Adventure Beyond the Stars – Written for Readers Who Want More

Author: nrdly

  • Selene Unchained is Published

    Selene Unchained is Published

    You can get autographed copies of the first three books in Selene Reborn Series (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, and Forging the Chain Breakers) at Wataugafest Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

    The rewrite for Selene Unchained is finished. It got a little longer, and the cover didn’t fit anymore. The spine needed widening by 0.061 inches. It was checked and is live on Amazon. I’ve ordered copies and should have them by May 28, plenty of time for Galveston Steampunk. I’ll let everyone know when I have copies at the weekend markets. If you want yours earlier, order the paperback from Amazon and bring it with you – you don’t have to buy it from me to get me to sign it.

    Antarctic Honeymoon started with an expositional preface. I decided to replace that with an action-focused first chapter instead. I also decided to completely rewrite the end of the book with Aira. That has the modifications to Chapter 20 – The Enclosure done, as well as the replacement Chapter 21 – The Sleepers done. I’m looking at a modification pass on the Epilogue and three more chapters to finish it out. Still trying to get it done in time to have copies for Galveston…

    Artemis Rising is #182 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #630 in Alternate History, and #1,073 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord is ranked now. #496 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #639 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,709 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is #498 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #647 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,722 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Selene Unchained is #1,538 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,803 in Steampunk Fiction, #4,221 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, or the kindle version here. Audiobook is coming soon. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here

    Mirim’s First Christmas is #6,978 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,394 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #13,016 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find 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.

  • Just Unchained

    Just Unchained

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas at Flying Pig Festival Saturday.

    All my writing this week has been focused on integrating the feedback from my editor into Selene Unchained. I have the “tactical” edits done, and most of the chapter-level edits. Two or three of the biggest chapter-level issues are taken care of, and I should be able to address the rest of them, the biggest issue is with a potential genre shift. Sandra pointed out that Unchained has a fantasy plot-line to it and that might be off-putting to people expecting a steampunk story.

    I’m not sure how to address this. My setting has three major elements driving the world building. One is the alternate history of getting rid of slavery in the early 19th century and the American Commonwealth that enabled. A second is the underlying structure of Martian society that I hasn’t really had an impact on any of the stories published so far. The third, however, is the struggle against the Old Ones. They are Lovecraftian-inspired spiritual entities that kicked off the War in Heaven and empower Zafir on the Moon. I honestly can’t see how to address Zafir’s fall without addressing the spiritual struggle to overthrow Zafir’s Old One master.

    Maybe the answer is to make it clearer in my marketing that the struggle against the Old Ones is part of this Steampunk story. If it isn’t a surprise, that should work—it will just be calling out to a slightly different audience.

    That’s all for this post – I’m really trying to get Unchained and, hopefully, Antarctic Honeymoon completed in time to have copies for Steampunk Galveston.

  • Delegations, Image Generators, and Selene Unchained

    Delegations, Image Generators, and Selene Unchained

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas at Mayfest Thursday through Sunday.

    The featured image is a pretty intimidating group, even for an upper-class girl from 1890’s Galveston or a Doña of Veracruz.

    I also learned why the images coming out of ChatGPT seem to be so much better than they used to be. The image generator got an upgrade. So I decided to try out the new generator on getting images of Phoenix. It worked pretty good.

    So with the best image of a vehicle or ship I’ve ever gotten out of ChatGPT, I decided to build an image of the other side of the delegation with Phoenix in the background.

    I had some ideas for a scene currently slated for chapter 21. The image of Scarlet and Nasir came out fine, but I never could get either ChatGPT or Nano-banana to get the Courting Bench right for the Beulah-Nasir memory.

    Selene Unchained came back from the editor. Sandra pointed out something that Isaac warned me about. This is a steampunk series, but Selene Unchained leans heavily into fantasy elements. Too heavily. That caused some other significant story-telling problems as well. I’ll need to fix all that in time to get books by the Galveston Steampunk event June 6. Everything else goes on hold until Selene Unchained is rewritten.

    A little progress on Martian Phoenix. Chapters this week:
    Meeting Aliens – started

    Word Count is 11,585 in three chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.

    Artemis Rising. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Mirim’s First Christmas. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review so far. (Thank you Michele!) If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

  • Honeymoon, Mars, and Seven Canals

    Honeymoon, Mars, and Seven Canals

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas morning and early afternoon on Saturday and Sunday at Germanfest in Muenster, Texas.

    I finished the Antarctic Honeymoon rewrite. I’m much happier with this version. That will teach me to lean to heavily on AI to do my writing. It probably took me almost twice as long as if I’d just done the writing up front and gotten AI and beta readers to polish it afterward…

    Phoenix will need to carry more trade goods than just leukos crystals, so I did a little work on that. Came up with a whole list of other things, but developed most of the detail around the luxury goods Phoenix will carry—after all, those are the ones the High Martian nobles will want, and the rules about excess consumption don’t apply to them near as much. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix_Spec_Cargo

    I needed to know what the Martian Canals were like in more detail. They are between 20-60 miles wide, 50,000-70,000 miles in total length, and comprise 1-4.5 million square miles. This was after I did some checking on the AI – the AI wanted the canals to be almost twice that wide… https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Martian_Canals

    I also decided to put more detail into the Political Situation on Mars since Graves arrived in Intrepid in 1870. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Political_Situation_on_Mars_(1891)

    I did some more work detailing significant points in Beulah’s development over the course of Phoenix. Since I did that work, I needed to do similar work on Beulah’s foil, Scarlet, as well. I think this is a lot clearer and hits better now.

    I did some more work on how Seven Canals looks and such. Details are here: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Seven_Canals

    Isaac saw a great visual of a lightning cannon. I’m pretty sure this will be part of the inspiration for how it finally looks.

    Here is another minor character – Duchess of Trade, Her Grace Sunlight Playing Upon Still Waters. Duchess Waters for short. She may never show up on the page of a book, but that is what Secret Knowledge is all about… https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Duchess_Sunlight_Playing_Upon_Still_Waters

    I also needed a way for the higher nobility of Seven Canals to get around. After all, you wouldn’t expect a Viscountess to walk… https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Lift_Palanquins

    Viscountess Peacock needs a palace and I’m trying to make this as visually powerful as possible. There’s a location lore entry for the palace https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Palace_of_the_Flow_That_Refuses_the_Desert

    Work has started on Martian Phoenix. Chapters this week:
    Seven Canals
    A Proper Dinner

    Word Count is 7,123 in two chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.

    Advertising: I ran a price countdown campaign the last couple of weeks. Between April 9-22, I sold 4 books for $11.64 in revenue. Since I spent $107.80 on advertising, I’m still upside-down there. Still, every book sold is the chance of getting another review, the more reviews the better the chance of making sales, the more sales the closer I get to break-even…

    Artemis Rising is #182 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #630 in Alternate History, and #1,073 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord is ranked now. #496 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #639 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,709 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is #498 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #647 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,722 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Mirim’s First Christmas is #6,978 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,394 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #13,016 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review so far. (Thank you Michele!) If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

  • Honeymoon, Antarctic Treaty, and Dresses

    Honeymoon, Antarctic Treaty, and Dresses

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas at the Keller Crawfish Krawl Saturday.

    Cataract surgery made it difficult for me to read the computer—so no blog post or email last week.

    Mostly worked on the re-write of the end of Antarctic Honeymoon. I think it is much better, and my beta readers agree. I only have the Epilogue to rewrite and I’ll be done—probably just in time for the rewrites from Sandra on Selene Unchained.

    The SS Great Eastern, launched in 1858, was 692 feet long and 18,900 tons. Even decades later (1891) it was spoken of as the largest ship ever built.

    In the 1890s, Buffalo, New York was the world center of grain elevators. Buffalo harbor on Lake Erie had individual elevators that could handle 1-2+ million bushels each. The massive timber crib structures of earlier in the century were transitioning to iron and steel systems with steam-powered conveyors. It was the grain-handling capital of the world at the time.

    Chicago was one of the largest lumber markets in the world in the 1890s, the largest in North America. Galveston was the largest import/export hubs for Gulf Coast timber and the Caribbean trade.

    Silviculture is the science and practice of growing, managing, and cultivating forests. Basically agronomy for trees. It was practiced in Germany and France in the 1890s.

    The Antarctic Treaty that set Antarctica apart from the usual scramble for land and resources set aside Antarctica as a place of peaceful scientific research only. It banned military bases, weapons testing, and fortification. It said it would be open to all nations, encourages cooperation between instillations, and requires sharing of data and results. The original treaty froze all claims and forbade sovereignty enforcement and allowed for inspection to ensure compliance. Subsequent agreements also severely restricted mining and other resource exploitation. I figure that is a bridge too far for the Great Powers of the late 19th century, but the Vulcan nations might have been willing to have a similar treaty.

    Alexander Herrmann aka Herrmann the Great was a Victorian Stage Magician whose peak fame was the 1870s-1890s, just before Harry Houdini became a big name. What is this important—because it is the name of a wand wielder that Walter and Eleanor would be familiar with.

    I got a little sidetracked with the next book, Martin Phoenix. I do have a much clearer idea of a couple of the characters, however. This is Miss Scarlet and her patron, Contessa Peacock. If pictures are worth a thousand words – the three at the top of the page are about 4% of Martian Phoenix…

    One of the significant scenes in Martian Phoenix involves Beulah going to a Martian dress shop to try on dresses. I used the opportunity to practice a little more with AI image generation and came up with a montage of her experience.

    Advertising: 4 sales so far in April. 1 paper and 3 ebook. $29.96 in revenue. $146.90 ad costs. I’m going to try a price countdown for Artemis Rising ebook and see what that does.

    Artemis Rising is #97 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #297 in Alternate History, and #576 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord is ranked now. #269 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #323 in Steampunk Fiction, #783 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is #272 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #327 in Steampunk Fiction, #789 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Mirim’s First Christmas is #6,823 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,282 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #12,841 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here. I’m still working on getting free versions to be available on my website.

    If you want to get early access to chapters in the current book, write a nice review for one of the current novels on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Audiobook, Honeymoon, Phoenix

    Audiobook, Honeymoon, Phoenix

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas at the Downtown Arlington Farmer’s Market Saturday or Canton Trade Days on Friday or Sunday.

    Spent several days listening to the audiobook of Forging the Chain Breakers. A few line-edits resulted and I submitted the new ebook for review. It came back and I’m working on a final listen on the audiobook before release.

    Big news on Antarctic Honeymoon. After feedback from my beta readers, this morning I decided to completely rewrite the last several chapters of the book. I’m trying to get the Forging audiobook done first, but aside from what I did previously on Martian Phoenix, that story will be set aside for a while until I have a better version of the last chapters of Antarctic Honeymoon. I do have an almost-finished book cover.

    Started work on background for Martian Phoenix. This will be a lot more work than previous books. The Selene Reborn series didn’t have other books to constrain things, so the Moon was fairly free-form and I could detail it as I went along. This will be on Mars—there is a lot more detail there, more people, more area, more complex history, more opportunities for stories, more ideas for stories, more opportunity to make a mistake that breaks the context needed for something in the future. So… I started with detailing some of the characters from Earth instead…

    First step is Beulah’s mentor in courtship and marriage, Tia Dolores. She has a full character bible entry now. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Dolores_Carrillo_Iturriaga

    I also want Beulah to have a significant transformational arc. To do that, I want her to have a starting point rooted in popular sentimental literature of the 19th Century (what we would call romance novels today). So here is her starting point https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Beulah%27s_Romantic_Theology – sounds a lot like the misconceptions around love we have today – including the “I can redeem him if I love him enough” misconception that traps so many women into abusive relationships. This is her full lore entry: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Beulah_Gresham

    That meant I needed a lore entry for Nasir as well. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Nasir_Al-Selene

    Now I need to start fleshing out Mars. So I started with the lore entry for Martian society overall: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Martian_Lore Then started working on the pieces. I put together a lore entry for the Air Martians: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Air_Martian_Organization_and_Culture, the Canal Martians: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Canal_Martian_Political_Structures_and_Governance

    Advertising: 13 sales in March. $54.79 in revenue. $175.45 ad costs. Need to do some work on that for April

    Artemis Rising is #484 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,546 in Alternate History, and #2,470 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord is ranked now. #1,006 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,117 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,799 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is #1,113 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,266 in Steampunk Fiction, #3,098 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. The audiobook will be delayed while I finish Antarctic Honeymoon. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Mirim’s First Christmas is #6,609 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,025 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #12,490 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here. I’m still working on getting free versions to be available on my website.

  • Raptors, Editing, and the Enclosure

    Raptors, Editing, and the Enclosure

    You can get autographed copies of all three released books in Selene Reborn (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers) or Mirim’s First Christmas at the Dogwood Festival in Palestine, TX Saturday only.

    By Fred Wierum - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63257507

    Needed another opponent for Antarctic Honeymoon. This is it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinonychus Thing is, none of the dromasaurid dinosaurs were known in 1891 – and everyone thought dinosaurs were lizards, not closely related enough to birds to have feathers…

    Manuscript and Dramatis Personae for the final book in Selene Reborn, Selene Unchained, was sent to the editor Monday. That is a little early, but maybe it will get back a little early as well.

    Needed a new location bible entry. There are details—way more than will ever fit in a book—about the Aetherwood Research Station on Caproni Island. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Aetherwood_Research_Station if you are interested—warning, there are likely spoilers…

    Advertising: 5 sales in the past 14 days. Artemis Rising just isn’t selling at full price yet. When I get five reviews for Celestial Accord, I’ll add that.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is progressing. Chapters this week:
    Clash of Titans – finished
    Pack in the Mist
    In the Waning Light
    The Enclosure
    Reserve for the Future – started

    Word count is 67,048. Aim is 71,000-78,000. Last chapter and Epilogue are all that’s left

    Artemis Rising is #251 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #897 in Alternate History, and #1,430 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord is ranked now. #609 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #691 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,892 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is #598 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #684 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,852 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. The audiobook will be delayed while I finish Antarctic Honeymoon. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Mirim’s First Christmas is #6,545 in Colonization Science Fiction, #9,826 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #12,272 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here. I’m still working on getting free versions to be available on my website.

    If you want to get early access to chapters in the current book, write a nice review for one of the current novels on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Forging, Alligatormen, and Advertising

    Forging, Alligatormen, and Advertising

    As announced yesterday, Forging the Chain Breakers will publish Friday. Get yours at the Granbury Founder’s Day Jubilee Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

    Somehow I messed up the paleo botany and paleo zoology of the central basin. Had to do some rework of that.

    I have another race – this one definitely not human.

    Alligatormen are an intelligent, semi-aquatic crocodilian humanoid species adapted to life in warm swamps, rivers, and coastal wetlands. Standing taller and broader than most humans, they possess powerful tails, thick armored scales, and long, tooth-filled jaws capable of crushing bone. Their society is primitive but organized: they build crude huts, maintain fires, and craft weapons from materials taken from the creatures they hunt. Their primary armament is a heavy macuahuitl-like club edged with shark teeth, used for brutal close combat, along with javelins tipped with dimetrodon teeth. Patient ambush predators both in water and on land, alligatormen rely on stealth, sudden violence, and their formidable physical strength, making them one of the most dangerous indigenous threats encountered by explorers in the swamps they inhabit.

    I also have a minor character that is going to be fun. “Am I A Mouse?” marks the third chapter the Black Ocelot has appeared in.

    I have a new poster and table sign for this weekend.

    I heard about another location that I might use at some point. Ubar—Atlantis of the Sands. This is what we know in real life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_of_the_Sands so if I use it, it will need some… poetic license applied.

    Advertising: 9 sales in the past 14 days. $120.02 in spend, $24.91 in revenue. Still upside down there, but that may change if I can start getting sales at full price instead of just $0.99. When I get five reviews for Celestial Accord, I’ll add that.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is progressing. Chapters this week:
    Alligatormen – Finished
    Am I A Mouse?
    Clash of Titans – Started

    Word count is 54,381. Aim is 71,000-78,000.

    Artemis Rising is #147 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #446 in Alternate History, and #814 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books). If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Six reviews for Artemis Rising—thank you Diane. More will help others find the series as well – 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, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    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.

  • Pictures, Aetherwood, and Ginkgos

    Pictures, Aetherwood, and Ginkgos

    You can get autographed copies of Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, or Mirim’s First Christmas at the Walnut Springs Rattlesnake Roundup Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

    I spent more time than I probably should have getting better pictures of Eleanor, Walter & Eleanor, Walter and Eleanor for their wedding, and the Antarctic Honeymoon cover mockup.

    I also took time to nail down liftwood/aetherwood details. If you’re interested, you can learn more here: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Aetherwood

    One of the distinctive types of trees on Caproni Island are Ginkgo trees. Today, we know that one species of ginkgo – ginkgo biloba – is still extent. In 1891 – the entire family was thought to be extinct, only being rediscovered as a ‘living fossil’ in 1896. I also looked for fossil animals that were known in 1891. Unfortunately, the giant crocodiles, Titanoboa, and even giant turtles are all 21st century discoveries. I do have terrorbird fossils from the 1870’s…

    The advertising is beginning to work. Sold 5 Artemis Rising Books in the last week. That’s 10 since the ads started. It is costing me more than I’m making, so I put the e-book price back to $4.99. We’ll see what impact that has. I’ll probably do a sale in conjunction to the release of Forging the Chain Breakers.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is progressing. Chapters this week:
    The Silver Spire – completed
    Alligatormen – Started

    Word count is 47,414. Aim is 71,000-78,000.

    Artemis Rising is #450 in Alternate History Science Fiction (books), #580 in Space Exploration Science Fiction eBooks, and #699 in First Contact Science Fiction eBooks. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Five customer reviews. More will help others find the series as well – 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, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    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.

    Celestial Accord copy-edit is available now. The Audible AI audiobook is also available.

    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.

  • Selene Reborn and Honeymoon Progress

    Selene Reborn and Honeymoon Progress

    Blog Post

    The box set images for Selene Reborn are done – what do you think?

    You can get autographed copies of Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, or Mirim’s First Christmas at Canton First Monday Trade Days Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

    Forging the Chain Breakers is finished! I reset release for March 13. Hopefully I’ll have copies for Granbury Founder’s Day.

    Editing Forging the Chain Breakers meant there were some additional threads to resolve, or at least address, in Selene Unchained. I think I have those done and it will be headed to Sandra for editing this time next month. Maybe the series will be complete by the time we go to the Galveston Steampunk Festival.

    The advertising is beginning to work. Sold one ebook of Artemis Rising in February. That was only 3% of the royalties I earned, however. The other 97% were from Kindle Unlimited readers. That also doesn’t count books sold at markets.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is progressing. Chapters this week:
    Lost Island – completed
    The Silver Spire – started

    Word count is 43,171. Aim is 71,000-78,000.

    Artemis Rising is #259 in Steampunk Fiction, #621 in Alternate History, and #189 in Steampunk Science Fiction. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Five customer reviews. More will help others find the series as well – 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, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    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.

    Celestial Accord copy-edit is available now. The Audible AI audiobook is also available.

    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.