Congratulations to those who responded to last month’s newsletter regarding who sang the song with the lyrics: “time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future…”. The song was “Fly Like An Eagle”, so the correct answer was the Steve Miller Band. My wife tells me Seal had a version of the song too, so I suppose that would have been correct as well.
I had a different topic planned for this newsletter, but when I remembered today is Valentine’s Day, I thought, why not touch on the matter of love in my writing?
With Mechhaven, dealing mostly with sentient AIs, there weren’t a lot of opportunities to explore love, although tangentially, some of the relationships played very important roles in the story. However,I think I wrote some pretty poignant moments throughout the series. There are a couple in By Archangel’s Light that are some of my favorites… but since that’s new, I won’t go into those. But earlier in the series, Misty never fully got over losing “Ace” during The Mechanai War (I’ll write their story someday). Her relationship with Dennis fizzled before it ever got off the ground. Depending on where you are in the story, her relationship with Rusty looks like it could be something special.
Dennis was a hot mess with his relationships. He never took whatever was brewing with Misty seriously, and well…things with Sigrid ended badly. Is there hope for Dennis somewhere in the galaxy? Time will tell.
The big driving force of love throughout the Mechhaven series came from Connie’s intense love for Bastion. I can’t talk too much about that without spoiling things, but that relationship and its ramifications throughout the rest of the series was interesting to write.
With The Willstone Legacy, I’m dealing with humans (mostly), so it’s only natural to explore emotions in more detail. The burgeoning relationship between two of the main protagonists, Landros Willstone and Eira Sunstrom, will be an important theme throughout the series. The Willstone Legacy is not a romance, or romantasy by any means, but their relationship is very important to the overall story.
There is a bit of forbidden love going on, as Eira is an apprentice EtherLord and Landros… well, his situation gives him a status that makes things complicated for both of them. To Landros, Eira represents a sense of stability since he is always “displacing” and to Eira, Landros represents a sense of “freedom” because she is locked into her role by birth. They start the story as best friends, but as the series develops, both come to understand the other means more to them than they ever realized.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend. Next month I’ll dive into my previously scheduled topic: “Stop Being Nice! (To your characters…)”
Podcast Appearance!
On Sunday, January 25, I was at Pasadena Comic Con. Although it was slower than I’d hoped, it was a fun day overall. I hung out with four other authors. We created our own little “small press” section and cross-promoted each other’s books and covered for anyone who needed to take a break. We’ll be working together again at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in April and possibly some other future shows.
From Left to Right: Sherry Shimshock, Blake Shimshock, Ingrid Moon, Greg Sorber (me), and Mookie Spitz.
A few days later, we recorded a podcast to discuss the show, and to talk about other bookish topics.
Here’s the link to the audio version.
Here’s the link to the video version.
Novel Notices
- Here was my setup for Pasadena Comic Con. We were testing out “Call Out” cards to give a quick description of our books in case the author wasn’t around to talk about them. Thanks to Ingrid for making these. I think for the next show I’ll get them laminated.
- I’m 76,000 words into Birthright, which puts me about 60% done… maybe 65%. I just finished writing a major battle scene, so now I need to deal with the repercussions. There are three more battles in Act II, but they won’t need as much setup, and what happens between the battles is much more significant, so those scenes should move quickly. I have a long weekend this weekend, so plan to knock out four or five thousand words.
- I started working with my cover designer for The Willstone Legacy on another cover in that series. I’m looking forward to seeing what Jake comes up with. He’s also working on revisions to my new website. I’m not sure when it will be up and running yet, but I know it’s going to look awesome.
Here are my upcoming appearances:
(more details as they become available)
- I’m always looking for other opportunities which I’ll post here as soon as I can confirm.
Featured Authors
I have four featured authors for you this month. Please take a look and support them if you can!
An abandoned military base on a remote asteroid. All is not as it seems…
The hunt for signs of extinct alien life in the tunnels beneath a derelict military base on a remote asteroid. Something waits in the shadows.
Captain Jack Grady feels his new mission is a waste of time. He and his ragtag crew of the spacecraft Adventurer are assigned to escort archeologists seeking mysterious relics in the passageways below an abandoned military base on a remote asteroid. But is the complex as deserted as it seems?
When dangerous forces awaken to fulfill a monstrous purpose, the subterranean corridors echo to the rasp of weapons fire as Grady struggles to survive.
Can he fight his way out of a deadly trap, one where even death itself would be a welcome release?
Perilous Quest is a standalone prequel short story (can be read with or without the main series) to Adrian Murphy’s high-stakes sci-fi action adventure series, Galaxy Flux. Perfect for space opera/exploration fans who’ll enjoy discovering unknown galaxies with a quirky onboard artificial intelligence, a tenacious spaceship captain haunted by grief and remorse, and a gung-ho weapons operator who loves blowing things up.
Will a young woman survive when her village is destroyed by an alien space fleet?
Toemeka lives with her family in an idyllic mountain village on a distant planet. The village is aware of the war that rages on their planet but the elders believe it won’t touch them. They are about to be proved wrong.
The tale is the exciting backstory to Star Rider on the Razor’s Edge that reveals the events that led up to Toemeka joining the Coalition of Free Nation and becoming an undercover operative.
Can she collect enough fragments of her past before the nightmarish figure from her dreams catches up with her?
If you enjoy escaping into enchanting worlds full of adventure, mystery, magic, and with a hint of romance, then pick up this story today and find yourself lost in the magical land of Phildeterre. (This is a clean novel appropriate for all ages).
As she wakes up in a bedroom she doesn’t recognize, Ellayne becomes increasingly aware of one thing: she has no memories—no identity—no name. Dark figures not only haunt her nightmares, but also stalk her in reality. Ellayne finds herself on the run, chased by a hooded archer with deadly aim.
When the source of her memory loss is uncovered, Ellayne and the companions she’s made along the way must find a way to reverse the damage done to her by magic before she loses her memories again.
Until next time, have fun and read a lot of books!
Shapeshifting is impossible.
About to embark on a two-week journey to a far-off planet to become an exchange student at an alien university. I’m honored and thrilled to be chosen for this first-of-a-kind adventure.. But seconds before departing, Mom tasks me with uncovering the truth of how my brother, Devon, died on the same starship many years before.
I’m not a detective but Mom’s desperate. I have very little to go on except an illegal copy of her memories that she pressed into my hand at the last second. How she expects me to find the answer all these years later baffles me, but, hey, it’s Mom so I’ll try in spite of the danger.
Early in my journey with four other human students, I find out the hard way that I can shapeshift. This is huge because there are no others like me. At all. I don’t know why or how but I know it’s real. Is this new ability somehow connected to my brother’s death?
My sentient, telepathic hair and shapeshifting abilities are definitely assets during my investigation—as long as I can hide them from everyone else, human and Imurian. But, when I uncover a deadly conspiracy, I need help—but who among my classmates and the Imurians can I trust?
With only two weeks onboard for this journey and very few clues, how can I solve Devon’s mysterious death? An even bigger question is how do I keep my strange abilities secret and preserve my freedom and/or my own life?
If you’re looking for your next incredible new syfy read, check out The Amorphan Effect. Featuring an unsettling mystery, a shapeshifter in space, and an evil plot, this YA coming of age story has you covered. It even has a cat-like alien race that controls space travel.
That’s it for now…have fun and read a lot of books!
Greg Sorber