Christoffer Petersen

Authentic Arctic Thrillers

Christoffer Petersen blog

Sweeping the store

by Leave a Comment

This is more of an ‘admin’ post, but in response to a recent request for a more ordered list of titles I’ve made some changes to my personal shops (Payhip). The question was a good question. The reader wondered if I could list my titles chronologically. Specifically, was it possible to show what was the newest book, for example.

My response was “I have no idea, but I’ll look into it.”

Well, I’ve looked into it.

Books on Amazon (via a browser) are easy, as you can choose to list the books on my author page by publication and the newest are listed first. Just click on the tab to the right of the list of formats.

My Payhip store is not as easy. I can list and order my books manually, but I have chosen to use “collections” pages instead.

However, I’m trying to make it easier by moving the non-Petersen titles to a whole other store. So the main Payhip store for Christoffer Petersen books will only have Petersen books. You won’t find books that are in Kindle Unlimited there, unless I pull them out of KU.

The other titles, such as Steampunk, Science Fiction, and the Greenland raven stories are now listed in a whole new Payhip store here: Centaurian Books. (Yes, the choice spelling is on purpose!) Moving them here works too as I think most readers here are looking for the Greenland books.

Alternatively, as I publish more and more books on different platforms, this nifty link (which I have to remember to update – put it on the list, Chris!) takes you pretty much everywhere else. But, like I said, I have to update this link.

One might ask why should I have a Payhip store at all? There are three main reasons:

  • I get a greater share of the royalties for books bought through Payhip
  • I can add more things to the download page, such as extras like wallpaper or maybe photos from Greenland that are related to the story – anything digital, really
  • and I can offer discounts and books for free

Amazon is still by far the easiest option for most readers, especially if you are already in the Amazon ecosystem. I have no problem with Amazon, but I do like to have options and Payhip is one of them.

So, this was an admin post – kind of a preemptive spring cleaning.

Lots more to do!

Chris

A million distractions!

by 2 Comments

January is always tough, so it’s best not to ask about the “million words” challenge. 😉 I have been busy, though.

The budget for one thing.

And playing around with covers to sell, and this time I mean it!

This falls under the category of indie authors and writer “stuff” as finding covers is a huge part of the indie author business. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working on a portfolio of covers I will make available for sale for authors looking for a pre-made cover. These are not commissioned works, but pre-made covers in all genres to which I will add the author’s details, the title of the book, and taglines etc.

They are not stock images. I use 3D tools and assets to create original images and scenes. I’ll sell one and one only, so they will be unique to the author who buys them.

I’m not quite ready to launch yet, but I’m getting there.

More importantly – for me – I’m learning to let go. I don’t need to write a story for every cover I design, even though I might want to. It’s ridiculous, I know, but I tend to get rather attached to anything I make. I guess that’s natural, but at some point … you gotta let go!

I’m trying.

Chris

Upcoming releases – February 2022

by 2 Comments

I’m still putting things together for January, and hope to put out a couple of short stories on the fly. However, two books are scheduled for release in February, including:

The American Artisan (novella)

When ghosts from an old case haunt an American artist as he walks the streets of Nuuk, Constable David Maratse is recalled to Greenland’s capital to investigate.

The American Artisan is the twenty-third in a series of novellas to feature Constable David Maratse in Greenland.

This is a fun one as one of the main characters is named after a backer of a recent Kickstarter campaign. The tone, however, isn’t fun, as that character is in peril, of course.

The Crocodile Beat* (novel)

In Australia’s vast and desolate Northern Territory, Constable Petra ‘Piitalaat’ Jensen’s most southerly missing persons case might just be her last.

Forced to take some well-earned leave, Petra searches for solace in the Australian Outback, only to find herself caught up in the search for a missing police sergeant.

The Crocodile Beat is the thirteenth in the Greenland Missing Persons series of novellas and novels normally set in the harsh, unpredictable Arctic, rich in tradition, myth and culture.

Both books will be posted to Amazon on the day of release, but may take up to a day to be visible.

However, The Crocodile Beat will be available in more stores as I try something new. It won’t be available in Kindle Unlimited, but it will be available for streaming in Kobo Plus. I’m trying new things in 2022 in the hope to gain more exposure.

We’ll see what happens.

Chris

*Edit (February 5, 2022): The Crocodile Beat will be a stand-alone novel. Sigh. 🙂

Work in Progress

by 2 Comments

I found this photo of my desk. The photo is a few years old. The computer is now growling – a lot! And the Star Wars paraphernalia is even more dusty now than it was then. But otherwise, it’s exactly as it was.

Two screens is essential for editing! I don’t know how I ever managed without a second screen. The speakers are hidden, but when doing covers and stuff I have all kinds of music blasting out – although, I do turn it down when the Blue Tits are nesting in the vent above my desk. The music is varied, but when listening to the radio I’ve discovered that there’s no better DJ than Will Young on Radio 2. 🙂

Yep, there’s a raven claw in the ziploc bag hanging from the drawer – for luck, of course. But the really fun stuff is the two yellow smileys underneath the big screen. They’ve got suckers for feet and springs beneath the heads. I don’t know why, but making them jump just makes me giggle. Every time!

There’s definitely a screw loose somewhere.

And it’s not the desk!

Have a great Saturday.

Chris

And that was 2021!

by 3 Comments

I think everyone has had a mixed, and most likely challenging 2021. I’m also certain that many people have had a really tough time. My 2021 has been up and down, but fortunately it has been mostly up, not least because of all the support I have received from readers of my books, and, dare I say, fans of Petra and Maratse. I honestly wasn’t sure what kind of year 2021 was going to be, but I am pleased to say it turned out all right in the end.

That end included a much needed Christmas break with my folks in Manchester. Again, touch and go if it was going to happen, and still uncertain regarding the outcome of the assorted tests required before and after our visit, but ultimately positive.

I tend to forget about family when I am so focused on my writing. And, as you know, I write a lot, so I tend to be rather focused – a lot. I’m going to work on a better balance of the two this year, i.e. family and work, but also friends. I may have played the covid card a few times, when what I really should have played was the working hard card instead. I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out.

What this means in practice, is a change of my working practice. I have relied heavily on pre-orders in the past and in 2021. While a pre-order deadline has been a positive motivational factor, I have also come unstuck a few times. So, in achieving a better balance, I will not be doing pre-orders in 2022.

Fortunately, that doesn’t mean fewer books.

Hell no! 🙂

There are plenty in the works, including more than a few Petra books. She and I have finally reached an understanding. She does what she does, and I just have to let her do it. So, there will be more Greenland Missing Persons books in 2022.

I have more Maratse stories on the way, too. But you know, he’s the quiet type, rarely shouts about anything at all, and although he insisted he get his own series after The Ice Star, he did so quietly. More on the way from him too.

But now I’ve mentioned The Ice Star, it seems only fair that Fenna and Mikael get more stories too. So you can expect news about a sequel to The Shaman’s House, which will be the fourth in that series, and, at long last, more books in the Sirius Sledge Patrol series with Mikael and Co.

That’s it for now, though.

All that remains is to thank you for your generous support in 2021. I hope you’ll find something of interest to keep you coming back in 2022.

Ukiortaami Pilluarit!

Happy New Year!

Chris

Border Land

by 7 Comments

I’ve got a lot of forgotten projects on different computers. Some I find and develop, others get forgotten, again, perhaps never to see the light of day.

I don’t quite know what to do with Border Land. I’ve written a few chapters and am still deciding if the project is a go or not.

Border Land is set in the Border Lands of the German and Danish border where I live.

Here’s the prologue (rough edit). See what you think.

Chris

 

Border Land

Prologue

Kegnæs Fyr, Germany

February 10th, 1920

 

The blade was pitted, much like the old man’s face, but the edge was keen, like his eyes, as he climbed the stone steps of the lighthouse, the knife gripped between gnarled fingers. He was too old for this kind of work, but the committee had agreed it should be him, that he was the least likely to be suspected. He could do the job, and no one would be the wiser.

“Besides,” the committee had said. “Once the vote is in, no one will be looking for him. They’ll think he’ll have fled to Germany.”

And he should have. The old man had told him – he would have helped him, even, had it not been for the letter. Several letters that the committee knew about. It was hoped the young man in the lighthouse would have them.

“But if he doesn’t,” they said. “And if he won’t tell you where they are, then you be sure he takes that secret to the grave. Be sure now, Magnus. Be sure he takes it to the grave.”

Magnus paused to lean against the curved wall of the staircase. He looked at his fingernails in the soft oil light. He could smell the earth beneath his nails. If he closed his eyes, he could see the grave, just a hundred metres from the lighthouse, hidden in a small copse of trees. There was a cart beside the lighthouse keeper’s house.

“Use that,” they told him. “To move the body. Save your back, Magnus.”

Save your back.

“Save their necks, more like,” he whispered.

He looked up as the oil lamp flickered.

“Who’s there?”

The soft voice slid around the curve in the wall. Magnus slipped the knife back into the pocket of his winter jacket, cursing softly as the blade nicked the lining.

“Just me, William,” he said.

“Magnus?”

“That’s right.” Magnus waited a moment, then said, “I’m coming up. All right?”

“Yes,” William said, although the word was more a breath than a welcome. “Come on up.”

Magnus took the steps one at a time, pausing as he neared top, slowing as he lifted his feet onto the narrow rungs of the ladder, the last few feet onto the platform that ringed the great lamp. William held out his hand, grasping for the old man in the dark, pulling him into the light that shone across the sound from the southern tip of the island of Als and across the water to the rest of Germany.

The uncontested part.

“I know why you’ve come,” William said, stepping back to give Magnus room.

“I didn’t want to.”

William gripped the rail and looked the older man in the eye. Magnus paled under William’s stare, shivering in the frigid air blowing off the sound. He tugged his coat closer around his body, slipped his hands into his pockets, head twitching to one side as his left hand closed around the handle of the knife.

“They’re not here,” William said. “The letters.”

“Where are they?”

“Safe.” William shrugged. “No one will find them.”

“The committee doesn’t believe you.”

“They should.” William nodded in the direction of the city of Sønderborg. “The vote’s in. We all know which way it will go. It’s done.”

“Apart from your letters.”

“It takes two to write a letter.”

“And the other half,” Magnus said. “They’ve burned their correspondence. Like you should have done, William.”

William tugged a pair of gloves from his belt. He offered them to Magnus, smiling as the old man shook his head.

“Calfskin,” William said, teasing the gloves onto his hands. “Local made. Not German.”

“It wouldn’t matter if they were,” Magnus said.

“Yes, old man. It would matter. It will always matter.” William walked around the lamp and Magnus followed. “Out there,” William said, pointing across the fjord. “Ships passing the two points, they’re sailing into history tonight. Just imagine it. Being aboard the last ship to pass Kegnæs Fyr, guided by a German light one second, then Danish in the next as the lamp turns. That should be recorded in the captain’s log. It means something now, but in the future it’ll mean more. They’ll talk about it. Maybe even write about it.”

“No one must write about what’s in those letters, William,” Magnus said. His lips quivered in the chill air. “They can never write about it.”

“But these are voices – people’s voices. We can’t silence them.”

“We must. That’s what the committee wants.”

“But why, Magnus?”

The knife grew heavy in Magnus’ fingers. “You’re a fool to ask such a question. More so if you don’t know the answer.” Magnus pulled the knife slowly from his pocket. The tip caught on the thick fold of the lip. He jerked it free. “You know why I’ve come tonight, William.”

William’s eyes fixed on the knife. The blade flashed once with the turn of the lighthouse lamp. It flashed again on the next, and a third time before he answered.

“You’ve come for the letters.”

Magnus lowered the blade out of the light, hiding it in the shadow cast by his body.

“Not just the letters. They want more than that.”

“If you murder me,” William said. “You’ll never find the letters. Not you, not them. No one.”

“Ah, William,” Magnus said. “That’s the wrong thing to say.”

“What is?”

Magnus took a small step towards the young lighthouse keeper, forcing William closer to the railing.

“You’ve should’ve run when I told you to.”

“I still could,” William said. “Magnus, please. Listen to me. I can still run.”

“No, William. You can’t.”

The committee chose Magnus for his age and familiarity. Magnus was well-liked and well-known in the local area. All doors were open to Magnus Pallesen. He was the perfect farmer – hard-working, soft spoken, a quiet German.

At least until midnight.

At midnight, when the vote was in, Magnus would shed his patriotic skin and clothe himself in the new colours of his old nation. He would speak up, loudly. Chorusing the celebrations, championing the will of the people, burying past affiliations, just like William buried the box of letters – closed correspondence written to influence the fate of a people. But now that the people had decided, those words were better burned or buried. Silenced, like young William Brand, as the wind rushed from his lungs, expelled with the hard slap of the ground against his back.

The lighthouse lamp turned, lighting the waters, steering the captains and their ships across one border and into another.