Bil'Tross, the epic conclusion to the Jazz Healy, Reunion series, has been released! Actually, it dropped over a week ago but the important thing is that it's available, right? π
You can buy it here on Buy Me a Coffee from my Extras page (in fact, you can now get all the Reunion Series here on BMC, and Miltan Epsilon, book 1, is just as free here as it is everywhere else), or you can procure it from Amazon, Google, Apple, and at plenty of other places, too.
To the fine folk who preordered the book: you are awesome and I appreciate you all very much!
Also, to everybody who has taken the time to leave a rating or a review for any of the books in the series, on any of the reseller pages or review platforms: you are also awesome and I appreciate you all very much, too!
Release day was strange, in many ways. Jazz Healy had taken up a large portion of my creative brain-space for many years - since 2013, actually, even though I didn't start properly working on the first novel in the series until 2018 - and suddenly her journey was done. I should've been super-pumped, right, just bouncing off the walls to see the complete series out in the world. But strangely, I wasn't. I wasn't all 'meh' but, if I can describe it this way, I felt businesslike about it all. As in, 'Well, that's great and cool but I need to keep moving on my other projects.'
Over the last couple days, though, as I've been writing up this blog post, now I'm feeling it a bit more. Interesting factoids: 1) I wrote what I now think of as the Jazz Healy origin story (available to supporters here, which I'll get to later in the post) in October/November 2013, and 2) I finished the first draft of Miltan Epsilon in November 2018. So symmetry, right, seeing as I've released the final book in the series in November 2021. Right, right? π
Yep, definitely feeling it now. Please excuse me for a couple moments while I lean back in my chair, put my hands behind my head and bask just a little in my accomplishment.
Okay, all done. Where was I?
Oh yeah, I tell you what, it feels like way more than 6 months have passed since I released Reunion books 1 & 2. But that's all it's been. Miltan Epsilon and Chak'r'Das dropped on May 4th, 2021, only a short 6 months ago. And man, have I learned a ton in that short time, and made plenty of mistakes (some of which I'm sure I'm not even aware of yet). But overall it's been a blast, and I can't wait to publish my next books! Without rushing them, of course. Gotta put out the best product I can for you all!
Speaking of next: Do I have any plans for Jazz Healy and the other folks we've been introduced to in the Reunion universe? Will there be any next for them? Well, for Jazz, I'm about to start work on a couple short stories set prior to the events in the series. So prequels, I guess, if we're being efficient with words π The plan is to include these in a short story collection I'm hoping to release sometime during February or March 2022. The collection will include some previously published stories, some previously sold but never actually published stories, and some brand new ones.
I've also got firm ideas for a standalone novel featuring Jazz's Dad and a series featuring Turk B'sin'Glou and Lady Celia D'san'Edo, plus potential ideas for some Vince Eisner novelettes/novellas, and a Four-One-One + Xandra series. Those are all very much future projects right now, however, as I'm currently waist deep in the Lincoln Reilly universe. Spider's Hub is sitting in a digital drawer awaiting edits and I'm 23K into The Votack Rebellion, Lincoln's second adventure. Unlike with Jazz, where I knew early on that the story I wanted to tell about her would take 4 books, I don't know how many I will need for Lincoln.
Once I finish drafting The Votack Rebellion, which I'm hoping to have done by the end of December, I'll outline my next project (whether that'll be a Lincoln Reilly story or something from one of the several other universes currently vying for attention in my noggin I've still to decide), and then get to edits on Spider's Hub. I'd like to publish Spider's Hub by the middle of next year but as I mentioned earlier in this post I want to be very careful not to rush things.
In other writing news, I've currently got 2 shorties out in the world trying to find a zine home somewhere, plus 3 others on the go, though there's just 1 I'm primarily working on right now. Thus far without a title, it features Byte Tanzil, former pro spaceball (groan, amirite?) pitcher with addiction issues who's turned PI and taken on a case involving an adversary from his playing days. I hope to have that draft finished by the end of next week, after which I'll let it sit for a month or so before starting on edits.
In August I set a goal to have 5 short stories on sub by the end of the year but the reality will likely be 3. My goal for 2022 is 12 short stories, including any I self-publish. This is part of the Write 1 Sub 1 challenge we've revived over at Absolute Write. If anybody reading this is into writing short fiction then you should head on over and join up. The more the merrier and all that!
Aside from the Jazz Healy books now being available here on BMC, you might have noticed some other changes on my page. I've decided to scrap the S.C. Mae Book Club for now. I might bring it back at a later date or I might not. Looking at it again a couple weeks ago I decided the Book Club rewards were just too nebulous and actually a bit confusing. Which means there are no membership options currently available. But you can still definitely be a supporter. And because Miltan Epsilon is permanently free, now if you support me I will gift you Chak'r'Das and Garbadon Major, books 2 & 3 in the Jazz Healy series, in epub format (if you use a kindle, there are plenty of user-friendly, free convertors out there to get the book onto your device - Calibre is one that springs to mind). Also, The Parmethon Caper, Jazz's origin story and exclusive to Buy Me a Coffee, is now available to all supporters, past and future. All you gotta do is click the link above π
I think that covers most everything.
So, in conclusion, if you haven't read Jazz's adventures yet, then hurry up and get on it! Stop depriving yourself of something amazing! π
And, as always, thanks for stopping by!
S.C. Mae