Thursday, April 30, 2020

Upcoming Books

I've been getting a lot of questions about when things are being published. For those curious over the fate of their favorite series, see below.

Aileen 5, titled Twilight's Herald -- This will be published late May, early June depending on how quickly it moves through edits.

Next on deck  -- Firebird 3 - Late this year

Then it will be Dragon 5 - Early next year. (This likely will be the last book for the time being)

After that, I'm planning on writing the sequel to the Wind's Call.

Then I'll probably be circling back to Firebird 4.

This is a preliminary list and as always subject to change based on my own whims. I have two-four new series ideas, all of which need to wait until I close out some of my current works. We shall see how the next few books go to see if I make any changes to the schedule.

I know a few of these series have more than one year passing before the next book, and I apologize. I wish I could write faster/write books concurrently, but I can't. So, this schedule will have to do for now.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Jin Does Quarantine


If you've read Age of Deception, there's a scene where Kira worries about leaving Jin alone because of his propensity to find trouble while alone. The below scene is the reason behind that worry. 

I hope it offers you a brief break from your day.


Quarantine
Day – Who the hell knows anymore?

Morale was low. Boredom had set in.

Communication with the outside world had been lost ages ago. Since then, Jin had made no attempt to reestablish it.

Drastic measures would need to be taken to restore order amid chaos. Jin was just the drone for the job.

His enemies thought this little isolation would make him defenseless. Break him.

Jin cackled. Not likely.

He’d show them. He’d emerge victorious and make them bow before his greatness.

Jin circled his tiny cell. Four walls. No decorations. Not even a cot to rest on. It was little more than a storage closet. In fact, he was pretty sure that was exactly what it had been before current events.

That was okay. Sleep was for meat sacks; not superior beings like him.

He hovered over the carcass of his masterpiece, the parts that had once been the media system and speaker disassembled and lying spread across the floor.

Now, they resembled a Frankenstein’s monster, repurposed for his own needs. Only the truly enlightened would be able to appreciate what he’d created out of nothing. The rest would only see a jumbled mess of wires and hardware.

Jin oohed and awed, taking a moment to admire his handiwork. Not bad for something he’d whipped up from only what was available.

A spark leapt from his sphere to his masterpiece. The pieces buzzed but there was no oomph. No crackling electricity that meant life.

Power. He needed more of it.

Jin whipped around, racing to the far wall of his cell. He knew just where to go.

He reached the smooth metal and flipped on the power for the weapon he wasn’t supposed to have. He also probably wasn’t supposed to have adjusted the energy fluctuations turning the blaster Kira had installed into a high-powered welder.

Again, he cackled as the makeshift torch burned into the metal, turning it into molten putty. It folded in on itself, exposing straight little lines of the electrical wiring that ran the ship.

He paused, gloating over his genius. They were like soldiers standing in formation, just waiting on him to give them their orders.

Jin flipped on his grav boosters, which were basically giant magnets that made it possible for him to pick up and drop things. Another addition he probably wasn’t supposed to have. Too late now. It was his, and he had no intention of shutting off that little capability.

The wires shook in place before popping off the wall and sailing toward him.

Like shooting fish in a barrel, he thought smugly. If by shooting, you meant using a modified grav hook to levitate the fish out of the water.

His mission accomplished, he darted back to his masterpiece. Hooking up the necessary relays were easy. It took only moments.

Pausing, he hovered over the tangle of parts.

Soon. Soon his time would come and none would oppose him ever again.

The metallic sphere that made up his body lit up menacingly. This time when his chuckle came it was deep. Fearsome. If a meatsack heard it, it would strike fear into their hearts.

He lowered over the giant red button he’d created. It was a needless affectation—the creation could be turned on with simply a thought—but he figured the red button lent a certain gravitas to this momentous occasion.

Cackling to himself, Jin thumped the button.

Power crackled; electricity surged.

The framework for his masterpiece shook, threatening to tear apart. Jin looked down with a sense of glee. Almost there.

There was a sharp pop and a shower of sparks. The lights went off as the ship he was traveling on shuddered.

Uh oh. That hadn’t sounded good.

“Jin. You there?” Kira’s unmistakable voice came from a panel by the door.

Jin regarded it thoughtfully. He thought he’d dismantled that.

“Answer me, you worthless piece of scrap metal,” Kira growled.

“Yes,” he said, drawing out the word.

There was a pause.

“Power to several key systems, including life support just shorted out. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Jin spun to take in the giant hole he’d burned into the wall. Hm. Those hadn’t led where he thought. He’d been sure they went to the communications array.

It was possible in his excitement he’d chosen the wrong set of wires to conscript for his little project.

“That’s weird,” he finally said.

There was a moment of silence.

“Yeah. It is,” she said. “It’s not the only oddity. Seems several systems in the ship are acting glitchy.”

“Huh.”

He could almost feel Kira’s eyes narrowing. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for hours. Why haven’t you answered?”

Jin cleared his throat, an affectation since he didn’t actually have a throat, or any biological parts at all. His soul was housed in a machine, one that had not one single scrap of biological material.

“What is that behind you?” her voice deepened into what he classified as her intimidating voice.

He spun to regard his shining work of art. It was going to be glorious when finished. With it, he would take over the universe.

But first he had to distract Kira. She wouldn’t understand the majesticness of his plans.

“Nothing important,” he chirped.

Note to self, make sure you disable ALL of the cameras before assembling your greatest masterpiece.

Silence crackled from the panel.

Kira’s sigh gusted over the comms. “Jin, you’ve only been in there two hours. There’s one more to go. Please don’t do anything that will get us kicked off the ship.”

“Of course not, Kira.”

Jin spun to face his creation again, his maniacal laugh filling the room.

“I can still hear you,” Kira said.

“Ah.” His laugh cut off.

He’d have to work on his badass ninja skills, but in his defense, Kira was a worthy foe.

Now, where was he?

Ah, right. There he was. Now which system should he take over first?

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Aileen 5 Beta Readers

I'll be finishing up this draft of Aileen 5 barring any unexpected surprises. That means it's time to ask for volunteers to beta read.

I'm expecting a week turnaround from the time the betas get the manuscript. If you don't have time, please do not volunteer and take the slot from someone who does. I only accept a very few readers for this process.

If you've done this for me in the past, skip to the end of the post and click on the link.

For those who are new, here is a brief summary.

The first thing to know is that many people will try but I only ever take around 10 beta readers. If you sign up and aren't picked, please don't get discouraged. Try again next time.

Priority is given to those who've beta read for me in the past and done a good job, but I always take a few new people too.

Essentially, beta reading is a good way for me to take the temperature of a book. The reader lets me know if the book works for them. They give honest feedback regarding characters and plot. They DO NOT focus on grammar or sentence structure, so if you're worried about your editing skills, don't be. That's for a different part of my process.

I rely on my beta readers to catch the things I don't. For that reason, I require my readers to have read ALL the books in the series (and liked them). I've rewritten prologues and endings based on their feedback so they have a huge impact on the end product.

Beta reading is not for everyone. I don't beta read for people because it can be work. I like getting caught up in a story and not paying attention to the things that irk me. Be assured, there will be advanced copies coming so if you want to read the book without the work, so please sign up for that instead.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Never Ending Edits

It's amazing how moving one scene forward in the narrative can have a cascade effect throughout the rest of the book. It's like knocking over a line of dominos that you didn't even know was there.

My reasons for making this change are sound. As it was before, the narrative was jerky and lackluster. Not exactly something I shoot for in my books.

Staring at the computer this morning, however, I'm less than enthused about my so-called brilliant idea. Already, I've identified at least four chapters that are a jumbled, incomprehensible mess because of what I've done. It's like a rabbit hole that just keeps on going.

The actions and setting in the next few chapters remains the same, but the motive behind the scenes, how they get from point A to point C shifts. Essentially it's a rewrite of what is already there. I use the building blocks that are already in place and incorporate what I can, but it takes time and energy.

A lot of people think finishing a first draft means polishing what is already there. Don't I wish. Really it's just the beginning. I always think of a first draft as assembling the ingredients I need. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. The second draft is where you make those ingredients work together to create a comprehensive whole. The third draft is where you make the language shine.

Full disclosure--every writer has their own method. Finding it is half the fun. This tangled ball of yarn is mine.

My only consolation in all this is that whenever I do something this extreme, it always results in a much better story. I just have to keep telling myself this isn't as bad as what I did in Age of Deception, and that turned out alright.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. Enough complaining. Back to work I go. 

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Aileen 5 Small Teaser

Edits are still ongoing in Aileen 5, but here is a small teaser of what's coming.

“Don’t die, Aileen. You’re a source of endless entertainment for the flock.” Natalia sprang into the air, winging her way back to the rest.

I scowled at her retreating back. “What does that mean?”

She lifted a hand over her shoulder in a wave.

“Natalia? You and your sisters aren’t sitting around watching me, are you?”

No answer.

Damn it. They were.

“We’ll revisit this conversation at a later time,” I muttered under my breath as I stood, facing the woods. For now, I had a stalker to deter.