Tears of Selene

About three years ago, my brother died suddenly, and I found myself the executor of his estate. It was a tremendous amount of work, but I finally closed it in July of this year. In January, I lost my mother and my uncle in the same week. My aunt died the week of the 4th of July. I am now deep into my Mother’s Estate, and it’s crippling to my writing productivity, but I think I’m turning the corner now. One of the things I’ve learned is that to keep your writing fresh, you should be working on a number of projects at the same time. But I’ll talk mostly about the final book in my Riddled Space series, Tears of Selene (Book 4) Book 3, Dead Men Flying, was published waaay back in February of 2018. For an Indie Author, that’s like two years between books. I refer you back to all those deaths in my family as the reason why I’ve been lagging. So, what’s Book 4 about? And can I do it without spoilers? I think so! When Book 3 finished, we were in high orbit above Earth in the Perseus, a hollowed asteroid impervious to all but the largest debris from The Event, when something exploded on the Moon. Debris from that explosion destroyed everything in orbit, is raining destruction on the Earth, and wrecked the Collins Lunar Colony. The people on the Collins self-rescued and are now safely aboard the Perseus. Now, I have to figure out how to get them down to the surface of the Earth. Two things stand in the way: First, since we cannot land the asteroid, we have to construct some sort of reentry craft, and second, we have to reduce the amount of debris in orbit so that the craft can get back safely. There’s a lot of other ancillary issues: One craft cannot hold everyone. Not everyone wants to go back—some have been in hibernation for five years and just woke up. Some of the awake folks desperately want to go back, others wonder if they’re not safer up in Perseus behind fifty meters of asteroidal iron. So all of those must be figured out. There are the Earth-bound issues: In Book 1, the crew of the ISS-turned UNSOC SpaceStation Chaffee have returned to Earth, along with all the problems that entails. Celine Greenfield’s ex-husband is stalking her again, and her life and that of John Hodges is in danger. Subraman Venderchanergee, the former head of UNSOC, is still on the loose, and Mrs. vanDeHoog is likewise a pariah being hunted by the outraged people for abandoning the astronauts to certain death. Do I know how things are going to turn out? Who stays and who gets to come back? Not at all. Oh, I have a couple of folks I have to return to Earth, but for most others, they’ll tell me themselves. One of the things I didn’t know was what the heck I was going to do for 80,000 words. After all, what I described so far is about 30. I can’t just pad out a book for another fifty—I wouldn’t abuse my fans that way. I don’t know why I worried—there is a perfectly good reason for there to be a return trip to the Moon in the Tank, and McCrary told me why it had to be made. So that’s where I am now, setting up the return trip to the Moon. It’s going to be a fun ride, and I just ask everyone’s patience while I craft it. While that is marinating, I have a couple of other things on the back burner. A friend of mine and I are coauthoring a series (so far unnamed) of science fiction romance. The science will be cohesive and defensible, and my friend will ensure the romance portion follows the standard tropes. Thus far, the writing has been a blast. I have another series in mind after I finish Riddled Space, a serial universe that I might be able to open up to other writers, if the readers like it. Centered on a nested set of hollowed asteroids, the series will explore the science behind exoplanet exploration and colonization. Like all of my works, the science will be as solid as I can make it, with only enough arm-wavium necessary to keep the story moving. I have a couple of other series in mind—but I will keep those under my hat until I’ve fleshed them out. In the short fiction side, I am happy to have one story in MD Cooper’s Pew! Pew! Series (#5) and I have one work out in Brian Walton’s Future Vision series (#1). I still hold Craig Martelle’s The Expanding Universe series close to my heart. I will add more stories as these great anthologists allow. I certainly don’t want to ‘bogart’ any series, as other authors deserve their spot at the bar. I’d love to write another “Family of Grifters” story, but nothing is jumping up in my brain and telling me to write it. So, we’ll see. Thanks for reading, and if you want to check out everything I have to offer, just check out http://SmartURL.it/BillsAmazon for everything I’ve got out there.