Morbid dream from the Solar Wind crew

So Federi & co visit me in my dream - rather I happen upon them as they sit depressed on the Shooting Star, hanging around waiting for death.  Why?  Because their author has abandoned them (they think).

Okay, okay, Federi, I'm coming!  I need to remember why I write, and I need to finish the series.  I can understand his depression.  Totally.  I'm in Shooting Star 3 - "The Search for Home Base".  But I need a reason for Home Base.  Why is Earth not good enough?  That is logical:  because of the Unicate, and because Captain can look them up and bully them around as much as he likes.  Why not Valleylon?  Well, if you knew what crawls around on Valleylon...  anyway they are bounty-hunting for Federi and co, so it's not the safest home base.  So I've been putting it off, giving myself fully to running the studio (with great results!) and homeschooling my youngest, helping my oldest think of internship ideas...  all very worthy endeavours, and online marketing of, basically, me and my writing style, testing out Smashwords etc.  But:  In the process, Federi and crew got left behind.

Here's a question.

Does the symbiont actually make him immortal?  I don't think so.  He still ages normally, etc - but it makes him invulnerable.  But why would he age - why would Dana need the intricate system of New Dome's self-perpetuation, if the symbiont made one immortal?  Clearly it doesn't.  The symbiont is mortal. I need to do an exploration of the symbiont's mortality and what biochemical processes drive it.

Anyway, I have to spend time writing Shooting Star 3, and then on concluding the series.  The double series. 

Wow...

Sleepless again.

Smashwords.  Yoy.  My head is spinning.  I've migrated my account to "Publisher" and uploaded gipsika's "Arcana", launching it off with a few free copies.  A few?  Phew!  It's amazing how fast they are being downloaded - but just amazing for me, I guess.

Also, "The Morrigan" overshot its celebratory 10 copies and all the prequels overshot their 5.  Most popular seems to be "Raider".  No wonder really, it's an excellent book that one.

So now I can't sleep.  Again!  Got 2 authors pre-formatting their manuscripts for me so I can "nuclearize" them faster.  That's great.

Really, I have to go sleep, it's past midnight!

I'm writing on:

A Friday Fairytale - Nadisda's story, fantasy.

The Left Behind (The Abandoned - title in flux) - Interstellar, the revenge of Planet Earth

Shooting Star series (and I must spend time on that!) volume 3:  The Search for Home Base.  Things are getting weirder and weirder, but they must, because we're moving closer and closer to the final show-down with the Unicate.  Inbetween, the Keeper has to protect his planet from all sorts of other invasive alien pests. And if that means, allowing a symbiont to regenerate your body and trusting Dana...  well, what choice does he have?  Doing the right thing is not always simple.  Thank the Stars for Donegal Magic...

And I'm formatting for Smashwords, with the help of the authors themselves:

Almost Dead in Suburbia (Douglas Pearce)
The Pourne Identity (a skit by Douglas Pearce)
Split Decision (Carmen Capuano)
Chiaroscuro (yours twooly, though I'm thinking I ought to break it back into single stories again for Smashwords)

Covers we're working on:

The Pourne Identity (D Pearce)
Darx Circle (LHW Noble)
The Blue Between (A Luck)
Nix Romipen (yours truly)
a very secretive and covert story of which the title may only be revealed upon publication, by an extremely secretive author, all I can say is it's about fairies

That's plenty for now, I'm not going to go into more P'kadetail.

 G'night.  

A gorgeous review for "The Morrigan"

What they say:

Nikki Mason from "BestChickLit" writes this gorgeous review for Solar Wind 5 ("The Morrigan") :

 

The Morrigan (Solar Wind 5) – Lyz Russo

April 2, 2016 Charlotte Foreman Book Reviews, Young Adult Reviews 1

What they say:

 

“Actually, interesting fact of bygone eras,” said Federi, “in the past, pirates chose their captains democratically.”

Radomir Lascek is in trouble. Of all the forces trying to take the Solar Wind out of his hands, Federi is still the most benign. The Solar Wind finds herself on a space trip, at the end of which there may even be a treasure. Or not. Dana, Empress of New Dome, is leading the expedition – but she is not exactly an ally. Strange little aliens have boarded the Solar Wind and are hitching a ride, causing havoc, and in the background lurks an evil entity that identifies itself as “The Morrigan”, one of the ancient Gods, demanding blood sacrifice. And Captain Lascek’s most loyal sailor, Federi, is plotting mutiny…

Will they make it home?

What we say – review by Nikki Mason:

Frequent visitors to the site will know that I’m a huge fan of the Solar Wind series by Lyz Russo and this latest didn’t disappoint. Through the madcap sci-fi adventure that takes place on this space travelling pirate ship, there are glimpses of relationships and passions that are so complex and intriguing, you’ll be gagging to read more. It’s perfect for YA readers.

The atmosphere of this latest book is darker and more dangerous than its predecessors. Like in the Harry Potter books, these young characters are growing and developing in difficult circumstances that make being an adolescent all the more baffling. Federi and his young bride are more often than not at loggerheads, Ronan has alienated his wife and even The Solar Wind herself is feeling the strain of confusing emotions.

There are times when the plot almost seemed to get in the way of the curious doings of this ramshackle pirate crew, but I mean it when I say this is another winner. I can’t wait to be adventuring with Federi again.


Click Here To Buy This Book – UK
Click Here To Buy This Book – US


Nikki Mason - thank you so much for the review, and also for being my fan! Sweetest words an author can hope to read!

 In celebration of this review, I'm giving away 10 free copies of "The Morrigan" and 5 free copies of all the prequels in the series!  :-)  

(On Smashwords)

Last chance for free ebooks

Ok, ad first:

The whole series:

If not priced "free", then "reader sets price".  (And yes, they allow $0.)

Why?  Because it's Human Rights Day and Radomir Lascek, pirate captain of the Solar Wind, is campaigning like mad for human rights in his year, 2116, 100 years from today, in a world gone totalitarian.

Here is the link:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/24238https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/24238



This will only last until 2pm tomorrow, GMT+2.


So, enjoy!!

3 different kinds of "free" on Smashwords

This is interesting.

Smashwords owner Mark Coker recommends a free pilot sequel to a series.  So, Solar Wind 1 is up there for free, until a certain amount of downloads have been achieved (my personal experiment, see?).  And the glossary is up there perma-free because it is an add-on that is - while not really necessary, handy to have.

Then, he has an option "reader sets price".  This means of course that the reader can decide the book must be free. 

Thirdly, right now there is a promotion where one can get up to 100% "discount" on a book "purchase" (meaning, it's free once more).  There are other options too, e.g. 75% discount, 50% and 25%.

So for savvy readers, the entire series is momentarily up there for free!!

1.  The Mystery of the Solar Wind:  Free until a certain number of downloads (my experiment).
2. The Assassin:  Reader sets price.
3.  Freedom Fighter:  On promo with 100% discount.
4.  Raider: Ditto.

The Morrigan (Solar Wind 5) is sadly not up yet, I'm formatting it right now, it will not be in time for the promo which ends in 2 days; but as for the first 4 books, grab your copy while they are up there for free!!  And if you then actually read them, and you like them - show the Solar Wind's crew your love and tell a friend or two!  :-)

One book short of a full series

Yesterday I uploaded "Raider" to Smashwords.  4 up, 1 to go.

Raider!  (Solar Wind 4)

Alien Touchdown! If the crew of the Solar Wind thought the Unicate and the Rebellion were tough cookies, they haven't yet met the Danaan - from Planet New Dome. Coming to take over Earth - or destroy the planet. Or alternatively, for a mango daiquiri in the subtropical paradise of Southern Free. And then destroy the planet.


 Raider took a while to finish.  I was also waiting for an opportunity to create a local run and launch, but that is not going to happen in the near future.  Locally printing costs too much now, the margin between printing and the full retail price is too small for bookshops to buy small-run books.

Regardless. I think this is the first book so far that does not feature a freak wave.  (I also think, the next book has none.  "The Morrigan".)

Anyway here's the link to the book:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/620780

And here's the link to the series:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/24238

And now, dear sweets, I'm buggering off here so I can get on with the rest of these shambles I call "life"  :-D. 

(Author burn-out alert.  It's not the authoring or publishing burning me out, it's the need of a change.)

Glossary (finally!) for the Solar Wind and Shooting Star series

Formatting for Smashwords is not a small job.

One of the largest reasons is that I borrow quite a lot of expressions from various different languages (the mother tongues of the various crew members).  These expressions of course have to be italicized, so formatting each book is basically reading through it again and hand-italicizing everything that needs to be.  (The first step in the Smashwords formatting routine is to de-format the entire manuscript by pulling it through a simple program like Notepad.)

In the process I decided that it is time.

I was asked before to create a glossary at the end of each book dealing with foreign terms; but it always looked like such a lot of work.  So, instead, now I've created a separate booklet, for free download, where people can grab the glossary that spans all the books in both series.  As I publish them one by one, I'll be updating the glossary, so be sure to get your free download (it will stay free) to update the one you had before.

I added a section on ship jargon because some people do find this a bit daunting.  My wonderful editor, the intrepid yachtsman Les Noble, has once again corrected and completed this section for me.

So here she is:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/620257

Enjoy!