Falstaff Books

18/07/2024

Man, one of the coolest feelings is when a fellow author I respect messages me to say, in essence "I'm reading your new book, and I kinda hate you a little because it's really good." Hearing from my peers that I got one right never gets old.

Unforgiven is a book of my heart. It's the kind of book that I wanted to write when I started writing. I hope it's a good tribute to the people like Mercedes Lackey, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Nicholas Eames, and other writers who have been such a huge influence on me. I'm proud of it either way, and getting a compliment like that from another author I respect is awesome.

And yes, here is a link because I am a giant w***e. :)

Buy the print book and get a digital copy of the book to read on your electronic device of choice! They were heroes. They were legends. They were retired. Leshru, Nipural, Torgan, Walfert, Eltara, Xethe, and Prynne. They were The Seven, the most legendary mercenary band to ever tread the roads of Wa...

16/07/2024

I'd never try to tell people how to vote on awards or anything like that, but if you've read Unforgiven and love it, it is eligible for a Dragon Award this year (if enough people nominate it, and it's pretty tough for a small press guy to get nominated amidst the major presses, so I'd appreciate it).

Welcome to the annual Dragon Awards! A way to recognize excellence in all the fun things we follow at Dragon Con. These awards are by the fans, for the fans, and are your chance to reward those who have made real contributions to books, games, comics, movies and shows. There is no qualification for....

15/07/2024

The thing that I am constantly reminded of any time we produce SAGA Genre Fiction Writing Conference or any other event is that goddamn, I have a lot of incredibly talented friends, cohorts, and employees. I'm glad I keep them fooled into thinking I belong in their company.

10/06/2024

Check out the crowdfunding for my buddy Bill Tracy and Space Wizard Science Fantasy Press! You can back his project and then see him at Heroes in booth C-AA-401, near the cosplay stage and Ghostbusters!

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/space-wizard-science-fantasy/space-wizard-science-fantasy-year-3?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0DB7bqw8EMnnCj667xWdy7QQ7wIt-ShvZyJ_xhVQyXeVXemcWVr_9v1Xs_aem_AUU8SHmQBLiQP8CSf0r8GI10PAPzk_Tzct6HEr4rurs4KLdWbNu4mO7DkQw1IhnLmGCofa-SKvA2r08BGrH0IfR2

We are an indie publishing house focusing on q***r science fiction and fantasy. This is our third year bringing you amazing scifi and fantasy stories!

10/06/2024

Come see me, Darin Kennedy - Author, and all the Falstaff Books stuff at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find Con this weekend at the Charlotte Convention Center! We're in booth 1421-1423 at the back of the hall right beside the edge of Indie Island!

This show is MASSIVE, using the entire Charlotte Convention Center exhibit hall, so come check us out!

06/06/2024

I love it when an author sends in their bio, headshot, acknowledgements, back cover copy, and dedication the first time I ask for it.

I love it even more when I remember they did that and think to go look for it before I ask them to send me their stuff. The second is much more rare an occurrence than the first.

06/06/2024

Gandalf heard I was finally sending out another newsletter. He wanted to make sure I included enough kitty photos.

04/06/2024

I've been incredibly lucky with most of my audiobooks, but goddamn, Annie Ellicott and crew crushed it with Identity Theft! The character sounds in the audiobook EXACTLY like she does in my head, and that's both a little terrifying (because it's weird in there, y'all) and impressive, because comedy is hard, and translating that from page to performance is even harder. So get over to Soundbooth Theater and grab your copy right now! And it's only $7, because there's no middlehuman! You can, of course, add a tip and toss a coin to your witches. Er, witcher. Nah, I said what I said...

Based (verrrrrry loosely) on True Events. Alexis Lieberman has been hacked. And not just hacked like someone stole her credit card information and did something reasonable, like buy a new TV or go to Aruba. Oh, nooooooo, of course not. No, she got hacked, and her credit card was used to buy the most...

03/06/2024

Thanks to everyone who came out to ConCarolinas and made it an amazing weekend! I won't try to mention everyone, but some of the highlights are - thanks to Theresa Glover, Bonnie Alexander, Vikki Perry, Lucy Blue, K.E. Mair, and everyone who helped set up, tear down, and staff the Falstaff Books mothership! It was a great weekend for sales!
Thanks to Ray Franks, Karen Franks, Carol J. Cowles, Jessica Reid, Alex Matsuo, Christopher Brawner, and all the track directors, ConCom members, staff and volunteers who made the con happen!
Special thanks to our Guests of Honor Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta for being amazing guests! Thanks to Matt Dinniman for being as awesome as always and for signing at our booth! Thanks to Milton Davis for being the guiding light in our industry that he has been for years. It was my honor to finally recognize him as such.
Of course, thanks to all the guests and panelists and the people who stepped up when things went sideways. Y'all did a great job of keeping us ducks moving. If anything ever looks calm on the surface, just know we're always paddling like hell under the water!
If I saw you, I almost certainly wish I'd had more time to spend with you. If I didn't see you, I almost certainly wish I had. Next up is Heroes Con in two weeks! I might get the car unloaded by then...

29/05/2024

Gonna break down and do something I've hardly ever done before - I'm going to listen to one of my own audiobooks! I usually listen to a couple chapters just to make sure that the narrators have everything down (and with pros like Joe Hempel, John Solo, and James Foster, they ALWAYS do). But this is the first time I've had a book with multiple narrators, so I can't wait to see what Jeff Hays and the Soundbooth Theater team have come up with for Identity Theft!

Get yours here -

Based (verrrrrry loosely) on True Events. Alexis Lieberman has been hacked. And not just hacked like someone stole her credit card information and did something reasonable, like buy a new TV or go to Aruba. Oh, nooooooo, of course not. No, she got hacked, and her credit card was used to buy the most...

29/05/2024

This year's ConCarolinas marks a first for us at Falstaff Books. I'll be picking up a U-Haul cargo van tomorrow morning for load-in. I downsized from a Silverado to a Subaru Forester about a year and a half ago, and even though I save a TON on gas, I don't have the same storage/carrying capacity. So tomorrow morning I'm heading over to a rental joint to tote all these books. I'm sending it back well before the con ends, so I hope y'all are ready to buy!

29/05/2024

I'm not saying there's a new preorder up on the Falstaff Books Shopify site, but...https://falstaffbooks.myshopify.com/

28/05/2024

If you’d like to get your hands on an EXTREMELY (like, I printed TWO of these) limited proof copy of The Seven:Unforgiven, you’ll need to be at ConCarolinas this weekend. One will be part of a Falstaff Books bag in the charity auction, and one will be given away at our Falstaff Books roadshow. So come see us at the University Hilton and get it before anybody else!

We will also be taking preorders starting Friday on our Shopify store and at the con.

21/05/2024

Wanna read a story about me on shrooms? Back this Kickstarter!

Wait, what do you mean, Rachel Brune? This anthology isn't me tripping on shrooms and writing stuff? Okay, I guess I'll write a Harker short story, then! And if you want me to murder you in it, maybe eve kill you WITH a mushroom, back the project!

Stories We Tell After Midnight, Volume 4

21/05/2024

I'm frantically unpacking boxes and loading bins of books for ConCarolinas. If there is a specific title you want me to have for you next weekend, please email me - john AT falstaffbooks.com and we'll process a preshow order for you. All preshow orders will receive a free "This Machine Kills AI" pen, and all order over $50 will include a free Falstaff Books tote!

And no, the picture isn't all the books we ordered for the show! There are at least half a dozen more boxes!

08/05/2024

I hope y'all are planning on buying some books at ConCarolinas, because I just ordered a couple hundred paperbacks for that and for Heroes Aren't Hard To Find Con a couple weeks later!

06/05/2024

Working on a couple of editing projects this morning. Goddamn we publish some kickass writers. If you only know Lucienne Diver as an agent, get ready to have your face blown off late this year by her as an epic fantasy novelist!

01/05/2024

So...this is a thing that's happening...it's ALIVE!

https://concarolinas2024.sched.com/

If you're a guest at ConCarolinas, please make sure that you update your bio and photo in Sched. Then it'll populate across to our sched, and to any other con that uses this same software. Just make sure the name is the same and that you're using the same login email. For example, I go by John G. Hartness professionally, but a lot of people don't know my middle initial. So I have to make sure that I'm listed as John G. Hartness in their Sched, so that it'll show my bio and headshot when people go into the app and look for me. Little stuff, but helpful.

Check out the schedule for ConCarolinas 2024

01/05/2024

Pens have arrived and can be ordered off our Shopify store!

If you buy $25 or more in books, I'll throw in a pen for free, or you can order them in 2-packs! We'll have these at AtomaCon this weekend, and at every other con this year (until we run out), so grab yours now!

https://falstaffbooks.myshopify.com/products/this-machine-kills-ai-pen-pack-of-two

30/04/2024

Check out the new Kickstarter from my buddy and ConCarolinas Guest of Honor Kevin J. Anderson! A buttload of badass short fiction from a master of the craft! Now you can own it all (until he makes more)!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thekja/the-kevin-j-anderson-short-fiction-library?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR220QNkIa4JqvLQBDGOe_WWpCT1lOd26HMq_LotF5tEdjUPid2MK2827vs_aem_AflbE2c5Vg_-ExFJrQs2ELZS2mu54ZD9dx52u-3yUn8J5PX4aJkd1nR7r9pCdigvEhVa6YNHABsWPMhKKJdxaRL8

130+ stories spanning the career of a multi-genre master

03/04/2024

What's that, you say? We have a bunch of new Pre-orders up on the Falstaff Books shopify site featuring Bishop O'Connell and Lisa Macon Wood? Why yes, we do!

And if you spend more than $75 on books on our site, your order ships for FREE!

AND all print books include a free copy of the book in ebook form as well!

Falstaff Books Online Bookstore

02/04/2024

So apparently the Daily Title Creation limit on Amazon is three books in a given format.
So I'll have a stack of preorders coming this week.

Just not today...

23/03/2024

Just gonna leave this right here, in case people like to preorder anthologies...

Did you miss the Kickstarter for Nevermore, the awesome anthology of Poe-inspired short stories by a ton of amazing authors? Well, don't worry, my friends, because I will still happily exchange awesome books for your awesome money! The Kickstarter books have been ordered, so now we can take order...

14/03/2024

It's Alive! Quincy Harker Book #9 is available wherever you buy your ebooks, or direct from our website!

Harker needed a vacation. What he got was a serial killer with a Stephen King fe**sh, a fiancee with time-traveling night terrors, and a one-way trip straight to Hell. Again. Even when Quincy Harker tries to relax, he can't relax. He came to the Outer Banks to chill out and maybe dip his toes in the...

11/03/2024

Conventions on back-to-back-to-back weekends means an Amazon order for 240 paperbacks. Y'all better be ready to buy some s**t!

Also, if you have orders for pickup at JordanCon, RavenCon, or AtomaCon, please get those to me early, because I want to make sure I have enough stock for everyone.

07/03/2024

So the past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and not in the greatest way. From my aunt's passing, to sweating my ass off at an otherwise fantastic con, to an amazing wrestling show, to getting sick and being laid basically flat for three days, I'm finally getting back to work. I've done about a half day today, and I've got another couple hours in me, but then I'm back on the couch for a few hours. But I'll be up and at 'em bright and early Saturday at the Matthews Comic Con, so come check us out and buy some cool stuff!

01/03/2024

Ret-Con, I have arrived.

Falstaff Books Mothership set up next.

29/02/2024

It's a cozy Falstaff Books Birthday! Get the brand new series starter from Emily Kaplan right now!

https://falstaffbooks.myshopify.com/

Special release weekend Leap Year Pricing good through Monday!

Viv is an internet warrior, a champion of the downtrodden, a digital Robin Hood for the poor, and defender of the lost. She's also a veritable shut-in who hasn't gone outside of her apartment in months. But when a vulnerable young girl's favorite uncle is murdered, can Viv be coaxed out into the world to solve this tangled coastal North Carolina mystery?

Arsenic and Alibis is the first book in the Virtual Vigilante series, a new cozy mystery series from EM Kaplan (Authors & Dragons, Josie Tucker Mysteries).

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1KRQL5

Falstaff Books Online Bookstore

21/02/2024

You been waiting for a new mystery series? Well, so have we! Preorders are LIVE for Emily Kaplan's newest, Arsenic and Alibis, and we're giving FREE Shipping on preorders!

Just go to this link - https://falstaffbooks.myshopify.com/products/arsenic-and-alibis
Get yourself a brand new EM Kaplan, Author book, and put in Discount Code Cozy at checkout. Then you'll get free shipping on THE WHOLE ORDER!

That's right, you don't just get free shipping on the new release, if you order the new release AND more stuff, you get free shipping on the entire order!

20/02/2024

I'll be headed to Chicago Thursday night for MagicCon Chicago, where I'll be slinging cardboard all weekend. If you're going to be there, let me know! Hope to see some cool folx there!