Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Rogue Element

Spinward Fringe Frontline is the second best selling EBook on Mobipocket.com thanks to the seventy six people who have downloaded it so far. As some of you already know the ending of that book is unique to the series. Frontline was about things coming together under the worst of conditions.

Now I'm working on Spinward Fringe Rogue Element. It's been a blast so far, with a definite shift in my writing style that is thanks to the pair of novellas I completed while Frontline was being edited.

The first sentences of this new work were written to the sounds of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Rogue Element marks the beginning of a new era in the Spinward Fringe series and the name refers to the ship and the crew we've all become so familliar with.

I can tell you for a certainty that this book won't take as long as Frontline. Why? Well, that's simple: the characters are all where I need them to be to tell this story. That will probably only make sense to people who have read the entirety of the series so far, Frontline included, and so be it.

I hope everyone is enjoying the journey thus far, keep inviting your friends and I might be able to keep doing this for a living! As long as there's a demand for Spinward Fringe books they'll be my primary focus. Even the work I did between Frontline and the one I'm starting now: Rogue Element was only undertaken to try a vastly different style, experiment with some character dynamics and now I'm back to writing science fiction, applying what I learned.

It's good to be back and I'm having so much fun writing Rogue Element that I'm having trouble sleeping and massive issues focusing on anything else for more than a few seconds at a time. I think I have a case of the Fringes... or something...

RL

Oh, and if you've never heard of this series and want to see where it all started you can either download The First Light Chronicles: Freeground for free (there's a link to the right), or you can purchase the First Light Chronicles Omnibus from Mobipocket or Amazon.com

First Light Chronicles and Spinward Fringe Take 5 Top 10 Spots

I have the readers to thank and as I've done before, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this display of patronage.

That's right, the First Light Omnibus remains at the number one spot in Science Fiction and Spinward Fringe Frontline has taken number two! Spinward Fringe Triton has placed third while Resurrection and Awakening take up the rear in seventh and eighth place. The First Light Omnibus is maintaining a spot in fourth place for site wide sales and Spinward Fringe Frontline has crept up to the sixth spot, almost trumping Dan Browning's Angels and Demons.

Considering the fact that I'm an independent author with no advertising and no budget, I find this pretty amazing. Mobipocket is a small site, selling far fewer books than say Amazon.com or Stanza and I think that's a pretty important factor in making this all possible.

Thanks to Mobipocket users I can write full time! Most authors with a couple published books can't and I've never met an independent author who has a large enough following to quit their job, so thanks to Mobipocket I can continue to stretch my imagination and entertain people around the world without having to beg an agent to pay attention to my work or answering to a publisher who takes most of the profits. If I had that kind of support on Amazon.com I could rule the world! Sadly I'd be too busy writing to handle that kind of administrative responsibility...

When I think of all the people who have supported me so far it boggles my brain. These are people who sent donations, posted five star reviews, spread the word to friends, relatives, ordered signed copies, sent emails, posted on forums I've never heard of and most of all bought the books. Without one of those points of assistance I believe I'd be stuck working at a call center, getting carpel tunnel syndrome for all the wrong reasons! You'd have four books to read instead of a staggering seven with another on the way.

I've been at this for eighteen months now.

It feels like the books in the First Light Chronicles are ancient history, like I spent three years working on Spinward Fringe Frontline (it was actually six months). On the other hand the time has flown by. There are still people just discovering the First Light Chronicles and the Spinward Fringe Series is spraining new thumbs every day as science fiction and general fiction fans keep advancing through the books on their cellphones. Only four hundred people (give or take a few), have purchased all the books leading up to Frontline and today the forty fifth copy of the latest Spinward Fringe book was sold.

From a publisher's perspective that's barely a handful of people. To me it's enough to keep a reasonably priced roof over my head and three square meals on the table. I couldn't imagine selling a million copies of anything, perhaps I never will. I'll tell you what I'd like to see though; a television show or well made film. A video game with all the fixin's of the Spinward Fringe universe would be fantastic too. In fact, that would be pretty amazing. Above all else I'd like to make a reasonable living off my writing alone so I can keep entertaining people for the rest of my life. That's the dream.

WAIT! I KNOW!

Does anyone still play Role Playing Games? I've written a few gaming systems and compendiums over the last twenty or so years, I wonder...

Anyway, those are dangerous, distracting thoughts. I'd rather finish what I'm working on now, the next Spinward Fringe book, Broadcast 5. All I can say about it right now is that it's different, it's fun and I'll be announcing the title on June 14th.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I'm glad to see Frontline received well so far. See you back here soon!

RL

[Would you like to see a Spinward Fringe Tabletop Role Playing Game? Sound off in the Comments!]