So last night I finished the 2.0 draft of Star Wanderers: Benefactor (Part VI), and I have to say, it’s pretty good. With the first draft, there were parts of it that worked well, but as a whole it didn’t seem to really cohere together, and I didn’t know why. After getting some helpful feedback from first readers, I think I’ve figured it out and brought it together.
I’ve sent it out to some friends for proofreading, and that should be done before the end of next week. While they’re doing that, I’ll write up the author’s note, figure out the teaser for Reproach (Part VII), and get everything else squared away for publication. With luck, I’ll format the ebooks over the weekend of the 27th and have them up on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords before the end of the month.
I’m really happy with the way this one turned out. It doesn’t have a whole lot of action, but it really gets into the personal conflicts and struggles of the characters. It also explores some of the implications of what it means to live in a culture where the oldest son of nearly every family leaves his homeworld at age 19 to venture across the stars, never to return again. The other stories explore this from the perspective of one of the sons; this one explores that from the perspective of one of the fathers.
As always, if you’d like a free copy of this one, be sure to sign up for my mailing list; I’ll send out a Smashwords coupon code for email subscribers to download it for free. The next one, Reproach, should be out in August/September (hopefully closer to August).