fiction – Stan R. Mitchell

The latest on Book 3 of the Nick Woods series

Hey guys!

Hope everyone is having a great Friday! Just a quick update on my end.

I am editing, editing, editing like crazy on my next book, “Afghan Storm“, which we’re supposed to have done Oct. 1. So glad my lovely wife Danah has done so much to help this book (including rewrites!), and that Emily Akin is helping with the editing and making me look like I know how to write. : )

Oh, and for those that don’t know, Afghan Storm is Book 3 of the Nick Woods series, so if you haven’t started the series, it’s a great time to start it. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have sold 30,000 copies of the series, so here’s the link to Book 1 (titled “Sold Out”) in case you’re interested but haven’t started the series yet. I’m thrilled and overwhelmed to say that “Sold Out” and the second book (“Mexican Heat“) remain in the Top 100 of Amazon’s political thriller category.

Thank you guys for all your support and for allowing me to do full-time what I’d absolutely do for free!

Can’t wait to get you Afghan Storm soon. It might literally be better than both Sold Out and Mexican Heat!

Keep the faith,

Stan R. Mitchell

About me: I write military action books similar to Vince Flynn, Stephen Hunter, and Tom Clancy. I’m also a prior USMC Sgt with Combat Action Ribbon, and a guy who spent 10+ years writing every day in the newspaper business — 9 of them with a newspaper that I started. Please consider subscribing for email alerts — I mostly post about things that either motivate or inspire you.

Some pretty big news, and a big thanks to my supporters

So, members of Mitchell’s Militia. I’m kind of on Cloud 9 right now and I felt like I had to share it since you guys are completely the reason for it — and for some reason are tagging along with me on this journey.

Just a bit ago, I was getting in some much needed relaxing, and doing some kung fu before planning to get back on editing “Mexican Heat.”

And I had stopped to check my sales for the day — I do this way too much — and noticed my sales had jumped up a bit today. Immediately, like all newbie authors, I decided to check Amazon to see how high my ranking had climbed.

Unbelievably, “Sold Out” was at the following in its two listed genres:

#78 in the Top 100 in the Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Political.
#89 in the Top 100 in the Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political.

Can you believe that?! (Click this link here to see, if you look fast enough — they change hourly.)

I’m in the Top 100 of the same list that includes Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Nelson Demille, Scott Turow, and others.

And I’m somehow in that list with no marketing support, no nationwide distribution, no big shot editor, no major publishing house behind me.

Without question, the only reason I’m there is because of you guys, so I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Thanks for following me. Thanks for encouraging me. Thanks for telling folks about me.

I know I won’t stay in that list for long — I don’t have enough reviews, name recognition, etc.– but for right now, I’m about as pumped as a man can get!

Keep the faith,

Stan R. Mitchell

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

P.S. If you enjoy fast-paced books, you just might like my works. “Sold Out” tracks the life of a legendary Marine Sniper after a CIA unit decides to kill him for reasons of national security. “Little Man, and the Dixon County War” tells the uphill fight a young deputy faces after surviving three years of war only to find himself in the sights of a mighty cattle baron. And “Soldier On,” a short novel, follows the lives of several German soldiers in a depleted infantry company trying to make it through the final, miserable months of World War II.

Some impressive writing from Robert B. Parker

One thing I’ve been meaning to do for a while is post some impressive writing that I come across. You know, the kind that makes you go, wo-ah, and yank out an ink pen and start underlining.

These posts on great writing will come in no particular order, and just because this is first, doesn’t mean I’m saying it’s the best. But, a man’s got to start somewhere and I have no idea what the best passage I’ve ever read is anyway…

Anyway, here’s one from a couple of weeks ago that I had meant to post when I read it. It’s from Robert B. Parker’s book “Night Passage.” This scene is of the main character, Jesse Stone, driving across the country to his new job, following his divorce. Thus, he’s nostalgic and thinking too much as he leaves California and heads east.

“It was impossible to drive across the country without imagining Indians and cavalry and wagon trains and mountain men, and Wells Fargo and the Union Pacific. Deerskin trousers and coats made of buffalo hide and long rifles and traps and whiskey and Indians. Bowie knives. Beaver traps. Buffalo as far as you could look. White-faced cattle. Chuck wagons. Six-guns with smooth handles. Horse and man seemingly like one animal as they moved across the landscape. Hats and kerchiefs and Winchester rifles and the creak of saddles and the smell of bacon and coffee.”

Keep the faith,

Stan R. Mitchell

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

P.S. If you enjoy fast-paced books, you just might like my works. “Sold Out” tracks the life of a legendary Marine Sniper after a CIA unit decides to kill him for reasons of national security. “Little Man, and the Dixon County War” tells the uphill fight a young deputy faces after surviving three years of war only to find himself in the sights of a mighty cattle baron. And “Soldier On,” a short novel, follows the lives of several German soldiers in a depleted infantry company trying to make it through the final, miserable months of World War II.