Category lawson | JON F. MERZ • Official • Author / Actor / Producer

March 31, 2010 by Jon F. Merz

Giveaway #6 Winner + Giveaway #7: Jewelry & Ninjutsu

Congratulations to Giveaway #6 winner…

Kent Holloway!

(Kent, I’ll be in touch later tonight or tomorrow to get your info so the good folks at Variance can send your books out!)

By the way, at about 9pm, Brandon Stumpf who stars as Lawson in THE FIXER TV series, will be in the chat room. Don’t miss the chance to ask him questions about the role and how he sees Lawson developing for TV. You won’t be disappointed!

Giveaway #7!!!!

Two winners this next hour – one will get a beautiful pair of handmade amethyst earrings courtesy of my friend Tracy at The Lang Company Jewelry – really nice work and a beautiful pair of earrings. Be sure to check them out for all your jewelry needs!

The other winner this hour will receive a free week of training at The Boston Martial Arts Center in Allston, MA. Chief Instructor Mark Davis – one of my best friends and teacher for the past twenty years of my life – has graciously donated a week’s worth of training that includes a whole bunch of classes. Mark has one of the most diverse backgrounds of any martial artist I know and is one of the world’s preeminent Ninjutsu instructors.

All you have to do to be entered to win is one of the following. And if you’ve already done one on the list at a previous giveaway, just work your way down to the next item! 🙂 Easy! And don’t forget to leave me a comment so I can track everything! Thanks!

1. If you’re on Twitter, type “Free giveaways all day long at Jon F. Merz’s new website http://bit.ly/dnwKoF #books #ebooks #writer” & then come back here and leave me a comment below so I know you put out the tweet.
2. If you’re on Facebook, type a status update that reads: “Free giveaways all day long at author Jon F. Merz’s new website http://bit.ly/dnwKoF & join his fan page here on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/jonfmerzfans” & then come back here and post a comment letting me know you did this.
3. Not on Facebook or Twitter? How about putting a link from your website to this one? Once you do, post a comment to let me know what site you’ve linked to mine.
4. No website? Are you on any forums or bulletin boards? If so, start a new thread about the official launch and direct everyone to come here using this link: http://bit.ly/dnwKoF and then post a comment below letting me know what board you posted to.
5. Not on any boards? Email your friends! Send them a quick email about today’s launch and invite them to swing by – BCC me on it (use the email address jonfmerz AT gmail DOT com) so I can see how many people you told about this site and then chime in with a comment below letting me know what you did.
6. Suggest your Facebook friends become fans of THE FIXER
7. Suggest your Facebook friends become fans of Jon F. Merz
8. Read any blogs, magazines, news sites about books, new media, film/TV? Suggest they interview me and my work!
9. Visit my Youtube Channel and rate & comment on my videos. Subscribe as well!
10. Purchase one of my ebooks on Amazon or Smashwords or iTunes and send me the receipt

Doing any of these will automatically enter you into the fifth giveaway!

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March 19, 2010March 19, 2010 by Jon F. Merz

First Glimpse of THE FIXER Graphic Novel Interior Art

I’m happy to announce that artist Rob Moran of Voodoo Vision Studios has been hired to handle pencils on THE FIXER graphic novel due out in October. Rob did up a quick promo piece at the left featuring a few key elements from part 1 of the story arc. Artist Brian McCullough is also hard at work painting the cover and I fully expect this to be a fantastic book with some truly gorgeous artwork.

Remember, you will need to pre-order this book in order to receive a copy! Right now, there are no plans to offer this through a traditional distributor, so unless you get in on this great book now, you won’t be able to find a copy unless you search the secondary market and don’t mind paying hundreds of dollars for it. You can get it right now for just $19.95 ($14.95 + $5 shipping anywhere in the world) by using the form below.

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in comics / graphic novels / graphic novels / lawson / novels / publishing / short stories / writing 3 comments

March 16, 2010March 16, 2010 by Jon F. Merz

Bacchanalia, Baby…

On the ancient Roman calendar, today marks the start of Bacchanalia, the 2-day festival to worship Bacchus, the god of wine and debauchery. To commemorate this auspicious event (and frankly, because it’s Tuesday and not the weekend) I thought I’d invite people to post their favorite drink, drinking game, drinking story (one that involves you personally), or most delicious drink recipe in the comment section below. On Thursday, I will draw three winners at random from all the comments received and each person gets a signed book as a prize. And please be sure to invite your friends to come on over and take part (you’ll see easy-to-use “share” buttons below this post).

So I’ll start things off by talking about my love of Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics. I first heard of Bombay Sapphire after reading Richard Marcinko’s ROGUE WARRIOR books and his love for the gin (which he usually drinks over ice). Already a fan of gin and tonics (but never able to find a gin I really liked) I tried it with Bombay Sapphire and the rest is history – and Lawson’s favorite drink was born. I like a healthy wedge of lime squeezed into the drink (y’know, for fighting off scurvy, lol). First I’ll get a nice pile of ice cubes, pour a good 1/4 to 1/3 Bombay Sapphire over that so it can start to chill, then add the tonic water and finally top it off with the squeeze of lime followed by the lime itself into the glass.

Your turn! Have fun and remember to toast Bacchus!

PS: I’m also looking for questions to fill in over on my FAQ Page so if you’ve got any pressing inquiries about me, my work, my training, my production company – what have ya, feel free to leave a comment below as well. I’ll do a “formal” blog post about more FAQ solicitations, but for now, if you’d rather ask a question, that’s cool, too. And yes, you’re still eligible for the book drawing. 🙂

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in lawson / novels / writing 30 comments

March 12, 2010 by Jon F. Merz

The Shape of Things to Come…

So there are a lot of things afoot (as usual) and I wanted to let you know about them and ask for some input as well…

First of all, the website is being redesigned (again) and moved from the Joomla platform over to a WordPress platform, because I need more flexibility with the design. Expect an unveiling within the next few weeks.

As part of the new design, I’ll be offering a lot of things for sale on the site. Obviously, the majority of this will be related to my writing. I already offer a number of ebooks for sale, but expect that number to increase substantially. You’ll be able to buy ebooks from me directly (using PayPal), over at Amazon, over at Smashwords, and within the next few weeks the first of these offerings will be available for purchase over at iTunes as an app for your iPhone/iPad/iTouch. I’ve already seen the app for Parallax and it looks great. The app is entirely self-contained with ereader software so there’s no need to download anything else.

As part of this ebook push, I realize a lot of you will still want printed versions of my books. I can’t say I blame you since I still very strongly about having things actually “in print.” So I’m looking into a number of print-on-demand services to satisfy this need. Obviously, I don’t want to do a huge layout of cash for offset printing and then have to deal with inventory, shipping, postage, etc. That takes away from everything else I’m doing. So, as far as I know (and feel free to chime in if you know differently) POD looks to be the answer to this problem. I want everything that I have to sell to be available in as many ways as possible. So, I hope a lot of you will comment below and let me know about your experiences with any POD services (Createpspace, Unibook, Wordclay, Lulu, Blurb, etc.) below.

Also, as part of the POD question, would you be more inclined to purchase a trade paperback or a hardcover if you were offered one or the other. Some of the places I’m investigating offer hardcovers for only a few bucks more than the paperback. Figured I’d see where your inclinations lie in this regard. So don’t hold back! 🙂

Additionally, we will start selling some other swag: specifically sweatshirts, T-shirts, and stuff like that. All of this is going to be available via this site through a 3rd party vendor. So I’m also looking for your input on this front. I *think* I know who I’m going with for this function, but again, feel free to chime in below.

More news is coming soon, but for now, I hope you’ll share your thoughts below. Thank you!

in ebooks / lawson / novels / publishing / short stories / writing 25 comments

March 10, 2010 by Jon F. Merz

THE MADAGASCAR MATTER – Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The interior of the store reminded me of a museum, just a whole lot dustier. I sniffed the air, aware of the dust bunnies, and very nearly launched a nasal assault of sneezes.

He also kept the inside of the store dimly lit with the blinds drawn. He would probably say that the intense sunlight might harm the paintings that hung on the wall. I thought it would be because he wanted as much privacy as possible.

A little jingling bell went off as I walked in; a two-dollar alarm that worked better than the musicians Hjelm paid to set up shop outside. I smiled at the irony and waited for him to show himself.

While I waited, a quick glanced told me that the vast majority of people entering this place didn’t have the necessary coin to afford any of it. I saw a Japanese katana that looked like it bore the tang stamp of Masamune, supposedly the finest swordsmith that Japan ever produced. It was probably the only thing in the entire store that didn’t have a thin layer of dust coating it.

“You have an appreciation for swords?”

I turned and found myself staring at Hjelm only three feet away. However old the guy might have been, he was stealthy as hell. I’d have to remember that in the future or else he might easily get the drop on me.

I pointed at the blade. “It’s a Masamune, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” said Hjelm. “Do you know of his work?”

“Just that his blades are supposed to be quite good.”

Hjelm sniffed as if I’d just suggested he take up proctology as a hobby. “Forgive me, but saying that his blades are supposed to be…quite good, as you said, is like saying Albert Einstein was supposedly good at science.”

I smiled. “Well, perhaps a bit of schooling would be in order.”

Hjelm grinned. “Goro Masamune is widely considered the supreme swordsmith of Japan. Most of his work was done in the fourteenth century and his blades – both the longer graceful curved tachi and the short tanto knife style – were reputed to have been forged with the inner peace and calm so often missing from other smiths of his day and later years.”

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