For those of you who have been following the Star Wanderers series, I’m happy to report that Deliverance (Part VIII) will be out soon! My test readers have more or less gotten back to me on it, and aside from tying up a couple loose threads, it looks like we’re good to go.
This one is a bit longer than the other ones, and has quite a bit more action and adventure. It basically shows the events of Homeworld from Mariya and Lucca’s points of view. In Homeworld, most of the action takes place off the page while Jeremiah and Noemi work together in virtual space to hack the pirates’ network. Well, Deliverance brings all that back, plus a whole bunch of other awesome stuff that I think you’re going to enjoy.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Star Wanderers story without some kind of love story. Homeworld of necessity glossed over the romance between Lucca and Mariya, but in Deliverance, that’s at the center of everything. He sweeps her off of her feet when he rescues her from the pirates, but when the escape attempt fails and they crash on the alien planet, she sweeps him off of his.
Here’s the teaser:
SHE NEVER TOOK A CHANCE AND HE NEVER HAD A PLAN UNTIL THEY MET IN THE OUTWORLD STARS.
Lucca Tajjashvili isn’t a typical star wanderer. The youngest son of a wealthy planetborn family, he took out his inheritance early in order to build his own starship and seek his fortune on the Outworld frontier. The starfaring life suits him well, and he has no plans to settle down.
All of that changes when he picks up a distress signal in the Far Outworlds. A small colony has been taken over by pirates, and Lucca is the only one in a position to help. Among the prisoners is a beautiful young woman whom Lucca decides to rescue. But when the pirates see through his skillful ruse, any escape plan he might have had soon falls completely apart.
Mariya isn’t the kind of girl who likes to take chances. But when she finds herself stranded on an alien world with her would-be rescuer, that’s exactly what she has to do. Lucky for her, Lucca is just the sort of guy who can teach her.
So yeah, I should be finalizing the story in the next day or two. My first readers really liked this one, so I’m going light on the revisions, basically just fixing a couple of small issues and tying up some loose threads that didn’t quite get enough resolution before the end. If I don’t finish it tomorrow, I’ll definitely get it done on Monday.
The teaser and book cover are already good to go, so the only thing left is to proofread and format the thing, which I can almost certainly get done before January, even with the holidays. Right now, I’m shooting for a publication date in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. That might be a little ambitious, but it’s definitely doable, especially if I can get the proofreading done in the next ten days.
As with all the other Star Wanderers stories, I’ll be giving this one away for free via Smashwords to all my newsletter subscribers. If you’d like to sign up, there’s a form in the sidebar over there. ———–> I only send out emails when I have a new release, so you don’t have to worry about getting spammed (unless, of course, you think I write too many books, in which case you’re probably not going to sign up anyway :P). Smashwords has every ebook format, so if you get it from there you should easily be able to sideload it onto any device.
The print version probably won’t be available until January, seeing as it’s taking me forever to get the print versions up for the rest of the series. But Outworlder is already available in print, albeit with the old cover. Who knows, though–maybe those will be worth something someday. At this point, it’s almost certain that I’ll change them, but I’ll do original covers for all the print books in the series, just for those who want a complete set.
… and that’s about it. Lots of work to do, but I’m definitely having fun doing it! This story is solid, so I can’t wait until I can put it in your hands. If all goes well, I should be able to do that before the end of the month.
Take care, and as always, thanks for reading!
