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There’s been some movement on my writing front. I’ve received, and posted here, the cover for The Prodigals. (See  last post.) I also reported, last summer, of the death of Eric Flint and the demise of the Ring of Fire Press. I received my rights back for The Marshals, published January, 2022, in September. Since then I’ve had hints that Baen Books was interested in republishing The Marshals. Those hints came true this week when I received notification from Baen they were interested. After some to and fro, I’ve a contract, my first from a ‘big’ publisher. Baen is not one of the Big 5 but close.

Getting The Marshals back in print would make it my fourth book on the market. When I release The Prodigals, it will be my fifth published book.

I’ve two more works in progress. One is ‘rural’ fantasy, taking place in 1930s Kansas. The other is number three in the ‘Tales of the Tri-Cluster Confederation’ series.

I’m not a fast writer,  but my goal is publishing three… maybe four… books this year.

All my current releases are available from Amazon, and in Kindle Unlimited. Please read and leave me  a review. Every review keeps my books on the marketing front line.

Late last year, I was approached by the editor of Ring of Fire Press asking for a braided novel version of my 1632 Marshal stories. After I searched and discovered what a ‘braided novel’ was, I agreed. Basically, it was all my Marshal short stories, novelettes and novellas, merged into a novel with a wrapper story for continuity. I delivered it and the book was published in mid-January, 2022.

It was a hit. In less than six months the book scored 281 four and five star reviews. I believe it had the most positive reviews of any Ring of Fire Press books on Amazon, in only six months.

The owner of Ring of Fire Press, Eric Flint, passed on July 17th, 2022. Eric’s widow decided to close the publishing business and The Marshals was pulled from Amazon. The Ring of Fire Press website was shutdown, tool.

If you haven’t purchased a copy of The Marshals, it’s too late now.

However…hopefully there will be a however…rumor has it that a third-party may intervene and acquire the  some of the rights. I hope so. I never received a penny in royalties from the novel, nor for a short story published in a RoFP anthology a year before. That makes me one of many with a financial claim on the publishing house. I was due an accounting in July for the novel, but events stopped it.

I await the return of my rights for The Marshals per my contract with Ring of Fire Press. Once I have that, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, I’m writing the last chapters of The Prodigals. Then it’s off to my editor and cover artist.

 

It’s been a while since I last posted here. I’ve been working on The Prodigals…up to 83,000 words at last check. But! I’ve submitted a different novel to a traditional publisher and they’ve accepted it. I received the first proofed last week and returned it, with corrections, to the publisher.

I have no idea when this last book, number four, will be released. I was able to write and deliver it in a month and a half. Consequently, work on The Prodigals was set aside.

On that note, I’ve entered into the final phase of The Prodigals. All of the individual threads are coming together. I hope you all like it as much as you have Émigré.

In my last post, I mentioned that the paperback version of Dundee Orbital was coming. Well…it’s here!

The ebook version is selling for $2.99 and the paperback for $9.99. Here’s the link to the latter.

As I announced in my last post, Dundee Orbital is now up on Amazon for pre-orders. The ebook will be available for downloading on July 31, 2020.

What’s coming next? The paperback version of Dundee Orbital. I’ve formatted the ms and all I’m waiting is for my cover artist to size the wrap-around cover and add the sales blurb to the back cover. I hope to have the paperback version ready by the end of the month. It’s in my cover artist’s hands.

In the mean time, here’s link to Dundee Orbital‘s Amazon page.

I’ve started the next book in this series with a working title of The Prodigals. The target release date is 2021.

Check the snippet page for a preview, the first scene of the book.

I just pushed the button to release Dundee Orbital on July 31, 2020. It will be ready for pre-orders by tomorrow.

This book is only 64,000 words and contains four independent stories that all take place on Dundee Orbital. With these new stories are some new characters that will also appear in the next book in the Tri-Cluster Confederation series.

I’ve started the next full-length novel in the Tri-Cluster series, tentatively named, The Prodigals. That name may change depending on the plot I’m working on.

For the curious ones, here’s the blurb for Dundee Orbital.

Dundee Orbital is the mercantile hub of the Tri-Cluster Confederation. Millions of entities pass through the station and each has a story.

• The Face on the Barroom Floor. Donal Harris has a mystery on his hands. He has a murder victim with no fingerprints, no hair, eyebrows, ears and only a smooth oval head with no identifiable features. His DNA is not registered and he has perfect teeth. Who killed him, why, and who is he?

• Homegoing to Hollowell. Dee-Ell Davies wants just one thing—to go home to Hollowell and he’ll do anything, even defy death, to make that happen.

• The Fenian. Fen is a naval intelligence agent who has chased his quarry across human space to Dundee Orbital. Is this the end of the chase? What does Fen’s fugitive want in Dundee Orbital? Fen, Donal Harris, and Elspeth Harris are determined to discover why and thwart the spy’s plans.

• Li’l Annie. Annie Griffin is a bounty hunter who arrives at Dundee Orbital with four fugitive warrants. Senior Patroller Henry Hillman is assigned to observe her pursuit and insure the proper protocols and procedures are followed. However, propinquity leads to a growing relationship. When Henry and Annie are wounded capturing their last fugitive, that relationship deepens.

  If Annie wants to stay on the station, she needs a new job. Her tenure as a bounty hunter is over and it’s time for her life to take a new direction, but what to do? She only has one skill. Is there a demand for it?

I finished the last story for my collection, Dundee Orbital. This last story could be the second half of two small novellas, or merged into a two-part small novel. I’ve yet to decide.

Overall, I’ve about 63K words in the collection, the small novel runs about 38K. I figure I’ve another two weeks for author edits before I ship it off to the pros. Then on to Amazon this summer as an ebook and paperback.

Overall, I’ve about 63K words in the collection, the small novel runs about 38K. I figure I’ve another two weeks for author edits before I ship it off to the pros. Then on to Amazon this summer as an ebook and paperback.

So, what is now on the horizon? A followup of Émigré, second in a series, perhaps? Not sure at the moment. I do have a working title, Traditions. You’ll know more when I do.