Dryden evolves - The Demon's Eye

I dipped my toe into the waters of the Dryden Universe in A Matter of Trust. In that book I’d established an essentially Human Empire; an aloof, distant enclave of humanoid Jorts; and the warlike bad guys of the galaxy, the Yrmaks. But in a 30k novella, they were line drawings, without backstory and color. That would come later. And did come later, when I fleshed in the backstory and culture of the aliens, as well as where in our galaxy all this action was taking place.

For now, when I decided to write a second Dryden story, I included the Empire and the Yrmaks, but added a level of complexity to the Empire. After all, the Roman Empire wasn't a homogeneous society. It had its own problems with its far-flung provinces, which eventually led to its downfall. There will always be elements of civil war in any empire - Asimov's Galactic Empire in his Foundation series is a good example. Yes, I probably got some inspiration from there - and Rome, as did Asimov.

So... unrest in a distant province, far from central Imperial support and not much more than a hint of Imperial Fleet presence. A germ of an idea took root. I’d already established the Yrmaks as mercenaries and pirates. How about a planet where civil war has erupted, a ruler gets his daughter out on an Imperial warship on a routine visit, but then there's trouble... 

It sounded like a plan.

The Demon’s Eye

Krystina Merkos is reluctant to leave her home planet, but agrees it's best that her father doesn't have to concern himself with her safety while he fights a civil war. But it's not all plain sailing. The captain wants to seduce her – and pirates want to sell her to the murderous sect waging war on her father.

The journey on an Imperial warship becomes much more palatable when she discovers that Ben Paulsen, an old flame from her high school days, is a senior officer on the ship.

When the frigate is attacked by a pirate fleet intent on capturing Krys, she faces impossible choices. If she hands herself over to the pirates, she will die a painful death. If she doesn't, everyone will die.

Unless she and Ben can contrive a way out for them all.

Here’s a short excerpt.

Krys flopped onto the couch, kicked her shoes off and propped her legs up on the low table. She was tired. Sneaking out of the city and getting onto the ship had been exhausting. But her brain wasn't tired.

Ben Paulsen. He'd certainly grown up to be quite a man. He'd been tall at high school, but all arms and legs and skin and bone. He'd filled out, adding bulk to that framework. She wouldn't mind finding out what was underneath that dress uniform now. The material strained just a little across his chest and the slope on his shoulders hinted at solid muscle. Now she thought about it his response to her had been in character. He'd always been a bit distant. Not shy exactly, more self-contained, a loner. That used to annoy some of the alpha male bully boys.

Krys cast back, trying to remember the name of the good-looking boy everyone but her wanted to date. Lex somebody. Not that it mattered. Lex tried to tease Ben, but Ben never reacted, just stared back with a faint smile on his lips. Krys had intervened once, in the library, when Lex and his gang had Ben in their sights. She'd asked him for help with her math homework, even though she really hadn't needed it.

Lex had loomed next to her, hanging over her. "I can help you. You don't need to waste your time with this loser." He'd spat the words, his lip curled as he eyed Ben.

She’d told Lex to fuck off.

 The Demon's Eye is a longish short story. Buy the book at  Amazon Inktera B&N Kobo iBooks

Never a dull moment in Indie publishing

Dear oh dear, there's never a dull moment in this publishing caper. In the past week:

• Scribd (a readers subscription service) has pulled most of its romance titles (except the free ones)
• Amazon's Kindle Unlimited (another subscription service) has revised its algorithms to try to correct the ways in which dastardly authors were gaming the system to earn more than they should have
• Yet another author has been told that posting a review on Amazon for a book written by someone you know online is not allowed. And no, we're not going to tell you what knowing someone online means.

 The Scribd debacle - and, I guess, the Amazon KU, one - reminds me of the saga we had with gym memberships back in the eghties. In an effort to gain members, gyms would offer lifetime memberships. They weren't all that cheap, but the idea was you paid your money and you could use the facilities for free. The gyms figured they'd make more money from members by selling extras. But guess what? It didn't work. Because people didn't buy enough extras and the cash flow dried up. One large gym chain went bust and the others went back to a more sustainable model, where patrons paid for a given period of access.

It seems to me that if Scribd is cutting back the books it holds in the genre which is most read (romance) its days must be numbered. I had hoped that my SF romances would remain because they have a foot in both camps, but I was wrong. Hey ho. I'll be withdrawing my books - not because I generated much income that way, more as a protest. They're happy to offer my free title, but not the other romance titles? I don't think so.

I've also pulled my one remaining title out of KU. It's an old title (Supertech) and I'd hoped that I could squeeze a few downloads out of it through the lending system. Nope. At this stage, I guess I'm rationalising where I sell. It seems at Omnilit/all Romance I can only give away my free title, so that's becoming pointless as well. I'm still in Smashwords, although I regularly ask myself why. It's more trouble that it's worth. I'll stay with D2D because I like their model, and I'll stay with Amazon because that's where I make most sales. I don't intend to use Amazon's exclusivity again - but I'm a tart and if they come up with something new, I'll consider my options.

Like most people I know, I find Amazon's rule on not writing a review for another writer pretty much incomprehensible. How does Amazon determine who is permitted/not permitted to review? Your mum, because she has the same surname as you? And does that work if you're a woman writing under her married name? Or if you use a pen name? If I've met a fellow writer in real life, does that make them ineligible? Am I supposed to be in competition with every writer I know online? Even if they write (say) erotic gay romance and I don't?

As other people have said, I'd be much happier if the Zon put some effort into curbing troll reviews. But then, I don't use reviews to select reading material - especially not Amazon and GoodReads reviews. As far as I'm concerned, their value has been compromised so much they're not worth my time.

And in other, lighter, news, I've re-released A Matter of Trust in the Dryden Universe, joining the story that was a spin-off from it, The Demon's Eye. Dreams2Media has designed a brand new cover, so the two have a matching theme. Here they are. What do you think?

I'm putting my toe in the Dryden Universe

nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2337.html

Remember that post I published a little while ago about franchises? I mentioned the Dryden Universe, a brand new shared environment where authors can set stories - provided they're comfortable for other people to use their characters and ideas.

I've agreed to go ahead and poke my toe in the water in the Dryden Universe. My latest WIP will be fitted in there in a real part of the galaxy (the open cluster M24 in Sagittarius, around 20k years in the future). Apart from that fact (which I don't actually mention) the story as I wrote it is unchanged. The Dryden Universe has assimilated me.

The important thing is the copyright.

It's this one. Creative Commons 4.0 BY-SA copyright.  It means anyone can use my characters, tech and the universe itself to write their own stories. But they must give me attribution and stealing is still stealing. Bear in mind once you've published under this copyright, you can't then go back on that same work and claim exclusive rights - it stands to reason.

There's plenty of room in the galaxy for everyone. The group is inviting participation from writers of science fiction romance of any heat level who are willing to write as part of a creative commons project. There is a Facebook group, and a website. For anyone who doesn't want to self publish, Joel Stottlemire, creator of the Dryden Universe, intends to set up a publishing company which will offer editing, cover art and some promotion. I'm told the royalty will be 50% net. Watch this space for submission guidelines etc.

It's a group venture, aiming to use the group dynamic to generate sales. I figure a 15k short isn't the end of the world if it doesn't work out.  Meanwhile, the new story The Demon's Eye is slated for release in late June/early July. Here's the blurb.

Krystina Merkos is reluctant to leave her home planet, but agrees it’s best that her father doesn’t have to concern himself with her safety while he fights a civil war. The journey on an Imperial warship becomes much more palatable when she discovers that Ben Paulsen, an old flame from her high school days, is a senior officer on the ship.

But it’s not all plain sailing. The captain wants to seduce her, Ben’s trying to keep his distance – and pirates want to sell her to the murderous sect waging war on her father. 

When the frigate is attacked by a pirate fleet intent on capturing Krys, she faces impossible choices. If she hands herself over to the pirates, she will die a painful death. If she doesn’t, everyone will die.
Unless she and Ben can contrive a way out for them all.

Sounds like fun? Find it on Amazon around the end of June.