THE FIRECRACKER KING

THE FIRECRACKER KING

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WpMetadataReadOngoing5h 15m
WpMetadataNoticeLast published Wed, Sep 11, 2019
THE SUMMER OF '65 WAS HOT...AND DEADLY. "I LOVED IT! Richly atmospheric and haunting, this coming of age tale, set against a 1965 backdrop, investigates the murder of a beautiful teenage girl. A blazingly great new novel." - Caroline Leavitt - New York Times #1 bestselling author. "A WICKED, MARVELOUS BOOK." - David Corbett, award-winning author of THE DEVIL'S REDHEAD, and DONE FOR A DIME "Witty and gritty and paced like a rocket, Matt Bayan's The Firecracker King is an utter gas to read. A kicker of a plot, wily characters deftly portrayed, a sneakily straightforward style that betrays a subtle, insightful mind-I was smiling with every turn of the page, when I wasn't laughing out loud. Please excuse the all-too-obvious pun, but this book is an absolute blast." ----- A.C. Crispin - New York Times bestselling author. (The STARBRIDGE Series, Star Wars - THE HAN SOLO TRILOGY; Pirates of the Caribbean - THE PRICE OF FREEDOM) "Bayan's description of the firecracker slugfest out on the lake had me howling with laughter. Not many authors can say they've achieved that. The only thing I can compare the writing to (and it holds up very favorably) is Stephen King's THE BODY - the story that inspired the film STAND BY ME." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Set in 1965, The Firecracker King depicts a quiet lakeside neighborhood that is shocked by the brutal murder of a beautiful teenage girl. Jake's idealism is battered by hatred and betrayal as he tries to survive in a dangerous adult world. Part mystery, part coming-of-age story, part thriller, THE FIRECRACKER KING builds its pace to a breakneck ending, yet along the way contains a full measure of humor and insight.
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************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.

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