Fifth Paperback Update

The files are in, they are formatted as directed, and uploaded. A proof copy is en route to my address. The book awaits manual review and approval prior to being made available for sale. Backers have been notified via Indiegogo's system and as soon as I can order advance copies I will begin doing so. The end is in sight; I will miss my preferred mark by about a week or so, but that will not hurt long-term.

As soon as all backer copies are ordered and sent, I will shift focus to Book Two. I want to get it out before the end of the year, but early next may have to be done instead.

Fourth Paperback Update

Finally got all the pieces. I have the cover and everything else I require. What's going down now is the manuscript formatting. This is necessary for the final version of the cover to ensure that the spine fits, as it is uploaded separate from the manuscript to KDP. Barring interruptions, I will power through the formatting this weekend; this is my first time, so I'm using all the help I can get to put out an acceptable paperback.

The instant I can, I will get a proof copy sent to me. Upon approval, I will order and send paperbacks to backers with all due speed. I appreciate that the backers have been patient with me, so as soon as they're available they're going out and I'll keep at it until everyone gets theirs; the royalties from ebook sales are going directly into making certain this is done.

Third Paperback Update

The check arrived. The check cleared. The reasons for why they cut me a check have been sorted so this won't happen again. Other financial fuckery that would've screwed things up further have been sorted. ArtAnon is at work on the paperback cover. I will take the time to double-check the manuscript formatting to ensure I don't screw that up when I go to upload it. Once the files are in place, and things are sorted, backers will begin getting their copies. Shortly thereafter the paperback will go live and be available for purchase; those who do so will get the Kindle version for free as a bonus.

Second Paperback Update

I've been in contact with ArtAnon. We're getting the paperback cover done ASAP. Amazon's check has not arrived yet; I will fix this as soon as I can find my back account info so future payment can be directly deposited. Once the finances are sorted, and the cover ready, I'll get the paperbacks out as I am able.

"Reavers" Paperback Update

Amazon paid me my first royalties for the ebooks. Using that, I will begin fulfilling paperbacks. I will do so as I am able until everyone that has one coming gets it; this does not mean that the paperback will not go on sale as planned. What it means is that I will get as many backers their copies as I can in the next few weeks, and if that doesn't cover all of them then I will finish things up as soon as I can. This hospitalization seriously screwed my finances, so this is the best I can do to honor my commitment; you'll get the book.

The Business: Merch Options

I intended Star Knight to be more than just books. By necessity, it has to have art assets made because otherwise the covers suck ass. In time, there will be a comic version of the story, which I intend to be Proof of Concept for the anime adaptation that I want to make out of it. I want Star Knight model kits, videogames, tabletop games, etc. in time and given what I've got the best option is to make the most of the art assets at this time.

That means stuff I can do at a site like Teespring, DesignByHumans, or (most likely) cryptofashion. I don't have much right now, but once I have a handful of assets that I think would work for merch I'll open that up and let folks support me that way. Comic (et. al.) adaptations will come when the time is right, so that just means putting out the books and building that audience; shirts and posters are what I can set up now, once I've got more than a couple of offerings.

Which leads to a question: What do you want on a shirt?

1. Jack & Gori, Space Pirate Pals! (With or Without Revenge)
2. Jack w/ Black Knight (later versions will have other mecha, like Enkidu Jack Custom)
3. Gabriela & Friends w/ Loveheart
4. Vikuun Qis w/ Azazel
5. A mecha series--robots, ships, etc.--w/o characters.

Any other suggestions go in the Comments.

Update: "Reavers" Paperback Delayed

Good News: I have all the files.

Bad News: I lack the liquid cash to begin fulfilling backer copies until early September. Paperback will go on sale once I have that sorted, which will be mid-to-late September.

Progress Report: Book Two

Progress this week is slow because I've focused on the opening. I want a strong, clear opening. I want someone who, somehow, doesn't read Reavers to start reading and know instantly who the villain is, who the hero is, what's at stake, and why things are about to go down. I decided to attempt more efficiency in my writing by setting that opening scene and its follow-ups to be the evening of April 1st, at sunset, when Qis sets his plans to deal with Gabriela into motion.

The next step will be to layer in two subplots. One regards Red Eyes and Hell's Heart, which will not appear in this story, but instead rotate off-stage and be the menacing threat that comes back for Book Three. The other regards Azazel, who's already figured out how to fast-track the manpower problem. I mention them in the opening; it's now just a matter of planning where to put the other occurrences and make them serve the plot.

The outline looks like this now. It is not final and you can expect significant revisions:

• Part One
  • Qis figures out that Gabriela's family is actively conspiring against him and decides to act before she exposes him. Red Eyes rotates off stage. Jack and Gori come to the Terran system to play a part in Qis' plan.
  • Roland decides to push his plan to flush out Qis by forcing him to act. Gabriela will testify in a closed session of the Court of Stars regarding New Edinburgh; no remote attendance is allowed for closed sessions, so Qis has to be there.
  • Gabriela makes the announcement via her father, who is the head of House Robin, and gives a date.
  • Jack and Gori begin harassing traffic within the system, forcing the Solar Guard to mobilize to to chase them down. This ruse creates the chaos required for Jack and his marines to take a trader vessel they hijacked and use it to smuggle themselves to Earth.
  • Qis, in disguise, uses Jack's attack on the Court of Stars to prevent the hearing and assassinate the Speaker of the Court. He seizes the position in the chaos, using its power to control the Court's agenda to shut down Gabriela's announcement under color of security concerns. With the unanimous consent of the Court, Gabriela is remanded back to her secure location until she goes home.
• Part Two
  • Roland talks to Gabriela and her father, wanting them to sign on to an idea to bait out her attackers yet again. They fake a leak of her location, and that she's visiting a Hospitaler hospital before heading home.
  • Qis and Jack go for it because, again, they need Gabriela and she's dangerous while she's loose. They attack the hospital, finding her secure in a sleeping tank, which they wheel out. A chase ensues, but they escape with their prize and get off planet to rendezvous with Gori and Revenge at Mars.
  • They meet their contact at the Barsoom War College, where Roland springs the trap; he's in the tank bed, and comes out to confront Jack- Qis having stayed on Earth to use his position to impede Guard responses. Roland and Jack fight, leading to a duel in freefall over Mars, before Revenge arrives to get Jack and run for it.
• Part Three
  • Jack and Gori run for the asteroid belt in order to shake off the Guard's pursuit. Oklahoma arrives to assist Roland; they give chase. Roland leads Oklahoma's mecha squadron against Jack's as the battleships go one-on-one, not-Yamato versus not-Arcadia.
  • Qis, in disguise, tracks down Gabriela's actual location and assaults it. Creton holds him off just long enough for Gabriela to arm herself and shoot at Qis, which then holds him off until they can flee for the spaceport where her yacht awaits.
  • Qis tips off Jack, who pulls a fast one to attempt a risky intercept as Gabriela leaves Earth for Second Salisbury.
  • Gabriela runs for her life, but her yacht is neither a nimble dogfighter nor a speedy racer and runs into trouble fast. Roland arrives to save the day, forcing Jack to retreat and Gabriela escapes to her homeworld.
• Denoument: Qis gets good news and bad news. Good news? Hell's Heart is operational again. Bad News? The manpower is sorted, so Red Eyes intends to lay siege on Gabriela's homeworld to finish the job.

Author's Note: The Writing Playlist for Book Two

Since it worked so well last time, I put together a playlist for writing Book Two.

• "Kaneda Theme", Akira
• "Derezzed", Daft Punk for Tron Legacy
• "Enter Dessler", Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Azazel's theme)
• "Here Comes Char", Mobile Suit Gundam (Jack's theme, duh)
• "Genya's Ambition (Big Fire's Theme)", Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still (Qis' theme)
• "Battle of the Underground Road", Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still
• "Colwyn And Lyssa", by James Horner for Krull (Gabriela's theme)
• "Valyries Love Thy Bravery", Legend of the Galactic Heroes (Roland's theme)
• "Chant of the Templars - Da Pacem Domine (Ensemble Organum)"
• "Yamato Descends", Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Oklahoma)
• "Oretachi no Funade", Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX (Revenge)

The Business: Book Two Progress Report

Work continues on Book Two.

The paperback for Reavers comes next month.

I will post excerpts from the draft manuscript in the coming weeks as previews, with the caveat that these are Works In Progress and may be very different in the published version.

ArtAnon has been in touch. When there's more art to share, I shall.

The Business: Breaking Out Of The Ghetto

Dragon Award winner and nominee Brian Niemeier (and my editor) put this out on Twitter today.

There are 2 main challenges facing content creators who dissent from woke media.
1. Creating high quality alternative content.
2. Exposure.

— Brian Niemeier (@BrianNiemeier) July 21, 2019

He goes on to talk about the necessity to read the people who could be part of our respective audiences, but haven't found us yet. In short, visibility and discoverability. In both respects, these are issues of marketing that most of us as authors are ill-equipped and ill-mannered to handle without going through some painful shifts of mindset. These are also issues that are too big for any one of us to handle by ourselves, despite some of us trying valiantly to do so (and to far better success than you'd think), so we have to get over this atomization and come together to be a team.

This is going to involve reaching out to people who are not authors, not publishers, not even in the business we're in at all. Instead they're in the businesses that get to those unaware audiences, but are already friendly to us for one reason or another; they're our readers, our friends, interested allies intervening for their own reasons, etc. Maybe they're celebrities with compatible followings (e.g. Adam Baldwin, Dean Cain), or they're connected to a bigger media outlet looking for fresh material (Bandai, esp. your team for Super Robot Wars, looking at you). Artists looking for clean material for their portfolios mutually benefit by working with us to make covers, posters, etc. for our properties- and I know as well as you do how often people do judge by the cover alone.

Fortunately we have the means to brainstorm how to go about this in real time now, try solutions, see what works, and then implement working solutions quickly. Let's get to it.

The Business: Building From Zero

I have an appearance on the Superversive Livestream on August 11th. Jim Fear will have me on when he's ready to resume his podcast. That, along with loreposting on the main blog, is all I've been able to do for now to keep the word out. Working with a budget of zero, and no expertise, this is what I have to work with for now so I have to make the most of it. Time is split between working on the book and learning about the business.

At this point, I can't do much more than this. I don't have the means to do what even Brian Niemeier can do, nevermind Jon del Arroz, and until I get to the point where I can the best thing I can do to build the brand is to focus on maintaining a public presence and producing good product to the audience. I need to lean on my most loyal readers to tell others about my stuff because my reach is actually rather limited. I need to resume working on the newsletter, sending something out weekly.

On a related note, I will need to run another crowdfunding campaign this year. I'll be shamelessly copying the successful things Brian did with his, with the goal of financing the production--mainly, hiring Brian to edit--of Books Three onward. I will settle on the goals of the campaign in the next few weeks, but the aim here is to begin building up to the capacity to shamelessly copy Nick Cole's approach.

The Business: Nick Cole Talks Collaboration & Brand

Galaxy's Edge co-creator Nick Cole appeared on The Business of Writing with Craig Martelle & Joe Solari on YouTube.

This channel on YouTube, along with the 20BooksTo50K channel, are good ones to subscribe to if you're looking for more on the business of writing fiction. Nick's interview here follows on to his well-known previous promulgation of his business model aimed at exploiting Amazon's automatic functions to maximize the machine's operations in his favor, revealing how he's refined the method since putting it into operation.

Long story short, I'm not in the position necessary to make the fullest use of it at this time, nor will I for at least a year. It's where I will build to, not where I start from.

The Business: Post Launch Update

We're one month after the launch of Reavers of the Void. With only word of mouth, one podcast appearance, and self-promotion I've managed to sell 71 copies. For someone with no budget, a small network, and no one bigger than my editor spreading the word I think that's doing well. Having some Twitch streamers I'm friendly with letting me shill the book helped a little to spread the word but that hasn't turned into sales; their audiences are not mine and I have good reason to believe that, other than being friendly and sharing good news, there's no reason to seek that out.

I'm glad that it's getting out there, however slowly it may be. Please, folks, once you're finished with the book go back to the Amazon page and leave a review; post links to your review across your social media, and if you have a blog then post it there and link to the Amazon page. Every little bit helps, and the better this book does now makes it a lot easier to bring out the rest in the future.

Wolfman At Large Reviews "Reavers of the Void"

In addition to the three customer reviews on the book's Amazon page, Reavers now has one review in the wild. Wolfman At Large put this up on the 10th, but it's not gotten wider notice. Time to boost the signal; Wolfman is Good People. Subscribe to his channel and so on.

And if you want in on the action, click on the image below.

Welcome to Book Two: Terror In Terra (Tentative Title)

Says all that needs saying.

It begins. pic.twitter.com/Le4o8nR9XF

— Bradford C. Walker (@MrBCWalker) June 14, 2019

Star Knight, Book Two: First Draft Begins

Now that Reavers is in the wild, and I am home from hospital, it's time to start putting words down for Book Two. No, I don't even have a working title yet--unlike Book Three, which does; it's "Red Eye's Revenge: The Siege of Second Salibury" and will likely get chopped down before publication. I'll figure that out as I go. What I do have is a working outline for a draft, which I want to bang out over the next few weeks and then get before some other eyes before I revise and rewrite.

I mentioned some of the things that Book Two will have at the main blog a few days ago. I'll repeat them here.

• Jack and Roland's rematch, fighting a sword duel in freefall over Mars.
• Oklahoma and Revenge going head to head, not-Yamato facing off against not-Arcadia.
• New mecha designs.
• An assault on Mont-Saint-Michael, Lord Roland's home.
• The debut of Sibley's wife, and Creton's mother, Henrietta.
• More intrigue by our mastermind villain to manipulate events to serve his ends.

Let me expand on a few of those points.

Mont-Saint-Michael, besides being a real place and a fantastic visual reference, reminded me of watching Go Lion back in the '80s, when we knew it as Lion Voltron, specifically of the castle that our heroes operated out of since the pilot. That it is also in the region that the historical Roland came from was a welcome bonus, and together it prompted me to change my plan to introduce Roland's home to that location. Yes, the resemblance in form is meant to imply resemblance in function; "fortress-cathedral" will appear in the manuscript for a reason. Other plot elements shifted with that change, making France the focus of the action early on in Book Two, but the minor characters I intended to use there remain.

The mecha designs introduced serve two purposes. The first is the most obvious; the plot requires that they exist. The aforementioned assault requires at least two of them, and may force two more depending on rewrites, simply to satisfy verisimilitude requirements. At least one of them will be a variant of a design in Reavers. The face off of the battleships will feature at least one more new design, teased in Reavers and rolled out here. The second is that the readers expect it, again as a require of that very verisimilitude. As I finish them, I'll be doing lore posts about them; as those get posted, a new tab will be put on the main page to allow for easy navigation to them.

I'm not intending on more starship designs as yet, not as a matter of plot; some will be teased for verisimilitude reasons. Yes, that may change with revision, but the outline I have now doesn't need more new ships as the focus of action. Gabriela's yacht Love Heartgets mentioned in passing, along with its destruction, for the first time in the series here. Count Qis's own yacht is also mentioned in passing.

More than that I can't talk about right now because it's not in a definite form.

NEW RELEASE: Reavers of the Void is LIVE!

Reavers of the Void, Book One of the Star Knight Saga, is live. You can buy it at Amazon here, in electronic format. Link embedded in the cover art embedded below.

With this release I take my place alongside my fellow #AGundam4Us authors and raise my flag along with theirs. Backers, I would like you to post reviews at the Amazon page at your earliest convenience; it's critical for getting the algorithm to work in its favor. Again, paperback will follow after I return home and am settled.

New Release: Combat Frame XSeed: Coalition Year 40

Dragon Award winner and nominee Brian Niemeier has released his second novel in the Combat Frame XSeed series: Combat Frame XSeed: Coalition Year 40. He's making a return appearance on Geek Gab today to talk about it. Embedded below.

You can--and if you're a mecha fan, you should--pick up your copy at Amazon. Kindle version is 99 cents for a limited time; paperback is $10.99.

Advanced Reader Reaction To "Reavers of the Void"

One of my colleages and backers finished reading Reavers of the Void yesterday.

I just finished my ARC of @MrBCWalker's Star Knight Saga Book One: Reavers of the Void. It. Is. Fantastic. A heroic knight, a lovely space princess, competent foes -- it has it all!

— Rawle Nyanzi (@RawleNyanziFTL) May 17, 2019

Now that I'm home from rehab, soon the rest of you will be able to enjoy it. I have some settling in to do, but that won't take long.

From The Notes: The Old World Order vs. The New World Order

File this under "Stuff I'll Get Back To After I'm Done With "Star Knight"."

The story begins with an old professor calling his old proteges into his office. They discuss a long-missing colleague, a man who tracked down a lead on a lost Roman legion, when the old professor reveals the receipt of a distress call from their colleague not 24 hours before. The former students, now players in their own right, agree to act upon the revelation. Each commits a protege of their own to a team to investigate.

The investigation goes wrong when it reaches the location where the legion disappeared. An unknown enemy ambushes the team and scatters them; this happens during a storm, covering up the display of otherworldly energies going on. One of the team finds the missing academic, and together they escape the enemy, but he is now trapped with the old man on the other side- where he finds a Roman Empire in full bloom dominating the world. Another also escapes the ambush and remains on our side, having taken out an enemy attacker and traced the ambushers to their forward base; this leads to the revelation of a global conspiracy bent on world domination.

The story escalated when the Romans invade our world in a brazen manner, and it is revealed that this Roman Empire is not trapped in the high point of the post-Marion reforms, but rather is a fully industrialized high-tech power with fantastic arms to go with their fantastic ambitions. The conspiracy here gets flushed out into the open because they have to immediately push for open total control to fight the Empire; the revelation includes fantastic technologies long speculated in the UFO/Ancient Alien scene.

It's revealed that this conflict stems from events over 12000 years ago, and the lost Romans were not lost at all.

Oh, and there's giant robots. LOTS of giant robots. Because I like giant robots. Other details to be decided. Lost Legions vs. The X-Files by way of Panzer World Galient.

Star Knight Update: Not Just For Backers Much Longer

I've been either in hospital or in a rehabilitation residency since January of this year. This has delayed the release of Reavers of the Void as I've first had to recover from the surgeries require to save my life at the cost of a limb, then to recover to the point where I can begin using a prosthetic to cope with that lost limb, and now I'm closing in on getting that prosthetic in its final form before being discharged and going home.

Yes, for those coming in late, I'm still in rehab. This is not a place conducive to work requiring long periods of quiet, focused attention on a job of any kind, not study or work. Especially in the mornings, I can expect repeated interruptions for medication, checking vital signs, therapy sessions, irregular visits from doctors, and so on. Progress, accordingly, is slow.

But there is progress. Because the prosthetic is away for finalization, I have no therapy until this time next week when I have it back. Two weeks from today I'm discharged; I sleep that night in my own bed for the first time in four months.

Before that happens, Reavers will be available for sale. Yes, putting myself on the spot here, but you folks need something more definite than "Soon(TM)". Paperback will come after I'm home and settled, and then Book Two later this year.

The Pitch: Prepare The Spare

A while back I bummed around on YouTube and watched this clip from Mobile Suit Gundam.

And then I watched this clip from Episode 2 of The Vision of Escaflowne. (Poor Balgus.)

And then I read Ben Cheah's post on isekai, which you can find at PulpRev https://www.pulprev.com/2019/04/isekai-is-not-japanese-europe-in-video.htmlhere. I got out my notebook because I remembered that I had an idea on how to do this that hadn't been done, or done well, in some time. I wrote this down after watching those two clips and another from Final Fantasy XV.

This is the pitch.

A magical kingdom is under attack by an evil empire. The king dies. The princes are all dead save for one, the youngest, who suffered an apparent death but actually survived and is secretly hospitalized. He's stuck into a sensory deprivation tank and hooked into a VR simulation to speed up his recovery. One of the king's chief retainers has to retrieve the prince from the facility before it's found and destroyed.

The prince comes out when he's shown that the man who betrayed him, the man who was both his friend and his rival, is behind not only the attacks but personally slaughtered his family and threatens to subjugate his people to the empire's yoke. But he can't fight the man right away; he has to rally the remnants together, resolve threats to his position and authority, and then he can renew the war against the empire in order to get his revenge.

The VR sim is the key, as it's actually something of an MMORPG; the medical establishment uses it to facilitate communications across borders and language barriers. The prince and others have to use it to avoid Imperial entanglements, and the sim world is more like our everyday life than the fantastic world they actually live in. That's a realm full of intrigue to be had.

So we have Garma coming back from near-death to get Char, having to play guerilla war online and in meatspace to do it like Van had to do, and he has to be like Neo here and there. Add giant robots, laser swords, and some romance to suit and we've got something to work with.

The Business: It's Not Just The West With Useless Establishments

My colleague Cheah Kit Sun wrote a great post about the state of mainstream literature in his country of Singapore. It's up at the PulpRev blog and you should read it, assuming that you haven't already. (You should also follow him on Twitter.)

I'm pointing this out because Cheah's putting light on a situation many of us think to be confined to the West: gatekeeping in the institutions of literature working contrary to the interests of a healthy national literary culture. That Singapore's gatekeeping isn't the same as that of the New York City-London axis doesn't mean that it isn't gatekeeping or that it's done for bad ends, though I would not be surprised if the Wokeness meme disease wasn't trying to worm its way in like the zombie virus it is.

The conclusion Cheah makes holds for a lot of us with similarly useless establishments. We didn't choose the Pulp Way. It chose us. The symbolism of such a revelation coming on Good Friday, that synchronicity, shouldn't be ignored. Good luck, Godspeed, and may all your stories be worthy of succeeding the Pulps of old.

The Business: When Your Teaser Betrays You

One thing that the teaser for the final Reylo Mouse Wars film makes clear is that we who are out to Fork & Replace Mouse Wars can clearly beat them on the writing front.

Holy shit, that has "Bad Writing" all over it.

The setup with Rey backflipping atop a TIE Silencer, implied to be flown by Kylo, and the ending with a piece of the second Death Star on a planet with the implication that some remnant of Skeevy Sheev dwells within like Yet Another Sith Specter are two giant red flags that this film doesn't take storytelling to entertain an audience first and foremost; it is going to be a secondary concern.

What is the primary concern? Count on the Muh Rey Sue arc reaching its conclusion, with her somehow being retro-actively spliced into the Skywalker line and--as the only Jedi--tasked with making a new Jedi tradition to do what, again inexplicably, neither Luke nor the Prequel Jedi could accomplish. Count on Rey taming Kylo despite him being Emperor in all but name purely because of what she is and not by any effort on her part. Count on Leia, Lando, and the rest being wasted on things that ultimately don't matter. Count on the story being nihilistic and pointless, even if Rey wins and saves the day.

Count on the Star Wars Galaxy, by the end of the film, being one where only Rey matters. As she will embody the whole of the Force, since Kylo's odds on surviving to the credits are slim to none, "The Force Is Female" will indeed be the case for Mouse Wars. Expect Finn and Poe to die or otherwise get permanently sidelined by the end, along with Lando, with only Chewbacca still being up and able due to being a glorified morality pet by Mouse Wars reckoning. In short, this isn't a sincere apology; it's insincere bullshit that's still meant to push an agenda--it's still propaganda--but they're going to lay on the Mea Culpa thick between now and December to sucker people into seeing it.

All they had to do, instead, was write an honest Space Opera. You can still have a heroine lead, and she can still be an action girl, without making propaganda; we had plenty of that in the pulps. (We also had action girl villainesses then, and they weren't mouthpieces either.) But no, the ideologues running Mouse Wars can't have that so here we are- and, being incompetent, they telegraph their intentions without being aware of it. Don't expect better from the trailers to come; expect more tells warning you away. The Mouse doesn't respect you; jump away from Coruscant.

"Literary Merit" Is Bullshit

The embarrassment of tradpub Science Fiction authors, as a class, for their field is revealing when talking about what they consider "early SF". Jim Fear nails it, taken from his Twitter posts of yesterday.

Frankenstein only gets grandfathered into Scifi because it's a philosophy book dressed up as fiction and it's taken seriously by the Literati, which is what Scifi wishes it was because it thinks boring shit like The Scarlet Letter is "grown up".

Scifi Authors are just trying to graft Mary Shelley into their thing because she's taken seriously by Literary Fiction Teachers and the Scifi Authors really, *really* wish that LitFic-senpai didn't think of them like a filthy fucking tramp who dresses like a whore.

Noticing that tendency was a tell of a certain too-common male psychology pattern, I took that ball and ran with it.

That's because they're fucktard cowards who don't get that wealth = power. Either you use the wealth to buy the power, or you use your power to get the wealth; the routes vary, but the destination is the same.

These fuckers are scared to take EITHER route.

Instead they simper like the gamma faggots they are, trying to ride coattails to the destination whereupon they somehow assume both Because Vrry Smrt and get all the winning forever like some retarded Hollywood movie.

That's what all this Muh Literary Merit bullshit really is: childish simpering because they either can't or won't do what is required to succeed as writers of fiction, namely to entertain the fucking audience as best you can. That's why the pulps were, and remain, superior SF.

The fundamental lie is this: the refusal to accept Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars not only as Science Fiction, but as the seminal example of it.

The original cover to A Princess Of Mars.

Exposing this bullshit is part-and-parcel to the reclaimation of the field from the frauds that stole it nearly a century ago. It's Fear Of A Pulp Planet, and they desperately hope that it cannot be stopped. Sure, and the Death Star was invincible. We all know how that ended, don't we?

Fiction is about entertainment, first and foremost. The quality of entertainment, in an honest market, is proven by continuing sales year over year. The old pulps still sell like hotcakes and continues to influence authors around the world. SJW garbage rots on the shelves, when it gets there at all. The real Science Fiction, therefore, comes from the pulps- even later darlings like Dune have that influence and it shows. Appealing to lit-snobs is a pointless waste of time, especially since they haven't mattered for about as long as the commie faggots who destroyed the pulps--in part to get their approval, being fellow travelers--have held the field.

The Business: Star Knight In Full Color!

ArtAnon emailed me some colorized versions of the concept art he did for the Star Knight Indiegogo campaign. You folks ought to see them.

Click through to embiggen them to full-size, where you can see them in their fully glory. That beam lance, by the way, gets some screen time in Book Two.

As this post implies, I'm getting close to launching Reavers of the Void soon. No, not next week, but soon. You'll know soon enough when it's time to send all your friends and family to the Amazon listing to buy a copy of a book dedicated to action, romance, and giant robot combat in that old-school Space Opera way that you otherwise have to look to Japan to give you these days.

In the meantime, I again point you to my colleague Rawle Nyanzi and his Shining Tomorrow which needs the support of readers like you. If you're looking for more indie mecha action to hold you over, and you haven't gotten a copy already, then Brian Niemeier's your huckleberry. Get yourself a copy of Combat Frame XSeed today.

From Rehab: Counting Down to "Reavers" Launch

I'm still in rehab, but nonetheless I'm back at work now that I have my PC in my residency room. I'm going through the manuscript one more time, cleaning up errors as best I can, before I cut the umbilical cord and send this baby off into the world. I have an important orthopedics appointment this coming week, where the test fitting for my prosthetic leg happens, but the final pass is almost done. I believe that I'll accomplish the April launch I originally intended to hit.

Starting next week, I'll resume posting excerpts from Works In Progress. These range in size from a scene to most of a chapter, and from points in time from Book Two to Book Nine; being cooped up. Lore posts that aren't from one of the remaining eight books in the series, or from one of the side stories, won't be put here or at the main blog. Those will be reserved for newsletter subscribers as exclusives hereafter.

Yes, this means that I'll resume newsletter work presently. Subscribers, watch your inboxes.

In the meantime, I urge you to support my fellow #AGundam4Us authors. Rawle Nyazni has his campaign to raise funds for the audiobook version of Shining Tomorrow going on still, which you can find here. Brian Niemeier has Combat Frame XSeed for sale at Amazon now, which you can find here, and he's now posting lore info about the upcoming sequel here at his blog. Together we can Make Mecha Great Again.

Signal Boost: Shining Tomorrow's Audiobook Campaign Launch

I'm spending this post to boost the signal for my colleague Rawle Nyanzi, the author of Shining Tomorrow. He's launched a campaign at Indiegogo to finance the production of an audiobook version of the novel, and I suggest that you entertain the offer. The campaign's perks double as de facto pre-ordering for the book, so don't worry about needing to buy that separately if you back the campaign.

On The Launch For "Reavers of the Void"

I've been out of commission for a while. I go on about that at the main blog here.

Reavers of the Void launches in ebook form soon. I am nervous about this, but also excited. It's the last step, the one where I put it out there and see how well I can do; at that time, I'm going to need all the help I can get from you folks who believe in the project. Reviews, signal boosts, and more will all be necessary to help that book do its best against far more experienced competition. But first, I want to let the algorithm work for me as best it can. Once the ebook is launched, I will begin writing Book Two.

The paperback launch of Reavers will, if I can swing it, come 60 days or so after the ebook launch; I want time to let the algorithm do its thing while I get drafts done, continue my rehabilitation (and get back home), and figure out how to make the paperback version happen I figure 60 days is enough, given my resources and outside concerns, for that to work. If it doesn't, I'll report back; backers at that level, of course, get their copies before everyone else.