Adventure Beyond the Stars – Written for Readers Who Want More

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  • 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.

  • Palestine, Book Log, and Honeymoon is Over…

    Palestine, Book Log, and Honeymoon is Over…

    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.

    I had someone suggest a story for their place – so Alvarado County Texas will get a Walter & Eleanor story. I’m thinking of calling it the Palestine Incident…

    I got my ideas for stories organized. Prequel ideas include a series in the War in Heaven, a book or series about the Euro-American war (with General Emory Upton), and a book or series about John Graves—leader of the first expedition to Mars and later Warlord of the new Martian Empire. Definite books on the list for writing (at least working titles): Antarctic Honeymoon, Secrets of Kilimanjaro, Martian Phoenix, Wrath of Magi, Riddle of the Sphinx, Return to Mars, Martian Clue, Venusian Ratanaba, Saharan Atlantis, Palestine’s Ghosts, Floating Cities of Venus, Dwarves of Mercury, The Texas-Martian War, Lt Gresham. Martian Clue may start a branch of Countess Scarlet Flowers at Dawn and her mystery solving career on Mars. The Texas-Martian War is Book 1 of the War of the Worlds. Lt Gresham would be book 1 of a Horatio Hornblower-type series following Walter Gresham III set during the Earth-Mars war, after the Earth starts building the aetheric warships to take the battle to Mars. That’s 14 books for sure. At my current rate, that will keep me busy until the end of 2029—without any of the prequels, follow-ons, or side series. I guess that may keep me out of trouble.

    With Aira on Caproni Island and the place full of dinosaurs, none of the contingencies set up with the US Department of Interior will work. I definitely do not want to put all the boring details in a book, so instead, I created a location bible entry with all the details. If you are interested, check them out. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Caproni_Island_Chartered_Scientific_Reserve

    Now that Walter & Eleanor’s Antarctic Honeymoon is over (or at least the story of it is written), I did something different – I got suggestions from ChatGPT about what the cover should be. The result was a new picture for Walter & Eleanor (Expedition Mode), a picture to use as an idea for my cover designer, and a cover mock-up.

    I did set up the order for Antarctic Honeymoon’s cover. I can’t wait to see what that will look like.

    Advertising: 0 sales in the past 14 days, although there was $29.88 in sales. I think that is from Kindle Unlimited pages. Looks like I need to do a sale on Artemis Rising.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is done. Chapters this week:
    The Reserve – completed
    Terms of Stewardship
    Epilogue

    Word count is 72,919. Aim was 71,000-78,000. Also added Dramatis Personae (additional 358 words).

    Began work on the first pass of Forging the Chain Breakers Audiobook. Chapters this week:
    Prologue: Sinister Success
    1: To Business
    2: Gresham Steamship Company – started

    Artemis Rising is #448 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,496 in Alternate History, and #2,319 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. #823 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #926 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,349 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 #917 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,012 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,587 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 #6,607 in Colonization Science Fiction, #9,926 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #12,368 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.

  • 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.

  • Winchesters, Orange Jam, and Advertising

    Winchesters, Orange Jam, and Advertising

    Artemis Rising is #2,045 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,139 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), and #5,429 in Alternative History. Four customer reviews (whoo-hoo)! 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.

    I needed a lighter rifle for the Recon marines. It seems everyone was looking at new rifles and changed over to something between about 1890 and 1905, but no good ones in position to be reasonably available in September of 1891. Unless Browning does his 2 week design of the Winchester Model 1892 is done in 1891 instead. So, just like in real life, he uses the Winchester 1886 as the basis, but scales it down. Also, instead of it starting out as a black powder weapon, it is a smokeless powder weapon from the outset. It also uses the .306 rifle cartridge the .306 BAR uses instead of a .303 cartridge. Another departure is that the patent is held by Crystal Keep Holdings instead of being sold to Winchester. That will net Browning a nice chunk of change since this will eventually sell over a million copies as well.

    Since the moon has a ‘day’ that is four weeks long, the people of the Moon use a convention similar to Astronauts in real life. Their day counts from the ancient Vulcan equivalent of Greenwich Mean Time. Since Venus, Earth, Mars, and Vulcan all have a 24 hour day (because this is Steampunk, not Hard Science Fiction), the day on the Moon starts 8 hours and 13 minutes before the day starts in Galveston. That’s good enough for right now. I’ll figure out more detail if I need to for future stories. For those of you that want more detail, yes, that means the Moon has essentially the same time zone as Jerusalem.

    Isaac and I had a conversation about the military campaign in Selene Unchained. He approached it from a strictly military, how would you best win the war as quickly as possible. I realized I probably had some plot holes there, despite the fact that the good guys have some significant setbacks. Without giving away spoilers, I did some significant rethinking of how the campaign would run. It is faster now, but not the ‘wham, you’re dead’ strike that Isaac first suggested.

    I needed something yummy for Elisha and Mirim to bring to the dinner when they get back to the village at Tunnel 16 Entrance. Since Stringfellow Orchards was mentioned in Artemis Rising, I decided to go back there for inspiration. Seems that Henry Martyn Stringfellow was the first to plant Satsuma oranges from Japan on the Texas Gulf Coast. I don’t want to go to the trouble of making marmalade with the peel, so Rosa helped Mirim make orange jam instead. I even have a recipe to start with if Upton’s Cowboy Kitchen ever wants to make some.

    I tried out some paid advertising. If you are keeping track, I have lower rankings on Amazon this week after the advertising than I did before. Not spending any more money, at least right now.

    Selene Unchained chapters this week:
    6: A Sorceress, A Marine, and A Spy – finished
    7: Elisha and Mirim Return
    8: Contemplations
    9: Kepler Cluster

    Selene Unchained word count is 14,317, not counting Dramatis Personae (16,121 words).

    If you want to be a beta reader and comment on Book 2 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.