The Books
MEMOIRS OF A GYM RAT
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, October 4, 2013
Max Hawthorne’s raunchy, revealing memoir is certain to induce bouts of calorie-burning laughter, embarrassed grins, and re-considerations of one’s gym membership. A smutty and enjoyable exposé of life behind health club doors, MEMOIRS OF A GYM RAT is both a scandalizing and edifying read.
In the no-holds-barred pages of his memoir, Hawthorne shares many grisly revelations. Trading between sketches of the characters he worked with and for and glaring disclaimers for those who might be inclined to trust that their memberships will be as advertised, Hawthorne takes on the health industry and strips away any illusions of glamour.
For the trainer, dreams of transforming lives are quickly shattered by the realities of quotas and cash. But monetary drawbacks are balanced with an overabundance of sex. According to Hawthorne, personal trainers are the people second most likely to have affairs, a warning fleshed out with jaw-dropping accounts of sexual favors and exploitations, memories of philandering, and cautions about transmittable nasties. Such sections are cringe-worthy in direct proportion to their salacious honesty.
For gym members current and prospective, Hawthorne lays bare the truth that gyms care about the heft of a person’s wallet, not the reduction of his body mass index. Using his own development from floor assistant to personal trainer to greedy salesperson as a guide, he coaches his readership on how to be wily when considering contracts and training schedules. In the role of coach, Hawthorne’s professionalism emerges, resulting in advice that may prove invaluable.
-Foreword Reviews
KRONOS RISING®
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, April 6, 2014
From Amazon bestselling author Max Hawthorne comes the book that breathed new life into the marine terror genre. Prehistoric Times magazine’s Book of the Year . . . KRONOS RISING.
Devastated by his wife’s tragic drowning, Olympic hopeful Jake Braddock turns his back on fame and fortune and retreats to his childhood home of Paradise Cove, Florida. He accepts the job of town sheriff, hoping to find the solace he so desperately craves.
He finds anything but.
A series of horrifying deaths and disappearances send a flood of panic through the idyllic town. It is only after the ravaged carcass of a full-grown whale surfaces, however, that the real terror begins.
Soon Jake finds himself drawn into an ancient mystery – a mystery that ends with him adrift at sea, battling for survival against the deadliest predator the world has ever seen. It is a creature whose ancestors ruled the prehistoric seas. Now freed after eons of imprisonment, it has risen to reclaim the oceans of the world as its own.
And it’s hungry.
KRONOS RISING® – KRAKEN (VOL. 1)
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, April 24, 2016
Following in the bloody swash of KRONOS RISING, comes Max Hawthorne’s terrifying 2016 Book of the Year & People’s Choice Award winner . . . KRONOS RISING: KRAKEN (vol. 1).
30 years have passed since the destruction of Paradise Cove. Since then, pliosaurs the size of whales have wreaked havoc on the world’s oceans. Despite tragic losses, Garm Braddock and his brother Dirk wage a bloody war of attrition against the voracious marine reptiles: Garm from the helm of the anti-biologic submarine Gryphon and his brother from the top-secret military research facility known as Tartarus.
In spite of ongoing attempts to destroy them, the prehistoric predators that rose from the ashes of Diablo Caldera continue to multiply. They are bringers of death, and via more than just their deadly jaws. Their blood contains a primeval pathogen so virulent that, if left unchecked, could spell the end of mammalian life.
Meanwhile, in the icy darkness of the deep, an evil as ancient as the dinosaurs stirs in response to the changes in Earth’s oceans. Rising hungrily to the surface, it brings with it an intellect as cold as the abyss and an irrepressible need to destroy and devour.
And conquer.
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*In paperback form, the novelette Kronos Rising: Diablo is included with the novella, Kronos Rising: Plague.
KRONOS RISING® – DIABLO
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, July 21, 2016
Named by AUTHORSdb as one of 2016’s Top 10 Books, KRONOS RISING: DIABLO is the terrifying PROLOGUE* to award-winning author Max Hawthorne’s pulse-pounding debut novel, KRONOS RISING.
The Gates of Hell are going to need new hinges . . .
Nestled off the coast of Cuba, and shielded by impenetrable reefs of razor-sharp rock, stands Diablo Caldera. To the rest of the world the extinct, bowl-shaped volcano is hardly worth exploring. But the caldera has a secret. Its isolated saltwater lake has remained untouched since the fall of the dinosaurs.
Inside this hellish aquarium are the deadliest marine predators the world has ever seen. Imprisoned since the Cretaceous behind towering walls of volcanic rock, and warded by a mysterious race, Diablo’s savage inmates rule with flipper and fang the only world they have ever known.
But something is about to change. The prison that is Diablo is beginning to fail, and soon it will unleash into the unsuspecting Atlantic a primeval fury the likes of which it has never before known.
It is one hundred tons of death. And it likes to eat.
*The events in Kronos Rising: Diablo take place several days prior to the happenings in KRONOS RISING (the first book). Diablo can be read prior to book one, but to avoid any possible spoilers, we recommend reading Kronos Rising first.
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KRONOS RISING® – PLAGUE
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, November 24, 2016
Taking place after KRONOS RISING and bridging the gap* between it and KRONOS RISING: KRAKEN comes the aftermath . . . Max Hawthorne’s 2017 AUTHORSdb Gold medal winner, KRONOS RISING: PLAGUE.
The deadliest killers are the ones you can’t see.
Three weeks have passed since the monstrous Kronosaurus imperator’s attack on Harcourt Marina stunned the world. The death toll was horrific, but Paradise Cove’s traumatized survivors soon discover they have more to worry about than just burying their dead and rebuilding their shattered lives.
Accompanying the pliosaur were hordes of primeval pathogens. With their host destroyed, the Cretaceous-era bacteria are forced to find new homes for themselves. They do: tiny, bipedal life forms whose warm, iron-rich blood provides perfect growing conditions. They begin to multiply and spread, their mutagenic qualities quickly warping their unwitting host’s delicate bodies and minds. Soon, the infected are transformed into mindless beasts, consumed with a burning hunger for flesh.
And like all ravening beasts, they must feed . . .
*The incidents in Kronos Rising: Plague take place both immediately before and three weeks after the happenings in Kronos Rising (book one). It should be read after Kronos Rising, but can be read before Kronos Rising: Kraken (vol. 1) if desired.
KRONOS RISING® – KRAKEN (VOL. 2)
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, June 22, 2018
The Saurian War rages on in the action-packed AUTHORSdb 2018 Gold Medal Winner, KRONOS RISING: KRAKEN (vol. 2) by Max Hawthorne.
Unaware of the brutal battle that has just taken place between Ursula, the giant Megalodon shark, and the macropliosaur designated Typhon, Dr. Derek “Dirk” Braddock seizes upon his mentor Eric Grayson’s absence and launches a dual-pronged mission into Earth’s bloodstained seas.
His brother Garm, commanding the anti-biologic submarine Gryphon, is assigned the dubious task of hunting down and exterminating Typhon. Meanwhile, Natalya Dragunova, captain of the Antrodemus, prepares to penetrate the perilous waters of Diablo Caldera – the Cretaceous-era lake from which the savage pliosaurs originated.
Neither of them has any idea what is waiting for them.
Soon, Dirk’s investigation into his mother’s untimely death uncovers a shocking truth: one that, when revealed, will shake the research facility known as Tartarus, and his world, to the core. Malevolent forces are at work that Dirk is unaware of, and he soon finds himself fighting not only for his life, but the lives of everyone he loves.
Meanwhile, lurking in the darkness of Tartarus’s abyssal depths, the ultimate horror awaits . . .
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KRONOS RISING® – KRAKEN (VOL. 3)
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, July 4, 2020
THE MOST FEARED MONSTER IN HUMAN HISTORY IS MAKING HUMANS . . . HISTORY.
Tartarus has earned its name. Having tracked a mortally wounded Sam Mot back to the Tube’s entrance, the revenge-obsessed Octopus giganteus female launches a ferocious assault on the submarine base. Its goal is to slaughter every living thing, including the facility’s caged pliosaurs.
As Tartarus’s woefully inadequate security forces engage the invading Kraken, an oblivious Dirk Braddock watches in horror as his body succumbs to the most virulent Cretaceous cancer strain of all – the one that destroyed his father.
While Dirk fights for his very soul, an infuriated Captain Natalya Dragunova arrives in Tartarus, armed and looking for payback. She plans to avenge her murdered crew and, per Garm Braddock’s last wishes, rescue his brother Dirk in the process.
Unfortunately, the tough-as-nails sub commander has no idea what she’s walking into. Nefarious forces have been set in motion – forces that seek to put an end to her and everyone she cares about. Soon, she and Tartarus’s beleaguered survivors are forced to confront the bases most terrifying secret: a weapon that will bring mankind’s tenuous mastery of the planet to an abrupt and apocalyptic end.
And around every corner, the Kraken waits.
I WANT A TYRANNOSAURUS FOR CHRISTMAS
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, November 13, 2020
From author Max Hawthorne, the award-winning “Prince of Paleofiction”, comes an endearing Christmas tale about a lonely child whose life is turned around by, of all things, a dinosaur!
Young Billy lives with his parents in the country. It’s almost Christmas, his favorite time of year, but Billy is very sad. His pet iguana has gone missing, his dad is away on yet another business trip, and he has to protect his friend Javier from bullies at the bus stop every morning. But things are about to change for Billy.
Up at the North Pole, Santa is dealing with an unexpected guest: a mischievous baby Tyrannosaurus rex named Tyron. When the elves are no longer able to handle the young dinosaur, Santa’s head elf, Xavier, decides to give the baby T-rex to a very deserving child: Billy!
Filled with imaginative illustrations, a touching story bound to bring a smile to one’s face, and a strong anti-bullying message to boot, I Want a Tyrannosaurus For Christmas is sure to be a perennial favorite!
MONSTERS & MARINE MYSTERIES
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, April 6, 2021
Are sea monsters real? You be the judge.
1969, Vancouver Island. Two Canadian fishermen observe and film a sea turtle estimated to be 38-feet long.
1978, San Diego. The destroyer USS Stein is attacked and damaged by a monstrous squid. Claws left in the warship’s sonar dome indicate a squid 5X larger than any known specimen.
2013, Sanibel Island. A group of friends watch, as a tentacle from an octopus estimated at 80 feet explores their fishing boat.
2017, Galapagos Islands. Marine biologists photograph a whale shark as big as a bus. On its flank was a shark bite four feet across.
Join Max Hawthorne, author of the bestselling Kronos Rising series as he examines never-before-seen evidence tied to a host of incredible marine sightings in his new book, Monsters and Marine Mysteries.
KRONOS RISING® – PURGATORY
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, June 11, 2022
From Amazon #1 bestselling author Max Hawthorne, comes the latest fang in the Kronos Rising series’ jaws . . . Kronos Rising: Purgatory. Sun, sand & slaughter. Book your timeshare now. (Four graphic art illustrations included!)
Tartarus’s reactor still burns in the aftermath of the Kraken’s fury as a reborn Jake Braddock steps out of the Remora submersible, with murder on his mind. He finds himself in the last place he expected to be: Diablo Caldera, the savage, Cretaceous-era island where the pliosaurs infesting the world’s oceans came from. Undeterred, the seven-foot man-reptile advances. But his plan to exact revenge upon the man who ruined his life and murdered the woman he loves runs into a brick wall.
A wall with teeth.
Diablo’s primeval jungles are infested with legions of Homo sauridae, the man-eating creatures created as a result of Eric Grayson’s vile experiments. Jake soon finds himself embroiled in a bloody fight for his life. The bipedal saurians are a mindless, slavering mob. They cannot be reasoned with. Even worse, they’re starving.
And Jake is on the menu.
THE SLEIGH
Far From The Tree Press, LLC, October 31, 2022
The only Christmas cheer this year will be from those who live to see the dawn . . .
For hardened NYPD homicide detectives Ilsa Dunbar and Andy Alvilda, Christmas represents a holiday of horrors.
Every December for the past decade, a cult of serial killers the press calls the Christmas Cannibals has chewed the Big Apple to its core. Creeping in under cover of darkness, they bypass the finest security systems and slaughter entire families, leaving wreckage and half-eaten corpses in their wake.
But as Dunbar and Alvilda’s investigation leads them from one horrifying crime scene to another, they begin to realize there is something dark and deadly lurking in the shadows. It is an ancient evil whose roots are wrapped around the most iconic Christmas figure of all.
And for those who meet its fiery gaze, the legend of Santa Claus will never be the same.