Hello, all! I’m Don Allmon and this week I’ll be touring the web to promote my new book, APOCALYPSE ALLEY, the second in the Blue Unicorn series.

If you’re looking for fast-paced cyberpunk/fantasy romance – Terminator 2 meets Fury Road with two sexy guys and a dragon – this is your jam.

Join in the fun by leaving a comment which enters you to win a Riptide gift card!

Scrivener Says I Cuss a Lot

[Warning: Much harsh language follows]

No one will ever confuse my books for sweet romance. Even sex aside, I cuss a lot. Or so Scrivener (the word processing program I write in) tells me.

Scrivener has a word frequency function that’s kind of fun to look at. It lists every unique word in the story and how often I use it.

At the top of the chart are all the usual suspects, and isn’t very interesting: words like “the” (2481 instances) “and” (2198), and “a” (1066).

It’s more useful when you look at the words at the bottom of the list where you find words like “writhe” (1 instance), “achronistically” (1), “havoc” (2), and “savvy” (1). These are all words that kind of stick out for being rare or particularly powerful, so I don’t want there to be more than one or two instances.

And then there’s the stuff I double check because it’s fun. Like the sexy stuff:

• Cock: 32
• Dick: 4
• Nuts: 7
• Lick: 6
• Suck: 11 (including variations)
• Jizz: 3 (I am unreasonably fond of this word)
• Spurting: 1 (I also love this word, too much so, which is why it’s only there once.)
• Horny: 1
• Kiss: 23
• Hug: 0 (Apparently my characters never “hug.” They “hold each other.”)

And finally the cussing:

• Asshole: 9
• Hell: 19
• Variations of shit: 29
• Variations of damn: 53

And the grand prize winner: variations of fuck: 124!

About Apocalypse Alley

Home from a six-month assignment to war-torn East Asia, genetically engineered supersoldier Noah “Comet” Wu just wants to kick back, share a beer, and talk shit with his best friend, JT. But JT’s home has been shot up like a war zone, and his friend has gone missing.

Comet’s only lead is a smart-mouthed criminal he finds amid the mess. His name’s Buzz Howdy. He’s a con man and a hacker and deserves to be in jail. Or in handcuffs, at least. The only thing the two have in common is JT. Unless you count the steamy glances they’re sneaking at one another. They have those in common too. But that just makes Comet all the more wary.

Despite their mutual distrust, they’ll have to work together to rescue JT before a cyborg assassin gets to him first. Racing down a miserable stretch of road called Apocalypse Alley, they must dodge radioactive spiders, a killer Buick, and rampaging cannibals. They also try to dodge each other. That last bit doesn’t work out so well.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!
Amazon

About Blue Unicorn

JT is an orc on the way up. He’s got his own boutique robotics shop, high-end clientele, and deep-pocketed investors. He’s even mentoring an orc teen who reminds him a bit too much of himself back in the day.

Then Austin shows up, and the elf’s got the same hard body and silver tongue as he did two years ago when they used to be friends and might have been more. He’s also got a stolen car to bribe JT to saying yes to one last scheme: stealing the virtual intelligence called Blue Unicorn.

Soon JT’s up to his tusks in trouble, and it ain’t just zombies and Chinese triads threatening to tear his new life apart. Austin wants a second chance with JT—this time as more than just a friend—and even the Blue Unicorn is trying to play matchmaker.

Check out the Blue Unicorn universe!

About Don Allmon

In his night job, Don Allmon writes science fiction, fantasy, and romance. In his day job, he’s an IT drone. He holds a master of arts in English literature from the University of Kansas and wrote his thesis on the influence of royal hunting culture on medieval werewolf stories. He’s a fan of role-playing games, both video and tabletop. He has lived all over from New York to San Francisco, but currently lives on the prairies of Kansas with many animals.

Connect with Don:

• Website: www.donallmon.com
• Twitter: @dallmon
• Pinterest

To celebrate the release of Apocalypse Alley, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on February 24, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!