With the arrival of June, the release of the three-part 'What Was Lost' trilogy has begun.
The first book, Heresy & Hyperspace, has just gone live on Amazon. The e-book version should be available right away, and the paperback version will follow in a day or two.
I hope you have a chance to come along with Jan and the people he meets on his adventure. Have fun!
 |
| Come visit Pillar. It's lovely this time of year. |
At last! I'm delighted to report that the new 'What Was Lost' trilogy is now up on Amazon and available for pre-order.
Heresy & Hyperspace - Corruption & Meltdown - Salvation & Sacrifice
The first book, Heresy & Hyperspace, will go live on June 1st, with the other two books in the story following on July 1st and August 1st.
It's a joy to have a new story to share, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who helped make it possible. Most especially, I want to thank the Four Readers of the Apopsicle: in alphabetical order, they are Aaron, Bill, DeVerne, and Mike. Each of them brought unique skills and viewpoints to looking at the story, helping hammer it into shape.
At the moment the Ebook versions are available for pre-order, and in the coming weeks the paperback versions will appear as well.
I hope you enjoy the story!
Because I keep doing this to myself, I decided that my first series -- the story of HMCS Borealis -- needed new cover art.
I wanted the books in the series to have a consistent look to them, with covers that tied them all together. The original covers were great back when I made them, but I thought I could do something better now.
In addition to which, I've been wanting to give the series another editing pass to make the formatting more consistent, and to stamp out a few typos that I have found. I have no idea how there are still typos in there after all this time, but there are a few fewer now.
The new covers (and edited/reformatted text) have been introduced today. I'm happy with the results:
 | |
| Looking sharp. |
In the meantime, the new series is ready for its final readthrough. The first of June is looking pretty achievable right now. *crosses fingers*
Stuff's happening! After one last round of edits, I now have a final draft for all three books of the new series. They've been given new titles, too:
The 'What Was Lost' series
- Heresy & Hyperspace
- Corruption & Meltdown
- Salvation & Sacrifice
I'm going to set the final draft aside for a week or so, then I'll pick it back up and give it one last readthrough, which I always do out loud. This allows me to hear phrases (especially in dialogue) that don't sound right. I also lose my voice for a few days afterward, which is beneficial for everyone around me. It's kind of a win-win.
After that, and after making any changes that come as a result of the readthrough, I'll have a final, final version. The covers and blurbs are already done, so it's just a bit of Amazon admin to do before the trilogy is ready to go. I'm going to release the three books a month apart, so I'm aiming for June, July, and August.
In kinda-related news, I've also decided to create new cover art for the my first series, the Borealis story, which will hopefully be ready around the same time.
Also in the meantime, ideas are coming together for the next story I'm going to start, tentatively called 'Six Bits'.
I'll report back with release dates as soon as I've nailed them down.
Outside the windows, this strange winter continues. Last week the temperature was -25C and it was snowing; this week, it's 5C and raining. Next week: who knows?
The new trilogy continues moving toward the finish line. I created a new draft at the end of December, and spent most of January doing an editing pass on it. The first part of the editing pass -- now done -- involves sitting down with a printed-out version of the draft and a red pen, and ends when all the pages are covered in scribbled edits.
The second stage of an editing pass -- where I am now -- involves going through the mess I made and translating my scribbles into changes in Scrivener, my word processing software. Select, cut, copy, paste, type new text, and repeat a few thousand times. It's not the most fun part of the process, but it's not that bad.
Bit by bit, the parts of the new trilogy are coming together. Hopefully it won't be much longer than another month or two. As always, I think 'good' is better than 'fast', so if my totally-arbitrary schedule slips a bit, then that's just how it goes.
In the meantime, everyone stay warm and dry. If possible, try doing what bears do: eat a lot of good food, then nap for a few months. It won't solve all your problems, but when you wake up at least you'll have different problems.
As I write this, it's -5C and snowing like mad. 70 km/h winds are blowing the snow around and sculpting it into bizarre shapes, most of it winding up in places where it'll have to be shovelled. Winter is two days old, and it's determined to make its presence known. Such grand fun.
Some people are winter-sports enthusiasts, and they must be delighted with the powdery white apocalypse going on out there. I'm most definitely not one of them. My favourite winter sport is to stay inside where it's warm, because that's where the snacks are.
I am deliriously happy to report that I now have feedback from the Readers of the Apopsicle for the entire series. I'm compiling their suggestions, criticisms and ideas, and will be spending time over the holidays making a new draft that takes their feedback into account. I'm so very grateful to them for their time and energy.
While I work on that, I'd also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays, and best wishes for the coming year!
In my previous two series, I wrote one book at a time, publishing each before going on to the next. Which was great until I got closer to the end of the series and realised I'd painted myself into a metaphorical corner or two.
This time, as I've probably mentioned ad nauseam, I'm writing all three in one go. Through doing it this way, I've learned a few things.
For instance, if I want to do something in Book 3, I can go back and change stuff that happened in Book 1. I can't do that if Book 1 is already in peoples' hands. This part is awesome.
Also, it makes for a very long time since I've published anything at all, which causes some people to wonder if I've been abducted by aliens. I haven't been abducted yet, but I'm trying.
Also also, editing three books at once is painful. On a related note, asking the wonderful Readers Of The Apopsicle to read three books at once is painful for them and I mustn't do that again.
Also also also, the bits that I thought were super clever actually weren't. I should probably know this by now, but here we are.
All that being said, things are proceeding. Editing is happening, feedback is being gratefully received, tweaks are being made. The end is in sight.
I haven't 100% settled on the titles for all three books, but I think the cover art is coming together.
I'd like to say that the books will be ready before the snow flies, but it's supposed to snow tomorrow so I already know that isn't going to work. So I'll keep plugging away, and it'll be ready when it's ready. Soonish?
