First Light Chronicles Omnibus Becomes Spinward Fringe Origins

The idea of bringing the First Light Chronicles firmly into the Spinward Fringe series from cover to title has been on the table for over a year. I finally bit the bullet and did it.

Starting with Smashwords, then extending out to the iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony and other eBook stores, the First Light Chronicles Omnibus will become Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins. The original intention was for the Spinward Fringe series to easily stand apart from the First Light Chronicles, so you didn't HAVE to read the original trilogy to understand what's going on.

Anyone who has read the series knows that it didn't turn out that way. There's just too much established in the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, so it's wise for any reader to start there. I'm hoping that, by changing the name to Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins, it'll unify the series, and make it much easier to understand its place in the story.

The price of this book isn't changing. It's still free at Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, and the iBookstore. Change will come much later on sites like Amazon.com and it won't happen at all at Mobipocket.com for technical reasons.

It's important to mention that this wouldn't have happened if Smashwords wasn't so flexible as a retailer and distributor. They do great work over there, and their system is always improving.

RL

Will Broadcast 8 Revisit A First Person Perspective Style?

That's what it's starting to look like. The votes have been coming in a little slower on this topic, and it's understandable. A question on style is more difficult to answer than one that asks which is your favorite character or ship.

There are still more than enough votes to say that there's a definite result. The majority of you want to see a new first person perspective novel, something that hasn't come along in big way since the First Light Chronicles Omnibus.

It's true, the beginning of Broadcast 5 was in first person perspective, and there's an epilogue planned that will be in first person as well. In science fiction and strange fiction beginning a film or television episode with a first person voice over isn't uncommon.

When it comes to first person perspective novels my mind drifts to detective books, even though I know vampire and werewolf fiction has gone there often in recent years. That wasn't why I wrote the First Light Chronicles in the first person perspective, however.

I used that style because it was a challenge, and it was in line with my goal of writing a mostly character driven book that took place in the far flung future. With the votes showing me that you may want me to revisit that style, I'm left wondering how much my writing has improved since I last wrote in first person. The type of story I enjoy telling now is a bit different from the type of tale I enjoyed spinning two years ago, so Broadcast 8 will be quite different from the Omnibus regardless of whether or not it's in first person perspective.

The poll is still open for a few more hours, so there's no guarantee that Broadcast 8 will be in first person. If you'd like a different style, or want to ensure I revisit the first person perspective, then vote, and encourage other readers to vote while you still can!

RL

The Indie Spotlight Featuring Randolph Lalonde & The First Light Chronicles Omnibus

Several weeks ago I gave a text interview for the Indie Spotlight, a website that features indie authors with work on the shelves. The article has made its way onto the Internet and is featured on their quickly growing site here: The Indie Spotlight Featuring Randolph Lalonde

The focus of the interview is the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, so if you're looking for more background on the origin of the Spinward Fringe series or a little info on my personal history where writing is concerned, then this is the article to read. The book has been downloaded nearly 20,000 times (over 95% for free), and has been a fantastic launch pad for the Spinward Fringe series. With the next Spinward Fringe book on the horizon, this is the perfect time to introduce new readers to the series.

Thanks to everyone at the Indie Spotlight for featuring me, you've grown a fantastic site in a short amount of time.

RL

- Next on the blog: Update on the status of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments and another post about the ever growing Spinward Fringe Universe and Encyclopedia.

First Light Chronicles Omnibus 2.0 Now Available For Kindle

Some of you are asking; "What's the First Light Chronicles Omnibus 2.0?"

It's simple. Over the last year I've been working with a couple of people to carefully improve the book without making plot or character changes. We've also worked out a lot of the technical kinks in the writing and in the eBook setup of the book itself.

With a touch here and there, I feel much more confident with this short trilogy as the launch point of the Spinward Fringe series. The rumor that I was planning on doing a complete rewrite of this book should die right here, since many readers have made it perfectly clear that I'd make their blacklist if I did so! So, there won't be a from scratch rewrite, and this book isn't going anywhere, don't worry. Any plot or character revisions will have to wait until I get a chance to adapt this into a screenplay.

Before I go on, I'd like to mention that this book is available at Smashwords for free here. It doesn't have a navigation menu, but everything else in that edition is up to date and complete.

The real matter of this post is the announcement that the fully indexed version of this is available for the Kindle for $0.99 here. I would have offered it for free, but Amazon won't allow me to set the price at less than $0.99 USD. They also won't allow me to control the price internationally, so I apologize if it's more costly in your country as it is in mine. (They set the price at $2.99 in Canada, not exactly a reflection of the current exchange rate of approximately 0.95%).

Kindle and Mobipocket readers who have the old, black cover edition of this book have no reason to worry! Your versions have been updated as well through the older Mobipocket deployment system, so you will be able to visit your online library and update your copy to the latest version for free, unless your device has already updated it automatically.

For now this is the best offering of this book with a navigation menu. I hope you enjoy the convenience and the fast paced space opera adventure from beginning to end.

RL

Spinward Fringe Resurrection and Awakening Arrive On Mobipocket, Together

After being available on Smashwords for months, this combined edition eBook of the first two volumes in the Spinward Fringe series, now it's available at Mobipocket with a proper linked index. This edition is also available on Amazon.com

Resurrection and Awakening are the smallest books in the series, so it's only natural that they be collected so the length matches the price. The funny thing about this is that no one complained about the size or price of either book aside from yours truly. I always thought they were a little slim separately, and now that's been remedied.

People are still just discovering the Spinward Fringe series. In terms of readership it's a young, or small niche body of work, but anywhere from ten to fifty people download the First Light Chronicles Omnibus every day, so something will eventually come of it, I'm sure. I'm very pleased with the response the Smashwords edition of the trilogy has gotten, and a few people have gone on to read the Spinward Fringe series as well. It makes me even more eager to get the final revision of the trilogy into circulation (my editor is currently finishing her work on it), and to complete the Rogue Element trilogy.

Things are progressing with Spinward Fringe and other projects at a nice pace, especially since I took time away from Twitter and other social networking, which was sucking time and attention away from writing. More on that in an upcoming post.

For now, I hope Mobipocket customers who are just finishing the First Light Chronicles Omnibus will enjoy the next pair of books in one shot!

RL

The First Light Chronicles Omnibus: Free At Smashwords

As an independent author I have a lot of freedom. I can often decide where my work appears, when it appears and how much it costs.

After Omnibus has lived in Mobipocket.com's top three science fiction books for a year I've decided that the First Light Chronicles Omnibus (not just Freeground, the first book), will be free from now on, but only on Smashwords and sites they distribute to such as Barnes and Noble.

Why Smashwords? It's simple. They have a growing presence in the North American market, an easy to use interface, and their conversion system provides for all eBook formats.

The difference between this and the Amazon / Mobipocket version is that it doesn't include menus. I suggest using bookmarks or word search, that's what I do when I run into a book without menus.

Smashwords will most likely add the ability to set up menus and I'll add them then.

The real point here is that every user with every type of reader can enjoy a copy of the entire Omnibus for free. Will other Spinward Fringe books become available for free at a later date? No. There's a great deal of free content out there right now and it's easy to find. Besides, I have to make a living somehow, right?

Here are some details on the First Light Chronicles Omnibus in case you're unfamiliar with it.

Synopsis:

In a dark region of explored space sits one bright beacon; Freeground Station. Serving as a supply and trading post it is home to a select number of human beings that will take an unlikely chance to make a difference in their end of the galaxy.

Jonas and his friends spent their spare time in tactical simulations and drew the attention of Freeground Fleet Command when they hacked into restricted combat scenarios for elite trainees and defeated all comers.

Instead of punishing Jonas and his friends they offered them an opportunity to undertake a dangerous and exciting mission. They were to go out into the Galaxy and acquire any advantages that would improve life for Freegrounders.

This series is about their first voyage together, the challenges they face, and the relationships they forge with each other and the beings they meet along the way. The First Light Chronicles Omnibus contains the entire First Light Chronicles Trilogy. Freeground, Limbo and Starfree Port.

---End Synopsis---

Smashwords is offering the First Light Chronicles Omnibus in these formats:
Online HTML reader
Online Java reader
Kindle / Mobipocket (mobi format)
Epub (Stanza, other)
PDF
LRF (Sony)
PDB (Palm)

Other free eBooks include the Dark Arts Short and Spinward Fringe Strange Horizons and Close Encounters.

RL

Work continues on the latest Spinward Fringe novel, it's been a blast so far.

The First Light Chronicles Omnibus - Celebration Sale

In the spirit of celebrating seven science fiction novellas and novels in the Spinward Fringe series, the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, which contains the Freeground, Limbo, and Starfree Port novellas, is on sale for $1.00 on Mobipocket and Lulu. It'll remain at that price until July 24, 2009 and will never again be marked down.

There are other reasons why this is happening. A lot of my readers have friends with smart phones who refuse to try Mobipocket and one of the initial hurtles to getting them on board is price. Well, here's your opportunity to tell them to give it a try with one of the top 3 science fiction books on the site (the other two books in the top are from the same series).

Fans spreading the word have been a massive help to me and this sale is a way for me to make it easier for all my mobipocket and lulu non-DRM PDF readers to do just that. This week they can share the First Light Chronicles and Spinward Fringe series' with friends. I know I enjoy a series more when I can talk to someone else whose read it. That could be just a writer's thing, but I doubt it.

So, for better or worse, the book is on sale for one week! Tell your fellow fiction fans!

[Mobipocket Link] [Lulu Link (DRM Free PDF)]

RL

A special thanks to Somacow for mentioning this event on their radio show, which happens to be the greatest Internet radio show, ever. Check them out: SOMACOW

Spinward Fringe Frontline Available Now From Amazon.com In Print

Finally, to the delight of a few of my readers who love turning paper pages and leaving a copy in the loo, Spinward Fringe Frontline is available in print from Amazon.com. They've been kind enough to include it in their Super Saver Shipping and Prime programs.

This is happening two weeks early and I couldn't be happier. I know there are a number of readers who are waiting eagerly to get their hands on this book in print and it's always nice to see the book on paper.

Here's the lowdown on the printed edition:

• Paperback: 418 pages
• Publisher: Amazon's CreateSpace (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441401199
• ISBN-13: 978-1441401199
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

I certainly hope you all enjoy the latest book in the series. It's a darker, broader story that follows the main characters through the dark heart of a new war that is changing the galaxy. Meanwhile, Jacob Valance's crew do their best to cope with managing their new ship and the hundreds of refugee and deserter volunteers. This full fledged novel elevates the Spinward Fringe series to an all out space opera epic while maintaining a gritty, challenging atmosphere. Recommended for young adults and older.

Thank you for all your support so far, dear readers. It's come in many shapes and forms and I hope you continue on this journey with me through the Fringe.

RL

If you're new to the Spinward Fringe universe and would like to start from the beginning, here's the link to where it all started: The First Light Chronicles Omnibus