cerealnovel.com: Crime fiction, Vermont fiction by writer J. Kilburn
Crime and Coming-of-Age Fiction,
Police Procedurals and Family Drama by Vermont writer J. Kilburn
WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NOVELS BY J. KILBURN:
READERS' FAVORITE gives J. Kilburn's second novel BEFORE 5 stars!
"...the dialogue (in BEFORE) is probably among the top 1% in its sarcasm and authenticity... Nell Zink and the novel Nicotine come to mind.“...
- Jamie Michele for READERS FAVORITE, January 2022 - 5 stars!
SELF-PUBLISHING REVIEW gave Kilburn's first book 3.5 stars!
"...a brutally raw and riveting look at the inner workings of a fictional Canadian biker gang, Heaven’s Door by J. Kilburn comes in swinging and rarely stops...."
INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW featured BEFORE by J. Kilburn:
"...exceptional.... BEFORE nails the depiction of a small town.... Kilburn weaves this teenage story with threads of secrets.... the tension is thick."
- Manik Chaturmutha for INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW
IND'TALE MAGAZINE calls HEAVEN'S DOOR "heart-stopping!"
IND'TALE MAGAZINE gave this harrowing road trip 4 STARS! "A heart-stopping tale of good versus evil." (July/August 2020 Edition, review by Alison Ellis)
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW recommends BEFORE for library shelves:
"... especially and unreservedly recommended for community library General Fiction collections..." - Julie Summers for Midwest Book Review in May, 2022 Issue of MBR's Reviewer's Bookwatch
INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW compared Heaven's Door to SOA television show:
"In the same way Sons of Anarchy gives us an intimate look at characters who play by their own rules, J. Kilburn’s novel Heaven’s Door gets up close and personal with unpredictable and often dangerous people... the world here is rich and full of compelling characters...."
READERS SAY:
Authentic! "Author J. Kilburn, where did you do your time?!" (Ed, a local reader)
"A six-hour reading marathon... I couldn't put it down!" (Pam, a Beta Reader)
Vermont writer J. Kilburn's novels:
CLICK on BOOK IMAGE or SCROLL DOWN to learn more...
CLICK on ICONS for DIRECT LINKS
to books by J. Kilburn at Online Booksellers and Reviewers:
AVAILABLE in PAPERBACK!
Paperback Editions of books by J. Kilburn are printed by KDP and available at Amazon.
Paperback Editions of BEFORE are also available at select locations around Vermont, including:
at THE WARREN STORE in Warren, Vermont
at BEAR POND BOOKS in Montpelier, VT
More to come!
"Before will transport you to the complicated lives of small town teenagers. With a slow but tantalizing pace, this coming-of-age story is going to be tough to put down for fans of character-driven fiction." - Independent Book Review
"Nell Zink and the novel NICOTINE comes to mind." - Readers' Favorite
Books by J. Kilburn:
BEFORE, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
CLICK on the cover image to purchase BEFORE at Amazon.com (leaving cerealnovel.com website)
Independent Book Review says:
"...Exceptional...Excellent...Refreshing..."
and "BEFORE nails the depiction of a small town with its gossip and rumors."
- IBR Featured Review, June 2022
BEFORE by Vermont writer J. Kilburn takes your average teenagers, gives them family and community, and then plausibly and seamlessly drops them into international intrigue in a small New England college town. These teenagers go about their sweet and sordid adventures blissfully unaware of their role in larger and more complicated regional events. BEFORE is a Coming-of-Age story, but it's also a story about international Organized Crime and the role that small-town folks, your neighbors, your loved ones, and even the Honors Student next door might play in that dark and dangerous world.
Coming-of-Age / Crime Fiction - 500 pages - 2022
ISBN # 9780578379180 (Paperback)
ISBN # 9781005477080 (EPUB)
PUBLISHER’S CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION INFORMATION:
LCSH: Teenagers - Fiction | Parenting - Fiction | Organized Crime - Fiction | Career Development - Fiction | Moral Development - Fiction
BISAC: FICTION / Action & Adventure | FICTION / Coming of Age | FICTION / Crime
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
CLICK on the cover image to purchase Heaven's Door at Amazon.com (leaving cerealnovel.com website)
InD'tale Magazine calls HEAVEN'S DOOR, A NOVEL a "heart-stopping" tale of crime and suspense!
Two opposing and mutually-exclusive lives meet for just a moment at a time and in a place where one of them shouldn't be. The fallout of this moment leaves a woman on the run from Organized Crime, and takes readers on a frantic plunge into the dark streets and back alleys of a richly-described criminal underworld.
This riveting and disturbing biker fiction tale introduces the TOPDOGS Motorcycle Club, a fictional gang of modern-day outlaws who take us for a journey on the darker side of the road less traveled. Novelist J. Kilburn brings readers to the dark side of seedy streets in this international tale of adventure, terror, and crime set in Montreal.
Crime/Horror - 120 pages - 2020
ISBN # 978-0-578-32352-7 - paperback
ISBN# 978-0-578-67036-2 - EPUB
Coming soon:
HEAVEN'S DOOR, a Novel: SCROLL DOWN to learn more -
Coming soon:
No title or cover yet, but the next book is in editing. Stay tuned!
An undercover detective is hot on the trail of Montreal's biggest Organized Crime syndicate in J. Kilburn's next book! Return to Collegeville to resume coming-of-age adventures with Bruce, Brittany and Tabitha. A retired spy, a sitting governor and some law enforcement executives continue to assemble a secret anti-crime task force. Readers will also meet a new character: a state trooper with secrets of her own...
Advanced Reader Copies likely to go out sometime in 2024...
cerealnovel.com
What started as a short story became a book, and then a whole saga: stories about undercover policing and organized crime, but also about family, coming-of-age, romance and friendship. Each novel is independent of the others, but they all revolve around the same two communities: a small college town, and the Organized Crime underworld of a major port city. The cast of characters is common to each place - each character somehow has skin in the game in both places. The bright sunny streets found in one chapter mesh and turn with roiling dark edges that come in the next. That was hard to do, but important: We are not islands. We sometimes participate in both worlds, whether we know it or not. That the reader can be both disturbed and entertained by one of my books... that means I got it right. The novels are complex and full of surprises - just like life itself.
- J. KILBURN
Meet our cast of characters:
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet the Bad Guys!
"The world here is rich and full of interesting characters...."
- Independent Book Review
INTRODUCING the TOPDOGS MOTORCYCLE CLUB... fictional top-tier Outlaw Bikers who rule a city and play "the bad guys" in a series of books about heroes, victims, and undercover policing. This riveting and disturbing biker fiction tale introduces the TOPDOGS Motorcycle Club, a fictional gang of modern-day outlaws who take us for a journey on the darker side of the road less traveled. Strut on the sidewalks of Montreal with high-rolling underworld magnates while their minions flit in and out of back alleys in service of dark needs, big money, and ruthless territorial competition. Read about how the Quebec Chapter of the club got its start; how some fun-seeking motorcycle enthusiasts lost themselves to the seductive, yet dangerous world of gang violence and organized crime.
Meet the Good Guys in a sweet and thoughtful coming-of-age tale:
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet the Good Guys!
"Mr. Kilburn is a master at character development!"
- InD'tale Magazine
BEFORE is a fun and edgy novel that follows the adventures and misadventures of Just Regular Kids as they come of age in a pastoral and peaceful Vermont college town. Buckle your seatbelts - all may not be as it seems. Events in a far-away Organized Crime empire lurk in the background as these teenagers take their first steps into adulthood. Adventurous readers will discover that two Sweet Sixteens have a lot more in common with hardened criminals than you - or they - might realize. Surprises are in store for everyone! Writer J.Kilburn brings readers a sweet and whimsical coming-of-age adventure with roiling dark edges....
Meet Vermont writer J. Kilburn:
Meet the Bad Guys in this lurid, dark and daring plunge into crime!
Meet Vermont writer J. Kilburn:
Vermont writer J. Kilburn is the author of two novels and one feature-length newspaper article. Kilburn's narrative style has been compared to those of Joyce Carol Oates, Virginia Wolfe, D.H. Lawrence, Hunter S. Thompson, and Nell Zink. His subjects and almost cinematic descriptions of setting have earned his work comparison to movies and television shows like Sons of Anarchy, Tin Star and Twin Peaks.
Kilburn lives a quiet and private life on the shore of America's sixth Great Lake. He has lived and worked in Vermont, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Minnesota. During these travels, Kilburn has dabbled in law enforcement, private security, emergency medicine, truck driving, and horse-logging. Other occupations have included at-risk youth mentor, big-city process server, park ranger, and industrial wastewater treatment operator. Along the way, he's pedaled to 14,000 feet above sea-level in a major bicycle race, been marooned overnight on a deserted island, ridden a motorcycle from Chicago to Thunder Bay, and hiked Vermont's highest peaks to watch sunsets on both the longest and coldest days of the year. He currently maintains plastics processing machinery for a major manufacturing company.
When not at work he and his wife enjoy life around a little urban farm complete with greenhouse, garden, and mini-barn. Their current flock is composed of four chickens and a cat named Sierra Feral.
Member, League of Vermont Writers
www.cerealnovel.com - Northfield, Vermont, USA
Who is the "Cereal Girl" behind the cerealnovel.com trademark image?
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
Click on image to go to ParentUp.org for resources relating to parenting At-Risk teens. (Direct Link / Leaving cerealnovel.com website)
Is she a character? The intended audience? The young woman portrayed in the Imprint Trademark image represents the extended victims - those who forever wait for a missing or murdered law enforcement officer to walk back through the door.
The characters in the HEAVEN's DOOR series are fictional players on a stage where events are far too close to the real. We would all do well to remember the police officers, detectives, agents and others who face these horrors in our stead, in the sworn pursuit of the Rule of Law that we ourselves vote into existence. We citizens generally vote but once a year, if that. Those who protect and serve must then enforce the Will of the People and face the dangers that come with that charge on a daily basis. And yes... someone waits for each of them to safely return each and every day.
The young woman portrayed in the CEREALNOVEL Trademark image represents all those left behind who still wait for killed or missing law officers. These Loved Ones are victims, too, and frequently struggle with substance abuse issues and mental health challenges because of emotional and family trauma related to the empty chair at the dinner table. The cruel irony is that the very culture that took their parent, sibling, or friend often supplies the Substances of Abuse that many grieving and waiting also-victims will turn to in their own distress.
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
Click on image to go to Wikipedia to learn about Cerberus, the mythical three-headed dog who stands guard at the gates to Hell. (Direct Link / Leaving cerealnovel.com website)
INTRODUCING THE TOPDOGS MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF QUEBEC...
Inspired by the Quebec Biker Wars that occured in the 1990's, as well as events that occurred in New England and Upstate New York over the last 40 years, this riveting biker fiction introduces the TOPDOGS Motorcycle Club, a fictional gang of modern-day outlaws who take us for a journey on the darker side of the road less traveled.
My first novel is, first and foremost, the story of a man with two identities and two lives; member of a feared and revered Outlaw Motorcycle Club, and also an undercover law enforcement operative for a state-wide Organized Crime task force. One life unexpectedly intrudes on another and as a result both intertwined lives unexpectedly end on the side of a road in Vermont.
To credibly portray the events of this plot and bring you, the Reader, into the midst of this world without slandering real people or inviting violence into my own life, I needed a vehicle for the anti-heroes - a motive for them to exist and a common set of rules around which they and the Reader could orbit. Thus, the TOPDOGS MOTORCYCLE CLUB, Quebec Chapter was born.
Many thanks to the talented artist Ardelia Huntress, who sketched and then refined the TOPDOGS centerpatch. You've made my imaginary world - and the Bad Guys in it - come alive!
CEREALNOVEL.COM and the Publisher:
Need an Outlaw Motorcycle Club to serve as the "bad-guys"? Create one!
CEREALNOVEL.COM and the Publisher:
Fiction by Vermont writer J. Kilburn is published in Northfield, Vermont, USA by James K. Mossman III and promoted on the CEREALNOVEL.COM website.
Contact:
Novelist J. Kilburn's E-books are distributed by SMASHWORDS
Paperback Editions of books by J. Kilburn are printed and distributed by Amazon/KDP
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
The Author/Publisher retains all rights to the works. Interested in distribution?
Contact the author at:
Many thanks to the talented Illustrator Ardelia Huntress.
Thanks also to Smashwords and GoDaddy.com!
Writing a story, and then a book , and then publishing, then turning it all into a brand of books which I had to learn to market... well, it's been a long and winding road. But there's been a lot of fun and adventure along the way, for the author-publisher as well as for readers! And I've gotten a lot of help, for which I am grateful:
Like the website? Thank GODADDY! the GoDaddy Website Builder made creating this whole thing a snap - even for a first-timer!
Thanks to SMARTSIGN LLC for manufacturing that old-style, pre-DOT "winding road" sign, and for permission to reproduce a photo of the sign on the cover of one of my books!
Thanks to PIXABAY, a royalty-free photo-sharing website, and the photographers who make their own work available there... both the ARC and the Retail covers of BEFORE look awesome thanks to your photos!
Thanks to the Editorial Reviewers and their readers, who've provided insightful and important encouragement, feedback, and sometimes critical comment that is nevertheless helpful!