Thursday, February 9, 2017

Book Tour + #Giveaway: The Kramer and Shadow by Greg Smith @GregVSmith48 @SDSXXTours


The Pits
Kramer and Shadow Book 1
by Greg Smith
Genre: Crime Mystery, Action, Thriller

THE PITS, a contemporary crime novel, tells the story of Captain Kramer, USMC, a compassionate, intelligent man, who rescues a pup from the scene of a car bombing while on deployment to Afghanistan. The pup is named Shadow, and accompanies Kramer back to Oceanside, California. They commit themselves to a campaign which has them fighting for their lives during an FBI operation to bring down a crime boss based in Florida.




You Can Run
Kramer and Shadow Book 2

Captain Kramer, USMC, and his faithful four-footer partner, Sgt. Shadow, USMC, both survive their first operation assisting the FBI in bringing down the empire of a major crime boss in America. But more is in store for the two Marines in yet another FBI operation to tie up loose ends from the previous op. This time the action is more intense and proves too costly for the Marines. 



Lex Talionis (An Eye For an Eye)
Kramer and Shadow Book 3

A woman out for revenge. America took her husband. America will pay 10,000 fold!

Only Kramer and his Anatolian Shepherd, Shadow, stand in her way. But will they be enough to stop her?



THE PITS 
Excerpt 


CHAPTER 1 

  

The Humvees sped past people milling about, pointing at the smoke still towering over the town of Gereshk and jabbering loudly among themselves. Women and children huddled together here and there away from the road, and the elderly gaped at the armored convoy racing into hell. 

The town itself was quite built up but very poor and the sewage trails ran down the streets in open channels. Leathernecks would be covered in it when they finished their patrols. Kids ran around in it barefooted.  

The Humvees arrived at the town’s central marketplace and instantly found themselves mobbed by hysterical townsfolk. The Marines dismounted and immediately secured the area as the corpsman pushed his way through the tumult towards the blast site. Captain Kramer, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6 held his ground against the terrified and angry locals wailing in his face, some even tugging at his uniform for attention. 

He needed to assess the situation. Apart from his Humvees, no other vehicles occupied the square. His troops had rapidly secured the perimeter and a couple now assisted the corpsman. A gritty cloud of smoke and dust shrouded the entire area but drifted away over the rooftops, aided by a breeze that had mercifully sprung up. 

Sure enough, a car bomb. A huge scorched crater marked where the car had been parked outside a building. The remains of the vehicle lay in a smoldering, mangled heap halfway across the square with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians sifting through it. Rubble, pieces of metal, the dead, dying, and the injured lay strewn about the whole marketplace. Kramer’s boot bumped something as he stepped forward, and his eyes snapped to his feet. A bloody hand lay palm up. An innocent child’s hand. 

His demeanor hardened, and the mob fell back as if it sensed the deadliness building up inside the warrior. Reports flooded in to him as his troops called in with updates. Without hesitation, the radio tech who kept close by Captain Kramer as he prowled the devastated marketplace flashed the news to base headquarters. Among the townsfolk still milling about, a few local officials, including the police chief, worked with the Marines to clear the area of unnecessary personnel. 

Close by, a handful of weeping men loaded a civilian pickup truck with bodies, each wrapped in blood-soaked cloth. A group of distraught women mixed with them, wailing and grasping at each bundle being handled. Overwrought by their gruesome task, they were totally oblivious of the poor bewildered individual sitting quietly among their shuffling feet. 

A runty tan pup sat sorrowfully beside one particular body. Occasionally it raised a paw and tentatively touched the bloody cloth, or prodded it with its nose. Kramer observed transfixed as the pup peered at the people, then at the small bundle of cloth, then at the people again. Then the pup nuzzled the bundle as if trying to awaken the person wrapped inside. 

A grief-stricken man knelt and reverently lifted the tiny body. Judging by his age, he’s likely the father. As he stood, the pup whimpered as if to say, hey, wait a moment. The wailing increased as hands passed the body up to a blood-streaked villager standing in the back of the pickup. Just as he turned to place the bundle with the others, a gust of wind flipped up a corner of the cloth, revealing a tiny hand. Instinctively, Kramer felt that it belonged to a very young girl. 

With the last victim onboard, the pickup started up and pulled away. The men and women mourners followed close behind trying to comfort each other as best as they could. The procession gradually left the square, disappearing from view as a waiting throng swarmed after it as it passed into a nearby street. 

A strange silence fell over the square. It seemed as if the few remaining locals and all the Marines had their attention riveted on the lonely pup still sitting in the road. It hadn’t left that spot in all this time. Now it sat there staring after the pickup and those following it. 

Captain Kramer crossed the street and gently lifted the pup. An expression of pure unadulterated love met his eyes. A light sparkled behind those dark brown eyes that he couldn’t describe. He just felt it. 
“Well, hello there, little guy. Looks like everyone’s gone and left you all alone. Ain’t fair, is it? What say I do something about that.” 


The pup didn’t squirm or attempt to get away. It merely fixed its eyes on him as if it knew that this person would care for it, keep it safe, and maybe even feed it occasionally. As the six-foot-six Kramer cradled the puny creature in his arms, he was oblivious to the gazes directed his way from all around the square. 


The advent of retirement opened a whole new world to me and now that it has come to pass, I am turning my artistic bent from graphic design and illustration to that of writing.
To date I have published three books, KILLING SOFTLY (an erotic mystery thriller), and begun an action crime series centered on two characters, Captain Kramer, USMC and his Anatolian Shepherd dog, Sgt. Shadow, USMC. Book One of the series is THE PITS, Book Two is YOU CAN RUN, and at the time of this bibliography rewrite, I am working on Book Three, LEX TALIONIS.

The Kramer and Shadow series is an action, adventure, crime thriller series that encompasses the world and has our two Marines fighting hard against organized crime at many levels - but always involving do-or-die confrontations.

My hope is to establish a fan base for my writing so that my readers can have an active role in helping me grow and develop as an author in the years to come. I invite you to join me in this adventure.
























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