The Perihelix on special offer during Corsair launch

the perihelix cover

The Perihelix, book 1 in the series, will be on special offer of $1.99 or the equivalent at Smashwords, iTunes, B&N & Kobo and some other online stores from now through to the end of March.

Why not buy Curved Space to Corsair at the same time – two ebooks for under $5!

Whether Amazon chooses to price match will be up to them.

Don’t forget to visit my blog on Tuesday 22nd January onwards to take part in the book launch and giveaway – first prize a $20 gift voucher.

Corsair Launch Blog Tour

Curved Space to Corsair

Happy new year to you!

We start the year with a request – if you have a blog or similar space, would you like to join our Blog Tour/launch day event for Curved Space to Corsair?

There will be a giveaway for $20 gift card, plus ebooks for runners-up.  Any one posting the details of the launch event will have a social media slot in the rafflecopter for the giveaway.

You can see full details and copy the details of the book, buying links (Amazon tba), Jemima’s picture and biog, an excerpt from the book, and the giveaway code on Jemima’s blog here.  Please note the cover here is not yet the final one.  It just needs minor tweaking, though.

The rafflecopter runs from 22nd Jan to 12 Feb, and you can post on any day within that period.  You can also post before or after, but obviously your visitors will not be able to enter the giveaway.

Feel free to share this information to your friends!

I hope 2019 is a very successful one for you.

Earthrise – with season’s greetings!

earthrise

earthrise

It was fifty years ago that we saw this picture for the first time.

50.

I remember looking at it with awe.  Seeing the Earth, our home, the place I walked on, how others would see it if they were flying into our solar system.

That feeling of awe stays with me even now.

It’s probably why I write science fiction.

Which is why I’m working on my final version of Curved Space to Corsair, back from my wonderful editor, and ready to go public once I’ve done all my final checks and corrections.

Two weeks till the finished version is due at Smashwords, three till it has to be at KDP, and both will give it a launch on 22nd January.

Good thing the next lot of family visits aren’t for another week!

Season’s greetings, everyone, and very best wishes for 2019.

 

The Perihelix and my other ebooks will be either HALF PRICE or FREE between 25th December and 1st January in Smashwords annual sale.

Editing Progress

automated sugarcane harvesting

Progress is definitely being made, ever since my editor revealed she would be over-busy in December.  I’m desperately hoping to get the finished ‘final’ version to her by the end of this week.  Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.

I’ve taken two chapters out of the book, and the progress bar on the right hand side of this page shows you how I’m doing.  It’s pretty good, but what’s hidden is a whole new storyline of events on the planet Corsair.  I need to write it from scratch.  I’ve adapted early parts so that the backstory is tucked into reminiscences or other suitable points, and it’s been useful reading other people’s books: I’ve taken a great interest in how they fit in backstory.

automated sugarcane harvestingSo, the next task for me is to tackle the main change in the action on the planet, which starts with Colin Trescothick peering over a rocky outcrop at the family of harvesters below.  Well, at least I know what’s going on…

Picture is royalty-free from Shutterstock.

 

Corsair postponed to January 2019

wormhole

Curved Space to Corsair is now scheduled for 20th January 2019.  Apologies for anyone who’s itching to buy it.

I’ve been rewriting the start of the manuscript following my editor’s feedback.  As usual with my books, I’ve set the scene, given you a chance to get to know the characters – all the things that used to be good advice.

That doesn’t work these days.  I have to hit you from the start.  I’m working out how to get necessary bits of background in, trying them out, rethinking it.  There’s a bit of business that I cut from the revised Perihelix that I still wanted to use in Corsair, but that’s come out of the first couple of chapters too, and I need to get it in seamlessly in time for the important part of it to emerge.

Once I finish this bit of the edit, I’ll have to go through with a checklist to make sure that everything is included that needs to be included, and that any loose ends are not left dangling if they are no longer needed.

Then I can finish off the other improvements later in the manuscript, and get it back to my editor for approval!

And at present I’ve taken nearly 6000 words off the front end of the book.  That still leaves it coming in around 85,000 though.

Meanwhile, I see another scifi series called Corsair has hit the shelves. Maybe I’ll review it when I’ve finished the third book.

#amediting update – Corsair (Viridian System 2)

Jemima at Camp Nanowrimo

Jemima at Camp NanowrimoExciting news: I’ve finished editing Curved Space to Corsair!

It comes in at around 88,000 words and 260 pages, which will take it to nearly 90,000 when I’ve added front and back matter, like titles, acknowledgements, bio and other titles.  That seems good to me.

It’s now off to its external editor to see what she makes of it.

While I hope she likes it, it’s more about picking holes in it, correcting any unintelligible sentences that I’ve left in, spotting typos and missing words, and a general feedback on the story, plot, characterisation and flow.  That editor really earns all the money I’m sending her!

Then I’ll make the corrections and get it ready to publish. Unless she says there’s a huge amount of work to be done on it.

The cover reveal!

Corsair draftMeanwhile, Dani has completed the cover device.  I just need to place it more accurately within the title.  That really means I adjust the kerning and placement of the word Corsair, as the rest seems okay.  And maybe I’ll move Viridium from behind the dragonfly’s head, or maybe not.

Yes – a dragonfly is significant in this story!

Maybe we’ll hit the current scheduled date of 1st November, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I need to put it back a little.

Watch this space!

You can pre-order Curved Space to Corsair at iTunes, B&N and Kobo.  See the links for the whole series on the book page here.

Moons of Exoplanets – real science

Could moons of exoplanets harbour life?  That is a question currently engaging scientists involved in exoplanet identification.

Earthsky.org, a wonderful news feed in need of annual funding, featured a post last month on 121 giant planets identified outside our solar system, whose moons might be habitable.  It’s a big ‘might’.

researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Southern Queensland announced they’ve identified 121 giant exoplanets with orbits within the habitable zone – the zone within which liquid water can exist – of their stars. [earthsky.org]

Giant planets of the Solar System – Jupiter and Saturn – have given us the idea that life could exist under the ice of Titan and Europa.  The exoplanets these scientists have identified are themselves within the habitable zone of their star, so the possibility for any (so far unidentified) moons is fascinating.

What would life on these moons be like?

I’ve already started wondering that, since I’ve set Lars’s birthplace on a moon (called Ulric) of a giant planet.  It’s not necessary to the Viridian System series to know more detail about the effect of a giant ball of planet in the sky as well as a sun of unspecified size and luminosity (although I was thinking dimmer/more distant than ours.  It’s hard enough working out the moon configurations for Sunset Strip (it has two moons) without adding in the complication of a huge neighbour.

When I did a back-story for Lars, I assumed the red reflecting planet was pretty much always in the sky and provided most of their light.  As a result I gave Lars excellent night vision, which is something that I use int he story occasionally.  That he needs contacts for Pleasant Valley and Sunset Strip is a minor detail I haven’t bothered with.  Or maybe he has an eyelid adaptation so he can see in the bright sunshine of his native sun when it comes out from behind the red planet.

I did a brief introduction to the planet Ulric for and A to Z challenge one year. One day I’ll do some more work on this, but I’ll need my planetary science text books to hand when I do!

A part of Lars’ backstory set on Ulric is told in The Inspector Calls.

News of the books

camp nano 2018

Just a quickie to tell you that the Perihelix is one of the books being offered FREE for the first 50 people to download it in Smashwords’ Summer/Winter Sale running throughout July.  Click here from 1st July onwards.

Secondly, I’m off to Camp NaNoWriMo to concentrate on editing Curved Space to Corsair so I can send it to my editor. I’ll probably be updating the status bar on the bottom left of this page to show you how I’m doing.  Fingers crossed we’ll get it ready to come out during the winter.

Some real life Hacking

wordfence logo

During the slow days that our heroes will have during Curved Space to Corsair, I set Lars hacking the Imperium database.

Hacking is not a subject I know much about. I’ve seen enough films involving it to make it up as I go along, and read one or two books that include hacking (one as a normal hobby for teens).  I know that programmers can set traps for hackers.  So Lars takes his chances with what he does.

But system security relies on hackers – or the hacking mentality, since many hackers see it as an intellectual challenge, and justify their activity to help companies sort themselves out.

I thought you might be interested in the hacking games that Wordfence, a security system for certain blog systems, held at their conference recently.  One of the winners was just 11 years old…

Hacked by an 11 Year Old