First idea for Book 3’s cover

zanzibars rings draft cover

Zanzibar’s Rings is the title of Book 3 in the Viridian series, but I haven’t even written the first draft yet!

Why am I thinking about its cover?

I’m planning some promotional material ahead of the autumn and hopefully book stalls at fairs etc. And expenditure on a scifi series of three with only two book covers is a bit… wasteful, in my mind. I got away with only seven covers out of ten for my other series, but I sort of faded the eighth one (then in production) off into the distance in the bottom of the banner.

With only three books in the Viridian series, the banner and any promotional material should have three covers.

So, here’s your chance to look at my first idea for the cover. If I could get the titling to look like the others it would be even better.

Your thoughts are very welcome.

Zanzibar's Rings first draft. A saturn-like planet covers the lower foreground against a background of Viridian coloured space

Special Offer during July

While I’m here, I’d better tell you that The Perihelix is free during July at Smashwords, and Curved Space to Corsair is half-price. It’s the Smashwords Winter-Summer Sale, and runs from 1st to 31st, Pacific Time.

Nip over to my book page to check them out, along with all my other titles on offer.

Asteroid mining – in reality!

Victor Habbick Visions/Space Science Library

I get the email update from New Scientist daily, but irritatingly, some articles, like this one, require you to pay for premium content. Sigh.  Until I make as much from the books as subscribing for premium content costs, I’ll just stick with the snippets.  Like this one…

Victor Habbick Visions/Space Science Library

Asteroid space station

A new analysis suggests we could place a space station inside a rotating asteroid to provide artificial gravity for mining equipment, digging from the inside out. If you want to remove chunks of precious rock from an asteroid, you can’t just land and jackhammer it: most of them have such weak gravity that a hammer or digger is likely to just bounce off into space. But if the asteroid is spinning, that would create artificial gravity, a force that acts from the inside of the rock outwards. Working in a cavity below ground would also protect the mining rig from dangers on the asteroid’s surface, particularly radiation.

Click the heading to go to the New Scientist page online.

My writing

I recently wrote somewhere that I do write what I know, and I know as much about life on the other side of a wormhole as anyone.  I think that still stands.  But as this article indicates, some people know more than me about mining asteroids.

I like the ideas in this snippet.  That may indeed be what I imagine for Excelsior, without having actually specified a space-station in the middle, and I think the tunnels there have a breathable atmosphere.

Fortunately, I have always had Lars and Pete hammering away inside tunnels in the VS asteroids.  I’ve blipped how they make the tunnels, though.  The colour in that graphic would fit the Viridian System, although the surface suggest the asteroid might be an iron one.

I eventually cut a mining accident from Curved Space to Corsair.  I must let you have it as a short story some time.

Picture of the asteroid from Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library and sourced from the New Scientist website article.

Comment on my stinginess.  I used to subscribe to New Scientist.  It’s a weekly magazine full of astounding and wonderful science that I’m interested in.  It’s also authoritative. And the copies mounted up, unread. I had two years worth of unread magazines when I moved here. I kept them for ten years. The same is now happening to the bird and wildlife magazines that come monthly with my memberships.

There is only so much reading a person can do a week.

Curved Space to Corsair is out today!

Curved Space to Corsair

Curved Space to Corsair

Curved Space to Corsair has been published!

This space adventure takes our heroes, Lars, Pete, Dolores and Maggie, through a wormhole in error, and what they find on the other side is far from comforting.

Can they get back to the Alpha Quadrant and come to the aid of Pete’s people on Corsair?

The only way is a very curved route indeed.

Buy all the Viridian System eBooks

The Perihelix: ebooks at iTunes, Amazon, B&N, Kobo and Smashwords (special price till the end of March)

Curved Space to Corsair: ebooks at iTunes, B&N, Kobo, Amazon; and Smashwords .  Launch price!

Check the launch party & giveaway on Jemima’s blog

 

Total lunar eclipse tomorrow night/Monday morning

lunar eclipse 2015

lunar eclipse 2015Total lunar eclipses are relatively common compared with total solar eclipses – well, they seem easier to see from your home, anyway.

The next to be readily seen over the northern hemisphere is at tomorrow night’s full moon – which is evening in the USA,  early morning in the UK.  Maximum coverage (i.e. full moon) is 05.12 UTC (or GMT for Brits), so set your alarms for about 4.30 if you just want to see the totality bit, or around 3 am if you want the full experience.

See this excellent guide at Earthsky.com, compete with a blow by blow timetable for your US time zones.

Those travelling in New Zealand will miss it, unless you are in  the top of North Island, in which case you might get a little sliver of shading.  But you’ll probably not see that, even if you look.

Check the guide for details.

earthsky.org guide to the lunar eclipse 20/21 Jan

Picture here is my own view of the last eclipse I stayed up for!

Wormhole travel – by an expert

wormhole

As usual, Earthsky.org have come up with a superb article, this time on how it might really be possible to travel through a black hole (aka wormhole in scifi parlance)

Check out the full article by Professor Gaurav Khanna here!

https://earthsky.org/space/rotating-black-holes-portals-for-hyperspace-travel

 

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.