Ken Scholes recently gave Zone 1 the job of designing his new series of short fiction collections. East of Eden and Just a Bit South was the first to go live; One Small Step (and Other Missing Links) is the second. It’s been a joy making books out of these eclectic bundles of short fiction.  They lend themselves beautifully to the kind of work I love to do.

To begin with, I adore Ken’s writing. Whether it’s a stunning 5-volume fantasy series like The Psalms of Isaak or a short story about a skinny alcoholic clown driving a talking monkey from Seattle to New Mexico like “Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair,” Ken Scholes doesn’t disappoint. When a writer comes up with ideas like Cain and Abel living with their parents in a trailer on the outskirts of Eden, cover ideas are not hard to come by. 

You can buy One Small Step (and Other Missing Links) at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, and all Amazon stores worldwide. It will be available soon at Barnes & Noble, too.

One of the things I recommend Zone 1 clients include in their books is a catalog of other works they’d like to promote to readers. In print books, a list of “Other books by Insert Author Name Here” may lead to a reader looking up additional works, but it’s a long way and a lot of steps from reading a title on a page and holding the book in your hands. A lot of opportunities to miss the sale. 

A catalog with links to the e-books sales pages at Internet retailers, on the other hand, makes it seductively easy for readers to tap links and buy books which the retailer delivers in a matter of seconds. Each book does double duty as a promotional tool and easy sales channel for as many others as the writer cares to include. In One Small Step, Ken links to four novels and three collections that many readers might otherwise not know about, and the links make instant purchases a likelihood.

Ken has several other collections in mind, and I'm making room on Zone 1's calendar for them. he promises readers a seasonal treat toward the end of 2013 with a compilation of his “Santaman” stories. I’m clearing the decks for that one, and remember, e-books make great presents!

Bruce McAllister is well known in the world of science fiction and fantasy. His novelette Dream Baby was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, and when expanded into a novel it won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Publisher’s Weekly called Dream Baby “A stunning tour de force.” His first novel, Humanity Prime, was chosen by legendary editor Terry Carr as one of the Ace Science Fiction Specials, alongside such talents as Roger Zelazny and Ursula K. LeGuin. His short story “The Boy in Zaquitos” was reprinted in Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King. These days he coaches other successful writers in Southern California.

Bruce recently decided to take a flyer into the indie publishing world. He chose the name Archangel Media for his new enterprise, and I designed the logo on the left for him.  Archangel Media, in turn, has just published two of Bruce's short stories, with covers and interior formatting and design by Zone 1.

Hit is the tale of a young contract killer offered an assignment from God: forgiveness in return for killing the world’s oldest vampire. But even angels can lie, and Anthony must penetrate the mysteries of the Vatican to discover the truth behind the hit and win his real redemption.

You can buy Hit for 99c at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, and all Amazon stores worldwide. 

The Passion: A Western takes us to a nameless dust-and-adobe town where a nameless man must once again shoot his way out of another spaghetti western. But there’s something different about this one. He can’t read the script, he doesn't know who's directing, and the mysterious voice-over narrator portends sacrifice, blood, and death. 

You can buy The Passion: A Western for 99c at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, and all Amazon stores worldwide.