Eric Thomson's Blog, page 17

Productive Procrastination

Like most authors, I’m prone to bouts of procrastination, especially after publishing a novel.  Never fear, Siobhan Dunmoore’s fifth adventure is still proceeding, if at a slower pace right now – I’m almost half-way done.  However, I decided to give myself a few days off from writing, since Imperial Sunset seems to be doing so well, but this time, I used my spare hours more productively than surfing the internet or binging on Netflix.  In fact, I build myself a little piece of inspiration, which is now sitting in my office.

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It started life as a kit for another star ship altogether, but with a bit of bashing, a bit of rummaging in my spare parts bins and a lot of imagination, I turned it into the Q-Ship Iolanthe pretty much as I’d imagined her from the start.  As you can see, her gun turrets are deployed and she’s in full “Furious Faerie” mode, ready to take on any Shrehari, pirate, reiver or marauder.

Looking at the model, I can now see everything as I write: the bridge and combat information center, along with crew quarters, messes, etc, in the forward section; the shuttle hangar and cargo holds in the middle section (you can see the space doors); the missile launcher bay, which is on the middle section’s underside (the black stripe); the Marine barracks and brig which are immediately aft of the middle section; and of course, engineering with the reactors, environmental scrubbers, antimatter fuel containment units, etc, etc, etc, in the aftmost section.  As you can see, the model is resting on her hyperdrive nacelles while up top there are two sublight drives, one on each side, and two decoy sublight drives which hold the massive aft plasma guns.

I need to take a better picture, with a suitable background and all, but I wanted to share my newest project – finished earlier today – with all the Siobhan Dunmoore fans who are awaiting her latest adventure.

A New Series is Born

Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset, the first in a new series has hit the bookshelves.  Set in the same universe as my other series, but a thousand years after Decker’s War, it tells the story of a desperate attempt to stave off the darkness threatening to smother humanity’s interstellar empire and send civilization back to the Stone Age.

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You can get the ebook via this link: Imperial Sunset

Or from my own storefront: Imperial Sunset

And in paperback via this link: Imperial Sunset

If your favorite retailer isn’t yet listed on the Books2Read page, it will be soon so check back later.  The hardcover version will also be available within a day or two.

 

A New Saga is Born

Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset, the first in a new series has hit the ebook shelves.  Set in the same universe as my other series, but a thousand years after Decker’s War, it tells the story of a desperate attempt to stave off the darkness threatening to smother humanity’s interstellar empire and send civilization back to the Stone Age.

You can get the ebook via this link: Imperial Sunset

If your favorite retailer isn’t yet listed on the Books2Read page, it will be soon so check back later.  The paperback and hardcover versions will also be available within a day or two.

 

Ebb and Flow

Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset has been with my editor since Friday, and so far, so good.  It means I’m now back to working full time on Without Mercy (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 5), although I’ve not made as much progress in the last two weeks as I would have wished.  This is mostly because revising Imperial Sunset turned out to be more effort than I had anticipated (I decided to essentially re-write the last 25%!) but the end result is a much stronger storyline that gives me greater scope to explore the Ashes of Empire universe in future installments.  In fact, you could say Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset opens up a whole universe of storyline possibilities.  But before I delve into the next installment of that saga, I must finish Dunmoore #5, work on the second Chief Superintendent Caelin Morrow mystery and write another Zack Decker adventure.  For 2018, I’ll likely only be able to complete the first two.

And now, since it’s summer, I have work to do on the property, so that we don’t see a repeat of last winter’s problems.  And that means trading the keyboard for a shovel for the rest of today.  Dunmoore will have my full attention once more tomorrow morning.

By the way, if you want to see what the Imperial Sunset paperback cover looks like, pop over to my Facebook page for a gander.

A Rising Tide

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that Siobhan Dunmoore was whispering in my ear again after a long silence. Well, I was wrong. It wasn’t so much a whisper as a scream. In the last seven days, I’ve written a full quarter of Without Marcy (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 5). That’s around 100 pages! And I’ve done so while also revising Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset. I’m not sure what caused this sudden surge of productivity, but I’m going with it. If I can sustain the pace, Without Mercy will be ready for my editor in late June or early July, and that could well mean an August publication date, or for those who keep score, two books this summer, what with Imperial Sunset due to hit the shelves in late June or early July. If I can sustain the pace.  Sometime in the next week or so, I’ll add a synopsis to the Without Mercy page, but you can already see a mock up of the book cover.

And I’m Once Again Done

I finished the first draft of Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset today.  The first draft clocks in at just over 400 pages, but that number will vary thanks to the many rounds of revision I and my editor will make over the next couple of weeks. As I previously indicated, this new series will not consist of standalone adventures like my others, but will form a multi-volume saga covering a large cast of characters and a long period of time.

And while I’m not working on Imperial Sunset, I will be turning my attention back on Without Mercy (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 5).  Hopefully, the storyline rethink will work this time.  I know there are a lot of fans who want to read more of her adventures.  In the meantime, you can check out the Ashes of Empire: Imperial Sunset page here: Imperial Sunset.

Idle Hands are the Devil’s Workshop

It’s been a busy week in Thomsonland.  The first draft of Imperial Sunset (Ashes of Empire #1) is almost 90% complete, which is no mean feat, as my carpal tunnel flareup can testify.  And — drum roll please — Siobhan Dunmoore has started whispering in my ear, so once Imperial Sunset is with my editor, I’ll return to Without Mercy, but with a different storyline than the one I’d originally envisaged.  All things going well, we might see it hit the shelves this autumn.  No promises, of course.  A writer’s muse is one of the most fickle things ever and mine seems to take pleasure in messing with my inspiration..  She sends me more ideas than I can deal with, then vanishes as I’m part way through a draft.  But not right now.  I’m even ignoring spring’s glory outside in a concerted effort to finish Imperial Sunset, except for my dog’s daily walk.  He refuses to let me off the hook and for that, I’m thankful.  Now if I could only stop the flow of words come bedtime.  Mrs Thomson finds my clacking the computer keyboard after ten in the evening a bit much.

May Flowers

The warm weather finally seems to be settling in around here, and not a moment too soon. Mrs Thomson has finally been able to engage in one of her favorite activities, gardening, while I have been able to indulge in one of my own, not gardening. But I have fired up the grill for the first bout of backyard cooking in 2018. And more work on the property awaits me over the next few months.

I’m glad to say Imperial Sunset (Ashes of Empire #1) is now two-thirds done, and as with all my books, has taken on a slightly different arc from what I’d originally planned. Characters that appeared unexpectedly in the first half are now becoming more and more important, and will likely be a major force in the subsequent installments of the larger, multi-volume saga. I won’t reveal anything here, but these characters will be familiar to readers of Decker’s War.

In other news, as you may have read, all of my novels are now available in hardcover, and to my surprise, the hardcover editions of Decker’s War are selling already. That’s sufficient motivation to ensure I publish hardcover editions alongside the ebook and paperback editions in future. And finally, I haven’t given up on the fifth Siobhan Dunmoore adventure. I sense that she might talk to me again in the near future, and that means Without Mercy might get back on track.

And now, off to the gym, so that I don’t turn into a chair potato.

Branding the 26th Century

If you’re reading this blog post, you’ve likely read a book or two that I’ve written.  You may recall my occasionally mentioning some variation of the “starburst, swords and anchor” insignia of Siobhan Dunmoore and Zack Decker’s Commonwealth Armed Services.  I finally got around to designing it as a further branding of my military science fiction series.  The Navy insignia worn by Dunmoore, Hera Talyn (when she’s in uniform) and other naval personnel is the “starburst, swords and anchor” insignia, minus the swords.  Army and Marine Corps personnel wear regimental insignia, of course, until they become general officers and wear the “starburst, swords and anchor” insignia, minus the anchor.  As a first design effort, I’m rather pleased by it.  Once I’m sure I like the insignia, you might find it included in future book cover designs.

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Incidentally, the starburst with anchor and no swords or motto scroll forms the basis of Navy chief petty officer rank insignia, while the starburst with swords and no anchor or motto scroll forms the basis of Marine Corps and Army sergeant major rank insignia. By the way, if you’re not fluent in Latin, the Fleet’s motto is “Through boldness to the stars”

And since I’m on a roll, I also came up with the Commonwealth Constabulary insignia.  Its motto is “Let justice be done.”

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And in other news, all of my novels are now available in hardcover format.

And So It Goes

Mrs Thomson and I returned from our annual springtime scuba diving pilgrimage to an undisclosed tropical location a few days ago.  Once again, it was a fantastic week spent with good friends diving on some of the best coral reefs in the western hemisphere.  The food and drink weren’t bad either – except for the waistline, that is!

But since coming home, I’ve been diligently working on the project to publish all of my novels in hardcover.  I’m pleased to announced that as of today, the entire Decker’s War series is now available in that format on Amazon, with further retailers to follow.  The first Siobhan Dunmoore adventure is also available in hardcover as of today, with the rest to come later this week.  Once that’s done, I will return to writing Imperial Sunset.  I’ve also come up with the working title for the next Chief Superintendent Morrow mystery, which is planned for later this year – it will be called Mayhem on Mission.

And now, back to work.