Things have been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks. I was hoping to have another chapter finished by now, but I'm not quite there. Working on it when I can, though. The majority of this week has, of course, been taken up by Christmas stuff, plus buying a bike since I don't have a car anymore and needed to get around without pestering people for rides. That turned into a whole saga in itself, which involved a couple of eight-mile hikes to pick up the bike and, a couple days later, a bike pump I was too distracted to get the first time. Needed the pump because the guys who assembled the bike didn't inflate the tires enough and I didn't notice it until I was almost home that first day.
I should've noticed something was off, though. I was having a hell of a time pedaling the bike, but I just assumed it was because I'm just really out of shape and hadn't been on a bike in nearly ten years. ;) But the problem was resolved and now I can get to work and the grocery store without needing someone to pick me up, so yay. :D
I intend to keep working on the next chapter of Uncharted Territory and post it within the next few days. Hopefully things will smooth out now that Christmas is here and things get back to normal.
In the meantime, I want to thank everyone who's following Uncharted Territory, as well as those who followed and pre-ordered Project Revenant. The support means the world to me.
Uncharted Territory, by the way, is (as I've mentioned before) expanded and fleshed out from the short story "Mission to Bellatrix," which was first published in the paranormal/sci-fi romance anthology, Lucky Stars. A couple reader reviews of the story (which can be found on the Amazon and Goodreads pages), while I'm here .... ;)
From one review:
Mission to Bellatrix by Fred T. Kerns- Rating- 5 This was my first sci-fi book I've ever read all the way through. It's not my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed this one. Kolya has a scarred face that has been a slight hindrance in helping her meet a love interest because of this she's a hitchhiker for spaceships and ends up meeting Donovan on her way to board a ship that's going to explore a long-lost ship. This was closer to a full length novel at 18 chapters, which threw me for a loop. I kept expecting things to pick up quicker than they did. However, the novel was long enough that we got a lot of what is going on. I really enjoyed all the awesome innuendos. The crew of the ship were likable and at times had me laughing. There aren't any sex scenes in this story, it closes the door right on them. I loved the relationship between Donovan and Kolya and how we got to see it blossom slowly and sweetly. I can't believe I liked this one as much as I did, in fact I might make my husband read this one!
And from another:
Mission to Bellatrix by Fred T. Kerns - Ok, this was another sci-fi, so it was a little different for me. I did find myself getting caught up in the descriptions, the details and the imagery. I enjoyed reading it after I was a few pages in. There was a certain strength that I got from Kolya. She was a strong character, and it was nice to read that in a female character. I enjoyed reading the interactions and banter between Kolya and Donovan.
Finally, I'll draw this quick little update to a close by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Hey friends!
Did everyone have a great Saturday? I did! I was running back and forth between participating in the Inkshares Review-A-Thon, running errands, and deep cleaning the apartment for an ugly sweater Christmas party!
Needless to say, it was a busy day. But a fun one! And unfortunately, I didn't get to leave nearly as many reviews for my fellow authors as I wanted to, so I will most definitely be making up for that this week.
I DID however join in for JF Dubeau & Paul Inman's livestream broadcast. Many thanks to them, the other participating authors, and a massive thanks to A.C. Weston as well, the overworked mastermind behind this amazing event. You can watch the full video HERE. The Dax Harrison live-reading antics begin around 51:00, but I encourage you to watch the full stream if you have a chance. There are some great interviews with multiple authors and Inkshares co-founder Adam Gomolin!
I have yet to watch the replay of the live-reading myself, but apparently we must have done something right! Dax scored 12 more orders yesterday, and 4 today! I also took the opportunity last night to bug a few folks at the Christmas party. *mwah ha ha ha!*
Let's take a look at the countdown: 6 days left, 22 orders to go!
Oh, we've got this. We've SO got this! There's some more good stuff brewing at Camp Dax for this final week. Stay tuned!
-Tony
P.S.: I know I'm a bit behind on the latest mug giveaways. After this final push, I will get caught up, probably in one big grand finale video. See ya soon! :)
Good morning, Dax fans!
DAX COUNTDOWN: 5 days, 15 orders to go!
In my foolish, sleep-deprived state, I previously forgot to mention a few thank yous in my last update...
Dax received a plethora of amazing reviews during Saturday's Review-A-Thon event. Yes, a plethora, which gave me a big lump in my throat, made me a little weepy eyed, and generally left me about as happy as El Guapo on his birthday...
You know, before the Three Amigos crashed the party.
Thank you to Vincent Lim, Amanda Orneck, Andrew Wood, Jamison Stone, G. Derek Adams, Jason Pomerance, Shannon Saldin, Paul Inman, Landon Crutcher, Thomas J. Arnold, Alan Tucker, Steve Soldwedel, Jim McDoniel, and Chris Robinson.
I've tagged each of their names with links directly to their respective projects, because they deserve your support too! To post all of their kind words about Dax here would be far too self-serving. But I at least have to share G. Derek Adams's epic review, as it is a bit of a hilarious work of art unto itself:
G. DEREK ADAMS
"Comedy is harder than drama. Drama is open to interpretation, discussion, analysis -- everyone knows funny. And you can't force funny via interpretation, discussion, analysis. It is either funny or not funny. The Grand Binary. Dax Harrison is funny. Tony Valdez is funny. I love the setting and the crazy-ass Buck Rogers pastiche, I am 100% on board with the aesthetic and the plot arc I see developing in the first excerpts. Interrogating heroism, public perception, duty - I am HERE for all these grand concepts explicated through a patently silly premise. But what's really exciting me is that this book is funny. The punch lines land, the asides are light and bouncy, it never stops and alerts me that 'THIS IS A JOKE'. This is a rare thing. A precious thing. A shiny, shiny unicorn who wants to take you to McDonalds and talk about Macross continuity. Recognize it and treasure it. Sidebar - if you can watch Tony's video and not make a pre-order then you are a mean person who can't feel joy and puppies hate you."
Sci-fi & Fantasy author Amanda Orneck also posted a lovely review of Dax on her author blog, Immersive Cursive. READ IT HERE!
And last but not least, another big thanks to Amanda and Inkshares team member Avalon Radys for organizing a guest post for me on the official Inkshares blog! READ IT HERE!
Stay tuned, gang. We're in The Final Days of Dax, and we're going out with a BANG!
-Tony
Hi everyone and happy Friday evening! I hope yours is going swell, whether you're waiting in line for Star Wars or hanging at home in your PJs.
DAX COUNTDOWN: 8 days remaining, 38 orders to publishing!!!
Good morning everyone!
Well, things got interesting lately. Had too many everyday-life things, several other things that were horrifying to deal with, and a couple of genuinely good things, all of which kept me too distracted to keep working on this book. Not going into detail again here (I did that on my blog and in a recent update over on Project Revenant) ... but basically I almost ended up homeless several times in a three- or four-month period, so as you can imagine, I had a lot on my mind.
But things have started to turn around in the last month or so. One very positive development is the official publication of my novel Chaser by an actual publisher, Keith Publications. It was released on November 28, and I've been focusing a lot of attention on promoting it on my blog and on Twitter and Facebook. There's a lot more I need to do, when I can figure out just how to go about it -- I'm thinking about blog tours and things like that.
I was also approved for a Goodreads Author Page, and spent some time this morning updating several of the books with their new cover images, which for some reason still had the old, bland covers.
Another bit of good news is more directly related to Uncharted Territory and the short story that it's based on, Mission to Bellatrix. This novel is a sequel to a book I wrote and published last year, titled Game Over. The characters of Cora, Dylan, Grishnag, Syala, Nishara, Zilaka, and Ayastal had their debut in that novelette, and I had so much fun writing it that I wanted to continue their adventures and make Mission to Bellatrix a sequel so I could bring them back. I had to leave most of them in the background in that story, just putting a brief mention of them being busy with other tasks somewhere else on the ship, and have only Dylan, Grish, and Cora in supporting roles, because it was a short story and would've been too crowded if I tried to keep them all in. But now that I'm expanding the story into a full novel with Uncharted Territory, I can bring all of them into it and give them something to do.
So, the good news -- a few days ago, a five-star review and interview was posted on Deneale's Book Buzz. The reviewer absolutely loved the story (she also did reviews/interviews for Mission to Bellatrix and all the stories that appeared in Lucky Stars, the sci-fi/paranormal romance anthology it originally appeared in), and seems particularly fond of Cora. In the interview section, I was able to mention and link to a lot of my other works, including Chaser.
The reviewer also asked me to send her another book, so I sent her a copy of Chaser, since it's just been published and this'll really help get the word out. When the review is posted, I'll put an announcement in an update on Project Revenant because it's more closely connected to that novel than this one.
So, after a rather horrible 2015 (there were many good things that happened this year, but overall I consider it a net-negative), things seem to be turning around and I'm able to close out the year on a positive note. But I was so distracted for a while that I wasn't able to work on Uncharted Territory ... and then, when I had time to get back to it, I finished chapter 8 and posted it only to notice that there were only seven chapters. That's right, I'd completely forgotten to post chapter 7, so chapter 8 ended up where 7 should've been. I rushed to fix it, so now both new chapters have been posted tonight, in the proper order. I almost didn't catch the mistake, though. O_o
Sorry for the delay and the confusion, and I hope you enjoy the new chapters.
I'm hopeful for what 2016 brings. As the late, great Monty Oum liked to say ... keep moving forward.