A JAMBEROO author will take visitors to Kiama Library into the cinematic, graphic world of dark urban fantasy/thriller next week.
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Alan Baxter will appear at the library to launch his new Alex Caine series.
The 44-year-old recently landed a publishing deal with Harper Voyager, the science-fiction and fantasy imprint of HarperCollins.
The series features a martial arts fighter discovering his uncanny fighting abilities are even more unreal than he knew.
The first three books of the Alex Caine series are titled Bound, Obsidian and Abduction.
Bound was released in print and e-book formats this year, while the latter two have been released as e-books, and will be issued in print next year.
Baxter balances his burgeoning writing career with teaching kung fu in Kiama.
His martial arts background inspired his new character.
"It's interesting, because I've got a few novels out in small press and stuff like that, and 50-something short stories published, and people kept telling me that I wrote really good fight scenes, which is understandable because I've been a fighter forever.
"So then I started running workshops, teaching writers how to write good fight scenes.
"Then I got to the point where I started thinking I should probably write a book, not just that has fights in it, but write a book with a character who is first and foremost a fighter."
Baxter said it was difficult to describe his "cinematic, graphic" writing style.
"There's a lot of horror to it, but it's not straight-up horror.
"There's a lot of darkness, and there's some scenes that are quite confronting, but on the whole it's more that contemporary urban/fantasy with dark edges."
He said he had been surprised by the response to the new books.
"I wondered if it would be more niche than it's turned out to be, but it's actually a surprising number of a wide variety of people who have really enjoyed it.
"A lot of people who have read it have said things like, 'this isn't normally the sort of thing I would pick up, but I really enjoyed it'."
Baxter said the advent of methods such as self-publishing created more avenues for aspiring writers, but securing a deal with a major publisher was "ridiculously hard".
"On the one hand publishing is becoming easier in that there's loads more small press, independent presses, there's new opportunities in digital.
"But that actual proper book deal, books on bookstore shelves, with a big five publisher is getting harder and harder because so many people are writing, and publishing is so risk averse."
The free event will take place at 6pm on Tuesday, November 18.
Book in now by calling 4233 1133.
Visit the warriorscribe.com website.