Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7 & Expendable Few Update - September 2011


 The pressure to get a book out is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Fortunately, I've experienced pressure before, so the previous statement is more an idle observation than it is any kind of complaint.

The absence of pressure would indicate a lack of demand. So, bring it on.

I can't provide a release date for The Expendable Few or Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework, but I will do the next best thing.

I've set a deadline for the completion of the Expendable Few. I will finish writing this book by October 7, and attempt to get it to the formatters by the end of that month. Test readers will see chapters during October as well.

The Expendable Few has hit more creative roadblocks and faced more in-process revision than anything I've ever written. In an effort to present a full fledged science fiction novel with all the trappings that I want for this story and the characters, I've increased the book's size to about 80,000 words, and drawn ideas I had reserved for other books in. The book needed it, and as for size, it might become even longer.

There was a time when I just wasn't satisfied with how the second half of this book was turning out, and I didn't know how to fix it. I'm past that now, and am writing the chapters that bring it up to snuff. There are ideas in this book that span politics, technology, character development, and take the book straight into strange fiction. Now it's something I know I'd enjoy as a reader.

There are at least a dozen chapters left, and there could be more. Getting this done before or on October 7 will be an interesting challenge.

What about Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7? It's about to enter its third and final draft. The existing 120,000 words are mostly going to remain the same, with a few additions and slight modifications - but that's what you do when you draft a book you've mostly been away from for a couple months. The work I'm doing on the  Expendable Few novel (formerly novella), has prompted me to up my game for Broadcast 7's last third. That's right, 120,000 words in I'm about two thirds done, so you can expect at least another forty thousand words in Broadcast 7.

Parts of Broadcast 8 may be pulled into 7 simply because there is no reason to keep a couple story lines in reserve. Without spoiling anything, there are whole sections of Broadcast 7 that introduce an entirely new side of the Spinward Fringe universe that I've been waiting to write about since The First Light Chronicles. Introducing that side of things is proving to be very important to the story, and to the development of several characters.

A few people have asked how tightly intertwined are the Expendable Few Novel and Broadcast 7 books? I can only say that you're going to want to read the Expendable Few before reading Broadcast 7. If you don't, you may not know you're missing something, but you will be. Since the Expendable Few is an unexpected novel, it'll be offered for free for all readers on Smashwords and for $0.99 on Amazon for the first month, possibly longer.

I'll be honest, I'm looking forward to finishing my work on the Expendable Few so I can get back to Broadcast 7. Everything is taking longer because I'm more interested in telling stories that best my previous work by far. The simple solutions, easy situations, vanilla characters and settings don't work for me regardless of how long or short they exist on the page. I'm also paying more attention to quality these days, in all aspects of what comes across my desk. So, sorry for the extended wait, I'll try to make it worth your while.

RL

[Next on the blog: Cosmetic and systemic changes are coming.]

25 comments:

David "Wildfire" Sewell said...

Wooo Yay! More info and books always good!

cord66 said...

AWESOME!! More is BETTER! when it's RL providing the MORE!!

I can't wait to see where you take these 2 stories. and sounds like B7 is gonna be chock full of fun. If you are at 120,000 now, you're gonna end up close to 180k? Will that make B7 the largest to date?

Sophianna K. said...

Well, bring it on! I for one cannot wait for the next Spinward fringe - in fact, I'm finding I'm more and more comparing other sci fi to Spinward fringe - simply because to date, it's very well put together.

I would -love- to see it before I rush off for surgery next month - I have a long recovery ahead of me and it would give me something to read....

Allan B. said...

Good things are worth waiting for.
Great things are worth suffering for, and I'm willing to suffer the absence of the continuation to the SF series for a couple extra months ;)

No complaints here Randy, just keep doing what you do best and when it's all ready for release, it will be well worth the wait!

bearth said...

wow, sounds great to me randy, i allways want the best and more depth is allways better, thanks for the update randy!

SARGENTSCRUFY said...

As much as I cant wait for the release, Taking your time to really bring us the masterpiece you have imagined for us is more important! I'm looking forward to the best one yet!

Cmptrwhz said...

I'm waiting as patiently as possible. no I'm not lol I'm dying inside wanting to read them.

Randy Wear said...

I can hardly wait, but as said, most happy to get the 7 book "when its time".

What a great series!

oldiver said...

I am so looking foward to these new books! As a now old man that spent his younger days in a deepsea rig exploring interspace,I so much enjoy these books of outerspace!

Anonymous said...

Dude stop selling yourself short, we're all hooked and will pay more for a fix :) Loving the series so far and hope you can keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

I'm cheap, but I would pay 12 dollars for any thing you write. I'm patiently waiting for these next two...still being patient...

EmPeBe said...

Having found SWFBC recently, and have just finished SWFB6, I'm hoping EF met its 7 Oct deadline & I don't have too long to wait.

Anonymous said...

I finished broadcast 6 a few days ago. Not sure what to read now....
Can't wait for broadcast 7.

Kristian in Denmark said...

Finally a break. Now maybe i can start to sleep regularly like normal people.
Been going to bed with a delight thinking "Great it is time to read some more of this Spinward story." At around 1 in the night i look at the alarm clock with a sinking heart at the prospect of having to put it down. Then at 2 o'clock i am thinking how hard it is going to get up in the morning, and at 3 o'clock i have given up, and just tell my self i will get to work late. On and on since the "origins".

Tracy from Northern Ireland said...

Have been totally hooked on the spinward universe from the first scentence and can't wait until broadcast 7. Keep them coming, more is never enough.

Anonymous said...

I have to say I love the Spinward Broadcast series of books. I am an avid reader of SF in all it's many forms, churning through many books a month. Seldom have I stumbled across a series of books worth reading. I'm wishing Pt 3 (SF7)? was available now, it's 22.49 and I'm lying next to my poorly wide with not much else to read, guess I'll have to wait awhile though. Keep up the excellent work RL, the books are getting better ;). Graeme from Leeds, UK

Anonymous said...

i see the expendable few is out on amazon. anyway you can get that into iBooks? im a huge fan and love this series. oh and a philapeno frind wants to check it out but she cant get it there. keep up the awesome work!

Randolph Lalonde said...

In more recent blog posts, I mention that the Expendable Few is on its way to other retailers, such as the iBookstore.

Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy the book when it arrives!

RL

Anonymous said...

Great series! The characters are engaging, real, and I find myself anxious to read what happens...the potential for this series is...unlimited!

Allison J. said...

I just finished Broadcast 6 and love the series so far. I'm glad I read this upate so I know to read The Expendable Few next, but I'll probably have that book finished in the next two days. Then I'll be looking forward to Broadcast 7.

I'm not self centered or delusional enough to think that I won't have to wait a bit for Broadcast 7, but can't help myself from wondering about when you think it will come out. Any chance you could give us an update on the timing? Pretty please. :)

Randolph Lalonde said...

Thanks for reading! I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed the journey so far, guys!

Q: "Any chance you could give us an update on the timing?"

A: You can find the whole timeline here - http://randolphlalonde.blogspot.ca/2012/03/road-to-broadcast-7.html

Thanks for asking! Take a glance at a few more recent blog posts if you want to hear about the upcoming Podcast and other various stuff!

RL

Anonymous said...

Whoa! I'm a reader of a broad variety of stuff, but my first love since teenage years was sci-fi. Stumbled onto the Spinward Fringe series a couple of months ago, have now read them all, am in the midst of "Expendable Few". Great stuff, man! You are in a fine groove. Truck on, my man-

Randolph Lalonde said...

I'm just popping in to say thank you for reading and supporting my work! I appreciate the positivity here more than you could know.

There's a pretty good update on the progress of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework here - http://crewcastradio.com/2012/07/28/crewcast-radio-broadcast-10-the-first-one-with-broadcast-7/

...and wonder of wonders, it's a podcast episode! If you haven't heard the podcast already, this episode is as good a place to start as any.

Thanks again, I hope this info helps!

RL

Anonymous said...

I started reading books on my kindle when I started my most recent job rather then listen to music I enjoy blanking out to a good story instead .. Never been into sci fi but Found Spiinward saw it at 6 stories and dived into it ... I've been tortured for months now waiting for the big 7!!! Can't wait and love hearing 8s on the drawing board love your work thanks for the distraction n make the movie if you can !

Randolph Lalonde said...

It's official! Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework has been released early thanks to the hard work of editors and the EBook formatter working on the project.

Here are the links so far!

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/256369

Amazon (US): amzn.to/SXETIQ
Amazon (UK): amzn.to/TaKorj
Amazon (FR): amzn.to/TaKmzD

There's much more info in the podcast: http://crewcastradio.com/2012/11/18/the-spinward-fringe-podcast-framework-release-special/