New Free Short Story

I have another short story available on Smashwords. It’s on sale for the next month, ending on October 26. So go get it and give me a review 😛

From the Mountain is sci-fi YA and revolves around a quarantine, this was pre-covid btw. The story is 6.5k words and can be read in a hour or two. Here is the synopsis:

Having been quarantined since the age of thirteen after the death of her family and many others, Serrah lives as a carrier of a deadly alien born virus. Those responsible have not been found and tensions in the region have led to war. The skies have been quiet since the arrival of the spaceship that carried the contagion. Left mostly to her own devices Serrah scans the skies hoping that something happens to shed some light on what she went. She might just get what she wants.

Last day of free short story

Becoming stardust is on its last day as being a freebee. The short story prequel is under 10k words and you can read it in an afternoon. In fact, it’s currently listed as number 69 (hehehe) on the Best 45-minute Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Reads. After today the story will be 99 cents and be on exclusively on Kindle until June 9 before appearing on Smashwords.

Here is the synopsis if you’re interested.

Before Ilona took on the identity of a dead girl, she was a hunted girl. Her mother and she had known nothing but running until the bounty hunters finally caught them. Wounded and orphaned, Ilona sneaks her way onto a smuggling ship. Subsequently becoming part of the crew. This appears to be the break that finally gives her a safe upbringing. However, it is just the beginning.

Reminder Becoming Startdust is free

Becoming Stardust is free for another two days. You can get it on Amazon here. It’ll then be on Kindle Select until June 9 before then appearing on Smashwords.

So download it and please leave a review. It can be just a star rating or you can leave a few words 🙂

This is the prequel story to ‘Stardust’, a YA sci-fi family drama that will follow. I intend to have this novel ready for publication in late 2022.

Becoming Stardust is free for 5 days

If you’re on Kindle unlimited, Becoming Stardust is free on from the 13th to the 17th 🙂 So download it and give me a review 🙂

It is just under 10,000 words so it’s a quick read introducing some of the characters that’ll be appearing in Stardust. Here is the synopsis.

Before Ilona took on the identity of a dead girl, she was a hunted girl. Her mother and she had known nothing but running until the bounty hunters finally caught them. Wounded and orphaned, Ilona sneaks her way onto a smuggling ship. Subsequently becoming part of the crew. This appears to be the break that finally gives her a safe upbringing. However, it is just the beginning.

Save One is available

Misty-summer-mountain-hills-landscape.-613864370_3000x1926 (edited-Pixlr)Save One is out 🙂 It is 32,230 words long and it sits in the Young Adult and Dystopian genres. It can also be a little bit of a Coming of Age story as well.

It follows one individual Sauska Morin as she is accepted into the cryptanalyst school to become a code breaker. Her country has been at war with the South for the last few decades and she is needed to help break the codes. There she makes a close friend who is not having as good a time as her. During this time her younger brother is sent to army boot camp with the intention of becoming an infantryman. This does not bode well with Sauska because her two older brothers have died while in the army and as she experiences her life she begins to see that maybe her country isn’t as great as she thinks it is.

Screenshot_2I began Save One around July of ’17. While it took two years to complete, I was not actively working on it all the time. In fact, I would do a few drafts in close succession and then nothing for months on end. The reason this story took a while to come out was because of; burnout, other stories taking my time and, the fact that it was not my most prized story at the time. I was constantly suffering ‘Shiney New Idea Syndrome’ during this time and it took a bit of a backburner until I finally decided to finish it.

Beautiful-African-Woman-174795229_2560x3835_preview4largeAnother reason why it took so long was that I was a bit hesitant in putting out the story was because I made the main character black and I am white. I made her a different race simply because I’ve always written white characters and it was a bit boring. And the idea of having more diverse characters was starting to become a thing that needs to happen. I’m worried that it’ll come off wrong, but I’m not writing a contemporary story from the black experience. That’s why my first book cover was the black and white one. I changed it to the one above because I didn’t want to seem like I was using race to my advantage. Also, I like colour more than black and white and there is a forest scene near the end of the book.

 

Save One Edit 9

Beautiful-African-Woman-174795229_2560x3835_preview4largeI did an edit sprinkle of my draft if that’s what you can call it. I put my book through the free version of Grammarly. I picked up quite a few things that caused me embarrassment. I spelt the word border wrong so many times and often missed out single words that needed to be added for improvement.

I’m going to have to do a few more drafts, but I’ve pretty much completed all of the structure, so it’ll just be line edits from now on.

Save One draft 8

Beautiful-African-Woman-174795229_2560x3835_preview4largeI’ve just managed to finish the eight draft of this novella 🙂 It’s been a long time coming. I wasn’t going to be doing any editing at the moment, but after having a talk to one of my friend’s convinced me to push myself. I did 39 pages in one day and the other 15 the next day 🙂

Overall I didn’t need to do that much to it I think it might be ready with three more drafts. I don’t know exactly when I’ll put this one out, but I want it done and dusted by July.  It is currently 32,500 words or 54 A4 pages.