Whoops. I see it’s been nearly a month since I posted here, but that’s because I’ve been working hard…

Here’s a quick update on Silver:
I received the editorial letter on it at the start of the month, and I just finished my first pass through the edits. Only the hard stuff is left! 🙂 🤔🚀

September 5 Newsletter
My latest newsletter went out last Thursday. If you haven’t subscribed to it yet, please do! Use that form over there in the righthand column of this blog.

Here’s one of the items included in the newsletter:

A Ring-Shaped World

I’ll speak cautiously to avoid any significant spoiler, but towards the end of Edges there is mention of a ring-shaped world, planetary in scale. A few of my longtime readers have already made the connection. This world is the same world featured in my novel Memory.

When I wrote Memory, I thought of it as being apart from the Nanotech books – a separate story world. But as I worked on the new Inverted Frontier series, I realized these two story worlds could overlap in a very interesting way.

Silver is a direct sequel to Edges, but it also works as a sequel to Memory. You don’t need to read Memory to enjoy Silver, but if you like the idea of exploring in this evolving story world, you can drop by my website to learn more about this earlier novel.

In response to my last progress report, Tasha, over at Goodreads, asked “Does this mean that the series concludes with Silver?”

Maybe? Though I hope not!

Silver gives a proper conclusion to the initial story arc of what might still become a longer series. From the beginning I planned to do two books in the Inverted Frontier series, and then switch to something else. If book sales are enough to support a third or even fourth book in the series, I’d like to come back to it in a year or two — and I do have a few notes on where to go next.

If you’re waiting for the whole series to be out before reading Edges…well, don’t! Because the length of the series is still to be determined. Right now I see it as open-ended. How long it goes on is up to the collective-you. 😉

Just a quick update this time…

Over the weekend, I sent the manuscript for Silver (sequel to Edges) to my freelance editor for her input. So it’s out of my hands for now.

As I wait for feedback, I’m using the time to catch up on chores and tasks, and to start thinking seriously about what to do next. I’ve got ideas for potential novels, but I’m not at all sure what direction to take. I don’t want to chase the market, but I don’t want to ignore it either.

Anyway, do keep in touch by signing up for my newsletter! I’m going to try to make the newsletter a regular thing, sending it out every three weeks. It’ll include news of new publications, discounts, cover reveals, and reading recommendations, along with other writing news. It only takes a name and email address. (You’ll also have to respond to the confirmation email. If you don’t get that email, check your spam folder. And be sure to whitelist me!)

More soon…

In my last progress report I mentioned I needed to add additional scenes for a couple of characters. I finished the last one today! Whew! It’s such a relief to get that done.

The manuscript is now just under 123,000 words — making it about 3,000 words longer than Edges.

The next step is to finish going through my notes and to run some checks to make sure certain aspects are handled consistently throughout.

I’ll probably give the story a quick read-through. After that, it’s off to my freelance editor.

Once again, if you’re not signed up for my newsletter, please sign up! You’ll get news of new publications, discounts, cover reveals, and reading recommendations, along with other writing news. It only takes a name and email address. (You’ll also have to respond to the confirmation email. If you don’t get that email, check your spam folder. And be sure to whitelist me!)

More soon…

So far, July has been a highly productive month for me. On June 30, I reported on this blog that I’d finished a first draft of Silver, the sequel to Edges. Today I finished my first revision. There’s a lot left to do! But at this point, I feel like I’ve got a solid, coherent story.

There are two characters who need a few more scenes, and I’ve got a list of notes to consider, but Silver feels like a real book to me now. My plan going forward is to create the scenes I still need and address the notes. After that I’ll send it off to my freelance editor with fingers crossed!

If you’re not signed up for my newsletter, please sign up! You’ll get news of new publications, discounts, cover reveals, and reading recommendations, along with other writing news. It only takes a name and email address. (You’ll also have to respond to the confirmation email. If you don’t get that email, check your spam folder.)

Once again, thank you to everyone who’s purchased a copy of Edges (or any of my books!), or borrowed copies from a library. I couldn’t (and I wouldn’t) do it without you. 😉

More soon…

If you’ve read my newest novel, Edges, you know there’s a sequel on the way. Silver is the title of Book #2 in the Inverted Frontier series.

I’m pleased to announce that today I finished the first draft of Silver. It’s a rough draft. There’s a lot of work still to do, but right now I’m telling myself the hard parts are done. Figuring out how to convey things that are not remotely part of our general human experience got to be seriously challenging. Figuring out the particulars of the plot was no easy thing either. But now that the structure exists, I can start filling in the holes and addressing all the notes I’ve left myself. This is my usual procedure for putting a novel together.

Once I’ve got a solid second draft, the manuscript goes off to my freelance editor. A few weeks ago, I told her to expect it around the end of July. As I write this tonight, that deadline feels absurdly short, but maybe it’ll happen.

Oddly enough, I’m feeling a bit dejected over this whole project — not because of any deficiency in the books. Honestly, they’ve turned out better than I’d hoped. Rather, because it’s taken me so long to get to this point.

No doubt I’ll feel better tomorrow.

THANK YOU, to everyone who’s purchased a copy of Edges, or borrowed it from a library (assuming it can be found in any libraries…?) THANK YOU as well to all of you who’ve been inspired to check out my earlier books. I really appreciate it. There’s no point in doing any of this without readers… or listeners. For those of you waiting for an audiobook version of Edges, I’m hoping to have news very soon.

I haven’t posted much on the blog lately. I’m guessing most of you would prefer that I work on the next novel, instead of the next blog post — and that’s what I’ve been doing.

My focus has been on completing a rough-draft of Silver, the sequel to Edges. Yesterday the manuscript finally reached the 100,000-word mark. A novel-sized novel! The draft isn’t quite done yet, but I’m hoping (desperately) that it won’t be much longer.

Once I have a complete draft, I’ll go back to the beginning, fill in the holes, address the notes I made along the way, do the continuity checks, and re-read the whole thing. At that point, it should be ready to send to my freelance editor. (Cue ominous music.)

More soon…

Edges is Out Today!

If you pre-ordered the ebook, you should have received it. If you pre-ordered the print version, you should have it soon.

Thank you to everyone who preordered!

If you didn’t preorder, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy today.

For those not yet familiar . . . Edges is a new entry point into my classic Nanotech Succession story world.

Here’s a short version of the back-cover description:

Deception Well is a world on the edge, a lone surviving outpost at the farthest reach of human expansion. Now a determined crew resolves to cross the light years to explore the fallen worlds of old and discover what monstrous life might have grown up among the ruins. A far-future space-faring adventure from the award-winning author of VAST. 🙂

A couple of nice reviews came in yesterday. Over at LitStack, Sharon Browning says:

Edges is “a masterful effort, operating both at a slow burn and with a ratcheting intensity that comes to a stunning climax. Linda Nagata has once again given us a future that dances along a razor’s edge—entertaining, thrilling, humbling . . . and hopeful, despite the threat, despite the danger, despite the sacrifice.”

And at Locus, Russell Letson, who is familiar with the earlier Nanotech novels, says:

“In the imaginary coffee-house of my mind, Nagata’s Succession novels are hanging out with thematic and subgeneric cousins by Neal Asher, Iain M. Banks, Greg Bear, Greg Benford, Greg Egan, Kathleen Ann Goonan, and Robert Reed, discussing the post-human condition, how many nanotechnologies can fit on the head of a pin, the nature and place of sentience in the universe, and whether there is a Long Game in which humankind can play and survive. There’s a portrait of Olaf Stapledon hanging over the mantelpiece, along with a long-barreled raygun. Both are icons of the tradition.”

You do not need to have read the Nanotech Succession novels to enjoy Edges! It’s written as a new on-ramp to the Nanotech story world.

Find Edges online:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon AU
Amazon DE

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Thank you!

Congratulations to Roland and Stan, who each won a proof copy of Edges!

And thank you to everyone who participated. Your comments are deeply appreciated! I hope you enjoy Edges when it comes out in just over a week. 🙂

Michael Patrick Hicks is a writer of thrillers and horror fiction, and also a reviewer at his own site, High Fever Books. I sent him an advance copy of Edges. He’s posted a very nice write-up, which you can read here.

In the review, he mentions the book came with “the slight warning that this was going to be a far different read than The Red books or her previous release, The Last Good Man.” And that is very true!

Over the years, I’ve explored different segments of genre and different styles of writing. Edges was a deliberate return to the earlier books. As I wrote it, I had in mind those who’d read and enjoyed the Nanotech Succession novels — and of course I am hoping to win new readers too!

But like Vast, Edges is not your usual space opera. I think that has caught some early readers by surprise. But if you like things a little bit different, maybe Edges is for you.

Click here to read the opening chapters. See if you like it.

In the meantime…

Let’s do a giveaway!

I have two proof copies of Edges that never found their way to reviewers. I want to give both away to readers of this blog.

My apologies to my international readers, but I have to limit the giveaways to addresses in the USA because of the astronomical cost of international postage.

If you are in the USA and you’d like to be entered to win a signed proof copy of Edges, say hello in the comments and let me know if you’ve read any of the earlier Nanotech Succession books, or if you’re bravely diving in for the first time to this far-future story world. That’s all you need to do.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads: please come on over to my blog to comment.

I’ll let this run for a week and then ask Google’s random number generator to pick the winners. It’d be nice to get at least ten entries.