FitzDuncan's Gambit and reviews for The Defense of the Commonwealth

 

As you can see, the cover design for FitzDuncan's Gambit is now complete. The book is edited and nearly ready to release. I have moved the actual release date to October 31 (Halloween). Once again, Thea Magerand has provided a brilliant piece of cover art, as she did for FitzDuncan and FitzDuncan's Fortune. She will be revising the covers for FitzDuncan's Alchemy and FitxzDuncan's Enlightenment in the very near future. I can hardly wait to see what she develops.

Reviews have come in for The Defense of the Commonwealth. You can read the reviews here (https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/the-defense-of-the-commonwealth) and here (https://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2022/10/review-the-defense-of-the-commonwealth-by-john-j-spearman/).  I was slightly disappointed in the second of these and hoped for a slightly better result.

With The Defense of the Commonwealth, I am trying to open up new distribution channels, so it is not available to Kindle Unlimited members for free as part of the subscription. The book is available on apple Books, Google Play Books, and Kobo. In order to make it part of the Kindle Unlimited program, authors must give amazon an exclusive, and I wanted to see if there were sales I might be missing through these other channels. It is also available to bookstores through a company named IngramSpark. This gives them a way to buy the paperback and hardcover versions at a competitive rate without dealing with amazon. I will give the trial thirty days to see if these other channels generate any sales.  If they don't, I pull the book from them and allow it to be part of the Kindle Unlimited program like all my other books. This may have been a mistake based on some information I just received today.  If it is, I won't allow it to linger.

At the moment, none of my other projects are close to completion. I am working on sequels to The Defense of the Commonwealth, Pike's Progress, and FitzDuncan's Gambit.  I would say all three are off to a good start, but when Aristotle said, "Well begun is half done," he wasn't telling the whole truth. Progress on all of them has been slow, and I have been easily distracted. This, too, shall pass. After all, in the last twenty months, I have published nine books--three of the Pike series, five of the FitzDuncan series, and the first of the Perseverance Andrews books.

In the meantime, fall has come. The air is crisp, the leaves are changing here in New England, and football season is well underway. I survived a bout with Covid (not too challenging) and am now healthy again. I hope this finds you and yours happy and healthy as well. Until the next time...  

The Defense of the Commonwealth and FitzDuncan's Gambit

 The Defense of the Commonwealth, the first book of a new series featuring a heroine named Perseverance Andrews, is complete and will release on October 15. The book takes place in the same universe as the Jonah Halberd series, roughly 350 years earlier. It begins with an account of how the Inter-Planetary Commonwealth formed.  From there, it shifts to the story of Perseverance Andrews and her exploits in a war between the Commonwealth and two opponents--the Rodinan Federation and the Chinese Republics. Things begin poorly for the Royal Navy, as they are set on their heels in the opening battles of the conflict. Perseverance is one of only a very few to survive the initial action and finds herself acclaimed as a hero. As with the Halberd books, politics and romance play as important a role as the battles in space.

I am also pleased to inform you that the fifth book in the FitzDuncan series, FitzDuncan's Gambit, is nearing completion. The manuscript is finished and edited. I am waiting on my talented cover artist to work her considerable magic. With any luck, FitzDuncan's Gambit will publish on or before December 1.

In the meantime, I am working on a possible new book in the Sandy Pike universe, a second Perseverance Andrews novel and yet another FitzDuncan. As I get further along, I promise to supply updates.