Monday, March 2, 2015

SAYING GOODBYE TO A GREAT FRIEND OF SF/R

On Friday, the Science Fiction community lost a great friend and cultural icon in the passing of Leonard Nimoy, best known to a legion of fans as Spock of Star Trek. An accomplished actor, director, photographer and poet, he achieved great fame for his portrayal of the stoic, logical, half-Vulcan character he played, a supporting role that became a giant.

As one of so many SFR authors who was inspired at a very early age by the galaxy galloping Star Trek, I felt a deeply personal loss at his passing. The tributes on the internet have been many and profound, but I'd like to share just a few that echo my thoughts or share some special tribute.









Goodbye, Leonard Nimoy. May your soul boldly go to the great beyond. You will be very missed. 

INHERIT THE STARS: I'M A SERIALIZED NOVEL, JIM, NOT A TRILOGY

We had a successful launch for INHERIT THE STARS, an award-winning Science Fiction Romance novel set 1,500 years in the future. This is my debut novel, though a novelette in the same series, FAREWELL ANDROMEDA, was released in January.

But I'd like to take a moment to clear up some confusion. INHERIT THE STARS is not a trilogy, it's a serialized novel--a novel that comes in three parts. (Just to throw even more confusion into the mix, it will be followed by an honest-to-goodness trilogy later in the series. Gah!)

The reason behind the novel being released in this way is that INHERIT THE STARS weighs in at over 113,000 words, and reading a document that large on a Kindle device is something few e-readers enjoy (says the Kindler who slogged through a 400K+ The Last Hour of Gann). By breaking the story down into three-to-six hour segments, and ending the first two parts on a pivotal cliffhanger for both the plot and the emotional journey of the characters, it makes for a more exciting and enjoyable reading experience.

But this also means the three parts are not standalone, and must be read in order to get the chronological action of the story.

Here's the cover, blurb and more information on each of the parts:



PART I: FLIGHT
To escape the merciless Ithian Alliance, Sair, a fugitive slave, makes a desperate deal with Drea Mennelsohn, captain of the prototype ship, Specter. But putting his life in the hands of a woman as mysterious as she is beguiling could turn out to be the biggest mistake of his life, especially when the price on his head begins to escalate. FLIGHT ends on a cliffhanger in both the action and emotional journey for the characters. Click to view INHERIT THE STARS PART I: FLIGHT
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PART II: THE NETWORK
The daring captain seems to want far more from Sair than just payment for his passage. Though neither can deny the sizzling chemistry and growing bond between them, Sair must soon make an agonizing decision: maintain his own longed-for freedom or become a helpless pawn in an intergalactic coup against a ruthless superpower. THE NETWORK is the longest of the three parts and also ends on a cliffhanger--a decidedly "Oh no!" moment and a major barrier to the H&H getting their HEA. Click to view INHERIT THE STARS PART II: THE NETWORK
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PART III: SACRIFICE
As the truth behind Sair’s place in the galaxy and Drea’s unique existence are revealed, it becomes clear that they are vital to the success of the coup. But their part in ending the Ithian Alliance may come at a terrible price for Sair: the loss of the remarkable woman he has fallen in love with-and their chance to inherit the stars. SACRIFICE is the end of the novel, but it doesn't come without a heart-pounding climax and a dark twist or two. Click to view INHERIT THE STARS PART III: SACRIFICE
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WHAT ELSE IS DIFFERENT ABOUT INHERIT THE STARS?

The story is told entirely from the hero's POV, as highlighted in the earlier blog SFR with a Twist. Because the reader is only seeing the universe through Sair's eyes, there are some real surprises in store!

The heat level is "Steamy" or mid-point between "Sweet" and "Erotica." The portal doesn't get shut on the bedroom scenes. The scenes are detailed but not explicit or "spicy"(frank) language.

The story has ties--some obvious and some much more subtle--to FAREWELL ANDROMEDA

The novelette takes place some 200 years (called “calendars” in this universe) later and carries hints about what happened in the two centuries separating the stories.

INHERIT THE STARS will also be released later in 2015 as a complete print novel.

HAPPENINGS

Tonight (March 2nd) from 8:00 - 10:00 PM Eastern Time,  author Christie Meierz will host a Facebook Release Party for her SFR novel, THE FALL! You're all invited.

I'll be participating beginning at 9:30 PM, with a giveaway as part of my time slot. The Release Party includes some other great authors like Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, Veronica Scott, Heather Massey, and Corrina Lawson, all with more fun and prizes. You can tune in by clicking this link:


PING PONG

Congratulations to Donna, who released Unchained Memory on Tuesday. I hope she'll be posting some photos of her lovely launch party later this week.

I'd say we had a pretty successful Fabulous February Triple Launch, which also featured Sharon's February 2 release of Echo 8!

In the midst of all this excitement, our blog reached 250,000 hits!

It's been fun times here on Spacefreighters Lounge!

Have a great week.

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