Glynn Stewart's Blog, page 5
July 26, 2023
Two Series Leaving Kindle Unlimited
Kindle Unlimited (KU) is a program that requires books be exclusively sold on Amazon. Subscribers pay a monthly fee and can read an unlimited number of books in the KU library. Overall, we’ve loved being part of the program—it’s especially nice for readers that are reading long series. Unfortunately, Amazon recently started paying authors lower rates per page read than it used to.
Author Tao Wong has a great blog post explaining the current situation. You can read it here.
Because of this, we’re going to remove some of Glynn Stewart’s series from the exclusive program—and make them available to even more readers. The Exile and Changeling Blood trilogies will soon be available on all major ebook retailers (including Amazon). However, this means that KU subscribers will no longer be able to access these books for free.
All of Glynn’s books will still be available for purchase on Amazon.
You have until August 1 to borrow both trilogies as part of your KU subscription. There’s no due date: once you add the books to your borrowed items, you’ll be able to access them until you return them.
Click the images below to borrow each book on Amazon. Start here with Exile.
Exile
The post Two Series Leaving Kindle Unlimited appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 24, 2023
Seven Questions About Chimera’s Star, Part 2
Glynn is currently writing the sequel to Nemesis of Mars , the next book in Starship’s Mage. Here are seven more questions he recently answered about his work in progress. Click here for Part 1.
Q: In a fight, what is your MC’s weapon of choice?
First choice: long-range missile with antimatter warheads.
In a personal fight? Chambers will probably go for her magic first, second and last. She’s occasionally used the Protectorate standard-issue less-than-lethal stungun, but she’s pretty reliable at achieving the same effect with magic.
So, yeah. Magic.
Q: When was the last time your MC got into a fight? Why?
The most significant fight Roslyn Chambers got into recently was the boarding and retaking of the explorer cruiser Thorn.
It had been captured by fanatic members of a conspiracy trying to manipulate the Protectorate “for its own good.”
Along the way, she arrested her ex-boyfriend and shot her now-executive officer.
It was a busy day.
Q: Does your MC support the status quo in her world?
Basically. While the Protectorate of the Mage-Queen of Mars isn’t a utopia, it is a functional interstellar state with a working democracy. It is also a self-reflective state, currently in the latter stages of major structural reform after a civil war.
Roslyn sees improvements to be made, yes, but she trusts her current leaders to make them. And she’s a naval officer, so protecting the status quo is kinda her JOB.
Q: Secondary character POV: What’s the biggest sacrifice you’re ready to make for the MC?
Commander Matthias Beck: she SHOT ME.
Well yes, I was mind controlled and shooting at her and it was a stun dart, but still!
Q: What is your MC’s drink of choice?
Roslyn Chambers is a Tau Ceti native and Tau Ceti cuisine is described as “an English mother and Indian father fighting over what to feed the children.” Tau Ceti coffee, on the other hand, is what the children of said marriage create when left alone with dad’s spices and mom’s coffee. (It’s basically masala chai with coffee instead of black tea)
And that Tau Cetan spiced coffee is Roslyn’s drink of choice.
Q: Does your MC cause drama or resolve it within their friend group?
This answer varies. I mean, at one point Roslyn has an affair that is technically a crime for both serving military officers involved. (And successfully buries it long enough for nobody to care—helped, sadly, by the gent in question now being dead).
She is, despite her war experience and hard-won medals, young for her rank and makes the mistakes of inexperience and youth.
However. Roslyn’s friends have definitely managed to bring the drama on their own—from the old crime-gang-buddy who helped her crack the kidnapping of the Mage-Queen to, well, the assorted Shenanigans the Mage-Queen herself gets up to.And as both the Queen’s closest-in-age friend and a naval officer, fixing Kiera Alexander’s drama does tend to fall on Roslyn…(Being 200+ LY away helps sometimes)
Q: What’s a common occurrence in your story that would be odd here?
A Mage wandering down the street. The power company employing Mages.
Relatively casual in-system space travel (in the sense that airplane travel is casual—it’s really, really not by any objective standard, but everyone is very used to it).
Magical interstellar travel.
Chimera’s Star, the next book in Starship’s Mage is due out in January 2024
The post Seven Questions About Chimera’s Star, Part 2 appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 18, 2023
Audiobook for Absolution, Scattered Stars: Evasion Book 3, Available Now
Audiobook fans! The audiobook version of Absolution, the finale of Scattered Stars: Evasion, is available now!
A homeworld is not always home.
Family is not always blood.
Enemies are not always who you expect.
Captain Evridiki “EB” Bardacki wants nothing more than to quietly ride off into the sunset with his fiancé, his crew, and his adopted daughter, Trace. But when a strange message brings them all to Trace’s home star system of Icem, it turns out the fragments of the crime syndicate that kidnapped her have one last trick to play.
An old enemy has betrayed their former compatriots and set into motion events that may allow EB to save hundreds of children like his daughter from the traffickers who stole them away. When that enemy shows up dead, the crew of Evasion must decide whether to chase the leads left by a dead monster or protect themselves.
Those leads will take EB and Trace into the dens of crime lords, the homes of judges, the hearts of secret bases—and the presence of the foster parent Trace ran away from at the beginning of everything…
The audiobook is narrated by Jeffrey Kafer and produced by Podium Audio
The ebook and paperback are also available now.
The post Audiobook for Absolution, Scattered Stars: Evasion Book 3, Available Now appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 13, 2023
Urban Fantasy Series Starter Sale!
To celebrate the release of Blue Lancer: A Superhero Short, you can start reading two urban fantasy series at a discount. Both ONSET and Changeling Blood Book 1s are on sale.
Here is a bit about Changeling’s Fealty to pique your interest:
A ragged newcomer…
With a secret even he doesn’t know
A backwater city…
With a countdown to an explosion no one is expecting
A secret Covenant…
And a conspiracy to break it to pieces
Jason Kilkenny is a new arrival in the Canadian city of Calgary. Unlike most newcomers, Jason isn’t looking for a job in oil and gas: he’s a half-fae changeling that wants to get away from the politics of the inhuman races.
He soon learns that despite being a supernatural backwater, the city is run by a near-godlike Wizard—and the shadows are full of unseen dangers. Jason’s here to hide, but he finds himself called to service by Calgary’s understaffed Fae Court.
As supernatural politics collide in his new home, Jason’s plan to keep his head down is shattered and he finds himself testing the limits of his meager gifts. He cannot run, he cannot hide…and if he loses, he loses everything.
You can get Changeling’s Fealty in the US for 99¢ and the UK for 99p until Monday.
And here is ONSET: To Serve and Protect:
A small town cop with an unexpected gift
A shadowy government agency on the side of justice
A call no good man could turn away
When vampires attack David White’s small town, only luck, firepower, and the intervention of an elite government task force save his life. The aftermath of the attack leaves him in the middle of the world’s biggest secret: the existence of government agencies that regulate the supernatural.
They insist that David’s “luck” is actually a supernatural gift, and he’s immediately recruited into ONSET, the most shadowy part of America’s thin blue line of police protectors.
Questioning both his gifts and the agency he now serves, David is drawn into an escalating battle that threatens all of humanity. If he isn’t what ONSET thinks he is, the entire world may pay the price.
You can get ONSET: To Serve and Protect in the US for 99¢ and the UK for 99p until Monday.
The post Urban Fantasy Series Starter Sale! appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 11, 2023
Blue Lancer: A Superhero Short Now Available at Major Retailers
It was just supposed to be a run to the bank…
A superpowered criminal named Cashout just took over the bank Joshua Hammond went to for cash—demanding that the unlicensed super-vigilante called Blue Lancer come out and fight him.
Unfortunately for everyone, Joshua Hammond is the Blue Lancer—and trapped with the rest of the hostages, he can’t do anything.
But if Cashout’s “nemesis” doesn’t come out and fight, people are going to die…
Get Blue Lancer: A Superhero Short ebook for only 99c at major retailers.
Amazon Kindle | Apple Books | Google Play Books | All Other Retailers
The post Blue Lancer: A Superhero Short Now Available at Major Retailers appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 10, 2023
Seven Questions About Chimera’s Star, Part 1
Glynn is currently writing the sequel to Nemesis of Mars , the next book in Starship’s Mage. Here are seven questions he recently answered about his work in progress.
Q: What do you do if your MC shows up at your door?
Mage-Captain Roslyn Chambers of the Royal Martian Navy showing up at my door would be… extremely concerning.
I mean, probably feed her dinner and ask her about magic and how she got here.
Assuming she didn’t, you know, show up with her cruiser and thousand-odd subordinates…
Q: Do you think readers will find your MC likeable? Why or why not?
Roslyn has been in half a dozen ish books so far and seems to have done well with the readers.
Of course, part of the arc of said half-dozen books was Roslyn finding the balance between competence and self-confidence while having been promoted repeatedly for surviving things going pear-shaped 
She’s been a touch divisive among readers, but I think that’s inevitable when switching main protagonists. Personally, I think readers who read Roslyn on her own merits find her quite likeable.
She’s spent most of the last few books out of her depth, dealing with both external and self-created problems, and in both Nemesis of Mars and now Chimera’s Star we see her with a solid sense of who she is and what she’s doing. She’s not the original POV character of the series and some of the readers dislike that. But I needed a POV in the field. So Roslyn it is.
I am…let’s say amused, that a character (Damien Montgomery) reaching the peak of his field and being promoted into a desk job with an adoring family and a silly cat is somehow a bad thing
Q: Do you think it’s important for a main character to be likeable? Why or Why not?
It depends on the genre and the type of work. The MC needs to be engaging and compelling to the reader – likeability can certainly help, but it’s not required.
That said, I don’t overly enjoy writing unpleasant people, so most of my MCs are honorable and kind people who I hope folks find likeable.
Q: Would your MC ever work with one of their enemies? Why/why not?
Mage-Captain Roslyn Chambers has seen the last decade of her life shaped by warfare.
For all of that, she has very few people she would actually call “enemy.” It helps that the biggest conflict was a civil war where reconciliation has been a major focus.
Her only enemy is the organization known as Nemesis…who already betrayed her trust once. (She didn’t know she was giving it.)
After accidentally working with and being betrayed by one of Nemesis’s leaders and now being fully briefed on their activities, mission, and plan…It would take a lot to get Mage-Captain Chambers to work with them.It’s not impossible, but she’s a lot more likely to, say, work with people of the former Republican Interstellar Navy.
(You know – the folks she fought a major war against)
Q: Has your MC ever been involved in a physical altercation? If so, why?
Multiple times. Mage-Captain Chambers is an officer in the Royal Martian Navy. She’s fought a war, saved a planet from a nanotech zombie plague, and took her own ship back from a conspiracy with her own hands.
Why… because it’s her job, someone has to do it. Someone has to take a stand against evil. Why not her?
Plus, at least twice, because Damien Montgomery asked her to.
Q: Name one thing that is guaranteed to make your MC angry? Why?
Slavery.
Particularly the particularly grotesque version of it inherent in the Prometheus Interface jump drive, where a Mage is killed and their still-living brain is installed in a machine that can force them to cast the teleport spell on a ship.
Mostly because the Mages used in her enemy’s Prometheus Interfaces were kids. Younger than her.
She’s also collided with human trafficking one time too many…
Q: Favourite part of the writing process and why.
Writing the scenes that stick in my head when I’m planning the book.
There’s always one or two, where key lines or movements have been blocked out in my head from the moment I wrote the outline. Reaching their point in the story and getting them out into electrons is always fun. Especially because they’re never quite what I originally planned them on being.
Chimera’s Star, the next book in Starship’s Mage is due out in January 2024
The post Seven Questions About Chimera’s Star, Part 1 appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 5, 2023
Seven Questions About Unbroken Faith, Part 4
Glynn is currently writing the sequel to To Stand Defiant , the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy series, which is set within the Castle Federation universe. Here are seven more questions he recently answered about his work in progress. Click here to read part 1, click here to read part two, and click here to read part 3.
Q: Do you have any characters over 50 in your WIP?
Multiple. The Dakotan Confederacy Navy, being brand-new and having poached most of its personnel from the Terran Commonwealth Navy, generally trends young—but James Tecumseh is definitely “fifty-ish.”
Most of the politicians in Dakota, the Commonwealth, and the Weston Republic (three key players in the story) are over fifty. Walkingstick, the key antagonist, is probably mid-70s (not that you could tell)
Q: Does your book pass the Bechdel Test?
Only two POV characters, both are male, so passing the Bechdel test in this case is impossible.
**
The Bechdel Test is an interesting societal artifact IMO. Truthfully, whether any specific work passes it is only moderately relevant. That the aggregate of some genres does not is extremely concerning.
I’m comfortable that most of my work DOES pass the Bechdel test, but it does require a POV involved in that conversation.
Q: What does your antagonist care about?
Imperator James Calvin Walkingstick wants to save the Terran Commonwealth. It’s falling apart around him and he is going to fix it.
The fracturing will stop.
The rebels will be brought in line – the tyrants and warlords first, but the newborn democratic states have to rejoin too.
He’s going to restore the Commonwealth. And he will do WHATEVER it takes.
Q: If your MC could live anywhere in our world, where would they choose?
By the third book of the Dakotan Confederacy trilogy, James Tecumseh is pretty sure he’s not only where he wants to be, he’s where he’s meant to be. The gorgeous new wife certainly doesn’t hurt.
So, of course, Unbroken Faith is him LEAVING that place (temporarily) to try and make things better elsewhere…
Q: How would you feel if your book got banned?
Um. Confused. Probably a bit heart-broken, though given the likely reasons it might end up being a badge of honor. OTOH, given my usual reaction to stuff, it would probably cost me at least a few days of work to the complete freakout.
Q: What’s your MC’s drink of choice? What food, if any, do they absolutely hate?
Admiral James Tecumseh is a military spacer, so his most common drink is definitely black coffee. His steward is working on introducing him to tea as a more flavorful alternative, but JT is mostly operating on “is it caffeinated?”
As for food, he’s pretty broad-minded. His lack of allergies or food intolerances of any kind has served him well in working his way up through the Terran Commonwealth Navy—though it’s less important now that he’s in charge of the Dakota Confederacy Navy!
Unbroken Faith, the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy is coming November 2023.
The post Seven Questions About Unbroken Faith, Part 4 appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
July 4, 2023
Scattered Stars Series Starters On Sale in US and Canada
Both Scattered Stars Series Starters are on sale this month! Want to get into Scattered Stars: Conviction for summer? We’ve got you covered. Conviction is on sale for 99¢ in the US and 99¢ in Canada until July 10th.
A starfighter squadron driven to desertion
Hunted by friends and enemies alike
With one final hope for a new beginning
The last reward Kira Demirci expected for heroism in a time of war was to spend the rest of her life dodging assassins—but when her government betrays her as part of their surrender, she and her comrades flee the star system of Apollo to the edge of civilized space.
The Syntactic Cluster is disorganized, disunified, and in desperate need of the nova fighters Kira smuggled out of Apollo with her. With an entire squadron supposed to follow in her wake, it falls to her to build a new home for her comrades.
But their enemy’s reach may be longer than her worst nightmares—and even her new friends may not be all that they appear…
You can also start the Evasion trilogy now for $2.49 in the US, $2.49 in the Canada until the end of the month.
A captain on the run from the horrors of his past
A girl on the run from the trap of her present
A ship that will bring them together
Captain Evridiki “EB” Bardacki was once a nova fighter pilot for a nation he truly believed in. Betrayal and failure sent him into exile and flight. Now owner-operator of the freelance star freighter Evasion, he treks the edge of human space, taking cargos that lead him ever onward—but there are lines he will not cross.
When those lines are challenged, EB makes enemies of the most powerful crime syndicate for a hundred light-years. When one of their victims stows away on his ship, he finds himself pursued by an enemy with assets everywhere he turns.
Caught between the devil and the deep dark void, EB has run out of places to run—but in a child looking to him for salvation, he may have found something to fight for!
The post Scattered Stars Series Starters On Sale in US and Canada appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
June 26, 2023
Seven Questions About Unbroken Faith, Part 3
Glynn is currently writing the sequel to To Stand Defiant , the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy series, which is set within the Castle Federation universe. Here are seven more questions he recently answered about his work in progress. Click here to read part 1, and click here to read part two.
Q: What was your process to create this setting and make it realistic?
This setting began, honestly, with an attempt to justify starfighters against the usual complaints.To do so, I settled on economics. Space travel in the Castle Federation setting is done with absolutely massive, mind-bogglingly expensive starships.That made smaller, more expendable, fighters have an economic justification – losing a starship is a BIG DEAL. I got to work from there.
Q: Someone threatens your MC’s loved one’s life. How do they respond?
It…depends.
James Tecumseh is disturbingly of the Captain Carrot School of “personal is not the same as important.” On the other hand, his wife is a sub-sovereign head of state for the nation he helped create.
So…context one, he’s bringing a interstellar battle fleet.
Context two…uh…he’s trusting the assassin who made herself his bodyguard to “handle it.”(The fleet might kill fewer people)
Q: Who was your MC’s first friend and how did they meet?
This feels like an odd question to me, one aimed at a very different context than my work.Most of my characters at this point are in their 40s and 50s. “Their first friend” is, sadly, basically irrelevant.
James Tecumseh’s chronologically first relevant “friend” in the storyverse, though, is James Walkingstick. They met when JT was a Captain and Walkingstick was already an Admiral.
They bonded over both being Native sons of the US and a shared name. Walkingstick became something of a mentor to the JT, saving his career at least once.Then, of course, Imperator Walkingstick overthrew the Commonwealth…
Q: Do you have any LGBT+ characters?
They tend to show up, yes. In this particular work, two villains are non-binary (one in the current sense, one as part of a particular cultural transhuman/artificial intersex movement). Two of the close allies to the lead (including one POV character) are Aro-Pansexual.
The lead’s wife is bisexual, though I’m not sure that’s actually come on page in 3 books. Honestly, in hindsight, this ended up a low-queer content book for me…
Q: What sort of transportation or vehicles does your MC use?
I’m back to the same Eurovision quote: “I’m up in space man.” So everyone is flitting around on starships primarily.
Primarily, James Tecumseh not only travels aboard but spends almost the entire book aboard the Dakotan Confederacy Navy flagship, the fleet carrier Krakatoa.
Q: Would your MC/hero stand out in our world?
Not physically. I’d be a touch worried about how an older Native man used to being a senior military officer would get in trouble in most of North America, though that is an unfortunate reflection on us not on James Tecumseh. Oh, and he’ll set off any metal detector he walks through since he has two cybernetic limbs!
Q: What does the antagonist think about the MC?
Imperator James Walkingstick thought of James Tecumseh as a protege, another Native American man from North America he could shepherd up the ranks.
And while Walkingstick found JT’s sense of honor aggravating, he also respected it. Right up until JT betrayed Walkingstick to serve the people he was tasked to protect.
So he likes JT. He respects JT. And he, still, feels completely betrayed by JT.
Bonus Q: Have your friends/family read your book? Why/Why not?
Some, yep. I know my father has read almost everything I’ve written. On the other hand, it’s not a question I ask. I’m an anxious enough individual that I honestly don’t want to know. Some fans have become friends. Some friends are fans. But I don’t need my friends to read my books to stay my friends!
Unbroken Faith, the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy is coming November 2023.
The post Seven Questions About Unbroken Faith, Part 3 appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
Seven Questions About Glynn’s Work in Progress, Part 3
Glynn is currently writing the sequel to To Stand Defiant , the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy series, which is set within the Castle Federation universe. Here are seven more questions he recently answered about his work in progress. Click here to read part 1, and click here to read part two.
Q: What was your process to create this setting and make it realistic?
This setting began, honestly, with an attempt to justify starfighters against the usual complaints.To do so, I settled on economics. Space travel in the Castle Federation setting is done with absolutely massive, mind-bogglingly expensive starships.That made smaller, more expendable, fighters have an economic justification – losing a starship is a BIG DEAL. I got to work from there.
Q: Someone threatens your MC’s loved one’s life. How do they respond?
It…depends.
James Tecumseh is disturbingly of the Captain Carrot School of “personal is not the same as important.” On the other hand, his wife is a sub-sovereign head of state for the nation he helped create.
So…context one, he’s bringing a interstellar battle fleet.
Context two…uh…he’s trusting the assassin who made herself his bodyguard to “handle it.”(The fleet might kill fewer people)
Q: Who was your MC’s first friend and how did they meet?
This feels like an odd question to me, one aimed at a very different context than my work.Most of my characters at this point are in their 40s and 50s. “Their first friend” is, sadly, basically irrelevant.
James Tecumseh’s chronologically first relevant “friend” in the storyverse, though, is James Walkingstick. They met when JT was a Captain and Walkingstick was already an Admiral.
They bonded over both being Native sons of the US and a shared name. Walkingstick became something of a mentor to the JT, saving his career at least once.Then, of course, Imperator Walkingstick overthrew the Commonwealth…
Q: Do you have any LGBT+ characters?
They tend to show up, yes. In this particular work, two villains are non-binary (one in the current sense, one as part of a particular cultural transhuman/artificial intersex movement). Two of the close allies to the lead (including one POV character) are Aro-Pansexual.
The lead’s wife is bisexual, though I’m not sure that’s actually come on page in 3 books. Honestly, in hindsight, this ended up a low-queer content book for me…
Q: What sort of transportation or vehicles does your MC use?
I’m back to the same Eurovision quote: “I’m up in space man.” So everyone is flitting around on starships primarily.
Primarily, James Tecumseh not only travels aboard but spends almost the entire book aboard the Dakotan Confederacy Navy flagship, the fleet carrier Krakatoa.
Q: Would your MC/hero stand out in our world?
Not physically. I’d be a touch worried about how an older Native man used to being a senior military officer would get in trouble in most of North America, though that is an unfortunate reflection on us not on James Tecumseh. Oh, and he’ll set off any metal detector he walks through since he has two cybernetic limbs!
Q: What does the antagonist think about the MC?
Imperator James Walkingstick thought of James Tecumseh as a protege, another Native American man from North America he could shepherd up the ranks.
And while Walkingstick found JT’s sense of honor aggravating, he also respected it. Right up until JT betrayed Walkingstick to serve the people he was tasked to protect.
So he likes JT. He respects JT. And he, still, feels completely betrayed by JT.
Bonus Q: Have your friends/family read your book? Why/Why not?
Some, yep. I know my father has read almost everything I’ve written. On the other hand, it’s not a question I ask. I’m an anxious enough individual that I honestly don’t want to know. Some fans have become friends. Some friends are fans. But I don’t need my friends to read my books to stay my friends!
The post Seven Questions About Glynn’s Work in Progress, Part 3 appeared first on Glynn Stewart.
