Tag Archives: the fallen race

Writing

Now available: The Star Engine

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The Star Engine, Book 7 of the Shadow Space Chronicles, is now available! https://amzn.to/3V9blRc

There is a gun pointed at all of human space and it is in the hands of a madman.

The ancient Star Engine, a colossal construct of unknown power, is in the hands of a manipulating schemer. He has already used it once to strike at his enemies, wiping out two entire fleets without giving them the opportunity to fight back.

To make matters worse, he has hundreds of thousands of hostages: men and women he has kidnapped, so that he can mentally program them to do his bidding.

The United Colonies Fleet has to stop him. Emperor Lucius Giovanni has a plan. He has an ally, too. His sister, Lieutenant Alanis Giovanni, is on the surface of the Star Engine, and she plans to take the construct and free the prisoners. If she can do that, then Lucius might have a chance in seizing the system without losing entire fleets.

First, though, Lucius has to deal with the treacherous Centauri Confederation, which seems bent upon destroying the new nation he has built, deal with unknown aliens who kill without explanation or remorse, and protect the worlds of the United Colonies.

The fate of human space and possibly far more rests upon who controls the Star Engine.

Science Fiction, Writing

Now on Sale: The Fallen Race

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In preparation for the release of The Star Engine, I’ve put the The Fallen Race on discount for the next 7 days (17-24 June 2024). If you haven’t read The Fallen Race, the first book of the Shadow Space Chronicles, here is your opportunity to get it!

http://amzn.to/1FzQRRq

Humanity has fallen.

Earth has become a charnel house, the bones of twelve billion inhabitants moldering in ruined and gutted cities, victims of their own governments. Earth’s remaining colonies are besieged. On two sides, aliens bent on the eradication of humanity continue their unstoppable march, capturing world after world.

Baron Lucius Giovanni, Captain of the War Shrike, finds himself in a position to stand and fight. The son of a renegade officer and a social outcast himself, he nevertheless refuses to give up. Lucius has few resources: a forgotten colony in a backwater of space, his ship and crew, and the rumors of a lost fleet that might hold the key to the survival of the human race. He’ll take on pirates, aliens, and his own treacherous allies in a bid to save humanity.

Lucius will not give up. He will not go quietly into the night. He will stand against humanity’s foes and he will prove that while humanity may have fallen, they will rise once again.

Art, Science Fiction

New Covers!

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Hey everyone!  I’m happy to announce that I have finally had time to upload the new covers for the early books of the Shadow Space Chronicles.  The Fallen Race, The Shattered Empire, The Prodigal Emperor, and The Sacred Stars all have new cover art from the fantastic David C Simon.  Layout and such is done by Robert  Brockman.

These covers are live on both print and ebooks and will soon be live on the audiobook versions.  I would love to hear your thoughts on which one is your favorite.  Of the four, I have to say I really like the cover for The Sacred Stars, but let me know what you think!

Here are the new covers

 

 

 

Reading, Science Fiction

Kal’s August 2015 Forecast

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Things are pretty busy for me right now, let me tell you. I’m doing the final edits for The Prodigal Emperor, with the publication date projected at 18 September 2015. This will be the third book of the Shadow Space Chronicles and it ties the story of Lucius Giovanni’s war with the Chxor Empire to a close. I’ll have The Prodigal Emperor available for pre-order sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I’m also working on a novel for Henchman Press, the Eye of Odin, which will be the sequel to Fenris Unchained. My goal is to have the book finished by the end of the month, though the publication date will be sometime near the end of the year, I understand.

Lastly, I’m also working on the next set of Renegades stories. This series has close ties to the Shadow Space Chronicles but is more focused on a small team of misfits rather than large-scale military operations. My goal is to have Renegades: Out of the Cold finished by the end of September.

I’m also outlining the next Eoriel Saga book, Fate of the Tyrant and getting the audiobook for Wrath of the Usurper ready to to go live. The narrator, Eric Dove, did an amazing job of it and I can’t wait for people to be able to listen to it.

Lastly, the July Newsletter went out on Friday, July 31st. If you signed up but didn’t receive your email, please check your spam filter. I’ve also sent out the T-shirts from the winners who contacted me as well as the signed copy of Wrath of the Usurper. If you missed out on those contests, don’t worry, there will be more giveaways, so sign up for my newsletter today!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

The Shattered Empire… Coming Soon!

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I’ve officially finished the first draft of The Shattered Empire, Book II of the Shadow Space Chronicles.  This is good news if you liked The Fallen Race.  It’s also good news if you liked my other books, since that means I can get working on those sequels.  For those of you who don’t like my books… er, why are you reading this?

For me, I’m very excited.  This book has been setting on the backburner for five years now, waiting to be written as I waited for my lucky break in traditional publishing… until I went the self-publishing route.  That said, I think the novel benefits from five more years of writing experience.  The novel is much larger than The Fallen Race, with the rough draft coming in at 160k words.  That makes it 30% longer than The Fallen Race.  Since my final versions of novels tend to add another 10% as I go back and fill in some details, that means The Shattered Empire will be a long read.  Technical details aside, the book is chock full of action, character growth, and lots of details in the Shadow Space Universe.  The main story line follows Lucius Giovanni as he goes about liberating Nova Roma from the Chxor… and finds that being the leader of a new nation is not all it’s cracked up to be.  There are two additional story arcs that follow Mason McGann and a new character, a mercenary by the name of Garret Penwaithe, both of which tie into the main story, sometimes in unexpected fashions.  What I really like about this book is that I finally get the opportunity to flesh out some of the side characters, the people who help Lucius Giovanni to do the things he does.  As an author, getting to explore those characters, as well as the antagonists, was a wonderful opportunity.

The Shattered Empire is now headed to my alpha readers.  After a their feedback I’ll do my editing, copyediting, and then I’ll post it on Amazon.  Keep checking here for updates, samples, and hopefully soon a post about the progression of the cover art.  Thanks to all my readers for making this possible!

Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Free Short Story! (and an update)

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I’ve added a short story to the Free Fiction area.  The story is called “Runner” and it is something of an origin story on Run from the Renegades series.  It was interesting and challenging writing from his perspective, and I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Feel free to make any comments about the short story on this post, I’d love to hear your input.

As far as other updates, Renegades: Ghost Story is set to come out early next week.  I’ll be planning a book bomb when it comes out, so if you plan on picking it up from Amazon, please do so on or around Tuesday, 21 Jan, around noon Mountain Standard Time.  It’ll also go up on Smashwords, and from there to B&N, Kobo and the rest.  I’ll post the Blurb and Cover for Renegades: Ghost Story this Friday (17 January).

My novel, The Fallen Race, is on track to come out at the end of that week.  Right now it is forecasted for Friday, 24 January.  Again, I’ll be trying a book bomb, looking at 12 noon (MST) on Saturday, 25 January.  While the Renegades series is more of an exploration/adventure SF story, the Fallen Race is military science fiction.  I discussed it with Jason Cordova in my interview at  Shiny Book Review.  The interview is here for those who want to read it.

Lastly, for those who enjoyed the Echo of the High Kings previews, I have good news.  The novel will be coming out on Amazon next month, and for the first three days, it will be free to purchase.  I’ll have to make it exclusive to Amazon to do so, but I’m conducting a kind of experiment to see if that will allow me to boost sales, and compare it to my sales of other books.  Look for Echo of the High Kings to come out in mid February of 2014.