We are approaching the release date for Rawlins' Redemption, July 16. This is the first book in the Cliff Rawlins series and the first book of mine to be published by Aethon Books. I am excited to see how the book is received, and what effect the partnership with Aethon Books has in terms of reaching a broader audience. Here is the link to pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Rawlins-Redemption-Cliff-Book-ebook/dp/B0D33VGXRJ
Speaking of reaching a broader audience, the good folks at Interfleet Broadcasting were kind enough to have me on their show June 13. The link to it is: https://www.youtube.com/live/9m0oUcu0-FY?si=W69EgOiP_7FdFtfm
The actual interview begins around the 43:00 mark. Great guys--I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The last item for this post is some news about a new book I just turned over to my editor. When I say "new," the term is relative. It really goes back more than twenty years—when I was still in the corporate world. My very good friend (who has since passed from a brain tumor) urged me to begin writing.
What I wrote was an adventure story. I shared it with him, and he enjoyed it. Then, work commanded my full attention, and I set it aside, not knowing how to proceed (the publishing world was very different then). Other complications and challenges in my life followed, and I mostly forgot about the book. My friend, one of the best people I will ever know, succumbed to cancer.
In 2016, I finished reading a science fiction novel that I will charitably describe as mediocre. When I claimed I could do a better job, my wife challenged me to prove it. The result of that was Gallantry in Action. When, to my pleasant amazement, Gallantry found an audience, I remembered the book I had written years before and tried to find it.
Sadly, over the years, the original manuscript was lost due to multiple computer crashes and changes in email providers. I asked the son of my late friend to see if he could somehow access his father's old emails, but that proved to be a dead end after so long. Nonetheless, I tried to recreate what I wrote years before.
As I started to write, I kept the basic premise but I changed what I thought were some of the weaker plot points. I reached a point where inspiration began to fade, and the idea of writing the next book in the Halberd series (In Harm's Way) seized my focus. True Allegiance and Surrender Demand followed. The Halberd books found an audience, and I learned a great deal about the business of self-publishing.
My focus then turned to putting what I learned as a result of the Halberd books into a new series. The first, Pike's Potential, and the second, Pike's Passage, were far more successful in terms of sales and readership than the Halberd books. I took the royalties from the Pike books and poured them back into paying for new covers and editing of the Halberd books.
While writing Pike's Progress, inspiration dried up and Casimir FitzDuncan popped into my head. Then came Perseverance Andrews, and, most recently, Cliff Rawlins. At the moment, I am working on the third book in the Rawlins series, and books nine and ten in the FitzDuncan series (one a continuation, the other a prequel).
For whatever reason, Cliff and Fitz didn't seem interested in communicating with me. Something possessed me to go back to the story I started writing more than twenty years ago, then rebooted six years ago and shelved. Ideas flowed, and I quickly reached a point where I wanted to end book one, with the rest of the story to be concluded in book two.
What's it about? Like the FitzDuncan books, it is set in a fictional medieval world—pre-industrial and pre-gunpowder. Unlike FitzDuncan, there is no supernatural element--just swashbuckling derring-do. There is an assassination. You'll also find nefarious plots, thrilling escapes, romance, and intrigue.
Look for this book, tentatively titled Burden, to appear on Amazon soon. The extremely talented Thea Magerand is working on a cover. I expect to release it in mid-August to early September unless my editor uncovers major problems I need to address.
As always, thank you for reading.
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