Researching for Hell Holes 3: To Hell and Back

Writing Hell Holes 3: To Hell and Back, which involves taking a nuclear bomb to the Demon home world to destroy the portal complex being used to invade Earth. Spent the last couple of nights researching on the Internet. I have decided on what bomb to use (B61-Mod12), what yield to use (5 kilotons), how to turn it into a man-portable "suitcase" bomb, what the bomb's pre-flight controller (computer) looks like, and how to modify/reprogram it so that it can work as a timed bomb. Very interesting stuff; it's amazing what you can find on the Internet. Think I'm probably going to have that part of the book reviewed to ensure I didn't accidentally include any classified information (just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's not classified). Still, realism rocks when writing apocalyptic science fiction!

Goodreads Giveaway of 2 autographed copies of Hell Holes: What Lurks Below

As part of my promotion of the June 1st publication of Hell Holes (Book 2): Demons on the Dalton, I have started a Goodreads giveaway of 2 paperback copies of the first book in the series, Hell Holes: What Lurks Below. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28425525-hell-holes

Until Jun1 1st, ebook versions of the first book will be free if downloaded from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/608355

FREE AUTOGRAPHED BOOK CONTEST!

Please join my Thunderclap Internet flash mob promoting and celebrating the June 1st publication of Hell Holes (Book 2): Demons on the Dalton. Please click on https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/39724-hh-demons-on-the-dalton and then select Facebook, Twitter, and/or Tumblr. (You may have to scroll down a ways on a tablet or smart phone.) That's all you have to do. I have a little less than a month to get 95 more people to join my flash mob. So please join with me and also share this post. If I get the required 100 people to join, I will give an autographed copy of the book to 5 of the people who sign up.

I have my author website up and running. That is where I am now posting all my blog entries. I will keep this Facebook Author page for a while, but you should consider switching to http://donaldfiresmith.com

Write a review and get book 2 free.

Just a reminder that my book Hell Holes: What Lurks Below can still be downloaded free from Smashwords for then next four days. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/608355 Anyone who posts a book review can receive a free early download of the second book, Hell Holes: Demons on the Dalton when it is published in the next 3-4 months. Just send me a link to your review, and you'll be one of the first to find out what happens after the cliff hanger at the end of book one.

New Official Author Website

I have just started an official author website. I still have lots of content to add and work on the look and feel, but it is where you should go to get the latest information on my writing.
http://donaldfiresmith.com

Book Spotlight on A.F. Stewart's Blog: Are you Afraid of the Dark?

Fantasy and Horror author AF Stewart just posted a book spotlight on my book Hell Holes: What Lurks Below. Please check out her blog.

http://afstewartblog.blogspot.ca/2016/02/book-spotlight-hell-holes-what-lurks.html

Started my Second Hell Hole Book

Started working on my second Hell Holes book. This one is going to be a full novel rather than a novella and will begin at the first book's ending cliffhanger. I have their escape route researched all the way to Fairbanks and I've largely decided what happens where along the way. I finally started writing a couple of evenings ago, and I'm up to page 11 so far. Hope to write another ten pages this weekend.

For those of you who haven't entered the Amazon.com drawing to win a free copy of the first book, the deadline is midnight tonight Pacific Daylight Time. https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/c11353ecb65cd0bc

Magical Wands - A Cornucopia of Wand Lore

My first fiction book, Magical Wands - A Cornucopia of Wand Lore, and is available in both paperback and Kindle eBook. I have always loved reading fantasy books, and when I saw the first Harry Potter movie when Harry and Hagrid enter Diagon Alley and buy his text books, I thought that would be so cool and thought that it would be great to read the textbooks.  About a year ago, I decided to go ahead and write one.  Not for Hogwarts but for The Isles of Skye School of Magick. I invented a back story to explain how the book was to published for us mundanes (muggles) to buy and read.  It sort of took on a life of its own and turned out about four times longer than I had planned.  Still, I think it came out pretty well, and it does have some things that you won't find in your typical New Age mystical magic book.  Enjoy.

New SEI Blog post on Using V Models for Testing

I just had an entry titled "Using V Models for Testing" posted on the SEI Blog; http://http://blog.sei.cmu.edu/post.cfm/using-v-models-testing-315

It is based on my book "Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls" that will be published December 20th by Addison-Wesley as part of their SEI series. It is available for pre-order from Amazon at http://http://www.amazon.com/Common-Testing-Pitfalls-Prevent-Mitigate/dp/0133748553

Supplimental resource for my latest book

My most recent book, Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls, lists 92 commonly occurring pitfalls organized into 14 different categories. With so many testing pitfalls, this taxonomy of testing pitfalls is quite comprehensive. However in spite of its size, it is also quite likely that addition pitfalls and even missing categories of pitfalls will be identified over time as testers read this book and compare it to their personal experiences. Because additions to books only appear in future editions every few years, I have decided to provide a web page where you can read about major additions and modifications to this taxonomy of pitfalls. Check out the Common Testing Pitfalls web page on my personal website: http://donald.firesmith.net/home/common-testing-pitfalls

Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls

I hope to finish adding my final changes to the manuscript for my next book this weekend and send it off to my copy editor tomorrow night.  It is currently scheduled for publication by Addison-Wesley as part of their SEI-series at the end of December. You can see the book and preorder it from Amazon.com at Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls.

Greetings

Welcome to my initial blog post. Although I have posted to other blogs such as the one at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), this is my first personal blog. I hope to be posting short entries every week or so on both technical and personal topics. If you have a topic you would like to have me post on, please let me know.