Please feed your independent author

The struggle of being any kind of small press writer, publisher or businessman is always the fight to get more eyes on the work. I have been publishing my own work for years now, but growing the audience has always been my greatest challenge.

First, thank you for following me or reading this blog. But if you enjoy my work, the biggest request I can make to you as a fan is to please head to Amazon and leave a review of my work. Every review helps bring more eyes to the work and every new eye helps makes it easier for me to sell books.

Don't get me wrong, selling books isn't the be all and end all of why I write. I can't imagine not sharing my creations with the world. But the more profitable my writing becomes, the more likely I can focus more of each day on the act of creation.

So please head over to my Amazon Author page, find my books you've read and give them a review.

Pulp Fiction Reviews takes on "Lightweight: Black Death"

It has been awhile since Ron Fortier over at Pulp Fiction Reviews took on Lightweight: Senior Year, but he's back this week with his review of the second volume in the series.

A consummate comic and short story writer himself, Ron heaps praise on the book which makes this writer nothing short of proud. Heck, I can never complain when anyone anywhere makes comments like “This is how superhero novels should be done all the time.”

Check out the full review here. If you're interested in reading the second book in the ongoing Lightweight series, it is available for purchase at Amazon.

Pulp Fiction Reviews takes on Lightweight: Senior Year

In advance of the arrival of Lightweight: Black Death, the always great Ron Fortier reviewed Lightweight: Senior Year for his Pulp Fiction Reviews blog. I am always glad to hear Ron's insights into fiction and this was no exception as he heaped some glowing praise on the book and my writing.

“Nick Ahlhelm has a keen awareness youthful awkwardness and insecurity. Kevin, Millie and Andy come across as believable teenagers all of us have met before. It is this juggling of life, school and hormones that make Kevin such a fun character.”

Thanks for the glowing praise, Ron, and here's hoping you enjoy Black Death just as much!

Pulpsploitation hits Pulp Fiction Reviews!

The always amazing writer and editor Ron Fortier recently took a look at Pulpsploitation for his reviews website!

He covers all five tales in the novel and raves about Gunmaster, The Black Bat, Tabu and E.A.G.L.E. as well, which makes me proud as an editor. But as a writer, I am always excited to see raves about my own work!

Ron gave a brief synopsis of the story on the site, then said that I am “a solid writer and he knows these golden age characters extremely well and we doubt seriously after reading through the obligatory “sex scene,” many of you will ever consider Davy Nelson a “boy” again.≵ That is great praise from a man with thirty years of writing experience behind him!

Read the full review of Pulpsploitation over at Pulp Fiction Reviews! Pick up Pulpsploitation at Amazon!

A little love for some 'Modern Gods'!

I am proud of the work by myself and the other writers on the Metahuman Press anthology Modern Gods. The book (and its sequel) came together beautifully. I loved the concept of taking classic mythology and bringing it into the modern day and the other contributors all put their own unique spin on it. Collected under a cover by contributor Teel James Glenn, it is one of my favorite anthology works I have edited.

It looks like the reviewer Kip on Amazon agreed with me. He said about the book:

If you are looking for something different, fun and creative, Modern Gods is for you. The cover of the book really caught my attention and I thought, "Hmmm, this could be a cool read." I was right. Certainly one of the most creative books I've read in a while. I felt as if I were in each story myself while reading along. My favorite story in the book was "Ice Beauty," but I will definitely be looking for more work from each author.

Give Modern Gods a try. I think you'll enjoy it.

Strong praise indeed, Kip. Bonnie Sterling’s “Ice Beauty” truly is a winner, but the work by myself, Viktor Kowalski and the always epic Teel James Glenn are equally stupendous. If you haven’t already checked it out, give Modern Gods a try at Amazon.

Praise for "Lightweight: Senior Year"!

The collected edition of the first five chapters of Lightweight has proven to be the best selling book in my writing career and now it is finally starting to see some reviews on Amazon.com. Now sitting at two reviews on the site, M. Robare was kind enough to give the tale some glowing praise.

About the book, he said, “Loved it...I want more! I'm not sure if the other Lightweight entries available are prose or graphic, but let me be clear: I'd love more prose novels!”.

Well, M., the books are all prose in nature and they will continue for some time to come! The sixth through tenth chapters are now available in individual editions while a collected edition, Lightweight: Black Death, should be out in March!

I am glad you enjoyed it!

If you have reviewed one of my works, feel free to shoot me a line in the comments or by emailing nick {at} superpoweredfiction {dot} com.

Praise for my Armless O'Neil tale!

My tale for the Armless O’Neil anthology Blood-Price of the Missionary's Gold was one of my favorites of the Pulp Obscura line. O’Neil is just such an odd character, he almost breeds fascinating stories. I put him through the paces in “The Palladium” in a story that features a whole bunch of trouble for the one-handed adventurer.

The always awesome reviewer Raven gave some glowing praise for my tale (as well as several others in the anthology) saying, “Ahlhelm does a wonderful job of keeping the action fast paced, the mystery subtle, and the solution to it all a fitting wrap-up. I give him five out of five stars for his originality!”. That is generous praise indeed! Thank you, sir.

Of course, my tale isn’t alone. The anthology is filled with some great pulp tales of a truly unique character well worth checking out. The book is now available from Amazon or through special order at many other retailers.

Green Lama gets reviewed!

I am quite proud of my work on the Airship 27 anthology Green Lama: Mystic Warrior. Ron Fortier and his team assembled a great book featuring a combination of old and new stories. Now a couple awesome folks have written some great reviews of the book over at Amazon.

Reviewer Stephen A. Bennett gave the first compliment to the book, as he praised the reprinted stories of Kevin Noel Olsen and W. Peter Miller. About Robert Craig and my own story he said we were “both continuing the excellence I’ve come to expect from Airship 27”.

His fellow reviewer Raven (not sure if this is the Teen Titan or not, but I would like to think so) went into even more detail in his praise. After a description of my tale Menace of the Black Ring, he says about it, “From old warehouses and back alleys to the den of giant Komodo Dragons, the Lama and his companions battle the evil Black Ring. The reveal here is so wonderful that I dare not even hint lest I spoil your reading. Suffice to say, Mr. Ahlhelm has created a perfect five stars out of five tale to make the pickiest Green Lama aficionado drool! Bravo!”.

Thanks Stephen and Raven! Here’s hoping you check out Lightweight: Senior Year and some of the otehr great work I have now available on Amazon.

SuperheroNovels.com reviews "Lightweight: Dreams"!

The great blog Superhero Novels is one of the best resources for information on new super powered fiction and they were kind enough to include “Dreams”, the first story in the Lightweight cycle in a recent review round-up.

I can tell you he gives it a glowing review, but head over to the Superhero Novels site to read it all, plus reviews of several other great novels!