Greetings,
Welcome to the bi-weekly newsletter of Science Fiction and Fantasy Author, Greg Sorber. If you’re receiving this newsletter, it means you signed up when you downloaded a copy of Duel of Destiny from a promotion or after reading Pax Machina or Mechs and Machinations. No matter how you found your way to my newsletter, WELCOME!
Although I’d love for you to stay subscribed to receive news about my forthcoming books, you are free to unsubscribe at any time.
My Musings
In my last newsletter I mentioned during the holiday break I was able to hunker down and watch movies and tv shows. Here are some quick takes on what I watched.
- Lost in Space-I finished the series (through season 3). I really liked the spirit of adventure and exploration in this series. For me it came to a satisfying conclusion. I’d like to see more shows like this. Also the music is pretty good, especially when they incorporate the classic Lost in Space theme!
- Wheel of Time-I finished season one. I felt some of the episodes were stronger than others.The ones that were good were really good. The others left me scratching my head. Overall, I’m looking forward to see where season two goes. Highlight: The cold open on Episode 7 was some crazy fight choreography and so powerful. Wow…
- Foundation-I finally finished season 1 in a marathon binge of the final four episodes. Like Wheel of Time, some of the episodes were really good, others were confusing–I guess that would be the best way to describe it. Overall, I liked the production value and am looking forward to see where the series goes in season 2. Of the various storylines, I found the one with the three emperors the most interesting.
- Spiderman: No Way Home-Watched it with the family on opening weekend. We all enjoyed it. Lots of fun nostalgia.
- Black Clover-This is an anime series that I’d describe as My Hero Academia with magic. The two shows share a lot of the same themes. There are quite a few of the same voice actors from My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan as well. My son and I have powered through over 100 of the 170 episodes so far. We frequently get in trouble for cheering too loud and waking up my wife!
Mechhaven Missives
- I continue to edit On Darkhaven Forged. I’m currently on Chapter 23 out of 37 which is 62% complete. I hope to get through another 4 chapters this weekend and wrap up my first pass by the end of the month (or shortly thereafter).
- I will begin plotting Mechhaven Book 4 pretty soon. I want to start writing Book 4 about the time I send On Darkhaven Forged to my editor in mid-March.
- As I’m plotting Book 4, I’ll be thinking about the rest of the series (Books 5 and 6). The story will ultimately determine whether I wrap up the first Mechhaven series in five books or six, but right now I’m definitely leaning toward six!
- Currently, I expect Book 4 will be released in December 2022.
Beta Readers
I’m looking for some (5-10) beta readers to help me make Mechhaven Book 3: On Darkhaven Forged the best Mechhaven book yet! I’m looking for readers who’ve finished and enjoyed Pax Machina and Mechs and Machinations. If you’ve read Duel of Destiny and Unexpected Contact, that’s a bonus (but not required). On Darkhaven Forged hasn’t been to my editor yet, so it is a work in progress. I’m looking for constructive feedback on the story as a whole. However, if you want to point out something specific in the text, you can do that too.
I’ll be using a program called Story Origin where you’ll sign up, read the story, and leave chapter by chapter feedback. In order to review and incorporate your feedback, I will need this process to be completed by February 19th. If all goes according to plan, I’ll start releasing chapters in the next few days. If this is something that interests you, please sign up here:
Featured Promotions
I have two featured books to share this month. Please check out these books by Kate Kyle and Rayner Ye!
Use of Emergency by Kate Kyle
A newbie pilot with a secret, broken comms, alien artifact, viral code, empty space. What can go wrong?
Jax, a freshly minted spaceship pilot had a simple job: taking a group of sick people to Rebels’ Republic space station to have their brain implants fixed while keeping her secret – secret. She had a smart plan to get it done: just some tweaking of the comms to make it look like an accident.
But her ship had some surprises aboard: two healthy passengers, who weren’t who they claimed to be, a real emergency, and a piece of virally spreading rogue code. Then… came some more problems…
Can a loner learn teamwork to survive and save the solar system from collapse?
Cyborg Assassin 1 by Rayner Ye
A school-girl turned Space Marine. A slum-boy taken under the wing of a terrorist. Both must betray their guardians to rescue the victims of war.
Plan8’s Interstellar Military fights for what’s right, yet it’s unaware of a corrupt division on Planet Nerthus. The perpetrators are turning orphans into killing machines, and a school girl called Oshun is bribed to fight in a war on another planet.
When an unforeseen catastrophe befalls her space vessel, she discovers her hopes are based on lies. Oshun should be happy that a space freighter will take her home. But she doesn’t want to return because her mum’s dead, and she has no one else. Going into foster care is the last thing she wants to do. Oshun’s a cyborg now. Through virtual reality training during cryosleep, she witnessed atrocities on that red-sun world.
Frankie and his pet sparikat don’t know what a decent meal is until a terrorist takes them from their slum and nurtures them in his communist base. But Frankie knows that killing innocents is wrong. Although the terrorist is like a big brother, Frankie must betray him to rescue the victims of war. He’s got the right gun, he possesses a hoverboard. But does he have the guts to kill the bad guys?
Cyborg Assassin 1 is the first book in Rayner’s Military Space Opera series. If you like fast-paced adventure, unexpected twists, and dark war stories, then you’ll love this.
Pick up Cyborg Assassin 1 to discover an exciting new series, today!
Group Promotions
Here are some group promotions to start off the new year. Some of these are free and some are in Kindle Unlimited. Please take a look, you never know, you might find your next favorite author!
Stuck in Space
This promotion runs through Feb 14, 2022
New Year, New Reads in Fantasy & Science Fiction
This promotion runs through Jan 31, 2022
Until next time! Stay safe and read a lot of books!
Greg Sorber