Something is broken this week and I can’t post pictures. If I can get it fixed quickly, I’ll edit this.
Artemis Rising is #4,155 in Space Exploration Science Fiction ebooks, #4,205 in Alternate History Science Fiction, and #7,536 in Exploration Science Fiction. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. Four customer reviews now, but I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Celestial Accord isn’t ranked yet. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review so far! If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
You can get autographed copies of both books at the Richardson Farmer’s Market Saturday.
Mirim’s First Christmas is live. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. I’m still working on getting free versions to be available on my website.
I did make some edits on Mirim’s First Christmas, so it is better now.
I spent a significant amount of time with ChatGPT fleshing out the alternate history of my setting. I have everything lined out from the deviation point of Sam Houston only receiving a minor wound at Horseshoe Bend, to the 1891 inauguration of Benjamin Harrison. As a bonus, I have a history book chapter and War College case study on the Euro-American War and a War College comparison of the Euro-American and Franco-Prussian Wars, both of which are pretty cool. They also very neatly set up the importance of decisive action and naval strength in US military thinking. That will be important by 1900…
I’ve learned a lot more about AI, mostly how to use it to make really cool video. I also got AI to help me with outlining the rest of Selene Unchained. It did an OK job, but mostly I took only about half what ChatGPT put in the outline, did some rearranging, and a lot of editing to keep the book on track instead of going off in some sort of weird direction. I also asked ChatGPT to actually write a chapter. What it wrote fit the book about like a marine diesel engine would fit in a sports car – but it had a few neat ideas. I suspect it might not have saved me much time, but the additional ideas may have made the chapter better.
ChatGPT does seem to do a good job of writing marketing copy. I’m much better at recognizing good copy than I am at writing it myself. With ChatGPT doing most of the heavy lifting and me doing the final edit and clean-up, I think I have really good blurbs for all four books and the series in Selene Reborn. I’m not sure changing the blurbs helped. My rankings are worse. But all four books show up as suggestions now. Check them out:
Mirim’s First Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GC9XCR2Z
Artemis Rising: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F3K149ZQ
Celestial Accord: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FP72PX1G
Forging the Chain Breakers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXTFL9K8
Selene Unchained: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXTJ933V
Selene Reborn: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F3NGXHYH
The cover for Selene Unchained was started this week. That is the last cover required for the Selene Reborn Series. Once I have it, I’ll get the art for the boxed set.
I also started a Fiverr project to get an actual illustration of Artemis. Isaac has done a great job of putting together a concept art level version, but I need something closer to photo-realistic for some of the other projects I have planned, including the boxed set graphics. That is proving to be a major headache.
A new character added to the Dramatis Personae. Sgt Selkoryos – the second in command of the Troll troopers. He appeared first in Artemis Rising but has a little bigger part in Selene Unchained.
Another productive week for Selene Unchained. At least some of the progress was made in chapters not listed since I put together a more detailed outline for the rest of the book.
Selene Unchained chapters this week:
Eldritch Summit
A Dream of Import
Manufactory Defense
Bally Cluster
Bloody Endymion
Smelter Six
Selene Unchained word count is 69,649, not counting Dramatis Personae (1,315 words).
If you want to get early access to Book 3 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising or Celestial Accord on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.