Coming Full Circle

Last week I dropped in to let y'all know that I'm still here, I've just been busy. And one of the things I've been busy with is BRASS STARS.

Some of y'all might remember that this SF Western novella was first published by Eggplant Literary Productions back in 2013. That was a year that felt like a really big deal as far as my writing career was concerned. This novella was accepted and published, and - after ten months and a shiteload of queries - I also found representation for The Steampunk Novel.

It felt like the wheel was starting to turn in my favor after five years of working really hard to not only polish my craft, but push beyond short stories. I shared links and the gorgeous cover art and told myself that This is it. This is the break I've been looking for.

And then things... just didn't go the way I thought. BRASS STARS sold, but not well. And then the publisher folded less than a year later and I was left with a book I loved, but was now a reprint.

What to do?

My first thought was to find another home for it, but that proved unsuccessful (despite getting all the way to final consideration at another small press). And I was worried that maybe this little book that I really love so much was, well, maybe not that good. (I know, I know. Why am I telling you this? In the business side of things everything is supposed to be shiny and wonderful.)

The good news is, I still love this novella to death. It's not a fancy book. It's not a literary book. It is a book about a snarky, sweary, determined woman who wants revenge. And a psychopathic, cybernetic horse. I mean, really? What's not to love?

So, I am republishing this one myself, complete with additional revisions (about 10% new material) and a brand, spankin' new cover. The exact release date has not been decided on yet, but I should have a preorder page up on Gumroad in the next week or so.

In the meantime, you can check out the cover and blurb below.

Tashndelu Sand has traveled across the deeps of space in the company of Snyder - a cybernetic beast who has no ones best interest in mind - to Paradise, a lonely town on a desert planet, to find the
last man in the posse that killed her mother. The plan is simple. Get in, kill Brannigan, and get out, and nothing is going to stand in her way. Not John Crow, an Extra Sapien like herself, trying desperately to win her heart. Not Diamondback Jack, a retired gunner who is determined to save her soul. Not even her own fear of the brutal darkness growing inside her.
Fifteen years ago, Brannigan shot her and left her for dead. It’s time to return the favor.

Coming Up For Air

Every now and then you get a year that's just full of stuff - both good and bad.

This spring I've managed to deal with the flu, a lingering (think 2+ months) cough, a head cold, and a fractured rib.

I also finished up two drafts Of Flesh and Bone, the final Touch novella. Plus managed to crank out 13k in a week on the Monster Society novella that will be featured in the forthcoming anthology with Eric S. Brown and Robert Waters, in order to get it turned in a month early. (In addition to a brand new, never-before-seen novella, the anthology includes all of the short stories about the Monster Society previously published in The Grantville Gazette.)

I had a point, shortly after finally getting over the flu which knocked me out for two solid weeks, where I was frustrated because I felt like I hadn't gotten anything done. And then I sat down and looked at what I had written and realized that I already had almost 80k under my belt between Christmas and the middle of April.

(Oh, yeah. Did I mention finishing up revisions on the Epic Not Fantasy? There was that too and I am waiting on pins and needles for it to find a home so you can all read it because it might just be my favorite book yet.)

But, as we head into Memorial Day weekend - and near the middle of the year - I am trying to take stock of what I've accomplished and what's still to come.

My remaining big conference of the year is LibertyCon at the end of June. (I know, I know. I would love to make it to more cons too, but finances don't currently allow me to travel very far.) The plan is to be able to share both the Monster Society anthology and the completed collection of the Touch trilogy with y'all by then. And if that doesn't happen, then they should be available shortly afterward. (And Of Flesh and Bone will also be available as an individual ebook as well for those that have been buying the novellas as they have been released. The advantage of the collection is that it will be available in print, for those that don't like reading on a screen.)

In addition to both of those novel-length collections, I have two novelettes coming out end of June and early July. I've been teasing the cover of the first (Jacquelyn and the Sparkly Emo Vampire Goat) on Twitter and my Facebook author page, but I'll be doing a more detailed write-up here in a few days. [SparkleGoat is currently available for preorder on my Gumroad page, but I'm still finishing up some details on the second book, Mothers Last Child, and would like to put them both up here together.]

Suffice to say, if you are looking for more of my work, it's coming very soon. But, due to the repeated health issues and the sheer volume of work I've been tackling, I've not had much of a chance to talk about any of it here. Or much of anything else.

That's about to change though as I am working on getting all the pertinent covers and links, etc together. So, please stay tuned.

There's a lot of great stuff coming.