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!

Patreon Done My Way...

There's a huge update on the Patreon site. The first thing you'll notice is that every post and item there is now freely available to everyone.

Check it out!

RL

Cool Pursuit Is Available! Broadcast 10 Is Coming!

The files for Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2 were provided early to Amazon and Smashwords in order to get it into everyone's hands by October 21. As a result, most retailers already have it, with the exception of Barnes & Noble who tends to be much slower than all the others.

For anyone who doesn't know, this is the follow up to the first book in the Chaos Core series, which started with Trapped, a free novella. (You can get that for free anywhere eBooks are sold).

Chaos Core 2: Cool Pursuit is much larger, and shows us a larger piece of the Spinward Fringe universe as the main characters make their way through troubled territory.

Here's where you can get your hands on Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2:

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com.au

Smashwords
iBookstore
Kobo
Barnes & Noble

Now that this book is completed and released, I'm devoting all my time to Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10. It's already the size of an average Space Opera novel, about 95,000 words, but there's a lot of writing to be done. My goal is to get it out for December 7, and to be working on Broadcast 11 by the time that is in your hands.

I'm more excited than I can express to be so close to finishing broadcast 10, I believe it's one of the best in the series, and it's been the most difficult to write because so much is expected of this novel. If you look to the upper right hand corner of this blog, you'll find several preview chapters. If you've already gone through those, I highly recommend checking out the Chaos Core books, Dark Arts or Brightwill. Most of those books are free, so what do you have to lose?

Thank you so much for your support, I hope you enjoy the books that are finally being released!

RL

Update On Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground

What happens when the scope of the story you're telling increases? It seems that the size of some of the chapters increases as well. The one I'm working on will take three days by the time I'm finished, but it includes a journey, and a whole new look at Haven Shore. 

There's no release date yet, but I can tell you... Alice and Minh-Chu play huge roles in this novel. So far there are over 65,000 words written about Alice, and there is no figure yet on how long Minh-Chu's journey in this novel will be, but it definitely promises to be large in size and scale. A whole new phase of Spinward Fringe begins in Broadcast 10. The Triton Fleet Academy is open, and Alice is signed up. Familiar and new faces emerge as she takes her journey through Officer Training. The biggest question is where she will end up if and when she graduates. Other major events are taking place in the Iron Head Nebula, but it's too soon to share details. I'm working hard... I hate blowing deadlines, and after taking a short break to get the details about this book together, and to clear my head, I'm working hard to complete this science fiction epic. This feels like a special book already, which is a good thing, because the stakes are incredibly high for most of the starring characters. There are podcasts coming. The studio is ready, and my co-host is good to go, so you can look forward to a few new podcast episodes in the coming weeks. We may also be working on something entirely new that should be highly enjoyable too. Thank you all for your support and patience. Look for more preview chapters soon! RL

The State Of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9

Here's a quick, non-spoiler update on the current state of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9.

The actual name "The Gathering" of this book will most likely change before release, and I'm still shopping for a cover artist to create a CGI scene, but I'm confident I'll find one.

Whereas Broadcast 8 focused on the female characters in the ongoing story, Broadcast 9 will focus on the male characters. Jake, Minh-Chu, Oz and a couple others take the centre stage, leading us through most of the chapters through their point of view.

I'm about 20% finished and hope to have this draft complete within two months or less. Only one story has been pulled from the book entirely which featured Burke, one of the crew members who left the Samson in Broadcast 1. The story featuring him isn't complete, and it's not good enough to continue working on so it won't be making an appearance outside of the novel. Everything else I've written is staying in the book.

So far, stories that I thought would be external to the novel are being drawn in as important parts of the book, so there are no shorts to release at the moment.

At least two more chapters will be released on the blog, so there's more preview goodness on the way!

RL

[What are you looking forward to seeing in Broadcasts 9 and 10?]

The Spinward Fringe Podcast Broadcast 27: The One With The Great Big Preview

Sylvie and I (Randolph Lalonde), spend some time talking about the seven part preview of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8 (available here), which is a story in itself with a beginning, middle and end. This podcast will spoil that story for you, so it's a good idea to read it before you listen to this one. We talk about some of the story decisions, and how the central character in the story has evolved.

I also take some time to apologise, as we part the curtain for a look behind the scenes and how little time Sylvie had to work with me on getting the seven part story out into the world. As an Editor, she was on a very tight schedule, and I tell her how I'll be changing things so that doesn't happen anymore. All in all, this is a good hour for the Spinward Fringe Podcast, and we do go into some details about how Broadcast 8 is coming along, so people looking for a progress update will find it here.

Thank you so much for listening!

Direct Download Link (Right click and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Download Linked File As’)

RSS Feed

iTunes