The First Portal is Opening! #scifi #romance #portals #free

Today sees the launch of an exciting new series of samplers published by the SFR Brigade. It's been a long time since our first publication back in June 2013...

8 free SFR short stories in 1
WEBSITE | GOODREADS
Available for FREE from...
 Amazon | Smashwords 
ARe | B&N |  Kobo
iTunes | Diesel Books

Experience love and adventure among the stars in TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE, a free digital anthology of eight Science Fiction Romance stories.

* A space captain discovers the cyborg she loves just might be her greatest enemy.

* A mind-wiped prostitute risks all when she recruits a dangerous stranger to help her escape a terrible fate.

* A prisoner-of-war confronts the comrade who loved her, then left her for dead.

* A space-obsessed physics teacher is kidnapped by a far-too-charming alien.

* An apocalypse survivor battles the biomech-enhanced hunter who seeks to capture her.

* A young artist must choose between her comfortable life on Earth or a war-torn space colony with her beloved.

* A daring thief is on the run from the alien law man who is determined to bring her to justice.

* A widowed rebel leader tries to save the last remnants of humanity, one stranger at a time.

From Earth to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, explore the worlds of Science Fiction Romance with stories from Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, Amy Laurens, and Kyndra Hatch.

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But now the SFR Brigade brings you the Portals - four free volumes of first chapters from a vast spectrum of stories falling under the science fiction romance umbrella. Volume one releases TODAY, featuring 10 authors whose stories come under the medium heat level. 

"Introducing Portals.

This isn't an anthology, it's a transport to whisk you away to a host of exciting SFR worlds. We know you're going to enjoy the trip, and you're sure to find many amazing adventures you'll want to get lost in."

Visit the Portals website HERE to find out more, and sign up to the newsletter to be among the first to find out when the next volume releases. In the meantime, you can get the first volume by clicking any of the retail links under the cover below.

Available from...
Amazon | iTunes | B&N
Kobo | Google Play | ARe

Status Update
My June project, Revived, and Reunion are still in edits. Eish. However, the June project is going well and both myself and my editor Dani are pleased with the new additions so far. I just need to give it a bit more emotional umph.
The Bones of the Sea re-released at online retailers yesterday, finally including Amazon, and is completely and utterly FREE! Well, mostly. I can only vouch for Amazon US and Amazon UK. If it isn't free at the other Amazon sites I apologize, but there's nothing I can do about it. Amazon doesn't allow publishers to set books to free, and even telling them of a lower price will only work if the competing retailer is in the right region ie if you want it free in Germany, you'll have to find the links to rival German retailers who have it for free and let Amazon know, but I can't even guarantee that'll work. Please go ahead and complain to Amazon.
However, you can get the mobi/Kindle version for free from Omnilit or Smashwords, or get the epub version at Kobo or B&N and use an online converter or Calibre to convert it to mobi. Bones will also be included as a bonus story in the back of my next release, which will hopefully be in the next couple of months.

A Scifi Short Story
Goodreads | Webpage
Available from... Amazon
Kobo | Omnilit | iTunes
Smashwords | B&N

The Blue Moon Blog Hop begins tomorrow! Eight science fiction romance authors will be posting on the blue theme - blue heroes, blue planets, blue anything - and there'll be a rafflecopter giveaway with ebooks and giftcards up for grabs. I'll be trying to sell you the attractions of the tropical planet of Metraxi that features in my time travel series Redemption. 

And for the rest of May, both books in the Redemption series are just 99 cents/pence/Euros!

A Science Fiction Romance Novel
Goodreads | Webpage 
Available from... 
Amazon | All Romance eBooks
Kobo | iTunes | B&N 
Smashwords

A Science Fiction Romance Novel
Goodreads | Webpage
Available from...
Amazon | ARe
B&N | Kobo | iTunes
Smashwords

Chook Update
Our six remaining girls are now secure in their new, stronger run and are enjoying the new facilities like a pot of grass, bigger perches, and a tray of compost to dig through. They're still getting to enjoy the garden a little, though heavily supervised and with the lower section of the garden out of bounds. Effie and Kyru are fully recovered from the fox attack and just need to regrow their missing feathers. As for the fox...we've seen it once when it tried to dig a hole into the coop, but was thoroughly thwarted by the wire skirt surrounding it. There's a lot of construction work going on in neighbouring gardens, plus the recent burst of hot, sunny weather has meant more people out in their gardens too, which is probably putting off foxy somewhat as well. However, we had weeks of the chooks wandering loose in the garden with no trouble before the attack, so I reckon we'll see it again sometime with some cunning new plan to achieve a chicken dinner...

Effie

Chiana and Pitch

Kyru, with Scoop in the background

Out Celebrating

Right now I'm spending some time out with hubs as we celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary and I failed to think up some thing to blog about before the weekend. I also managed to take a chunk out of my right pointing finger on Saturday, so typing is a huge struggle right now - hopefully I'll at least be able to ditch the oversized dressing by tomorrow so I can get back to work...sigh. So just a couple of quick updates this week.

Status Update
Edits on The Bones of the Sea are now done, and I've uploaded the new version. However, I can't find it in the Kobo store despite an email saying it's there, D2D wouldn't allow me to set a pre-order because it's free so I'm going to have to hit publish on the 16th, and right now I'm doing the 'make my book free' tango with Amazon. Sigh. Right now the updated version is only available for free at Smashwords, and free pre-order at Omnilit.
The planned June release is still in edits with me, while the first round of edits on Revived is awaiting my attention.
The first volume of Portals should be releasing next week, with the rest releasing at fortnightly intervals (if all goes to plan). All four will be totally free first chapter samples from right across the spectrum of science fiction romance (and trust me, it's a vast range of sub-genres we'll be crossing!).

The Blue Moon Blog Hop will start next week.

Chook Update
Effie and Kyru now seem fully recovered, though still missing large volumes of their feathers - I'd take a picture of Effie stretching her remnants of wings but she doesn't keep still long enough, lol. I'm still feeling incredibly guilty over the loss of Spaghetti and Rush, especially as Spaghetti was youngest's new chook. And while I can't say I forgive the fox, I know it only did what was in its nature and the fault fully lies with us in failing to safeguard our pets knowing the fox was around. We've learned our lesson. We've built a newer, stronger run (and hence the finger injury, though it wasn't weaknesses in the old one that were at fault, I still think it's a sensible precaution to do it), and though the chooks are begging to be let out, their garden time is now restricted and strictly guarded ie when at least two of us are out in the garden with them AND with the lower end of the garden (where the fox comes in and can hide in undergrowth) strictly off limits with a barricade. So far we've had no sign of the fox, so it's probably off hunting something easier at the moment.


Ping Pong
Last week Donna posted about the five things she wanted from a science fiction romance. So for contrast, here's a post I did last year on the exact same topic over at the RWA FFnP website at the invitation of Cathryn Cade.

Back To The Very Beginning #amediting

A long time ago in a blog post far, far away...

Well, the 14th of June 2011 to be precise. That was the day I did my first post at Spacefreighters as a guest, talking about the inspiration for my very first publication - a scifi short story called The Bones of the Sea. My *coughs* unofficial publishing debut, since it was very much an experiment in all respects and a self published piece. I formatted it myself using the Smashwords style guide, bought a stock image for the cover and added the text, then got a couple of friends to read it over for obvious mistakes, and launched it on Smashwords only as a freebie. The story has had a new cover since release, courtesy of the ever fabulous Danielle Fine, but it's never had an interior makeover. Until now.

Original cover

I've decided the time has come for Bones to get a formal edit, a revamp, and perhaps to finally go up up on Amazon (yes, it's never been available there). I've almost five years of updated bio and links to add to it, and the plan is also to put it in the back of my June release as a bonus story (as they both feature the same planet) and thereby getting it into print as well (it's way too short to qualify for print on its own).

Current cover

Bones is my shortest published work at just 3000 words. I haven't succeeded in writing that short since. But I'm also not writing as long either. In complete contrast to Bones, the revised Keir is 111K. Most recently my titles have been around the 10K mark for a short, or 30-50K for the longer pieces. I'm planning to get back to some really hefty novel-length word counts next year.
I'm hoping to have Bones redone by the end of the week ready to do the whole 'tell Amazon of a lower price' tango, since they're about the only retailer that won't just let you set a book at free. *rolls eyes*

In the meantime...

Status Update
I won Camp NaNoWriMo well ahead of schedule but hung around to encourage my cabin-mates while adding to the June project having completed first round edits on it. The story got a whole new chapter, as well as additional material throughout. Bones will be added to the back for release.

I finally dared to crack open the third round edits on the original draft/first round edits on the revised content for Reunion. But I've only looked through the first, mostly unadjusted third. I haven't braved the revision section yet. In fact, at the moment I'm not sure I want to continue with it at all. One of the advantages of self publishing is that, if I don't feel a book is ready or working, I don't have to put it out. And right now that's how I'm feeling about Reunion. It's so far off where I would like it to be that I think it's broken beyond repair. So I'm going to focus on other things:
Bones and my Rebecca finalist Revived both went to my editor last week as she found herself ahead of schedule. So you may get the second Venus Ascendant story this year after all. No promises! I still don't have an official title for it yet, and frankly I don't know what I'm thinking. Four sets of edits on the go at once? Insane.

Happenings

I'm part of a huge Scifi and Fantasy event starting tomorrow and running until the 29th, with 56 top SF, UF, and Fantasy titles going on sale, free or discounted. There's also a big giveaway - two Kindle Paperwhites, one US and one UK (UK contests are so rare I strongly recommend going for this!), plus Amazon giftcards. It'll be open to US and UK entries from the 27th. For the occasion, my urban fantasy/superhero romance novella When Dark Falls is part of the event, and is reduced to 99 cents/99 pence until the end of April. Superheroes for the win!

A Superhero Romance Novella
Goodreads | Webpage 
Amazon | Kobo | B&N
iTunes | Smashwords | ARe
Print edition
Amazon | CreateSpace | B&N
The Book Depository

Next month I will be celebrating Keir's fourth book birthday and my fourth anniversary as a published author. It will also be my 23rd wedding anniversary. Together with seven other awesome SFR authors, we'll be holding the Blue Moon Blog Tour later in May for your entertainment! There'll be posts on the blue theme, and a rafflecopter giveaway including books and giftcards.

The Portals project is coming! If you stopped by to read Laurie's post yesterday, you'll know there's an exciting set of scifi romance volumes coming up - first chapters from a variety of authors in varying subgenres. Looking for love in an alternative world? Portals will take you there for free...

Back to my mountain of edits...