Universus Respondet paperback is on sale, eBook version available for preorder

After almost three years of writing and revising—and almost eight years after I had the initial concept—Universus Respondet: Fermi's Paradox Answered—a Novel is available!

The paperback version is on sale now at Amazon.

The eBook version is in pre-order at the following bookstores online:

• Amazon
• Apple iBooks
• Barnes & Noble Nook
• Kobo
• Smashwords

The paperback version on Amazon is linked so that if you buy the paperback, you can get the Kindle version for $0.99.

Pre-order pricing on all eBook stores is $5.99 (regular price will be $6.99, on the day of release, 23 NOV 2018), so be sure to pre-order to get the best price!

Universus Respondet update

Beta reader feedback for Universus Respondet: Fermi's Paradox Answered—a Novel has been very positive, and tremendously helpful.

I spent most of the weekend revising based on their feedback and sent my editor the updates earlier this evening. There were a few minor typos that escaped three rounds of editing and revising, but these have been corralled. Over the next couple of days, I will be finishing up the remainder of these revisions, and then it will be time to start the process of compiling out of Scrivener and eBook and paperback formats.

Amazon pre-sale for Universus Respondet starts on 16 November 2018, and it will cost $9.99 in eBook formats. Paperback pricing is not yet available, but when it is I will post an update.

I'm excited to get this story into the hands of readers! I believe it will appeal to Sci-Fi fans, as well as many general readers.

Sci Fi novel Universus Respondet now in the hands of beta readers

Just a brief note that this morning I sent Universus Respondet: Fermi's Paradox Answered—a Novel to beta readers!

As of right now, I am on track to publish by the end of the year, possibly sooner. As always, I will definitely let everyone know as I reach new milestones!

Universo Responsoriis 2nd draft update

So, today I sent off the 2nd draft of my SciFi novel (working title: Universo Responsoriis) for editing and review.

I am hopeful that I’ll be able to start the beta reading stage starting at the end of July.

I will post information about how to become a beta reader soon, so if you might be interested, keep an eye out on this space for details!

Editing updates July 2017

Just a quick update on the status of the revision of Universo Responsoriis, the Sci-Fi novel with which I originally "won" NaNoWriMo 2015.

I am in the process of rewrites and have the first 42k or so words—the first 11 chapters, of about 18 planned—revised and waiting for me to finish the last few chapters.

Once I finally get these last seven-ish chapters done, I'll do the 3rd draft revisions, which I am hopeful will mostly involve timeline and overall continuity revisions, rather than major structural problems or rewrites. (HA!)

I am very excited about this story! I think it will resonate with fans of Sci-Fi in general, and in particular with fans of Asimov, Herbert, and Clarke. Not that I'm claiming to be in their rarified air, but rather that there are some familiar themes that fans of their writing might enjoy.

Stay tuned for further updates and breaking news. ;-)

NaNoWriMo Week 3 thoughts

End of week 3 of NaNoWriMo, and I can say something I've never said before about this:

I won. :D

Indeed, I had a good plan, stuck to it for the most part, and was able to write every single day. Some days, many days, I was able to write a lot more than the minimum to keep up, some days not quite as much. The key thing I've learned so far is to keep at it. Maintain the daily focus to write, even just a few hundred words, and that makes all the difference between an idea for a story, and an actual story.

I'm not finished yet. This novel still has two scenes that I haven't yet written at all, so there's work there to do yet, and a couple of the scenes I have written still need additional fleshing out in order to work right. But the vast majority of the story is there. There are important characters who died, loved, and lost. But in the end, it is all for the best.

Now comes what will probably be the harder part: revising it! Editing, I suspect, will take twice as long as did the writing part, and frankly that's okay. It is absolutely an illusion that writing flows from an author's pen or fingertips as effortlessly as sunlight streams through windswept leaves. It sucks, first. Then after being reviewed and edited, it sucks less. Then after being reviewed and edited more, it sucks even less. Et cetera, ad infinitum. Well, not quite, eventually the story either starts to really shine, or it maybe is set aside for something else. In any case, it is hard work, contrary to the romantic illusion.

Stats for the week:

Weekly word count: 14,053

Weekly average/day: 2,008

Total for month: 51,436

(totals are slightly different on the graphic because of the way NaNoWriMo's counter counts words, vs. how Scrivener counts them.)

Last Week's Goal Updates:

I did kill two, in fact I killed four characters (two important ones, two minor ones). Space combat is dangerous, what can I tell ya? I also did write every single day last week.

This Week's Goal Updates:

This week, I want to maintain the momentum of writing daily. I may not write as much in this work, even though I still have work to do, but I also have a freelance gig writing for another blog (details when blogs are published) so I'll also be doing that. Daily writing, of some kind, that's the goal.

Editing I am still going to wait on; I want to get all of the entire work out first. December & January seem like ideal times for that!

I'm still on track to hit 60k for the month, which would be a nice round figure—as well as a great foundation, from which to cull the best story possible.

NaNoWriMo (Universo Responsoriis) teaser — Space Command Pilot Graduation Speech

I wasn't planning on posting any of the work I've been doing for NaNoWriMo, mostly because I was following the advice of one of my Mentors +Jamie Davis the @podmedic to just let it suck, and I'm pretty sure it does. Even if it does suck, though, I'm kinda fond of it, and thought I'd share it for feedback and just general information.

***

General Dodson stood at the front of the assembled formation, standing at attention awaiting his command. Thirty-six applicants, all highly distinguished fighter pilots from the US Air Force, US Navy & Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Israeli Air Force, Russian Air Force, and People’s Liberation Army Air Force, had completed the selection process—more than three hundred started it—and they were being acknowledged for their accomplishment today. They were also going to get bad news: there are only four fighters scheduled for completion in the next month, so the rest of them will have to just train in simulators for at least a half year while industrial capacity catches up to demand and testing requirements.
“At Ease, ladies and gentlemen. First, allow me to be the first to officially congratulate you all on completing the initial Earth Defense Space Command fighter training class. Each of you has proven to be an amazing warrior, ready to take the fight to our mostly unknown, highly advanced adversary. You have endured months of zero-gravity flight training, suit malfunctions, planet or orbiting body reentry procedures, and you have done it with the grace, determination, and sheer power of will the human species requires of the officers who will defend it.
“Your training, of course, is not completed here. This stage is the end of the beginning; starting Monday, you will be reporting to your new squadron commands for your next steps as the tip of the spear for Space Command, leading the fight against our mysterious enemy.
“There is much we know about them: they are highly advanced, and utilize technologies that have and will continue to awe us. For all their advanced technology, and the deference we afford them for it, they have weaknesses. Some we have already uncovered, more will be evident as this war progresses. We have incorporated some of our understanding of their weaknesses into future battle planning already, and as we gain experience from conflict with them, we will exploit more; you, will exploit more. You, the men and women of class 2033-01, will be the most important part of that battle plan. We can give you all the weapons we can muster, all the technology in the universe, and it all means nothing without deliberate, planned, focused application. Your efforts will have more say in the future of humanity than will any of our engineers, software developers, architects, or generals. They are important pieces, don’t get me wrong, but without the highly trained decision makers we graduate here today taking their technology and this training—and that to come—all the technology in the world is wasted.
“Standing here in front of you, I know that our efforts will not be wasted, will not be subjected to the demands of an as-yet faceless and nameless enemy. I see the best pilots in human history, and I know that our human approach to the delivery of war to them will be the deciding factor. Humanity will survive this crisis, as it has a multitude of crises in the past, by the one thing that makes us human: our compassion, our love, our drive to succeed and to do so by lifting each other up to higher ground.
“I am proud that the initial defense of humanity is led by you. You are the latest stage of millennia of human evolution, more highly trained and focused than any that have come before you. The hopes of humans everywhere, all people on Earth today and in all the tens of thousands of years gone by and yet to come, is in your capable hands, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
General Dodson then stood to attention, and called out “Class, attenTION!” The class responded immediately, all of them snapping to in unison. “Earth Defense Space Command Class Twenty Thirty-Three dash Zero One, I hereby declare you to be graduated, and to take on the missions that lie before all of humanity. You must succeed. You will succeed. CLASS DISMISSED, FALL OUT!”

***