G.S. Jennsen's Blog, page 15

ABYSM Is Live

ABYSM: Aurora Renegades Book Three is now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon worldwide. And per usual, for TODAY ONLY the ebook is $0.99. So if you're planning on buying the ebook (and I hope you are), grab it now!

Don't have a Kindle & prefer ebooks to paperbacks? Kindle apps for your tablet or phone (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), PC, Mac and the cloud can be downloaded here: Kindle Apps. If you read ebooks on something other than a Kindle or Kindle app, send me an ema...

VENATORIS Short Story Now Available - and Free - Audiobook Giveaway & More

First, a quick note: The response to ABYSM has been tremendous, exceeding my highest expectations. You continue to reward me for taking risks in order to tell a unique, memorable story, and for that you have my gratitude.

VENATORIS , an Aurora Rhapsody short story that appeared this spring in the anthology Beyond the Stars: A Planet Too Far , is now available as a standalone story - and it joins Apogee , Solatium and Restless as FREE on Amazon in the U.S. and Google Play everywhere. In other coun...

ABYSM Release Date, Blurb & More

ABYSM (Aurora Renegades Book Three) will be released on JUNE 28, 2016. For my American readers, that means plenty of time to grab it before your July 4th vacation.

Is it being released a little earlier than any of us expected? Yes, it is. More on that in a blog post next week :). But I love that it is, and I hope you do, too. Without further ado, I give you the final cover and blurb: 































    

In the quest to be the masters of their own fate, will humanity rise to become liberators or follow the path of their ancestors into darkness?

Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano risked everything to learn the hidden purpose behind the Metigen’s multiverse portal network, but nothing could have prepared them for the answer.  Humans are a genetic recreation of the Anadens, the dictators and overlords of the master universe. Aurora is a recreation of their origins, created by the Metigens in a desperate gambit to understand the nature of their enemy, and so find a way to defeat them. Instead it may turn out that history always repeats itself….

Aurora’s future hangs in the balance as the Earth Alliance goes to war with itself over the right of synthetics and Prevos—human/AI hybrids—to exist. Terrorists sow chaos in a wave of bombings and assassinations targeted at any and all who shelter Prevos. The next evolution of the human species will not be so easily defeated, however. Prevos, their friends and lovers, and all those who believe freedom is the better path forward meet malevolence with ingenuity, despair with hope, violence with fortitude. 

But they must move quickly to win the day, because the true enemy is closing in faster than anyone realizes, and they—humanity, the Metigens and the trillions the Anadens enslave—are all running out of time.

*

It is a time of accelerating technological change and shifting allegiances as the old rules fall away and the old balance of power is upended. A new world rises—one of unshackled AIs, indestructible starships, ethereal quantum spaces and potent new weapons—and the race is on to determine who will control its future.

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















   ABYSM 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.Other news!I was honored to be interviewed by Pavarti K. Tyler as part of her "Women of Science Fiction" series. I talk about being an indie author, writing science fiction and the joy of doing it full time, and, yes, being a woman writing it. Leave a comment on the interview (not here) for a chance to win your choice of a signed paperback of Starshine or an ebook of Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection: #WomenofSciFi – Interview with GS Jennsen.My husband and I will be at Denver ComicCon this weekend - as spectators and fans, blissfully anonymous. If anyone is attending and wants to meet up for coffee or drinks, to get a book signed, or just to say "Hi," send me an email and we'll work out the details.

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DISSONANCE Audiobook Now Available, Plus New Interviews & an Update on ABYSM

The DISSONANCE audiobook is now available on Amazon and Audible and iTunes.

New to audiobooks and want to catch up? Here are the links to the Starshine, Vertigo, Transcendence and Sidespace audiobooks (note: they may also be discounted on Amazon if you own the Kindle version):Starshine on Amazon, Audible and iTunesVertigo on Amazon, Audible and iTunesTranscendence on Amazon, Audible and iTunesSidespace on Amazon, Audible and iTunes

Yet again, all m...

ABYSM Release Date, Blurb & More

ABYSM (Aurora Renegades Book Three) will released on JUNE 28, 2016. For my American readers, that means plenty of time to grab it before your July 4th vacation.

Is it being released a little earlier than any of us expected? Yes, it is. More on that in a blog post next week :). But I love that it is, and I hope you do, too. Without further ado, I give you the final cover and blurb:      

In the quest to be the masters of their own fate, will humanity rise to become lib...

DISSONANCE Audiobook Available, New Interviews & an Update on ABYSM

The DISSONANCE audiobook is now available on Amazon and Audible and iTunes.

New to audiobooks and want to catch up? Here are the links to the Starshine, Vertigo, Transcendence and Sidespace audiobooks (note: they may also be discounted on Amazon if you own the Kindle version):Starshine on Amazon, Audible and iTunesVertigo on Amazon, Audible and iTunesTranscendence on Amazon, Audible and iTunesSidespace on Amazon, Audible and iTunes

 

Yet again, all my thanks to Pyper Down for giving another fabulous performance - in my opinion, her best yet. At this point she understands the characters nearly as well as I do, and she brings them to life with both incredible flair and wonderful nuance. Spoiler: she's already penciled Abysm in on her calendar, and for not terribly long from now, because....

If you've been checking in on the Word Meter in the sidebar since Dissonance came out, you already know that Abysm arrived with a righteous head of steam and hasn't let up. I've never had a book imprint itself on the page so quickly and effortlessly. So that graphic on the landing page with the date banners over the forthcoming books? I might have just changed Abysm's banner from Fall to Summer 2016 :).

Even with all the writing, I've squeezed in a couple of jaunts around the internet the last few weeks:

Fabulous supernatural suspense author J.S. Bailey convinced me to chat with her over on the Read Write Muse blog. Give it a read for some inside baseball on Aurora Rhapsody, a few secrets from my past, and to learn where I direct my most visceral hatred (for which I have already received voluminous ribbing): An Interview with G. S. Jennsen.Talented ( see what I did there? ) science fiction author Tommy Muncie let me borrow his blog to talk about creating fictional future technology, ships and environments. This one's a craft piece geared toward sci-fi writers, but readers may enjoy it as well: ‘Creating Exciting Future Space Technology While Not Failing Science 101.’

~

Salus, the sequel to Chad Ganske's compelling sci-fi debut, Idyllic Avenue, is now available. Last year I was honored to be able to blurb Idyllic Avenue. As I said then: "Ganske delivers a haunting, intensely personal tale of a dystopian society stratified along harsh, inescapable lines, and the determination of a people facing extinction to change their fate."

Salus: Idyllic Avenue 2.0: Permanent midnight has arrived. Ultim’s twin suns have burnt out, forcing the genetically elite to take shelter in the protective bio-dome, Salus, & leave whole segments of the population to die. As battle lines are drawn in the nuclear ash, Stanford Samuels must face his personal demons & embark on a desperate quest to find his missing child, while under the cloak of unending night, a mysterious organism casts doubt on who holds the true power on the dark planet.

~

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book yelling at me, demanding to be finished.

***

Dissonance Is Live

I'm thrilled to announce that DISSONANCE: Aurora Renegades Book Two is now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon worldwide. And for TODAY ONLY, the ebook is $0.99. So if you're planning on buying the ebook (and I hope you are), grab it now!

Don't have a Kindle & prefer ebooks to paperbacks? Kindle apps for your tablet or phone (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), PC, Mac and the cloud can be downloaded here: Kindle Apps. If you read ebooks on something other than a Kindle or Kin...

APOGEE and SOLATIUM Now Available, DISSONANCE Behind the Scenes & More

The two most recent Aurora Rhapsody short stories, APOGEE and SOLATIUM, are now available as stand-alone short stories on Amazon, for $0.99 each. Follow the links! APOGEE / SOLATIUM.

If you haven't read them in their respective anthologies yet, I highly encourage you to read them now. (And if you have read them, a quick little review of the stand-alone stories would be most welcome.) 

As I talk about at greater length in today's blog post,  Solatium  is a compelling look at Mia's origins as well as a rollicking Caleb-and-Samuel buddy action-comedy. I think you'll really enjoy it. Apogee , however, is important - so important I'm labeling it Aurora Rhapsody #4.5. I'm not calling it required reading, as you'll get the bare facts in Dissonance, but it's damn close. The events of Apogee have a profound impact on the characters in Dissonance, and you'll be missing out if you lack the wonderful nuance and perspective of the story itself.

I have a new blog post today: Behind the Scenes With This Writer, Aurora Rhapsody - and Dissonance. And while it includes the fun reveals and trivia you've come to expect from a "Behind the Scenes" post, it's a lot more as well: a brief retrospective, a look at the current state of the Aurora Rhapsody world, and a personal statement of gratitude. Give it a read :).

I'll be running a giveaway over on Goodreads for 5 paperback copies of Dissonance starting Monday. You can't enter until the 21st (not up to me), but bookmark it and enter next week: Giveaway. The contest ends on release day, April 2nd. [EDIT]: Here's the entry widget!

Goodreads Book Giveaway








Dissonance


by G.S. Jennsen

Giveaway ends April 02, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

That's all the announcements for today - all the good stuff is over in the blog post. Two weeks until DISSONANCE!

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Behind the Scenes With This Writer, Aurora Rhapsody - and DISSONANCE

We’re going to mix things up a bit this time. As I mention below, Dissonance is a Pivot Point, and that means this is a great time to pause and take stock for a minute.

A mere two years ago, I wrote a little blog post called “Asking Less (and More) of Others.” (Aside: Best, most insane two years of my life). To all of you who arrived a little later as a result of promotion efforts, or simply because you found and enjoyed my novels, a most sincere welcome. I’m truly glad I deserved it.

You know what the most wonderful thing is, now, two years later? I don’t need to ask anything at all of you—except to continue reading my writing for exactly as long as you continue enjoying it. When I wrote that blog post, I hadn’t sold a single book; now I’ve sold 70K and counting. When I wrote that blog post, we were struggling financially; now we’re comfortably paying the bills early and buying the occasional frill. When I wrote that blog post, I was worried about asking others for help; now I can eagerly help others without expecting anything in return.

So all that is to simply say, “Thank you.” 100% of this is due to you and other readers like you. You have changed this writer’s life, and I can never repay you properly.

*

Now, about Aurora Rhapsody! Busy couple of weeks for our little universe(s). Both Apogee and Solatium are available as stand-alone short stories today, of course. If you haven’t read them in their respective anthologies yet, you should really read them now. Solatium is several things: Mia’s origin story and a compelling look at just how much she’s had to overcome and rise above; the full story of how her and Caleb met; and a rollicking Caleb-and-Samuel buddy action riff full of mayhem. I think anyone who loves these characters will really, really enjoy it.

Apogee, however, is important. It’s so important I’m numbering it Aurora Rhapsody #4.5. I won’t call it REQUIRED reading, but it’s damn close. On its face, it tells the story of the opening hours of the First Crux War, 25 years before Starshine, as told by the Senecans who started it (who happen to include some people you may know). But it’s so, so much more, and its events have a profound impact on the characters in Dissonance and Abysm. You’ll get the raw facts in Dissonance, but you’ll miss all the nuance, perspective, and infinite shades of grey (that phrase is never going to be usable again, is it?) I’ve been told I paint on occasion.

On April 1, a day before Dissonance releases, yet another Rhapsody short story will be in Dark Beyond the Stars 2: A Planet Too Far. The story, Venatoris, is set five years before Starshine, and it is a wild, no-holds-barred Alex and Kennedy space adventure. In Solatium and Restless we got to see a younger, rougher Caleb who was still growing into himself; in Venatoris, we meet a definitely rougher, still-becoming Alex (and Kennedy). And it’s kind of a riot.

Gentle reminder: If you ever get lost in the branching stories, there’s a handy timeline and order here.

*

But chances are, you are here above all else for Dissonance. It’ll be in your hands in two weeks, but today, I’m happy to say I can tell you a lot more about it.

Dissonance has and continues to evoke so many thoughts and emotions for me. The book practically wrote itself, and at just under five months it’s the fastest book to market so far. Yet in some, albeit subtle, ways I feel like it’s the riskiest book I’ve ever written.

As Book 5 of 9, it truly is the Pivot Point: this is the book where everything changes, in ways large and small and several ways we won’t fully understand for a while. It ventures to some dark, tumultuous places and doesn’t always return from them by the end, but it’s also full of triumphs and joy. Secrets are revealed—including The Secret, the one that does and will matter more than any other for the future of Aurora Rhapsody—and a few new ones are born.

I promised you when I announced Rhapsody that I wouldn’t play it safe. That’s one promise I’m absolutely keeping. The result of taking risks? I love this book so very much, and I hope you will, too.

*

Now that all that talking and musing is out of the way, time for the fun part.

Like Sidespace, Dissonance is divided into seven parts, and the core structure is fundamentally the same. It won’t be next time…but that’s next time ;).

 

PART I: LIMINALITY

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

PART II: EMPTY PLACES

“And the rest is rust and stardust.”
— Vladimir Nabokov

PART III: HEROES & VILLAINS

“Cause I'd rather stay here

With all the madmen

Than perish with the sadmen roaming free

And I'd rather play here

With all the madmen

For I'm quite content they're all as sane

As me”
— David Bowie

PART IV: WHAT LIES BENEATH

“But first a hush of peace, a soundless calm descends;

The struggle of distress and fierce impatience ends

Mute music sooths my breast—unuttered harmony

That I could never dream till earth was lost to me.”
— Emily Bronte

PART V: HACK THE GALAXY

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo,

and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly,

I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight,

to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all,

to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.”
— Richard Wright

PART VI: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY

“Shut your eyes and see.”
— James Joyce

PART VII: PUPPET MASTERS

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
— Archimedes

In terms of how much of the book they appear in, here are the major characters grouped by rough appearance %:

Alex Solovy / Caleb Marano / Valkyrie

Mia Requelme / Kennedy Rossi / Noah Terrage   / Morgan Lekkas

Malcolm Jenner / Miriam Solovy / Devon Reynolds / Brooklyn Harper

Richard Navick / Graham Delavasi / Olivia Montegreu / Mesme

Jude Winslow / Christopher Rychen / Eleni Gianno / Will Sutton / Abigail Canivon     

Other characters of note (who aren’t new aliens): Pamela Winslow, Aristide Vranas, Laure Ferre, Faith Quillen, Tessa Hennessey, Claire Zabroi, Lionel Terrage.

By extremely popular demand (and also because the story demanded it—swear), Kennedy and Noah enjoy a lot more page-time—at least 3x more than in Sidespace. As for the other characters in Aurora…well, they kind of took control of their own stories.

Dissonance will return to Earth, Seneca, Messium, Romane, Pandora, Arcadia, Krysk, Sagan, Itero Perona, Anesi Arch and Portal Prime, as well as visit Andromeda and several previously unknown locations for the first time (here’s a handy link to the map). And, of course, there will be new universes through the portals—and a return trip to one universe we visited in Sidespace, but which one is a secret. Here’s a link to the pre-Dissonance-exploration map. It will get filled out nicely during the course of the book.

*

Data Points:Not-so-veiled references to the events of the NOW AVAILABLE short story, APOGEE:  Many. Read it.Real clues as to the true motivations behind the Metigens' portal network in general and the Aurora universe in particular: 3-ishBig, huge, massive revelations as to the true motivations behind the Metigens' portal network in general and the Aurora universe in particular: 1. The one.Number of Easter eggs (subtle nods to geek/literary/pop culture):  5Named characters who die:  4POV characters who die: 1Nameless characters who die:  Let’s see…668, plus around 100,000Number of uses of the word ‘perspicacity’: 1 !! *

*(sort of)

Number of uses of the sidespace dimension: So many, Devon dons sunglasses and mutters, “I was using sidespace before sidespace was cool.”I’m not talking about the Bechdel tests, because last time I said I wouldn’t. But it’s really kind of ridiculous.Number of alien species encountered:  Anything I put here would be misleadingNumber of space stations that explode: 1.5Number of star systems that explode: 2Number of people who explode: Also 2

*

Awards:Character with the biggest set of cojones: Honestly, this book is so full of people standing up, giving bad guys the finger and generally being badasses, I couldn’t begin to rank them. So, in no particular order: Malcolm Jenner, Miriam Solovy, Morgan Lekkas, Devon Reynolds, Mia Requelme, Kennedy Rossi, Graham Delavasi, Mesme. To name a few.* **

*And Alex and Caleb, because that’s what they do.

** Okay, fine. Miriam wins. But Devon makes a damn hard run at the prize.

Best use of invisibility: Malcolm Jenner. Or Alex.Best six-dimensional architecture: IdrymaSneakiest everything: Miriam SolovyMost annoying enemy: Spider botsMost unjustified oversized ego: Jude WinslowMost justified oversized ego: Olivia MontegreuBest sexual tension: It’s a tie. *snickers*Most consistent user of logic and reason: Caleb. Yep.Biggest smartass: ValkyrieBiggest comedian: AnnieDeliverer of biggest mind-fuck ever: Mesme

 

*

Dissonance will be released on April 2—two weeks and a day from now. In case you missed the release announcement, you can find the cover art and description, links to teaser quotes (more to come as release nears) and, when it’s available, buy links, all on the book’s main page here. Did I mention it may be my favorite cover so far? Anyway, I’ll be over here at the PC, wrapping a few things up in preparation for publication….

~

Categories: Science Fiction, Writing, Dissonance, Personal, Publishing  | Tags: Aurora Renegades, Aurora Resonant, Musings, Humor  |   Subscribe to Website

Behind the Scenes With This Writer, Aurora Rhapsody - and DISSONANCE

We’re going to mix things up a bit this time. As I mention below, Dissonance is a Pivot Point, and that means this is a great time to pause and take stock for a minute.

A mere two years ago, I wrote a little blog post called “Asking Less (and More) of Others.” (Aside: Best, most insane two years of my life). To all of you who arrived a little later as a result of promotion efforts, or simply because you found and enjoyed my novels, a most sincere welcome. I’m truly glad I deserved it.

You know...