Tag, I’m It – (and Meet Some Indie Scifi Authors)

Posted on July 7, 2014 by BR

Thanks to Scott Baughman, who is busily working on his Balance of Power scifi series, I was invited to participate in a Writer’s Process Blog Tour. Each week a new set of writers answers four questions about what they are working on, and how and why. Scott’s on my Fiction Links page, along with a couple of other scifi authors whom I’ve invited to continue the blog tour chain next week (see below).

Question 1: What am I working on?

I’ve been working on the This Corner of the Universe series for well over a year now, and specifically I’ve just started the first draft of Book 4, Loyalty to the Cause. The series is part military science fiction and part space opera, with a sprawling star system map and three human political factions to contend with. However, TCOTU follows the personal journey of one man, Garrett Heskan, throughout this space. Heskan’s series will be five books long to complete his story.

Question 2: How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The first thing that comes to mind is I tend to weave my interest in military history into my stories, which might seem unusual in the science fiction genre. This Corner of the Universe (Book 1) has an “age of sail” flavor to it, and even paid homage to a classic battle of that era (I Have Not Yet Begun to Fight). No Way to Start a War (Book 2) carries a “birth of aviation” subplot throughout its story (About the F-3 Pup). The Wrong Side of Space (Book 3) introduced marines to the fray, and also has a line inspired by an interesting communication incident during a World War II sea battle (The Universe Wonders).

Question 3: Why do I write what I do?

As a long-time reader of science fiction, and a former Air Force officer, writing military scifi was a natural place for me to start. I do have backburner ideas in urban fantasy, but I think once Heskan’s story is complete there will still be a lot left to tell in the TCOTU universe.

Question 4: How does your writing process work?

I tend to think in arcs. I knew Heskan’s series would be five books long pretty early in the process, because I drew an arc and moving from the bottom of one side to the bottom of the other came out to five steps along the arc. When it comes to writing a new book, I tend to outline maybe the first 25% before I start writing now. It wasn’t always that way, but it’s how my process has evolved. On days I am stuck, I work on furthering the outline. It seems to be an efficient use of time.

One thing I love to do is support indie and small press authors, and to spread the word particularly about scifi projects. So, I reached out to a few folks and invited them to continue this writer’s tour chain next week:

Scott Moon writes across several genres, but I follow his Chronicles of Kin Roland scifi series. He’s just released Book 2, Son of Orlan, so I hope he tells you about that and what’s next for him next week.

Mark Bordner is just releasing a Book 2 as well, in his The Mighty First scifi series. You can find his answers next week over on his Facebook page.

DL MacKenzie writes the Magnetron Chronicles, a cross between scifi and steampunk and released serially.  He’s also very actively supporting indie authors over at Fictivity Press.

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About the F-3 Pup (NWTSAW)

Posted on June 26, 2014 by BR

In No Way To Start A War, the Brevic Navy introduces its first dedicated carrier-based fighter, the F-3 Pup. The name, Pup, might be considered an unusual choice until you look at the history of the name and the Brevic Republic’s circumstances during the book.

Carrier aviation was nearly completely new to the Republic. I tried very hard to keep the theme of the “birth of aviation” prevalent throughout the story. Accidents in the book were very common, malfunctions even more common and just piloting and landing a fighter could be as dangerous as an actual combat sortie.

In keeping with this spirit, I chose very early on to name the Brevic fighter the “Pup” after the famous 1916 Sopwith Pup of World War I. While certainly not the first tractor biplane, it was certainly one of the first successful ones (for the Allies).

Wikipedia – Sopwith Pup

 

I considered naming the Hollaran fighters “Albatri” (another historical reference, for the opposing side) but that seemed a bit heavy-handed. The theme of the beginnings of aviation was also the reason why I had the pilot training bases located in the New London system. After all, where else could I place them? Finally, I tried to incorporate some of the old (archaic?) language such as “stunt” and “dud engine” into the dialogue to give that feel of history. I am thrilled that my readers picked up on that and didn’t ding me in reviews for using those expressions. But then again, sci-fi readers in general are kind of history buffs. I think we tend to look to the past when thinking about the future.

An update on Book 4: It’s slow going. However, I expect big things in July so hopefully I will stay on course for a Fall release.

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Another KDP Select Experiment

Posted on June 16, 2014 by BR

EDIT: For now, this experiment is on hold.  We’re instead planning a first ever sale of Book 1 at 99 cents (probably sometime in July), but we don’t need KDP Select to do that.

 

Last year I experimented with having This Corner of the Universe (Book 1) exclusively on Amazon to test out the “free for Prime members” feature of KDP Select. The conclusion at the time was that free Prime downloads slightly beat out Nook sales but not enough to keep me exclusive to Amazon. I also pledged and continue to pledge to readers that each new book I put out will be released on Nook so Nook readers following the series will never be stranded.

This summer I am going to try KDP Select again with TCOTU (again, Book 1 only), so I can try out Amazon’s new promotional tools under that system. There are “Countdown” deals as well as a limited number of free pricing days. I am not sure how I will use them yet, but with three books out now and a series starting to build, I think it will be fun to experiment with the options.

So, heads up if you read on Nook or know scifi fans who do… This Corner of the Universe will take a temporary hiatus from the B&N e-store starting this weekend.

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