Castaways of the Lost Star Arrives 4 August 2016

Coming 4 August 2016!

It is back to plan A -- releasing the first story in the story cycle that will hopefully make up The Lost Star's Sea as a stand alone novel. Writing went well over last fall and winter, and I'd gotten at least half, and more likely 2/3rd of the way through The Lost Star's Sea, and though that I might publish it in two volumes. However, on going over it again while doing the 2nd draft, I realized that I had ended that part in the middle of nowhere -- I would've taken you some 180K words into the world, and then leave you stranded, with no clear objective in sight.

Not publishing something, however, would mean no story for at least a year. I decided that wasn't wise either, so it's back to plan A.

The good thing is that I think that the first episode or story in the story cycle -- Castaways of the Lost Star -- works well as a novel. It has a beginning, middle, and an end -- though, of course, the end is far from final. Moreover, it serves as a hinge between The Bright Black Sea set in the Nine Star Nebula, and The Lost Star's Sea set in the Archipelago of the Tenth Star tying up some loose threads from the first while beginning the world-building of the Pela.

I've also decided to give the series the over all title of "The Lost Star Tales".

Here's the blurb for Castaways of the Lost Star:

Captain Wil Litang's adventures, and misadventures, continue with Litang finding himself shipwrecked on a small drifting island after a rather ill-advised return to the Archipelago of the Tenth Star to warn his friend of treachery. Unless he can repair his space boat and contract his friends, he faces the daunting task of surviving among the floating islands of a vast ocean of air --islands populated by telepathic dragons, strange, and savage beasts, dangerous, and mysterious peoples and civilizations. In the grand tradition of “planetary romances” Litang must survive, and, if not quite conquer, at least find his place, in the uncounted and unknown islands of the fabled Tenth Star.

Just as The Bright Black Sea reworked the classic space opera into a modern, character focused novel, Castaways of the Lost Star starts a new series that revisits and resets the classic planetary romances from the pens of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jack Vance, into a long, rich, and character focused novel.

Castaways of the Lost Star is the novel length, 72K word, opening chapter of an extended story cycle that will form a fitting companion volume to The Bright Black Sea.

As before, this story will be released for FREE on Smashwords and distributed to iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, on Amazon it will be $.99. (In most cases Amazon requires a price of at least $.99. They might match the FREE price when I call their attention to the fact that they're being undersold.) I've also reduced the price of The Bright Black Sea to $.99 for a limited time.