Rogue Chase Has Arrived!

Before we get started, here’s where you can pick this up!

My Bookstore
Amazon Kindle
Google Play Books
Barnes & Noble Nook
Apple Books and Other Retailers
Ream Stories

Writing Rogue Chase has been a fantastic experience. I enjoyed working on this novel so much that I knew I would miss writing it by the time it was finished, and I was right. Writing this release announcement has taken quite a while because this book was a hell of a journey for me. I’m eager to see how you react since you’ll be able to experience it as a completed work. I can only write one or two chapters a day, up to about five a week, and everyone on Ream Stories only gets chapters on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so our experience is different from yours.

I don’t know what reading Rogue Chase all in one shot will be like. Even when I was doing my editorial passes I had to go slowly so there was no chance I would get through it like I was just reading a book I picked off the shelf. Maybe someday I’ll crack Rogue Chase and finish it in an afternoon, and I’m looking forward to that.

I almost forgot, every book release post must include a pitch. Well, I should make one before I go on to a little peek behind the scenes.

Rogue Chase is an adventure novel about an android who was created to be a decoy but is on the verge of becoming a major concern in the Cluster. Consisting of ninety-eight stars, the Edwyn Cluster has become a battlefield, and Rogue along with a small crew she trained is in pursuit of a corporation that may be responsible for kidnapping and selling humans they call sleepers. The sleepers are humans who society won’t miss. Rogue and her crew have noticed what’s going on, and they want to stop it.

Rogue and the crew of the Daring Dream may not have to pursue the truth alone. Haven Fleet has created a Privateering Program, and a group of Rebel Captains are already fighting the forces who are buying the sleepers. It’s time for Rogue to transition from bounty hunting in New Zero so she can become a captain, a privateer, and a more powerful influence in a war with foes that threaten to cruelly dominate humanity while devastating other champions of freedom.

Welcome to Rogue Chase. You’ll find secret places in the galaxy, a Rose worth fighting for, merciless foes, free programs with hidden agendas, a charming Rebel Captain or two, a genetically enhanced talking cat, and visit places you’ll never forget.

Now for the ‘behind the scenes’ bit:

I’m writing this on the release day of Rogue Chase. I finished writing the first draft over a month ago, so I’ve been tweaking and editing Rogue Chase since then. When I filled out my government mandated Workforce Survey, I was surprised to see that I was putting in over sixty hours a week during the editing process.

So, including the planning, writing and finishing work, I’ve been living in this book for months without thinking about much of anything else. This isn’t a complaint at all, it’s a privilege that’s hard to maintain these days. Very few writers get to devote that kind of time or focus on their work. Most of them have to maintain a full time job to pay the bills, so I’m definitely not whining about it. I’m not making any excess income these days, just enough so I can do this full time, so I’m thankful for anyone who buys a book, contributes on Ream Stories, or through another avenue

At this point, I’m just about to celebrate. My time with Rogue, Mimi, Lat, and the rest of the crew was absolutely memorable and I’ll miss the state of mind I had while I was working on this book. Sending my imagination in that direction to explore familiar and not so familiar places with those characters has been a fantastic adventure.

You’d think that after finishing over forty novels they’d start blending together, or being less special. That couldn’t be further from the truth these days. Each Rogue Element book feels like its own animal with its own personality. The Readers on Ream Stories who saw the rough version of the book serialised at a pace of two chapters a week shared some of that experience with me through comments, and I’m happy they were along. The next book will be serialised there too, and I’m looking forward to the feedback.

While I wrote Rogue Chase I retreated from social media and my blogs for the most part. I wanted to focus, and even though maintaining a presence on the Internet leads to more sales, I’m still happy that I backed away. Focusing on my real work, writing and editing, allowed me to be more engaged with the story I was telling. When I’m more engaged, the characters seem more genuine, the universe becomes more coherent and well described. Most importantly, whoever reads the book has a better experience because they can tell I was at least as invested in the adventure as they are.

After writing that many books you’d think they’d become less personal. While I can’t remember every detail of the novels I’ve completed, opening any one of them up to any page evokes a specific emotional and mental state. As time passes, I feel less like the person I was when I wrote each of them too until the experience of reading my older work is so separate that it’s like reading someone else’s work. Once upon a time I didn’t like that, it was a little scary, as if it was a sign of failing memory.

Well, it’s natural for old memories to get unclear, and now I’m thankful for the distance time brings because I can have new opinions and different experiences when I read my earlier work. I can also have interesting ideas that wouldn’t have occurred to me before because I know things I didn’t when I wrote those books. I’m about to start reading everything in the Spinward Fringe Series from the beginning again so I can prepare to write the next one, and I’m looking forward to it.

That brings me back to the Rogue Element Series and what’s next. Rogue Clipper is not only the last book in the Quartet, but it will also lead into the next main Spinward Fringe Universe novel, Legion. Don’t get me wrong, Rogue Clipper will be conclusive but it will also have far reaching consequences. The crew of the Daring Dream are in for a big adventure and I’m eager to get aboard.

The exhilaration of finishing Rogue Chase is still fresh as I hand the finished book to you. I can’t wait to see what you have to say about it through reviews and comments as I write the final adventure.

Thank you for your support, for buying my books, and for spreading the word. I couldn’t ask for a better readership.

Enjoy the adventure!

RL