Tag: viridian series

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The Viridian System Series Box Set is now on sale at Smashwords

The regular price is $11.99, which is a $3 discount on the individual book costs.

It launches everywhere except Amazon on November 10th.

correct box set cover 640 tall

Why a box set?

I was thinking of Christmas presents, and the number of people who pass my stall at the craft fairs saying they only read ebooks. I have ebooks!

So making this in an attractive gift set seemed like a good thing to do.

I ended up working all night on it to get it done for the start of November! I thought I’d formatted them all the same – but no. And irritatingly, applying a style across the file did not change the fonts on the italic parts. And as you probably know, what with spaceship names and telepathic conversations, I had a lot of italic parts!

But it’s safely done, and live on Smashwords as a pre-sale. It is on pre-order at other places, and will launch on November 10th. These are the permanent links:

Smashwords ~~~ Apple ~~~ B&N ~~~ Gardners ~~~ Kobobooks ~~~ Scribd ~~~ Odilo

Gift cards and Bookmarks

I’ve now made Gift Cards to go into the stall kit. They have the Smashwords link and a coupon code inside them. The buyer pays me, and the coupon gives the recipient a free ebook. Or three, in this case.

I’ve had these for the Princelings series for years, but only sold two. Maybe their time has come. And I’ve done one for my Dad’s memoirs, White Water Landings, which is also a popular seller.

Also new for the Christmas rush at my book fairs are new bookmarks featuring the Viridian series. I’ll be in Lyndhurst, Romsey (both Hampshire) and Salisbury (Wiltshire) on several dates before Christmas, so check my blog for details. Salisbury’s Christmas market is especially good, and there’ll probably be carols in the cathedral if you time it right.

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Dear Reader, Love Author

Zanzibar's Rings Available now

The last stop in the blog tour last March was this one, at a site simply called Dear Reader, Love Author.

Dear Reader, Love Jemima Pett

Dear Reader,

When I’m talking to people at book shows, scifi gets a curious reaction. Some simply dismiss it out of hand, some love all the shoot-em-up high-tech space-wars stuff in it, and others look for something more in it.

I’m not really into the shoot-em-up stuff, but I do love space ships. But what I love even more are people, personalities, and the possibilities in creating alien entities. People who develop on planets unlike our earth are unlikely to have the same physical or emotional reactions as ourselves. If they are part of a human diaspora, then they might—but the culture the original settlers bring with them will alter their viewpoints.

If you think how many and varied our cultures on earth are now, how much more wonderful would it be out in the galaxy?

It’s really an ecology question. Why do creatures evolve as they do? What functions do their forms provide, and why so different from something else in the same niche? Are opposable thumbs really essential for grasping tools? How does one categorise ‘intelligence’ of wildly different forms?

That’s one reason I admire author Becky Chambers so much. Her worlds, her cultures, her people… her AIs growing sentient… all wonderful, and logical developments. It gets difficult to write scifi that has no influence from the authors I admire most.

So I settled on an out-of-the-way star system that is the main source of something the galaxy needs for instantaneous communication. One of the protagonists talks to the trees, and wonders what lifeforms were destroyed when they settled the planet. The Viridian System series stems from there. Some people thrown together, in institutional arrangements that most of them hate. A chance for an extended chase in search of a mythical sword, followed by a space accident that results in meeting aliens with a common goal.

And now the last in the series. People cut off from their loved ones in a galactic disaster. I didn’t realise when I was writing it, but it’s really about people adjusting to isolation, to changes to their customary freedoms, and rediscovering self-sufficiency. Mostly, it’s about missing loved ones.

It’s a mystery adventure set in another solar system, but you may find something of your own world that seems familiar.

I hope you enjoy it.

love,

Jemima Pett

~~~~

I was really pleased with this. It started me thinking of something – and then Patricia Josephine stepped in for an interview “Why Do I Write Science Fiction.?” That stumped me for days. You can see what I said on her blog!

Next time… the last one. It’s the third of the 10 Things… written with tongue firmly in cheek.

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I’ve started writing Zanzibar’s Rings! #viridianseries

Zanzibar’s Rings is the third and probably final book in the series. “Probably’ because the intention is for everything to come together and end in a final situation.  But with my way of working, some other grand idea might turn up and insert something else which ends up needing another final book!

Zanzibar’s plan

My plan is to write it between now and the end of April, which is a target of only around 1000 words a day, and I generally write 2-3000 a day when I’m working on a book.  It kind of takes over my brain, and I live in the story.  It helps me remember what I’m doing and who’s doing what! So, unless I have a lot of changes to make to another book currently with beta readers, I should finish by the end of April.

But then the hard work starts. The checking, finding plot holes, double checking that everything follows on logically, that nobody is sent off to do something and never comes back (and nobody notices). Or comes back having done something else entirely but the thing they were to do has magically happened.  These things can be notoriously difficult even for the best of editors. One faux pas slipped through the final editing of one of my other recent books: it’s easy to change the ebook, but very difficult to change the paperback!

Target for publishing

If all goes well, it might be nearly ready by Christmas. But that’s a really bad time to bring out a new book so it’s more likely to be targeted at February or March 2022. I hope that will give me plenty of time to give the series a boost, and get more interest going.

It’s always good to get new viewpoints on a series, so if you’ve read either or both of the first two, and would like to be a beta reader, please let me know.

Would you like a sneak peak at the current first line (I told you it’s not a kids series!)

Lars Nilsson, sometimes known as the Swede, ambled into the kitchen, scratching his groin and yawning.

It might be cut, so don’t be surprised if it changes.

Short Stories

Meanwhile, I’m launching a series of flash fiction books, just 30,000 words or so for each volume, between the beginning of March and July. There’s plenty of fantasy and weird domestic science fiction in it, but very little set in space. Well, one or two. Mainly alien species 🙂 Look out for more details on Jemima’s blog on March 3rd, or click the badge for a special offer (expires end of 3rd March).

I also have some stand alone Viridian short stories roaming around. I may do a new version of the Viridian System Sampler, or just a second volume, because these are mainly backstory for the characters. But that’s for 2023, probably!

Flash fiction collection badge
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Special offer on SF&F 4-5 May 2019 – including Curved Space to Corsair!

corsair final jpg

Curved Space to Corsair, book 2 of the Viridian System series, is on sale this weekend only!

science fiction and fantasy promotion May 3-4

It’s part of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Promotion, with many great ebooks from all aspects of science fiction and fantasy – and ALL FOR 99c, OR LESS.

Head over to Patty Jansen’s special promotion, and take up many of these great special offers.

Curved Space to Corsair

Curved Space to Corsair launch

by Jemima Pett

Dolores is training to qualify as a space pilot. Pete has had a call to his home planet, Corsair, to save them from disaster, so they set off in that direction to give Dolores more space hours, only to slight error of course which leaves them in a horrible mess.  Meanwhile the Imperium declares war on the Federation, while a little personal business by one of the senators leads him off in the direction of the Viridian System to start a canny land grab.

Approx 90k words; guideline – 18+

Links for Apple, Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords!

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July has flown by

Well, that’s what happens when you go to Summer Camp.

I’ve been at Camp NaNoWriMo again, but this time working on my older children’s fantasy series, The Princelings of the East.  I started that as a trilogy, thought it would finish at book 8, and is now set to finish at book 10, since I’ve completed the first drafts of books 7 and 8 at Camp. Well, 8 needs a few more days…

So where does this leave the Viridian series?

My next project is to thoroughly edit my revised Perihelix and send it to my editor.  Because of the workload I now have one in the UK for the Viridian series and my original US editor for the Princelings series.  I hope that will work well.  Once Perihelix has gone I can work on the second draft of Curved Space to Corsair.  Nobody commented on that title, so I hope it works. There isn’t another book called that, anyway.

While I’ve been at Camp there have been some character interviews on my blog.  You can check them here:

The other thing I have to do is fix the problem with my mailing list.  You’ll know when I’ve done it 🙂

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The Perihelix is withdrawn

Perihelix_final_webI received further independent reviews with good feedback over the Perihelix’s dodgy start, and some other comments about characters and plot jumps. So, I consulted my publisher, and we’ve suspended it from sale as of today. I don’t want it to carry on getting 2 and 3 star reviews. Obviously I want to make it the best book I can. And as the start of a series, it ought to be a real ‘read me’ book, getting only 4s and 5s.  I’ll be revising it and putting it through the editing process once more to bring out a second edition in due course.

If you have an ecopy of the Perihelix, you will be able to update to the second edition free. If you have a paperback, make sure you’re on the mailing list of news of coupons and vouchers.

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Snippets from Jemima’s blog

red-dwarf-planet

Have you been following Jemima Pett, Author during the A to Z Challenge?  I’ve been talking world-building, and combining discussions of worlds in other books with information about various aspects of the Viridian System series – some reprinted, some brand new.

Those of you who like to spot clues should be on the lookout – especially today, when I talk about the planet Ulric.  There are two more posts to go in April, but all the posts about the Viridian System series are linked below:

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Viridian System Sampler released today

viridian-system-sampler

The sampler is out today, price 99c from Smashwords, for your Kindle, Nook, Kobo or any other eReader.  Just go to this link, click ‘Buy’ and you’ll be able to download the file of your choice after you’ve completed the buying process.

The Viridian System: lightyears from any other inhabited planet and several million lightyears from the centre of the Galaxy.  Should be safe from the domination of the Imperium, then.  Big Pete and the Swede think they’re safe, but they’re uneasy.  Asteroid mining is tough enough without the Imperium or the Federation getting involved.

That’s the scene for the Viridian System series – but how did it all begin?  These eight short stories take us to the origins of this universe and the development of the adventures of Big Pete and the Swede, their escorts, and the fixer and bar-owner Zito.  A little back-story, and little scene setting, all in digestible chunks, which hopefully will whet your appetite for the first book in the series, The Perihelix, to be published in January.

If you’ve look at the last newsletter I sent to subscribers, you will have a coupon code to get the sampler FREE.

If you haven’t received your newsletter, let me know below and I’ll send it to your email address as used in your comment.

If you’d like to sign up for the newsletter, I’ll send out a newsletter to new subscribers at the end of this week, which might just have another coupon code for the Sampler…

Happy reading!

PS Did you know you can send your mobi file to your kindle cloud so that it is there for all your kindle apps?  Once you set up your email address in your kindle settings online, just email future kindle files to it.

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New flash fiction by Jemima

Today’s Friday Flash Fiction on my blog is called “Surviving the Sleeve.”  It’s post-Perihelix, so it may contain clues to book 2.

In fact, if you look through the short stories set in the Viridian Universe (they often seem to be somewhere other than the Viridian System itself), take out the ones in the Sampler (out on Sept 28th), then take out the ones that look like they might be part of the Perihelix… it starts to look very interesting in terms of clues.

This week’s has some business between the Federation and the Imperium, who are two, let’s say ‘opposing’, super-organisations in the universe.  And someone called Kaa Birith is involved.  All I can tell you is that he is a significant character in the series!

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A Viridian System Sampler

I’ve just about finished the edit of The Perihelix and will send it to my editor tomorrow.  So if you asked for a beta copy to comment on, that will be sent to you within the next day or so, too, if you haven’t already received it.

If you forgot to put yourself forward for this honour (!) then complete the form here to send to me and I’ll be in touch by email.

viridian-system-samplerI threatened you with a free sample of Viridian stories – well, you’ve already seen them, but I’ve collected together eight stories that are part of the Viridian System (including Paradisio, Ghostgum Creek and Hell Hath No Fury, which kind of derive from Paradisio).  The plan is to send them out as an ebook, free, via Smashwords, as a teaser for The Perihelix.  I am also adding three other scifi short stories – Pilgrimage and Homing Instinct, which are two sides of one story, the Last Ice-cream – and also Traveller’s Return, which is more of a ghost story (but then, so is Ghostgum Creek).  Do you think that would put readers off the Perihelix, having other work in the sampler?  Should I stick to Viridian-connected stories, or is more better?  The twelve stories add up to about 17,000 words, which is a nice sort of sampler, novella-sized, which is why I included the extras.

I already have a lot of short stories which belong after the Perihelix.  With a little time to spare at the end of camp, I wrote a few chapters to start the next book in the series!

Your thoughts are welcome, as always!