I’ve made a start on book 4 of my Inverted Frontier series, but right now I find I’m spending a lot of “writing” time doing calculations, like “How far apart are these starships?” and “How long does it take to get a message from one end of the fleet to the other?” It’s frustrating, but I need to block out events on the stage before I get down to the actual writing. In large part, this is because I have no innate sense of the vast distances I’m dealing with. So I force myself to gauge things comparatively — i.e. radius of Earth’s orbit and Saturn’s orbit — and in multiple units: kilometers, astronomical units, light minutes. That helps me to work with the immense scale of space…and then I try to leave most of those numbers out of the actual story. 🙂

On a tangentially related topic…
I have no regrets about being an independent writer/publisher. Seriously, none. But of course there are drawbacks. For example, very few outlets of scale are willing to consider indie titles for review — a problem compounded when the title is third in an ongoing and little known series. So I am deeply grateful to reviewers who do take the time. The latest is booktuber Michael Everts, who has included my latest, NEEDLE in his top 3 books of the year so far! Thank you, Michael!
Click here to see his review (and subscribe to his channel).

My newest novel, Needle (Inverted Frontier #3), is out today.

I know many of you preordered Needle. Thank you so much for that!!

But if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can now purchase the ebook edition, or order the print version.

Wait, what? What is this new book?

If you’re not subscribed to my email newsletter and if your visits to this blog are rare you might be surprised to learn I have a new novel just out. But yes, it’s true!

Follow this link to my website to learn more about Needle and to read the opening chapter.

I like to describe the Inverted Frontier series as “sense-of-wonder” fiction — far-future, space-faring adventures unfolding in a very big galaxy (no faster-than-light travel here).

If you haven’t tried the series yet, I hope you will. Edges is the first book. Click here to learn more about it and to read the opening.

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for your interest in my work!

This is just a quick note to let you know that Needle’s print edition is finally available for preorder — one whole week ahead of release date. 😕

Thank you for your patience!

The print edition of Needle is delayed.

Here’s the background: My print books are all print-on-demand, meaning there are no large print runs. Books are printed as readers order them, though Amazon will often stock a small inventory to speed up delivery. Anyway, I use two different printing companies. One fulfills Amazon orders and the other fulfills everything else. To create a print book, I have to upload two PDF files, one for the interior pages and one for the cover.

For the non-Amazon company, I uploaded those files on June 14. The company soon provided me with an electronic proof, meaning a PDF file of the book. It looked great, but I requested a printed proof, as I always do, because it’s easier to locate errors that way. The proof should have been printed within five business days, but as of this morning and despite several emails (they don’t allow customers to call in anymore), it still hasn’t been printed.

I uploaded files to the other company on the same day, June 14. This time the proof was printed quickly and out for shipping by the next day–but not fast shipping. I saw no option for fast shipping. The proof was supposed to arrive here on Maui by June 25 at the latest. It did not arrive. It reached Honolulu on June 19, over a week ago, and hasn’t been seen since. The third-party company handling the initial shipping says they handed it off to USPS. USPS says they haven’t received it (and their help form errored out when I tried that). I ordered a new copy of the proof today. This time I found a way to pay for extra-fast shipping. (If there are any errors, I’ll need time to fix them!)

Anyway, this is all hugely frustrating. And this is why there probably won’t be a preorder for Needle’s print edition. But there will eventually be a print edition. I promise!

This is just a quick note to let you know that preorders for Needle (Inverted Frontier #3) are at last available at Kobo. Click here for the US store.

Kobo-folk, thank you for your patience!

Needle publishes on July 12. For more information and links to other ebook vendors, please visit my website.

The print edition should be ready soon. I’ve submitted the files to the printer and looked over the resulting PDF proof. It all looks good, but I’m waiting to see a physical copy before I approve the book for preorder.

More soon…

I discovered just a few weeks ago that a lot of readers thought Inverted Frontier was a two-book series. No! Not at all! That said, the first two books did serve as a kind of market test. Together they make a complete story, and if the duo had sold poorly I could have stopped there. It’s not financially viable to undertake a longer series if only a handful of people are reading it (no matter how enthusiastic those readers are!).

But the first books did just well enough to convince me to try another. That’s book 3, Needle, and it’s available on preorder NOW. And then — maybe — two more volumes after that.

A five-book series? Yes, that’s what I’ve planned, and it’s what I’ve invested in. I already have finished cover art for books 4 and 5. I tell you that, so you know I’m serious. Two more books to go…

But that’s assuming the long tail works — that more readers try the series, and like it, and that Needle (book 3 – the new one) does well enough. We’ll see.

Needle is available for preorder now (ebook edition; print edition to come). Give me a reason to believe, LOL.

More on Needle here.

It’s been a long time coming, but Inverted Frontier #3 is real, it’s happening, and it now has a publication date of:

It’ll be available on that date in both print and ebook editions. (I’m hoping there will be an audiobook, but I don’t know yet.)

So without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to…

“Tanjiri is not for you. You are not ready to encounter what exists there.”

So Lezuri spoke in warning, long ago. Urban still possesses the strange gift—the impossible puzzle—Lezuri gave him that day. A needle, ultra-thin and twelve centimeters long, with a silvery surface that slices light into rainbow glints. All Lezuri’s knowledge lies locked within that needle. Urban has only to discover the trick of opening it, to gain that knowledge for himself—but the needle remains an enigma.

Now Dragon and its fleet of outriders has reached the periphery of Tanjiri system. The belt of ruins lies ahead: a chaos of remnant megastructures from a fallen civilization. Farther in, an Earthlike world orbits in the company of a miraculous living moon created less than 4,000 years ago. An entity—one greater even than Lezuri—must have made that moon. And yet the system is silent. No one, nothing, has answered Dragon’s hails.

Perhaps the entity is gone? But Urban doesn’t believe this. He is sure that when the fleet enters Tanjiri system, he will meet this maker of worlds—with the lives of everyone he loves at stake. Better, safer, to encounter this entity from a position of strength, armed with all the knowledge and power contained within the needle.

So he believes.

Are you a Kobo reader? If so, I want to let you know that the ebook will be available at Kobo, though I won’t be able to set up the preorder there until at least mid-June.

Do you prefer the print edition? Once I have the final, copyedited manuscript, I’ll be able to set up a preorder for the print edition. I’ll let you know as soon as that’s ready.

I know it’s been a long time since book 2 came out. I hope you’ll continue with the series — and thank you for your patience!