John Stone: The Hard Kill

by EvilTwinBrian on

The first book in a new series is available on Amazon. John Stone: The Hard Kill introduces the first of four new characters in a series of books capturing the feel of our favorite action movies from various decades. My brother Allen (also the evil twin?) came up with the idea, and we just ran with it. This first book has the 80s one-man-army vibe, full of fast paced action, explosions, car chases and gun fights.

Like I said, this is the first of four, so we’ve already got drafts for the next two. Chance Hunter is a detective with the skills to handle himself in a fight, inspired by the martial arts heavy 90s. Ty Octane is our adrenaline junkie tapping the high-speed movies from the 00s. The last is Millie, who’s style is inspired by the lethal no-nonsense tactics used by the action stars of today.

Spilled Milk: Two Percent Power Book 2

by EvilTwinBrian on

Spilled Milk, book two of the Two Percent Power trilogy, is available now on Amazon! It’s currently only available for pre-order, but the book will be live (automatically downloaded to your Kindle device if you pre-order) on November 1st. You can order it here.

With the egotistical super villain, Sight, brought to justice, Patrick and the other superhero saviors get some much-needed downtime to rest and recuperate. But when a new threat, the Brotherhood of Armageddon, arrives, the team must band together again to fight for the city. Will this new menace be too much for Patrick and the other heroes to overcome?

Spilled Milk: Book 2 of the Two Percent Power trilogy.

Here’s a peek at the full-color cover (colors by the talented Thomas Mason).

Work on the final book in the trilogy has begun, and it will be available Winter of 2017.

My YouTube Channel

by EvilTwinBrian on

I spent the first half of 2016 focusing on art, and posting speed drawing videos up on YouTube. My goal was to build up my channel by posting “the process” of my art and get plenty of practice drawing. That changed in July when I finally decided to get off my butt and release my first novel (that I wrote at the end of 2015). I didn’t expect writing to fully consume my days, but after Two Percent Power: Delivering Justice came out, I just kept going and finished up the second book, Spilled Milk.

Unfortunately, that meant my art took a back seat. And while I’m finishing up the trilogy (scheduled for release early 2017), I still want to do more art, and hopefully, post the videos to my YouTube channel. I skipped Inktober but seeing all of the artwork from other artists I follow has inspired me to pick up the pencils and pens again.

Anyway, take a look at my funky pencil grip in the video below:

Check out my YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/brianmanningart) for more…

Two Percent Power: Spilled Milk – Cover

by EvilTwinBrian on

Two Percent Power: Spilled Milk is in the home stretch! The cover is currently being colored right now, but here is a preview of the lineart. This is an homage to the classic John Romita cover for Spider-man issue 151. My brother, Allen, handled the inking chores for this cover.

coverinks_preview

Sign up for the mailing list if you want to be informed when Spilled Milk is available for pre-orders. It will be priced at 99 cents for a limited time during the pre-order phase.

This is book 2 of the Two Percent Power trilogy, so if you haven’t already read Delivering Justice (book 1), you can pick it up on Amazon.com here. If you have read it, please leave a review and let other readers know what you thought of it.

Tropes and Heroes

by EvilTwinBrian on

tppcover

Recently I got a message letting me know that Two Percent Power now has a page on TVTropes.org. I went to the page to have a look and I was shocked. The page meant that not only did someone read (and enjoy) Two Percent Power, it meant that they liked it enough to list out all of the superhero tropes used in the book. Check it out.

And if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can pick it up on Amazon.com. Do you agree with the tropes listed on the site? Did you like the book? Please leave a review (on Amazon) and help others find out about Two Percent Power as well.

Two Percent Power: Delivering Justice (Amazon.com) FREE for Kindle Unlimited Subscribers!

Two Kinds of People: Weasels, and Weasel Slappers

by EvilTwinBrian on

The newest episode of the Atomic Mind Dump Podcast is live!

Listen Here: Atomic Mind Dump episode 81: Weasel Slappers

This week, we’re recording from the water closet at a Starbucks, because Brian is now our resident pompous author, that only handles his media in analog format. Tony is a tiger with no tolerance for finger wags. Allen is a weasel slapper, with his sights set on Tony. Bobby is a stand-up comic with a strong five minutes on quality made products.

Voices in My Head!

by EvilTwinBrian on

“I just listen to my characters and write down what they do and say.”

Nonsense! I used to think when a writer said they just “listened to their characters”, it was some strange hippie stuff. Like they were just trying to say what we wanted to hear, to make them sound mystical. I started writing short stories in 2013, and most of the time it was about a single character with minimal interaction.

In 2015 I took one of the stories and expanded it into a full novel. I added a lot of characters, had a lot of witty banter, and did my best to give each a somewhat unique personality and way of speaking (I’m sure most still sound the same because it’s still coming from my head). By then I had been listening to the audiobook of Stephen King’s “On Writing”, and thought again about how authors just “listened to their characters”. Hooey! Malarkey!

You Keep What You Kill

by EvilTwinBrian on

That’s the catch, you’ve got to finish it, otherwise, it’s pointless. We’re too busy chasing the next wave of inspiration, not realizing that all the winners are the ones that actually finish the game. I’m not speaking from a position of success, telling you all how I “did it”. I’m equally guilty of pouncing on the next shiny new object that crosses my path as well. There has got to be a point where we all accept that leaving a bunch of tasks sitting around unfinished, only to label them as “I’ll finish that someday”, will never accomplish much. We’ve all got tasks sitting around, partially complete. Like half cleaned offices, partially built projects, unfinished manuscripts, or a half checked to-do list.

I’ve Got the Eye of the Tiger…

by EvilTwinBrian on

…And you’re gonna hear me roar! Yes, I did just quote Katy Perry. I’ve got no regrets about that. Speaking of regrets, something you always hear when others are doling out advice about how we should be living, is to live a life of “no regrets”. Do you want to make that decision now, or live with regret later on, always wondering “what could have been”? The problem is that most of us already have regrets in life, and hearing that type of advice always seems to stir them back up. I think making decisions to avoid any type of regret is the wrong way to go about it.

Your Free Books are Waiting!

by EvilTwinBrian on

Zombies, superhero cowboys, power armor pilots, and giant bugs in Las Vegas. Why aren’t you reading these books already? Get them free. You’ll also be kept informed about the progress of the sequels, and get other free digital goodies!

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