52 Novels

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A couple of things I noticed yesterday around the Intarwebs:

First, Lynn Viehl of Paperback Writer posted her Novel Notebook template… including what a completed version looks like. In a nutshell, the book serves as her novel-writing blueprint and covers everything from cover art concepts to deep, deep character maps. She even gives her characters a birthday.

Girl knows what she’s doing, too. If you’re one of the three people who’ve never heard of her, she’s written thirty-eight novels in five genres over the last eight years. And she cracked the NYT in 2007. Plus, Lynn’s one of the most generous writers you’ll find anywhere on the Web.¹ Download The Novel Notebook for free.

Second, Sarah Weinman dropped a snippet about Japanese crime novelist Jiro Akagawa, who just published his five hundredth novel. Yes. That’s a five followed by two zeros. 500. Like the famous race in Indiana.

So, Lynn Viehl writes five books a year. Jiro Akagawa writes sixteen a year.

The question I have is, “The fuck you waiting for?”²

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1. Which isn’t saying other writers aren’t generous. It’s just that Lynn’s in the top five… easy. [⇑]
2. And by “you” I mean me. And you. [⇑]

A couple months back, JA Konrath—author of the Jack Daniels mystery series—made a few of his previously unpublished novels available for download. Way back then he also promised a short story compilation called 55 PROOF.

I just noticed today that he’s finally made it available. You can download it here or directly from JA… whichever you choose you get the same great book of mystery, horror, sci-fi, and crime short stories.

What’s more is that almost all of these stories are now out-of-print commercially. This download is the only way you’ll get them now.

I had a chance today to read some… great stuff! If you’re a fan of Barry Eisler’s John Rain series, you’ll love Konrath’s hilarious parody of the hitman thriller, called LIGHT DRIZZLE. It’s non-stop, side-splitting funny.

And if you’re already a fan of the Jack Daniels mysteries, there’re a ton of Jack-related stories… locked room cases with Jack, as well as some Harry McGlade and Phin Troutt stand-alones. There’s even a Herb Benedict shorty in the book!

Click to download and read 55 PROOF today. It’s FREE!

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I get a lot of traffic from people looking to download free novels… so much so that I’ve added a new page to the site.

In addition to the freebies from JA Konrath, I also added a couple of novels from Cory Doctorow, who’s a critically acclaimed sci-fi novelist, fervent DRM opponent, and founder of boing boing. (As if Cory needs the links from me.)

Plus, I’ll be adding more free downloadable novels—in PDF e-book form—as I come across them. And if any novelists out there want me to re-distribute their books here at 52 Novels, please don’t be shy… e-mail me at rob at 52novels dot com.

At any rate, check out the new page for one-stop, e-book downloady goodness.

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