There is a darkness far worse than the night.
Bumper City
Detective Alton Cold Mystery Series Book 1
by Alan McGill
Genre: Futuristic Mystery Thriller
In the future, Las Vegas is nearly destroyed. Rebuilt under a dark cloud that blocks all sunlight, Sin City takes on a whole new meaning.
Beneath the neon, The
Pagliacci Serial Killers are on the loose and a new drug called
“Colors”, infused with nanotechnology, is killing thousands.
Violence erupts as the mutant population take to the streets to
protest working conditions and the disappearance of their loved
ones.
Big Tech, the wealthy elite, and corrupt politicians
attempt to cover it up. They can’t allow anything to interfere with
the elections, profits, or their plans.
Can hard-nosed detective
Alton Cold and his A.I. car Bessimer catch the killers, stop the
cabal, and expose the truth? Or will the appearance of a mysterious
woman cloud his judgement as the unnatural cloud darkens the sky?
To
save the people he cares about, he’ll put everything on the line to
confront a darkness far worse than the night.
Audible * Amazon ebook * Bookbub * Goodreads
Alan McGill is an American author who lives in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a clowder of cats. Alan was close to his grandparents who grew up in the Great Depression. They were married young and remained together until his grandmother’s passing. His grandfather served in the Navy during WWII and was a gifted storyteller who weaved humorous tales about tough events. Alan grew up with these stories of right and wrong along with watching fictional heroes such as The Lone Ranger, Adam West’s Batman and Captain America. Heroes who stood up to bullies and protected those who could not protect themselves. This made an impression on the author to always do what was right in his own life and shaped his love for storytelling. He is a multi-genre author with his debut novel being A Cry in the Moon’s Light which is a horror romance and mystery series. As with all his books, one of the primary themes involves characters who strive to do the right thing regardless of the adversity they face. The second theme present in all his books is love. A pure and deep love that defeats all evil.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
GUEST POST
WHAT GOES INTO MAKING AN AUDIOBOOK?
I self-publish and self-produce my audiobooks, so I’m doing everything. I upgraded my equipment and
now have a closet converted into a sound booth.
First, I record the narration of each chapter. This includes going into the various characters as they come
along in the story. (I will often practice the voice and develop a personality for each different character) I
try to make each sound different.
Using the raw recording, I edit out the worst lines, mistakes, etc. Then I run the recording through a filter
to take out mouth noises, clicks, pops, and any distractions.
After I’ve got the dialogue and narration I want, the recording is sent to a sound engineer to clean it
further and make it crisper.
Once I get back a good audio recording, I add the sound FX and musical score.
Lastly, I make sure the entire mix will pass ACX standards. They are the toughest and if it meets those, I
am good to go.
After all chapters are recorded, I then record an opening, ending and other files needed for the audiobook.
I have my cover artist create an audiobook cover matching my novel. Then everything is ready to publish.
It’s quite a production and takes a good bit of time. Now I understand why producers want the credit for
their work.
How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?
My original version was somewhat different, but let’s go with the re-write on this one. As I said,
Alton is loosely based on me. Mara Torres is based on my first true love. And much of what Alton
remembers about her happened to me, but not all. It would be more accurate to say inspired by
some true events with a little writer’s license.
Penny is a combination of a couple of different women. Her loyalty to Alton, willing to help him is
inspired by Effy in the Maltese Falcon. Her politics and attitude are inspired by a political
committeewoman I once knew. There are splashes of others I’ve met along the way too.
Twilas Burke was inspired by the Tech Giants of our time. If you combined Steve Jobs, Elon
Musk, Bill Gates, and some others, you’d have Twilas.
Bessimer is inspired by KITT from Knight Rider. I always thought it would be cool to have a
talking car. Every private detective show I ever watched, had a cool car. Magnum had the
Ferrari, Rockford had the Pontiac Firebird they all had great cars.
Where did you come up with the names in the story?
No real thought process here other than Alton Cold. I always loved the legend of the Smiling
Man, Indrid Cold. But I didn’t want that character name, so I decided Alton had a nice ring to it.
Bumper City was a play on words for the overall story. It’s the nickname for New Vegas. But
nobody really knows which story is correct, and I may tell it someday, but not today.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I loved the movement between light and dark. Not just the environment of the city being in total
darkness while the rest of the world that surrounds it is light, but the characters dealing with their
own inner darkness.
Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
Alton is completely driven by a sense of justice or fairness. Twilas has yet to reveal why he’s
doing what he’s doing, but it’s coming. Mara, well, you have to read it so I don’t give any spoilers
away.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon giftcard – 1 winner
audiobook of Bumper City - 20 winners!
