and ask questions. We have open questions to readers on the following issues so far:

Cover art–current paranormal fantasy cover trends, the audience the cover of Blood Vice appeals to, appeal of racy/sexy covers, etc.

Vampires–what are reader’s favorite types, are they played out or an undying classic?

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Paranormal-Urban-Fantasy/FEBRUARY-FEATURE-1-Blood-Vice-by-Keith-Melton/m-p/466240#U466240

http://tiny.cc/B8NZj

Make your voice heard!

Keith Melton Vs Moira Rogers ROUND ONE!

In all honesty, this is really just about me and the Bree half of Moira Rogers going toe to toe. The Donna half of Moira Rogers is really very nice except for that time she told me to die in a fire. She fights battles against evil corporate ISPs and feeds orphans. Bree, on the other hand…well, I’ll get to that.

If you’ve never read Moira Rogers, what’s wrong with you? Honestly. Her werewolves scorch the pages. Very cool stuff, both the Red Rock Pass series and her Southern Arcana series. I have a soft spot for her character Mackenzie. She also has about a billion other books out that I haven’t read, but if I list them all we’ll be here all night.

Anyway, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Moira Rogers consists of the incredible super dynamic writing duo of Bree and Donna. One of them hacks databases. The other launches wild pigs through the air with trebuchets. Or so I heard on the internet, I swear.

Regardless of their personal hobbies indulged while not writing, I’m here to detail a bit of the vaguely infamous throwdown that happened the other day on the magical social networking paradise of Twitter. For those of you who are dead, Twitter is a place known for brevity, wit, and a huge whale lifted by ropes by a bunch of annoying birds. But I digress, as usual.

The altercation started when I realized, much to my shock and awe, that Hamtaro might just be one of the most frighteningly disturbing things I’d ever seen. Watch this clip, but be warned. You cannot UNSEE it once you’ve subjected your eyes to its Hyper Evil Cuteness.

 

Alas, after suffering yet another unprovoked @moirarogersbree insult (this one about how my face would look better hidden by a mullet and then backed over by a tractor — I’d link to it directly but there are small children on the internet, God help them all) I felt it incumbent upon me to fire back with both metaphorical barrels. Thus, I drew the comparison (admittedly shaky) between Moira Roger’s shapeshifters and the fell creatures of Hamtaro the hamster anime.

I’m happy to say nine out of ten of my fellow internet monkeys agreed with me.

Not content to turn the other cheek, Bree of the Awesome Infamousity and Ryan Reynolds Propaganda countered by suggesting my vampire hit man, Karl Vance, would find employment in the following capacity after the completion of my urban fantasy series:

 

Ah, Sesame Street. You bring back such joyous memories. Memories of obsessively counting vampires, trench coats, and…lightning in elevators. Now, notice how the Count actually bounces Kermit out of the elevator as if he were an obnoxious drunk slurring his profanity at some posh club. I find this line of work entirely plausible for my vampire.

Hey, times are tough all over.

Unfortunately, since I’m male and need to keep score, I’m going to have to arbitrarily award this round to me on points. So, Keith wins round one. You may proceed to launch fireworks and kiss babies in joyous celebration.

One can buy the Moira Rogers books I mentioned here:

http://samhainpublishing.com/authors/moira-rogers

You can also find them all over the place on Amazon and Fictionwise, but you’ll have to do the legwork.

Oh yeah, here’s a poll so we can make my victory all statistically valid.

A Stand Up Guy, A Dirty Job

Karl Vance. Vampire. Hit man. Paranormal ronin gunslinger with ties to the darkest corners of Boston’s criminal underground.

As a vampire, he has to feed to survive, but a vampire with a conscience has a far smaller pool of victims from which to fish. Enter the rival mafia syndicates in Boston, both chaffing over territorial incursions, both Families eager to seize the top position. When war breaks out, Karl wades into the fray, carrying out contracts, clipping wiseguys, and earning a living the hard way. Still, this lets him keep the conscience of an unnatural born killer as clean as he can, and allows him to keep to this old hunter standby:

Kill what you eat. Eat what you kill.

1st Post: It’s All Downhill From Here

I predict this faceless blog now flailing among a million others will rise to achieve heights of blogtastic tyranny rivaled only by certain monopolistic software companies.

Or maybe it won’t.

Either way, these randomly updated blogs will not contribute to society in any meaningful way, but I will talk about writing, movies, and books–and perhaps the evils of lime gelatin. Oh, and vampires with guns. Gotta talk about vampire hit men because, quite honestly, they are awesome.