Nick Bryan

Nick Bryan

Hobson & Choi Blog Tour – WEEK TWO

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It’s all over! Emotions were high, the pace was frantic, but the H&C Blog Tour is at an end. After two weeks of relentless H&C content written by myself and others, the whole damn enterprise is finally at an end. I thought I’d get the retrospective post out there, rather than squeezing it out in a few days, just so you can all feel like it’s really over and move on.

So, what posts did come in our second week? Could there have been… a change in media format?

Me, Myself & Blogging

As with last week, there were a few posts written by myself, the author, and I tried my best to provide a range of content to keep life interesting. First up, over on the K-Books site, I answered a few interview questions – this includes some thoughts on the very concept of writing advise, not to mention an answer to the ultimate self-publishing question: Why self-publish?

A couple of days later, I guest-posted on The Online Novel, with one of the most process-heavy articles of the whole tour. Want to know how I went from webserial to self-published, what I did on the way and exactly why the hell I made the decisions I did? The answers could well be in here somewhere.

Then, for some light relief, I wrote a short, jokey guest post for Nyx Book Reviews about the concept of YA Crossover and whether Hobson & Choi is that or not. I’m not sure if I actually answer that question, but I did make some great conceptual jokes about the “blog tour” idea.

Since H&C is a very serialised series, I worked out my Top Ten Book Series for Winged Reviews. I hear the internet loves lists, so why not go see if your favourite series is in there, then leave your disagreements in the comments if I left it out?

Lastly from me, another swing in mood, I did an in-character Q&A for Kirstyes’ site. Yes, this is me taking a few questions whilst pretending to be my characters from H&C. It’s a new one for me, but it was surprisingly fun, and if you’ve read the books, this does qualify as new material. (Although it does very slightly spoil a plot point in the first third of book one. Fair warning.)

Also, if you desperately want even more new material, remember you can get a free extra short story by subscribing to my mailing list.

Outer Limits Of External Thought

Meanwhile, in the strange world outside my mind, there were a few reviews. First up, Alastair of Nimbus Space penned his considered thoughts on the second book in the series. Did he like it? Did he hate it? Click and find out, I reckon.

Booktuber The Book Moo actually recorded separate videos for each H&C book, which is an impressive level of dedication. You can see her reviewing The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf here and also giving Rush Jobs the treatment here. Or, to save you having to click through and break up this wall of text, I’ll embed the first one here:

After that, there was another review from The Bookish Outsider, covering both books in the series in a single magnificent sweep.

Not to be beaten, Andrew of The Pewter Wolf did the same thing the next day, and that brings us to the end of the tour. Wow, that was a lot of blog posts.

Multimedia Mastery

Oh, and if you missed me talking about it at the time, I was on London’s arts station Resonance FM, chatting about H&C and my favourite London spots on the Daniel Ruiz Tizon Is Available show. You can see more details about that, including ways to listen back to the show, in the blog post I did about it the other day.

And that really is it, I swear. And now, playing us out, because I can, here’s The Book Moo again reviewing the second H&C book. This video includes the exciting spectacle of my face rushing towards the camera. END OF TOUR

Nick On The Radio – Me on Resonance FM talking H&C

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Just a quick bulletin to flag something up – I was on the excellent Daniel Ruiz Tizon Is Available show on Resonance FM last night to talk about Hobson & Choi, plus my strange attachment to my first ever London houseshare.

Full details on Daniel’s site – the show is also available on iTunes if you want to download it from the feed there. (It’s the 26th Jan 2015 episode, obviously.)

And, lastly, it’s here on Mixcloud too…

Hobson & Choi Blog Tour – WEEK ONE

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The first week of the Hobson & Choi Blog Tour has more or less happened! The good word of H&C spreads far and wide across half a dozen sites, with many more still to come!

In case you haven’t had time to keep track of the latest tweets and so on, I thought I’d come back with a quick summary of what’s happened in the last week. Not to mention, I wrote a few fun posts for this tour myself, and since subscribers to this website are meant to like that sort of thing, I figured it was worth calling attention to them.

Me Me Me

First up in the posts-by-me section, then, we had a good-length interview with fellow indie author and JukePop graduate Virginia McClain. Some good introductory questions about the series, plus a few more in-depth moments about process, serials and whether I would be willing to eat a guinea pig. Virginia’s own post-Jukepop action-fantasy novel Blade’s Edge just came out too, which I thoroughly recommend. More details on Goodreads, including a longer review by me.

I also had a guest post on Music, Books & Tea about how to use the internet in fiction without killing the drama, which might be of use to other writers and funny to everyone else. It’s kinda a jokey post, but I means my jokes.

Last in the all-me section, I also wrote a fairly comprehensive piece of My Influences for YA Yeah Yeah. If you ever want to know what turned me into the writer I am today, or just want some recommendations, I stand by all of those. Although some might be aimed at a quite young demographic.

The Thoughts Of Others

Even more excitingly, some other folk were kind enough to read the H&C books and offer up some thoughts for the blog tour. Writer/craft blogger and long-time friend of both me and whole H&C project Claire Rousseau wrote a review of both books on her site.

If you prefer lists (like they do on the internet, I hear), Faye of A Daydreamer’s Thoughts produced a list of ten reasons why you should read the Hobson & Choi series, and they’re all worth taking heed of, I feel. But I would say that.

Lastly for now, we have another review of both books by Chelley of Tales of Yesterday! Not only are there kind words said about the books, Chelley may also win for tour dedication with her H&C-styled site banner created for her tour date, which I’m reproducing below for posterity.

Excellent. If anyone in the second week of the tour wants to repaint their house in the style of the Hobson & Choi covers, that might be the only way to beat that.

Prizes Prizes Prizes!

I will just mention that if you want a free copy of the first H&C book, I have recently sent five copies to the Books On The Underground scheme, which leaves copies of books around the London Underground – it seemed apt considering our cover. So if you follow me on Twitter, I’ll try and post whenever I hear the location of a copy.

Hobson & Choi Case Two – “Rush Jobs” – out now!

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Today, my friends, the second H&C book goes forth into the world, where it hopes to be received with open arms and warm love. After meeting in the first book, John Hobson and Angelina Choi further explore the world they’ve found themselves in, and find it to be a strange, grim place.

So, here is a picture of the cover – for more details on the actual plot, go to the Hobson & Choi homepage, where you can also find links to buy a copy of Case One – The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf – for a newly super-cheap price.

For the new book, you can add it on Goodreads here if you so wish, and if you feel like leaving a review and/or rating there, on Amazon or on your own blog/social media, that would be pretty sweet of you. Continued growth plays a big part in helping me continue to get these out there.

Speaking of heading on out there, we’re also doing the Hobson & Choi Blog Tour to coincide with the book launch – check out the details here if you want to follow along. If you follow me on Twitter, I’m sure the blog posts will also be retweeted there as they happen.

You can buy Rush Jobs in both print and digital from various venues. I’ll also be dropping off a few copies soon at the Big Green Bookshop, if you’re a fan of buying things in person.

Hobson & Choi Blog Tour!

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Tomorrow, the second H&C book is released! To mark this occasion, and promote the series as a whole, Hobson & Choi is Going On Tour!Well, on Blog Tour, organised by the excellent Faye Rogers – you can see even more tour details on her site.

Basically, a range of bookish and book-related blogs (see list to right) will be featuring Hobson & Choi in some capacity, one every day for two weeks. This will include a couple of interviews with me, some guest posts where I talk about H&C-related issues, reviews of the books by the bloggers themselves, a competition, possibly a couple of surprises too.

Once we’re a few days into the tour, I might do a post here to point out the specifics, and I’ll probably retweet the tour posts on my Twitter when they happen. I’ll also keep updating the links below with the H&C-specific post on each blog when available. For now, if you just want to see the sites we will later feature upon, click away!

And don’t forget to buy both the new book and the newly cheap first one too, obviously.

Blog Tour Route – Collect ’em all!
Monday 19th January
Rain On A Summer’s Afternoon – Interview with author (i.e. me). – Tuesday 20th January
Claire Rousseau – Review of both books. – Wednesday 21st January
Music, Books and Tea – Guest post by me about using the internet in fiction without killing drama. – Thursday 22nd January
Ya Yeah Yeah – My Influences: I list stuff that inspired/drove me towards Hobson & Choi – Friday 23rd January
A Daydreamer’s Thoughts – 10 Reasons To Read Hobson & Choi (not by me!) – Saturday 24th January
Tales of Yesterday – Review of both Hobson & Choi books. – Sunday 25th January
K-Books – Short author interview. – Monday 26th January
Nimbus Space – Review of H&C v2. – Tuesday 27th January
The Online Novel – Detailed guest post on H&C publication strategy. – Wednesday 28th January
Nyx Book Reviews – Fun guest post on the concept of “YA Crossover” and whether H&C is that. – Thursday 29th January
Winged Reviews – My Top Ten Book Series – Friday 30th January
Kirstyes – Character interviews! Hobson and Choi speak! – Saturday 31st January
The Book Moo – Impressively, Mel of The Book Moo has done video reviews of The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf and also Rush Jobs. Amazing stuff.Sunday 1st February
Bookish Outsider – Review of both books! – Monday 2nd February
Pewter Wolf

Hobson & Choi – Case Two cover reveal! Case One price drop!

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Now that the whole Christmas/New Year block is fading into distant memory, time to get on with the serious business of getting Rush Jobs launched out into the world – the second Hobson & Choi book in which a new age of gentrified crime starts to pile up around our heroes. The book comes out on Monday 19th January, which is a mere two weeks away! Yipe!

So, probably time I showed you the cover, created once more by the good folk at Design For Writers. I’ll throw in the blurb again for good measure.

“Sometimes #crime feels like the Matrix. Or the #patriarchy or #porn. It’s everywhere, even in people you trusted, and there’s so MUCH of it.”
Angelina Choi returns for her second and final week of work experience at John Hobson’s detective agency, ready for anything after their first successful murder solve.
After all that online buzz, they’re in phenomenal demand. Can Hobson & Choi solve a kidnapping, play chicken with corporate crime, beat back gentrification, save a dog from drug dealers and head off violent backlash from their last case?
Or will grim revelations about Hobson’s past leave them floundering in the chaos?
Rush Jobs collects the second major storyline in the Hobson & Choi saga, #1 on Jukepop Serials and #2 in Dark Comedy on Amazon, adding brand new chapters and scenes to the case.
Also included: bonus story Infernal Accounting, exclusive to this book. An unfortunate accountant is terrified of his first day working for Rush Recruitment – but they’re only a temp agency, right? How bad can it be?

Launch Details

This time, thanks to better planning on my part, we should have the print and e-editions on sale on launch day. The same outlets as last time – Amazon for print, most popular e-shops for the digital edition. I’ll also hopefully get copies in the Big Green Bookshop again, though that may take a tad longer.

As well as shoving the book on sale and tweeting about it, there’s also a Hobson & Choi Blog Tour going on around the launch, starting on the 19th Jan and running for two weeks, spreading the word around the internet. So that’ll be exciting.

If you want to register your interest in Rush Jobs, it is already up on Goodreads. If you want to be considered for a review copy, drop me an email. And if you’ve not read the first one yet, well…

The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf goes cheap!

Wolves do not go “cheep”, I know that.Anyway. To mark the upcoming release of book two, I’ve slashed the price of book one to give everyone a chance to catch up. It should be around a pound (or local equivalent, taking into account VAT, etc etc) on most e-vendors, so if you haven’t read it, now seems a decent time.

If you already read the webserial and just want to check out the new extended back-up story in the book edition, this might help.

The print edition, I’m afraid, will not be going cheaper, as it’s already down as far as I can really go. Sorry, paper-fans.

Anyway, check it out, and then prepare yourself for the Rush Jobs experience, as we deepen the universe