The Girl From the El Dorado Star System: Book One is published

The Girl From the El Dorado Star System, Book One: The Man Who had to Die has just been published at Smashwords.com. 59,900 words. Sells for $0.99. Find it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/451622. Book Two: The Girl Who Had a Mission is in progress and nearing completion of the writing process.

peace, J

The Girl From the El Dorado Star System, Book One: The Man Who Had to Die

OK, here's the table of contents from Book One of The Girl From the El Dorado Star System, which should be posted to Smashwords by the end of this month:

Table of Contents

Prolog:                     History
Chapter One:           Bubble in Space
Chapter Two:          The Girl on the Strand
Chapter Three:        Only Tom
Chapter Four:          Muski's Pub and Grill
Chapter Five:           Tamona's Taco Tavern
Chapter Six:             The Old Man
Chapter Seven:         Alone
Chapter Eight:           One Shot, One Kill
Chapter Nine:            A Speck in Space
Chapter Ten:             The Girl in the Park
Chapter Eleven:         Checkmate
Chapter Twelve:        Mayhem
Chapter Thirteen:       Escape
Chapter Fourteen:      The Girl Who Could Be Found
Chapter Fifteen:         What's Done is Done
Chapter Sixteen:        Time to Fly
Chapter Seventeen:    Briefing in the Dead of Night
Chapter Eighteen:      The Game's Afoot

Anyone who saw the preview chapters on Smashwords.com (they were up only a short time) will recognize "One Shot, One Kill," but will remember it as Chapter Seven. When I decided to tackle publishing on Smashwords by breaking up the original Volume One into separate books, I decided to rework some of the material I already had finished, thus adding a chapter between "The Old Man" and "One Shot, One Kill." By the same token, two later chapters that have already appeared on Smashwords will also be renumbered when they appear in Book Two.

More to come...

peace, J

Honor Harrington

OK, so the movie is slated for 2017 release. Guess I have no choice but to wait, and I'm getting older every year. Meanwhile, Top Cow is releasing comic adaptations of David Weber's Honor Harrington novels, beginning with On Basilisk Station. You can find them here: http://www.thetopcowstore.com/searchresults.asp?cat=82. I've got the first two issues. I believe they have about three different artists working on this, and the end result is perhaps not what a lot of Honor Harrington fans envisioned while reading the novels. Partly because each artist has his own style, partly because this is all still a work in progress as the guys at Evergreen Studios work through the design process for the movie. It isn't easy to produce visually what David Weber has written about in the novels. Meanwhile, I think the comic versions are worth checking out.

Peace, J

Progress! Razvitia!

Finally! At last. After all these months. The Girl From the El Dorado Star System, Book One: The Man Who Had to Die, will be on Smashwords by the end of the month. It is in the hands of my e-editor now. The two chapters I had published on Smashwords as previews just didn't fly with the Smashwords powers-that-be. Previews, even completed chapters, are not allowed. (But they said they now accept serial versions of novels...) So this, and life, threw a monkey wrench into things for a little while. It did give me the chance to do some more writing and rewriting. The first ten chapters of the story I set aside as "Book One," thinking to publish the story in serial form. Then I began revising the material, splitting chapters like amoebae, and adding several new ones. The result is that what was once the first ten chapters of the story is now the first eighteen chapters. Over 59,000 words. This better qualify as a "completed book" for Smashwords purposes. What were originally the next ten chapters of the story, the original Chapters 11-20, are going to be Book Two: The Girl Who had a Mission, Chapters 19-34. (More writing and rewriting and amoeba chapters.) That book will be completed probably by early July. That will pretty much take me through the original Volume One. Book Three: Appointment at Calaverras will follow.

Also, I have a new cover for the series of books. I highly recommend http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com. They're reasonably priced for low-budget writers. Most covers are available for $69, with some going for $89-$99.  The art work is good and original. And you get to design your book cover - basically arranging your title, author, and by line on a pre-made cover, prior to buying it. Once you buy the cover it is removed from the website and is not available anywhere else.

Here is the cover for The Girl From the El Dorado Star System, Book One:

 I have also started working on a companion guide to the story, with glossary, characters, ship names, places, and notes on languages, society, etc. That really won't be finished until the story runs its course.

Spin-off stories are in the works.

Peace, J.