To condense the story some of you know, I joined the online writing community www.CritiqueCircle.com site about 4.5 years ago (seems like a long time!) after I started writing again. In three months in late 2013 and early 2014, I cranked out a sci-fi novel, which my wife and kids liked, so I wrote a sequel in the next three months, which my wife and kids also liked. Both novels needed fresh and critical eyes, though.

I then found CC and submitted the first novel (Lonely Hunter), which gave me a ton of constructive feedback. I was delighted that some aspects were well recieved. But it was clear I had a lot of work to do.

Publishing Military Science Fiction

In parallel, I came to understand that I did not have a clue about self-publishing. Having no interest in going down the traditional publishing route again, I had more than a few things to learn.

To learn more about going to market as an indie, I paused work on my sci-fi series and dusted off an old novella. I submitted it at CC and got some great feedback, had it professionally edited, and I did all the things I could think of to ensure it did well in the market. After selling almost 4k copies of Youth In Asia, I have a clue about self-publishing (always more to learn, of course), which bolstered my confidence to keep on with my sci-fi opus.

So I rewrote Lonely Hunter and sent it through CC again (about a six-month process), which went well. And I went to work on the third novel in the series. The third novel introduced a major new character, IrSaa.

Editing and Revising End War

As I have edited, crafted, finetuned, tweaked, and worked on parts of the fourth and fifth novels in the series, IrSaa has taken on an even bigger role and now has a cameo in the first novel and a short but important role in the second. She takes over the third novel; the fourth is just about her. In the fifth and final book, all hell breaks loose (as the saying goes), and she is in the thick of it. Even as her role grew dramatically, the feedback I’ve gotten from various readers is that they want to see even more of her. I’m good with this because her role seems a very natural fit as part of the larger story.

As such, before I wrote any more, I decided one day to scratch out a summary of her complicated life before she appeared in the series to make sure she stays in character, her backstory makes sense where it pops up, flashbacks are consistent with other plot details, etc.

A List becomes a Novel

What started as a list of bullets became a 4,000-word story, which became a 10,000-word story that I submitted to CC in a private queue. Based on the generally positive feedback and some insightful comments (and an itch I can’t seem to make go away), her backgrounder is now a 30K novella with about 10K to 15K words to go (and a lot of rewriting and editing still to do).

I find it intriguing because I’m not writing as I normally write. There is more telling, far less stage direction, it is more episodic, and there are big gaps in the timeline.

There is a more or less traditional plot: IrSaa desperately wants something, tries to get it, fails, tries to get it a second time, fails again, has a hard think about who she really is and what she really wants, reaches one more time and realizes what she thought she wanted is not really what she wants, and then she achieves what she has really wanted all along. The final battle is not the fight she was expecting, but it is a battle nonetheless.

Only then is she ready to show up in my sci-fi series. 

I’ve found it a tremendously enjoyable — if not time-consuming 
— exercise, and one that is greatly strengthening the credibility of this character (it seems to me). 

Subscribers to my Mailing List will get a copy of IrSaa’s Prelude

I don’t know that I’ll actually ever offer it for sale along with the other books in the series (at ~45k words it will be about half the length of the other novels in the series and I have no interest in padding it to make it longer…I will have covered all the ground I want to cover). I will, of course, have it professionally edited and formatted however I offer it.

I will certainly offer it up to my website followers — so be sure to sign up.

Wherever it shows up, it has been fun.

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I will notify all my subscribers of the next one.  

Just wanted to let everyone know I’m giving away a KindleFire. You will also get an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) in a few months of my forthcoming military science fiction novel, Lonely Hunter. I expect to publish it later this summer. When you enter to win the Kindle Fire, be sure to forward the link to your friends to increase your chances of winning.

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I’ve long enjoyed military science fiction, so I have had The Forever War on my to read list for…well…you know…forever. I’m glad I did. Finally. It is not just damn good, it is good for a reason. Several, in fact.

The Forever War is a fascinating military science fiction story with some thoughtful considerations about how traveling at faster than the speed of light causes people to experience time at different speeds, so to speak, and the cultural and personal impact of what that does to societies and individuals.

Given all the reviews and awards, not much I can add other than that I’ve read 30+ books about soldiers in and returning from Vietnam (in fact, I’ve written one myself), and this is very much in line with those stories, albeit in a Sci Fi setting.

I found the telling emotionally flat, but in a weird way that makes it all the more compelling. The tone reminded me of one of the great books from the Vietnam era called Chickenhawk. Chickenhawk is an amazing book — it currently has a 4.8 star rating after 526 reviews. I can’t think of any other book so highly rated after that many reviews. So clearly The Forever War is in good company (as if there was any doubt).

Though the book is a bit dated with its expectations about how quickly technology would advance (which I can’t fault Haldeman for, but it was distracting at times), the pacing felt a bit off and choppy. It felt like it could have been 5% shorter with some tightening up. Interestingly, the most popular “critical review” on Amazon reports that this version is the longer version that loses its punch and becomes a bit of a ramble. I’m no Haldeman expert and have not read the other versions, so I can’t comment on this beyond my own experiences with this version.

Overall, though, it is an engaging and innovative story in the military science fiction cannon. Highly recommended.

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