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Outstanding October Offerings!

Oops! My SciFi

Outstanding October Offerings! You get memes, book reviews, videos, and sci-fi like stories that are science. Plus, free audiobooks!

Why is it your lucky day? Because I’m celebrating seven years as a self-published author.

Outstanding October
Wife’s garden plot

I’m author Andy Zach and let’s start off with this meme.

My wife’s a gardener, so it’s very natural for me to see her digging in our yard. But this hole would make me think she was plotting something–even though I’m the plotter in the family.

Still, I dedicated my first book Zombie Turkeys to here. (Click to get your autographed copy.) Click here if you want to buy from Amazon for more and not directly from me.

Outstanding October Offerings: A Free Short Story

This is y wife’s favorite short story in my collection, Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse. The chapter icon is created by my illustrator Sean “Fuzzy” Flanagan.

Oops! My SciFi
Outstanding October

He was dead. At least, his business was. And without his business, his wife would leave him and take their new baby. Then he might as well be dead.

His dad had run the Elysium Fields Mortuary for thirty years and had made a killing at it. The first and only mortuary in their small town of Hillvale, everyone got buried there. He charged normal prices, he was friendly, and he helped their community.

His dad said to him when he was a teen, “Irving, after you get your college degree, go to mortuary school, and when you come out, I’ll hire you and then turn the business over to you. You’ll be set for life.”

Irv had no other plans. He liked this cute blonde Shelley in high school, and she liked him. So he learned the business, got his degree in psychological counseling, and came back and married her. Just as he promised, his dad turned Elysium Fields over to him after a few years and retired to Florida with his mom.

A Free Short Story Part 2

The first years had been great. People were dying to be his customers. He and Shelley remodeled his parents’ old house, went on vacations around the world, had his and her luxury cars. Shelley had their son, Nathan. Then the bottom dropped out of his business.

Rather than dying normally, people were taking zombie blood. Lung cancer? Gone. Heart disease? Cleared up. Severe accidents? Limbs grew back. Most people then took the vaccine to remove the zombie disease, because who wants to be a zombie with glowing red eyes? But they were still alive and healthy.

Click to read more!

Outstanding October – Guitar Boogie by Roy Clark

A SciFi Review by Andy Zach

Andy Zach

Author 10 books

91 followers

September 30, 2023

Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, and Paula Goodlett combine for a fast-moving novel in the 1632 alternate history series. In this book, the Sovereign States are a democratic union within Russia, vying for power with traditional dictatorships in other parts of Russia.

Even for devoted fans of the series, keeping track of dozens of Russian names can be daunting. But after about halfway through the book it clicked for me and I knew pretty well who everyone was.

The uptimer characters from the 21st century town of Grantville, Bernie and Brandy exert their influence, but they’re just part of the cast.

Military logistics are a key part of this novel as various armies maneuver in the vast expanse of Russian territory. Czar Mikhail of the Sovereigns cleverly keeps expanding his network of communication, airfields, and railroads to keep one step ahead of his enemies.

The reader gets a good sense of the fragmentary nature of the Russian territory and the vast distances involved.

Military buffs, historians, Russian devotees and lovers of steampunk should all enjoy this novel.

A Non-Andy Zach SciFi Review

Villain's Vacation cover
Outstanding October
Villain’s Vacation cover

Brad Secrest

50 reviews

1 follower

October 8, 2023

What a fresh take on the superhero genre. Teenage kids with profound disabilities and super powers. And, don’t forget the super hamster. I love the blending of storytelling the author displays that throws him into the characters as the one documenting these super kid’s lives and the defeat of their villains. I gotta read more from this author!

Outstanding October – Tell Me What you Think!

Meet My Characters
Outstanding October
Oops! back cover

Let me know what you think by clicking here or emailing me at [email protected]. As always, everyone who responds with a comment or email will get a free book from me.

You can get an autographed copy of Oops! directly from me by clicking here. Free shipping and I pay the sales tax.

Or you can get it on Amazon for .99 or 12.95. ($2.99 if you don’t get it right away.)

If you want to keep track of all my blog posts and get free books you can subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here. You also get all my audiobooks for free!

Psst! Audible lets you listen free to my books. Click here to find out how.

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My Seventh-Year Anniversary as a Self-Published Author

Get Your Zombie Turkeys Laughter
Sixth-Year Anniversary
My Seventh-Year Anniversary
Zombie Turkeys front cover. Click to get a copy!

My Seventh-Year Anniversary as a Self-Published Author–how did I do it? How is it going so far? Hold onto your socks, because I’ll tell you all about it.

But before anything, grab a copy of my book for free. It’s free for 3 days, October 1-3 to celebrate my anniversary! Click here now!

On October 31st, 2016, I published this book:

Sam Melvin, an underachieving e-reporter from a small town, changes forever when he meets turkeys that won’t stay dead. You can shoot ’em, chop ’em, burn ’em—they come back stronger. The undead plague of poultry spreads uncontrollably, rocking the whole country. . .

From Zombie Turkeys’ Blurb

So, what happened next? What happened before the publication?

In the beginning . . .

Only Three Days Left: Get Your Free Book
My Sixth-Year Anniversary
My Seventh-Year Anniversary
A turkey who missed the free book offer. Click to get your free book.

Caterpillar forcibly retired me in October 2015. I didn’t want to rust on the pile of retirement, so I decided I would start writing a book. But I needed a topic. I wanted something light and funny.

We got a new turkey fryer and I tested it out. I brought in the fried turkey on a platter and said, “Imagine if this turkey came back to life!” Then someone said, “It’d be a zombie turkey.”

“Eureka! That’s it! That’s my book! Zombie turkeys! A whole apocalypse of them. It’ll be a parody of all zombie books ever written.”

My Seventh-Year Anniversary – What Happened Next?

I wrote about 48,000 words in November in the book for NaNoWriMo. Then I finished it in December. Then I edited it: six times over until March. I decided I needed an editor–and got her, Dori Harrell.

Then I decided to learn about publishing. I read about six books. I also took a writing course at my alma mater, Bradley university. Who knew point-of-view was so important?

I created a project plan for self-publishing. Then I decided to publish through Amazon, since it was easier and cheaper.

I went back and forth with my editor about six times. The novel was ready to publish, with 54,000 words.

Oops! I forgot to get a cover illustration! I needed one done and it was July 2016.

The Making of the Zombie Turkeys Cover

My Sixth-Year Anniversary
My Seventh-Year Anniversary
A cover draft. Click to see more.

Fortunately, I already wrote a blog post about this process. Click the title or here to read it.

Oh, I forgot. I also worked with my illustrator Sean “Fuzzy” Flanagan on my chapter icons. Read about it here: How we Made Zombie Turkeys Chapter Icons.

My Seventh-Year Anniversary – Format Editing

Text formatting–so simple–NOT! Readers expect books to be formatted a certain way. If you break the rules–like not starting your book on the right-hand page–you look like a rank amateur.

Which I was. But I didn’t want to look that way. I only got one chance to make a first impression. So I hired Rik Hall. He’s fast. He’s experienced. And he made my book in both paperback and ebook formats.

Finally I was ready. I uploaded my file to Amazon and ordered my proof copy. My launch date was set for October 31st, 2016 and ordered fifty paper copies from Amazon.

I was ready to launch. What happened next? Read my next blog to find out!