Tag: cover reveals

Cover reveal: Welcome to Condescension

Worldcon 2016 is this week, and in honor of that, I’m releasing a new short story: “Welcome to Condescension!”

Here is the cover:

WTC (cover)

If you’ve been following the inanities of the Hugo Awards controversies for the past couple of years (and I can’t blame you if you hadn’t, since most SF&F readers don’t follow the Hugo Awards), then the puppy on the cover should make perfect sense. If it doesn’t, don’t worry: you can still enjoy the story anyway. And the puppy!

To be updated on when this story is available, be sure to sign up for my email list!

Cover reveal for my next big novel!

Wow, it’s been forever since I posted anything on this blog. I’ve definitely been busy, but haven’t been as good at keeping up with it here. That’s definitely going to change.

For those of you reading the Sons of the Starfarers series, I’m only about a chapter away from finishing the first draft of Captives in Obscurity. If all goes well, that one should be out sometime in December/January. There’s a huge, game-changing shift that takes the story in a completely unexpected direction—one that’s going to be really fun to tie in with everything else that’s going on. It should also answer some of the wider questions about the Gaia Nova universe, and set things up for the book where they rediscover Earth (or at least attempt to).

I’m also working on a fun shoot ’em up sci-fi adventure novel with the working title Gunslinger to the Stars. It’s kind of like a mash-up of Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Monster Hunter International. The main character is Sam Kletchka, a gunslinger / man of fortune from New Texas, one of the Gliese colonies near Earth. He sets out for adventure with his arsenal of firearms (affectionately named Mercy, Faithfulness, Righteousness, Judgment, Preservation, Love, Kindness, and Trust), and hilarity ensues, along with lots and lots of explosions.

In the meantime, though, I have some really, really awesome news! On November 21st, the weekend before Thanksgiving, the fourth novel in the Gaia Nova series will be coming out! Here is the cover and book description (the artist is Hideyoshi, who also did the covers for the other Gaia Nova books):HOTN (cover)

THEY LOST THE WAR, BUT WINNING THE PEACE IS STILL WITHIN THEIR GRASP.

Five years have passed since the Hameji conquered James McCoy’s homeworld, all but enslaving his people. Now, the occupation threatens to destroy them.

Deep in the heart of the Good Hope nebula, there is a place where they can start over. But it will take a strong leader to get them there, and the temptation to trade freedom for security has never been greater. Even if they manage to escape from the Hameji, the greatest threat to their future may come from within.

James once gave everything to save the ones he loved. This time, his sacrifice could make him a legend.

Heart of the Nebula is a direct sequel to Bringing Stella Home. Like all the other books in the Gaia Nova series, however, it can be read as a standalone book. A lot of characters from the other books come back for this one: James of course, but also Stella, Abaqa, Lars, and many other people from The Colony. There are also a lot of new characters.

This may be the most important book of my career to date. I started it almost five years ago, and have been working on-and-off on it ever since. In that time, I’ve really poured a lot of myself into it, perhaps more than any other book I’ve written.

If all goes well, it should go up for pre-order by the end of the week. The print version will come out with the ebook. Once Heart of the Nebula is up for pre-order, I’ll set Bringing Stella Home to free until November, and probably organize a blog tour for the book release. If you’re interested in having me guest post on your blog, shoot me an email at joseph.vasicek@gmail.com!

 

Playing with cover art

So last week, I was dinking around with some images, making a cover mock-up for a Star Wanderers short story that’s currently on submission to Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. This is what I came up with:

Starchild (cover)The model is Devon Jade, photographed by Aaron Tyree on Deviantart (CC BY 2.5). The background image is variable star RS Puppis, photographed by NASA (public domain).

The story itself is set in the same universe as Star Wanderers, around the same timeline. It’s very short, only 15 pages, and follows the coming of age and loss of innocence of a girl on an isolated space station in the Far Outworlds. It’s on submission to the major SF&F markets right now, but in a few months I anticipate that it will be available to self-publish. I think I blogged about it when I wrote the story last year.

So far, I’ve sent it out to Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, F&SF, Strange Horizons, IGMS, and Escape Pod. All of them except for IGMS have rejected it so far, which isn’t too unusual for short stories (you tend to accrue a LOT of rejections before anything gets published). After I hear back from IGMS, I’ll probably send it out to a couple more pro markets and a handful of semi-pro markets before I publish it myself.

I’ve got to be honest, I’m really really tempted just to put it out right now. But I want to give the magazines a try first. I can always self-publish it after I’ve exhausted all the markets, but once it’s self-published, none of the magazines will take it. Better to be patient and keep it on submission for now.

You can probably expect to see this story sometime early next year, either in a sci-fi magazine (fingers crossed), or on Amazon. When I do publish it, I’ll make it free for my email list subscribers.

Cover reveal for new fantasy release!

A while back, I wrote a short fantasy novelette about a group of orcs setting out to found a new clan. Well, I’ve decided to self-publish it! If all goes well, it should be up on Amazon by this weekend. Here’s the blurb:

IS THIS THE HILL ON WHICH YOU WANT TO DIE?

That is the question on Garak-Nur’s mind every time he draws his trusted sword Blacknife. A battle-hardened mountain orc and warrior chief of his clan, he knows when to turn from an unwinnable fight—and when to face death head-on, sword in hand.

Garak-Nur is ready to meet his fate, but the rest of his clan is not. A Witch King has risen to power in the north, impressing all the mountain orcs into his massive army. To preserve their freedoms, Garak must lead a band of warriors and she-orcs into the wilderness to start a new clan.

But the challenges they must face are great, and the lands they must cross are teeming with danger. Dwarves, dragons, and rival orcish war parties all stand in their way of finding a new home. Even if they do manage to start a new burrow, their fledgling clan may still not survive the winter.

One day, Garak-Nur will climb his last hill and meet the fate that awaits him. But for the sake of all those who look up to him, that day must not come a moment too soon.

WARNING: Contains mature content including rape and sexual violence.

And here’s the cover!HWD (cover)This book is a fairly wide departure from my science fiction stuff. I have no idea how well it’s going to be received, or whether there will be enough interest for more books and stories in this universe. If there is interest, I do have more stories that I can write. First, though, I want to see how well this one does. If you enjoy it, please leave a review to let me know, so I can decide whether to write more stories in this universe!

For those of you waiting on my ongoing science fiction series, don’t worry—I haven’t given up on those. Friends in Command (Sons of the Starfarers: Book IV) will probably be out sometime in February, and Captives in Obscurity (Sons of the Starfarers: Book V) will be out sometime in the spring. These stories are running a lot longer than I’d planned for them too, so for those of you who want something longer than a typical novella, you’re going to get it.

That just about does it for now. If all goes well, A Hill on Which to Die should be up on Amazon in the next 48-72 hours. Keep an eye out for it!