I Have an Evil Plan, with Zahn, Ringo, and David.

Holidays are generally not great days for my blog traffic.  This upcoming labor day, that's a good thing, because I'm going to be at DragonCon.

Yes, DragonCon, in beautiful downtown Atlanta, Georgia.  You can check out their guest list here.

I intend to enjoy myself, and unleash my evil plan.

Okay, it's not necessarily evil, but it should be interesting.

For newcomers, It Was Only On Stun! is a murder mystery at a science fiction convention. And, since I've published this bloody book mostly through my own stubborn efforts, I'm going to try selling as much as possible, and one thing that would help would be blurbs from authors, giving me positive reviews. Really positive reviews.

In short, I hope to give a copy of my book to Peter David, Timothy Zahn, and John Ringo. Why these authors?  You mean aside from the fact that they are all kick-ass writers, and popular in the science fiction community?



Peter David and John Ringo have a similar sense of humor to mine ... or I developed my sense of humor by reading them, pick one.  I find Ringo inspiring, and David usually entertaining, when he's not putting his politics into it.



Timothy Zahn is "only" an amazing author, and most likely responsible for resurrecting Star Wars as a franchise (sadly, the book franchise might be the only reason Lucas felt comfortable trying the prequel trilogy.  Bonus: Zahn has gone everywhere that Lucas has, and has outperformed the little sot.)

Right now, my major hope for the convention is that I don't have security sicced on me for trying to hand an author a novel.  Signed, of course.

On the plus side, I know Peter David has out-and-out advocated this procedure, so I can at least tell him that I'm only following his own advice. 

On the other hand, if Zahn found it creepy, he could call the 501st Imperial Stormtrooper Legion (see my Sean Ryan Trailer.).



And John Ringo ... well, he's ex-82nd airborne, and legions of his fans are military vets. I really hope he doesn't mind. And that he likes the book.

It's going to be amusing.

A Pius Press Release

Yup. This is my new press release. How do you all like it?

DATE: 26 July 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Konecsni. #***-***-****

A
Pius Man: A Holy Thriller – History, Theology,
and Bullets.

Giovanni Figlia's job is straightforward: protect a new, African Pope who courts controversy every other day. His latest project: make "Hitler's Pope,” Pius XII, a saint. But when people who have gone into the Vatican archives start dying, a whole new world of problems emerge. And each time someone dies, a priest has been in the background; a priest close to the Pope. It's a mystery with too many suspects: the American mercenary working for the Vatican? The Egyptian cop coordinating for the Pope's trip to Cairo? Or the priest who's mysteriously well trained in combat? Also, since one of the dead researchers was an Al Qaeda asset, Mossad and German intelligence arrive in Rome. Soon, they must all join forces to unravel the mystery around the Vatican, as even the man Giovanni is supposed to protect looks like a suspect. To get out of this alive, they must discover the mystery of Hitler's Pope to find out whether or not he was a Nazi collaborator, or a pious Man.

In
the past twenty years, there have been numerous thrillers and books
about the Catholic Church. The Church has been portrayed as right
wing sociopaths, malevolent Nazis, and fanatically anti-technology.
For each of these accusations, there have been a dozen historical
books released to counter them, but no novels.

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller is Declan Finn's way to change that. A Pius Man answers most popular cliches about the church, both in fiction and in popular "history": the image of Jesuits and the Opus Dei as the vile henchmen of a backwards church is almost parodied. The view of a technophobic church is contrasted with one that utilizes the latest in nonlethal weapons (NLW); that the church that persecuted Galileo actually prosecuted him for teaching a theory as fact without sufficient evidence, and the Church itself has it's own observatory. There are also one or two offhand comments poking fun at Templar conspiracy theories along the way.



Every historical reference can be footnoted (literally, the first draft had footnotes in it). Almost every reference is either directly related to the plot, or related to a vital element. Every time history is brought up, it is kept as concise as possible, without a trace of being pedantic or lecturing to the audience. Instead, it's treated as other tales told within the context of the novel—as much as any character's back story would be.



At the end of the day, despite the history-heavy elements of the story, A Pius Man reads like the usual political techno-thriller, with history slipped in between gunfire.





A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller

ISBN 1482553899



For review copies, appearances or interviews with the author, contact ***-***-****, or DeclanFinnInc@aol.com.

Hitting the big leagues -- being interviewed at Fortnight of ... Mustard?

Today, I"m going to be a little bit lazy.  I'm going to let someone else do the work for me.....

Sort of.

I'm actually interviewed over at A Fortnight of Mustard (yes, seriously.) and at Catholic Once Again.

It's always nice to deal with someone who likes my books. :)

Anyway, enjoy the interviews.

I Have an Evil Plan, with Zahn, Ringo, and David.

Holidays are generally not great days for my blog traffic.  This upcoming labor day, that's a good thing, because I'm going to be at DragonCon.

Yes, DragonCon, in beautiful downtown Atlanta, Georgia.  You can check out their guest list here.

I intend to enjoy myself, and unleash my evil plan.

Okay, it's not necessarily evil, but it should be interesting.

For newcomers, It Was Only On Stun! is a murder mystery at a science fiction convention. And, since I've published this bloody book mostly through my own stubborn efforts, I'm going to try selling as much as possible, and one thing that would help would be blurbs from authors, giving me positive reviews. Really positive reviews.

In short, I hope to give a copy of my book to Peter David, Timothy Zahn, and John Ringo. Why these authors?  You mean aside from the fact that they are all kick-ass writers, and popular in the science fiction community?



Peter David and John Ringo have a similar sense of humor to mine ... or I developed my sense of humor by reading them, pick one.  I find Ringo inspiring, and David usually entertaining, when he's not putting his politics into it.



Timothy Zahn is "only" an amazing author, and most likely responsible for resurrecting Star Wars as a franchise (sadly, the book franchise might be the only reason Lucas felt comfortable trying the prequel trilogy.  Bonus: Zahn has gone everywhere that Lucas has, and has outperformed the little sot.)

Right now, my major hope for the convention is that I don't have security sicced on me for trying to hand an author a novel.  Signed, of course.

On the plus side, I know Peter David has out-and-out advocated this procedure, so I can at least tell him that I'm only following his own advice. 

On the other hand, if Zahn found it creepy, he could call the 501st Imperial Stormtrooper Legion (see my Sean Ryan Trailer.).



And John Ringo ... well, he's ex-82nd airborne, and legions of his fans are military vets. I really hope he doesn't mind. And that he likes the book.

It's going to be amusing.

Hitting the big leagues -- being interviewed at Fortnight of ... Mustard?

Today, I"m going to be a little bit lazy.  I'm going to let someone else do the work for me.....



Sort of.



I'm actually interviewed over at A Fortnight of Mustard (yes, seriously.) and at Catholic Once Again.



It's always nice to deal with someone who likes my books. :)



Anyway, enjoy the interviews.

Promotions Update: Read the Book for Free

Yes, you can read It Was Only On Stun!, the prequel to A Pius Man, for free....



But you don't think it's that easy, do you?  Of course not.



Let's talk talk promos.



As I've mentioned previously, Amazon.com allows me five promo days for people to read my book whenever and wherever they like.



But only as long as it's on a Kindle.



So, I've expanded the dates.  Anyone can read my novel, It Was Only On Stun!, from September 2-6.



Why those dates?  Because I'm going to be dropping these fliers all over the place at DragonCon (okay, it's slight hyperbole; I'll be dropping a ton of these fliers on the tables with all the other promotions).  I don't see anyone stopping their fun at DragonCon to read my book. However, I can see them downloading a free book so they can read it on the plane ride home.



And if you don't like the flier, this is only a first draft. I've been a little busy lately.



Twelve days to DragonCon.