Category: Friends in Command

Short Blitz #7: Starchild

Title: Starchild
Genre: Space Opera
Word Count: 3,000
Writing Time: about two weeks

I haven’t trimmed or polished this story yet, but I’m calling it at 3,000 words. If I were stricter about following Heinlein’s rules, I would only give it a proofreading pass, but with shorts I’ve heard that it’s best to cut out as many unnecessary words as possible, so I’ll give it a solid pass before sending it out.

Unlike all of my other short stories so far, this one takes place in the same universe as my novels and novellas. Specifically, it takes place in the Star Wanderers universe, at an unspecified system deep in the Outworld frontier. It’s about a girl in the strictly regimented society of an isolated space colony, who decides to be the first from their outpost to win the heart of a star wanderer. More generally, it’s about the cycle of life on a frontier space station and the inevitable loss of innocence from contact with the outside.

The idea came to me while I was on vacation, so I didn’t do much with it for the first week. I dabbled with it while I was out at the Cape, writing a little here and there, but it wasn’t until I was on the train headed back that I dedicated some serious time and effort to it.

My sister lives in Iowa, at almost the exact midway point between Massachusetts and Utah, so I decided to stop by and pay her a visit along the way. I finished the story this afternoon at her house, and I plan to print it out and submit it to F&SF while I still have access to their printer. What can I say … I’m cheap. :p

I don’t think this will be the last short story that I write in the Star Wanderers universe. If I could write a few good ones that get picked up by a major magazine like Asimov’s or Clarkesworld, that would be a great way to bring in more readers. I figure a story in the same universe as my other books will be much better at that than a generic short story, and since self-publishing is my bread and butter, the more I can get my short stories to serve that, the better.

In any case, now that thing one is done, I can focus all of my attention on Sons of the Starfarers. If all goes well, Book III: Strangers in Flight will be published in the next couple of weeks, and Book IV: Friends in Command
will be finished (at least the rough draft) by mid-October. This was a nice project to work on during vacation, but now that it’s finished, it’s time to get back to work!

Almost back from vacation

So I’m in Massachusetts now, getting ready to head back to Utah by way of my sister’s in Iowa. I spent the last week on Cape Cod for family vacation, which was a lot of fun! Cape Cod is one of my favorite places, and it was good to sit back and take a break from things.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. While on the beach, I reread Nancy Kress’s Beginnings, Middles, and Ends (an excellent writing book), and in the evenings I tinkered a little with a short story in the Star Wanderers universe. I also sent out several short story submissions, and even received a couple of rejections. I’ve got seven stories out on submission right now, and I hope to push that number even higher before the end of the summer.

But short stories aren’t the main focus. The main focus right now is Sons of the Starfarers, specifically, getting Strangers in Flight published. The final draft is currently with my editor, and the cover art is ready to go. Check it out!

SSF-III (cover)I am definitely looking forward to getting this book out. But if you haven’t read the other books in the Sons of the Starfarers series yet, I would advise you to wait until the first omnibus comes out. I should have that up for pre-order by the middle of September, and I’ll price it slightly lower than all three books put together.

I’m not sure when the fourth book will be out. At this point, all I have is a rough outline. However, I expect that it will be out before Christmas. I don’t think it will take more than a couple of months to write, and I’m really excited to write the fifth book, so once I get started I expect it will go quickly. The title for book four is Friends in Command, and it will be primarily from Mara’s point of view.

That just about does it for now. I’d better get back to packing so that I can get some sleep before the night is over. Take care!

Checking in for the Fourth

So I’m pretty exhausted, but there are tons of explosions going on outside right now, so rather than go to bed I figure I ought to do a quick blog post letting you know what I’m up to.

This week was fairly slow as far as the writing goes. My family was in town, so I spent a lot of time with them. My sister just had a baby, my brother-in-law got a new job, my parents are in town and got to meet my girlfriend for the first time, so between all of that and the usual Fourth of July festivities (plus my sister’s birthday, which falls squarely on the fourth), my plate has been pretty full.

Still, I did manage to get some work done. On Tuesday, I finished the first draft of Strangers in Flight (Sons of the Starfarers: Book III). I’ll send that out to my first readers this weekend and get the ball rolling on the cover art. If all goes well, it should be available sometime in mid-August.

I’ve also been doing a few publishing-related chores that I’d put off for a while. You may notice the new buy buttons on the sidebar, and the My Books page up top. That’s a plugin I recently downloaded that should streamline things significantly. Eventually, I want to do a full site redesign, with a landing page for new visitors or people that are interested in my books, not just the blog. I’ll probably write a new bio and get some professional author photos too.

With Strangers in Flight done for the moment, I’ve got some time to work on other projects. Since the fourth book in the Sons of the Starfarers series (right now, the tentative title is Friends in Command) won’t be out until sometime in October, I have a bit of breathing room to do something else for a while. I’ll probably take some time off to write short stories, and perhaps pick up an unfinished project like Lifewalker.

So that’s what I’m up to right now. I’ll leave you with the United States Marine Band playing the Stars and Stripes Forever, which has been in my head since Sunday. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!