Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Oh look, it's March! I don't have publication details for you quite yet, but I do have lots of news and updates:

• If by chance you're reading this and haven't subscribed to the website, you only have about two weeks left to do so if you want to receive the Starshine eBook free. I will be ending the free eBook offer a week before publication, because - in addition to receiving it free - subscribers will get Starshine several days EARLY :).

• Proofreading for Starshine is all but complete, and I expect to be formatting for print and eBooks by this weekend. The current draft is already well-formatted in a lot of respects - but the devil's in the details.

• I'm now sharing the official map of the colonized worlds of Aurora Rising. This will appear in the front of the novels as well. Here's a little thumbnail, but head HERE and check out the full-size version!

• I've added a lot of material to the website, and reorganized the sub-menus above a bit to accommodate it all:

  • The teaser quotes I've been posting on social media sites can be found HERE. I will continue to update the page with new quotes as I post them, so check it on your next visit.

  • All the excerpts I've included in the News updates have been cross-posted to this page. Now you don't have to dig through old posts to read them :).

  • A separate Official Art gallery has been created. Thus far is includes the Starshine cover art and the map, with more to come.

• New blog post: Would You Give Up Everything to Step Foot on a New World?

• My next update should have a lot more information on publication details, as well as a special reveal!

Here's your spoiler-free excerpt. If you follow me on social media you may have seen this already, as I posted it on Facebook last week (and links to it elsewhere) in honor of reaching 500 Twitter followers. Otherwise, enjoy!

~

She veered west. The coast receded then disappeared from the stern visual screen and the Pacific Ocean stretched out beneath her. She far outpaced the sun, and like a clock winding in reverse dawn soon turned to night.

“Alex, would you like to fly her?”

The smile breaking across her face morphed to a frown at the midway point. The viewport revealed only the stars above and moonlight reflecting in the water below. They had left the San Pacifica Regional Spaceport after breakfast, but this far out over the Pacific the sun had not yet risen. “But Dad, I can’t see anything. It’s too dark.”

“You will, moya milaya. Come sit in my lap and I’ll show you.”

She scrambled out of the passenger seat and onto his thigh in a flash, fidgeting a bit to get situated. Though she was tall for her age, her feet didn’t quite reach the floor; instead they danced an excited rhythm in the air.

“Are you ready?”

She absently tucked minimally brushed hair behind her ear and nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Okay. I’m going to send you the access code for the ship’s HUD. You won’t be able to control it right away though. I want to walk you through what each of the screens mean first.”

A tiny light in the corner of her vision signaled a new message. She zoomed it, and a question floated in the virtual space in front of her. ‘Access ship flight displays?’

She both thought and exclaimed “Yes!” Her father chuckled softly at her ear.

The world lit up around her. A wall of semitransparent screens overlay the viewport. They painted a canvas of aeronautical splendor in radiant white light.

Airspeed. Altitude. Bearing. Pitch angle. Air temperature. Atmosphere pressure and air density. Radar. Engine load. Other readings whose purpose were a mystery. The screens’ relative focus and opacity responded to every shift in her gaze, then to her intentional thoughts. Secure in her father’s lap, she grinned in delight.

Her life would never be the same again.

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