Authentic Arctic Crime books and Thrillers
It’s just possible… okay, I’ll admit it… I hit publish rather than schedule. If you just got a mail about an upcoming Fourth of July giveaway, then I apologise for spoiling the surprise. The links won’t send you to a free book before the dates listed below, but hey, now you know. 😉
Sorry about that. 🙂
Chris
However, there are still lots of free short stories and one novella available to download from my Payhip site here. 🙂
I’m working on rebooting the Detective Freja Hansen series. Still working out the details, which may include some revamping, a touch of the dreaded rewriting, more short stories, and a novel or several in the future.
I just don’t know if it is the near future.
With the Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine, future seems to be a very elastic and elusive term, something to be cherished and preserved.
You can pick up this cozy short story for free via a link on the book page.
Chris
Here’s the Author’s Note for The Ice Breaker Quandary. I think it accurately describes what you’re letting yourself in for if you read this story.
The Ice Breaker Quandary is a short story featuring Constable Petra Jensen. It fits into the Greenland Missing Persons series, but can be read independently of that series.
You might recognise some additional characters, but this short story also introduces David ‘Dave’ Bennett, and was written as part of a reward for a Kickstarter campaign.
One word of warning… given the nature of this high stakes story, Petra is a little more intense than usual. And if this is your first introduction to Petra, well… Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Good luck!
The Ice Breaker Quandary takes the Greenland Missing Persons series to a whole new level of quirkiness. Normal quirkiness (and a darker tone) will resume in the next book in the series.
I’ve been playing around with covers, delivery systems, stores, and a whole host of things.
But, without getting too deep into the weeds, here’s your chance to grab a new copy of Petra and Atii’s antics in Nuuk. Plain Clothes Problems is a fun short story available to download free via the different links on the story page.
If you think it sounds familiar, you’re right. Plain Clothes Problems was originally posted directly onto this website. The new version has been compiled as an eBook.
I hope you enjoy this silly story.
Chris
I met William Burton McCormick in Iceland, just as Iceland Noir was wrapping up. I think we escaped the disco for a coffee and an intense chat about books and publishing. I’ve since read several of Bill’s stories, and really like his main character Santa.
Nope.
Not that Santa!
I could tell you more, or you could discover Santa for yourself in Bill’s short story: The Dunes of Saulkrasti. It’s a really good read with a nice twist. Several, in fact.
Chris
I never intended to write crime books or thrillers. Personally, I prefer fantasy and science fiction stories. Which might explain why there’s a hint of shamanism and spirits in my Greenland Missing Persons series, and some of the Maratse novellas, and, come to think of it, in Narkotika …Â and then there’s The Ice Circus, and of course, the new character introduced in North Star Bay has a touch of the shaman about him.
Okay.
Maybe there’s quite a bit of fantasy in my writing.
However, before Christoffer Petersen there was Chris Paton, i.e. me.
He was supposed to forge a writing career with Steampunk novels. But it just didn’t turn out that way.
When I was done with my degree I was also really done with The Ice Star. I had written the whole book three times, changed so many things due to feedback from critique groups and lecturers – cue reason why I don’t use beta readers – it just wasn’t my book anymore. I chucked it to one side after graduation, and thought I would never pick it up again.
That’s when I wrote the first Steampunk book: Metal Emissary.
I loved it. It was so different, so fresh. I loved it so much I wrote three more books, and they got longer and longer. I bought covers, paid for marketing (can’t remember where), and posted about them all over Social Media. And I sold a whopping total of one book a month, sometimes two.
Maybe.
Unfortunately, it cost more to receive the payment in my bank account (don’t get me started on banks) than the royalties I earned from the book. I think every Steampunk book I have sold has cost me money, and they have not paid for their covers. Sigh.
Undeterred, I wrote more Steampunk books. I mean, it was going to happen? Right? It was just a matter of time.
Then, as I may have mentioned before, I quit my teaching job to go on an adventure. Jane and I joined our friends and their two kids for two months on the Yukon River, paddling from Whitehorse, Canada to Tanana, Alaska, USA. I was following in Jack London’s footsteps!
Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that on my return I launched a revamped version of The Ice Star, made my own cover, and chucked it onto Amazon while I returned to the serious business of finding another teaching job.
At this point I could tell you what happened next, but I’ll save that for later.
What I really want to say is the success of The Ice Star, and the books that followed, combined with a change in author attitude (okay, and genre) have allowed me to come full circle. While I’m not going to stop writing crime books and thrillers, I am carving out time for a side hustle – in other words, writing fantasy, science fiction, and yes, Steampunk!
In my latest newsletter to subscribers I mentioned I was making a shift to my blog, and the reason for that is to write posts like this one which are less crime book oriented, but more me. I don’t “me oriented”, although I’m sure it sounds like that. 🙂 And it is a blog about me, so I guess it is. But what I mean to say is the blog is for anything I want to write, whereas readers who signed up for the newsletter did so for more crime and Greenland stuff.
There will be plenty of that here, but today is about me thinking about how I started, and sharing a free* short story with you.
The Impossible Floret is a cute and perilous(ish) Steampunk story I wrote earlier this year, and it takes me back to the beginning.
Chris
*You will need to add an email address to grab the free story. Your email address is used to record the download only. I will not add you to a mailing list.
