So I’ve passed the 50% mark on Gunslinger to the Stars, which is kind of pathetic because I was hoping to finish it by today. Regardless, it WILL be finished soon, and when it is, it’s going straight to the editor.
Right now, I’m shooting for a publication date of May 15th. Things are on track to put it up for pre-order by the end of February, except I probably won’t put it up on Amazon until a month before it comes out (Amazon nerfs pre-orders for indies). Regardless, I am REALLY excited.
I’ve also got a super rough book description. Seriously, it took maybe twenty minutes and definitely needs some work. But if you’ve been following Gunslinger’s progress and are curious to see it, here it is. Feedback is definitely appreciated.
The name’s Sam Kletchka. Perhaps you’ve heard of me: captain of the Star Runner, military contractor for Earthfleet and interstellar privateer. But before all that, I was a hired gun, freelancing across the galaxy one gunslinging job at a time.
Perhaps you’ve also heard about the incident in the Gorinal Star Cluster. There’s a lot of things that the powers that be, especially the Immortals, don’t want you know. I’m here to set that record straight. When the jumpgate went dark, I was there, along with Jane Carter, my better half, Tarak, my telepathic copilot, and the empath shapeshifters of the Silver Diadem.
It was a tough scrape, but fortunately, I brought some friends: LOVE, my 1911 9mm; KINDNESS, my 2011 .45 ACP; MERCY, my Ruger .22 Charger Rimfire; FAITHFULNESS, my .300 AAC Blackout; RIGHTEOUSNESS, my .50 Beowulf; JUDGMENT, my M203 grenade launcher, PRESERVATION, my Mossberg 590A1; and TRUST, my 15″ Chainpure Kukhri. But the greatest of these is CHARITY, my alien-modified AR-15.
If you never want to leave your safe space, then stay down there on Earth. As for the rest of us, we’ll be chasing our destiny among the stars.
Yeah, that’s definitely not going to be the final version.
It’s interesting just how much this book has changed through the last two revisions. The story hasn’t changed at all, but it’s shed more than 20% of the words in the revision process and I’m not even finished with the third draft. When I told my roommate that I wanted to cut out a good 10k words this draft, he thought I’d have to cut out a character or something. Yet that hasn’t been the case.
It’s amazing how much you can improve a story by cutting out all the unnecessary words. It’s the difference between a small shot of deliciously thick hot chocolate, and a large mug that is far too watered down. I thought I had the main character’s voice down, but it didn’t really shine until I started aggressively cutting.
That’s the thing about measuring progress by word count. Sometimes, it’s not about how much you can write, but how much you can cut out.
Between now and May, I’m going to write a short story from Jane Carter’s point of view. It’ll be something of a prequel, and hopefully showcase a bit of her character. I’d also really like to write a short story from Tarak’s POV, but that’s going to take a bit more thinking through.
Lots of interesting story stuff going on behind the scenes. I’ll do my best to keep you guys updated on the blog!
