Official Website of author T.J. Vargo

I'm always on the lookout for new products that are created specifically to screw the consumer. The recent leader of the pack is the "Hershey's Air Delight." Being one of the world's most recognizable purveyors of chocolate treats, you would think Hershey's would be interested in making better chocolate. Thicker chocolate. A more luxurious chocolate that would make a person's taste buds stand up and say howdy. But that's why you're not a big chocolate candy bar executive. You see, today isn't the day of better products, it's the day of better profit margins. So what do you do if you're a chocolate maker? You inject air into your chocolate bars, market the empty spaces in the chocolate as "chocolate bubbles" (I'm not making this up), and sell air for the price of chocolate. Mmmmm... air.

I'm working my way into book two of Tombs and I need a break. I open the file for the first book of Tombs, scroll to somewhere in the middle and highlight some random text, which reads: 

Curtis took a step toward Julia. When she backed into the wall, he raised his
hands. “Look, everything’s cool. I won’t touch you. I won’t come any closer.” He
eased away, putting space between himself and Julia, folding his arms as he
leaned against the kitchen counter. “Just start at the beginning and don’t stop
until you reach the end. You’re gonna be fine.”

 She talked and he listened. It wasn’t long before he felt his blood boil and the pain in his sinus grow to a supernova. He looked at the man on the floor.

This guy was in for one long night.

I think, "I have a style, but it's still changing."

I get back to work, cursing myself for thinking about style. Style isn't something you think about - it's something you are.  

SPECIAL OFFER - FREE EBOOK OF TOMBS AVAILABLE FOR LIMITED TIME. USE COUPON CODE - VZ98M AT SMASHWORDS TODAY TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY. REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED - TJV:)
Smashwords

This is pretty cool. Check out this press release by my good buddy Peter Peterson:

MANSFIELD, OHIO: The ethnic neighborhoods of Cleveland serve as the stomping grounds for Les Roberts’ fictional private investigator Milan Jacovich. New Orleans is a backdrop for James Lee Burke’s novels featuring retired homicide detective David Robicheaux. And now the blue-collar city of Mansfield, Ohio sets the stage for small-time crook Curtis Monroe in the crime series Tombs.

ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year award-winning author TJ Vargo has recently released his novel Tombs, the first in a crime series featuring a cast of crooks and thieves that live, steal, fight and die in the bars, neighborhoods, and churches - yes, you heard that right - churches of Mansfield. "The church actually plays a pivotal role in the first novel," said Vargo. "It's where the gold is."

The gold Vargo references is a major plot point in the novel, which revolves around Curtis Monroe, a low-level criminal who has been stashing stolen cash for years in hopes of saving enough to move out of town and escape his life of crime. The novel begins with Monroe pulling his last heist and making his final preparations to leave town. Unfortunately for him, this is a crime novel, so his plan is doomed from the start. By the time the novel hits the final stretch, it’s apparent that Monroe’s getaway with a sack full of loot isn’t likely, but the odds of him meeting his maker are looking pretty good.  
        
Using Mansfield for the backdrop of a novel may seem to be a stretch when compared against the other big-name cities that lurk as backdrops in contemporary fiction. It’s not hard to see the allure of having The Big Easy, or The Big Apple, or The Windy City, serve as the canvas for a fiction writer’s imagination. But Mansfield?
          
“The city is called ‘Tombs’ in the novel, but it’s based on Mansfield,” said Vargo. “There’s more than enough fiction out there that’s set in bigger, more cosmopolitan cities. What I envisioned was something more intimate. I wanted to take the reader into the small neighborhood bars and neighborhoods of Mansfield and show how these crooks live. The atmosphere of a small blue-collar city like Mansfield helped me add a layer of realism that wouldn’t have been possible with a city like New York that’s already been used a hundred times before.” Vargo warned, however, that readers of Tombs shouldn't expect a travelogue through Mansfield. “This isn’t a cozy mystery,” he says, adding, “The characters are criminals. There is a fair amount of language and adult situations. If it was a movie, it would have an R rating.”
           
A major point of interest is Vargo’s plan to release Tombs as an ebook. “I’ve done my research,” Vargo said. “I’ve gone the traditional publishing route in the past, but the publishing world has reached a tipping point. In May of 2011, Amazon announced that their sales of ebooks surpassed their print book sales. Major authors like Barry Eisler have decided to forego traditional publishing and release their work strictly as ebooks. Amanda Hocking, an unknown author only a few years ago, has over $2 million in ebook sales. With the exploding proliferation of ereading devices like Nooks and Kindles, the time is now when it comes to epublishing.”
            
For more information about the crime series Tombs or author TJ Vargo, visit
www.tjvargo.com.

I caught an old movie the other night that got me thinking about heroes. The movie was "Jeremiah Johnson." Robert Redford plays Jeremiah, a mountain man who lives in a remote wilderness that is teeming with hostile American Indians. Over the course of the film he makes a horrible error in judgement that causes the Indians to target him and his companions for death. Unfortunately for the Indians, Jeremiah is a man of uncanny inner strength and resiliency. Killing Jeremiah, it seems, is a task that is better left to the gods. Now the thing about this movie that makes an impact isn't the breakneck action or the impending dread of the Indian forces gathering against Jeremiah. In my mind, it's the sheer vacuum of bravado expressed by Jeremiah. He never prepares in any real sense for the Indians' onslaught of murderous rage and vengeance. He simply and quietly deals with it. He is implacable. He is steadfast. He is as resigned to his fate of neverending battle as he is to the fact that the sun will rise each day. And it's this utter lack of action-hero antics that makes Jeremiah, in my eyes, a hero to be reckoned with. As the film goes on, even the Indians attacking him begin to treat him with a reverence that borders on worship. Jeremiah becomes a quiet, ghostly pillar of strength, and it's all because he is a hero that prefers to walk toward danger rather than run toward it. That cool-headedness is very powerful, and there's an old joke that helps drive the point home -

A young bull and an old bull look down on a pasture of cows. The young bull nudges the old bull and says, "Hey, lets run down there, have our way with one or two of those lovely cows, and then run away." The old bull turns to the young bull, narrows his eyes and says, "I'd rather walk down there and have my way with all of them."

I like a hero who walks.

If you're interested in finding out who I'd take with me on a desert island, check out my interview with Patti Roberts from Cairns, Queensland, Australia at:

 http://goo.gl/BsYEy

Thanks, Patti!

I'm entering my novel "Tombs" in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel of the Year contest this Jan. 23. There are three main parts to the contest:
1. The Pitch (short synopsis/description of novel)
2. The Excerpt (3,000 to 5,000 word excerpt of the novel)
3. The Manuscript (the complete novel)

If you're feeling up to it, I'd love to get your feedback on my pitch. All you gotta do is rate my pitch from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning my pitch stinks to 10 meaning "That's great - when is the movie coming out!" However you'd like to post your rating is fine by me - Facebook, email me, respond to my blog, call to schedule a conversation over a beer (I'll buy) - whatever works. The only rule is I have to keep the pitch at 300 words or shorter. It's around 240 right now.

Here's my pitch -

Trust no one. Steal from anyone. That's the motto of Curtis Monroe and his fellow crooks in Tombs, a crime novel of 84,000 words that climaxes with rival criminal gangs breaking into a Catholic church on the same night in hopes of stealing a quarter million in gold.

After years of stashing every stolen nickel in a trophy blue marlin hanging on his wall, Curtis finally has enough money to move from the rustbelt city of Tombs, Ohio and leave his life of crime behind. When his partners hear about his plan, they not only give him a beating, they also steal his trophy marlin. Nursed back to health by Julia, his beautiful, scarred next-door-neighbor, Curtis begins a desperate search for his cash-stuffed-fish. As he searches, he and Julia plan to leave Tombs and start a new life together. But when he realizes that his money is lost, Curtis decides to steal a quarter million in gold from the Catholic church where Julia works rather than give up his dream. The only hitch? His old partners-in-crime and a dangerous ex-con are planning the same heist.

Tombs is the first novel in a character-driven crime series set in the fictional rustbelt city of Tombs, Ohio. The story shines a light on Curtis Monroe, a man who is equal parts sinner and saint, fighting to escape from his life of crime.

Okay, so what do you think? Did you say two? Or maybe that was a ten? Did I hear a ten?! Whatever it is, feel free to send your rating whenever you have a chance:) 

Yeah, I know I'm an idiot, but sometimes I try to do something good. I recently went down to Columbus, Ohio to see if I could work with some great people that run a non-profit agency called Community Shares. They're basically a marketing arm for sixty-five Columbus-area organizations that depend on donations to fulfill their various missions. The organizations being helped by Community Shares are very cool, and include animal welfare, civic involvement, civil action, promotion of individual achievement, fostering the arts, environmental protection, fightng hunger... you get the picture. I guess the reason I'm psyched about this is I really like the idea of helping the local community. If you're someone like me that's usually watching from the sidelines because you don't know how to get involved, then today's your day because if I can do it, you can too. Just pick an organization you like, any organization, and give them a call to see if there's something you can do. It will change your life, or someone else's that might really need your help.

Oh, and if you're interested in finding an organization to donate to, feel free to check out Community Shares at:
http://www.communityshares.net/

Enjoy the day:)

Occasionally I'll be asked where I come up with ideas for my fiction. One place that's always good is the newspaper, and what I read today is so good I have to share. And let me add - I am not making this stuff up. Okay, so here's the gist of it. It seems that Youngstown, Ohio has been experiencing numerous earthquakes lately, topped off by one registering 4.0 on the richter scale yesterday. According to the experts, these earthquakes are a result of truly gargantuan amounts of waste fluid from fracking being forced deep underground. For those of you unfamiliar with fracking, it's a process in which natural gas is forced out of shale deposits by pumping vast quantities of fluid underground and literally forcing the gas to the surface. There has been a vigorous debate about the safety of fracking due to numerous incidents of groundwater contamination. This contamination has resulted in people being able to turn on their faucet and light their water on fire. With the addition of earthquakes now being added to the dangers of fracking, I think there's a great opportunity to write a sci-fi, environmental thriller here, something along the lines of a story Michael Chrichton would write if he were still alive. The only problem is, I'm not talented enough to write something this outlandish and make it seem real, even though it's the God's honest truth.

Huh, who woulda thunk it? I epublished a couple books at Smashwords about a week ago and sold my first ebook! Now I can buy a pack of gum! Ha! No really, I'm very impressed that this ebook thing actually works. I'm not too sure how long it will take, or if I'll even be accepted in the premium catalog, which is where the ebooks get distributed to the major eretailers, but it's a lot of fun watching and learning about the process. I promise not to report on every little thing that happens, but I thought my first sale was a big enough event to report.

Happy New Year!