Work, Work, Work

Got about 3,000 words written today.  We are moving into the middle of the second phase of the novel (there are approximately seven "phases" planned for this one--Book One had five).  Things are progressing a little more slowly than in Book One, but my wife has been sick these past three weeks and that has been a substantial distraction.  She is on the mend now and I think I will be able to focus better. 

And, of course, there are the delays involved in checking to make sure that we have the science right.  It takes more time than you might suspect to be sure that what we are writing about Alfven Waves and the Synchrotron Maser effect is right, or at least right enough that the guy who took a few Physics classes in college doesn't snort his coffee out his nose when he reads the relevant paragraphs. 

I wish the International Astronomical Union would read the appendix to my first book on how to name planets in other solar systems and get with the program.  Their absurd method is counter-intuitive and totally contrary to what people who grew up watching Star Trek have come to expect, not to mention tons of other Science Fiction.  Do you want to go against Star Trek if you can avoid it?  No.  I thought not. So, the third planet orbiting Tau Ceti should be Tau Ceti III, not Tau Ceti c.  Let's get this right, people, or we're going to be stuck with a goofy system for the next thousand years.

Sequel Progressing

I've been working diligently on the sequel to the surprisingly well-received To Honor You Call Us.  I'm about 20,000 words deep into For Honor We Stand and it is going well.  I have the first three chapters written and the basic narrative structure of the book planned.  I am trying to build into this book the same elements that people seem to like in the first book, but with a bit more ambition.  Don't be surprised if this book comes out a little longer than the first one.  No promises, but that's the way it's looking.

I don't want to give away too much, but I can tell you that the book opens with a rip roaring battle--the Cumberland is running for its life from two Krag Heavy Cruisers (Crustacean class) and becomes locked in a life or death struggle in the complex system of moons, magnetic fields, ion streams, and other phenomena around a gas giant planet known as Mengis VI.  You will see more of Max Robichaux's wily cunning in that chapter than you saw in the whole first book. 

There is also high level diplomacy involving the doctor, a return appearance from the very dapper, refined, and honorable Mr. Ellington Wortham-Biggs, lots of Chief Engineer "Werner" Vaughn Brown, an interesting new XO in the person of a the brilliant Brazilian tactical prodigy Eduardo DeCosta, more from old friends Kraft, Kasparov, Bartoli, Chin, LeBlanc, Shepherd, Park, Wendt, and, of course, Vice Admiral Louis "Hit 'em Hard" Hornmeyer.  The Cumberland receives a highly secret mission critical to turning the tide of the war against the Krag, and the war enters a new and perilous phase.

That's what we have planned for you.  We're working twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, to try to bring it to you by mid to late January.  In fact, we remember that Max took command of the Cumberland on January 21, 2315.  So, we have set January 21, 2013 as our deadline.  Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't (after all, we've only written one novel so far, so it's not like we are deeply experienced in this process), but that is what we are shooting for. 

Until then, hang in there, readers.  Keep telling your friends about this book--the more interest there is, the more sequels there will be.  Seriously, I've been thinking about this stuff since 1966, so I've got enough material in my head and in my notebooks to write fifteen or twenty books.

"To Honor You Call Us" Sales Outstanding!

Sales of the new novel, To Honor You Call us have been outstanding--far above expectations.  Part of the reason has to be the amazing customer reviews the book has been getting on Amazon.com.  So far there are six reviews, three five star (out of five) and three four star, all highly complimentary and most mentioning that the reviewer is anxious to read the sequel.  One reviewer, in fact, commented that:  "This novel is the best independently published military sci-fi book that I have read and ranks, frankly, among the best professionally published ones as well."

Wow!  And I don't even know the guy.

Reviewers have also commented on how realistic and believable the book is, and how interesting they found the characters.  We worked very hard to make the book as real as possible, often spending hours sketching battle maneuvers and calculating time, distances, and velocities of the ships and weapons in order to be sure that they all worked geometrically and mathematically.  We also strove to make our characters real people with real human characteristics.  It appears that our efforts are bearing fruit.  We are very pleased that people seem to like the book and grateful for the favorable response it has enjoyed. 

We are working very hard to make the next book, For Honor We Came, just as good, if not better.  

Paperback is Live on Amazon

The paperback version of my new novel To Honor You Call Us just went live on Amazon.com.  So, those of you who may have wanted the book but who don't do e-books, can now get your hands on the hard copy.  The sale price is $13.50, which is at the low end for paperbacks of this length (about 370 pages)

Here is the link. 

http://www.amazon.com/To-Honor-You-Call-Us/dp/1480283088/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1352744647&sr=8-8&keywords=to+honor+you+call+us

Paperback Available

Although it is not yet on Amazon.com (look for it in about four days) the paperback edition of To Honor You Call Us is available on Createspace.com for 13.50.  Here is the URL for the order page:

https://www.createspace.com/4054570

We actually do a little better on the royalty if you order from Createspace, so if you are holding off to buy until the book is on Amazon thinking you are doing us some sort of favor, don't wait.  Just go get it now, if you are so inclined. 

Tally Ho!!!

About one sixth of the sales of the new novel "To Honor You Call Us" are from Great Britain.  This is not a surprise, as there are a great many residents of that island Kingdom who are reputed to be able to read the English langauge (that IS intended as a joke, people).  Indeed, as these books are, in some ways, patterned as "English Sailing Ship Novels in Space" it is not surpring that we have found some British readers.  We hope our friends in the UK enjoy these books, and that you find Lieutenant Brown, our character with a British heritage, to be true to life.  If we get anything wrong, let us know, in a comment here or by emailing us at honsingermilitaryscifi@gmail.com.

Paperback is Coming Soon!!

We are cleaning up the manuscript for uploading to Creatspace to make the paperback version of "To Honor You Call Us."  We expect the paperback to be available by sometime this weekend.  We are also picking up a few typos that we will fix in the digital file people are downloading from Kindle and Nook, so new purchasers will have a corrected version and old purchasers can delete the book from their device (but NOT your account!!!!!) and redownload the book and you will have the most current version.

Reviews and Update

Today we got a nice four star review saying that the story was "solid" and saying that the reviewer is eager for the next installment.  We also got a five star rating, no review though, from someone on Barnes & Noble.  The sales continue to be encouraging with some high rankings on Amazon.  We are working on getting the paperback made available.  Our plan is to get our end of that done tomorrow so that the book will be available for purchase late in the week.  Once that is done, I will start work on the next book in the series "For Honor We Came" which will continue the adventures of Captain Max Robichaux and Doctor Ibrahim Sahin on board the U.S.S. Cumberland.  I can tell you that all your old favorites will be back (except, of course for those who perished in the Battle of Pfelung), including more of the Vaaach and the Pfelung, as well as romantic interests for at least one of our heroes. 

Nook Version Now Available

The Barnes and Noble version of To Honor You Call Us has just gone live.  So, those of you who have Nook readers can now enjoy what your friends with Kindles have been reading since last night.  I hope you like it.  Here is the link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-honor-you-call-us-h-paul-honsinger/1113741463?ean=2940015939903

It's HEEEERRRREEEE!!!!!

Well, folks, it's here. My first novel, To Honor You Call Us, just went live as an Amazon Kindle e-Book last night. It should be available as a Barnes & Noble Nook e-Book in a day or two, and as an Amazon/Createspace print on demand paperback within a day or two after that. I'm very excited and, yes, nervous about this offering. I started out to write a sort of generic "Space Opera" shoot-em up that just happened to be more scientifically and militarily valid than most books in this genre. What I wound up doing was investing a great deal of my heart and soul and humanity in this thing, giving my characters complex back stories, psychological conflicts, and nuanced motivations.  Of course, I stuck to my guns about writing something that made a reasonable amount of sense from a scientific and tactical perspective. 

There's still lots of action with several exciting space battles, but the book turned out to be more about the people than the maneuvers and the hardware. I hope people like it.  

Here is the link to where to buy the e-Book on Amazon. 

http://www.amazon.com/Honor-You-Call-Man-ebook/dp/B00A1VFFVM/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_hard_s20on 

Sales are actually off to a reasonably good start, considering that I am an unknown author publishing in a very crowded genre.   

If you read the book and would like to comment on it, this is a good place to do so.  I am going to create a Facebook page separate from my personal one for my activities as a writer.  When I get that set up, I’ll post the URL here.