G. S. Jennsen

Time 2021-01-08 15:06:55

Web Name: G. S. Jennsen

WebSite: http://www.gsjennsen.com

ID:160734

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Jennsen,

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First, a quick reminder: ECHO RIFT, Book Three in the Riven Worlds series, will be released on JANUARY 15, 2021. Pre-order it today and have it auto-delivered to your ereader on release day: PRE-ORDER ECHO RIFTBack in July, you voted INVERSION the Best Sci-Fi Book in 2020 (So Far) by a huge margin. It was incredible. Now, Discover Sci-Fi is voting on the Best Sci-Fi Book of 2020 (period, no qualifiers or interim status) and INVERSION is again a Top 10 Finalist. As the train wreck of a year that was 2020 comes to a merciful close, if you still feel like INVERSION was the best book you read last year, go vote for it!Audiobook listeners, I've got a treat for you today: Pyper has recorded the audio for the FRACTALS short story, and you can listen to it for FREE right now.I'll be honest with you - while I'm thrilled that you finally get to hear this fun, trippy, 'what if?' story, this is also a trial run for a new way of bringing you audiobooks, so I can work out the kinks before the ECHO RIFT audiobook arrives. Note: the Fractals audiobook will be available on Audible *eventually*, but when it gets there, it likely won't be free (the price isn't up to me). So take this opportunity of a short, free audiobook to explore new ways to listen.To that end, try out the various options and let me know what you think. Tell me what works for you and what doesn't. Do you like the Authors Direct app, or is one of the other retailers working best for you? How about listening directly on the website? I want your feedback! (Just hit 'reply' or email me at gs@gsjennsen.com.)Finally, I've got an awesome post-holiday gift for you: 30+ FREE sci-fi books by such indie superstars as Joe Vasicek, Patty Jansen, George Saoulidis, C. Gockel, Eric Michael Craig, Andy Peloquin and many more: Mind-Bending Sci-Fi. Where the Heck is My Audiobook, Jennsen??Let’s start by addressing the ‘80s-style neon pink elephant in the room: where the heck is the Inversion audiobook? What a great question.Pyper finished recording at the beginning of August, and we are both so anxious to get it to you. And thanks to a boatload of horrible, terrible, no-good cliffhangers at the end of Continuum ;), I suspect you’re anxious to get it. Unfortunately, much like Continuum before it, it’s currently locked up somewhere in the deep, dark depths of ACX’s (the production company) internal systems. Or possibly it’s been boxed up and filed away in a giant warehouse next to the Ark of the Covenant.To make a long, sad story short, around the first of the year a confluence of several events (Covid-19, a new audiobook get-rich-quick scheme overloading ACX’s servers, several mysterious, dark forces at work, etc.) conspired to double and even triple the amount of time it takes ACX to review, package and distribute an audiobook. Two weeks became two months or longer. The system ground to a halt. Nine months later, little about the situation has improved.I don’t care for this state of affairs. Neither do you. Neither does Pyper. So, what are going to do about it? At the end of Requiem, I said ‘the story of Aurora has come to an end, but the story of Amaranthe is just beginning.’ I hope you knew I meant it.If you’ve finished reading The Stars Like Gods, you know some of what I’m going to talk about—but stick around anyway, because there’s yet more. If you haven’t finished The Stars Like Gods, there’s a big surprise at the end of the book, and you’re about to find out what it is unless you avert your eyes right now. The choice is yours.I’ll wait.Okay, done waiting.READ MORE Social media. Is it bringing the world together, or tearing us apart? I can’t say, and this post definitely isn’t about trying to figure out the answer; you can decide for yourselves.The reasons why some of you may be considering leaving Facebook or Twitter (or have already done so) would take the rest of this post to list, so I’ll spare you. Google+ is dead come the end of April. Tumblr is in the middle of a cringe-worthy identity crisis that may well kill it. Instagram was comparatively unscathed by 2018, but it’s always one bad redesign away from disaster.The point is, social media platforms come and go (raise your hand if you had a MySpace page). They change their design and their rules and inevitably rise and fall. As omnipresent as Facebook feels today, it’s transient like all the rest.So, what to do? I plan to continue being present and active on the most popular sites of the day, whatever those are, so don’t worry - I’m not going anywhere. But if you are, it shouldn’t mean we have to stop sharing our enthusiasm about space and tech and sci-fi with each other. This is why I’m creating a place where I will always be sharing my enthusiasm about those topics - a place I will always control, and where you are always welcome.I give you SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES: Breaking News Random Musings On Space, Technology, Sci-Fi The View From A Writer’s Window. At SMBH, I’ll be cross-posting all my Facebook posts, as well as notable posts of mine from Twitter, Instagram and other platforms. At SMBH, you can not just comment but join and follow the conversation, without worrying about Mark Zuckerberg mining your data for an army of ad bots or Twitter shadow-banning you. It’ll be fun! The other day I was cleaning out my notebook collection (which is shockingly extensive, considering I use a PC/tablet/phone for nearly everything). In checking the contents of each notebook before sorting it into the “keep” or “toss” pile, I was surprised to discover pages and pages of handwritten notes in one innocuous looking little notebook. It took me a moment to realize that this was the notebook I took on our cross-country drive from Colorado to Georgia in 2014 for Thanksgiving.*The drive where Aurora Renegades and Aurora Resonant came to life.November 2014 places this drive two months after Vertigo was released, which means I was heavy into writing Transcendence. I’d had the broad brush-strokes of the full 9-book saga in place from the very beginning (yes, including the ending!), but up until this point I’d forced myself to focus on Aurora Rising—because if Rising wasn’t a success, there would likely be no 2nd and 3rd trilogies. But by November, Starshine had taken off and Vertigo was doing very well; I was collecting an enthusiastic fan base, and I had started to accept the notion that this writing gig was something I could do. As in, forever.So it was time to get serious about the rest of the story. When man and machine are one and the same, there are many crimes but only one sin: psyche-wipe. The secrets it has buried could lead to a civilization's salvation, or to its doom.The Asterion Dominion is at peace with its neighbors and itself. Its citizens enjoy great freedoms and all the luxuries their biosynthetic minds can imagine, design and create. But beneath the idyllic veneer, something is going wrong. People are going wrong, driven to commit inexplicable crimes without motive or purpose. And once imprisoned for those crimes, they simply vanish.Psyche-wiped and dumped in an alley 5 years ago, awakened into a culture where ancestral memories stretch back for millennia, Nika Tescarav's past is a blank canvas. But if whoever erased her did so in the hope of silencing her, they should have tried harder.Someone must speak for the lost.Someone must uncover how and why they became lost.Someone must find the lost.Nika is that someone. After more than a million words, how does one begin to capture the essence of the Aurora Rhapsody saga in a mere few hundred? Three years, 9 months and 10 days ago, I promised to the world that it would be "an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, of the thrill of discovery and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible." I hope it has become all those things and much more.Aurora Rhapsody is science fiction, an imagined future, space opera, adventure, mystery, romance, action. It's exploration of space and exploration of what it means to be human. What it means to be alive. It's love and lasers, battles with the characters' internal demons and star-exploding space battles. It's an optimistic vision that dares to believe humanity will prove to be both stronger and better than we believe ourselves to be today. It is, I suspect, something different for each one of you. It can't be defined by numbers, but what the hell - I will anyway. REQUIEM (noun): 1. A Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead.2. A musical composition setting parts of a requiem Mass, or of a similar character.3. An act or token of remembrance.Origin: Latin, accusative singular of requiēs, meaning “rest” or “repose.”I've always held a certain appreciation for the word “requiem.” It's lovely to the ear, conveying consequentiality and reverence without being overly long or convoluted. It's a musical term; the Requiem Mass has inspired hundreds if not thousands of musical compositions, including pieces by some of the greatest composers who have ever lived. It's fitting that the last novel in a saga called Aurora Rhapsody bear a title steeped in musical sentiment. And, yes, it is an appropos title for the book, but as has been common with my book titles, perhaps in some unexpected ways. Re/Genesis: Schrödinger’s Cat and Sleights of HandBefore I dive into Relativity’s secrets and grand reflections on this new trilogy, a few words on the Re/Genesis short story.If you haven’t read Re/Genesis as part of the Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge anthology, your excuses are now at an end. Re/Genesis is free on Amazon (in the U.S., possibly elsewhere), Nook, Google Play and Wattpad. You can also download a .mobi, .ePub or PDF version directly; you can even read the story right here on the website. It’s a quick read, yet so important. Get to it!Much like Apogee did for Aurora Renegades, the events of Re/Genesis will play a vital role in the unfolding story of Aurora Resonant. It takes place concurrently with the end of Abysm, serving as a bridge between Abysm and Relativity in more ways than one. It zooms in to give us our first real glimpse of Amaranthe, seen through the eyes of someone who wants to blow it up (as it were).Ah, yes, Eren. In Re/Genesis we meet Eren asi-Idoni—Anaden, anarchist and dashing rebel. He will play a huge role in Relativity and all of Resonant, and Re/Genesis provides quite the dramatic introduction for him. We're going to mix things up a bit this time. As I mention below, Dissonanceis a Pivot Point, and that means this is a great time to pause and take stock for a minute.A mere two years ago, I wrote a little blog post called “Asking Less (and More) of Others.”(Aside: Best, most insane two years of my life). To all of you who arrived a little later as a result of promotion efforts, or simply because you found and enjoyed my novels, a most sincere welcome. I’m truly glad I deserved it.You know what the most wonderful thing is, now, two years later? The Author's Note in Sidespacegot a shiny new coat of paint for Aurora Renegades. Among a few other things, in it I say the following:Sidespace was an independently published novel, written by one person and worked on by a small team of colleagues. Right now there are thousands of writers out there chasing this same dream.Go to Amazon and surf until you find an author you like the sound of. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing those authors’ lives by giving visibility to people who until recently were shut out of publishing, but who have something they need to say. It’s a revolution, and it’s waiting on you.In the spirit of the Author's Note, Thanksgiving and the impending Christmas, Hannukah and New Years, I want to take the opportunity to express my thanks for the success I've enjoyed by spotlighting other authors. Twice makes a routine (according to my dogs anyway). With the release of SIDESPACE: Aurora Renegades Book One coming up in one week, here’s a peek behind the scenes of the book – we’ve got facts and figures, trivia, musings, numerous awards, several secrets, and one tattoo.Relatedly, be sure to check out the teaser quotes, which I'm sharing with increasing frequency as release day approaches. See them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and all the other social media sites. Also, I shared the back cover blurb in this news update.Sidespace is divided into seven parts. Seven, you repeat, incredulous. But isn’t this book shorter than the first three, and they only had four parts each? Yep. Sidespace is structured a little differently than the previous books (more on this below); I think it enhances the storytelling, but you’ll have to tell me. So seven parts (plus a Coda!) titled and quoted thusly: We're going to be visiting a lot of new worlds in Aurora Renegades. While we're by no means leaving the planets back home in Aurora behind, now that Aurora Rising is complete I thought I'd share some of the spacescapes and futuristic art* that I drew on for inspiration in imagining the varied colonized worlds visited in Aurora Rising - for your enjoyment and as a 'thank you' to the fantastic artists who help fuel my imagination.The links go to Deviant Art pages (you don't need an account to view the images on DA), where you can see the pieces in gorgeous high resolution and learn more about their creation. If you particularly enjoy a piece and are a DA member, show your appreciation by favoriting it, following the artist, or even leaving a comment. I am a bad person.Now, hopefully this will come as a surprise to most of you. Some of you, perhaps not so much ;).MY CONFESSION: After Starshine was published, amidst much angst over its cliffhanger ending, I said the following: “Aurora Rising is the story. Starshine represents Act I in what is, in effect, a 3-act play in novel form.”It wasn’t a lie—but it also wasn’t the entirety of the truth. It was very important to me that Aurora Rising be a self-contained, fulfilling story that will forever stand on its own. Aside from the obvious reasons, early on I didn’t know if I’d have the time, finances or will to continue writing beyond it. But after a year and thanks to all you amazing people the three novels of the Aurora Rising trilogy have—from my perspective—done phenomenally well both in sales and in critical praise from the readers. By any standards I can find, Hypernova Publishing and the Aurora Rising trilogy are blockbusters in the indie publishing world and there is no way I am going to stop now.So here’s the entirety of the truth. SPOILERS FORTRANSCENDENCEFOLLOW.You have been warned.***DOWNTOWN SEATTLE, EARTHOne Month After the End of the Metigen WarReporter: “Excuse me, gentlemen—excuse me. Do you have a moment to answer a few questions? For the public?”(Caleb Marano glances over his shoulder as he and Noah Terrage pass the man on the street.)Caleb:“Sorry, we’re in a hurry.”Reporter: “Please, I’ll only take a minute of your time.”(Caleb stops and turns around. With a visible sigh Noah joins him.)Caleb:“All right—a minute. As in one.” So, all the possible excerpts from Transcendence are spoilers - AND PAYOFFS. Even the first chapter, which is why it won’t be posted here until the book’s available. I am releasing teaser quotes, though, with increasing frequency as release day approaches. See them on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr or here on the site.Behind the Scenes with Vertigo was a popular post, so I thought I’d reprise it for Transcendence, with some fresh twists. Facts, trivia and deep dark secrets follow.*Like Starshine and Vertigo, Transcendence will be divided into four parts, titled and quoted thusly: I know you guys are sitting there looking at Transcendence’s full word meter and wondering why the heck the book isn't out yet—a perfectly valid and understandable question.*So I thought it would be fun (for me, hopefully for you-I promise there is humor) to walk through how my books get from idea to publication. Every person’s process is different and intensely personal to them, but this one is my own. 1. Outline the outlines (aka, make pretty graphs)I spend a lot of time outlining, and in different ways:What happens in what order?What happens where in what order?What happens to whom in what order? It's the lovable, adorable Miriam Solovy doing what she enjoys most, gabbing with the press and the public! *melts under Miriam's glare*Kidding. But though I'm picking on her, Miriam has actually turned out to be one of the most popular characters in Aurora Rising, ranking as a strong reader favorite - after Alex and Caleb of course, and a smidge ahead of Noah. So enjoy Miriam at her finest (with a special guest appearance by Richard).***(This interview takes place immediately following the events of VERTIGO: Aurora Rising Book Two.) I was honored to be invited to host an AMA on Reddit's /r/suggestmeabook and /r/sciencefiction last month. I had a terrific time chatting with everyone and hopefully provided some interesting answers to their questions.In case you missed it, here is the transcript of the AMA, unaltered except for formatting and specific-to-Reddit details. It includes more details on my writing process, thoughts about writing and publishing, and juicy tidbits about Aurora Rising than I could ever consciously fit in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy! In my last blog post, I mentioned there were Easter eggs (subtle nods or homages to geek/literary/pop culture) in both Starshine and Vertigo. I’m running a giveaway over on Goodreads for a couple of Vertigo paperbacks, but I wanted to reward you guys specifically, because you’re awesome for coming to the website and following me on this adventure. So I came up with a little contest which hopefully will be fun for everyone. Here’s how it's going to work: If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll remember that as Starshine neared completion I began posting little excerpts from it every couple of weeks. I haven’t done so with Vertigo, primarily because all the excerpts are spoilers. All of them. I mean it. I do hope to start releasing some quotes in the coming weeks, which are too short to be spoilers. Right? (As an aside, one edit made last week was at the urging of my husband, who said, “This is the actual book, you are supposed to spoil them!”)To try and make up for my overly secretive and neurotic fear of revealing too much too soon to you guys, I thought I would share some other details about Vertigo, both fun and legit. The internet writing community is all aflutter this summer about business clashes between Amazon and the publishing companies – specifically Hachette (the smallest of the ‘Big 5’ publishers). There is also the breaking news that Amazon has rolled out a subscription service for books called Kindle Unlimited. The announcement of KU intersects and influences the previous debate and sets off new discussions about how and why people do and should be able to read books, treatment of and compensation for authors, indie vs. traditional publishing, book pricing, price fixing, antitrust and monopolies, capitalism and fairness.Like many writers, I have thoughts and opinions on these issues, and I wanted to share them with you. In summary, they consist of:VERTIGO [Spoilers for STARSHINE follow. I'm just saying.]***Reporter: I’m here today with Alexis Solovy and Caleb Marano. These two individuals have been at the center of a storm of recent events. Now, amid rumors of conspiracy, murder and even aliens, they’ve agreed to go on camera and answer our questions.First things first—how did the two of you meet?Caleb: She shot me.Alex: I shot you down. Then I shot you. Seven weeks after publication the craziness has started to settle down, and I’m finally getting used to a “new normal”—which means I’ve had the chance to muse a little on the whole experience.In the tradition of the terrific (and irreverent) blogger and author Chuck Wendig’s series “Five Things I Learned Writing…”, I present five things I learned writing (and publishing) Starshine:1. Google will not send the FBI to your door if you spend six hours on the internet researching the fastest-acting deadly toxins. Social issues and politics are nearly impossible for us to escape, even—or maybe especially—in entertainment. Even far-future singularity sci-fi and fantastical epic fantasy often contain overtones of commentary or condemnation on the state of modern society.The science fiction writing community, like many professions, has struggled with issues of discrimination of late. TheSFWA(Science Fiction Fantasy Writers of America) has spent the last year embroiled in controversy surrounding accusations of sexism, complete with resignations, protests, and internet petitions. There’s probably even a meme or two for it. Starshinelaunched just over a week ago. Over the course of that first week, sales were somewhat better than I expected as a new and, let’s face it, unknown author who had just given her book away for free to everyone whodidknow of her. Sales varied from as many as 10 copies to as few as zero in a day. It popped up on the Amazon “Sci-Fi—Space Exploration” Bestseller list periodically, only to fall off again when sales lulled. Still, by the end of the first week I had sold 68 copies across all formats and platforms. “Not bad at all,” I said to myself.Then yesterday happened. Last yearMars Oneannounced an ambitious plan to establish the first human colony on Mars by 2024. Though the website is quite detailed and professional, I have no idea whether they will accomplish their goal, in 2024 or a later date—that's not what this post will focus on.Though in the news recently for somewhat dubiousreasons, the initiative has sparked the imagination of scientists, researchers, adventurers and dreamers. More than200,000 peoplesigned up for the chance to go to Mars—and never return. We all know people—likely professional colleagues, as they rarely last as friends—who view a person's worth solely in terms of what the person can do forthem. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Can you drive me to the car repair shop over lunch?” “Oh, you finally have a weekend free to yourself after eight weeks of work and house guests? Great! Can you help me move into my new apartment?”Of course, true friends are glad to help one another out, and over time it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Youwantto help your friend, because you genuinely want to make their life easier and better. Too many people, however, don’t wait for that goodwill to develop before presuming they’re entitled to impose upon your life. Predictions for the future—near and far—are all the rage each new year. Tech, sports and celebrity sites all scramble over one another to announce how the corner of the world they cover will change in the next year, decade and for a few brave souls, longer—usually in dramatically phrased but utterly predictable ways.Don’t worry, I’m not going to grandly pronounce my own set of predictions, so you can stick around. But the overabundance of prediction lists did send me on a thought train, one related to an issue I mentioned in my previous post"Daring to Dream,"to which this post could be considered a sequel. While researching the theory behind theAlcubierre Drive, which forms the scientific basis for faster-than-light travel inAurora Rising, I again came face-to-face with an issue which annoyed me immensely back during my aspiring-astrophysicist days.Fully half the Wikipedia entry for the drive is taken up with all the reasons why it isimpossible; the latter half of nearly all “serious” articles on the concept the same. Now, I readily admit that currently, not only are we not capable of producing the technology required for such a drive, we don’t even possess the theoretical scientific knowledge necessary to do so.So. What. Confession time: I am a hard-core science and tech nerd. Allow me to expound briefly.When I was 14, I discovered Carl Sagan’s Cosmos in the Science section at Waldenbooks (by the way, the day Barnes Noble closes its doors, I will shed several tears. I have loved bookstores my entire life).The book changed my young life. I was already a nerd and bookworm, but I became obsessed with space and the stars. I was going to be an astrophysicist and, if I had my way, discover how to break the speed of light so we could get on with exploring the…well, cosmos.SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLESBreaking News Random Musings on Space, Technology, Sci-Fi the View From A Writer’s WindowG. S. Jennsen lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of her series and her ability to execute on the vision she’s had for them since their genesis.While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude. When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the Colorado mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there. G. S. JENNSEN can be reached at gs@gsjennsen.com.~HYPERNOVA PUBLISHING can be reached at:Hypernova PublishingP.O. Box 2214Parker, CO 80134admin@hypernovapublishing.com

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Website for science fiction writer G. S. Jennsen, author of the Amaranthe series, including the Aurora Rhapsody space opera saga & Asterion Noir cyberpunk trilogy.

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