Everything I Released Is On Sale

I don't normally announce this sort of thing here, but Smashwords is having an end of year sale and I had to join in. All my books are discounted this week,(Until January 1). If you're missing something, want to look at my whole library, to see what's free today or would like DRM free backups of my books, now is the time. If you stop in, please add me as a favourite so you get notifications whenever a new book appears. There will be a few this year. :)

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/randolphlalonde

RL

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors Is Out Now

I'm proud of the new pace of writing I've managed to hit. This is the third novel I've published in 365 days (Broadcast 12: Invasion, Savage Stars, now Broadcast 13: Warriors). Before publication these books were available through Patreon at a pace of two chapters a week for subscribers with few breaks. I think it's been a great year, and I hope to keep it up for years to come.

Today I'm happy to present all of Broadcast 13: Warriors in one ebook through all major platforms. This series is a dream project to me, even now, eleven years later. Without any further delay, here are some of the links that will take you to the book.

Smashwords | Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Barnes & Noble Nook | Kobo

This novel is less action oriented than Broadcast 12: Invasion, with more intrigue and a deeper dive into some of the character's personalities as they face challenging situations with potentially dire consequences. I hope you enjoy it!

RL

I'm In The Google Play Store!

It took years of applying again and again, but I'm finally in the Google Play store with all my books! This is great for me because people have been asking me to publish there for years, and I hate being walled out of a big platform.
You can find all my work here:
https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Randolph+Lalonde

Thank you, Google!

RL

[Oh, and just a reminder, Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors will be out tomorrow!]

Warriors, Broadcast 13 Release Date!

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors will be available on Amazon, the Apple Books (iTunes, iBooks), Smashwords, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo and other major ebook platforms on Saturday, December 7, 2019! The print version will be available at the same time through Amazon.

This novel was serialized on Patreon from beginning to end this year, so subscribers were able to read two chapters a week. I think that improved the writing, giving every chapter more focus. If something looked like it might not be entertaining enough to stand on its own, it didn't make it in. Even less action oriented parts of the tale featured more character development, providing a real dive into one of the main character's heads. I hope to continue and evolve this style, since I think it's what a lot of readers who want to get something out of reading for fifteen minutes at a time want.

I'm happy with the work I did on this novel and am proud to put it out there so you can read it in its entirety. This one also comes with a three chapter preview for Broadcast 14: Rebel, which is already being released at a rate of two chapters a week to subscribers on my Patreon page. 

I hope you enjoy the character journies you'll find here! You can pre-order using any of the links below.

Amazon | Smashwords | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble Nook | Kobo 

My Patreon Page

Celebrating 10 Years and 1 Million Downloads of Spinward Fringe With a Summer Sale

I didn't think I'd get the chance to write this blog post when I set out on this journey. I started writing Spinward Fringe as a fun Space Opera adventure that I wanted to see but couldn't find. Science Fiction television shows were ending and being cancelled: Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, and Farscape were all either over or ending. Battlestar Galactica (Ronald D. Moore's reboot), ended in lacklustre fashion and the spinoff, Caprica, failed to live up to fans' hopes. Star Wars was hibernating for the most part, Star Trek was back in reruns and I'm pretty sure I'd seen everything at least five to ten times, and newcomers like Firefly didn't last.

It was a dark time for SciFi, and it wasn't the first time in my life when the force was weak with the serialized, space bound science fiction adventure sub-genre. Instead of weeping in front of more reruns or seeking out obscure box sets of more obscure series, I decided to try writing my own with the purpose of entertaining myself.

I wrote fantasy before that along with a little horror but took a couple years off after my first self publishing adventure in 2004. In 2008, starting on new years' eve, I dug into a Space Opera idea that I had been daydreaming about for a year. That became the First Light Chronicles, which was eventually collected into one volume and renamed Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins.
I released it in eBook form on a site made by a company in France called Mobipocket, unaware that Amazon already bought the company and was using the tech to develop the now dominant Kindle platform. A year later, I was firmly making a living and spreading my books out to Amazon, Smashwords and other retailers.

It's with gratitude and a little disbelief that I look back at the decade that followed. I've written and published twenty-two novels in that time, twenty-one of which can still be downloaded. Last year I verified that over a million copies of my books were downloaded legally with at least six times that number pirated (that's a gross underestimation).

Granted, many of those legally downloaded copies were free, but it's still a number I wouldn't have dreamed of hitting when I started out in 2004 with my first in-print self published novel, then started writing and releasing SciFi in eBook format.

Starting today, I'm celebrating ten years of successful self publishing. In that time that's all I've been doing to earn my living, and to kick it off I'm participating in the Smashwords Summer sale. All my books are on sale or free there now, and I invite you to take a look, leave comments on your favourite books, maybe follow me there as a favourite author if you like and be a part of it because they have been a part of my success. Here's a direct link to my page there.

I'm also having a poster made and updating most of the formatting for all my books while I correct errors throughout the series. The updates will be free for everyone, available through your dashboards wherever you purchased or downloaded them.

I'm wondering if you have any other ideas to celebrate this anniversary. Please, leave them in the comments, but don't forget the Smashwords Summer Sale, especially if you missed Highshield, Brightwill, Dark Arts, Spinward Fringe Broadcasts 6.5 or 10.5.

Thank you very much for reading and buying my books through the years. I hope I can do this for the rest of my life. I love creating this kind of entertainment, first for myself, then for you!

RL

It's Out! Broadcast 12: Invasion Release Day Is Here!

It is my pleasure to announce that Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion is out everywhere in Ebook form!

It took longer than expected to write this novel, especially since it explores an event that most of you saw coming. Of course there would be an invasion, when your main characters plant a flag so close to their enemies, there will be a confrontation eventually. Making that story interesting and engaging was a great challenge.

This is the story of that confrontation. We also follow Alice, move the story that began in the Chaos Core Crossover forward, and see how things have developed in the Haven System. The story is also told from the eyes of new citizens, to the Admiralty and the challenges they face as they look out towards the stars for aggressors who could arrive at any moment.

After being serialized on Patreon in first draft form, this edited and revised edition is finally going out, so everyone who waited instead of reading two chapters a week can enjoy it their way. The copy editors and first readers who read the book whole has said it's fast paced and engaging, so I hope you have the same experience when you read it, and that you get swept up in the characters' plights as I did when I wrote it.

I'm happy to announce that it's already the number one Science Fiction Novel on the Apple iBookstore, so it joins almost every Spinward Fringe book in earning that accolade.

Here are a few retailers who are carrying the book right now:

Amazon (American)
Amazon (UK)
Barnes & Noble (Nook)
iBookstore (By Apple)
Kobo
Smashwords
Scribd

Thank you for supporting this series. Just like a television show, Spinward Fringe is only as successful as you make it by turning up for each Broadcast. It's been a great decade for me and it will only get better. On May 14th (this Tuesday), the Spinward Fringe story continues in Broadcast 13: Warriors, as a serial on Patreon.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13 Cover!

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion is almost finished, and editing is going well, so it's time to start talking about where that book will take us.

I'm super happy to present Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors. With a more consistent writing pace behind Spinward Fringe and a story direction with even more momentum, this promises to continue the impactful story telling that some of you have already seen in Broadcast 12.

There will be a short break between Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12 and 13 on the Patreon site (A week or two at most), then Broadcast 13 will begin serializing there as Broadcast 12 lands on your Ebook readers.

In the next couple weeks, you'll see the preorder date for Broadcast 13 pop up too, so keep your eyes peeled.

I hope you like the cover and the name of the new book..

March, 2019 Update!

I'd like to start this post by thanking everyone who is supporting me on Patreon. You guys covered the cost of my Glaucoma medication completely, so for the next three months you're helping me keep my vision, and I can't tell you how awesome that is. Thank you so much.

Work on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion is going well, things are wrapping up with editing going smoothly and the last chapters are being written.

The pace I'm keeping right now will ensure that two main series Spinward Fringe books (Broadcasts 12 and 13), come out this year with time to spare. I have to admit that the Patreon page is a huge part of this, since the books are serialized there so there are immediate consequences if I fall behind. So far, I haven't missed a single post unless I warned that I'd be taking a short break in advance. Posting two chapters a week has kept me right on track with planning, writing, and editing.

As some people already know, I'm recovering from a repetitive stress injury in both arms. The best thing you can do to help that along is to rest, but I can't stop writing entirely, so keeping this pace has helped my left arm almost completely recover, and my right arm to come back most of the way. When it was at its worst over a year ago, I was in constant pain from my shoulders to my wrists, so that kind of recovery is extremely good. I've taken every measure to make sure my ergonomics are now ideal, that I get enough rest and I'm even losing weight, which will all help make sure I don't injure myself in the future. My writing schedule isn't what it used to be, though, so I plan what I write much better, and that's resulted in more useful work.
I used to write experimental stuff in my spare time, things that didn't always lead to a completed project, but that's come to an end for now.

I really enjoyed that creative, random dithering though, so in my spare time I'm working on my own tabletop role playing system that I hope to finally finish. It's the third or fourth system I've made, and the one I like the most. The nice part about it is that this requires more testing than writing. I jot notes instead of writing thousands of words of text in my off time, making stories up for a couple testers that require little more than a few scraps of paper, a couple maps, and a few mental images to draw from.
So, I get to exercise that creative muscle while my arms continue to recover since there's very little typing involved. Will this ever be released? I hope so, but it could take a year or longer to test, especially since I'm approaching it as a hobby where I get to test ideas that may develop into stories for future novels.
I've switched from testing the SciFi side of the system to the Fantasy side so I don't burn out on SciFi, so my testers are going to be taken to some interesting and sometimes absurd places. I know everyone is waiting for Broadcast 12, but please tell me if you'd like to hear more about this gaming hobby too. It's not ready for broad testing yet (nowhere near), but I'm happy to share a little about what happens during the games and to keep you updated on progress.

Thanks for hanging in there while I recover and finish Broadcast 12, I appreciate your patience!

Taking A Deep Breath Before Finishing Broadcast 12

This is a spoiler-free blog post, so go ahead and read it if you haven't been reading along with the serialized version of Broadcast 12, it's safe. Oh, and the art at the top of this post has nothing to do with the books. I just really liked it and it was in my licensing pile.

Over the last few books, I've ignored entire planets, but I won't ignore this. Let me unpack that.

There are planets in the Haven System that are very interesting, with new terrain, secrets, and stories waiting for our characters, but the story of quick settlement, advancement, and personal discovery and invasion haven't left much, if any room for that. Tamber is huge, almost as large as Earth, and even though it has far fewer people, only about a hundred million now, our characters would find several stories while exploring that planetary body alone. Then there's the larger, more prominent and much less populated planet of Lonos not far from it that is fully terraformed and overgrown that has only been mentioned two or three times and not by name.

The focus of the story, and of the characters we're following is on Tamber because it's all they and the books can handle. It's also where they landed, so it became the centre of the story.

A number of stories that weren't central to the plot were put aside for the time being as well,  and some of them will take centre stage again, like the one coming up at the end of this book. I wish I could be more specific, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers.

The meeting of Alice and Noah (Carnie) was one such story, and it was put off for an entire novel. They were supposed to meet in Broadcast 11, but it was pushed to 12 because there was only so much room in Broadcast 11 and Alice had some other things to do.

If I could afford to work on a Spinward Fringe book that was 1,000 pages, I would, but I have to tell this story in smaller pieces, so some stories get pushed to the side. Even still, I think it's time to start telling the story I've wanted to bring in since Broadcast 8, and it all begins with Alice and Carnie really meeting. I'll ignore an entire planet, and take a momentary break from telling the story of the barbarians at the gate to show you something that's been in my head for years now.

Even this close to the end, we're taking a look back to Broadcast 0: Origins as a story takes a nice step forward. I'll get around to exploring Planet Lonos and the other planet sized ideas.

[A quick reminder: Google+ is going away soon, so if you want to keep getting notifications from this blog, you'll have to subscribe. There's a wigit to the right that will allow you to do that by adding your email address.]

[Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion is serializing on Patreon now, and will be available in full EBook form on May 11, 2019 with preorders available now]

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion Release Date

Now that I'm getting closer to finishing this book and there's a set ending I know I can hit on time, I can reliably predict a release date!

The release date for iBooks (By Apple), Rakuten Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, Smashwords, Amazon and other quality ebook sellers is set for May 11, 2019. You can preorder using the links above, but not on Amazon, sorry. They're still doing preorders completely wrong, so they'll have it on May 11th. I've heard complaints from people that have noticed that this book is going to arrive a few months later than predicted, but there's nothing I can do. Creative projects take however long they take. Cutting writing and editing time down always results in a loss of quality, so I'm happy about this release date, it gives everyone the time they need to do some good work on the book.

With the release of this book on the horizon and more Spinward Fringe to follow, other projects will be delayed. This promises to be a very Science Fiction centric year, so fans of the Spinward Fringe series can celebrate. I'm happy to have a release date set for this book, because the events within have been long awaited and I love the plot lines that run through the novel. I can't wait to have the final, edited version of the book out there.

Anyone who is at the $7.00 level on my Patreon Site will get the book for free in all electronic formats, most likely a few days before the official release.

RL

[If you don't want to wait for the final version, the first draft of the book is being serialized on Patreon]

Happy New Year!

Hearing about people who met on the Spinward Fringe page getting together are highlights of my year. 2018 wasn't a good year for me, so hearing about these events were rays of light. I'd like to thank everyone who gets these events going (Tracy, Sheherizade, and anyone I'm forgetting), and everyone who showed up.

I'll be working hard this year to get more books finished and to grow the readership so you guys have more to read, and more people to hang out with.

I know there were a lot of people who didn't love 2018, but across social media and elsewhere, I see a lot of people who find hope and want to work to make 2019 amazing. I'm definitely on board with that idea!

Happy New Year, I hope everyone has a great 2019

Pictured: A whole bunch of stuff from the London TritonCon from Tracy(Thank you so much!), and pictures from this 2018's gatherings.