Space Opera With a Twist

Tag: Ashes of Empire (Page 1 of 6)

And It’s Off!

I just sent The Final Shore (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 9) to my editor, which means a mid-March publication date is looking more and more possible. Now, back to Imperial Dawn. I’ve just opened the file and began to re-familiarize myself with where I was at when I switched over to the last Dunmoore adventure. With any luck, it’ll be a late May publication date. After that? I’ve been toying with a new series set in the same universe as all my others, but further in the future than Ashes of Empire, featuring a roguish officer who carries out dirty work for the imperial government.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

Change is Good

I had 40% of Imperial Dawn written when I encountered a blockage two weeks ago, a serious one that prevented me from continuing with the book as it was going. After a lot of reflection, I decided it would be best if I turned my attention to the next one on the list, the ninth and final Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, while I let my subconscious figure out Imperial Dawn. I may have to start over from the beginning because it simply wasn’t headed in the right direction.

I’ve now written 15% of the so-far untitled ninth Dunmoore story and it’s going well because I’ve known for years how it ends. But it probably won’t be out until early February of next year at the earliest. Sorry.

In the meantime, I get to stare out the window at the gray skies, falling leaves and increasingly cold weather as autumn gets a grip on my part of the Great White North.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

Time Flows

As the Alan Parsons Project song says, “time keeps flowing like a river” and it’s the latter part of August already. Where has the summer gone? Sure, there’s still a month left by the calendar, but the weather is getting distinctly autumnal some days around here. Last night, as I was settling down to read on the back deck, I had to put on a light sweater, which is generally unheard of in August.

Progress on Imperial Dawn has been slow but steady. I’m about one-third done. At this rate, we’re looking for a late fall publication date. But there are a lot of moving parts in this installment of Ashes of Empire and the complexity keeps me from speeding up the writing. I still think it’ll be the last one in the series, yet I might be wrong. It all depends on how Imperial Dawn progresses. In other news, the audiobook version of Black Sword (Decker’s War Book 5) is being published as I write this and work has started on the audiobook version of the sixth Decker’s War novel, No Remorse. And I’m thinking about a new series set perhaps two hundred years or so after Ashes of Empire, about a roguish agent who gets into all sorts of adventures as he pursues the enemies of the state across worlds that are still recovering from the fall of the First Empire.

And that’s all the news I have on this fine Saturday. Stay safe and healthy fellow humans.

It’s Almost Here!

Good news! Ashes of Empire: Imperial Ghosts is done, was blessed by my editor, and has gone through the pre-production process.  We’ve followed a more rigorous release plan this time around — as some of you may have noticed, I announced a July 5, 2022 release date last week. Well, that release date still holds, but the book is now available for pre-order pretty much everywhere ebooks are sold and will be released in a few days. Here’s the link:

https://books2read.com/imperialghosts

The Amazon paperback version can be ordered from Amazon right now as well, although the other print versions (paperback from other than Amazon retailers, hardcover and large print) won’t be made available for order from your favorite book merchants until later this coming week.

And in other good news, I’m past the one-third mark writing the next Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, On Stormy Seas. So that’s something you can look forward to in late summer or early autumn.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

And It’s Off

Ashes of Empire: Imperial Ghosts is off to my editor. Provided she doesn’t raise major issues, a mid to late July release is almost certain. I’m contemplating putting it on pre-order with Amazon, Kobo, and Google Play (the three retailers where I can do so without major problems), so stay tuned. And with that, it’s on to the eighth Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, which I know many of you are eagerly anticipating.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

It’s A Wrap

I finished writing Ashes of Empire: Imperial Ghosts earlier this afternoon, and I’m quite satisfied with the story — it comes out to around 400 print pages and there’s a lot going on. Of course, now comes the hard part: revising and cleaning it up for my editor. I figure we’re looking at a mid to late July release date. Below is what I figure will be the final cover. There may be a few tweaks, but I quite like the image.

In other news, all three Constabulary Casefiles are now available in audiobook format from Google Play and will be available in audiobook from Kobo within the next week or so. I’m rather satisfied with the results. And for those who are waiting for the next Dunmoore, I’ll be starting when Imperial Ghosts is off to my editor. I already have the high level outline ready to go, but no title as yet, let alone a book cover design.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

April is the Cruelest Month

As I sit here writing this blog post, snow is coming down in big fat flakes outside. The white stuff on the ground melted a few weeks back, but this is the Great White North. None of the rules say it can’t snow whenever nature feels like blessing us with the stuff. And wouldn’t you know it, the ground is still cold enough that it’s not melting right away, probably because it’s been a colder April than average. Let’s hope May isn’t a rerun of April, as sometimes happens. But enough of the favorite conversation topic among Canadians.

Progress on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Ghosts is steady, if slow. Publication will likely not happen until July at the earliest. The story is becoming a tad more complex than I first envisaged, with several threads covering both the Hegemony and Lyonesse a little under three years after events in Imperial Echoes, as the race to become the dominant force starts in earnest. I’m also beginning to outline the eighth Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, which picks up approximately two years after events in A Dark and Dirty War. I don’t have a title yet, but expect more political shenanigans from the Kathryn Kowalski and Ezekiel Holt viewpoint as this series moves towards what we know happened from reading Decker’s WarGhost Squadron and Constabulary Casefiles.

If you haven’t notice, I’ve started experimenting with short videos called book trailers, both here (look to the right at the top of the sidebar), on Facebook, and on my official website. I also rediscovered a YouTube channel set up under my publisher’s name. If you want to check it out, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSeUMZbenabjV1UdxTosXkw

I’ll probably be doing further videos of this sort, if only because there was a time I was heavily into producing scuba diving videos as you can see from the example on the YouTube channel. I even sold a few DVDs of my work.

And that, fellow humans, is all the news that’s fit to post. Stay safe and healthy.

 

Seasons

According to the calendar, it’s Spring in the Great White North, but Old Man Winter never gives up without a fight. After a week or so of balmy weather, we’re back into the freeze with light snow drifting down on this Sunday. Tomorrow will be equally chilly, but looking at the long range forecast, this is very likely winter’s last gasp in these parts until the end of the year. But when you’re immersed in other realities, such as the Ashes of Empire saga, does the passing of the seasons truly matter? And I’ve been living in that universe daily. Progress has been steady if not always rapid, but I’m past the one-third mark and closing in on halfway there. A June publication date seems reasonably realistic.

Other things are moving along as well. All of Decker’s War, Ashes of Empire, Constabulary Casefiles, and Ghost Squadron, have been published in Large Print Editions (available through your favorite book seller), and the Siobhan Dunmoore books are well on their way — in the next few days, the first four will come out in Large Print with the rest to follow in the first week of April. Speaking of Dunmoore, in my idle moments, I’ve begun kicking around story ideas, since she’s next on my work plan, once I’ve completed Imperial Ghosts. I have a particular goal in mind for the culmination of that series, and it just remains to be determined how I’ll get there, but that culmination will set the scene for Decker, Caelin Morrow, and Ghost Squadron.

Happy Spring to those in the northern hemisphere, happy Autumn to those in the southern. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay at peace, fellow humans.

Marching Along

I don’t know whether time passes more rapidly as you get older, or your perception of time shifts into higher gear, but my – it’s already been three weeks since my latest book came out and we’re just over two weeks away from the official start of spring. As I got up this morning, I was reflecting that it seemed only yesterday when we last heard the honking of the geese headed south. And before we know it, they’ll be headed north again. Not that you can tell looking outside. It’s still snowy, icy, and cold around here, but the weather channel says daytime temperatures are about to head above freezing as early as tomorrow and pretty much stay there (with the occasional dip). The sun, however, is visibly higher, warmer, brighter, and sticks around longer, signaling the equinox is only two weeks away.

I’m making steady, if unspectacular progress on my next novel, Ashes of Empire: Imperial Ghosts, which now sits roughly between the one-fifth and one-quarter completion mark. I’d say you can expect it late May or early June at this rate. After that, I’m planning on the next Siobhan Dunmoore for a fall publication date. Hopefully, the world will look a lot better by then. And that, as they once said, is all the news that’s fit to print.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans. Peace.

 

 

Another Audiobook

The fourth installment of the Ashes of Empire series, Imperial Echoes, came out in audiobook format yesterday. You can get it from your favorite retailer:

https://books2read.com/imperialechoes?format=audiobook

And in other news, the entire Ashes of Empire, Ghost Squadron, and Constabulary Casefiles series are now available in large print hardcover version. The Dunmoore series will be next. Meanwhile, my editor is still working on the third installment of Constabulary Casefiles while I’m developing the detailed outline of Imperial Ghosts.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

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