After debating with myself about how best to time the release of my next book, I decided that I may as well release it now. So here it is! Bypass Gemini, the first science fiction addition to my roster of novels. Unlike the Book of Deacon series, this is not intended to be the first part of a multiple entry story. Though I have every intention of making more of these, I’m hoping to keep the plot of each one more or less self contained.

If you’ve read any of my other stuff, you’ll probably notice a few significant differences between this an my earlier works. Overall, the tone is a little less serious and a lot less dignified. It doesn’t take itself as seriously as a story, and here and there I tried for a little bit of satire. Obviously the degree to which I have succeeded is entirely up to the reader to judge. The language is also a bit harsher. I think I removed any full instances of the seven dirty words, but it definitely isn’t rated G.

You can find it at Amazon or Smashwords, and over the course of the next month or two it should be showing up at pretty much any other eBook retailer. Take a look, and if you’re skittish, Smashwords should let you read the first half or so before you buy. If you DO pick it up, be sure to let me know what you think.

Some time last year, after I’d finished proofreading one of the books in the Trilogy for the umpteenth time, I got sick of reading stuff I had already written and started thinking about what I would write next. You see, I go through phases of utterly obsessive writing, and I could feel one coming on. At the time, I had seen zero success on the Book of Deacon stuff – only Book 1 and Jade were out at that time – so I was asking my friends what I should write next. One of my buddies who goes by the handle Oriech (for people familiar with the books, the character is technically named after him, not the other way around) requested that I try to write something in the Science Fiction realm. I said sure.

Well, it’s done.

I still have some minor things to do, like coming up with a synopsis and making a cover. (Those are two of my least favorite parts of self publishing, by the way. Not my areas of expertise, as should be clearly indicated by the Jade cover.) Right now I’m going with the name Bypass Gemini. It is new territory for me in a few ways. First, it is the first thing I’ve written with actual chapters. I’ve been criticized for my tendency to forgo chapters, so I wanted to give them a try. It is also the first book I’ve written by conceptualizing the entire plot from beginning to end before I started writing. My usual method involves starting at the beginning with a general idea of how it should end, then writing until I get there. That’s a great way to end up with a book that’s two or three times longer than you’d intended, by the way. Ironically, making the shift from fantasy to scifi was very easy for me. Really it is just a shift from magic to sufficiently advanced technology, after all.

I have no idea when it will be coming out. Certainly this year. Probably some time next month. I’ll do another post when it is officially available. Until then, I find myself once again with no current writing project. If there is anyone reading this, what do you think should be next? More from Myranda and the Chosen? A Sidequest or two? More scifi? Let me hear your thoughts!