It's been a while, but here is the news!

Team Reaper

All right, it's been a while since I did anything like this so I guess there is a little to catch up on. But to put it in a nutshell, book #15 is with the publisher and I'm working on #16. With the end of Hunting Ghosts (#15) we saw something happen which changed everything for the team and #16, London's Burning, takes up more or less a day or so after the end of the previous one. 

War Torn

Also last year I worked on a WW2 story with Robert Vaughan for his War Torn series. It can be found in this omnibus edition and is called, The Battered and The Bloody. My first WW2 novel and it was a joy to write. 

Later this year there will be another story. This one is centered on the Russian Front and will take in such places as Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, and culminate in the battle of Berlin. I've already made a start on it and like the previous one, I'm having fun writing in factual characters. It will be called, The Slaughter and The Terror to go with the meatgrinder that the Eastern Front was. I must say, working with Robert is an absolute thrill.

  

Kane

Thirdly, mid last year, a third Kane story came out and it seems that the series itself is reasonably popular. So, this year I'll be writing a fourth Kane story. It's in the planning stage at the moment so when more comes to light I'll let everyone know.

For those who like listening instead of reading, all of the Team Reaper books so far are available on audio at Audible. They're narrated by Francis G Kearney who does a fantastic job, by the way. He's also made a start on the Kane books and the first action-packed story which was written by Mark Allen has been completed. 

But for now, that's all. But if you enjoy the series and can't wait have questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm always here--somewhere.  

Coming Soon!

As normal it's been a while since my last post and things have been happening. Barracuda! is the 9th book in the Team Reaper series and probably the most action-packed yet.

Book 10 is also finished and is out in late Feb. This one is called African White and once more the action rolls out quick and fast.

TEAM REAPER IS BACK AND THIS TIME THEY’RE CHASING THE BIGGEST FISH IN MEXICO. HE’S CALLED LA BARRACUDA!

Alejo Chaves rose to the top riding the blood of others. He took out his rivals and unified the three largest cartels in Mexico, with himself in charge. It was called, El Conglomerado. The Conglomerate.However, the sheer size of his organization was bound to draw the attention of the Worldwide Drug Initiative, and before long Team Reaper had caught their fish.But after two bloody rescue attempts, the CIA decided to take out his top lieutenant with a drone strike, creating massive collateral damage.

Then came the unthinkable… the CIA thought they could use La Barracuda and let him go. They were wrong.

Now America is about to learn how far a crazed cartel boss will go for revenge.

War has come and Team Reaper is on the front lines.

Next there is the new, spinoff series Kane. The first book has been written By Mark Allen.

Tooth and Nail sees Kane off on his own which will be a common theme for this series. Mark has done a great job with this one and the reviews back it up.

The Kane books are also longer than the Team books so the reader gets more bang for their buck.

For the coming year there will be at least another 3 Team Reaper books as well as another Kane so expect the action to keep coming.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE TEAM REAPER SERIES COMES KANE…

When John ‘Reaper’ Kane is forced to gun down a fourteen-year-old boy in self-defense, the combat-weary warrior becomes disillusioned with the endless cycle of blood and violence his life has become.

He goes off-grid in the remote mountain town of Vesper Lake for a week of soul-searching, but when he steps in to help a young woman from being molested, his two-fisted interference finds him running afoul of the local sheriff. In the violent aftermath, he discovers that the town suffers under the crushing stranglehold of Nazareno ‘The Nazarene Dragon’ Pedregon, a ruthless drug lord commanding his criminal empire from inside Black Bog Federal Prison, a cesspool of death and corruption.

Framed for murder, Kane is dragged into the prison and forced to fight for his life when Nazareno finds out who he really is. After surviving a series of brutal, kill-or-be-killed battles, Kane pulls off a brazen escape and flees into the deep, unforgiving woods of the Adirondack Mountains, hunted by both a prison special operations team and cartel kill-squads.

Alone, exhausted, and outgunned, with enemies closing in on all sides, the odds are stacked against him. But when the hunt turns primal, Kane knows that the only way to survive is by tooth and nail.

“Visceral, unforgiving violence that takes no prisoners.”

 

Lastly is empty Quiver. This Team reaper story was published at the end of October and has generally been received well by the readers.

This one is a little different to the rest of the books as our intrepid team ow warriors have to find stolen nukes before Armageddon is unleashed.

And Lastly I was informed today that Brian Drake has finished his third Team Reaper book and it should be in my hands in the next few days so the coming months should be full of over the top action for all the fans of Team Reaper. 

Empty Quiver -- 30th Sept.

We have a release date for the latest Team Reaper story, Empty Quiver. It is expected to grace the virtual shelves on the 30th of September. 

Can't wait? I'll give you a sample of what is to come below. Enjoy.  

Chapter 1

Zabul Province, Afghanistan

“Talk to me, Reaper,” Cara’s even voice filled his head, coming through the ear-piece of his comms unit.

Six-foot-four, John ‘Reaper’ Kane, solidly built with black hair, currently with thick stubble on his tanned face, felt a rivulet of sweat trickle down his nose and fall through space, splashing onto the fine dust between his feet.

More of the salty water created a runnel down his muscular back, leaving a glistening trail over the Reaper tattoo that gave the ex-recon marine his name. His outstretched right hand was rock-steady with a Sig Sauer M17 handgun pointed across the cramped and stuffy room with almost impenetrable mud-brick walls.

“Reaper, you copy?” The voice was more insistent.

Kane depressed the talk button on his comms and said, “I’m a bit busy at the moment, Reaper Two.”

“Just so you know, our HVT is getting away in a white SUV. If we don’t move now, we’ll lose him.”

Cara Billings, callsign Reaper Two and the team’s sniper, was on overwatch while the rest of Team Reaper infiltrated the Zabul Province green zone.

“Deal with it.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No.”

“What about Axe?”

“He’s busy too,” Kane said, glancing down briefly at the thick beard of the prone figure in the deep hole at his feet, before returning his gaze to the job at hand.

“Copy that. Out.”

“Now,” sighed Kane. “Where were we?”

“You die, infidel,” sneered a thick-bearded Afghan insurgent, a thin bead of sweat on his brow, caused by a combination the heat and the tense anxiety of the situation. His eyes flicked about nervously but returned to center on Kane.

“Just hold on a moment, Ahab, before you go and clack off that suicide vest you’re wearing. Maybe we can discuss this calmly, and perhaps all of us can walk away alive.”

“My name is not Ahab,” the Afghani hissed. “It is Aarash.”

“Close. I never was much good with my pronunciation.”

Kane’s team had come into Zabul Province after Fahim Noor. Leader of the local insurgent population and owner of the majority of vast poppy fields which provided the funds for all his activities, both at home and abroad.

The compound had been breached by Kane and his team, sans Cara, who was presently two-hundred meters outside the green zone on the slope of a steep hill, the crosshairs of her scope on the white SUV containing their high-value target.

On entry, Brick and Arenas had swept left while Kane and Axe went in the opposite direction. Which had brought them to their current position; facing an Afghani suicide bomber with his thumb on the trigger, while Axe took a nap in the hole they’d found in the floor of the room.

Kane couldn’t be certain whether his friend was even alive. He knew the big ex-recon marine sniper had taken a round; he just wasn’t sure where.

“Ahab –”

“Aarash!” came the shouted response of the sweating man.

Kane nodded. He could tell the man didn’t want to die. He could almost smell the fear emanating from every pore of the darkened skin. The Team Reaper commander nodded. “Aarash. You don’t want to die, just like me, yeah?”

“I would die in a heartbeat for the Prophet.”

“And you will if you take your finger off that fucking button. Think about it. Do you have a family, Aarash?”

“What about them?”

“Who will take care of them after you are gone?”

Aarash glanced at a closed door to his left. “They will join me in Paradise.”

Son of a bitch, the crazy bastard’s family were in the next room. “You want to kill them too?”

“If it is Allah’s will.”

“Reaper One? Zero. Copy?”

The inquiry from Kane’s immediate superior Luis Ferrero, who also commanded the Bravo element of the Worldwide Drug Initiative, went unanswered. A few heartbeats later, he came back again. “Reaper One? Zero. Copy?”

Once again Kane pressed the talk button on his comms without taking his eyes from the man before him. “Can’t talk right now, Zero. Trying to defuse a situation.”

“What kind of situation, Reaper?”

“The kind that goes boom.”

“Do you need assistance, Reaper One?” another voice chimed in.

“Negative, ma’am,” Kane said to General Mary Thurston. “Assistance won’t help this time.”

“Copy. Good luck.”

“I am through talking to you, infidel,” Aarash snarled vehemently, removing his thumb from the red trigger button.

“Empty Quiver”, two words that will make the world shudder.

The theft of nuclear weapons in Pakistan, a terrorist attack in India, the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist, and the Russian FSB. All become entwined in a twisted plot that will come to a head in England on one of the nation’s most famous days.

Wrong place, wrong time …

But Team Reaper isn’t known for shying away from a fight. Especially one that could devastate a nation, with international implications, by the biggest terrorist attack the world has ever seen.

Countdown to doomsday …

Once again Team Reaper races across the globe in an action-packed tale which will have the reader turning pages so fast their fingers will feel like they’re on fire.

The price of failure is the death of thousands.

They’re coming.

Fear the Reaper!

Arisen

You Can't Kill the Dead!

When the Zombie Apocalypse came, one country had shut down its borders in response to a major terrorist attack. Now Fortress Britain is the last bastion of the living.

And one international team of supremely elite special operators are humanity's last best hope for survival. Supremely trained and armed, always the most skilled, resolved, and unstoppable amongst us, now the commandos of Alpha team are tasked with one last desperate operation.

They must cross the Atlantic aboard the world's only remaining supercarrier and insert by air into the very middle of a dead continent, all in search of a rumored vaccine that might bring humanity back from the brink. But their op goes dangerously wrong from the start, with their team scattered to hell and back, and their target site a dry hole. Now they must fight their way on foot through a city of 3 million ravening dead guys, in search of an underground bunker that might hold the Last Man on Earth. But these undead will not be like any Zulus they have ever fought before - and they surround their new target in a writhing ring of death 30 feet high on all sides...

Don't start reading these books unless you have two things, a love of non-stop action, and time. Sure some might look at this series and say "Zombies, WTF?". But let me tell you this series is fantastic!

14 books of pure adrenaline rush plus more. Above is the second instalment which I have just finished reading.

Fuchs and James have got everything. An island fortress, tier one operators, the last known surviving supercarrier, a mission which seems beyond all realms of possibility, and the DEAD. Millions of them.

The first eight were written by Fuchs and James but nine onwards were taken over by just Fuchs himself under the publishing name of  "Complete & Total Asskicking Books" which describes them perfectly.

For those who like their stories to be over in one instalment don't expect that here, cliffhangers abound in such a way that it makes you want to keep going on to the next book. I know some people don't like this and consider it a gimmick to keep customers buying more books.

 

+

They are well written with great dialogue, the pages splattered with zombie goo, the operators are like super heroes on steroids, and of course not everyone makes it home. Lets face it, if you want to save the world, people are going to die. 

Readers call the ARISEN series: "A hundred mile an hour thrill ride" ... "breathtaking - absolutely fantastic action" ... "the most exhilarating military zombie series there is" ... "Amazing and heart-wrenching at the same time - the characters feel like family" ... "Perhaps the best in this genre on the planet... and I've read most. You would be hard pressed to find a more thrilling ride" ... "Beyond good - pure action, beginning to end" ... "the fastest, scariest, most spine-tingling, adrenaline-pumping roller-coaster ride of a lifetime" ... "Truly incredible storyweaving" ... "Hands down THE BEST zombie series, nay, dare I say BOOK series, I have ever read" ... "You feel like the explosions are going off beside your head" ... "you never know what the hell is coming at you next" ... "Every time I think it cannot get any better, BAM!" ... "the excitement and intricacy blew my mind" ... "Wild ride. Buy your ticket."

Then there are whispers that there are negotiations going on for television series/movies rights. I for one hope that this comes to fruition because I'll be there munching on the popcorn enjoying the thrill ride that is -- Arisen!

You'll find the website Here.

Headlines!

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican police found nine bodies hanging from an overpass Thursday alongside a drug cartel banner threatening rivals, and seven more corpses hacked up and dumped by the road nearby. Just down the road were three more bodies, for a total of 19.

Courtesy of the NYT. 

Maps from a BBC article.

The Sinaloa cartel

Founded in the late 1980s, the Sinaloa cartel headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has long been considered Mexico's most powerful criminal organisation.

Having outfought several rival groups, the Sinaloa cartel dominates much of north-west Mexico and makes billions of dollars from trafficking illicit narcotics to the United States, Europe and Asia.

The Jalisco New Generation

Sinaloa's strongest competitor is its former armed wing, the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Formed around 2010, the Jalisco cartel has expanded rapidly and aggressively across Mexico and is now challenging Sinaloa for control of strategic areas, including Tijuana and the port of Manzanillo. 

The Jalisco cartel is blamed for a series of attacks on security forces and public officials, including downing an army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade in 2015. Mexico's Attorney General Raul Cervantes declared it the nation's largest criminal organisation in 2017. 

What happened to Mexico's other major players?

In eastern Mexico, the Gulf cartel and their fearsome former allies Los Zetas have been weakened by killings and arrests of top leaders, leading to splits within both groups. 

In western Michoacán state, the pseudo-religious Knights Templar and La Familia cartels have been largely vanquished by vigilante groups, although the region remains contested by their remnants and several newer gangs.

To the north, the once mighty Juárez, Tijuana and Beltrán-Leyva cartels have all been weakened by Sinaloa cartel offensives.

Are things better or worse than they were?

The level of violence dropped after the election of President Enrique Peña Nieto in 2012, but it has shot up dramatically in the last two years, with 2017 on course to be the worst year on record.

Activists and journalists are routinely murdered, while corruption and impunity remain rampant.

How violent are the cartels?

Mexico's cartels are notorious for their extreme violence. Beheadings and torture have become commonplace over the past decade. Victims are sometimes hung from bridges or dissolved in barrels of acid. Some cartels post graphic execution videos on social media to intimidate their enemies.

How many people have died?

Mexico registered more than 200,000 murders from January 2007 to December 2016, according to government records. More than 30,000 people are classified as having disappeared in that same timeframe.

2017 was the most violent year in two decades, with more than 25,000 murders, official figures suggest.

Curtesy of the BBC- 27 March 2018 

Below is an article I found from the New York Post. Published Jan 30.

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared the end of his country’s “war” on drugs Wednesday — saying his administration would no longer prioritize the prosecution of kingpins.

His statement came as US prosecutors urged jurors in Brooklyn to convict infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

“There is no war, officially there is no more war,” López Obrador said in response to a question from a reporter regarding the lack of kingpin arrests since he took office, according to AFP.

“We want peace, we are going to get peace. We haven’t detained capos, because that is not our principal mission. The principal mission of the government is to guarantee public security.”

Guzman, 61, was extradited to the US in January 2017 — when López Obrador’s predecessor, President Enrique Peña Nieto, was in office — where he is on trial for his role as a leader of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

When Mexican authorities recaptured the notorious cocaine smuggler a year earlier, Peña Nieto lavished praise on the law enforcement officers who made the collar, saying they were “a source of pride” for the nation.

But López Obrador said law enforcement will now instead focus on reducing homicide rates.

Guzman’s defense during his trial in Brooklyn has largely focused on the claim that he is merely a “scapegoat,” while his partner in crime, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, remains at large and is believed to be hiding out in Mexico.

Witnesses and lawyers have also made allegations of government bribery and corruption, with prosecutors claiming in court documents that the Sinloa Cartel paid off a former campaign associate of López Obrador during his first failed run for the presidency in 2006.

Government witnesses have also testified that the cartel paid Peña Nieto $100 million in 2012 — although the ex-president denies those allegations.

The above articles are not my own and I have given credit to the places they came from.