Saying Farewell to a Coworker

Sometimes the people I know find their way into my stories. I usually will honor a friend by naming a character after them but that character never looks or acts anything like the person they are named after. Such was the case for a friend who works with me at my day job. He has always been one of my best fans and has read many of my books. When I was writing Devon’s Blade I decided to honor him by creating a character named after him. That character was called Hank in the novel. For those of you who haven not read the novel, Hank dies in the end. But my friend always insisted that his death was never confirmed and that Hank lived!

This week is my friend’s last week with my work group. He’s moving on to bigger and better things and we’re all going to miss him around the office. To honor him, I wrote him a short story about Hank and what happened after Devon’s Blade finished. I hope you enjoy it as much as my friend did. Maybe someday I’ll include it in a new version of the ebook. But for now, you can read it right here, on the blog.

Goodbye, Hank.

Devon’s Blade Recognized Again

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Library Journal’s 2016 Indie Ebook Awards have awarded Devon’s Blade with an Honorable Mention for Science Fiction. You can read what they said about it here. This little novella is my most awarded book, but I still can’t seem to get many customer reviews for it on Amazon. It doesn’t matter how awesome your book is, if you don’t have reviews, you can’t advertise and you don’t get sales. Please, if you’ve read this book, leave a review for it.

Devon’s Blade Now On Nook And Kobo

My most successful novella, Devon’s Blade, is now available outside of Kindle for the first time. You can purchase the ebook on Nook, Kobo and Kindle for just $.99 cents. There are no plans to bring the ebook to Apple or Google stores at this time, but there could be a paperback version in the not too distant future.

If you like your Military SF realistic and your starfighters fast and deadly, this one is for you. The story takes place after Starforgers and before The Rising and features the same heroine, Devon Ardel. It’s a completely self contained story that fits in nicely with the other Star Saga novels.

 

Trilogy Cover Art

Over the weekend my brother put the finishing touches on the cover for the first Star Saga trilogy. As soon as I can get the time I’ll stitch books 1-3 together and put them up for sale on Kobo, Nook and Kindle. Eventually, I’ll do a boxed set that includes all six books in the Starforgers Trilogy. Which is to say you’d get the Tales From Ocherva anthology and two novellas, Devon’s Blade and The Blood Empress. Not sure on the pricing of that one yet.

Two Novellas for a Buck Each

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Both of my Sci-Fi novellas are now only .99 cents on Amazon Kindle. Devon’s Blade and The Blood Empress both feature strong, independent female characters. They are quick, exciting stories that introduce you to my Star Saga universe. Devon’s Blade is the star of the first three novels and Empress Nykostra is the main villain. Both of these stories can be read independently of the Star Saga but if you want more, get Starforgers, Book One of the series – also only .99 cents.

Sci-Fi and Scary Reviews Devon’s Blade

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A pleasantly surprised review from Sci-Fi and Scary for my novella, Devon’s Blade earning it 4 out of 5 stars. The book was noted for having a mostly female cast in a story that is usually dominated by men. I didn’t set out to do that, but when you take away the love story angle between characters and you’re only concerned with the story, it’s easier if all your main characters are one sex and hetero. So while I didn’t set out to have a mostly female cast, it just came out that way. This happens all the time in stories with male dominated casts so fair is fair. Read the review here.

 

Devon’s Blade Earns 5 Stars From Readers’s Favorite

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“Devon’s Blade is a solid sci-fi novella with an old school air combat appeal. It kept me interested from start to finish.” Readers’ Favorite

This little novella is starting to garner some praise out in the world. Reader’s Favorite is the latest, giving it a Five Star review!

Previous reviews include this one from Self-Publishing Review -“If you’re a fan of war fiction, especially with aerial fighting, and like your science fiction to have a large dose of recognizable realism, Devon’s Blade is action-packed, well-researched, and a fun read.” Self-Publishing Review

 

 

 

 

 

Devon’s Blade Review

Getting the word out about your novels is pretty important and its been a weakness of mine for a long time now. So in an effort to increase my exposure I purchased a review for Devon’s Blade from the Self-Publishing Review website. So far it has not resulted in any sales, but there is no way to gauge how many people actually saw the review. It was a very positive review and you can read it on their site. They also supplied a quote for my Amazon page.

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I’ll be venturing into many new advertising avenues in the weeks and months to come. Hopefully something will result in sales. In the mean time I’m slugging away on yet another Military SF novel.

Devons Blade Cover 4-26-15