Both Renegades: Origins and Renegades: A Murder of Crowes are live.
Tag Archives: scifi
Renegades Origins Book Bomb!
I’ll release Renegades Origins and Renegades: A Murder of Crowes on noon, 19 April. For this event I’ll be doing a book bomb. Why release two books on the same day? Renegades: Origins includes Murder of Crowes, along with Deserter’s Redemption, The Gentle One, Declaration, and Ghost Story. It also includes six short stories for a total word count over 200,000 words. Five of these short stories are exclusive to this anthology and will not appear elsewhere. These short stories include: ‘Research Notes’ – Run’s take on the escape from the prison station, ‘Dishonored’ – A story about Rastar’s childhood and time before he was captured by the Chxor, ‘Systems Failure’ – a story about what happened between Ghost Story and A Murder of Crowes, ‘Fool’s Gold’ – a short story from Anubus’s perspective, and lastly ‘Timing’ – a short story from Ariadne’s perspective set after the events of A Murder of Crowes. All of these will be available in one package for the price of $4.99
Renegades: Origins back cover blurb:
In times of chaos, there are those who fight for money, for power, or just to survive. In feudal Japan, they were Ronin. In the post US Civil War, they were desperadoes or hired guns. In the chaotic times of the collapse of human civilization, they are men, women, and aliens without shelter or succor. When no one else will take a stand, they stand for themselves. They are deserters, murderers, pirates, and worse… they are the Renegades.
For those who have already purchased some or all of the other novellas in The Renegades series, I’ll also be selling Renegades: A Murder of Crowes separately. Renegades: A Murder of Crowes is the final section of the series before the return to civilized space. Like the other novellas, it will be available for just $0.99. That’s right, for less than a (really) cheap cup of coffee.
Renegades: A Murder of Crowes back cover blurb:
Among the rag-tag crew of outlaws and escapees, Simon has a unique background: he’s a cop. So when one of the crew winds up dead, naturally the others turn to him to find out the identity of the killer. It should be a quick investigation aboard the tiny ship with a small crew…. Except that in this case, everyone is a suspect. Simon has to wonder, not who is guilty, but who, on this ship, is really innocent.
Both books will be available at noon (US Central time) on 19 April. Mark the date!
Renegades: Origins and Renegades: A Murder of Crowes
Renegades: A Murder of Crowes will be released on 19 April, 2014. Read below for the blurb:
Among the rag-tag crew of outlaws and escapees, Simon has a unique background: he’s a cop. So when one of the crew winds up dead, naturally the others turn to him to find out the identity of the killer. It should be a quick investigation aboard the tiny ship with a small crew…. Except that in this case, everyone is a suspect. Simon has to wonder, not who is guilty, but who, on this ship, is really innocent?
I’m also releasing Renegades: Origins on the same day. So, if you want to read the extra short stories, or if you haven’t yet purchased the other Renegades books, this is your opportunity to pick up all of them at the same time. Renegades: Origins includes all five novellas of the Renegades series as well as some additional short stories. Below is the blurb:
In times of chaos, there are those who fight for money, for power, or just to survive. In feudal Japan, they were Ronin. After the US Civil War, they were desperadoes or hired guns. In the chaotic times of the collapse of human civilization, they are men, women, and aliens without shelter or succor. When no one else will take a stand, they stand for themselves. They are deserters, murderers, pirates, and worse… they are the Renegades.
As with my other books, I’ll be doing a book bomb to boost sales visibility. As a note, however, if you are interested, I encourage you to buy it at noon Central US time on 19 April. Why is that? Because Amazon tracks sales over time, and higher ranked sales means more visibility. More visibility means reaching more readers which is cool from a reader’s perspective because there are more people they can discuss a book or author with and is cool from an author’s perspective because that’s more money with which said author can buy things like food and other necessities of survival. So, pencil in 19 April!
Writing Progress & Update
I thought it best that I update my readers (or at least those of you who check here for inf0) on my current work and progress.
Right now I’m done writing Renegades: A Murder of Crowes, the fifth novella in the series. That will be posted singly. I’m currently working on Lab Notes, a short story from Run the Chxor’s perspective. That story, along with Runner, Fool’s Gold, XXX, and Refugee will be included with all five Renegades novellas into one omnibus called Renegades: Origins. While I know that many people have already purchased some or all of the novellas, this will be your chance to get all five as well as five short stories, four of which are all new.
Once Renegades: Orgins is completed, I’ll go to work on my next project: The Shattered Empire. The second book of the Shadow Space Chronicles follows the events of The Fallen Race. It takes place a short time after the Third Battle of Faraday, and it covers Baron Giovanni and the UC taking the offensive, not just in a raid or battle over a minor world, but engaging the Chxor at vital systems and trying to turn the tide of the war.
While writing that, I’m going to try to balance attendence at various conventions, editing and releasing some of my other finished works, and plotting out the YA science fiction book I’ve been wanting to write. So I’m pretty busy.
I’ve been asked where some of these series are going and whether there will be series. As a short answer… yes and no. The Renegades novellas are something I love writing, but to be honest, they don’t earn back nearly as much effort as I’ve put into them. I’ll still write them and I plan that series to be a long-running one. The Fallen Race has left some (very big) loose ends, which I plan to tie up in another two or three novels. After that I’ve got another series planned that ties in, though it is set a few years later, with new characters and a new storyline.
I do have a few stand-alone books, both written and plotted. The issue I face with that is as an independent author, there are some readers that I can’t reach without an estabilished series. That said, I’m not the type to run a character through ten or even twenty books of action. At a certain point an author runs the risk that the character’s arc is spent, either they’ve culminated and grown to the point that they can handle whatever follows or the story becomes repetitive. Don’t get me wrong, some authors can do it, and do it brilliantly. But that’s not where my current novels are headed. Eventually Lucius Giovanni’s part in The Shadow Space Chronicles will come to an end. I know who will take up the fight after him. I know where the story will go from there. But, it will be a different series, new characters, and a new story arc.
All that said, any comments or questions from me? I don’t mind taking time to answer questions. Also, I’ll be attending Starfest at Denver on 2-4 May, 2014, so if you have questions, want a book signed, or just want to talk, feel free to find me there!
Renegades: Origins and Free Sample
I’ve decided to title Renegades: Compendium I as Renegades: Origins. It will include the first five Renegades Novellas as well as four or more short stories. Renegades: Origins comes out 19 April. Among the short stories included is Runner, which I already have up for free, as well as a story from Anubus titled Fool’s Gold, a story from Mike titled Shadow Space Blues, another story from Run titled “Lab Notes” and lastly, a story from Rastar. Here’s a sample from Shadow Space Blues:
“I’m bringing us thirty degrees down, prepare to fire on my mark,” Mike said. He matched action to words as he adjusted the controls at the pilot station. On his sensor repeater he saw the enemy ship exposed to the fire of the five turrets. “Mark!”
A moment later, the five turrets opened up. The light particle pulse guns sent a wave of energy at the enemy ship. The lower angle allowed the ship to fire all five of the turrets at the same target and dropped them below the middle band of the enemy ship’s defense screen. If their main gun were operational, Mike would have swung the bow upwards and fired that instead
“Multiple hits,” Simon said. The somewhat dour former cop seemed bound to keep his voice steady, despite the hour of maneuvers that had required the well-positioned shot. “I’m reading power levels dropping on their defense screen and their reactor signature dropped.” The enemy corvette looked to be a Barracuda class, from its maneuvers and reactor signature. It mounted an external missile rack and two light laser turrets. Mike’s earlier maneuvers had already coaxed the missile launch, which had allowed Eric to pick them off at long range. The two laser turrets were heavier than their own, but also fired slower and took longer to recharge.
Mike nodded, even as he spun their ship around to put the thicker waist band of their defense screen in between their ship and any return fire. The charged plasma would deflect energy weapons and projectiles while the magnetic field shielded them from radiation.
“Any transmission from the enemy ship?” Mike asked.
“Nope,” Crowe said. The communications officer had a bored look on his face. “I’ll tell you if they start talking.”
Mike grimaced, but let Crowe’s insolence slide, for the moment, “Navigation, good work with the maneuvers, get us a course that uses our acceleration, I want to get in behind them and-“
“Missile launch!” Simon’s level tone disappeared. “I have sixteen missiles on the way. Intercept time thirty seconds!”
“What!?” Mike asked. “They already volleyed their external racks!”
“Looks like they kept something in reserve,” Eric said. “Switching fire, Simon, get me a target solution, I’m firing blind!”
Mike shifted the ship into an evasive maneuver and tried to gain some distance even as he watched Eric shift fire. It didn’t look good. The missiles were fast, not Nova Roma quality, but certainly military grade from the Colonial Republic. They were fast and agile, and at such close range, the missiles had every advantage.
***
Hope you enjoy and it’s only a couple weeks before you can buy Renegades: Origins.
Anomaly Con Denver Review
I went to Anomaly Con this past weekend. It’s a smaller Fan Convention in Denver, Colorado. The general theme is steampunk and alternate history, though there was certainly guests, panels, and events linked to science fiction, traditional fantasy, and even urban fantasy as well. I’ll cover the highlights for those interested.
Tracy Hickman was there, talking about his new game Sojourner Tales, which looks to be a lot of fun, check it out here. He also hosted his Killer Breakfast event, though that had a depressingly low turnout. It was still a lot of fun, and I got to be slain multiple times.. For those who haven’t heard of it, typically several hundred people are killed in a 2 hour session, mostly whenever their characters cease to entertain. My favorite part was when I used my long underwear as a parachute, then rolled a natural 20 as a success, leaving Tracy Hickman literally speechless. It even has a website, apparently, find that here.
Author Carrie Vaughn was there. Most famous for the Kitty Norville books, she is an excellent panelist, and she had a lot of good info, is always very organized, and she kept on topic as well as answering any questions from the audience. All in all, she’s a friendly author, and seems to be a great person. If you’re a fan of urban fantasy, you should check her out. I’ve read a number of her books, and they are an excellent example of urban fantasy, and more original than most. Check out her website here.
Also present was Quincy Allen. He’s a ‘hybrid’ author, who started out self published and has since gotten involved in small press. He’s a Colorado author, an all around interesting fellow, and fun to talk with. His novel, Chemical Burn, will be re-released under Kevin J Anderson’s Word Fire Press. Check it out here from Amazon, and Word Fire Press here.
I didn’t have the opportunity to set on any panels, but I did have some fun conversations with a variety of folks there at the conference. I also found a very cool John Crichton Farscape-style vest and jacket, just out of my price range at the moment. Of course, if my book sales pick up a bit, I suppose I can work buying it in the future. Check out their website here. They’ve got a lot of cool stuff.
All in all, it was an interesting weekend. Anomaly Con is a quirky little convention. I don’t know that I’ll attend next year, but it was an experience this year.
Fool’s Gold Sample
Here’s a sample from the beginning of Fool’s Gold, a short story set from the perspective of Anubus from The Renegades series.
***
Anubus figured his safest long term option lay in the murder of the entire crew.
Unfortunately, in the short term, he required them alive. He knew little enough in regards to navigation much less engineering or half the other flight systems. Anubus figured the others realized that which explained why they disregarded his threats so far.
As he sat with his back secured in the corner he did another quick threat analysis of the crew lounge. Mike stood with his back to the tank of water with the eel. Anubus had observed the human’s poorly hidden fear of either the water or eel or both. He thought the ploy too obvious to consider a true weakness, which made him wonder why the Captain bothered. Anubus also found the tank a source of annoyance, mostly at the others insistence that ‘Rainbow’ vanished when motionless.
He could not understand how the others might not sense the Arcavian Fighting Eel. Even if Anubus couldn’t see the eel, he could smell the creature’s scent on the water from across the room. More than that, he could hear its heartbeat, a slow, rhythmic pump that could have almost lulled him into a relaxed state.
Fortunately, the incessant chatter of his companions countered that hypnotic beat. Their scents assaulted his nostrils even as their rapid movements drew his gaze. They smelled like food, and they acted like it too, and it took considerable self control for him not to indulge in the buffet that they presented.
Instead, Anubus forced himself to take shallow breaths and walk slowly towards Eric’s buffet. The scents there did not smell nearly as delectable, for he could not sense the blood just under the skin, ready for his jaws to plunge into the hot flesh…
I need to work on my self control, he thought, or just kill someone, either would do.
***
Fool’s Gold will be featured in the upcoming Renegades: Compendium I along with other short stories and the first five Renegades novellas.
Runner sample
Here’s a quick sample from Runner, a short story written about the origins of Run the Chxor, a character in The Renegades series. Runner will also be available in the upcoming Renegades: Compendium
***
Ghren paused as he pulled up his notes: “On 5674-Juhnar, Medical Scientist Rhxun, violated standard methodology and protocols with his current experimentation. He disobeyed direct orders from the Planetary Governor, violated Chxor Medical Procedures seventeen, forty-two, one-ninteen, and seven-thirteen through eight-forty-five.”
“Also, technically, nine-fourteen,” Rhxun added.
“As well as nine-fourteen,” Ghren amended. “Due to his inability to follow proper procedures regarding medical methodology, he implanted three quarters of the population, roughly four million of the Than subcaste with implants designed to limit free will and induce loyalty protocols to the Chxor Empire in general and to Senior Scientist Rhxun in specific. His implants utilized wireless signals to maintain overall control of the population and had minimal electromagnetic shielding.”
“Four million, three hundred thousand, four hundred and seven of the Than subcaste,” Rhxun corrected automatically. “With an additional one hundred and twenty test subjects who survive at the shielded testing facility.”
“Correct, four million, three hundred thousand, four hundred and seven,” Ghren stated flatly. Apparently he did not like the reminder that his inferior intelligence did not allow him to retain data as well as Rhxun. Well, it isn’t as if I didn’t expect as much, Rhxun thought. The Tier Three Investigator continued, “When a stellar flare erupted, it caused massive radio frequency interference across a broad spectrum, this interference proved particularly hazardous to the population implanted by Senior Scientist Rhxun. The result was initial extreme pain, followed by violent aggression. Final results appear to be the destruction of higher level brain functions and feral behavior. This subsequently resulted in the termination of the entire test population as well as some three million – “
“Two million, nine hundred thousand, nine hundred and thirty,” Rhxun interrupted.
“ – of the rest of the population. This number included seven District Administrators as well as the Assistant Planetary Governor, Police Commander, Deputy Fleet Commander, and Investigator Krell who had been dispatched to investigate Planetary Governor Hraal’s statement regarding insurrectionist activity in regards to Senior Scientist Rhxun’s research.” Tier Three Investigator Ghren paused. “I therefore find that the proper punishment is to strip Senior Scientist Rhxun of his rank and sentence him to immediate termination.”
“I understand how you have come to this decision,” Rhxun shook his head. “And I believe you have done your best at the limits of your intelligence and understanding. Am I correct in my estimation that you have followed procedure fifteen of the investigation protocols and have waited to file your official findings pending my sentencing?”
“Of course,” Ghren said. The tone of his voice suggested that any other option would not follow the proper regulations. A loyalty to regulation and bureaucracy that Rhxun agreed with and appreciated immensely.
“Excellent,” Rhxun said. He drew his dart pistol and fired once. The small dart struck Ghren in the side of his thick neck, just above the collar of his brown uniform.
Ghren stared at him in shock for a moment. Then the convulsions began. Rhxun walked calmly around the desk and deleted the Tier Three Investigator’s notes. He then pulled the dart out of the dead Chxor’s neck and carefully dropped it down the incinerator chute behind the desk. A moment later he tapped the intercom button. “Excuse me. It seems that Tier Three Investigator Ghren has undergone a seizure. I would suggest that a body disposal team be dispatched.”
***
You can find the rest here
Taxes for Writers, Part 1
In writing, as in many things, there is no getting away from the absolutes: Death and Taxes. The good news, such as it is, is that writing can have a number of perks, chief among them is making you a bit of money. The bad news, of course, is that you’ll have to pay taxes on that money.
Even if you’re not earning money on writing just yet, your writing can save you a bit come tax season. Writing, so long as you are making a sincere effort at publishing or getting published, is a business. As a business, you can take deductions from expenses common both to general writing and genre fiction. Those deductions can really start to add up and can be a real benefit when you go to file your taxes, hoping to get a little bit more money back.
If, like me, you’ve earned money writing, those deductions can help you to keep a little bit more. As a business, you need to keep track of receipts, invoices, and other expenses. That part can be the most frustrating, particularly when you return from a convention tired, travel-lagged, and of course with a case of the con crud. Still attention to detail here can save you a lot of money when it is time to file those taxes.
The big thing is to know is what you can and can’t deduct. Remember, this is the fun part because deductions are expenses that drop your earnings so you pay fewer taxes. There are a lot of viable areas for business expenses that you can deduct. Attending conventions, both writing and genre is a networking and educational event. The convention fees, hotel room charges, and even your meals are tax deductible. If you’re attending conventions, you also probably have business cards or some other means of marketing, these too are tax deductible.
There’s more than that, though, Your travel to and from the convention is deductible, both in whatever mileage you drive (keep a record of miles you drive in your car for such events), as well as airline, train, or bus tickets. That new computer you had to buy, that’s deductible, though you may have to depreciate it because it’s something that should last more than a year. If you’ve bought Microsoft Office, that’s a tax deduction too, as you need it to do your writing. Most meals for business are only 50% deductible, however, that’s still 50% that comes out of your taxable income.
If you’re meeting with an editor or artist over lunch to do your cover design or illustrations, not only is the travel to the location a deduction, so is the meal. So, in fact, is the expense of the editing and the artwork for the cover. Any kind of entertainment meals are 100% deductible, so keep a log of what is just a business dinner and what is entertainment. Any time you conduct business during the meal or the discussion is going to take place immediately before or after, you can consider it an ‘entertainment’ expense and you get the 100% deduction.
There’s also deductions you can take towards research that you do as a writer. If crucial scenes in your book are set in a specific location, travel to that location as well as any expenses towards researching it are deductible, within reason, of course.
All these deductions can add up and that’s important because, as we’ll see later, as an author, you are self-employed and you’ll have to pay more taxes, the Self Employment Tax, on top of what you would normally pay.
So, save those receipts and try to save as much of that hard-earned writing money as you can!
Renegades: A Murder of Crowes sample
I thought I’d share a short section from Renegades: A Murder of Crowes, which comes out in only a few weeks. This section comes from near the beginning. I’ve tried to avoid any spoilers, but if you haven’t read through Renegades: Ghost Story, then you probably don’t want to read this yet.
“Okay, first order of business,” Mike said. “Lock down the ship. Since Crowe is involved, lock down all the terminals too, until we know more.” He looked over at Rastar and Eric. “You two do manual locks on the airlocks. Mandy and Miranda, you’ll secure the bridge with Ariadne and Pixel. Simon, Anubus, Ludmilla, Run, and I will start the search, Rastar and Eric join us after you’ve secured the airlocks. Run, be sure you bring your medical equipment.”
Simon nodded. The search party and security elements all contained technical and combat elements, which he approved of. Granted, Simon hoped that he wouldn’t need Run’s medical attention.
“No,” Anubus growled. “If Ghost is on the hull, it is after my prowler. We need to go out there and kill it before it steals my ship.”
Simon had forgotten that the Wrethe had clamped the small vessel on the hull of the Gebnar.
“Yeah… with how poorly you docked it, no one is getting it off the hull any time soon,” Pixel said. The engineer didn’t look up from where he worked on the console. “You managed to lock onto an unarmored section of hull over our port sensors. At least one of your clamps punched through the hull. You couldn’t get off with your maneuver thrusters, and you can’t engage the main drive this close to the ship. The Red Hunter is stuck.”
Anubus’s lips drew back over his teeth in a snarl, “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
Pixel looked up after he hit a last button, “Something of an insurance policy, in case you betrayed us. Besides, we can’t do anything about it without a lot of work. And we have bigger priorities just now.” His comment met with total silence. Simon quietly upped his estimation of the engineer. Apparently he’s not as unaware of some things as I thought, Simon realized. A moment later, Pixel gave a smile, then opened up the ship’s intercom, “Attention all passengers of the Gebnar. We have a possible security situation, the Captain will brief you.”
“Okay,” Mike said with a nod. “All personnel, move to your quarters and take up defensive positions. We may have an univited guest. Crowe, if you’re near an intercom switch, please contact us immediately.” They waited a long moment in silence. Mike clenched his jaw, and Simon saw the muscles stand out on the short Asian’s jaw. Mike switched off the intercom and when he spoke, Simon could hear the anger in his voice, “Now that that is settled, get moving people. Whatever Ghost and Crowe are up to, we need to find out and put a stop to it.” Even as he spoke, Rastar opened the storage closet and swept his guns across the entrance. The big alien gave Eric a nod and the two entered the lift.
Simon followed the others as they started down the stairs to the next level down from the bridge. The first compartment was one of the sets of crew quarters they shared. Mike activated the automated door while Ludimilla and Simon took up ready positions with pistols. Despite his dislike of the bountyhunter, Simon admired her professionalism. Not so much with Mike, who held a Chxor submachine gun casually in one hand. We really need to do more of those weapons handling classes, Simon thought.
The hatch swept open. The oversized crew quarters sat empty, other than some litter and trash from where some of Simon’s less tidy companions had eaten their lunch. Once again, the scale of the ship gave Simon a weird feeling of juxtaposition. Even Anubus looked dwarfed by the oversized room as he swept into it. The Ghornath-sized nests that lined the walls were not designed for humans or even the larger Wrethe. The Gebnar was a captured Ghornath ship, after all. The large furniture and lockers, like most of the rest of the ship, were designed for the three meter tall, eight-limbed aliens. Only Rastar felt truly at home with the ship.
The Wrethe paused and sniffed the air. “I don’t smell Wrethe… but I smell blood. A lot of it.”
“Shit,” Mike said. He glanced in the room, “Where? I don’t see any.”
Anubus slowly spun in a circle. Finally he turned and walked back through the hatch. He paused outside the door for the other set of quarters across the hall. “Here.”
Simon trained his pistol on the hatch. The archaic 1911 forty-five felt cool in his hands as he took up a two handed stance. It was pure muscle memory as he readied himself to fire. The world seemed to slow down as Mike moved up next to him and leveled his submachine gun at the hatch. Mike nodded at Run to trigger the switch to the side of the automatic door.
The hatch swept open without a sound.
Kal Spriggs 