Adventure Beyond the Stars – Written for Readers Who Want More

Tag: worldbuilding

  • Audiobook, Master Tomorrow, Website update

    Audiobook, Master Tomorrow, Website update

    Selene Unchained Audiobook is finished, a new minor character, Scarlet has another dress, and the website is being reworked. All this week’s Secret Knowledge is below…

    Selene Unchained Audiobook is finished. You can get it here: https://www.audible.com/pd/Audiobook/B0DMW12HDR

    Another new minor character. He is an opportunity for me to communicate what a good approach to sales and such is, assuming I can keep a close enough eye on ChatGPTs hallucinations about sales…

    Scarlet’s arc in Martian Phoenix jumped from danger to max confrontation with no intermediate steps, so I re-wrote one of the scenes to have an intermediate step.

    I’ve been having a ton of trouble with the Nrdly template for my website – so I’m in the process of ditching it. That means a lot of work on updating the website this week.

    A little progress on Martian Phoenix. Since it is back in previous chapters (and not finished yet), I don’t have a new word count and such.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is #1,951 in Steampunk Fiction, #6,837 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #11,294 in Exploration Science Fiction. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, or the kindle version here. The audiobook is available here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Artemis Rising is #535 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #552 in Steampunk Fiction, and #1,686 in Alternative History. 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. Seven 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. #1,738 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,846 in Steampunk Fiction, #4,540 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 #1,215 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,291 in Steampunk Fiction, #3,298 in Alternative 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 #1,604 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,624 in Steampunk Fiction, #4,247 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 #11,278 in Colonization Science Fiction, #11,298 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #18,260 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.

  • John Graves, Swords, and Audiobooks

    John Graves, Swords, and Audiobooks

    You can get autographed copies of all four books in Selene Reborn Series (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers, Selene Unchained), Antarctic Honeymoon, and Mirim’s First Christmas at Steampunk Galveston Saturday.

    Spent a lot of time this week on line editing and finalizing the audio book for Antarctic Honeymoon. I finished the first pass. That means the audiobook is live. I might do another pass, but I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t find anything significant. The audiobook is available here.

    I was thinking about some things and decided to figure out, specifically, what Elisha’s sword looked like. I need to do a lot more work before any of this would be canon – but ChatGPT did have some interesting ideas…

    I’m really considering taking a break from Walter and Eleanor and writing some books that are more romance-slanted since they tend to sell more. I can also do some background on Mars at the same time. Very tentatively, I have the following six books planned:

    Book 1: John Graves and the Queen of Burnished Towers – John Graves leads the Intrepid Expedition to Mars in 1870. Begins his relationship with the Queen of Burnished Towers.

    Book 2: John Graves and the Sky Kingdoms – John Graves and/or Mike Powell among the Air Martians.

    Book 3: John Graves and the Four Canals War – The war that began the expansion of Burnished Towers into the new Empire of Mars

    Book 4: John Graves and the Crown of Mars – Continuation of the war, emergence of the empire

    Book 5: John Graves and the Hidden City – Discovery of the ruins of a Martian City that was not beholden to the Deep Martians

    Book 6: John Graves and the Lords Below – Discovery of the Deep Martians and part of their network of control.

    I made a little progress on Martian Phoenix, but it was mostly in outline and realignment of previous scenes with where I’m going next in the story. Word Count is 19,281 in six+ chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is out, but no rank yet. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, or the kindle version here. The audiobook is available here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Artemis Rising is #328 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,183 in Alternate History, and #1,978 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. Seven reviews for Artemis Rising (thank you Emily!). 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. #944 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,145 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,813 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 #1,309 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,598 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #3,762 in Galactic Empire Science Fiction (not sure how that happened). 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 #392 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #497 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,413 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 #7,356 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,823 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #13,722 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.

  • Pearl harbor and Quiet Footfalls

    Pearl harbor and Quiet Footfalls

    You can get autographed copies of all four books in Selene Reborn Series (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers, Selene Unchained) at Granbury Spring Fling Friday, or Saturday.

    I did some more alternate history work—this time focused on Hawaii. I don’t think I’ll include those details yet—too many spoilers. But this is an image of Pearl Harbor circa 1915…

    Coming up will be the attempted burglary of Phoenix. I needed a burglar, so here she is… https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Quiet_Footfalls

    In Chapter 7 – Observation and Orientation, Scarlet increases the pressure on Nasir and, unintentionally, on Beulah. This is where that becomes obvious.

    On a bit of a whim, I did some work that ties into when the Intrepid brought the first expedition to Mars in 1870. That expedition was led by Captain John Graves of Virginia (NOT John Carter of Virginia). He encountered the Queen of the Martian city state of Burnished Towers and, over the next 20 Earth years, that city became the seat of the new Martian Empire, she became the Empress of Mars, and he became the Warlord of Mars. I wanted a similar type of clothing for those Martian Elves, but something significantly different as well.

    Court Dress of the new Martian Empire (Graves’ Empire) https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Court_Dress

    Court dress of Burnished Towers – the city-state that was the seed of the new Martian Empire. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Burnished_Towers_Court_Dress

    And I think this looks like someone Graves would be willing to make his Empress. Almost makes me want to write that book (or books).

    Spent a lot of time this week on line editing and finalizing the audio book for Antarctic Honeymoon. I’m about half way done. When that’s done, I’ll work on Selene Unchained.

    A little progress on Martian Phoenix. Chapters this week:
    Correction – finished
    Commitment
    Observation and Orientation – started

    Word Count is 19,196 in six+ chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.

    Antarctic Honeymoon is out, but no rank yet. 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.

    Artemis Rising is #328 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,183 in Alternate History, and #1,978 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. Seven reviews for Artemis Rising (thank you Emily!). 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. #944 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,145 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,813 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 #1,309 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,598 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #3,762 in Galactic Empire Science Fiction (not sure how that happened). 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 #392 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #497 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,413 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 #7,356 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,823 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #13,722 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.

  • Antarctic honeymoon is Out

    Antarctic honeymoon is Out

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

    During the rewrite of the end of Antarctic Honeymoon, I got to write a chamber for chapter 21 – The Sleepers. I decided to get ChatGPT’s new image generator to make a picture. Not too bad…

    I finished the rewrite of the end of Antarctic Honeymoon. Since the cover was the correct size, I finished it all up and got it published as well.

    As part of the “Story Continues” for Antarctic Honeymoon, I suggested Riddle of the Sphinx. I have a rough version of the cover now.

    That was so interesting, I did the same thing for Secrets of Kilimanjaro.

    Since I’m done with those two, I’ve started work on Martian Phoenix again. One of the things that came out was the idea of Poise and Grace being a catechism or touchstone for Martian noblewomen. They wear gowns that are scandalously revealing to Victorian eyes, but not for sexual purposes, but to draw eyes. How well it is worn, Poise and Grace, command the attention. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Poise_and_Grace

    I came up with a new minor character. Since most of what she is won’t be in the book, the secret knowledge about her is here: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Soft_Footsteps_Beside_Still_Water

    Another minor character, which may get nothing more than her name in a book, is the current Queen of Seven Canals, Moonlight Upon Flowing Glass: https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Queen_Moonlight_Upon_Flowing_Glass

    At least the upper class of Galveston would take frequent sponge baths through the day, especially in hot weather. When Beulah asked about washing all over at the Shrine of the Mother of Waters, she knew exactly what that would look like. How did women take such frequent sponge baths and maintain Victorian propriety? Well, first of all, Victorian propriety had to bow to practicality. That is why Victorian weddings in the hot climate of the south started in the evening (when it was getting cooler) instead of midmorning. If a woman was sure of her privacy—she would sponge off nude. If she was being aided by servants, or there was a chance of someone walking in, she would wear something, a light linen chemise, a thin cotton shift, or a loose white lawn wrapper. No that last isn’t something you wrap lawns in. It is made from cotton lawn, a soft, semi-sheer fabric. If Beulah had her lawn wrapper with her, this might have been what her purification ritual looked like.

    Another example of why I do these posts – Clarence Cory. He was an amazing person in real life, and he will be an amazing person in this universe. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Clarence_Cory He is mentioned in passing in Martian Phoenix.

    Another example of both why I do these posts and why the world feels so detailed. The details behind the brief descriptions of the Martian Elves. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Gravity_and_Physiology

    A little progress on Martian Phoenix. Chapters this week:
    Meeting Aliens – finished
    First Impressions
    Correction – started

    Word Count is 17,989 in five+ chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.

    Advertising: Between May 1-20, I sold 1 ebook for $4.99 in revenue. Since I spent $42.46 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…

    Antarctic Honeymoon is out, but no rank yet. 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.

    Artemis Rising is #502 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,674 in Alternate History, and #2,715 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. Seven reviews for Artemis Rising (thank you Emily!). 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. #543 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #672 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,803 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 #1,009 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,397 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #2,937 in Galactic Empire Science Fiction (not sure how that happened). 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 #871 in Steampunk Fiction, #1,775 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #3,550 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 #7,343 in Colonization Science Fiction, #10,726 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #13,640 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.