And no, I don’t mean to suggest that we should set the universe’s most loathsome, despised, and generally ill-favored hit-bug for hire free from the perpetual torment he suffers in the nether-realm of nothingness—that would be too hideous to even consider (I shivered just then…really). I mean PeeDee3 is free. No, I mean I’ve set PeeDee3 free. No, wait, what I really mean is that I’ve set the going rate for all the PeeDee3, season one stories to an astoundingly low, low retail cost of absolutely free. That’s right, a big, fat, whopping zero dollars for all the fun, hilarity ensuing violence you’ve come to expect from the galaxy’s most lethal insectoid assassin.

By the way, the entire first season of Jazz, Monster Collector is free as well, but more on that next month.

So this is great, right? Free is like…the best price ever. But free also means that I, the hard working author, receive no compensation for all my efforts. That’s not so great, for me anyway. So does this mean PeeDee3 is failing, and headed for early cancellation?

Actually I’m very pleased with PeeDee3’s sales thus far (even though January’s numbers were a bit flat, February saw a nice improvement and April improved again). There are several reasons why I’m making so drastic, dare I say bold, a maneuver as giving the stories away for free (and, as you may suspect, there is a diabolical plan hatching in my kooky cranium). So no, no, a thousand times no, PeeDee3 is not being canceled. I have three season’s worth of stories outlined, and three seasons is what I shall deliver, at the very least.

The ebook market is in a state of something near to constant change. And, with the superstar success of independent authors the likes of John Locke, the price point for electronic books have steadily fallen. My short, sterilized fiction, averaging around 3,500 words a story, turns out to be pretty expensive at $0.99 cents a story when you can get a 60,000 plus word novel at the same price. And, with the cost of broadband, credit card processing, and distribution, $0.99 is about the lowest a lonely author can charge per transaction and still earn a couple quid.

So, it turned out that, by current market standards, I had been charging too much for the stories, and that I couldn’t afford to charge any less, so I needed a new system. One idea I had was to set up a subscription type payment system where you, the beloved reader, would pay an upfront subscription fee of say, $1.99, and then, each and every month, you’d come home, open your email, and surprise, surprise, find the latest episode of PeeDee3 waiting for you. Since there are eleven stories per season that would come out to a low, low cost of $0.18 per story—a great bargain I’d say. Only this season’s already over halfway over.

I could cut the price for the rest of the season to $0.99, but that would have been confusing, as what would I do for the kind, bug fans who’d already purchased eight stories at $0.99?

The best answer I came up with was to make the entire season free.

Now, to you, beloved reader, I first want to thank you for your greatly appreciated support, it truly means more to me that I could properly convey, but I’m going to give it a shot. Hang with me here as I delve into the diabolical plot, wringing my hands, hopping my uni-brow, and laughing manically.

In May I’ll be wrapping up PeeDee3, Season One, PeeDee3 is Dead. Then, in June, I’ll be releasing, PeeDee3 is Dead: The Complete First Season, which will be available in two versions. The electronic version will include a brand new novella-length story, Dead like PeeDee3, and a short, author’s commentary on the making of PeeDee3. There will also be a trade paperback version, which will include the novella and the commentary, but will also have an exclusive short story, Worst of Batch, which I find hysterical (of course, as my wife constantly reminds me, I am very silly). The books will be $1.99 and $5.99 respectively.

I’ve added a super simple, two line form to my website (the polyester, blue box-eyes left) that enables you (in about thirty seconds) to join my uber-free, members only news group, Club Sheen Frsico! If you haven’t yet, please sign up. I promise not to dump loads of junk into your inbox. I know that you’re busy, so I will only come to you when I have something to offer; something good meaning really big news, a great coupon, a first look, or something exclusive. There’s also going to be exclusive content, a Facebook group, and merch available, so join in.

For more information visit the club page by clicking the image above, or HERE.

For those of you (I know who you are…thank you very much) who’ve been purchasing the stories all along, as a great big thank you, I’m going to send you a couple of fantastic coupons for these new PeeDee3 collections.

Go on, say it, “RyFT, you diabolical fiend.”