Story update: The Tantalus System
 

Tantalus is an O-type star 27 light-years away from Earth, relatively near Vega. It is orbited by 14 planets (3 gaseous, 11 rocky, named "Tantalus 1" through "Tantalus 14") and one large brown dwarf called Ixion, which orbits between Tantalus 8 and 9.

The Tantalus system was identified by Exotech industries as a promising location for new deep-space mining operations, due to its abnormally high number of rocky planets. A claimstaking probe bearing a SCARAB unit was immediately sent to the Tantalus system to evaluate the resource viability of each of the 14 planets, only to discover that all of them seemed all but completely depleted of heavy mineral deposits, making them unfit for any long-term mining investments.

Unable to return to Hegemony space on its remaining fuel reserves, the SCARAB AI selected the most promising planet to claim. It selected Tantalus 13, due to the presence of a few moderately large cobalt deposits.

As the SCARAB unit entered into orbit above Tantalus 13 and searched for the optimal location to land and begin its operations, it discovered an unexpected windfall: at the base of a large asteroid crater near Tantalus 13’s south pole, SCARAB detected a massive deposit of unusually pure platinum. It landed there, and immediately set to work building itself and further exploring the unexpected treasure that awaited its arrival.

Want to learn more about what SCARAB found there? Pre-order a copy of Tantalus Depths today, and you’ll learn more than you bargained for...

The fabulous Dakota finished my art and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Let me share it with you.

I’ve been so lucky to have her work with me on this and I’ve been extremely emotional about having this beautiful piece to accompany the novel.

Tantalus Depths is only 14 pre-orders away from Quill! Come on, everyone, we’re almost there! Let’s have one more big push to get us over the line!

  Hey, readers.

Hey! I don’t usually update this often, but couple of pieces of news to share.

First if you like fiction about the dirty underbelly of Hollywood (and who doesn’t) please check out notorious Hollywood columnist Nikki Finke’s site, Hollywooddementia. Why? because she has published my novella Falconer, which is about a nasty piece of work named Gavin Falconer! It is appearing in four parts, with Part 2 up today, but if you follow the link to the site you can catch up on Part 1. It would be cool if you leave a comment on the site as well, preferably saying something nice. Or not! But also so cool is the artwork by John Donald Carlucci that accompanies each installment. He is extremely talented. So go read. Here’s the link:

http://hollywooddementia.com/nikki-finke-fiction-falconer-part-two-by-jason-pomerance/

And now marketing news. In case you missed the current issue of The Malibu Times (what, you don’t have a subscription??) this little piece appears on Page 19. 

Part of Women Like Us is set in Malibu (with most of the rest in Pasadena), so small independent papers in those areas have been targeted and see? The effort pays off. A blitz of small independent bookstores is currently being planned. Hopefully more news on that soon.

Okay that’s it.  Go read Falconer. It’s very different from Women Like Us, and quite frankly it’s not for children, so shoo the kids out of the room!