Mark E. Cooper's Blog, page 13

Devan Chronicles Box Set

With the success of the Merkiaari Wars Box Set, it’s time to reveal the Devan Chronicles Box Set. Three books in one to tidy your Kindle libraries and make the story easier to read and search.

This box set is aimed at those who enjoy sword & sorcery stories with an historical medieval bent. It consists of the first three books in the series and is priced competitively at $8.99 for readers who like a discount. So you’ll read how Julia is summoned to Deva to be their champion in The God Decrees, follow her to the capital in The Power That Binds, and learn what happens when she is taken hostage and finds herself on the Camorin plains among the Clans in The Warrior Within. Lastly, and as an added bonus you will find the first two chapters of Dragon Dawn: Devan Chronicles 4 in the extras section absolutely free!

Where to buy: Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kobo | Nook | iTunes

Look at that box, it’s beautiful design was produced by Dawn Smith of www.darkdawncreations.com. I hope you love it as much as I do guys, thanks for reading, and keep those emails coming!

Mark

Win a Kindle Paperwhite!

Fall and Winter are a great time to relax beside the fire, and we’re here to help you feed the need to read with space opera science fiction from galaxies near and far. We have titles to meet every taste, often with stellar ratings and reviews–and check out the incredible deals many of the authors are running, such as free copies or promotional pricing.

Below the books, you can enter our drawing to win the all-new, ad-free model of the Kindle Paperwhite.

Thanks for reading and entering, and tell a friend!

 

Find Your Next Favorite Space Opera Series!

 

(Ratings below are for the first book in a series).

MERKIARRI WARS

4.1 Avg on Amazon

Book 1: Hard Duty: Humanity’s last encounter with aliens saw sixteen point two billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades. When one small ship discovers a new alien race, Captain Jeff Colgan of the survey ship ASN Canada is at the tip of the spear. His ship made the discovery, his crew’s lives are on the line, and his decisions will decide the outcome. Will he be responsible for another sixteen billion deaths? The pressure is more than any one man can possibly take, but he has no choice but to shoulder it and perform his duty. He must investigate and make recommendations, but when the aliens discover his ship and begin hunting him through their system, his mission changes from one of study to one of survival.

DEAL: FREE on Amazon US |

Merkiaari Wars Box Set

October is here and we are on the final run up to the release of Operation Breakout: Merkiaari Wars 4. I thought now would be a good time to offer the first three books in a bundle to get new readers up to speed with how the war is going before they dive into the new book.

With that in mind, may I present to you the Merkiaari Wars Box Set? This great bundle is already up for pre-orders at Kobo here and has already reached #32 in their Sci Fi & Fantasy > High Tech and #61 in their Sci Fi & Fantasy > Space Opera categories! I am so pleased new readers will join us in the journey we are embarked upon

As an added bonus, because hey we’re not all new readers of the series, right? Some of us would like all three books in one place for easy reading and searching of those little bits of tech speak, or we just want to have tidy libraries in our Kindles, Nooks, Kobos, and iPads! Whatever your preferences are, I felt this set needed a bonus for us old readers! So, I’ve added a sneak peek into the world of Operation Breakout: Merkiaari Wars 4. Don’t get upset now, I haven’t put in any spoilers, but for those of you who want to read the very next bit of the story after devouring books 1-3 you can head over into the Extras section of this box set and read what happens next.

I hope you love it as much as I do guys, thanks for reading, and keep those emails coming! I always answer, even if it’s a few days after you sent it so be patient with me. I have Merkiaari to kill!

Mark

What I’m working on now

So, I always get this question, and it comes up more and more toward the date of an anticipated release like book 4 of the Merkiaari Wars series, haha. Readers are, I think, too polite to tell me to get off my backside and finish it already! Instead, they say nice things and then end with something like, “Oh, by the way, what are you working on right now?”

Haha, I’m onto you guys, so I will come straight out and say I am working exclusively upon Operation Breakout, and that other series’ titles are on hold while I finish it up. However, because I know what you really want is something from the book to tide you over, I’m going to beak a rule that I just this moment made up so I could break it! That rule is, never release teasers of stuff you don’t know for absolutely certain won’t be edited out of the final book. That’s actually a good rule. Hmmm… well I’ve said it now, so I have to break it don’t I?

Tell you what, I will give you a bit of Operation Breakout: Merkiaari Wars 4, but it will be something that won’t spoil plot and won’t hurt anything if it should ever be cut. I don’t think it will, but you never know so be warned. Here we go…

16 ~ Round 2

Aboard Blood Drinker, approaching translation.

There was no calling him back now, Valjoth thought with heavy satisfaction. He really should not gloat, but it was hard not to. He had thought these thoughts far too many times during this very very long journey in the otherness of foldspace, and though essentially true, it had been just as true the moment the ship left Kiar. There was no communication possible until they translated back to n-space. Higher energy states, such as the ever so useful foldspace, didn’t play nice with any type of known communications technology. The vermin makers and builders of such things swore there should be a way around the limitation, and they had orders to make it so, but nothing they had tried yet had worked.

Valjoth was in two minds about it.

A way to communicate in foldspace would change everything about how he performed as First Claw of the Host. Everything. From planning to execution, everything would change in fundamental ways. It would make certain things easier, but it would also be a way for the Hegemon to micromanage him and the Hegemony in general. There wouldn’t be a need for him to be a part of this cleansing force for example. With foldspace communications a reality, he might be forced to stay in Kiar and give his orders from there. He hated the thought. Never to experience battle again, to lose any opportunity to rend the vermin with his own claws; he’d rather be dead. Theories regarding higher energy states where such communications might become a reality were only that so far. Despite some of the advantages he might glean from the discovery of another type of foldspace without the current limitations, he hoped it never happened.

Theories were all well and good, but he preferred realities; especially where they intersected with his own area of expertise—battle and exterminating vermin. Innovations did affect how he planned for those things, so he did have to keep a claw in the pot, so to speak, but he didn’t really understand the makers or their fiendish love for innovation. Take for example the last time he had reviewed the research into foldspace. What was the point of it? They already knew how to enter it, navigate it, go faster or slower… what more was there and who cared? Who but a maker cared why foldspace worked the way it did? Sometimes he wondered if they really did care, or whether they were just ensuring their own perceived usefulness to the Hegemon. It was hard for him to think like a maker, and distasteful he admitted, but he made the effort now and then; how else could he be sure he understood what they were trying to do? Anyway, he had to keep himself aware of them and their work in case they really did invent something useful.

And how had his thoughts become entangled by builders and makers when the ship was about to translate to n-space? His first battle of a brand new war was about to begin. He needed to concentrate upon that. He wondered how the other cleansings were progressing. No way to know. He had to trust those he’d chosen to command them. He really hated that part; the trusting. Now there was a good reason for the plus side of the foldspace comms column if ever he’d heard one! He could micromanage his commanders even as the Hegemon did the same to him! Perhaps they felt the same as he when they sent him out to do their bidding? That was a thought.

“Status!” he barked.

“Unchanged, my lord,” Usk said. “It will be unchanged the next time you ask too.”

Valjoth shot a look at the shield bearer, but it bounced off. He wouldn’t be much of a shield if he couldn’t withstand his patron’s moods. Finally he grinned, accepting the implied rebuke, but it was for form’s sake only. They both knew he didn’t mean it.

“Very well, Usk, I shall ask again only after translation to make the liar of you.”

Usk looked worried suddenly.

Valjoth laughed, gnashing his fangs at his oldest companion. Those around the command centre also laughed, and Usk growled as if angered, but everyone knew him too well. Blood Drinker’s command team had been together all their lives. They were from the same batch and vat as well. Born together and trained; they were like one being—a perfect team. Valjoth had insisted upon the best for his ship, and he had the power as First Claw to make it stick. They knew him and his moods; they knew the difference between playful anger and the real raging-on-the-killing-edge kind.

He turned his thoughts back to the war. “Zillah’s cleansing should be well begun.”

“If he held to your timing,” Usk agreed.

“He better,” Valjoth snarled, and this time all knew his temper was real. “Each fleet’s First Claw has the same instructions. I picked all of them because they seemed able to follow orders.”

“Any can do that, lord, but these orders are… twisty?”

“Different you mean.”

“No, I really did mean twisty,” Usk said and gnashed fangs. “No one has ever fought like this before. The tests you put them through seem to show they understand the reasons for them, but I have my doubts.”

“I know you do.”

“Yes, but I was here when you came up with the plan, and even so I have doubts. They only know what you’ve told them you want. They didn’t witness how your ideas grew and don’t have the benefit of knowing why you think this new way of fighting will work.”

Valjoth thought about that for a moment, and didn’t like his conclusion. “You’re saying I did not explain the plan as well as I should? You should have pointed that out when I could have done something about!”

“If I thought that, I would have, my lord. It’s part of my duty as shield bearer to give council. You explained things better than any could have or any commander deserves. They exist to obey you after all.”

Valjoth nodded, but blind obedience wasn’t what he wanted. He would take it over disobedience of course, but he wanted his fleet commanders to think for themselves and see why his orders would work, and not just obey them out of their training or fear of him. What he really wanted, he admitted to himself, was to be in five places at once so that he could lead each battle himself! He hated trusting them to do the right thing, when he wasn’t sure they knew what he thought the right thing was! They weren’t fools, but they weren’t him, and everyone knew he was… odd. Different then. He was different and he thought differently.

They knew what he wanted them to do, or they said they did, but their instincts would fight against some of his notions. He had known that would happen at the time, and he’d tried to frame his instructions in such a way as to appeal to their own sense of rightness. It had been fiendishly hard not to simply roar his orders into their faces and stomp about, but that would have defeated his purpose.

He ultimately wanted to turn his fleet commanders into a team like the one he had here on Blood Drinker, one that understood him and his views on things, but unlike those here they all came from different batches and vats. They weren’t all the same; they all had different strengths and experiences. How did the vermin-spawned Humans cope? They squeezed out their pups individually the same way as the full bloods did. No batches or vats for the Humans. How did they train their young troopers?

It didn’t matter how the Humans did what they did, only how he responded. He wanted to match and eventually best them, but they were so different from his people that his methods would be different; had to be different, and the Hegemon were a factor he could not ignore. They still hadn’t seen the need to increase production of the new troops beyond the meagre and inadequate three batches in ten. Hegemon oversight meant his battle plans had to satisfy so many criteria. They had to have a good chance of victory and be achievable with the meagre resources the Hegemon allowed him to use, but they also had to be understandable by those carrying them out while being different enough to surprise the enemy. Those differences had caused mayhem among the Hegemon and his own commanders, but they were so necessary.

Everything depended upon him being able to surprise the Humans, but traditionally that was something they excelled at doing to his people not the other way around! His people had their strengths, but quick thinking and adapting to circumstances had never been one of them… until now; until him and those like him. They were so few, those oddities who could think in strange ways—strange to other Merkiaari. How many had he lost to challenges and mishap? No way to know, but he suspected the handful he had saved were a mere tithe of those quickened. Their temperaments were such that very few survived training and the daily challenge of living among batch mates bigger and stronger than they. Invariably they were the runts of the batch, and like him they had to live on their wits until maturity lent them skills enough to avoid challenges or win them through cleverness. He had promoted those he had found, nurtured them within the Host to become some of his best ground commanders, but there were too few of them. None were seasoned enough to become First Claw to any of his current cleansing fleets, certainly they would not be respected in that role and that was death to any Merkiaari because challenges had to be answered.

He had high hopes for the oddities, as some in the Hegemon insisted upon calling them. If they survived the coming battles with the Humans, they might move up and help him build the Host stronger and make it quicker to respond to surprises. That would defang the Humans and make much of what made them so dangerous irrelevant.

“Approaching translation in ten, nine, eight,…”

Finally!

Rarely had he spent so long in foldspace. He had visited every one of the thousand suns that comprised the Hegemony, but even then the trip back from the farthest Merkiaari outpost had been broken up into manageable chunks. This journey though was a different matter, and that brought fuel to mind—

“Translation!”

He roared as the universe tried to squeeze him out of existence, or he tried to. It always happened, and the others were experiencing the same distress. Did the Humans feel this… this utter confusion? He hoped they did because if not it was yet one more thing to fear about them. He struggled to move, but as always his body wasn’t his own. This loss of control was intolerable for any Merkiaari. That was one of the reasons that ground troops spent the journeys between worlds and battles asleep in hibernation chambers. Allowing his troops to experience this would win the war for the Humans before it began. They would come out of foldspace raging. Before he knew it, half his force would be dead at the claws of the other half.

Blood Drinker blinked into existence and the energy discharge blasted away from her. Other ships arrived all around her, and the light show was extreme. Shields fluoresced as each ship encountered its neighbour’s foldspace wake and shunted it aside. Generators howled deep within ships armoured and protected against such titanic forces, but they were designed to handle worse if not this precise situation. Valjoth had thrown away doctrine yet again and forced his ships to translate back to n-space in tight formations. They arrived very close to each other; too close according to the ship’s proximity alerts. Alarms sounded on every ship, and computers screamed about imminent collision, but they were wrong about that. Every ship in every cleansing fleet deployed in this new war had practised this manoeuvre among many others. The entire fleet was awash in coruscating energy, but it caused no damage.

“Status!” Valjoth said, making good on his earlier threat. What good was any threat if not followed through, even one as harmless as this?

Usk turned his harried face toward his lord, he was still receiving reports, but he answered in order of priority as he should. “All ships report successful translation, my lord.” He slowed his words to gain time and hear more on his headset. “No collisions reported. The formation is… within predicted values.”

“Yes, yes,” Valjoth said impatiently. “The enemy?”

“As predicted also. There is a small force of guardships orbiting the fourth planet, but it wouldn’t threaten even a single force of our own guardships. Blood Drinker alone could destroy them all with ease.”

“Good!” He was very pleased with that particular news. He had reports from the recon drones he’d ordered sent to all of his targets, but this was the first that he was able to confirm. “The colony?”

Here Usk hedged. “It appears very small. Not really a colony but more like an outpost or watch station. I cannot be certain, my lord, from this range.”

Understandable again, as the recon drones had been unable to venture into the inner system without being detected. Valjoth had absolutely forbidden that. He had to maintain surprise for a while longer, and then he wanted the exact opposite. He could hardly wait to see the reaction. He wanted his presence to shatter the Human’s calm complacency, but only at a time of his choosing. That had been another thing his commanders found hard to grasp. Sneaking about was distasteful to them, but they understood the advantage of doing so, but then to throw away that advantage? They just didn’t understand what it would do to the Humans; he had studied them and did know.

In some ways they were very like the other vermin his people had fought and subjugated, especially the Shintarn and Parcae, but in others they were very different. They seemed to defy logic on purpose. They were warlike yet were also builders like the cursed Kiar had been, and professed to love peace—patently absurd; their own actions belied it. They were also makers, like the Shintarn and Parcae, poking into things and making them reveal their secrets, yet they truly excelled at fighting; very Merkiaari-like that was. They were incomprehensible to his people because they didn’t fit a known pattern. They were Merkiaari-like in their love of battle, yet not like as well—they had wars among their own kind! Inconceivably wasteful though it was, Valjoth could see how it made them better fighters. Real battle was always a better teacher than mere training, and they did always seem to be killing each other. Perhaps they had their little wars amongst themselves for entertainment; he could see the attraction, but even he would shy away from such a waste of troops. Proposing a similar system of Merki on Merki real battle training would have him put down as mentally defective, and rightly so. Challenge between individuals was one thing, but setting his ground troops against one another en masse? He shuddered at the thought of what it would do to discipline.

Perhaps it was simply the Human’s bad luck that their worlds were so isolated from other vermin worlds. The sectors of the spiral arm that they called their own were devoid of any but their own people. The opposite situation held true for the Hegemony, and well it did. The vermin-cursed Kiar would never have envisioned a need for enforcers if they had felt secure. His people might never have been created, Valjoth mused, if not for Kiar paranoia. The same would have resulted if Kiar and Human had switched location within the galaxy. Perhaps the Humans would then have ruled their own Hegemony, and the Merkiaari would never have existed. Could it be simple happenstance that they had evolved to fight their own kind simply because there were no alternative enemies in their sectors?

He realised Usk was awaiting orders. “Call the fleet to order, Usk!”

“Yes, my lord, but your ah… new method of arrival means that it’s already in battle order.”

“Exactly!” Valjoth said with heavy satisfaction. “Now you begin to see method in my madness, eh?”

“Yes, my lord, your madness has proven useful time and again.”

“Was that a joke, Usk? How very… me-like you suddenly seem.”

“The Hegemon forfend!” Usk said with genuine-sounding distress. “I did not mean… that is to say…”

“Enough!” Valjoth roared. “My shield bearer should know when I jest and when I do not. You are, as always, the best of warriors and companions. Fear not. I have not infected you with my madness.”

Yet.

Usk straightened at the praise. “Your orders, my lord?”

Valjoth studied the holographic display at the centre of the command deck while his highly trained and matched command staff went quietly and efficiently about their duties. His formation was indeed battle ready, but he had far more ships than he needed to cleanse this system. He could detach some of the guardships and a single troopship to deal with Usk’s not-colony and the Human ships loitering there. Despite his rather exciting entry into their system, they didn’t know that their deaths had come upon them. They had ships, but none were patrolling. Human technology was on par with Merkiaari tech, yet unlike every single Hegemony system, this one didn’t have a single defensive satellite or station; not one! It really was a very poor way to run a system. Although he was the beneficiary of their incompetence, he found himself disapproving on general principles.

“I suppose I cannot justify taking Blood Drinker into battle so soon,” he said sourly.

“Definitely not,” Usk counselled, and realised that his lord wanted to engage in some slaughter personally, but could not be seen to suggest it himself. “We could go down to the surface?”

Valjoth brightened. “Excellent notion, Usk! That is just what we shall do. Choose one of the troopships and assign a guardship squadron as escort.”

“A full squadron?”

“I know it’s far too many for this little fight, but I want everyone to keep thinking as a unit. They must fight and manoeuvre together the way our interceptor pilots do.”

“Forgive me, lord, but interceptors are tiny things. You cannot think to make the fleet so agile.”

“No, but I want us thinking about how they fight and why they fight the way they do.”

“It’s because of the way the Humans—” Usk’s jaw snapped shut.

“Yes? You were saying about the Humans?”

“You cannot turn us into them, my lord.”

“Kiar rot my fangs and may they fall out if I should try!” Valjoth said, shocked that anyone should accuse him of that, and doubly so that it should be Usk. “We are Merkiaari!” He roared, and this time everyone on the command deck turned to watch. He rarely became truly angry, but often put on a show of it, but this was real and they knew it. “We are fighting Humans who, like it or not, defeated us once before. I do what I do not to become them, but to destroy them! One of their strengths is that they fight as a unit. What have I been telling you and any who would listen?”

“To train and fight together, but we have always done that, my lord.”

“No!” he barked. “Think, Usk, think! Our troops fought on the same battlefield; that is not the same thing! Our new troops have learned what our interceptor pilots and the Humans have always known—how to support one another in battle. Do not our guardships protect the troopships? Does Blood Drinker not protect all?” Valjoth didn’t wait for an answer. “Our ships will fight in formation, not just arrive and depart battle in them! They will, or I will know why not! Now give the order.”

“Yes, my lord,” Usk said in a chastened tone.

Valjoth ignored the injured tone and glared around at the observers. They all suddenly found things to do. He turned his attention back to the holographic system display, and fumed. If Usk didn’t understand him after all this time, what chance did his commanders have? It didn’t matter, he supposed, as long as they obeyed. No, it did matter, and he castigated himself for wavering in his own certainty for even a moment. He couldn’t be everywhere and watching that they remembered his new way of doing things. He had to teach them why it worked, not simple obedience.

Traditional doctrine had always worked before, that was the rub. Before the Humans they would have attacked en masse to overwhelm the vermin. Each ship would find a target and destroy it, and then repeat as long as necessary, but the Humans had shown that a numerically inferior force could best a superior one if the right tactics were employed. It worked in space as well as on the ground. They had a nasty habit of retreating and luring an enemy into a bad position to annihilate it, but they also protected each other even to the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. He had studied battles where Human ships had used themselves as shields to protect other ships, until both were destroyed or the attacker was. Sometimes the Humans lost, but they took a heavy toll before they did. He wanted that kind of spirit instilled in the Host. They already did it in a limited way, so it wasn’t exactly anathema to his people. Guardships were named thus for their primary role of protecting troopships after all. Surely the next tiny evolution of that principle wasn’t beyond his people or his ability to teach?

He glared at the display and the system it detailed. The Human’s vermin-spawned navy was not present. That was excellent news to him, but ordinarily it would have been considered a bad thing. Doctrine again. The reasons were many, but in this instance he celebrated because he didn’t want to fight a protracted battle. Not yet. The journey had been long; fuel was his priority right now, or should be. He realised he hadn’t even thought to ask about it! One of his greatest hurdles had been persuading his commanders that arriving in a hostile system low on fuel was a good idea when it was patent insanity! It really was and he knew it, but it was his kind of insanity, which meant it wasn’t insane at all, just twisty thinking.

Why was he doing it this way? The Hegemon had certainly wanted to know, and despite heated discussions with them, they had allowed him to try this. The distances were so vast that doctrine would have forced him to attack a system that he did not consider a good strategic target simply because it had always been considered wrong to risk battle with less than 50% fuel aboard. 50%! As if any ship commander worthy of the name would even consider retreating, let alone running all the way back to his starting point; the idea was ludicrous. It would never happen, and that was part of what he was fighting in his efforts to reform doctrine.

He believed retreat was an important tactic. It was not cowardice or running away from battle when used to reposition forces to better advantage. If there was one thing the Humans had taught him from his research of them, it was that retreat was useful; that and fighting in proper formations. There were many other things besides, but those two were the most important. Unfortunately, it was also the hardest for Merkiaari minds to grasp.

He watched one of his troopships manoeuvre into the centre of a guardship formation. It slotted itself into the gap left for it, just like one of the simulations he had insisted they practise. It lightened his mood, seeing how well it was performed. Such a simple thing, but it showed how well they had learned to manoeuvre among so many ships in close proximity. Their first practise runs had been worse than just embarrassing, he remembered. They hadn’t needed to scrap the ships, but they had needed extensive repairs.

The troopship and escort set course for the fourth planet and battle. He wished he could join them.

“Fuel,” Valjoth prompted, forcing his attention back to the rest of his fleet and away from envy. They and not he would fire the first shots of his new war. They and not he would kill Humans, the first Merkiaari to do so in centuries. “Where do we stand, Usk?”

“Reports are still coming in, my lord, but I estimate we have 18% remaining. That is an average. Blood Drinker is down to 6%.”

Valjoth’s eyes widened and he fought to control his expression. That was… a little disturbing. He had calculated that Blood Drinker would arrive with a surplus of twice that amount, and his ship was the most powerful unit in the fleet, meaning it was the most massive and fuel inefficient. 6% surplus was nothing. They could have run dry entirely and lost the ship in foldspace.

“Well,” he said finally. “We can update our estimates with hard and reliable numbers now.”

Usk wasn’t fooled. He gnashed his fangs in amusement. “Yes, my lord. I think we can do that for certain. Any future planning should take them into account. Yes?”

“Yes,” he said grumpily, but then he brightened. “Well we are here and the war is begun. What do you think of it so far?”

“It’s boring,” Usk said sourly.

“Boring? We can’t have a boring war, Usk! What would the Hegemon say? Let us bring the rest of the fleet to order and get started. Set course for the gas giants. I want this system cleansed and this fleet back in foldspace on schedule. I put great weight on that. I have to prove it can be done. I don’t want anyone using my tardiness as an excuse not to follow the plan.”

“No one would dare, my lord!”

“Maybe so, but we both know they would be thinking it even if never uttered aloud.”

The fleet having arrived in formation—in extremely close formation if Valjoth was truthful—quickly set course for the closest of the two gas giants the system had and the torturous task of refuelling so many ships without the benefit of proper gas mines. The current formation had nothing to do with the refuelling, but it did have the effect of making the course change quick and efficient. The formation was for practice and for getting his ship handlers used to such things. His future tactics relied upon them knowing what they could do with their ships; knowing instinctively and not simply assuming they knew because doctrine said so. Doctrine, some of it at least, had lost the last war for them. It wouldn’t lose this one; it wouldn’t win it either—he would.

* * *

Operation Breakout cover

So, it has been a while since I lasted posted a blog. There are a few reasons for that. Some of you may know that my background is in engineering, and that for the last thirty-two years I have been working for Ford here in the UK. That’s a lot of years in one career. Many people these days never stay in one place so long, or even for a mere ten years any more. Well man and boy at Ford makes a person get set in his ways, so when he’s told that it’s all over, it can be a bit of a shock. That’s happened to my friends and I.

Last September we were informed that we were surplus to requirements, and that a few months later we would be out. I have to admit that unlike a lot of my friends I wasn’t fearful of unemployment. I have wanted to be a full time writer for years but I’ve never had the courage to throw my career in engineering away and risk everything on my writing career. Well this news was the push I needed to take the plunge. My books are in a good place, and I felt the time was right.

Well, the plant where I worked for so long did finally close at the end of July, and I was thrown into the deep end as it were. It has taken me a month to adjust so that my writing can continue on my new self-imposed schedule. I have to say the hardest part isn’t paying the bills. It’s disciplining myself to write every day even when I don’t feel like doing anything. It’s nice out in the garden, but I MUST NOT go out there and goof off! I have Merkiaari to kill!

Operation Breakout: Merkiaari Wars 4 is about two thirds done as of September 1st. That means I am four weeks behind or thereabouts. I had thought the book would be in editors hands now, but no. I doubt I can finish it before end of October. But, it’s not all bad news. The cover is done ahead of schedule. That will save a lot of time. If you remember Operation Oracle (book 3) was delayed because of cover issues, so maybe this will make up some time.

Because you have all been so patient, here is the cover to look at. As always, Dawn Smith of Dark Dawn Creations handled the design, and Panagiotis Vlamis created the art.

Are reviews still important?

Ask that question and you will get many different responses. One reader will say that no they’re not important because he simply reads the free sample and decides whether to buy from that. Or, a friend recommends a book, and he buys it too. Word of mouth is still the way most people decide to buy something, not just books.

Ask an author, especially one who is not a best seller, and you will get an entirely different answer. Authors are finding it increasingly hard to garner reviews in this digital age, yet they need them for more than simple reader feedback. More and more ebooks are published each month, and getting those into a reader’s hands is becoming harder as promotional websites scramble for a way to filter books into categories their audience will like. The truth is, reviews are more important to authors than they like to admit, yet most people will tell you reviews are for the reader’s convenience NOT the writer’s.

I know that my books NEED reviews to flourish in the marketplace, and that means for me to make a living and keep writing new books I need readers to review them. That is why so many books are given away or publishers run promotions that slash prices. The best promotional websites demand high quality books with more than ten reviews. Some prefer more than twenty! This is why so many books you see offered in mailing lists are older works, not new releases. New releases can’t get a slot because they don’t have the reviews yet.

What’s the downside of these promotions? Well, Hard Duty is currently free and has lots of reviews now, but I’ve noticed that since going free the average review rating has decreased from 4.8 stars down to 4.1 stars. This is very upsetting, but I fear, inevitable. Many readers download anything that is free whether they usually read that kind of book or not. When they eventually read it, if they ever do, they discover something unlike their usual fare and are disappointed. They give a scathing review not because the book is terrible (though I am sure some do) but because they’re annoyed it doesn’t suit their taste. Readers seem more willing to give a bad review than a good one. Readers who are satisfied are not reviewing and rewarding books, while those dissatisfied gleefully throw themselves eagerly into the reviewing process.

I don’t know why this is, but I feel a poll coming on

Why do you leave reviews?




I liked the book and want to tell othersI disliked the book and want to warn othersI saw a review request in the back of the bookI always review books whether I liked it or not.I never review books.








View Result



Total votes: 0I liked the book and want to tell others (0 votes, 0%)I disliked the book and want to warn others (0 votes, 0%)I saw a review request in the back of the book (0 votes, 0%)I always review books whether I liked it or not. (0 votes, 0%)I never review books. (0 votes, 0%)


Vote

Books on promotion for June

NEWS: Hey guys, June is here and summer is begun. Most of my recent posts have been about science fiction and the Merkiaari Wars series, so I thought it would be nice to spice things up with something a bit different. How about I introduce you to Lieutenant Christine Humber of the Robbery Homicide division of the LAPD? Wolf’s Revenge http://tinyurl.com/oz3bzpt is on sale at Amazon for #kindle at a super bargain price of $0.99 (you save $2) for a short time. It’s #paranormal #crime #mystery about a lady #detective who investigates a #werewolf murder victim. It soon becomes clear that she has a very special serial killer loose in her city, one who is taking down Monster Central’s bad buys one by one.

OTHER NEWS: Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars 1 is also on sale for #free on #kobo http://tinyurl.com/mph7ju8 It’s a #spaceopera #military sci-fi story with #aliens and first contact. If you enjoy #alien #invasion stories I think you will like it.

Have Fun!

Mark

Poll for Merkiaari Wars readers

Who is your favourite POV character from the Merkiaari Wars Series?




Gina FuentezKate RichmondMaster Sergeant StoneCaptain Eric PenlieghGeneral BurgtonShimaTei'VarykPresident DyachenkoProfessor Brenda LaneProfessor James Wilder








View Result



Total votes: 0Gina Fuentez (0 votes, 0%)Kate Richmond (0 votes, 0%)Master Sergeant Stone (0 votes, 0%)Captain Eric Penliegh (0 votes, 0%)General Burgton (0 votes, 0%)Shima (0 votes, 0%)Tei'Varyk (0 votes, 0%)President Dyachenko (0 votes, 0%)Professor Brenda Lane (0 votes, 0%)Professor James Wilder (0 votes, 0%)


Vote

Reader’s favourite characters

A recent review started me wondering about reader expectations today. It’s always good to give the readers what they want up to a point. By that I mean it’s part of an author’s job to know his genre and his readers. It’s that “up to a point” that can trip us up. I wouldn’t want to warp a plot or steer a story entirely based upon reader reviews for example, but the review I read did make me think and that’s always good.

So what did it say? Well, the reader liked the books (that’s always nice to hear) but he qualified his comments by saying he was concerned that the vipers might be becoming superhuman (they actually are, but I guess he means invincible) because the main vipers have an “author shield”. I think he means that no matter what injuries they suffer, no matter how impossible the situation they find themselves in, the author (me) will protect them and see them through safely. The thing of it is, he’s right up to a point. I mean, if the POV characters all die, what’s left? How can the Alliance continue without its heroes? Having a much loved character bite the big one could derail the story… unless there are fresh heroes in the wings already introduced but not yet well used. Or am I wrong? Would you all desert the Merkiaari Universe if your favourite character died?

Let’s find out:

Would you desert the Merkiaari Universe if your favourite character died?




Yes, because I only want to read about my favourite characterNo, because I like the series for the story and situationsNo, because I have more than one favourite character








View Result



Total votes: 1Yes, because I only want to read about my favourite character (0 votes, 0%)No, because I like the series for the story and situations (0 votes, 0%)No, because I have more than one favourite character (1 votes, 100%)


Vote

Operation Oracle released on kindle

News: Operation Oracle (Merkiaari Wars 3) is released for kindle. Yes! It was meant to be a March 1st release, but I think five days late is miraculous good luck. The cover art was a little late, but my designer (Dawn Smith) pulled out all the stops and managed to make up a lot of lost time Here is how it looks:

Operation Oracle – Merkiaari Wars3

The book is now available on Kobo and kindle at Amazon US and Amazon UK