Starships And Aliens

I've just finished the 1st draft of the next Fourth Fleet Irregulars book, Karadon/Operation Karadon.  I've now got three brilliant beta readers reading it for me - thank you, love you!

I can't decide whether it should be called Karadon, Operation Karadon or Mission Karadon.  If readers could vote on the poll, that would be very helpful, thanks.  

As requested by my school Writers' Club, I am putting the first chapter onto the website.  You'll find it on the Fourth Fleet Irregulars' page. Please feel free to leave comments.

I had the privilege of working with a new club at my school this week - fifteen aspiring young writers aiming to publish a book of their stories this year.  It was just such a joy to see them beavering away at the computers, and I can't wait to see what they produce.

I'm also lucky enough to be working with my cousin Maddie as she publishes her first story, "The Bear and the Bee".   It's a sweet, touching story-poem about a lonely bee and a misunderstood bear, and should be on Smashwords very soon.

If there is anything more fun and more satisfying than publishing your own work, it has to be helping brilliant kids achieve something amazing! 

I have been busy clearing out my garden for the past week and a half (I have the bruises to prove it!) and haven't been able to spend much time on the website.

This morning, though, I had an email from Anastacia telling me that my guest post is up on her website at http://anastaciaknits.net/?p=784.  Thanks Anastacia!  The post looks great and it's so cool to be a guest on your website! 

Mission Zero has been published on Smashwords and Amazon this morning.   I'm poised to go with publishing in paperback on Createspace (all I need is the cover).

Could I BE any more excited?

Well, not unless I jumped out of a plane!

Lots of things have made me happy this week.  Getting a 4* review for Friendship: Launch Day from Anastacia  http://anastaciaknits.net/?cat=4 was a big one.  I'm still celebrating!  Anastacia has also asked me to guest-post on her website which I'm very excited about - more on this later.

I've enjoyed fossil-spotting on the beach at Southerndown and having lunch in a lovely country pub.  I've enjoyed teaching Class 7 science - finding out which is the best paper to filter dirty water was great fun!

I've also published another short story "The Space Monster of Sector 17".  This is the first one I've had proofread - thanks Penny!  It's just the right length to read in a coffee break.  I will be recording it as a free audiostory too.

I've also enjoyed posting a review of The Faces of Immortality, which is a brilliant read.  (There's a possibility of a competition to win copies - watch this space)

Looking forward to posting a review of "The Festival on Lyris 5" which is another brilliant one.  Thanks to all the authors for suggesting such great sci fi.  (Just to be clear, unless stated otherwise I have bought a copy of the book myself, not received a copy from the author for review).  If you've got a sci-fi book or audiobook you'd like reviewed on the site, please let me know.

Things I didn't enjoy - being told I have a chest infection and have to go back on asthma inhalers. 

In the scheme of things, though, I'm still 99.9% happy.  I hope readers have had just as good a week! 

Starships and Aliens is 1 month old today!

In our first month we've had 953 visitors, published 10 book/audiobook reviews and 7 kids' stories/reviews. One of our reviews was used in the Audible newsletter and we've got 8 members of the website and 15 likes on our Facebook page.

Next month, we'll be publishing more reviews, giving away more free stuff and hopefully getting more members to join. 

This website has taken over my life, but in a good way!  So much fun, and great to be getting to read so much good sci-fi!   

A big thanks to Robyn P, Millie & Alex for their reviews of "The Lonely Engineer".  They have all won £1 Amazon gift vouchers.  

Congratulations to Summer S, the first contributor to send in a story/ joke to the website. 

I will also be posting kids' reviews of the Lonely Engineer story - kids are welcome to send in stories, jokes and reviews and I will send a £1 Amazon voucher for the first 5 contributions.   If you are under 13 please email me any contributions you want on the site and make sure you have parents' permission.

I knew that creating a website would involve learning a lot of new stuff.  I had no idea what a steep learning curve it was going to be, how many emails it would involve, or how much fun it would be!

From the excitement of getting my first request to review a book to the thrill of seeing adverts for the site going out on Facebook and Google, this first month has been one heck of a journey.  I am learning as fast as I can so the site is constantly evolving and, I hope, improving, with at least one new book review a week, free stuff and new features.

I'm really enjoying reviewing books (though I do feel mean when I have to turn down requests), I'm getting to read books I would never have found otherwise.  The most amazing part of it has been seeing that the site has visitors from all over the world, and is starting to get members too.   I feel like I've created a little virtual critter which is venturing out into the world for the first time and is making some friends. 

What I'd love now is for more people to join and add to the forum discussions.  Do please join and help the little critter to grow and find its feet in cyberspace!