Happy Holidays - Spinward Fringe Style!

When I look at the image to the left one thought comes to mind: someone get that cartoony skull some egg nog, stat!

Anyway, since the last blog post things have been hopping, and in a good way. The Goodreads forums are seeing many, many new members.

Work on Broadcast 7 is going extremely well. The first final draft chapters were submitted to the editor last weekend and I expect to have another chunk in her hands the week after Christmas.
A few readers are stepping in and becoming voices in the fledgeling Spinward Fringe community (you know who you are!). Overall, the general attitude surrounding Spinward Fringe is quite positive.

What a lot of people who joined the Goodreads forum don't know, is that they entered into a draw for books and other prizes. I promised that if enough people joined the forums I would add prizes as well.

Enough people have joined, so here is the revised list of prizes:

One package including:
A full set of signed Spinward Fringe books and a Triton Crew T-Shirt.

Two packages including:
A signed copy of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins and a Triton T-Shirt.

Five more people will receive signed copies of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins.

The deadline is January 1, 2011 and the winners of the random draw will be announced on January 2, 2011.

All winners will also receive a USB drive with a few goodies you've never seen before, including a five chapter preview of a brand new novel that is unrelated to the Spinward Fringe series. I will ship anywhere in the world. Prizes will start arriving on your doorstep during March unless you live in Canada. There may be a skill testing question, which is required by Ontario law.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. I'll see you in the new year!

RL

[The answer is 7.]

Broadcast 7 Update & Holiday Drawing

I'm working on the final draft of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework right now. It's dense. There's a lot of information. It's looking like the final writing style is actually a mix between Broadcast 5 and Broadcast 6, which is a little crazy, but it was working for me by the time I finished the previous draft.

What I can tell you about the story (without spoiling anything), is that three weeks have passed since Broadcast 6. A few situations have settled while things are starting to get a little messy politically. I'm really enjoying this final writing and I'm handing the first chapters over to my editor on Friday. She's been anxious to see them, especially since she didn't see any part of the 1.5 drafts I completed already.

This book is taking longer to plan because it's effectively the last one. Sure, Broadcast 8 will come out later, but for the purpose of closing out most of the outstanding plot lines, I have to think of Broadcast 7 as the last book in the series. The great thing is, it really FEELS like the last book. All the pieces are moving, most of the characters have a discernible purpose, and the ones who are more enigmatic have  a lot to reveal before the book is over.

So, it's going well. When will it be out? I can say it'll be out early 2011 unless I manage to write a turkey of a book.

Now, on to the draw.

Anyone who posts on the Facebook Spinward Fringe Goodreads discussion board will be entered into the draw. You can comment on an existing topic or create one of your own. Your post has to be at least 10 words, so if you pop in to say "bump" it doesn't count.

The deadline is January 1, 2011. The winners will be announced on January 2, 2011.

What are the prizes?

The top prize is a complete set of Spinward Fringe books, signed by yours truly. That includes Broadcast 7.
The second and third prizes are signed copies of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins.

All winners will also receive a USB drive with a few goodies you've never seen before, including a five chapter preview of a brand new novel that is unrelated to the Spinward Fringe series. I will ship anywhere in the world. Prizes will start arriving on your doorstep during February or March. I reserve the right to ADD prizes if there are more participants than expected.

It's been a good year for me, and this is a way for me to say thank you in a big, splashy way.

So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the Goodreads board and check out the discussions. 

RL

[Anyone who already visited the Facebook discussion board so you would be included in the draw doesn't have to worry. You'll be included regardless of the growing pains!]

Origins - The Final Edit

At long last and great expense, Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins has finished undergoing an extensive edit. The purpose of the work was to bring the book up to par with most conventionally published material, and to make the whole thing easier to read.

The plot and characters remain the same, but I did take the opportunity to make some scientific tweaks partially thanks to the editor that was hired on to the project: Jason Black. This has been in the works for months, and now that it's been done once, Broadcasts 1-6 will eventually get the same treatment.

Regardless of how much time and money was invested, Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is, and will remain free wherever vendors allow free eBooks to be offered. Amazon does not allow authors to offer their eBooks for free, sadly, so I'm charging as little as they will allow: 99 cents. This new version of Origins should appear on Amazon.com in the next few days (It just appeared here!), and the current edition of The First Light Chronicles Omnibus is being updated at the same time.

You can get the final version of this book for free at Smashwords right now. They have versions for every type of eBook reader. If there was ever a time to tell your friends about Spinward Fringe, this is it. Broadcast 0: Origins is in fine shape, and there's more news but the timetable is still uncertain, so I can't talk about those upcoming events just yet.

RL

[Questions? Concerns?]