Author Archive: Percival Constantine

Luther Cross sale!

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To celebrate the release of the fourth book, the first three books in the best-selling Luther Cross series are now on sale!

Devil’s Due
$3.99 FREE

Luther Cross here. Dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon, at your service. As I have inherited certain…abilities with my odd genetics, I’ve put them to use as Chicago’s foremost paranormal investigator.

My current case? Well, I have to admit, it feels a little personal. I’m helping a mysterious girl who’s turned up on my doorstep, pregnant through mystic means. I can’t help but think of my own mother…and if I don’t help her, she’ll face the same fate.

Turns out, someone is trying to create an army of half-demons. While it might be a pleasant change to hang out with my own kind, I know most half-demons don’t have my sense of morality. If I don’t stop this evil plan, the armistice between Heaven and Hell will be broken and all of the Earth will pay… It will be the beginning of the end.

Buy now!

Devil’s Descent
$3.99 99¢

I’m Luther Cross, but you already knew that. Hard to forget a dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon like myself. I earn my living using my knowledge of the occult and demonic heritage as Chicago’s foremost paranormal investigator.

My last case roped me into a potential war between Heaven and Hell, and though I managed to stop the crisis, the big threat’s still out there. An angel is trying to kickstart armageddon, but there’s only one person who knows that angel’s identity. And he’s stuck in the one place no one can touch him—Purgatory.

There’s only one way I can learn the truth, and that’s by facing the dangers of Purgatory. Fortunately, I’m not alone. Unfortunately, my traveling party includes a demon trying to corrupt me and an immortal killer I had to con.

What could possibly go wrong?

Buy now!

Devil’s Shadow
$3.99 $2.99

You may know me as a dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon Luther Cross. That part remains true, but everything else has changed.

There’s a war brewing between Heaven and Hell. My only concern is staying off angel radar, but with a power vacuum in Chicago’s supernatural underworld, I’m looking at a full-blown demonic turf war–one that will most certainly bring the angels down from their clouds.

That would be inconvenient for me, to say the least. If I’m going cover my own ass–meaning put a stop to this–I’ll need some help. Unfortunately, my ally of choice is a centuries-old demon who isn’t doing jack for me unless I first do something for her.

And that, well. That’s going to piss off a lot of powerful people, including some I once called friends.

Buy now!

 

And continue the series with Devil’s Conflict, the fourth book!

Devil’s Conflict
$3.99

My name’s Luther Cross. I’m dangerously stylish, a tough-as-nails half-demon, and a freshly minted Lord of Hell.

Yep, that’s right. I’m in charge of some prime real-estate down in the pit, and it only cost me the loyalty of every ally I’ve ever made. But hey, that’s a risk you take when you’re trying to stay out of dodge.

But now that deal is coming back to bite me hard in the ass. Asmodeus, baddest of the bad, and a former friend, has set his sights on me. Turns out my new kingdom used to be his. And he’s not too happy.

Buy now!

 

Get the entire Luther Cross series today for under $10!

Listen to Devil’s Due for free!

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It’s been a while, but I’m back with some good news. For starters, I just moved (again) and now I’m back in Kagoshima Prefecture. Also, my day job is now teaching three subjects at the university level which I’m very familiar—writing, literature, and film study! Very exciting.

On my own writing front, I’ve begun work on the fourth Luther Cross novel, tentatively titled Devil’s Conflict. If you’ve read Devil’s Shadow, you probably remember it ended with Luther in a very interesting spot. Devil’s Conflict picks up from that.

Basically, I’ll sum it up in three words: Asmodeus is back.

It’s been a lot of fun so far.

But that’s not what I’m here to tell you about today. Today I’ve got some very exciting news. Tantor Media has now released their audio production of Devil’s Due!

Tantor has done a great job with this. They worked with my cover designer to make sure to preserve the cover from the ebook and paperback. They also found the perfect voice for Luther in the form of actor, stage director, and fellow teacher, JD Jackson. In fact, he even looks like Luther!

The audiobook is available for purchase through Audible, but how’d you like to get it for free? There are two ways you can go about that. The first is with a 30-day free trial with Audible.

But I’ve got another way. Tantor has given me six free copies of Devil’s Due. And rather than use them all myself, I’ve decided to run a giveaway.

There are multiple ways to enter. If you’ve reviewed any of the Luther Cross books, you just post the link to the review on Amazon and you’ll get three entries per review. If you haven’t written any reviews yet, you can do so now and post those links through the giveaway page. You can also tweet out pre-crafted messages, each of which will get you one entry.

The more entries you have, the better your chances to win!

So head on over to the giveaway on Rafflecopter and enter to win a free copy of Devil’s Due in audiobook! But hurry, because this is only good until Friday, the 11th!

Luther Cross is back in DEVIL’S SHADOW!

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It’s finally here!

Everyone’s favorite half-demon paranormal investigator is back in an all new adventure, and you get to see a side of Luther you’ve never seen before!

Everyone’s got a dark side.

You may know me as a dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon Luther Cross. That part remains true, but everything else has changed.

There’s a war brewing between Heaven and Hell. My only concern is staying off angel radar, but with a power vacuum in Chicago’s supernatural underworld, I’m looking at a full-blown demonic turf war–one that will most certainly bring the angels down from their clouds.

That would be inconvenient for me, to say the least. If I’m going cover my own ass–meaning put a stop to this–I’ll need some help. Unfortunately, my ally of choice is a centuries-old demon who isn’t doing jack for me unless I first do something for her.

And that, well. That’s going to piss off a lot of powerful people, including some I once called friends.

The latest Luther Cross novel is available now on Amazon for only 99¢! But hurry, because it will only be discounted until Thursday. So be sure to grab it while you can!

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2017 in Review

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2017 was definitely a transformative year for my author career, so I wanted to take a look at some of the things that happened. First, I wanted to break down my total income from the past year by series. This past year, I started two new series, both of which were intended to be more commercial than the series I’ve done in the past. But that doesn’t mean I gave up on my past books. Though I ended those series at the end of 2016, I did still do some light advertising on them.

I launched the Nakamura Detective Agency series at the beginning of the year in January. Fallen Idol was the first book in the series, followed by Murder Walk in March. Instead of launching the third book, I instead decided to do something different and began work on Devil’s Due, the first book in the Luther Cross series, which was released in June. I did write a third Nakamura book, but with the success of Devil’s Due, I decided to focus on Luther for a while and released Devil’s Descent, the second book, in September.

And the numbers have been pretty crazy. Here’s how my series have performed over the past year:

So in one way, both the Luther Cross and Nakamura Detective Agency books did do well as they performed better than all other series. However, Luther was the clear runaway winner, making up almost 85% of my total sales this past year—and that’s just from two books! Nakamura, on the other hand, made up just under 7% with only two books. Meanwhile, the five-book Vanguard series, which concluded at the end of 2016, still managed to sell almost as much as the Nakamura series, making up just under 6% of total sales.

One of the things I found surprising was that my stand-alone novels sold just a little bit better than my Infernum series. And The Myth Hunter series still pulls in some sales. Not as many as I had hoped a six-book series would when I began it, but it still has some tiny legs on it.

What’s this mean for 2018?

The one obvious effect is that there’s going to be more Luther Cross. That series will be my focus for the immediate future. I will likely still release the third Nakamura book, but I need to really take a hard look at it when I have the time, because I think it needs a lot of work.

Speaking of Luther, many people have asked me about audiobooks. There was an initial attempt to turn Devil’s Due into an audiobook which unfortunately didn’t pan out. However, it’s good that it didn’t, because there’s some exciting news about Luther Cross audiobooks coming soon. I can’t say much more about it for now, so just stay tuned.

Does this mean I’ll only focus on Luther? Not quite. I do have ideas for other projects that tie into the Luther Cross series. The core Luther books will still be my focus, but time permitting, there’s some tie-in stuff I’d like to pursue.

I do also have another project coming from a publisher. I can’t say anything more about that until an announcement is made, but once it is, you’ll definitely be hearing about it. I will tell you this: it involves a classic character that everyone in the world is somewhat familiar with. More on that later.

And I’ll end this on some more exciting news: Devil’s Shadow, the third Luther Cross book, is finished! Here’s a look at the cover:

As you can tell, this cover’s a bit different from the ones so far. If you’ve read Devil’s Descent, you might already have an idea as to why. If not, then you’ll find out very soon, because the book should be released later this month.

Here’s to a great 2018!

Luther Cross is back in a new adventure!

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Luther Cross is back!

After the events of Devil’s Due, Luther’s pretty much had his fill with angels and demons and wants nothing more than to just get back to his usual cases.

But both Raziel and Asmodeus have different ideas. In order to find the mastermind trying to start a war between Heaven and Hell, they need to retrieve a soul from Purgatory. And the only one who can help them find that soul is Luther.

Along for the ride are Tessa, Luther’s friend and a powerful witch. And also Cain, the first murderer, who is also the only soul to have ever escaped from Purgatory.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Luther’s vampire girlfriend, Celeste, has problems of her own with a powerful sorcerer.

The adventure continues in the second book in the Luther Cross series, guaranteed to excite readers of the first! Available as an ebook for 99¢ for just a few more days, and free on Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback.

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A clarification about the Luther Cross books

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Recently, I’ve gotten some complaints about the second Luther Cross book, so I wanted to issue a clarification.

There is a series of short stories by myself on Amazon that carry the Luther Cross label. Luther first came to life through Pro Se Press’ Single Shot Signatures, a line of short stories and serials.

Some people have been confused by this and have accused me of breaking the second novel into four short chunks, but this isn’t what happened.

Pro Se made the decision to scale back the Single Shot Signatures line, and Luther was one of the casualties. Because I love the character and saw enormous potential, I made the decision to continue his stories in the form of novels.

All the Luther Cross Single Shot Signature stories take place before Devil’s Due. I’ve asked Pro Se to remove the Luther Cross Single Shots from Amazon and they’ve agreed. But I also wanted to let you all know what the story was so there’s no confusion.

If you haven’t read the short stories, you can get them for free in one volume, titled Devil’s Taunt and Other Stories. This also contains an exclusive novella set in Luther’s early days. You can get this collection by clicking here.

The second Luther Cross novel will be titled Devil’s Descent and it’s coming soon. Apologies for the delay in getting it out. I’m in the middle of moving so that’s slowed down the progress.

Thanks for your continued support!

My brief association with Mat Nastos

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A few years ago, a new face appeared on the New Pulp scene, a guy by the name Mat Mastos. He offered a lot of praise for my Myth Hunter series and he had ideas about expanding New Pulp beyond the niche audience it had mostly appealed to which intrigued me, as that was something I wanted to do as well.

When Mat came out with his first novel, The Cestus Concern, he was kind enough to send me an email with a free copy and asked if I’d review it. I did and I genuinely enjoyed it. We kept in touch and he hired me to edit his WW2 fantasy novel, The Man With The Iron Heart.

Back in late 2013 or thereabouts, Mat and I were talking. I’d had him as a guest on my now-aborted podcast, The Exploding Typewriter, and he suggested we start working together. Mat had a label he’d set up for his books, called Nifty Entertainment, and he said he wanted to turn it into an author collective. Given the connections he seemed to have and the success of The Cestus Concern, I thought it was a good move so I agreed.

No contracts were ever signed, no rights were transferred, and no money was ever exchanged. He said we’d simply be helping each other out, providing services for each other, promoting each other’s work, etc. I thought it seemed like a good idea, so I said yes. I updated all my books to include the Nifty Entertainment logo, put them on his site, etc. I also added previews of some of his books to the back of some of my books and he said he would do the same (no clue if he ever actually did). He even did the original cover for Vanguard: Season One:

But shortly after that, Mat just stopped responding to emails and messages. I’d often ask him about how we can work together on some promotions and I wouldn’t get any response. When I asked him if he’d be willing to work on the cover for Vanguard: Season Two, he finally responded and said he would send me a concept and then I never heard anything else.

Around the same time, I’d joined up with an author group. In a month of being in that group, they provided me with more support and advice than Mat had after several months of being part of Nifty. So I decided it wasn’t worth it to keep my work associated with him. I changed the cover for Vanguard: Season One, removed the Nifty label from all my books, and took them off the Nifty site.

I never really heard anything else from Mat after that. He didn’t even say anything when I decided to pull my stuff, so I just left it at that and moved on with my life. I just didn’t feel like the association was doing anything for my work so there was no need to continue it.

Turns out I had made the right decision, and I just found out how right the decision was given the news of the past week.

Mat often talked about the work he’d done in comics and film/TV. He frequently touted his friendships with various creators and celebrities to the point that some of it seemed exaggerating. But there was one thing he would claim frequently—that he was one of co-creators of Disney’s Phineas and Ferb. It was so frequent and he often touted it on his resume to such an extent that even his banners when he went to comic conventions featured those characters. So it seemed unlikely that was something he would exaggerate about, as it went far beyond idle chatter.

But according to Bleeding Cool, exaggeration was putting it lightly—he straight-up lied. Swampy Marsh, one of the actual creators of Phineas and Ferb, posted the following on his Facebook page:

Okay…wow.

Like I said, I knew he exaggerated, but I never expected something this fraudulent. Mat has since scrubbed the mentions of himself from the Internet that he has control over—his Facebook page, Twitter account, and his websites. Disney’s lawyers do not screw around, so I’m guessing he’s gotten himself in some very hot water.

The thing I don’t understand is why? The Cestus Concern and The Man With The Iron Heart were both great books and very well-written and as you can see from the Vanguard cover I posted above, he’s also a talented artist. This is a guy who could have written his own ticket on the basis of his talent alone.

Just goes to show you—be careful who you associate with and be careful about the boasts you make online. You never know when it might come back to bite you in the ass. I didn’t properly vet a potential business partner and if our arrangement had gone beyond just a handshake deal, I may have suffered a lot worse than the embarrassment I’m feeling at the moment.

That’s a mistake I won’t make again.

What’s Coming Down The Line

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You like that cover?

That is the cover art for the second Luther Cross book, Devil’s Descent. I’ve just crossed the halfway mark in that book and it’s been pretty fun so far. This book really expands the world by a lot. Some reviewers have said they wanted to see more of Luther’s supporting cast, particularly Celeste, and you get it in this book.

Devil’s Due has performed very well so far. Definitely exceeded my expectations. In just under two months, this one book has generated 45% of my all-time sales. It’s made almost double the amount of money of Vanguard, my second highest-selling series—and Vanguard is a five-book series!

So it may come as little surprise that I’m doubling down on Luther for the immediate future. I have a third Nakamura Detective Agency book completed, titled Dead Silence, but I’m not feeling very confident in it and I’ll have to take a hard look at it and see if it’s even worth publishing. It may need some extensive rewrites. I also have ideas for more books featuring Kyoko and her team, but the disappointing performance of Murder Walk has led me to stop and take a hard look.

The Kyoko series sadly isn’t performing as well as I’d hoped. So once I finish Devil’s Descent, instead of working on a fourth Nakamura book, I’ll probably just jump right into a third Luther book. Kyoko fans shouldn’t be too concerned, though. This doesn’t mean I’m necessarily giving up on that series, just that I’m going to hit the pause button.

But Luther’s not the only thing I’ve got planned. I’ve got an idea for a spin-off series featuring one of Luther’s supporting characters. Right now, I’m leaning heavily towards a series focused on Tessa, but I’ve also had a lot of fun with some of the other characters in this second book.

What do you think? Who would you like to see in a spin-off series?

The hottest and latest urban fantasy deals!

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The first Luther Cross novel, Devil’s Due, continues to sell strong. And this week, it’s included in a promotion with several other new urban fantasy titles, all of them available for free or 99¢!

Over sixty books available, all for a dollar or less! But only until Friday, so get them while you can.

 

In addition to that, I’ve got another present for you:

Devil’s Taunt and Other Stories contains not only a novella featuring the first case Luther ever worked solo, but it also includes all four of the short stories featuring Luther Cross, originally published by Pro Se Press. Normally, this is only available to those who choose to sign up for my mailing list, but until the end of June, it’s available for free with no strings attached as part of the Midsummer’s Night Urban Fantasy Reader. Lots of great books in here from the likes of Gary Jonas, Aimee Easterling, myself, and others!

Check it out:

Thanks for your support and enjoy the books!

Luther Cross returns!

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Move over, Harry Dresden, there’s a new paranormal investigator in Chicago!

After four short stories published through Pro Se Press’ Single Shot Signatures line, Luther Cross debuts in his first full-length novel! Featuring amazing cover art by Midnight Whimsy, this all-new adventure sees Luther taking on a case involving a young woman, a mystic pregnancy, and a potential war between Heaven and Hell!

For a limited time, get it on Amazon for only 99¢!