A Truly Epic Interview

Have you ever wondered what your favorite authors would discuss if you put them in a room together? I used to.But now, since I'm living the writing/editing life myself, I imagine that their topics of conversation would be pretty much the same as mine with my local writerly friends... Just like any other professionals who work in a common field, our conversations tend to veer toward work.

Sure, we have friends and families, good times and bad, problems and advice we all discuss, but the common bond that brings us together is literature. The writing of it, the reading of it, the breakdown, structure, grammar, passion, heartache, and joy of allowing it to consume us...

But if you want a more in-depth look at a discussion between two writers, you should take a look at this five-part epic interview. My dear friends Tony Healey and Bernard Schaffer sat down for a Q&A recently. Granted, it's more a one-sided interview than it is a friendly conversation, but Tony is a master interviewer, and Bernard is an excellent interview-ee.

It's well worth sitting down with a warm beverage and your electronic device of choice to get some insight into the mind of a writer. Huh. Maybe with enough views on the sight, we can convince the boys to start a regular vlog or hangout. Then everyone could pick their brains.

Until then, check out the interview and then stop by Amazon to check out their latest collaboration.

Happy Reading!

He's at It Again!

As my most prolific client (and very dear friend) Tony Healey releases the latest installment of his Far From Home series, he is also working on the next step in his newer series The Fallen Crown, among other things. Therefore, I've invited him back to talk a bit about writing in installments and his current projects.

He's also got a giveaway brewing, so read down for information on that.

Spectre, #16 in the Far From Home series, is now available on Amazon

I've had phenomenal success with my sci-fi adventure series, Far From Home. I always envisioned it spanning three series, told through a mixture of serial-style episodes and short novels. And thrilling as it was to start plotting the third series out, I realised I would now have time (and energy!) to write the fantasy series I'd daydreamed about for over ten years.

My first attempt at the opening chapter fell flat and I deleted it. I started again. And again. And again. It took many attempts to get the voice right, to find my rhythm. But once it was there, boy was the book a blast to write. I took my time, enjoyed the process, and by all accounts had a real hoot writing The Bloody North. I truly believed it was my best work, and I sent it off to Laurie with my fingers crossed. Was I just deluding myself? Would the manuscript come back to me criss-crossed with furious red pen?

No.

Laurie loved it and proclaimed it the best thing I'd ever written. I have some other projects to do before I can get on to the second book, The Rising Fire. But the story is right there, at the back of my mind, bugging me. I can't wait until I can sit down and continue the story I've started, widen our view of the world in which The Fallen Crown series takes place. Introduce and explore more and more characters.

From the get-go I didn't want to be writing massive tomes, dealing with multiple characters. I wanted to tell the story in shorter chunks of 200-250 pages, each one dealing with either one main character or perhaps two to three at the same time. What I've wanted to write about for over a decade cannot be told in a simple trilogy. It will take many books, spanning many years in our characters' lives, before there's anything close to an ending. Eventually, I will be finished writing the final fifteen installments of Far From Home. The Fallen Crown will then get my full, undivided attention, and I foresee readers getting a new book every two months. But until then, I really want The Bloody North to reach as wide an audience as possible, which is why I'm asking for your assistance. In return, you could win signed goodies. All you have to do is visit my site, www.tonyhealey.com – everything you need to know is right there.

Don't get me wrong, The Bloody North is doing REALLY well, both in terms of sales and reviews. 90% of feedback is extremely positive. The Rising Fire will come out at the end of this year, and readers who have enjoyed The Bloody North will be thrilled with what's in store. Of course it will feature the same gritty action as Book 1 (that goes without saying!) and tease more of what is to come whilst, at the same time, being its own self-contained story.

I'm hijacking Laurie's blog today, to get you interested in The Bloody North because I truly believe in it. It really is my very best work so far, and I want you to read it. I want you to get a chance at owning a sexy signed paperback edition (and a chapbook of a free short story, "A Man With Purpose," that acts as a prequel). I think it's rocky ground for a writer to shout from the rooftops about his own work.

But, damn it, this one deserves the added attention.

The Bloody North is also available on Amazon

I second that. Thank you, Tony.

Happy Reading!

The Bloody North

Well, we've done it again. Tony Healey wrote it; I edited it, and now it's available for your reading pleasure. The first title in Tony's The Fallen Crown series, The Bloody North, is now live on Amazon. It's also only 99 cents for the e-book right now, so grab it! Anyhow, Tony has a bit more to say on the subject, so I'll let him do the rest:

ON WRITING 'THE BLOODY NORTH'

My first exposure to fantasy was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I saw the old BBC adaptation of it (which I still think stands head and shoulders above both the animated movie and the more recent Disney motion picture) and then found a copy of it in paperback at a car boot sale. I was about nine at the time. I spent months afterward trying to track down copies of all the others. I succeeded, never paying more than about fifty pence for each one. Eventually I had all seven Narnia books lined up on my shelf, each one from a different edition.

A year or so later, I found a box set containing all seven, with cover art to match their respective BBC adaptations. I used that as my excuse for reading them all again from scratch. I still have that same box set now.

In my teens, my uncle loaned me a copy of Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster, and I proceeded to bug him for the other five, tearing through them at a rate of knots. A few years back, I had the honour of having a short story of mine published alongside Mr. Foster. In that anthology (see: Resistance Front by Bernard Schaffer, Alan Dean Foster, Harlan Ellison, et al.) I dedicated my story to Alan, thanking him for Spellsinger.

If the work of C. S. Lewis had introduced me to fantasy as a genre (at the age I was when I read it, I honestly didn't pick up on all of the religious notes – it was just a good story), then Spellsinger showed me you could take traditional fantasy and inject it with facets of modern life.

From a very early age, we'd had three films on VHS I'd constantly watch, over and over again. The first was The Goonies – recorded off of the TV with commercials included. The other two were Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings.

After reading Spellsinger, my mind turned to those two cartoons I'd watched as a small child. So I read my way through Watership Down, and then tackled The Lord of the Rings at about the same time as The Fellowship of the Ring came out at the cinema. With Watership Down, I got to see world building on par with Narnia, but done in an entirely different way. Set in the world of rabbits, with their own language, their own beliefs, their own mythology. I found it completely fascinating.

The Lord of the Rings was a slog most of the time, but I have happy memories of the experience. It was a long work to tackle in my teens, but I managed it, just about. A recent attempt at a reread failed miserably. I simply lost interest. A lot of that comes from the books I am used to reading now as an adult. They're faster, more concise. To my mind, Tolkien's opus is a must-read for anyone. But I don't think many will delve back in for a second go. It's a huge undertaking. The Lord of the Rings is a classic work of fantasy that truly established a gold standard for the genre at the time. And there have been many attempts by other writers at recreating Middle-Earth in their own work, to varying degrees of success.

Coming out of my teens, The Dark Tower series and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter were hugely influential to me. What Stephen King accomplishes with The Dark Tower is something he has tried often and succeeded at rarely. That is, telling a long story and holding the reader's attention from start to finish. Some – novels like The Stand and IT – have worked brilliantly. Others . . . ugh. But for whatever reason, The Dark Tower grips you from the first tantalizing sentence ("The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed . . .") and never lets go. It's a little crazy, it's a bit of a mash-up of multiple genres and sources, but that's okay. You take it in your stride. The Dark Tower is King's greatest work. A rich, hugely entertaining epic.

The very same can be said for Rowling's Potter series. I read them one after the other (luckily the last, The Deathly Hallows, was just coming out as I finished The Half-Blood Prince). My habit with those was to sit on the kitchen floor at night, cup of tea by my side and read into the early hours. I lived in a house with six other siblings at the time, so really the kitchen at night was about the most peaceful place for reading.

She did a fantastic job of world-building, of plotting each book out so that it was its own self-contained story, yet progressed the overall plot piece by piece. Readers were literally spellbound (forgive the pun) by the interactions between the characters and the relationships that developed along the way. By the progression of a plot that grew steadily darker and darker – and by what had happened in the past, before the books take place. Certainly the greatest, well-rounded character of the series is not Harry Potter himself, but Severus Snape. Dumbledore's machinations become somewhat omnipresent by the end, whereas Snape comes into his own in what is a truly heartbreaking series of revelations.

Recently, I found myself browsing the kindle store for something new to read when I came across The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I got the sample, devoured it in one sitting, and bought the rest of the book.

The next day, I found myself in town buying the whole trilogy in paperback and proceeded to read them one after the other. Abercrombie takes the conventions of the genre and turns them on their head. First of all, he does away with the stilted writing of the past and brings his contemporary voice to Fantasy – complete with swearing, sex, and some of the most complicated characters I've ever come across. Each and every one of them broken in some way.

Glokta, broken in body but not in spirit. Logen Ninefingers, broken inside as he tries (in vain) to turn away from the man he used to be. These two characters begin the story broken and end up whole by the end (though not necessarily better people as a result) whilst the character of Luthar begins whole and is steadily broken first in body, then in spirit. Abercrombie writes a kind of fantasy that critics and readers alike have come to coin "Grimdark." I guess it had its beginnings in the work of Robert E. Howard way back when, and I reckon there were the seeds of it in the dark deeds that went (mostly) unseen, in the background, throughout The Lord of The Rings. If Aragorn and company spent the majority of those books fighting nameless, faceless hordes of Orcs with little repercussions for their deeds, Abercrombie makes every kill resonate.

Men fight men, with all the horrific slaughter and detail involved. And when the fight is over, when most of them have died, the survivors are left with their guilt and their shame and their hurt. Left to deal with it all on their own.

It's no wonder, in Abercrombie's fictional setting, that Logen turned out the way he did.

But what some reviewers of The Blade Itself have criticized it, and its sequels, for is its lack of hope, and I have to disagree there. I found plenty of hope in The First Law trilogy. It's there, trust me. What Abercrombie does is to counter-balance these moments, these flashes of characters achieving the positive, with the darkness. If a character is winning in one chapter, the next time we meet them, their luck has taken a turn for the worst.

Is that fair? Probably not. But is it realistic to what we experience in real life?

Yeah.

I took a similar approach in The Bloody North, by having a character consumed with grief to the point where he'd almost stopped living. He just existed – until, that is, his company is slaughtered in front of him and he's left on his own. What ensues is a bloody path of vengeance as Rowan comes to terms with all that he's lost and his quest to destroy the man who took it all away from him. Along the way we get to know some of the world in which The Fallen Crown series takes place.

This just the first small chapter in a truly epic story. If you think The Bloody North sets the stage, well . . . wait till you read Book 2. Boy, oh boy, is it going to blow your socks off.

Next level doesn't cut it.

Thank you, Tony.

Happy Reading!

Survey

Hey y'all! This week's post comes from my need to settle a debate between one of my favorite authors and myself. It is 100% self-serving, and I am fully aware of that fact, so please don't leave any negative comments to chastise me. ;)

I would like to know what my readers think about my writing vs. my editing. I mean, if you didn't like my editing, you wouldn't purchase the books my clients produce, so I have some idea of what you all are looking for when it comes to putting out a piece of fiction. But this time, I'm looking for a bit of feedback regarding bylines.

Have you read Tony's FFH series yet?
This collaboration is set in the same Universe.

Some of the books I've helped produce in the past couple of years required little more than a quick proofread and feedback session; others have required a complete rewrite. In fact, I sent back one novel recently that I did completely rewrite because the author just did not seem to be "getting it."

Having said all that, I'm going to let you in on the big secret. I've teased you a bit with my latest writing project. (No, I do NOT mean my latest crochet book.) I am collaborating with Tony Healey on what will likely become a 90K-word novel, sci-fi, of course.

In the past, my work with Tony (We fondly refer to them as Healiberte productions.) has received only editorial credit regardless of my level of involvement. Some pieces were super-quick and got barely a once-over because he was able to bang them together with ease; a few required much more effort on my part because I know his style, his potential, and his standards.

This latest is a true collaboration right out of the gate. It's 50/50, give or take. Now, I'm not a person who requires, or even wants, the spotlight, but I was working and thinking this morning, and I wondered which would sell better: a book bearing Tony's name as writer and mine as editor, or a book that showed both of us as co-writers.

So please, take a moment to chime in and give me your feedback below or in an email to kindleallstars at gmail dot com and let me know what you think. Are you more or less likely to purchase a book that has BOTH our names on the byline?

Happy Reading!

Call Me a Tease if You Must . . .

. . . just so long as you call me. ;)

Hey all! I've been sick, and working, and working, and sick. Right now, my priorities include projects with Tony Healey, Bernard Schaffer, Reeni Austin, and a newbie by the name of Tony DePaul. However, we all know I try to squeeze in some crochet time whenever I can because it maintains my sanity.

Of course, crochet for me is more than just pleasure; it's work. Rarely do I crochet only for the love of the craft. Chances are, if you see a hook in my hand, I'm working on a gift for a friend, an item for a craft show, or a sample for a new pattern.

Over last weekend, it was a sample called "Movie Night." I actually sketched out the design two or three years ago and then it sat, waiting for me to get back to it. The problem with the creative process, whether designing crafts, writing music, or writing prose or poetry, is that when it rains, it pours.

Once I get started, I can't stop. I sketched out about fifteen designs all at once and this one got lost in the shuffle, but it's always been in the back of my mind to finish it. I even bought the yarn for the sample way back when.

You see, the reason I named it "Movie Night" is that it was inspired by the red-and-white striped boxes that the old theatres used to serve popcorn. The basic design will be on a plane of white with red stripes in the form of post stitches and embellished with yellow popcorn stitches.

I've only reached the point where the pattern for the towel is worked out and written, but I'm pretty excited about it.

Meanwhile, the latest crochet book is well on its way to being finished. All of the samples are done except for one which needs pictures to be taken step-by-step for part of the pattern. And the clearer, more formal writing of the instructions and formatting need to be laid out.

So what else could I possibly have going on? Well, there's a serial I'm co-writing with Tony Healey that I hope we'll be able to reveal officially next month, and a couple of story ideas I'm developing with/for Reeni Austin that I hope we'll be able to publish within the next couple of months. That one's been slower going than I expected. Friends, a word of advice: writing is fairly easy, but writing romance is HARD!

Anyhow, I'll keep you posted, so stay tuned.

Namaste.

The Pros and Cons of Serializing

One of my favorite authors, and definitely my favorite client (but don't tell him I said that), Tony Healey, sent this to me a while back. Since he and I are possibly collaborating on a serialized novel this year, I thought it appropriate that I should finally share it with you, my fearless readers.

Also, I love to tease you all and figure I'd hold off on the shoulder strap tutorial for my latest handbag pattern until next week. That gives you plenty of time to finish the body of the bag before we get started with the strap.

So, here's Tony sharing some of what he's learned about publishing throughout 2013:

********************

The Far From Home series was about twelve months work, writing one part at a time. I'd read about Hugh Howey doing it with his Wool series, and how it'd caught people's imagination. Being new to this writing lark, I really didn't think I'd be able to write a 50,000 word novel to begin with. Now I could, but not back then. So I chose to write the parts between 10 and 20,000 words each. A reasonable amount of work to do in a month – though now my output is about 40,000 a month.

It was slow going. Tedious. I found I got half way through, reached number six, and didn't want to carry on. Why had I said it would be twelve installments?

WHY???

But I soldiered on, found my mojo again and finished it up. And you know what? It was a resounding success. Each part was a best-selling title. Aided by the fact that Part 1: Legend was made permanently free by Amazon, the series sold in droves.

Some people took umbrage to the fact they had to buy all twelve installments individually, but on the whole readers were receptive and supportive of what I was trying to do.

So should you try it?

I'd advise caution.

Firstly, yes, serializing your work is a great idea. What better way to build an audience (and necessary experience publishing on Amazon) than to do so over a twelve month period? That slow build, that gradual creation of a large piece of work seems like an uphill struggle at the time. But once you're there, you really discover you've achieved something. Not only have you written a long work of fiction, you've gained readers along the way. People emailed me, wrote messages on my site and twitter on a daily basis to tell me they liked Far From Home.

They still do.

But this leads to me second point. It's hard work. It takes discipline. You can't let them down. Once they start buying the first couple, readers expect to see it finished. And you owe them that. You're the storyteller. You can't take their hard earned cash with one hand and wave goodbye with the other.

See it through. As I said above, there was a point where I got disheartened. I didn't want to carry on. But I did. It was the only thing I could do (and the best thing I could do).

There's the financial consideration, too. You'll be making money as you're writing it. Who else gets to write a long novel and get paid by the chapter these days? Nobody. The whole year I was writing Far From Home, I made a steady income (that increased as each part was released).

Do I think you should write a novel first, then serialize it? No. Why would you want to? The whole idea is to write it as you go, bit by bit. I don't think it's fair on a reader to write the work first, then split it into chunks purely for financial benefit. Some reviewers accused me of just that. They didn't realize I was actually writing it as I went. I had a rough outline for each part and a list of characters. That's it.

However, I would recommend writing them a little in advance. Make sure you are a month ahead of where you need to be so that if you fall ill, or something else comes up, you don't let your readership down.

Have a site, let people know what's coming. Get readers involved in reading the parts before they come out. I wrote many of my readers into the series as characters. Designed catchy, branded covers that tell people in once glance what they are. As my pal Bernard says in his manifesto for independent authors, "Provide excellent value for fair cost."

What he means by that is give people a good deal. I published twelve installments of Far From Home at $0.99c each. When I finished the first three, I packaged them together and offered it for $1.99. I did the same with parts four, five and six. It was my way of providing a cheaper alternative as they read the series. When I had completed all twelve, I unpublished the first two volumes as they were no longer needed. I then put all twelve together as Far From Home: The Complete Series and priced it at $2.99. So to me, that's a saving to the reader of $9.

It would've cost them $12 to buy the whole thing. Now they can get it for a scratch under $3. About the same as a cup of coffee.

Fair cost.

So in short, here is my advice if you'd like to try your hand at writing and publishing a work of serial fiction.

1. Write as you go, and make each part no less than 10,000 words to provide value for money. $0.99 for 10,000 words works out at about a penny a page. I think that's fair.

2. Realize this isn't a ride you can stop once you get on. You're on for the duration, so buckle up. Don't short change people. Be resilient. Stay the course. If you've told people it's going to be in six parts, then you'd better deliver six parts that rock their socks off.

3. Experiment. I tried new things throughout Far From Home. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. I'm a better writer now than when I started with part 1; that's for sure. You learn the trade as you go. Stir things up, and always leave the reader hanging. I tried to leave things on a cliffhanger when I could, though I wasn't always able to. Carefully craft your ending so that people want to find out what's coming next.

4. Use bold, simplistic covers that communicate what the serial is. Have a brand. Have a look you've decided on, and stick with it. If the covers don't look like members of the same family, readers will find it hard picking them out of the crowd. Presentation is 99.9% of the sale. A book may not be judged by its cover, but I believe it is sold by it. Without a good cover, you're dead in the water.

5. Do not write the serial first, you're cheating the reader. And you're cheating yourself in the long run. It's a unique experience. Embrace it. Let it do it's thing.

6. Offer each part at the cheapest price possible, then when it's all complete give readers a huge discount. Remember that having an audience of people actually reading your work is more important (always) than making the maximum profit. Let everyone know you're not there to rip people off. You're there to write, and have what you've written be read and enjoyed. Don't be greedy and deny yourself the joy of having people appreciate your work and the effort it took to create it.

These are the pros and cons of serializing. In short, I believe everyone who writes should have a go. But always finish what you started. And know that it's a headache once you're doing it – though the end result is worth it. Follow my points and you won't go wrong. Be consistent, be professional, be a writer who values his or her readership, and you'll be fine.

If you're the opposite of those things, don't even attempt a serial. You're not dead in the water, you've not even left the dock yet.

********************

Tony's latest project, whose official launch is today, is Edge of Oblivion, an anthology to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Listen to podcast interviews conducted by contributor and author, David Hulegaard, here: http://bit.ly/1dmltXh

Happy Reading!

And You All Thought He Was Done

My pal, Tony Healey, and I have been working on the Far From Home series for such a long time that it's gotten more and more difficult to leave with each installment. This novel/novella was not supposed to be written, or released, for several months, but Tony couldn't help himself. After finishing the twelve-part serial, he thought he was ready to move on to something else for a bit. [spoiler alert] That's why the initial serial had a tight ending with very few loose ends.

But I guess Jessica King and her crew kept calling his name. So here it is, the first in a trilogy set in the Far From Home Universe, and you all get first peek at the first chapter. The book's Official Launch is today although hardcore FFH fans are already buying kindle copies.

**********

1.

Starbase 6 was a welcome sight as it loomed into view. The Defiant slowed from the tremendous speeds of exiting the Jump. As it approached the huge Union space station, Lieutenant Kyle Banks handled the helm controls of the ship with consummate skill.

Feels good to come back here, Captain Jessica King thought to herself. Like coming home.

After more than a year away on a mission of exploration, they had returned to Station 6 for some much needed supplies and minor repairs. The Defiant had also been promised a few upgrades, and Jessica fully intended on making sure she got them.

The old girl could use them, she thought. And the much needed rest . . .

"Starbase control has made contact, Captain," Ensign Olivia Rayne reported from the comm. station, her hand to her earpiece.

King nodded. "Patch me through."

She waited a few seconds for the connection to be made. "Captain Jessica King, Union Starship Defiant."

"Please state your prefix number," an artificial voice said.

"T.U. zero-one-one-three-eight," Jessica said.

There was a brief delay, then the voice announced that they were cleared to dock. "Docking bay three. Please do not exceed standard thruster speed."

"Close channel," King said.

Just like old times . . .

She looked ahead at the large, circular space station. Tall centrifuge at the centre, spokes extending out at the middle to form a wide outer ring. Along the ring were enough docking bays to accommodate up to twenty vessels, with many of the bays currently occupied.

Lieutenant Banks brought the Defiant – an old but well-kept Archon class battleship – to a relative crawl and lined up the port side with the slowly rotating docking ring. At one time, Archon class vessels had been the backbone of the fleet. Now they were little more than relics. While the Draxx war raged, they still had a purpose. But now, in this newfound era of interstellar peace, the Archons were slowly being taken out of service.

Decommissioned. Scrapped. Thankfully, there were no such plans for the Defiant.

Yet.

The thought of her being dismantled, ending up as salvage, made Jessica shudder.

"Aligning to dock," Banks reported, his voice taut with effort as he concentrated on the task at hand. Starbases were not designed to accommodate simple and easy docking manoeuvres.

"Keep her steady, Lieutenant. You know the drill."

"Aye," Banks said. His hands flitted over the controls, the Defiant edging to the left to butt up against the station. "I could do this with my eyes closed."

Jessica smiled. "Well, please refrain from doing so on this occasion, Banks. I'd like my ship kept in one piece for the time being. It'd be a shame to crash just before we park."

"Yes Ma'am," he said with a chuckle.

"Less than two metres clearance," Commander Chang reported from the science and tactical station to the Captain's right. The Defiant nestled up to the dock with a slight bump a moment later.

"Good job Mister Banks. Commander Chang, activate all moorings and equalize atmospheres," King ordered. She got up from the captain's chair. The Defiant was now under the momentum of the station itself, like a very heavy passenger on a merry-go-round. "Power down all non-essential systems. Commander, observe standard protocol."

"Yes Captain," Commander Greene said as he relayed her orders to the rest of the ship. Every department would shut down those systems that weren't needed while the Defiant underwent any repairs and refurbishments that had been scheduled for her.

"When the bridge is cleared, come and find me," Jessica told him.

The Commander nodded. Jessica ran her eyes over her team – Kyle Banks at the helm, Olivia Rayne at the comm. station, Lisa Chang at the science and tactical station, and Del Greene by her side as her second in command – and all she could feel was pride at having the fortune of serving with such a fine group of men and women.

"I'll be in my quarters," Jessica said as she left the bridge. "Well done everyone."

Click here to find Enigma on Amazon.com

**********

Huh. I thought the first chapter revealed a bit more than that. I suppose you'll just have to check out the book while you're waiting in those long lines at the mall.

By now, you all know Tony's bio. He's from England. So please, stop asking him to fire me because I don't catch his spelling errors. He writes in the Queen's English. They spell funny over there. ;)

Happy Reading!

It's All Over Now But the Tears . . .

It's really difficult for me to believe, but this serial that Tony and I began working on about fourteen months ago is finally done. Originally, it was to be released in twelve parts over the course of sixteen months, but I think Tony got restless to work on other projects, so he wrote, then had me edit, the last three segments in one go. Your benefit? No more waiting to see how it all ends. No more teasing. No more . . . just, no more. I'll miss working with Captain Jessica King and her crew, but I doubt it's the last any of us has seen of her, or them.

That said, I figured now would be a great time to revisit Chapter One of the first segment. Oh, if you want more, Far From Home 1: Legend is free on Amazon, as always. You'll also find Far From Home: The Complete Series finally gathered in one book which amounts to about 700 pages. If you're looking to grab the paperback rather than the Kindle, Tony was making a couple of corrections to the formatting and it should be available any day now.

If you haven't been following the series, but waiting for it in one whack, grab it now. If you HAVE been following, you are in for an ending that surprised even me. But I'll shut up before I spoil it and just let you start here:

Far From Home 1: Legend

Chapter One

Battered and bruised, the Defiant slowed on its approach to Starbase 6.

Commander Jessica King occupied the captain's chair. She’d hoped that one day she would get to sit in such a chair as Captain of her own vessel. She never once thought that the privilege of doing so would come at such a cost. It filled her with no joy to carry out her role as Acting-Captain in Andrew Singh’s absence, especially so considering he was lying on a mortuary slab two decks under her feet.

"Starbase has made contact, sir," Ensign Boi reported from the comm. station.

King nodded. "Okay Ensign. Patch me through."

She waited a few seconds for the connection to be made. "This is Commander Jessica King, Acting-Captain of the Union Starship Defiant."

"Please state your prefix number," a mechanical-sounding voice said on the other end.

"T.U. zero-one-one-three-eight," she said.

There was a brief delay, and then the voice announced that they were cleared to dock. "Docking bay three. Please do not exceed standard thruster speed."

"Close channel," King said.

She looked ahead at the large circular space station. It was a tall centrifuge at the centre, with spokes extending to a wide outer ring. Along the ring were enough docking bays to accommodate up to twenty vessels. There were several ships already docked, all much larger than the Defiant. That wasn’t to say the Defiant was a small ship.

But she was old.

At one time the Archon Class vessels had been the backbone of the fleet. Now they were relics twenty years past their sell-by date. If the system-wide war between the Union and the Draxx didn’t still rage on, they’d have been decommissioned and retired already.

Still didn’t stop us holding our own in a fight, did it? King thought. She might be old, but she’s got it where it counts.

"Banks, I think I can leave the parking in your capable hands?" King asked as she got up from the captain's chair.

Lieutenant Kyle Banks swiftly worked the controls across the front helm console.

"I’ve got it covered," he said.

"Good. Then I will be below decks," she said.

The bridge crew looked up from their stations, but when she looked around at them they hurried back to their assigned duties.

King walked toward the exit. Insulation and wiring had erupted from the ceiling during the battle and hung like copper intestines in places. She ducked beneath it on her way out, her feet crunching on bits of broken plastic and glass.

On her way to her quarters she passed the scorched carcasses of burned-out conduits, pipes that were still dripping onto the deck plating from leaks that hadn’t yet been attended to.

The ship had taken a beating, it was true. She was proud of the crew, and of the ship itself, for pulling through. They hadn’t run away from the battle like cowards. They faced the danger and hit back with what they had.

Several crew saluted as she strode past them. She quickly saluted back.

It lifted her spirits, despite all that had happened, to see the crew still going about their duty as they were meant to. The men and women she passed looked tired, dirty, some of them injured. But they carried on with grim determination and a sense of duty. King walked with a determined gait, showing the pride she felt for her crew.

When Jess got to her quarters she headed straight for the shower to freshen up quickly before her debriefing. She knew that Admiral Grimshaw would want to hear the full account of what had gone on despite having a copy of her report already on his desk. He would demand to hear it first-hand from someone who was knee deep in it all. The fleet had lost a brilliant Captain, and there were questions that must be answered.

In her quarters, she got out of her dirty uniform. Standing in front of the mirror in her tiny bathroom she looked tired, beaten.

Her temple carried a long cut from when a Draxx missile had hit the side of the Defiant, sending her flying against a bulkhead. Dr. Clayton had yet to treat it properly.

Her eyes were red, ringed with dark, puffy circles. During the journey to Starbase 6 King had done her fair share of grieving for Captain Singh. But she knew there would be more to come at some point. That loss was an open wound. Over time it might heal a bit, but never enough so you didn’t know it was there.

She stepped into the shower and tried to wash the difficulties of the last week away. But they were in there with her. She stood under the stream of the water, bowed her head, her hands up against the tiles. She started to sob. In the shower no-one could see her. No-one could hear her. In the shower she had privacy to give freedom to the grief.

King could still see him lying there on the deck, dying in her arms. She could still hear his final words . . . 

The mangled mess of his legs. The blood pooling from his mid-section. His face grey, washed-out. Tears streamed down her face.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Please don’t go, please."

Captain Singh shook his head slowly. Smiled. "Jess . . . We each have our time. My own is at an end . . ."

"No . . ." she managed to say.

Singh reached up, stroked the side of her face. "Now it is your turn to do as much as you can with the time you have . . ."

He smiled again, then his eyes seemed focus on something far away. The light in them faded. Singh’s hand fell away from hers and the sound of his last breath issued slowly from between his lips.

"No . . ."

She felt the thud of the ship as it jutted up against the docking bay. She came back to reality, regained her composure and set about washing herself, then got out of the shower.

She walked to the comm. unit on the wall, pressed the button that opened a direct line to the bridge.

"Bridge," she said. "Equalise the pressure seals and reduce all systems to idle status. I’ll meet all senior crew members at airlock four in fifteen minutes, so be sure to have your stations locked down. Please inform Chief Gunn and Dr. Clayton to be there also."

"Aye aye sir," a voice reported back to her. It was Lieutenant Banks.

Jessica closed the channel. Again she stood in front of the mirror.

Now she looked better. Not great, but better. Less tired and dishevelled. More like a woman. It felt good to be washed, wearing a clean uniform.

"Let’s get this over with," she told her reflection.

**********

Tony Healey is a born and bred Brightonian. He is married and has three daughters. 

For the latest on Tony's various projects, visit his site www.tonyhealey.com

Happy Reading!

This One's for Tony, as Promised

I keep promising my pal Tony I will either email or post this recipe, so here we goooo . . .

I was introduced to a similar recipe by a close friend nearly thirty years ago. This is my standard go-to rice recipe. It's great on a buffet because it goes with anything, so it makes the perfect background for multiple dishes. It also makes a terrific base for just about any meat and vegetable mix-ins. I use the leftovers to make fried rice and I've served it every which way you can imagine.

Enough gushing, get ready to get your rice on.

Go With Everything Brown Rice Pilaf

2 c brown rice

4 c stock (vegetable, beef, chicken, whichever type suits your meal)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 T butter, the real thing

1/2 to 1 c whole wheat pasta, see note below

1/4 t salt, optional

In a deep-walled saute pan, saute onions in butter until translucent, but not brown

Add garlic, rice, and pasta and heat just until they pick up a little color

Pour in stock, stir, bring to boil

Lower heat to a simmer and cover tightly

Allow to simmer, undisturbed, for about 35 minutes

Rice is cooked when all liquid is absorbed, about 35 to 45 minutes

This will yield about 6-7 cups of cooked rice pilaf.

A note about ingredients: If you don't have enough stock for the recipe, make up the rest with water, or you can cut the recipe in half since this actually makes about 6 cups of rice. You CAN use white rice and white pasta if you prefer, but you have to shorten your cook time. Take a look at the package directions for the rice and use those times as a guide.

A note about the pasta: If you're using a shaped pasta like a rotini or farfalle, you'll want a full cup. If you use a small, grain-shaped pasta like orzo, cut amount to a half cup. Don't use a long noodle like spaghetti or linguine. If you can't have wheat, just leave it out completely since the cook time on wheat-free varieties varies so widely.

Happy Cooking!

Tutti Frutti by Tony Healey

In the interest of promoting some great, romantic summer reading, I invited my dear friend from Across the Pond, Tony Healey to show off his wares. This one's been out for a bit, but that doesn't mean it's seen its best. Tutti Frutti is a great coming of age/love story written from a unique point of view. Its relatively short length makes it a perfect beach read, and I defy anyone to put it down before you've finished reading it.

So put your feet up with a glass of sweet tea by your side and enjoy the first two chapters of Tutti Frutti.

***********

1.

“Marty, what’re you going to do with yourself?” my Mother asked me.

I thought about it for a second. “I don’t know. Sit in the sun. See my friends. I haven’t really thought about it.”

My Mother tutted, shook her head. “That’s your problem. You don’t think about anything,” she said.

“Mum, don’t start on about this again...” I said.

“No,” she snapped. “I mean it. You better pull your socks up. You can’t afford to waste another summer. You’re going to Uni in September.”

“Yeah I know, Mum. I hadn’t forgotten,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

She slapped my arm. “Don’t get cheeky. Now why don’t you try and find yourself a little job? Earn some money. Give yourself something to go away with. You’ve got nothing saved and we can’t afford to give you any.”

I couldn’t disagree with her. My parents were paying the Uni fees, and my train fare to Pemberton. But that was as far as it went.

My Dad called a friend of his in Pemberton town. He owned a butcher’s and could give me work at the weekends. It wasn’t something I looked forward to doing, but I didn’t voice that to Dad. I was just glad to have a job at all. My parents couldn’t afford to keep me while I got educated.

“Well, I’ll see if I can find something,” I offered.

She nodded, satisfied. There was a brief silence, then she stopped what she was doing and turned back around. She was so predictable.

“Maybe look for a couple of odd jobs. You know, cutting grass, painting fences...”

I laughed, held her by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. “Mum. Stop. I’ll find something to do,” I said. “I’m sure of it.”

2.

Tutti Frutti by Tony Healey
edited by Laurie Laliberte

A day or so later I knocked some doors and got a few odd jobs lined up. Mr Henrickson wanted his front and back lawn mowed twice that summer. Mrs Derry on Tavistock Road needed her shopping picked up for her twice a week. I agreed to do it for small change. A few people took me up on offers to wash their cars, sweep their drives, stuff like that. Nothing big, just little bits and pieces. I thought that whatever I made, I’d put away until the end of summer.

Dad’s friend Ernie Richards called around the house one day. I answered the door. He was a big burly man, going grey at the temples.

“Hi Mr. Richards,” I said. “Dad’s not in.”

He shook his head. “No, no, I wasn’t here to see your Dad. I was calling for you.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah. I got talking to your Dad the other day, and he said you’re doing a few odd jobs here and there. Well, I might have something for you if you want it,” Mr. Richards said.

“Sure. That’d be great,” I said. “I’m taking anything I can get, really. What did you have in mind?”

Mr. Richards dug in his pocket, produced a crumpled pack of cigarettes. He didn’t offer me one. “Well, I’ve got this shed needs clearing out. I’ve been filling it with junk for years. The fence needs a good lick of paint. Might need a few repairs at the back where the bushes have grown and pushed a few of the boards out. Can you do that?”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

“Good. It’s just a lot of crap I’ve not had time for. No offense. It’s odd job stuff. I’ll be away for a couple of weeks on business. It’d be good if you could take care of these while I’m away,” Mr. Richards said. He drew on his cigarette, blew a drift of dull smoke out the side of his mouth.

“Yeah, well...” I started to say.

“Obviously I’ll pay,” Mr. Richards cut in. He pulled out several bills and handed them to me. “That’s a down payment for your services. I’ll leave money with Cella so she can settle up with you when you’re done.”

I took the money, pocketed it. “Thanks.”

He asked me to meet him at the house the next day. He was due to leave that weekend and wanted to show me the things that needed looking at.

I told Mum and she seemed pleased enough.

“Might give Mrs. Richards a bit of company while you’re there,” she said. “The eldest is in the navy, and I think they have another kid in college somewhere. Ernie travels about all the time... she must get lonely in that house by herself. I don't think she gets up to much...”

**********

P.S. I occasionally hear/read whining about spelling and grammatical errors with this one. But y'all have to keep in mind the author's British and this is written in the Queen's English.

Happy Reading!