Kenai is out!

Just in case you missed the announcement last time, my new science fiction book, Kenai, is out and available. It follows Jess Amiko, a former space marine with a troubled past, trying to rebuild her life with a low-key security job at an alien archeological dig on a remote planet. At least, it's supposed to be low-key...

The book inhabits two subgenres of sci-fi. One is space opera, which is not aliens singing about things, but instead means a distant future world with a cast of characters (and often aliens) having exciting, dramatic adventures across otherworldly landscapes. Originally, space opera was viewed as akin to soap opera in space, but the genre has evolved away from the cliffhanger melodrama aspects to be more of a grand sci-fi epic. The Star Wars movies and the Dune books are space opera, and there are many other examples.

Another subgenre, a new one for me, is military sci-fi, although Kenai is just at the edges of this one. This is a very popular genre, although there are often very specific expectations for it, such as a focus on military units involved in conflict, often with fleets of ships and armaments and invasions to go along with it. Jess, my main character, was part of all of that earlier in her life, but she's now beyond that part (or so she thought). While she doesn't have clusters of dropships raining suited troopers down on hostile worlds, she does get involved in small-unit tactics and combat in the story, so I hope it will be satisfying to those fans as well. In this genre, it's common for stories to be harder sci-fi, meaning that the technology is well-explained and based on real-world scientific principles (e.g. not like Star Wars). Kenai isn't full of hardcore physics and technical expectations, but it's got some of that, along with some more alien, more out-there forces at work.

Other projects

I've just finished up a first draft of a short story, Talon's Shadow, which I'll be submitting to an anthology organized by the Indie Fantasy Addicts group on Facebook. IFA is a fun, active group of fans of indie-published fantasy books, and it's a lot of fun being part of it. They're just starting their annual Summer Reading Challenge in there now, with teams and games and a whole bunch of reviews of indie fantasy. You can see the group here if you'd like to check it out.

My next project after I get this story polished will be to finish up a novel I started during NaNoWriMo last November. It's another contemporary thriller set in North Carolina, along the lines of my Got Trouble. I've got about 70,000 words done on that one, so it needs an ending and some editing,but I hope to have it out by late summer or fall.

I'm also hard at work on my fourth Doctor Esker's Notebook puzzle card game, which I'll be sending off to India to print probably in August. My Kickstarter for the third game did so well that it triggered a stretch goal for the fourth game, so I've been coming up with even more puzzles for solvers to try.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have Crossroads Through Time by Sheryl M. Frazer. The first book of her Psychic Empath's Odyssey series, this book tells the tale of a woman whose choices could have led her along very different paths. She is transported to a dream world where she can see the results of those choices, and where she struggles to discover why she's being shown these visions. This book is available for only $0.99 now, so if it sounds like your kind of thing, you can check it out for almost nothing.

Next, I have a free story, The Promise by S.M. Wright. A shady space syndicate kidnaps a senator's granddaughter, and an intrepid group has to race across the galaxy to try to get her back. This is set in Wright's Heritage Verse series of sci fi novels.

Finally, I have Space Pirate Reunion by C.G. Harris, a title that seems to tell it like it is. This is brand new, released yesterday, the fourth book of Harris' Viraquin Voyage series of comedy sci fi space pirate books.

Thanks

Thanks so much for being part of my literary world. I am so excited to have Kenai out, and I'll be working on promoting it over the coming weeks with a blog tour and some other events. I hope you'll give it a try.

I hope you're having a safe and fun summer (or winter, for my Southern Hemisphere people), and that you're finding some neat new books to explore!

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave