Ketrick was like my Drax the destroyer. I love that guy and knew my werewolf like Viking hybrid would be similar. My very first series ever have Elite humans with red eyes and I threw in this as an Easter egg to those fans who have been with me since the beginning.
Finally, Doctor Deborah Miller. She’s the straight edged must be done by the book type. I can’t wait for you to see how her character changes. She’s the polar opposite of Riot and, while all the characters in the trilogy evolve over the course of the three books, you’ll see her and Riot change the most.
Well that’s a little insider information on the series. For those of you who want to know more about this guy penning crazy stories about the unknown universe, I’m thirty-two, married, we have one child and my wife and I are in negotiations for a second. Josephine, we just call her Jo, is a year and a half and already training to be a force in this world. As soon as she’s up it’s a cardio routine running around the house, and she takes her lifting seriously as she empties every drawer she can open.
We also have a husky named Daphne, an Alaskan Malamute named Atlas and a white cat named Helen with two different colored eyes.
I’m able to spend my days at home with Jo because of readers like you supporting my work. I wake up early to write in the morning before her reign of terror descends on the day. I get more time to work when she takes her afternoon nap and then again when she goes down for the night. It’s exhausting, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love that crazy kid.
In addition to all of that I try to hit the gym four days a week to try and fend off the dad bod that so many of my friends have fallen victim to.
Another question I get a lot is what my background was in before I started writing. Are you ready for this one? I worked as a used car salesman. Not even a legit used car sales place. I worked for a rental company for five years in California. Yeah, I did that.
I finally reached a point where I was miserable and knew I had to quit. After that, I worked part time as a personal trainer while my writing career took off. I’ve been writing fulltime now for about four years.
Anyway enough about my own origin story. It’s Saturday morning and I can hear Jo in the other room with her mom. Poop may or may not be everywhere by the sounds of it. I’m going to go lend a hand with the fallout. Those of you who have kids understand things like these need to be contained ASAP.
Thanks again for your support,
Jonathan
Justin Sloan
Jonathan has created an awesome story here, one that I am extremely glad to be involved with and have in our universe. For those of you who don't know, yes, this is part of the Seppukarian Universe, which is a series of stories that will all take place in the same universe, but mostly be their own thing. To a degree. They're actually all fighting the same enemy, just different facets of that enemy, different enemy allies, etc. I think it will be a lot of fun for you readers, and I am loving it from a creative standpoint.
We started by having each of the writers do a short in our Shifting Dimensions anthology, where we used this as the backstory and starting point for those stories:
In the not too distant future, an alien empire called the Syndicate has invaded Earth. After the armies of the world are quickly destroyed, a ragtag resistance comprised of Marines and insurgents rises up to overthrow the invaders and save humanity.
With their superior technology and ability to manipulate time, the Syndicate has so far been able to keep the resistance in check, but the stakes are raised when the insurgents hijack an alien time ship.
When the mechanism that allows for time travel is triggered, however, the resistance fighters find themselves thrust into a maelstrom of infinite time loops and possibilities.
The stories that follow are what they experience when the fabric of time is ripped wide open.
And you can see that those came out of the Syndicate Wars series, five books that serve as a bit of a prequel to these other books. You don't have to read those, but if you want to get more of what happened before all of this, the books are there for you to do so.
Jonathan is the first of the collaborators to get his series going, and it's an amazing start, as you have just seen! (Assuming you read the book and didn't just skip to the notes). When I first started discussing this idea with authors, I was a bit nervous. It's always nerve-racking to start writing with someone, because you never know how it will turn out.
I was more than pleasantly surprised. Jonathan's War Wolves books have blown me away, and I'm so excited to bring you this series. He did most of the work, so credit should largely go to him. I've helped with world creation, editing, and little things like that.
If you have followed my author career at all, you know that I did something similar with Michael Anderle, but I was in the position Jonathan is now with this universe. Michael invited me to write with him, and within a year I had twelve books in his series and had been able to go full time as a six-figure author. It's an amazing experience, and one I want to be able to replicate with people like Jonathan. That said, we're taking a much more slow-burn approach to this series, so don't expect me to try and compete with Michael or anything. That's not my goal. My goal is to create another awesome universe that can follow its own rules and bring in a unique set of authors to tell amazing stories about Space Marines and the like.
Have you read my Shadow Corps books yet? They are in the same universe as well, and are my solo spinoffs. I've seen a great launch and amazing feedback, and hope to replicate that or do better with this series.
So once again, thank you so much for reading War Wolves, and please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads. We couldn't do it without you amazing readers, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support!
Justin
Author Notes Book 2
Jonathan Yanez
Well, well, well, look who decided to stick around for the after party. I’m so glad you did! I was going to write you this message a few hours ago and decided I needed a nap first. Someone thought it would be a good idea to crank out these books, while still personal training at the gym and modeling and on top of that thought he could potty train his year and a half year old little space Marine all at the same time. By someone I’m talking about me. I tried to do all of that. Yeah, didn’t end so well. It all went a lot smoother in my head then in real life. I have a problem with telling myself, “How hard could it be?”
The answer to that question is really pooping hard. Josephine, my beautiful daughter, just isn’t ready yet. We tried an approach that was supposed to have her potty trained in two to three days. Sounds too good to be true right? That’s because it is!
For the last three days I’ve been writing, around taking her to the potty every fifteen minutes. Yeah, you heard that right, every fifteen minutes. I have an alarm on my phone with a puppy barking to remind us. The crazy thing is that she actually doesn’t mind going to the potty with daddy. When she hears the alarm goes off she smiles and we both race to the bathroom. I sit her on the toilet then we just stare at each other smiling like a couple of lunatics.
Next comes the part where she tells me she’s all done without having peed or pooped. Enter the scene where I read to her on the toilet to try and get her to stay on a few more seconds and try.
Inevitably she’s persistent that she’s all done and we wash her hands. She loves this part as much as playing with a new toy. She splashes and giggles and it’s like talking someone off a ledge to try and get her to turn the water off and leave the bathroom.
Minutes later she’s standing in a puddle of her own pee in the family room or if I’m really lucky I get a few brown nuggets in random places like the kitchen or her room. Any who we go back to the toilet and start the process all over again. Today is day three and today I called a break to this madness.
Taking her to the potty every fifteen minutes means by ten thirty AM we had visited the toilet twelve times. She hadn’t gone one in the potty
and instead peed twice on the floor. For my own sanity we’re taking a break. I haven’t given up yet, never give up. However, I think it’s time to recess our strategy and consider that the tiny space Marine needs more time or a different tactic to drop her excrement in the potty.
Wow, I feel a lot better just talking about this to someone. Thank you for listening. And I have great news! Even as I’m writing this message to include in the back of book two in the War Wolves series I’m just finishing book three! I should have it edited and along the road to publication in the next day or two.
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the ride thus far and what’s more have decided to read the author notes at the end of the books. I’m grateful to have friends and readers like you. Some would use the word “lucky” here but if you haven’t guessed from reading my books I don’t believe in luck.
Let’s see what cool things can I tell you about book two before giving you an idea about what book three is about? In book two I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel so if you haven’t guessed the Grovothe are basically space elves in mechs. Along the same line the Karnayers I modeled after elves and the Trilords, aren’t really giants but that’s how they started. I love fantasy as much as sci-fi and wanted to bring those kind of characters to life in space.
Also the Zenoth had to be involved because I really wanted to do bugs and hive queens and all those fun tropes that come with space Marines. A game I play with myself every single time I write a book, and I’m twenty one books in at this time, is trying to think of different ways for the hero to kill the main baddy.
By different I don’t just mean how I’ve written them, I mean how I’ve never seen anyone write the final battle scene before. I’ve come up with some pretty crazy things and I’m looking forward to seeing what you think about the death scene in book three especially.
Nice transition to book three right? So without giving too much away the final book in the War Wolves trilogy is going to melt your brain. I was laughing and crying at different times as I wrote this last book. I know it sounds weird but the characters kind of take the wheel and drive while I write. For most of the book I’m just kind of holding on as Riot gets into her shenanigans and the crew banters back and forth.
I guess that’s all I should say. I don’t want to ruin the last book for anyone. Anyway I better get back to editing book three. It would be awesome to connect with you either on Facebook or on my website. I’m on Facebook almost every day just type in my name in the search bar. If you’d like to join my wolf pack of readers you can visit my site at www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the pack.
As much fun as I have writing these stories I get just as much enjoyment as making new friends and connecting with awesome readers like you.
See you on the other side,
Jonathan
P.S. We just signed contracts with Podium to bring Riot and the War Wolves to audiobook! I can’t wait to hear the voice actress bring Riot to life.
Justin Sloan
Jonathan did it again! If you don’t now, he’s the one doing the majority of these books, and every time he brings me something I’m blown away. They’re so much fun, right?
Working on books like this is the best, because instead of filling your minds with all kinds of drama and heartache, we’re here taking these characters through crazy situations that they will fight their way out of and bring the thunder in a way that makes you, we hope, pump your fist and laugh with the thrill of the fight. It’s like watching John Wick or Jack Reacher, but in space, right?
For me this type of story hits a soft spot because it is, in a sense, a way to escape all of the craziness of the world. My grandma just passed away, we read the news and get depressed, money problems, etc., right? All of these things can tear us down if we let them, but sometimes all you need is a good book to take you away from it all. Maybe Riot reminds you that it’s okay to just punch the enemy in the throat (the enemy here being all that crap—cancer, negative thoughts, whatever) and go back to your friends and enjoy life. Maybe her friends are your friends now? That’s how I am when reading and writing. When I finished Glynn Stewart’s Starship Mage book (which I LOVED) it was like I had just spent a great time with my buddies kicking butt in space with runes and magic and spaceships.
Is it a depressing thought, that our friends are fictional? Hell no! Because our friends simply include the fictional. Now our friends include you, and you, and you, and me! Haha. You get what I’m saying, right? This is a new age of writing, and you can join us on the Seppukarian Universe Facebook page and chat about this and other stories, or just tell us about the new cats you adopted (you know who you are). We love it! It’s a community that the old age of fiction writing never benefited from. So thank you for being part of it. You keep reading, we’ll keep writing!
How could we stop even if you weren’t reading, right? Telling stories is just too much fun!
There’s also the fact that I was in the Marines, so always love a fun action story that takes me back to memories of going into space to kill crazy bugs and fight along mechs. Oh, wait, that part of my service was TS, so… pretend I never said anything here!
But seriously, I had mixed feelings about my time in the Corps, but love to explore those emotions in these stories. Is it all fun and games? No, but there’s a lot of fun anyway.
So how about you all? What makes you keep reading these books, and what other ones are you reading? We’d love to hear from you! You can reach me at [email protected].
And if you enjoyed the book, please leave a review and check out the other series in the Seppukarian Universe (see the links in the What Next? section.
Thanks again for reading this book and hanging out with a couple of authors for a few hundred pages. We appreciate you and think you’re the most amazing fans in the world!
Justin
Author Notes Book 3
Jonathan Yanez
Well, well, well look who decided to come back for more. And I’m so glad that you did! Saying a simple thank you doesn’t seem like enough. You are my family. Not just because you read my books or because you’re reading the author note at the end of book three but because you and I are the same.
We both love stories and our imaginations know no bounds. We’re from the same tribe, the same pack, the very same clan. You’re my people.
Okay, that was starting to get a little mushy so back to sharing with you what’s been going on in my neck of the woods. War Wolves has done better than any of my previous books and I have you to thank for that. The way you have embraced Riot and her crew has far exceeded even my wildest expectations and that’s saying something because you’ve seen my imagination and it’s pretty out there.
The sales numbers for War Wolves have come in and the numbers don’t even look real. I think I’m still kind of processing the success of the series. I’ve refused to let my day to day routine change. Everyday I stay home with my daughter and we play and color and I write while she naps or at night I’m up late after she lays her tiny head to rest.
I promise not to let the success of War Wolves go to my head. My reward to myself once the money comes in is a new pair of gym shorts I needed since one of the drawstrings on my other pair of shorts mysteriously gut sucked into that little hole it comes out of in the waistline.
You know what I’m talking about right? It happens to a lot of hoodies that have drawstrings too. One day out of the wash that lace you pull has for some reason receded into the hole all on its own.
Never mind, this conversation is all to say that I’m being smart with my success. I’m hard at work on the next project and plan on using the money that’s coming in wisely to help support my wife and daughter.
I feel like I owe so many of you another thank you for leaving reviews on both Bring the Thunder and Click Click Boom. I have tough skin from so many years in sales but for some reason there was a review left the other day on Bring the Thunder that really bothered me. I think it was because the review kept
using my first name like he knew me. That’s what probably what made the attack feel so personal.
After reading that rough review I was trying to figure out why I was letting his words bother me so much. I was trying to fend off the voices in my head that demanded I spend more and more time thinking about it when you freaking awesome wolves came to the rescue and didn’t even know it!
Within hours of that demeaning review I received two more stellar reviews on Bring the Thunder and another on Click Click Boom. Immediately that reaffirmed confidence on who I write for. I wrote for brothers and sisters like you, not some two bit, yahoo who I don’t know from Adam.
So thank you again wolves. If you keep on reading and enjoying the stories coming out of my twisted imagination I promise I’ll keep writing them.
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