I have fantastic news!!
As you know, I got amazingly lucky to work with Matt Weight to do the narration for all the Science Officer audio books. And all the future ones I have yet to write. And anything else where Suvi plays. (and there will be more of those coming as I expand the universe.)
So now, I finally get to announce that the audio book for Auberon is coming very soon (as in, I think everything has been approved finally and is going live in a matter of days or a few weeks. More as I know.)
I knew from Day One that I wanted a female to do the Jessica Keller books. Tried out one, but I found her work ethic…questionable. And good female voice talent is hard to find, because the market is so dominated by great male actors. But I got amazingly lucky on my second try.
Melissa is an old friend of my wife, Fabulous Publisher Babe(tm). She works a day job as a project manager doing online training videos. In her spare time, for many years, she had volunteered to read books for the blind at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library.
She had wanted to get into doing audio books, and sampled a few of mine and my wife’s books, and decided that she liked the art. Then I managed to convince her to do Auberon and the rest. There has been a learning curve for everyone involved, but this morning Fabulous Publisher Babe(tm) awoke to an email that said “VICTORY” and we think everything is now uploaded and just needs to be approved at Audible’s end. (I will post links when I get them.)
Even better, Melissa is already way deep into Queen of the Pirates and should be able to get that out in fairly short order. Obviously, she’s going to get these done probably faster than I can write them, but that just means that folks who do audio books will be able to consume them almost as fast as readers of print.
This will matter soon, as I have book #6 (The Red Admiral) off to first readers now and should be getting it back from them sometime in the next week or so. Then I correct all the things I screwed up in the first draft and send it to Canadian Copy-Editor Babe(tm) for a technical pass.
Good Lord Willing and the creek don’t rise, The Red Admiral will be coming out May 10, 2018. By that point, I should be deep into book #7, Lord of Winter. I really keep hoping that the series ends after nine novels. #6 ran to 135,000 words, because I had so much ground to cover.
In stage drama terms, The Red Admiral is technically a 2-Act play: Everyone’s going to the Big Dance; Everyone’s at the Big Dance. Except that each of those two acts break down into the same format, so you’ll get that sort of movement twice. (You’ll understand when you read it. It is not classical three-act and it moves differently that many readers will be unconsciously expecting.)
And then you’ll get to meet The Holding. The Star Empire ruled by the a Sentient system known as The Eldest. Buran.
If everything works and writer-brain hasn’t been lying to me, things are only “slow” in book #6 and then they speed way the hell up in 7, 8, and 9.
And because some of you are going to ask, Fabulous Publisher Babe(tm) has been giggling at some of the Vo zu Arlo chapters. (So did I, but I wrote them. What the hell do I know?) I like the way this one turned out, and all the things that I have been setting up for future novels.
Hope you are all well and survived the holidays. Be safe, be happy, and have a good 2018.
shade and sweet water,
blaze
West of the Mountains, WA