How To Learn About Blowing Shit Up

How To Learn About Blowing Shit Up

I love learning. If there are explosions involved, all the better. Let’s discuss Cage and Joule using leftover fireworks to blast their snowmen come late January. Or to blow up the rotting pumpkins come December. (That one set the yard on fire..in multiple places!!! Do not ask me how handy I am with the fire extinguisher)

But this one is about REAL explosions. The kind you can’t buy in a Sad Sam’s tent in the summer. I’ve done them myself. Gotten demos just for me. And then, there are ones like this. A full demo by the bomb squad and I’m so grateful to have gotten to attend at a writer’s conference.
I’ve watched (and taken copious notes!) the robot check a suspicious backpack, then detonate it for good measure. I’ve seen the team blast up everything from flashpaper to C4 to improvised devices. They all make different booms. And I learned how to set them off too. (I do love some det cord! It burns an orange sine wave on your retina as it lights up!)

So here is where I managed to catch the explosion as it was happening! I will say, an author’s life is never dull. And if you’ve read FRACTURE FIVE, some of the things I learned from the blasts are in there!

If you need me, I’ll be over here, blowing shit up. You know, for research!

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Grab it while you can – normally $7.99

Right now and for a short while – THE SURFACE IS FREE

The Black Carbon series is now complete at 7 full books. If you’re a reader who doesn’t want to start unless you know you can get all the way to the end, this is the series for you.

If you hate zombies or just wish the apocalypse was more… apocalypsey and not as evil or undead (but still mostly an apocalypse) I’ve got you! If you want smart characters making their best decisions (mostly) that’s here too.

The Surface is book 2 in the series and it’s usually $7.99. But this week, it’s free. (And so is The Hunted – book 1. So you can get the first TWO books right now for $0!!!)

All links available here >> BLACK CARBON 

get it while you can, bc it will be $7.99 soon.

Happy reading! – AJ

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Snake in the Grave will be here in JUNE!

Snake in the Grave will be here in JUNE!

My next newsletter will give you the release date. If you’re on the ARC team you will be getting your copy VERY soon. Early readers will get it soon after that (Those people who ordered direct from me.)

When Donovan chases his history to another continent, Eleri knows she has to follow. Besides that, there’s an ominous text from Stacey that she and Lindsay are already in Kolkata… but why? And what does she want to give to Eleri so badly?

preorder NOW

Get it Early only by ordering hereKindle Kobo Apple Books Google Books Nook

 

 

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How to Dispose of a Body…

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most of you are doing it wrong!
I personally hate to read historical fiction… Why? Because I’m afraid I’ll learn something and it’s not right! not real!

So, when I write my books, I do my very best to make sure I’m getting it right! And that means I know I a lot of ways to dispose of a dead body.

Planting endangered plants on top won’t generally save you. The plants themselves are a dead giveaway.

Burying a dead dog over the body will only help if your lead investigator is dumb and doesn’t understand that cadaver dogs don’t sniff for any dead flesh, only human.

Yes, you can still get tried for murder if there’s no body.

And I’m pretty sure that carpet in her yard WAS part of a murder.

Feel free to ask me about any of these!

😉   :O   AJ

 

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CONFERENCES!

BEING AN AUTHOR means you have to MAN your booth at the conferences.
We’ve gone to Fan Days in Plano, ComicCon San Diego, Dragon Con, MysticCon and several ComicCons around the country – and oh so many more. One year we did 17 conferences!
It’s so cool meeting all the readers, but as you can see: I have backup! It takes at least two people in the booth at any given time. If I have panels to be on, then 2 extra people to cover while I’m gone.
DragonCon requires a team of _FOUR_ to run that booth well! 😲 I have so many fun and funny conference stories! But in recent years, I haven’t done as many. I know it’s fantastic to get out and meet readers, but we did the math. DragonCon eats two weeks of time! We calculated that books weren’t getting written because of conference time. Ouch.
Comment here and tell me what you think! Cons or more books? I don’t think there’s really a clear answer. I can do more if that’s what you want.

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Second Survey (Discounts!)

Second Survey (Discounts!)

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Where does an AJ book come from?

Well, a lot of practice. But one big thing is writers conferences. This was at Killer Nashville (luckily local to me!) Dr. Tabor taught about identifying bodies through dental records. And then he talked me into becoming an actual forensic scientist! Ha. Jon Jefferson is the writing half of the Body Farm series author “Jefferson Bass.” The other half is Dr. Bill Bass (not pictured) who was one of my professors in forensics school and considered a founder of modern forensic science! And I’ve known Jon Jefferson since I was kid! Crazy. Before he was a big time author, before he knew Bill Bass. Sometimes it is a small world!

𝗔𝗠𝗔!!! (𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴)

AJ

 

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Second Survey (Discounts!)

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The Edge – hands-on writer research & police training for accurate thrillers!

The Edge – hands-on writer research & police training for accurate thrillers!

If you’re here, it’s probably not a surprise that I do extensive research (some of it is still tucked away for future books!) Including ridealongs whenever I can get them. Also, firearms training! (I have good hit rates against the bad guys, but ‘good’ is a relative term. It’s really hard to take out a surprise shooter, even when you know you’re in shooter training and someone is going to fire at you.) I died. A lot.

We also did dog training, which I’ve used a lot of in learning how dogs/wolves bite, tackle, pull and win! (These two canines did a lot of demos for me and also were put through their usual training while I watched.) I’ve used some of this in the NightShade series and some in Black Carbon. And there’s definitely more to come!

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Where to find AJ in 2025!

Where to find AJ in 2025!

Happy 2025

I don’t know about you, but social media is always something I find to be churning and changing. If you haven’t already found me there, I’m on Bluesky! More books and info and updates with a faster turn around than I can put here. Follow me at: @ajscudiere.bsky.social

Lastly, if you want to see something really cool that’s getting started, head over to my YouTube channel. (Yes, I have one of those!) I haven’t done anything with it before, but there are new things coming within the  month and you’ll want to be there for it. I’m adding alllll my audiobooks and you can listen for freeeee! Subscribe now so you’ll get all the updates! (It doesn’t cost anything and you’ll just get a ping when I post something new.)  >>> https://www.youtube.com/@ReadAJS

Happy Reading! AJ  O.o

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