Andy Lang Books

Friday 27 November 2015

New Release #2 (and sample)

Due for release before Christmas. Finding Justine – Libertine.


The third novel in my human trafficking series, and a departure from the previous books. 

Take a journey into the mind of a psychopath, a man of immeasurable wealth, and depravity without limit. A disciple of the Marquis de Sade; Marcus de Silverleigh searches the globe for his perfect woman. A woman to match Sade's Justine, the unfortunate heroine of his most acclaimed book. A woman bound into a life of extremes, of depravity, humiliation, torture.... and submission.

Is Marcus insane? Or is he simply calculating?
Can his Justine survive her ordeal? Can she accept her conditioning, her submission to his will, or is she a fictional as the character that she is forced to play... does she even exist?

Do not expect a light-hearted read when you begin Finding Justine. Be warned, this is a dark work, and although not erotica, it does handle aspects of extreme sexual slavery, sadism, cruelty, torture and masochism. Investigate the minds of the depraved, explore their motivation, their justifications, their delights, their remorse... their damnation.

This book contains adult language and describes scenes and scenarios that some sensitive readers may find offensive. However, this is not a work of erotica, more a dark and disturbing thriller.

Due for release within the next week to 10 days on iTunes and Lulu, but may take longer to appear on Amazon, B&N, Kobo etc.


Prologue

Justine stared at droplets of ruby blood, her mind disconnected from fact. It looks quite pretty, she thought as an irrational smile formed on her split and swollen lips, like a cross shape! A Crucifix.
Her mind, as always, sought an avenue of escape as her body screamed for mercy and relief. Her spilled and dripping blood gave her consciousness focus - a point of attention to distract from reality. The immediate reality of pain and abuse, of torture and humiliation; and the long accepted reality of the forced servitude and depravity that had become her life.
The droplets began to blur as she lost focus, a fact that saddened her. Probably a concussion, the analytical portion of her brain kicked in, feeding fact and understanding that she found unnecessary, given her now clear understanding that the end had arrived. It would have been nicer to have left with the pretty cross in my mind, she thought, and closed her eyes, anticipating the final blow. Prayer had long since departed from her existence, but the bloody crucifix had given her heavy heart some small comfort. A sinister chuckle broke her silent acceptance, her ultimate serenity shattered.
If he could have just done it without laughing, she thought as she squeezed her eyelids tighter, the image of a sacred cross violently replaced by the sadistic smile of her abuser. She didn't need to open her eyes to understand the look upon his face, the twisted and cruel smile, the cold and calculating blue eyes, sometimes soft and warm; now, intense, loaded with hate and finality.
You have had sufficient time to make your peace.” his chuckle returned, almost gentle now, yet loaded with menace.
Goodbye, my love.” she whispered as a tear broke free to track through heavy mascara. “I'm sorry Adam.”
Stars burst flaring bright, searing through her closed eyelids. Her clenched jaw strained, her teeth grinding under the force of his blow. Pain upon pain ricocheted through her tortured mind, sickness bloomed, nausea and despair engulfed. Darkness enveloped her mind, as nothingness robbed her thoughts of entity. Her body sagged; and muscle control deserting she slumped forward, face down onto unyielding concrete. Justine forced her eyes to open, the vision of a cross reappeared, but swiftly faded, now darkness reigned, her vision lost to the nihility of death.


 

New Release #1

The Fountain of Saba and Tokoloshe have been combined into one bumper paperback. Parts one and two of the James and Ayana Preston trilogy available back to back in the same edition.

The Fountain of Saba explores the legend of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and the intrepid explorers follow a trail of ancient clues that lead them ever closer to the ultimate goal. But James and Ayana have a dilemma! They wish to reveal long hidden secrets for the benefit of all mankind, their benefactor however, has more sinister motives, and the young couple find themselves immersed in history and revelations that should probably remain guarded secrets.
A struggle between good and evil in the Ethiopian highlands, a tale of deceit and danger, friendship and betrayal, spirituality and discovery, damnation for some... and maybe redemption for others.

Tokoloshe finds the couple settling into life together, and Ayana's desire to return to a life of adventure brings Doug Rutherford, a wealthy American forex trader, into their lives. A man who has a hidden agenda. A man who sees James and Ayana as his last hope.
Presenting evidence and research suggesting proof that Nyami Nyami, the Zambezi River Goddess exists he piques the imagination of Ayana, eventually convincing the couple to head an expedition. Little do they know that Douglas has not been completely honest about his motives, and unbeknown to all, a sinister presence stalks the Rutherford family, a creature of Zulu myth, brought into existence by a witchdoctor, and bound to Doug in the most frightening way.
Emotions run high as the Tokoloshe manipulates the expedition members, twisting reality, bringing jeopardy, temptation, lust and deceit. Testing the love that James and Ayana share, they must turn to evil, to defeat evil.

Available exclusively from Lulu Publishing from the beginning of December 2015.
Estimated price - $13.50 (A great deal for two full length novels)


 

Saturday 21 November 2015

How to quit smoking

Maybe you are expecting a few pearls of wisdom! Maybe the title of this post promises to reveal hidden secrets, tips, guaranteed cures etc, etc.
Sorry... I'm not promising anything like that, just a progress update and my own method for tackling a habit that has shadowed my life for 34 years. (My own method basically employing the cold turkey approach.)
An average of a packet each day, 365 days, 34 years, almost a quarter of a million cigarettes... and don't even begin to mention the cost... because I'm avoiding that uncomfortable reality.
So many locations, so many brands: Dunhill and JPS, in the UK, Camel and Ducados in Spain, Styvesant in South Africa, Gaulois in France, back to Dunghill in Brazil, and finally Safari here in East Africa.



And could I light up now? Absolutely! 

Will I? Absolutely Not.


Just over three days smoke free now, three days of frustration, and hypersensitivity to just about everything that could possibly annoy me... radio's, noisy neighbours, watching other people enjoy a cigarette, listening to those who insist that it's all for my own good! 

Early days many will say... three days passed. But I already feel the cravings reducing. Yesterday, to put it politely... was bloody awful, the withdrawal intense and frequent, yet today, I have frequently paused and reached for my packet, only to remind myself that I've quit, the distress, fleeting.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully within the next few days I can get back to writing, using natural concentration and focus... rather than nicotine enhanced reality.

Which will be a relief, because Finding Justine has found itself in limbo... stalled at 87,000 words, only around 10 to 15k left to write, but even today the concentration required just wasn't there! Hopefully tomorrow I can find the focus.
Once I have put Justine to bed I can concentrate on the final part of Gondell's Quest. The story is clear in my head, and plotted out in my notes... I just have to find a little time to add all the words, and hopefully stay within the same boundaries as the first part - 740 pages / 175,000 words.
Another project is nagging me. Non Plus Ultra. Started some months ago, and flying nicely until inspiration deserted at 42,000 words, two different men from vastly differing backgrounds, one devout, ethical, honest. The other, unfaithful, dishonest... a typical ex-pat conman. The build up is complete, both characters have been introduced, they are set on a collision course from opposite sides of the Med.... and NO ENDING!! It will come eventually.


So back to the title of this post... How to quit smoking.

Will-power... determination, and finally seeing sense after far too many years.
If I can do it - Anyone can.


Tuesday 17 November 2015

Top 100 Bestseller

Traffik: The Stolen Girls finally made it into the Top 100 Bestsellers in Men's Adventure on Amazon.com

It's been a bestseller on .uk for around 10 months now, but to finally break through in the USA has really made me smile. (even if it was #87... it's still top 100!)

Traffik: The Stolen Girls.



 A story of modern day slavery. Four girls stolen from their homes and sold into a life of degradation and humiliation. Four very different girls who learn to respect and rely on each other as they battle for survival against the odds and a cruel, powerful enemy.

Follow spoilt and vain Jata, sensible and motherly Akinyi, sensitive but disturbed Shani and worldly Marija as they strive to regain their stolen freedom and dignity.



Amazon US

Amazon UK


Friday 13 November 2015

Peninah's Passion for only 99c/99p

Peninah's Passion is back on Amazon Countdown. From now until the 18th of November this spicy action adventure is reduced to only 99c/99p.




For her, it was a journey of self-discovery.

For him, an awakening.


Alex Longdon is a disgraced financial advisor. After his comfortable life has shattered to pieces, the only reason he has to continue is his young and beautiful Kenyan wife, Peninah.

Pursued by a cartel bent on their elimination and running from a dangerous knowledge, they find themselves chased across two continents facing mortal danger, deceit and temptation. For Peninah this is the beginning of a journey of self-discovery, as she slowly begins to understand her own desires and fetishes. For Alex, the journey is an awakening as he begins to understand his wife’s deepest needs.

Maybe they can save their love... but can they save themselves?


Note: This book contains a level of adult content and language.


Amazon UK


 Don't have a kindle! No problem, there are free apps on the Amazon website that allow you to download thousands of free and bargain books to read on your pc or mobile device.

 Or if spicy romance is not your thing...
Why not try Gondell's Quest, my latest novel.

Fantastic Review

I just found this awesome review for my latest novel 

Gondell's Quest.



Check it out for yourself:




Saturday 7 November 2015

The Crash – and updates.

One of the greatest frustrations in a digital age, the computer crash.


With trust and faith we rely on the computer that has become such a dominant feature in our lives, reliable and familiar. Every day it starts, boots, gives us access to the internet, to information, gossip, social networking. (Even work, for some!)

Backup, save files, save your work. How many times have we all reminded ourselves that next time we must do that? How many times have we forgotten, been too busy, distracted?
Crashes happen to other people, people who venture into the darker, more dubious avenues of the world wide web, people who open suspicious e-mails without caution, people who allow themselves to become targets for malware, trojans, viruses.

Yes... my computer crashed. No dark and dubious exploration necessary, no suspicious e-mail attachments opened, no warning from anti-virus software. 
Eventually, it came from an innocuous little script, my internet access software. One small glitch in a well-known and very Orange coloured suppliers software trashed my operating system, leaving my poor over-worked laptop constantly searching for a modem that did not exist, refusing every other function.

Specialists and tech guys shook their heads, “Very strange, but it's not our software... that's impossible.” Words spoken as messages pop up on my screen before their eyes declaring “I know who did this to me.” naming and shaming the culprit .exe files.
“Impossible,” grudgingly changes to “Unlikely.” But still no open admission.

Their advice to me. “Go away and bother someone who cares.”

Oh how I would love to openly name people, disinterested and offhand individuals who allegedly work in Customer (don't) Care departments... but the fact of the matter is, they simply don't care, and what is the loss of one customer from a list of millions?
So I bit my tongue, and once again bent over and took what was coming to me for expecting any company in East Africa to be concerned about customer satisfaction, and paid for the privilege of rectifying their problems. (Problems that I have since learned are very common with this supplier.)

Now, yes, fortunately I had backed up what is most important to me, my book files and works in progress safely stored on my google drive... safe and secure one might think. Think again!

A new operating system is obviously seen as a new location by google. “You are signing in from a new location... prove who you are?” This message appears after I have entered the correct password three times and been rejected.

The first question to prove my identity... give the day, month and year that you opened the e-mail account.
Seriously, I ask you, who knows that for sure? Maybe I opened in in 2012, or was it 2010... hang on, was it 2000? Difficult enough to remember the year, especially when you have multiple accounts, but to ask for the day, and month????

Before anyone comments about the recovery phone number... Mea Culpa, I hold up my hands, I did mean to change that old and long dead number - tomorrow!

But the point that I am attempting to make; we all want security surrounding our e-mail accounts, but surely there is a better way than insisting that we answer questions that only the most hyper organised would know. (For those that watch The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon is the guy who would know that information... but then again, how many of us are like Sheldon Cooper?)
What happened to the security questions that I answered upon sign-up? What happened to the recovery e-mail address that I had to supply?

So now I have a working computer again, it took the better part of a week, issues abound, I still have problems logging into some sites, plus a Brazilian keyboard fighting against English software constantly giving me รข rather than ? But who am I to complain, I'm up and running again despite the best efforts of my new Orange arch enemies!!

But my real message behind the complaints and moaning:

 

Backup – Backup – Backup! Tomorrow may be too late.



Other News.


I would like to say thank you to all of those people who have been buying Gondell's Quest – Destiny on the iBookstore, (Kindle users... take a hint lol) and I appreciate the very positive comments. Part 2 is in progress, but still a few months away... please be patient!

LuluPublishing are doing a wonderful distribution job, with my books now being available worldwide, so many new distributors. But there are also very many fake sites offering free pdf copies of my books, some are even boasting that they have the audio editions to download. I would be interested to get those myself... considering the audio books don't exist yet!

Traffik:The Stolen Girls is still maintaining a grip on the top 100 on AmazonUK, despite still being in the wrong genre, but since it found itself shifted into Romance it hovers around #70 to #100, before, in Men's Adventure it maintained a consistent #4 to #25. 
But 10 straight months as a bestseller isn't bad.

TheFountain of Saba has just returned to it's more usual price of $2.99. Because of my crash I wasn't able to post many messages or let anyone know about the 7 day – 99c/99p promotion, but even without my attention it almost made the bestseller list in the UK. The second edition is publishing now, punctuation and a few typos fixed.

The Next 99c/99p Promotion.

Peninah's Passion is due to be offered on Amazon Countdown from the 12th until the 18th of November, on Amazon US and Amazon UK.






For her, it was a journey of self-discovery.

For him, an awakening.



Alex Longdon is a disgraced financial advisor. After his comfortable life has shattered to pieces, the only reason he has to continue is his young and beautiful Kenyan wife, Peninah.

Pursued by a cartel bent on their elimination and running from a dangerous knowledge, they find themselves chased across two continents facing mortal danger, deceit and temptation. For Peninah this is the beginning of a journey of self-discovery, as she slowly begins to understand her own desires and fetishes. For Alex, the journey is an awakening as he begins to understand his wife’s deepest needs.

Maybe they can save their love... but can they save themselves?

Note: This book contains a level of adult content and language.

--------------------------------------- 


FindingJustine – Libertine is progressing well, over 65k words so far. This novel is the third in my Human Trafficking series, following Traffik and The Red Trade. Admittedly, this is a much darker novel, and at the moment I really am struggling to find a happy ending. My original intention had been to explore the fate of an innocent girl dragged into a life of degradation by a sadistic Master. The mention of sadism eventually led me to The Marquis de Sade, arguably the worlds most famous sadist.
Not being a reader of erotica, I found Justine – A Virtue Well Chastised to be extremely disturbing, depraved and rather repetitive. But it had the effect of influencing the plot of my own work, taking me down a sinister path.
The work began life with the working title Jaded. The main protagonist being Jade, trapped by a cruel Master, finally freed by her boyfriend after tracking her half way around the world, bad guy ends up in prison, Jade and boyfriend live happily ever after! I am not going to give the plot away, but Jade became Theresa, a girl forced to become Justine, and if anyone lives happily ever after? In a few weeks, I should know the answer!