Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion
Current projects
>
What are you working on at the moment?
date
newest »
newest »
Are you looking to set up a author newsletter for an email list? I did one for the first time for December, and I'm working on the January one. Can't say that what I'm doing is perfect, but it's good as something I can send out to people and it seems to have been well received. If you want to see it, send me a message with your email address and I'll send it over.
I'm working on the first draft of The Brane of the Space Pirates, the eighth book I intend to publish myself. It's the third and final of my Brane Child trilogy. I have about 88,000 words down so far and two chapters left to draft before I begin revision (which is my favorite part of the process). I'm also finalizing the cover, thinking I should probably redesign my blog and consider marketing what I've published already. I'm also making notes for my next book. Sometimes, all of this just feels too much like work. :-)
I am busy working on the follow up to my first sci-fi novel Reconfigure. I wrote that back in September in a blaze of enthusiasm suddenly needing to share the crazy, but potentially realistic story I had in my head. I explained some of what that was all about in a video. As an emerging technology specialist and in particular a metaverse evangelist I spend a lot of time enthusing, sharing and building working projects on the edge of what is possible. To try and write something that goes a little past that, but with fun and vigour enough to stand on its own, has been great fun. Marketing and getting buy in, not so much. Though I have tried an awful lot of unusual avenues, including paining a car in Forza 6 with the logo and racing around online :)Having written that book, and self published, I felt the follow up arrive just as quickly, in my head as a fully formed story. It is called cont3xt. http://cont3xtbook.co.uk, It has given me a interesting opportunity to work out how to top the previous novel, how to take the technology and adventure and the twists and turns even further, whilst having a base of believable tech. I am just in the process of the multiple read throughs on different formats to try and spot any formatting errors, missing words and continuity errors. I am treating the whole thing like a software project, so it has to compile, run and pass all the tests to go live. :) The writing has been intensely exciting. I have had the chance to be engaged in full flow for 6 hours a day each day of the week. I am not sure that will happen all the time, bit so far its the pattern after two books :) The third, well I need to get Cont3xt published first !
I see this thread was resurrected after 11 months and a bit. When that post was made on Jan 29, 2015 11:31AM, we were had our third novel in final edit and were working to finish our fourth book, mostly the last third or quarter. A year later, and we are still working to finish that fourth book ... mostly the last third or quarter.
We are currently looking for a new definition of "progress".
Dione's War is to the story of a teenage girl who finds a crashed ship with a lone survivor on her desolate little moon, and it sets her on a long journey where she becomes the unlikely leader as a new resistance movement coalesces around her in opposition to the government that destroyed the population of Earth a decade ago.Strangely enough this looks to be a work of heavy worldbuilding over military sci-fi. The first part of 26k words was released with my last book as a preview. 26k words and 92 pages covering the battle for Earth before I fastforward to the title character's time in part 2. 16k words into part two and she's just discovered the lone survivor and still filling him in on current events.
I actually plan to leave her home behind and never come back to it at the end of part 3 or the middle of part 4, but I've been building it up as if it's the most important world in this universe. And I never thought I could be this excited about so much seemingly mundane text, but it's been strangely fascinating.
Finally moving on from the main series. It's still in progress - up to about 1/4 of the way through book 4 now - but due to time issues, have scaled back full out writing binges for smaller ones. Working on the backstories for the support cast in novella format. First one's done - starting the marketing for it now (going KU, so hopefully that'll gain some new potential readers), and am a little under 1/2 way into the second. Hoping to have that one out in February. Also working on cleaning up and streamlining the original work from my blog as an anthology to offer as a giveaway for the OTHER project in the works - a newsletter.
All of this is on top of school, and the associated work that goes into that mix.
::Slinks off to go catch a nap so I can try to tackle some more words tonight.::
I just recently released my fourth novel titled The Ascendants: Genesis part 1. It is the first of five planned novellas. The rough draft of the second novel is completed and the outline for the third was typed up yesterday. Anyone interested in the first book check out the sample here...http://www.amazon.com/Ascendants-Gene...
Writing my fifth novel for the Amazon Kindle. It is called Working Class Superheroes and it's sort of my love letter to superhero movies and comic books. But it's a novel and not a comic because I can't draw to save my life.
Hi everyone!What do you think of this poem? I'm ready for critique! Your advice is a need.
... Steel rails like belts,
Constrain the world.
People are sleeping. All is quiet.
We rush to abyss, through the night.
There’s nothing there to stop the flight.
We are inside the monstrous snake
That has devoured the best of brains.
The two of us woke up in wrath
To wreak the choo-choo of its path.
So let the convoy miss a curve,
Cars break apart, disaster strike
But wake and save all those who’ve there
Succumbed to poison, unaware
Plotting out the follow up to Frenzy. Have hit several plot "walls" until this week. Pumped out a decent synopsis and am now expanding on it. Hoping to have my roadmap finished before next weekend so I can dive into the writing.
Finishing up an edit of the 3rd book in my Rain Experience trilogy. I'm cleaning out overused words by finding suitable replacements and then not overusing those. It's a lengthy process, but it will make my actual editor's job much easier.Then it's on to my first attempt at writing an episode for a zombie show my friend is producing.
I have 5 finished and polished chapters for a sequel to To Summon The Blackbird. Making good headway, and it's interesting, so it looks as though I might actually write the thing. Wasn't sure of it when I started.
I have about three more stories to write for the first draft of a book of fairy tales. But, I set that aside momentarily to clean up some stuff on my author site. I harvested reviews and included them on the site and associated them closer to the book. I've added a bit more content. Dropped some unnecessary stuff. I still need to get the site to behave better for mobile devices. If anyone has a moment to give it a look-over, I'd appreciate feedback in a private message. Here is the site: http://www.checkeredscissors.com
I'm working on' Seventh', the first book in an urban fantasy series called 'The Blessed Warriors.' If all goes well 'Seventh will be released in October. Here's the blurb.The Selkirk family is one of the seven Blessed bloodlines; true emissaries of God empowered by his seven Archangels. The Blessed have protected humanity from the Grigori and their demonic allies for over nine hundred years. Trained from birth to battle the Grigori the Selkirk brothers fight forces that most people do not believe in yet still instinctive fear. The seventh son of a seventh son, Cadell Selkirk has power beyond that of his brothers and the other Blessed. That power has made the Grigori fear him and mark him for destruction. With the Grigori gathering their forces against them Cadell and his brothers are the only hope of stopping a plague of vengeful demons from being unleashed on an unbelieving and unprepared human race.
For updates go to my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/Ray-Chilensk...
Hi everyone! I'm an indie-author with several YAs under my belt. My current WIP is a Fantasy NA, due to release late next year. I've included the jacket below. Eager to discuss with any interested readers!
“Men bow to nothing but gold, glory, flesh, and death.”
GOLD
Fifteen years ago, Cody lost everything when a dragon scorched her town. Now, the new Emerging approaches. Will Cody restore the prosperity of her family by slaying a dragon and reaping the reward?
GLORY
Orphaned and untitled, Wolfe has spent twenty years relying on the favoritism of his friends: the Duchess Zoe and the Crown Prince Fares. Slaying a dragon might be the only chance he has to make his mark…if he can live to tell about it.
FLESH
Amiable and aimlessly flirtatious, Fares has never wanted for a dime or a bedmate. But when his sweetheart is viciously mangled by Night Beasts, he will have to recruit a penniless whore to help save him.
DEATH
Penn has spent one-hundred-and-twenty years ferrying departed souls to the City of Eternal Sleep. Now he has a chance to recruit a dragon-slayer to take his place. But what will he do when he falls in love with his best candidate for conscription?
Castleberry pits girl against dragon in this stunning blend of Greek mythology and medieval lore. Readers will not quickly forget the diverse cast or the thrilling, sexy ride!
http://www.jencastleberry.com
“Men bow to nothing but gold, glory, flesh, and death.”
GOLD
Fifteen years ago, Cody lost everything when a dragon scorched her town. Now, the new Emerging approaches. Will Cody restore the prosperity of her family by slaying a dragon and reaping the reward?
GLORY
Orphaned and untitled, Wolfe has spent twenty years relying on the favoritism of his friends: the Duchess Zoe and the Crown Prince Fares. Slaying a dragon might be the only chance he has to make his mark…if he can live to tell about it.
FLESH
Amiable and aimlessly flirtatious, Fares has never wanted for a dime or a bedmate. But when his sweetheart is viciously mangled by Night Beasts, he will have to recruit a penniless whore to help save him.
DEATH
Penn has spent one-hundred-and-twenty years ferrying departed souls to the City of Eternal Sleep. Now he has a chance to recruit a dragon-slayer to take his place. But what will he do when he falls in love with his best candidate for conscription?
Castleberry pits girl against dragon in this stunning blend of Greek mythology and medieval lore. Readers will not quickly forget the diverse cast or the thrilling, sexy ride!
http://www.jencastleberry.com
Hi everyone. I'm pretty new and feeling my way through Goodreads as I'm trying to get more connected to my fellow indie readers and writers. I've just published my first fantasy novel so my current project is the sequel.I'm an outliner, so that's where I'm currently at. The first book came in at over 120k words and I have a lot of threads to pick up for the second one, so I see an outline as a necessary instrument to keep it progressing at a good pace and from getting too unwieldy.
I'm also looking to read more of my fellow indie writers' works as we move toward 2017 so I'm just looking to get involved.
I'll be updating progress on book two on my facebook page as I hit some milestones. Feel free to get in touch there or here!
facebook.com/mjwilsonauthor
Futuristic Satire, Review of Rarity from the Hollow (Kindle Edition) an adult SciFi novel:“Rarity from the Hollow has a science fiction base whereby some groups have long nurtured Lacy Dawn to save the universe. They have done this through an android (Dotcom) who has taught her to use a montra to escape her dysfunctional family and then has her complete modules on science, history, and philosophy. She is able to communicate with trees and her best friend, now deceased as a result of abuse. One of the most interesting twists is the desire of the android to be ‘humanoid’ and how that then interferes with his efficiency.
Reminiscent of the works of Vonnegut as well as the 60s and 70s, there is a satirical tone about this small piece of society including drugs, bootlegging, sexuality, child abuse, post war PTSD, and dysfunctional families. The ending is a bit of a surprise - ironic to say the least. This was a pleasant change from my usual lighter fare reading. Although there is no graphic sexuality, the references to sexual molestation, abuse, and out-of-control erections limit the appropriate audience to adults. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.” c-lu, Top Amazon Reviewer
The second edition was released on November 3, 2016: http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-eggle.... The eBook version was released on December 5, 2016: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017REIA44/....
Updates at: https://www.facebook.com/Lacy-Dawn-Ad...
Special thanks to Adam Beyonce Lowe, owner of Dog Horn Publishing: http://www.doghornpublishing.com/word... He delivers the money to help stop child abuse in West Virginia! Every locality needs your help. -----------------------
I'm marketing the last book in my science fiction Netwalk Sequence series while prepping to start the next book in my fantasy series, Goddess's Honor.
I would love to say that I'm writing, but self-promotion seems endless. The new edition of Rarity from the Hollow was released on November 3, 2016: http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-eggle.... The eBook version was released on December 5, 2016: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017REIA44/... Frankly, I was getting a little discouraged. But then on 1-6-17, the first review of it was published, five stars. To facilitate your consideration of reviewing this novel, the closing lines were: "…Brilliant satires such as this are genius works of literature in the same class as Orwell’s 'Animal Farm.' I can picture American Lit professors sometime in the distant future placing this masterpiece on their reading list." https://marcha2014.wordpress.com/2017...
Not everybody has understood my debut novel. Sometimes, it has been outside of comfort zones. You would have to read the novel to find out how Lacy Dawn, the protagonist, convinced Mr. Rump (Bernie Sanders) to help talk Mr. Prump (Donald Trump) into saving the universe. The political allegory includes pressing issues that America is fighting about today, including illegal immigration and the refuge crisis, extreme capitalism / consumerism…. Mr. Prump was a projection of Donald Trump based on the TV show, The Apprentice. Part of the negotiations in the story occur in the only high rise on planet Shptiludrp (Shop Until You Drop), a giant shopping mall and the center of economic governance, now more easily identifiable as Trump Tower. There is no political advocacy in the story, other than sensitizing readers to the huge social problem of child maltreatment, but the allegory is much more obvious now that Donald Trump is a household name. A similar press release: http://www.pr.com/press-release/695122 .
Connection with the political allegory of Rarity from the Hollow has definitely increased its receptiveness.
Good luck to everybody.
I just finished the last chapter of Alvar's Spear, and sent one copy off to Shannon Reber for a beta read. Shannon is amazing. I will be sending hard copy to another marvelous Indie author for a beta read next week. Then it's just a matter of fixing those pesky commas and typos that slipped past the zillion edits and alpha readers, formatting it, getting a cover, and hoo rah, publishing. Hope to have it out by March.
Alvar's Spear is about the sentient planet, Alvar, who has become distraught over a mutant conspiracy to turn Alvar into a fetid swamp, and enslave the Antal hive. She has sworn to hurl herself into the gas giant she orbits before she allows the mutants to triumph.
The half-Antal, half-Terran, Gar has just one desperate last chance to save the planet and all its inhabitants from immolation at the hands of its own mother, Alvar.
To become Alvar’s Spear, the planetary savior, Gar will confront enemies, assassins, a traitor, and a beautiful, brilliant, Terran geneticist. He will travel into the mysterious Forbidden Mountains of the vild, from which no one has returned. If successful, he will save Alvar.
But the danger of creating a savior is that he will be his own person. He will do what he will, and whether his acts are judged good or bad will only be known in the unrolling of time. Time is not on Gar’s side. But time does unroll. What it reveals may not be to everyone’s liking.
Alvar's Spear is about the sentient planet, Alvar, who has become distraught over a mutant conspiracy to turn Alvar into a fetid swamp, and enslave the Antal hive. She has sworn to hurl herself into the gas giant she orbits before she allows the mutants to triumph.
The half-Antal, half-Terran, Gar has just one desperate last chance to save the planet and all its inhabitants from immolation at the hands of its own mother, Alvar.
To become Alvar’s Spear, the planetary savior, Gar will confront enemies, assassins, a traitor, and a beautiful, brilliant, Terran geneticist. He will travel into the mysterious Forbidden Mountains of the vild, from which no one has returned. If successful, he will save Alvar.
But the danger of creating a savior is that he will be his own person. He will do what he will, and whether his acts are judged good or bad will only be known in the unrolling of time. Time is not on Gar’s side. But time does unroll. What it reveals may not be to everyone’s liking.
Currently I'm turning over an idea in my mind for a novel with a couple alternate timelines. One similar to ours and one in which the Soviet Union detonated nuclear weapons in the late 80s and decimated the US government, leading to a very different present day.I haven't been able to put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) yet and it's killing me. It's looking like an interesting, fun premise, but one that is tricky and requires an outline or planning of some kind. So each day my thought process progresses a little further and fleshes the idea out a bit more. I'm hoping I can get to writing it soon but I'm trying not to rush.
I'm finishing off the final draft of a science fiction short story collection titled 'The Dial'. I am planning to self-publish it next month. Does anyone have any ideas where I could find some readers who would be kind enough to provide some critical feedback before I release it? I'm relatively new to goodreads and i'm not sure if this is a good platform on which to ask.Thank you so much,
Rory
just finishing up copy on the second book in the From the Minds of Humanity series. Due out on February 14th :)
Finally got my second book in print "Fading StarLight" and loaded up into Good reads. Taking a small break, but am getting ready to tackle the third book in my WinGate Chronicles series. I have a lot of rewriting ahead of me. Here is the Amazon link to my second book.....https://www.amazon.com/Fading-Starlig...
Getting ready for a relaunch of the Doc Vandal pulp series. I have the first two done, the third with betas, and am about 18k into the 4th. I'm also working on getting covers together for the series so I can fire them out rapidly.Now all I need are blurbs and cover copy (plus feedback on book 3)
My current WIP is 'The Pandora Principle: FIRE Team Alpha Book Three.' The series revolves around a team of genetically enhanced special operations soldiers operating in a world that is teetering on the verge on a second dark age after an authoritarian global government has collapsed.In The Pandora Principle, FIRE Team Alpha is tasked with protecting the American Undersecretary of State against a force of drug-crazed terrorists some of which are genetically enhanced just as Team Alpha is.
I'm hoping to have the manuscript finished by July 2017.
Matthew wrote: "The piece I'm giving most attention to isn't speculative so doesn't belog here, but I'm also working, in a less focussed way, on the sequel to Daedalus and the Deep. This is set in ..."I love science fiction set in this era. It takes me back to when I was cutting my nerd-teeth of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
My current WIPs are the second book in an elemental magic series, which sees a young Flame Queen on a quest to find her daughter after she is kidnapped.The second is a thriller novel, whereby the main character is healed of a terrible disease through fringe science as an infant, only to develop strange powers that grow to take over her life.
Now that I've finally completed and published the first in my Primal Fears story I've started work on the sequel, taking place a couple months where the first left off.Takes place in in the Theobald Psychiatric Hospital where the survivors of the original book have been placed under study by the mysterious Association only for everything to go to hell once more, patients and employees giving in to violent urges while strange shadowy creatures stalk the halls, the power going out and locking everyone inside.
I'm also working on the first in my vampire series, Scarlet Night, which exists in the shared universe of my horror stories but has a more suspense/thriller feel to it. Following the high schooler, Maria Lake, a girl who is slightly out of touch with the regular world, she meets the mysterious Rebecca Valentine a vampire searching for the man who betrayed her mother and who takes an instant interest in Maria dragging her into her hunt.
As for my creative process, I usually start with mapping out the characters, their roles and a basic description of their personalities, appearance and abilities. I then map out the major sets (such as the colliery, mines and caves from my first story) and finally i list out the scenes in order (mostly three to a chapter).
Honestly, I'm a little stuck on it the now. There are three leads in Scarlet Night, Maria the human girl with supernatural enhancing blood, Rebecca the laid back vampire out for revenge and Alex the witch hunter searching for the same man as Rebecca but also extremely combative with the vampire.
My problem is that I don't know whether to make Alex male or female. I already have Maria and Rebecca ending up attracted to each other with Alex making it a kind of odd triangle, if I make them female then she'd really just be combative with Rebecca and protective of Maria, where as a male he'd be attracted to both but I feel it would raise unfortunate implications to have the vaguely predatory Rebecca as the holier-than-thou Alex's love rival for Maria.
I'm currently working on Doc Vandal book 4: Giant Robots of Tunguska. I've just released book one Against the Eldest Flame, and will be releasing book 2 for pre-order soon.
As I await the reading public to discover "The Plunge of Icarus" produced in the innovative Cinenovel platform (available for the iPad and Kindle) I have released "Collected Wanderings," a detour from sci-fi to create a compilation of some of my most well-received articles and essays stemming from a fifteen year globetrotting career as a motorcycle journalist (Amazon and Lulu). And very soon, "Earthrise"... a detective has been dispatched from Earth to investigate Mars' very first murder.
Working on "A Child of Great Promise," an Altearth tale. It's the story of a young woman half-elf, half-human, who discovers she is neither. She must figure out who she is in order to decide what she is. Or is it the other way round?
I'm currently editing the second book in a series, City of Men, which is called War of Men. At the same time I'm writing the third book, Churches of Men.One thing that has surprised me is just how complex a follow up book is. It's not too hard to keep it in line with the first but is extremely hard to foreshadow and set up the third and last book in the trilogy.
If I had advice for anyone foolish enough to take on the epic task of writing a trilogy, it would be this: Outline the whole thing first.
As a "gardener" or "seat of your pants" writer, this may seem painful or magic killing but the level of detail contained within the outline can be left fairly sparse, but the main movements and structure should be clear.
I left the structure open. I've had to edit the second book massively just to keep the series on track.
I'm writing a spin off story, Rolo: In the Wake, (In the wake of The Assumption Code Book 1). Rolo is now chief scientist on apocalyptic planet Danu. Most technology is outlawed. Tagline is Tomorrow is a gift for idle minds.Almost finished. I had to get some distance to it for a couple months, though it's ~18k words. It surprised me cuz it sets up the rest of the trilogy and even launches an action/adventure series afterwards.
Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors...
Books mentioned in this topic
Against the Eldest Flame (other topics)Daedalus and the Deep (other topics)
Rarity from the Hollow (other topics)
To Summon The Blackbird (other topics)
Reconfigure (other topics)
More...
Working on? Ummm... Book 4 in the Torments saga (And Keep This In Mind), editing 4 anthologies (A Walk Down Dreamer's Lane - collections of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry [depending on which installment]), the next companion novella (Akantheldama Intu), and getting the blog set up, so I only have to do a few minor edits for the next semester.
Oh, and trying to figure out how to set up a newsletter that isn't a major link farm.
Does trying to survive the coming semester count as well?