Ladies and gentlemen, readers of all ages, and fans of Science Fiction, I give you the cover to the third and final book in the UNSEC Space Trilogy: Starforge.
I don’t really know what else to say, except perhaps “Behold!” once again, and maybe “What do you think?”
Well, that and if you hit the jump, there’s both a text and textless 4K background version you can save for your desktop viewing pleasure. So click that little jump down below …
Continue readingThat’s right! It’s almost upon us! Tomorrow the world gets its first look at the cover for Starforge, the last installment in the UNSEC Space Trilogy! Who’s ready?
4K background images too, in case you’d forgotten. Be here tomorrow!
Two weeks.
That’s right, folks! In just two weeks, on September 1st, 2022, you will all get your first full look at the cover for the upcoming conclusion to the UNSEC Space trilogy, Starforge. For now, all you’re getting is the teaser above … though you can probably make some guesses based on what you’re seeing there, though that image is distorted and fuzzy.
So, a little bit on Starforge, both regarding the cover and current Alpha progress. Coverwise, the cover is done. I’m waffling between adding review quotes from prior titles to the final, but the cover itself is done. As is a 4K background This means on September 1st, not only will you get to see the full cover in all its glory, there will also be a 4K background version, both with title text and without.
Those of you who familiar with what happens to the site around a book launch can also be assured that yes, we’ll see something similar coming to the site in advance of Starforge. As wonderful as it has been to have Axtara gracing the top of the page with her grin, it’s time for her to take a step back!
Now, speaking of the book itself, there isn’t much to add that wasn’t said on Monday: Beta is the next step! We’re still aiming for a November release, and early-reader eARC copies may start going out as soon as the second wave of changes to the Alpha have been made. Beta editing will probably be pretty involved, and hopefully I can squeeze in a third pass before release just in case. Once the first Beta is done, I’ll be looking at getting Starforge’s pre-order page set up. Basically, every day is a day closer to Starforge being in everyone’s hands at last!
Beta also means previews in full on the site and on Patreon. At least the first five chapters of Starforge‘s near forty chapter length.
Basically, if you’ve been waiting for the conclusion to the adventure that began with Colony, this is IT. Once again, it is a trilogy. No “surprise” fourth book. No lackluster endings that are really just fodder for another sequel. This. Is. It.
And two weeks from today, you’ll get to see the cover atop it all.
So start getting ready, readers.
Starforge is coming.
Welcome back readers! It’s Monday again, and you regulars know what that means!
Though I’ll admit this post is a little late. However, those of you familiar with the more obscure areas of US Tax law will likely understand now that I’ve invoked the existence of that system. Yes, today was the day I needed to make sure that my taxes were sent in (they weren’t quarterlies because of fishing money). Those of you who have dealt with the IRS or who do your own taxes understand.
So, that’s why the post is a little late. But better late than never!
Now, I do have one more nice bit of news before we get rolling today. Don’t worry, it’s short and sweet. Colony picked up a few new ratings this weekend (all 5-star) along with this glowing review:
That’s a lot of exclamation points! Thank you for the review, new reader, and may you enjoy the rest of my library!
Okay, with that said and done, let’s wrap up the month of February with one more Being a Better Writer post! Hit the jump, and let’s talk about sequels.
Continue readingToday’s post is going to be more about editing. Sort of. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
So first, welcome back readers! I hope you all had a good weekend! Especially with Episode 12 of Fireteam Freelance having dropped on Saturday. Was that a ride or what?
Now, I’d like to say there’s more news, but at the moment … not yet. There have been some interesting developments on my side of things, but at the moment they’re still in the formulative stage, so I’m going to hold off talking about it as of yet. There’s still time for things to go one way or the other.
Which means we’re going to dive right into today’s Being a Better Writer topic. Also, the quicker we dive in, the quicker I can get to work today on Starforge, which is WHOA. Patreon supporters know what I’m talking about.
So then, let’s talk about selling the vision.
Yeah, that’s right, you read that correctly. This is it. The official cover reveal for Jungle. Along with a light synopsis (not at all final, but it’ll give you a good idea of what to expect) and a preview excerpt from chapter one!
Also, folks, in the coming days you can expect to see pre-orders open up, the official synopsis, and the official release date. So get ready! Because Jungle is almost upon us!
Now, let’s get a look at that cover! Are you ready?
Now that’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it? Jungle picks up where Colony left off, with the trio—Jake Tames, Annalyne Neres, and Ray “Sweets” Candy—arriving back in the Sol system after the events on Pisces to find things there aren’t nearly as stable as they’d hoped. Their contract extended, the three once again find themselves in circumstances beyond their control.
At least, for the moment.
Yeah, that’s not the official synopsis, but it definitely hits a few of the opening moments. It’s been three years, folks, but the trio is back.
And I really don’t trust myself to say more without dropping spoilers.
So, a few specifications, and then we’ll get to the excerpt so you guys can catch up on Jungle‘s opening moments. First and foremost: How long is it?
Well, brace yourself. Colony was 334,000 words long. With some change. Which, after Amazon refined their page system, ended up around 1300 pages (and too big to bind, at least for right now).
Jungle weighs in at … 457,000 words. For the record, that’s long than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. So yeah, if I do my math right, around 1800 pages. Too big to bind. And if you’re wondering why this title ended up such a titan, well … it’ll make sense once you crack it open. Right around eight or nine hours later, probably, when you look up in a daze and wonder where the sun went. Before questioning whether you really do need to go in for work tomorrow.
Okay, so it’s big. What about price? Surely something of such weight and depth is going to cost a pretty penny, right?
$7.99. Same as Colony was when it launched. This is one book. I’m not splitting it into ten little novels and nickel-and-diming you readers. You get the whole thing.
Release date? I’m not going to share that just yet but … I will say this. You will see the trio before Thanksgiving in the US. Definitely a late Fall release (and stretching the definition of “Fall” a bit) but still hitting before winter!
So, we’ve got a cover. We’ve got a price. We’ve got a rough page count. Now who’s ready for that excerpt?
Hit the jump and get to it. And if you’re a Patreon Supporter, congrats! You’ve already seen this! Head on over to Patreon for another supporter preview!
That’s right! It’s time for news about Jungle! LOTS of it!
There’s not even any point to holding back or writing a preamble, so I’m just going to dive right in. Partially because I’m pretty tired, but also because this news is just exciting. So are you ready? Here goes.
Release Details
Jungle is currently on track to release in November of 2019. That’s right, next month. Likely before Thanksgiving. I do not have an exact date for you yet, but in the weeks ahead, there will be one, and Jungle will go up for pre-order.
Now, with this news out in the open, Alpha Readers and Beta Readers both! Feel free to talk about Jungle now. I would ask that you not spoil it for folks (please don’t be that person in Sitka, Alaska who got the first copy of The Half-Blood Prince and spoiled it for everyone) but other than that, feel free to talk about it! You’ve gotten the early look! Let people know what you thought!
Cover
Now, with the news that Jungle will be releasing in November, I’m sure some of you are wondering “Yes, but what will it look like?” Well, while the final cover isn’t done yet, I have a test work in progress to give you all a pretty close approximation. You ready? Here goes …
There, I’ve said it. This post has been a long-time coming (it was actually planned for the week after LTUE, but then that big bit of metal fell …) but today we’re finally getting to it. And the title pretty much sums it up.
I don’t like modern cover design for books. At all. And the more books move toward this modern design, the less I enjoy it.
What’s not to like? First and foremost, the size of everything. There was a time when a book had three primary things on the cover, in addition to some smaller things that could sometimes appear. You had the name of the book. You had the name of the author. And you had the cover image itself. And these were displayed with a decent hierarchy in mind. The cover image was usually foremost, followed by or sharing equal billing with the title.
Now, however … that’s not the case. One of the trends right now is that the author’s name has to be AS BIG AS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE, dominating as much of the cover as it can. At first it was just under the size of the name of the book. Then it became the same size. Now? On a lot of books, it’s even bigger. You can find book covers with the author’s name taking up over a third of the cover. Or more.
Personally? I can’t stand it. I get that there are “reasons” behind it (I heard about them at LTUE, and you’ll definitely hear them from the Indie crowd), but even with those “reasons” I still can’t stand it. Especially as the driving force behind it is … well, it’s kind of childish personally. It’s the old “Bigger is better” idea.
Hey readers! Got a pretty awesome treat for you all today!
You’ve seen the cover for Shadow of an Empire, right? That awesome, western vista done by Michal Kváč. Well, those close followers of the site may remember how I teased that it was wallpaper-sized. And those who were Patreon Supporters? They got the wallpaper sizes.
Well, as of today, you can too. That’s right, in beautiful 4451×2560 Widescreen, you can have the full cover image of Shadow of an Empire for your desktop or digital device background, available in both textless and text versions.
Hello readers! Welcome back to a Monday edition of Being a Better Writer! I know, it’s almost sad that I have to celebrate the posting of a Monday-centric series on a Monday, but my other job lately has been nuts. As in, I could write an entire post about how it’s an example of the dumpster fire that corporate America has created/become. I sort of want to, for my sanity as well, because … well, that’s a tale for another time. Or day.
Thankfully, things with this job are going pretty awesome. How so? Well, you might have missed it if these posts are the only ones you ever check out, but Shadow of an Empire (the snazzy cover you saw in the featured image) is available for pre-order! That’s right! It comes out June 1st, and joins my slowly-but-ever-expanding roster of adventures. If you’ve been reading Being a Better Writer but haven’t checked out any of my books yet, this is the point where I tell you that you definitely should. You’ll get to see all of the topics, elements, etc, that I talk about in these BaBW posts on display in some awesome fiction.
Also, if you haven’t, this week’s News Post is pretty packed-full of cool news and updates. Price drops, Reddit AMAs … check it out!
Okay, news and stuff out of the way! Let’s talk about a really tricky, often dividing topic among authors and writers: Book covers.
Unusual Things 