Jove and the Sea People

I know I've been quiet but I have been busy. I have the first draft of Jove and the Sea People complete, and will be sending it to my editor in the next few days.
As you can see from following the link, I also have cover art.

New Year, New Distributor

So Mark Coker kept his promise: SmashWords started taking ePub submissions in 2012. They had a few hours left of 2012 to celebrate, too -- New Year comes quite late to their offices in California.

Now because of the dark pact an author needs to sign with Amazon to get free giveaways, I didn't upload ePub files on New Year's Eve. Smashwords distribution will start on Sunday, 6th January, as soon as I get online and send them. For other formats (HTML, RTF, and the Smashwords previewer) I'll chance my arm with the MeatGrinder. But people expect those formats to be ugly, so (if I can get it to work) the result should be within customer expectations.

For Kindle distribution, Amazon will still be there. But they won't be doing any more free promotions, so if you want Venus and the Sea People free, you must get it by Saturday. Tell your friends.

I'm hoping that the ePub editions will percolate onto the usual places -- Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc. -- over the first few weeks of January. They should be on my Smashwords page almost immediately.

Then we shall see about the next one.

The first draft of Jove and the Sea People is about 50% done.

One Last One for Kindle Users

If, as Mark Coker promised many places, he finally lets me submit ePub files of the Fall of the Sea People series to Smashwords, that means that in the New Year they will be going off Kindle Prime. They will still be available to download from Amazon, but I won't be able to run offers anymore.

With this in mind, there will be one, count them, one free giveaway of Venus and the Sea People on Amazon. It will start on January 1st and go through to January 5th. It is unlikely ever to be repeated, so if you think you know anyone who would benefit, please tell them.

Here Comes the New Year

I've been thinking about what I want to do in 2013.

I'm working on Jove and the Sea People, of course, and having great fun with it. I should certainly get that out in 2013, and it would be nice to get Saturn and the Sea People out too. Two in one year will be hard work, but I will do my best.

Before I made the decision to start publishing my work, I did a lot of writing. I have two complete first-drafts lying around on my computer, both set in a historical fantasy series. My test-readers suggested that they would prefer that I started with the pre-historical story, but I have started to work with my editor to get the first one ready for publication, probably in the new year of 2014. The working title is "To Sail Atlantis", and it's a Sixteenth-Century adventure of exploration, piracy and revenge, with a background of ancient evil and one or two characters from the Fall of the Sea People.

There will also be short stories, and if Mark Coker comes through with his promise to allow direct ePub submissions, or if one of his rivals makes a serious attempt to eat his lunch, then there will be books on other ereaders too.

Lastly one of my competition winners asked me for a quotation or two that has helped to inspire my writing. Now I quoted Fort and Solomon, both of whom have inspired me, but it occurred to me that many of my inspirations are not writers. So I will attempt to describe some of the things that have inspired me, and try and describe why and what I saw in them. I will start with an artist who lived and worked about three and a half millenia ago.

Thank-you, Amber, for getting me thinking about that.

One for Kindle Users

My short story "Essence: a Short Story of Romance, Scientific Magic and Poisoning" is on free promotion on Kindle. Also, "Venus and the Sea People", the first volume of my fantasy, is on 99c/99p promotion for the rest of the year.

If you know someone who might enjoy these, please let them know.

Hermes and the Sea People is available to purchase on Amazon, and will be available in print on Friday.

GoodReads are giving away copies of the first and second books, too.

And Venus and the Sea People is on offer at 99c/99p until Christmas.

I've been updating my website with the cover art for "Hermes and the Sea People", which should be available November 30th.

Click here. Receive cover-art.

I've also added some notes on the third volume, Jove and the Sea People. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the first draft, and I am really enjoying writing it.