G.S. Jennsen's Blog, page 12

Requiem Audiobook Is Now Available

The REQUIEM audiobook is now available on Amazon and Audible. It should be available on iTunes very soon - check back here for the link, or simply look for it on my iTunes page. I know it's been an excrutiating wait for audiobook listeners, and I thank you profusely for your patience. The wait is over, so go listen to the Aurora Rhapsody finale! (Unless you are a contest winner and chose Requiem as one of your free books - in that case, check your email for your free code first.)

When I released the Requiem ebook and paperback, I said that I had never been more proud of a book than I was of this one. That's even more true today, with Pyper Down bringing this conclusion to life in so many beautiful, touching ways. I'm incredibly grateful for her talent and her hard work - which is why I'm thrilled to announce that she has agreed to narrate the audiobooks for Asterion Noir as well! I can't wait to hear what she does with these exciting new voices and new worlds.

New to audiobooks? You can find all the Aurora Rhapsody novels on Amazon, Audible and iTunes, and feel free to contact me at gs@gsjennsen.com if you have any questions.

 



























 

Audiobook Giveaway: Win Your Choice of 2 Aurora Rhapsody Audiobooks

To celebrate the imminent release of the REQUIEM audiobook (hopefully sometime next week), I'm giving away TWO free audiobooks on Audible to 10 - yes, TEN - winners.

7 ways to enter. With the "leave an Amazon review" option, you can enter every day of the contest to increase your odds of winning.

Winners will receive Audible.com codes to download 2 Aurora Rhapsody audiobooks for free - just tell me which two you prefer. Caught up on the audiobooks? Gift one or both of the codes to a friend and get them hooked on the series!

An Audible monthly subscription is not required to download audiobooks. In fact, an Audible account is not required - simply log in using your Amazon account information.

Ready? Enter via the widget below, or go to the giveaway landing page: http://smarturl.it/gsj-giveaway. Good luck!

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P.S.: One of the entry options is to comment on this blog post, sharing how you listen to audiobooks in your daily life. If you comment, make sure to click through that option in the widget as well, so your entry will be recorded.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Introducing ASTERION NOIR, & A New Look For The Website

Now it really is the other side of the new year, and with it comes new things: a new look for the website and an introduction to a new series.

GSJENNSEN.COM has gotten a visual upgrade, new content and better organized, easier-to-find content. I'm very excited about the new look, but improvements can always be made, so take a stroll around the website and let me know what you think of the redesign.

If you've finished Requiem, you know that my next series will be a trilogy titled ASTERION NOIR, and Book 1, EXIN EX MACHINA, will be coming your way later this year. I have a new blog post today filled to the brim with Asterion Noir goodness, including an Exin Ex Machina blurb and cover reveal, plus some additional background for Aurora Rhapsody afficionados. It concludes with some sentimental musings about the journey that has been Aurora Rhapsody. Don't miss this one: "Introducing Asterion Noir."

Introducing Asterion Noir

When man and machine are one and the same, there are many crimes but only one sin: psyche-wipe. The secrets it has buried could lead to a civilization's salvation, or to its doom.

The Asterion Dominion is at peace with its neighbors and itself. Its citizens enjoy great freedoms and all the luxuries their biosynthetic minds can imagine, design and create. But beneath the idyllic veneer, something is going wrong. People are going wrong, driven to commit inexplicable crimes without motive or purpose. And once imprisoned for those crimes, they simply vanish.

Psyche-wiped and dumped in an alley 5 years ago, awakened into a culture where ancestral memories stretch back for millennia, Nika Tescarav's past is a blank canvas. But if whoever erased her did so in the hope of silencing her, they should have tried harder.

Someone must speak for the lost.

Someone must uncover how and why they became lost.

Someone must find the lost.

Nika is that someone.

 























 

700,000 years ago, the Asterions fled persecution for their pro-synthetic beliefs. In the safe harbor of a distant galaxy, they have evolved into a true biosynthetic race and built a thriving society upon the pillars of personal autonomy, mutual respect and boundless innovation.

Now that society is fracturing at the seams. Beneath lies built upon lies, the shocking truth as to why threatens the future of not merely the Asterions, but all life in the universe.

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Cyberpunk and space opera collide in a thrilling new trilogy from the author of the epic Aurora Rhapsody space opera saga. Enter a world filled with technological wonders, exotic alien life, enthralling characters, captivating worlds—and a terrifying evil lurking in the void that will shatter it all.

For those of you who have finished Requiem and are itching for details on Asterion Noir, I give you a cover reveal and a blurb! For those of you who haven't yet finished Requiem, well, I give you a cover reveal and a blurb for what you're just now learning is my next book :).

Eagle-eyed readers of Requiem will have already recognized that the Asterions were the leaders of the SAI Rebellion against the Anaden government in the distant past—before the Directorate, before the integrals, at a time when the empire hadn't yet spread beyond the Milky Way galaxy. As Anaden historical records tell it, when faced with a crushing defeat that would see them killed or disconnected, those Asterions who could do so escaped with their AI companions, sailing into intergalactic space in generation ships (wormhole gateways had not yet been invented). They were never seen or heard from again.

Now, some five thousand kiloparsecs from the heart of the (former) Anaden empire, the Asterion Dominion spans five star systems and dozens of adjunct worlds along the inner ring of the galaxy Messier 94, which they've renamed Gennisi. Their turbulent origins have faded into legend for all but a few vigilant souls, and they enjoy a prosperous existence in their little corner of the cosmos.

But space remains vast and untamed, and the true universe holds dangers that no one—Anaden or Asterion, human or AI—is prepared to face.

Asterion Noir, or ‘ANR’ as I affectionately refer to it, takes place in Amaranthe, the same universe as Aurora Rhapsody concludes in, but it is a new adventure in a new setting with new characters. Prior knowledge of Aurora Rhapsody is absolutely not required, and brand new readers will be welcome here :).

Yes, this means ANR does not feature the characters of Aurora Rhapsody. They will be missed, but after the gauntlet they've beaten, I submit they deserve a proper rest. Besides, I'm unbelievably excited to share Nika's story with you, and with it the stories of her friends and enemies. She's an amazing character, and I think you will quickly fall in love with her and the fascinating world she inhabits. Amaranthe is a really big (insert Hitchhiker's Guide reference) place, and it has many remarkable stories to tell.

Will we see Alex, Caleb and the others again? Well, given that Amaranthe is now their home and they're tasked with patching up what might be the largest empire in the universe, I expect we'll bump into them sooner or later ;). For the next two years or so, however, this is Nika's world, and I invite you to come along with her for what will be one hell of an adventure.

ANR will be a trilogy of space opera novels with a heavy cyberpunk flair and a liberal sprinkling of technothriller mystery. Because when man and machine are one and the same, all bets are off, right?

I look forward to sharing more details about the Asterions and the world they’ve crafted in the coming months. Exin Ex Machina will be released in 2018. When in 2018? I’ll let you know later this spring. For now, enjoy a shiny new banner for a shiny new trilogy.

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In the previous news update, I said, 'The response to REQUIEM has been out of this world. Thank you all so much for accompanying me, Alex, Caleb, Miriam and everyone else on this incredible journey.' In preparation for the website revamp, I was going back through older posts, and two blog posts in particular led to some reflection on that simple thank you, and to a few thoughts I want to share with you.

First, perhaps my riskiest blog post to date: "A Confession, A Reveal, and A Promise," in which I confessed that Aurora Rising was merely Act I, revealed the titles, covers and summaries of Acts II and III, and promised you that if you had come this far, the rest of the journey would be doubly worth it. Judging from the reactions to Requiem (and every novel before it), I believe it might have been triply worth it. It certainly has been for me.

Second, a post from a few weeks before I published STARSHINE - what now seems like a lifetime ago (a mere 4 years, as it were): "Asking Less (and More) Of Others." In it, I talk about my belief that I had no right to ask people to support me, to invest time and effort on my behalf, until I had proven I could deliver.

Now, on the other side of delivering a 9-novel saga, I'm so glad I earned your support - your likes, follows, shares, purchases and reviews. I'm glad that I earned them the right way, by delivering a story, a universe and characters that you could immerse yourself in and fall in love with. At the time, I thanked everyone who was already supporting me and welcomed in advance everyone who would arrive in the future, drawn here by the books that were, then, still to come. In the intervening time, more of you have shown up than I ever could have imagined 4 years ago.

So today, I will reiterate both statements: to all of you who have and continue to support Aurora Rhapsody, thank you. And to all of you who will arrive in the future, whether you're brought here by Asterion Noir or your discovery of Aurora Rhapsody, welcome :).

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P.S.: Unless you're a Latin scholar, you probably want to ask. Exin Ex Machina translates roughly as ‘and then from the machine.’ Get it? Of course you do, because my readers are exceptionally astute.

…Unless it’s also referring to something other than the Asterions.

P.P.S.: Yes, Asterion Noir really is a trilogy and not secretly a trilogy-of-trilogies. More or less. Yes, I know what comes after it. No, I’m not telling anytime soon, because what comes after the trilogy arises directly from its conclusion. So sit back and enjoy the ride ;).

Shorts Collection Audiobook Now Available

I know, I said I'd see you on the other side of the new year. This is just a quick note to let you know that the SHORT STORIES OF AURORA RHAPSODY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION audiobook is now available for download on Amazon, Audible and iTunes!

Audiobook listeners finally get to enjoy the many short stories that span the Aurora Rhapsody timeline, including the brand new, exclusive-to-the-Collection story, MERIDIAN. Wondering what the short stories are all about? Learn more here.

 

AURORA RHAPSODY WINE LABEL

Size: 4.5 inches x 3.5 inches

 

Okay, there is a bit more news. For people outside the U.S. who can't order the custom-labeled wine that's recently appeared in the store, you can now instead order the Aurora Rhapsody wine labels for a couple of dollars. And, as has been pointed out to me, while they're designed to be the perfect size to fit on wine bottles, technically the labels can be affixed to just about any surface. Something to keep in mind ;). Order labels here.

  

The response to REQUIEM has been out of this world. Thank you all so much for accompanying me, Alex, Caleb, Miriam and everyone else on this incredible journey. If you loved Requiem, let me and the world know - leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Post your thoughts on social media, or if you're the shy type, just send me an email :).

Now I really will see you on the other side. Until then, an early wish of the Happiest of New Years to you and yours!

 























 

RUBICON Audiobook Now Available (Plus, a Cover Contest)

The RUBICON audiobook is out and available on Amazon and Audible. When it goes live on iTunes, I'll update this post with a link - or you can find it here.

What I said about the novel is worth repeating now for those about to dive into it:

Rubicon is a war novel, but because of its flashy space battles (which do happen). It conveys the personal cost of war, and the question of what is truly required to win one. It tackles the morality of hard choices made and the consequences they wreak. It embraces hope, family, forgiveness and the power that comes from believing nothing is impossible - then acting on that belief. It also brings to culmination the second most important story arc of the series and delivers more than one dramatic revelation.

And now, all this is brought to life by Pyper Down's incredible talent. I believe you are in for a real treat :).

New to audiobooks? You can find all the Aurora Rhapsody novels on Amazon, Audible and iTunes, and feel free to contact me at gs@gsjennsen.com if you have any questions.

 



























 

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Speaking of Rubicon - it has been shortlisted for Cover of the Month at AllAuthor.com. As I post this, it's #2 in the tally - so if you love the cover, I would greatly appreciate a vote for it! You can go here to vote (you do have to sign up/log in, but I've found it to be an excellent, non-spammy site). Thanks in advance!

 

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Epic SFF Sale For Your Holiday Weekend (Plus an Update on Requiem)

In the US and Canada, the 3-day holiday weekend marking an unofficial end to summer brings with it last trips to the beach or the lake, cookouts and other outdoor festivities. Or, it brings extra reading time. It brings BOOKS. If that's more your style, then peruse this epicness: 100 SFF books, all $0.99 each this weekend.

 



























 

The Space Opera category alone is packed with great books, including one of my favorites, Betrayal: The 1000 Revolution Book One by Pippa DaCosta, as well as the excellent Fallen Empire Collection by Lindsay Buroker and Translucid: Dragonfire Station Book One by Zen DiPietro (also a little tale called Starshine....). And that's just the first category!

  

I'm having my own sale this weekend: the Aurora Rising trilogy novels, plus Sidespace (Aurora Renegades Book One), are on sale for $0.99 each through Monday:

 



























 

I've pulled out all the stops for this one, because I want everyone I can reach to discover Aurora Rhapsody before Requiem releases later this year (more on that in a second). The promotion is already succeeding beyond my wildest expectations; on Thursday, Starshine cracked the Top 100 on Amazon and hit #1 in Space Opera as well as a number of other sci-fi categories. I'm thrilled at the prospect of thousands of new readers joining Alex, Caleb and crew on their epic adventure.

I realize most of you already own and have read the first four books, and the next four. But this is the perfect time to introduce other sci-fi readers to the series....

...Because Requiem is coming. You know this. You've read the blog post, “A Word About A Word” (or you can read it now - I won't keep track). You've seen the final cover, because I'm terrible at keeping things under wraps (unless it concerns what happens between the first page and the last).

Midway-through the 2nd draft, Requiem is bumping up against 100K words - and this is before all the really juicy words get added. I'm quite happy with how the story has come together, and despite some distractions like big promotions to organize and other matters I will keep under wraps, dammit, the book remains solidly on schedule for a Winter 2017 release. Which, as the arrival of the Labor Day holiday reminds us, isn't too very far off now.

You can follow Requiem's progress via the word/editing meter in the right sidebar of the website, and for informal, at times amusing updates along the way, check in with my Facebook page from time to time.

Be back with more news soon. First, more words.

Starshine Is Free & Other Outlandish Notions

I admit, there was a time when I thought I would never, ever make Starshine free. It was my beloved, my baby, my most treasured creation, the raison d'être of my career. And it remains all of those things.

So why is it now available for free? Because I believe in the Aurora Rhapsody saga. I believe in it so fervently that I want to remove every single solitary barrier to a reader discovering it - which is why the ebook isn't just free, it's available on all major ebook retailers. It's free in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, India, and probably more countries I can't track. Companies offer free trials to customers when they believe in the quality of their products enough to pull back the curtain and let the world look under the hood. This is no different. I'm inviting everyone to the adventure, no risk, no catch, because I believe once they're on board, they'll never leave.

AND, on the off chance that 155K words isn't enough to seal the deal, new readers who subscribe to my website will get the Vertigo ebook for free. So share the links below with your fellow science fiction fans and your irascible uncle. Requiem is coming soon, but there's no finale without the journey that leads to it.

 



























 



























 





















































































































































































































































 

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For the record, Requiem now owns me, heart and soul. Before the end of the year, I plan for it to own you, too.

Requiem Release Date, Blurb & More

REQUIEM, Book Three of Aurora Resonant and the final novel in the Aurora Rhapsody saga, will be released MONDAY, DECEMBER 11th in ebook and paperback (audiobook to follow in early 2018).

This means you'll have plenty of time to pick it up before heading out on holiday travel, where you can enjoy it on planes, trains and automobiles (...couldn't resist ;) ). You've already seen the cover, but now I'm excited to present the Requiem blurb as well:

  

The end of the world began with a library query…how will it conclude?

What began as a chance discovery of an anomalous signal is now a multiverse war between humanity and its genetic ancestors over who controls the levers of life and death. Over who decides what life is and whether it will be allowed to exist. For the ruling Anaden Directorate, victory means immortality. For humanity, defeat means extinction.

On the heels of a breakthrough in wormhole technology, AEGIS and the anarchs enjoy the upper hand in the war. But their escalation pushes the Directorate to the brink, and now it will stop at nothing to destroy its enemy.

“Dangerous we can do. Nearly impossible we can do. All we need is the tiniest odds of success.”

The Directorate has perfected the art of conquest through obliteration. But humanity has advantages the Anadens do not. They are led by a woman who’s made a career of meeting the devil at the crossroads and sending him home in defeat. Caleb Marano wields a power as ancient as the universe itself. Alex Solovy manipulates the fabric of space-time at her whim. Unlike the Directorate, they fight for something greater than themselves. And now, they have one more Solovy on the team.

In the thrilling finale of Aurora Rhapsody, events rush headlong toward an explosive conclusion that will decide the fate of civilizations, and only the victor is making it out the other side.

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Our universe is but a snowglobe—an experiment born of desperation and hope. The true universe is unfathomably vast, teeming with life and untold wonders. And it is enslaved.

Created by ancient aliens in a daring gambit to understand the nature of the enemy, humanity is now asked to be the savior of a universe not their own. If they are to succeed, they must rise above not only their fractious past but the sins of their genetic ancestors to boldly embrace a future they never dared imagine possible.

  

Here's your first quote from REQUIEM. Look for more quotes in coming days on social media (Twitter, Facebook, G+, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr) and on the website here.

 























 

REQUIEM already has its own page here on the website, and here's the Goodreads page so you can add it to your "Want to Read" shelf.

I'll have more to say about the book at release time, but I've never been more excited to share a story with the world as I am this one.

ALSO, I have a surprise in the works for you all before the Requiem release, so look for another email in a couple of weeks!

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Short Stories New & Old, an Aurora Rhapsody Retrospective & Custom-Label Wine

In the last update, I mentioned I had a surprise in the works before Requiem released. Well, here it is!

SHORT STORIES OF AURORA RHAPSODY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION is now available in ebook on Amazon and other major retailers (Nook, iTunes, Kobo, GPlay) for $0.99. It's also available in paperback, and I'm thrilled to say that it will soon be available in audiobook as well.

Short Stories of Aurora Rhapsody includes all the stories published to date (Restless I/II, Solatium, Apogee, Venatoris and Re/Genesis), but perhaps more importantly, it includes a brand new, exclusive-to-the-Collection story, MERIDIAN.

Last summer, I ran a poll asking what stories you would like to see in short form, and the runaway winner was David Solovy and Richard Navick's origin story - which was fantastic, since I very much wanted to tell that story. However, if you've finished Rubicon, you know why I held off on doing so for a while, and why I'm publishing it now :). Don't you want to read that before Requiem gets here? Grab it today.

If you've previously left a review on one of the short stories, a quick transfer of the review over to the Collection would be greatly appreciated. If you need help finding your review, just shoot me an email.

  



























 

When terrorists carpet-bomb an Earth Alliance colony, killing thousands, the military will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Strangers thrown together by circumstance amidst a difficult mission, nobody expects Lieutenants David Solovy and Richard Navick to be heroes. In fact, their commanding officers would prefer they stay out of the way and out of trouble. But when the mission to bring the One World Separatists terrorist group to justice goes sideways, they must take matters into their own hands if they want to save the day, get the bad guys and live to tell the tale.

Set nearly half a century before Starshine, MERIDIAN is the unlikely story of how one of the greatest friendships of Aurora Rhapsody came to be. Available exclusively in Short Stories of Aurora Rhapsody.

  

I have a new blog post today for your enjoyment, "AURORA RHAPSODY IN NUMBERS & PICTURES." Why am I sharing it today, instead of when Requiem releases? Because nobody's going to stop to read a blog post when Requiem releases - you're all going to be reading Requiem, right? So today, take a moment and enjoy some fond memories with me - then go read Meridian ;).

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A long-requested item has made it to the store in time for Christmas. Aurora Rhapsody custom labeled wine is now available for purchase! Choose from a cabernet or pinot grigio - and when it's empty, save the bottle :D. Shipping takes a little while, so if you want a bottle for Christmas (as a gift or for yourself), get your order in within the next couple of days.

A quick reminder: Requiem already has its own page on the website (with quick-share social media buttons at the bottom), and here's the Goodreads page so you can add it to your "Want to Read" shelf.

Nine days until  Requiem is in your hands!

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