Well, I’m happy to say that another small press publisher has stepped up to the plate!

A trade paperback omnibus edition containing all three books under one cover will be available before the end of the year.  In fact, I’ve already seen the finished cover art, which I think is gorgeous.  This is going to be a nice looking book.

Even better, we’re doing our best to keep it affordable.  Right now we’re looking at a price of about $29.95, which means you get all three Templar Chronicles novels – The Heretic, A Scream of Angels, and A Tear in the Sky – for about the same price as a typical hardcover.  That’s not a bad deal!

I’ll be posting more information as I’m at liberty to do so.

Developed by Tom Peck of AppEngines, the app comes complete with a built-in reader that has some cool features including:

• Full color cover art
• Complete text of the book.
• Full text search with search words highlighted in the text.
• A Table of Contents allowing the reader to jump to any chapter in the book.
• Ability to adjust the font size for optimal viewing.
• Remembers the page you were on and returns instantly each time you run the app.
• Progress bar across the top.

Tom did a terrific job on the app and it has been great working with him – he made the entire process extremely smooth. He’ll also be producing apps for the other books in the trilogy and those will be announced here as soon as Apple approves them for the app store.

Here’s a screenshot of what the actual app looks like once you’ve got it up and running:

Nice. huh?

Head on over to iTunes and get your app today!

As a big proponent of digital media and the ability it gives authors to expand their reader base, I wanted to do something special to help celebrate “Read an E-Book Week” that runs from March 7th through March 13th. I’ve been planning a digital launch for the English language editions of the Templar Chronicles books for some time now and what better time to do it than during “Read an E-Book Week”?

So, starting today, and continuing throughout the week, I’ll be making the three books in the Templar Chronicles trilogy – The Heretic, A Scream of Angels, and A Tear in the Sky – available in a variety of formats through Smashwords at a discount price (25% off). After that, the books will be available at various online distributors, including right here at this website in the new Digital Store, at the usual rate.

THE HERETIC: Book One of the Templar Chronicles

Centuries after the Knights Templar were presumed destroyed at the hands of King Phillip and Pope Clement V, the Order resurfaces as a secret military arm of the Vatican, charged with defending mankind from supernatural threats and enemies.

Of the Orders’ enemies, the greatest are the Fallen, supernatural beings that claim to be fallen angels and are devoted to wreaking havoc on earth. It is contact with one of the Fallen that led to Knight Commander Cade Williams becoming a Templar.

When a cabal of necromancers tries to claims the legendary powers of an ancient holy relic for their own ungodly purposes, it will be up to Cade and his famed Echo Team to stop them before it is too late.

Praise for The Heretic:

“First-rate, stylish work from Mr. Nassise, with a steady escalation of the story’s speed that makes it almost literally breath-taking.” — Clive Barker

“With HERETIC, Joseph Nassise kicks off his TEMPLAR CHRONICLES in fine, swaggering style. This book bobs and weaves like the young Muhammed Ali, keeping us off-guard and entertained with its every surprising move.” — Peter Straub

Visit Smashwords to read a sample or purchase your copy today!

Available formats: Kindle, ePub, PDF, RTF, LRF, Palm, and Plain Text

(Use coupon code RAE25 at check out to save 25% off the price of the book)

Book Two, A Scream of Angels, will be available tomorrow and book three, A Tear in the Sky, will be available on Wednesday, so come on back and check out the rest of the series!

Blackbetty Mobilemedia, in conjunction with telecommunications giant Vodafone, will be publishing a small screen edition of all three volumes specifically designed to be read on your mobile phone. Featuring high quality fonts, easy-to-use navigation controls, high resolution graphical cover art, and a host of interactive features, this edition of the Templar Chronicles will be the best yet!

All three volumes – HERETIC, A SCREAM OF ANGELS, and A TEAR IN THE SKY – will be available December 1st in both English and German language editions. Translations for fans in Saudi Arabia, India, Finland, and South Africa will follow shortly thereafter, most likely by the end of the first quarter of 2010. European fans will be able to download them directly from Vodafone’s customer portal, Vodafone Live. US fans will be able to get them in a similar fashion, though I’m not yet at liberty to say who the US distribution partner is, though its a name you’ll all be familiar with when you hear it.

More details will be available soon, including sample downloads and new cover art for all three books in the series!

* Hardcover binding
* Full Color Dustjacket
* 4 Full page B&W illustrations
* Signature page
* Decorative endpapers

There will be 500 copies available.  You can preorder the limited edition at this link

Each lettered edition will feature:

• Full Leather Bindings
• Satin Ribbon Page Markers
• Full Color Frontis Piece
• Full Color Dustjacket
• Leather, Velvet Lined Traycase Extra Artwork Not Found In The Limited Edition
• Special Signature Page Artwork Not In The Limited Edition
• Special Endpaper Artwork or Decorative Endpapers

There are only 52 lettered editions available (A-Z and AA-ZZ. )You can preorder the lettered edition at this link.

As I’ve mentioned before, strong sales on HERETIC will ensure that A SCREAM OF ANGELS and A TEAR IN THE SKY will follow.  To make things even easier, Full Moon has graciously included HERETIC in their “preorder any book for $5.00″ offer, which you can find here.

Support the Chronicles and preorder your copies today!

Word is that Don Paresi is one of the potential artists for the trilogy and I’m very happy to hear it.  Don has done some excellent work on my friend Dave Wilson’s limited editions and I know he’ll bring a terrific look to the Chronicles.  If you aren’t familiar with Don, here’s a sample of his black-n-white artwork.  This one is entitled Pandemonia and trust me, this low-res image doesn’t do it justice…

I can’t wait to see Don’s take on some of the scenes from HERETIC – like where Knight Commander Williams and Sergeant Duncan find themselves in the Beyond, facing off against a swarm of hungry spectres!

I will post the preorder link right here as soon as I have it.

*If you aren’t familiar with this process, let me explain.  Specialty press books like these are all printed in limited numbers to enhance their collectibility and make them more valuable over time.  With only 500 copies of the three books in the series to be published, you might want to take advantage of the preorders in order to ensure that you get a copy.  Preorders are usually taken while the book is still being developed and printed, so understand that it will take several months (sometimes 6 or more) before the book is actually released and shipped to you.  However, by preording, you can be assured of not missing out on a title that gets snatched up quickly once the announcement is made that it is actually available.

They had gotten here too late.

Keeping one arm around his teammate’s body, Cade leaned around the back of the pole and cut through the cords that bound the body to it with his knife.  With its support suddenly released, Bishop’s corpse slumped against him.   Cade gently eased Bishop onto his back on the floor.

Just to be certain, Cade leaned in close and listened for a heartbeat.

Only silence was returned.

Cade raised his head and looked down at his teammates dead face, burning it into his memory, another victim he would now have to avenge.

Bishop’s eyes suddenly popped open.

His gaze met Cade’s confused one and a wicked grin scurried across his lips.

“Sorry, boss,” he said, without a touch of remorse, and his hand whipped around toward his former leader, a razor sharp set of talons extending from his fingertips and seeking Cade’s face.

At that exact moment, most likely the result of some undisclosed prearranged signal, the rafters suddenly vomited a scurrying, seething horde of ravenous creatures that descended the walls with spider-like grace and came rushing across the warehouse floor toward Olsen and Riley.

“It’s a trap!” Cade yelled, throwing himself away from Bishop and out of reach of those deadly claws.

His warning was unnecessary, however, for Olsen had already caught sight of the swarming horde.  Without hesitation the Templar opened fire with his MP 5, pouring 800 rounds per minute into his foes.  Riley followed suit, his combat Mossberg booming in the echoing confines of the warehouse in sharp contrast to the buzz of Olsen’ weapon.

Cade rolled away from his opponent and came up in a crouch, his pistol held securely in his right hand.  He could see that Bishop had already risen to his feet and was snarling in rage at having missed his target.

As his enemy came charging toward him, Cade triggered his Sight.

In the Beyond, the warehouse was a darker, more ominous place, full of the shadows of pain and suffering caused by the slave-driving mentality of its owners.  Here, the true nature of the team’s attackers also revealed themselves, as their thirst for the team’s life force was an almost physical presence pulsing out from them in waves of need and desire.

There was no mistaking the fact that the warehouse was full of very hungry Ch’iang shih.

Nor was there any doubt as to what had happened to Bishop.

Cade calmly noted his former teammates altered condition – his savage hunger, his unholy rage, and his dual existence in both the real world and in the Beyond  – and then he was out of time.  As his formed teammate rushed in to savage him, Cade fired point blank into the man’s face.

Bishop went down, hard, with a bullet hole just beneath his right eye.

In the fifteen seconds it had taken Cade to dispense with Bishop, Olsen and Riley had littered the warehouse floor with vamp bodies.  The staccato stutter of Olsen’ weapon was interspersed with the booming tones of Riley’, but still more of the creatures swarmed off the rafters high above and charged toward them.  Worse yet, many of those who had gone down were now starting to get back up.

While Bram Stokers’ fictitious creations had access to regenerative powers, the Chaing ‘shih did not.  Yet such powers were not really necessary, for their bodies were really nothing more than animated corpses give new life by the hunger and desire of their souls.  As such, bullets, even high powered ones from a weapon like Olsen’ MP5, did little to actually stop them.  Those Chaing ‘shih who had gone down under the Templars’ onslaught did so more from the sheer velocity of the striking ammunition than from any physical harm the bullet might have caused them.  A bullet hole to the chest was of little concern for an undead creature and was nothing more than a few moments worth of inconvenience as they were knocked off their feet.

Cade quickly took in the situation.  “Go for their legs, ” he yelled to the others.  When it appeared they did not hear him, he stepped up between them and directed his own fire at the legs of his opponents.  It only took a moment before his companions caught on to what he was doing and followed suit.

The warehouse was filled with a cacophony of sound; the bark of Cade’s handgun, the booming sound of Billing’s shotgun, the shrieks and wails of the Chaing ‘shih as they were cut down in mid-step by the precision shots of the knights.  Conversation between Cade and his men was next to hopeless.  It was only the steady training and discipline that Cade enforced on his team that allowed them to operate as a cohesive unit even in the face of such an overwhelming assault.  As one man’s weapon would run dry, the others would step up their volume of firepower, allowing him to reload and rejoin the fray.

Soon, however, their supply of ammunition began to dwindle and then disappeared altogether.

As one, the knights dropped their weapons and drew their swords.  The vamps closed in, anticipating an easier time of things now, only to discover that the knights’ still had plenty of bite left to them.

In the face of the savagery of the knights’ defense, the vamps retreated to the darkness among the machinery in the far corner of the warehouse.  Those wounded that could walk followed suit, while still others, unable to walk due to shattered legs and kneecaps, used their arms to drag themselves along the floor in pursuit.

The three knights took a moment to catch their breath.