Welcome readers! This post, which I keep pinned to the top of my blog, contains a running series of quick updates about works-in-progress and other aspects of the writing (and publishing) life. So, if you’re looking for the latest updates or just wondering what’s goes through a sci-fi author’s head as they plan, write, and market their books, read this post. Otherwise, if you want essays, travel blogs, stories and miscellaneous ramblings, scroll through the blog for more posts.
Known Arc Trilogy update (sequential release announcement)
12/04/2024: It’s hard for me to believe, but the Known Arc books (GRONE and LONGSTAR) have tens of thousands of readers so far, and I get a constant stream of messages from them asking when/if the sequels are coming out.
Have no fear, I am absolutely determined not to pull a Patrick Rothfuss or George R.R. Martin on you and leave you stranded with an unfinished series.
To that end, I’ve made the decision to release the last two books of the Known Arc trilogy (ORUS and PHADE) almost simultaneously, just a few weeks apart sometime in late 2025. What this means for readers is that you’ll have to wait a slightly longer than expected for the sequels to GRONE, but you’ll be able to read BOTH books and finish the trilogy without a long wait between the final two installments.
At that time, you’ll be able to get each book individually, or get a boxed set of all the Known Arc books in any the various formats (ebook, KU, hardcopy, audiobooks) as a package deal. Finally, I’m planning a “Trilogy version” re-release of GRONE at the same time for the boxed set, with a few tweaks and enhancements thrown in to better tie the elements of the entire saga together. Stay tuned for more news…
LONGSTAR audiobook update
11/10/2024: The good news is that LONGSTAR is in audio production! The bad news is that due to the high demand for the voice actors we want, it won’t be released until mid-Spring 2025. This is an exciting project that’s going to be very different than the GRONE audiobook. Unlike GRONE, LONGSTAR was written in first-person from the perspectives of three different main characters, and the telling of the story alternates chapters between each character. From hundreds of auditions we selected incredibly talented actors to voice each of the three main characters. The first character’s chapter recordings are already in the can, with the second actor entering the studio in December and the third in March. Fingers crossed, this one promises to be VERY cool.
Finally, an author photo.
7/20/2024: Let’s face it, I’m not the most photogenic person on the planet, and I’ve been struggling for years to come up with a decent author pic. The need came to a head (pun intended) when I was asked to participate on a panel for a writer’s conference and the organizers insisted on a recent photo. So, at long last, after many goofy candidates got ridiculed and rejected by my wife, here’s the official Patrick Cumby author photo.
Okay, now that you’ve seen what looks like my new photo, read about what it actually is and how it was created…
Trilogy Warboard
7/19/2024: With the aid of about a million Post-It notes and fifteen feet of whiteboard wall, I’m finalizing the braided plot threads that wind their way through the final two books of the Known Arc trilogy, ORUS and PHADE. This is one of my favorite parts of the creative process, which includes visualizing months (and sometimes years) of scribbled notes and thoughts and ideas, finding the patterns and links between them, and tying them all together into a narrative that braids the threads into a recognizable (and hopefully entertaining) tapestry.
New LONGSTAR Cover?
7/9/2024: We’re looking at a cover art redesign for LONGSTAR to make it both more intriguing and better aligned with the graphic theme established by the cover art for GRONE. Here’s the lead contender so far:
My fav meme.
7/8/2024: I made this meme several years ago when I first launched the Starships & Heroes FB page. It got shared a lot. I still see it surface every so often (like today). I wish I knew who took the original photo, because it is awesome and they deserve credit. If you know, please contact me.
ORUS blurb draft, version 1.0
Here’s my first attempt at writing a back-of-the-book blurb for ORUS, the upcoming GRONE sequel.
As a mysterious apocalypse looms, desperate scientists search for the one person who might stop it.
Earthquakes span the globe. Aurora blaze in the night skies over Ecuador and Brazil. The sun is dimmed by an unprecedented plague of sunspots. Power grids are failing. Global climate is in deadly turmoil. And most terrifyingly, an apparition has appeared in the sky, bigger than the moon, a twisted topological impossibility that not a soul on Earth can bear to witness for more than a few seconds.
The cause of the chaos is known to only a handful of scientists sequestered in a lab at Stanford University. They’ve conducted a bold experiment with a new type of quantum computer, and now they’re dealing with the consequences of their actions. Somehow, impossibly, they’ve violated the laws of physics. The fabric of reality is quite literally being stretched to the point where the threads are starting to snap.
No one on the Stanford team truly understands the enigmatic technology that powers their QARMA supercomputer. All their work is based on the theories of one woman: Dr. Imani Salim, a renowned scientist who vanished years earlier, on the night before she was to receive the Nobel Prize for physics.
Can Imani Salim save the world?
Maybe, but they need to find her first.
It’s starting to get real, y’all…
7/6/2024: The GRONE sequel is starting to show signs of life…
Where are the readers?
7/5/2024: I recently started funneling my book sales through my author website so that I could get some insight into the folks who are buying/reading my books. The theory is, if I can understand who they are (gender/age/interests), maybe I can serve them better with my writing. One thing I never expected was to find a significant portion of my readership overseas. Here’s a world map from my website’s reporting tool (Google Analytics) showing book sales over the past month. The English speaking countries aren’t a huge surprise, but who knew we would have such strong sales in Germany? We also had a couple of readers in China, Thailand, Sweden, Brazil, Japan, a few Pacific Islands and what looks like Albania. What do we learn from this? Well, for starters, maybe a German translation is in order, and maybe we should target a few more book ads to Asia…
New Kindle Unlimited Ad Campaign Launching
7/3/2024: With the success of the GRONE audiobook campaign, I’m taking what I learned, namely that the more highly targeted your ads are, the more effective they are, and created a new campaign geared specifically for Kindle Unlimited readers. In case you don’t know, Kindle Unlimited (KU) is a subscription program Amazon offers that enables readers to read as many books as they want for a monthly fee. GRONE and LONGSTAR are both enrolled in the KU program, mainly because it’s a great way for new, unknown authors (like me) to get some exposure. KU readers can try new books, risk free, and if they don’t like them, they just move on. The KU program has been very good to me (so far), so we’ll see if this new batch of KU targeted ads will attract new readers.
2 million page reads!
7/1/2024: Hit 2 million pages read on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited platform for GRONE and LONGSTAR. Thanks, readers, y’all are awesome!
The 10,000th copy.
6/29/2024: Proud to announce that today we hit 10,000 books sold since Grone was published last April (including audiobooks). The best part of the whole experience so far has been the interactions from readers all over the world, who have sent me so many encouraging messages and emails (and even a couple of old-fashioned snail-mail letters and a couple of very cool gifts). Thanks to all of you who have provided so much love and wonderful inspiration.
A little more than half the sales were in the USA, while the rest were split between the UK, Canada and Australia. Looking very much forward to finishing the sequel, ORUS, and getting it out there!
Getting reacquainted with Se Jong & Nkiru.
6/26/2024: SE JONG AND NKIRU. I loved these characters in GRONE, and now that I’m in the middle of writing BOOK 2: ORUS, I love them even more. Will Se Jong find Nkiru, who was taken from him at the end of GRONE? That is still to be determined. ORUS is surprising me as I write it, and the twists just keep coming out of nowhere and dragging me into uncharted territory. I really hope the two of them reunite, but the Havencosm is a seriously messed up place, where nothing is ever as it seems and tragedy is quite literally designed into the fabric of reality.
New PC sigil.
6/21/2024: Updating my social media profiles, and instead of a goofy author photo, I’ve decided to try a simple sigil based on my initials (PC). We’ll see how it works going forward as a sort of branding exercise.
Manhattan Book Review gives LONGSTAR a five star review.
5/15/2024: The Manhattan Book Review just released a review of my latest novel LONGSTAR, giving it 5 stars and calling it “A fun read” and “Unconventionally epic.” So many thanks are due to all my beta readers and to everyone else who helped birth this beast.
One and a half million pages for GRONE.
4/6/2024: At lunch today GRONE hit a million-and-a-half pages read on the Kindle Unlimited ebook platform. Pretty cool!
LONGSTAR is off to a good start.
2/13/2024: LONGSTAR is off to a good start, with a 4.8 rating on Amazon from the first batch of readers. Ads for the book started delivering this morning, and already today the book has exceeded 10,000 new page reads of the Kindle Unlimited ebook platform. Also got confirmation today that the Manhattan Book Review will be doing a review… fingers crossed!
LONGSTAR launch.
1/31/2024: Don’t blink, it happens fast. Less than ONE MINUTE after the worldwide launch of LONGSTAR, almost a hundred of the preorders have already been fulfilled, and ONE reader has started the book and read ONE page so far. Launch day for a new book is nerve-wracking, especially when modern ebook technology allows you to see how many pages are being read in real-time. We’re chewing our nails.
New books, new covers.
1/31/2024: Look what came in the mail today, y’all!
It’s coming ALIVE!
1/27/2024: It’s coming ALIVE! This morning, a cascade of emails from Amazon approving the release of LONGSTAR on their platform next Wednesday.
T-5 days.
1/26/2024: T-5 days… Trade paperback cover reveal! Early reviews starting to come in… looks like we’re go for a launch!
New covers.
1/21/2024: After agonizing for weeks over a million options and variations (several of which I’ve shared), here’s the cover reveal for my upcoming book LONGSTAR, plus the new-and-improved cover for GRONE. There may be a few last minute tweaks, but the final book covers should look very much like these. Now to get the finishing touches on the manuscript, thanks to the beta readers!
Beta reader feedback complete.
1/19/2024: Final beta reader feedback from advance copies of LONGSTAR is almost complete. We’ve interviewed advance readers from USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and the consensus so far is that LONGSTAR is ready for publication. Getting excited!
Wow, y’all the beta reader feedback is *tremendously* useful and VERY high quality. Y’all are all really smart and perceptive people and your suggestions, criticisms, and comments are 100% absolutely spot on. I’m humbled and very honored by your help…it’s truly fun to be in the company of great readers who love books!
New cover concepts?
1/15/2024: Experimenting with a whole new cover art strategy for the Known Arc books. The idea is to make them all have the same look and feel for branding purposes and to attract only those readers who like epic/space opera genre sci fi. There are early concepts, but I like the general direction.
Fan art!
1/1/2024: Check out this art from a fan! A hand-forged iron Linked Trinity symbol from GRONE! So freaking cool!
A new year, a new project.
1/1/2024: From this day forward, I’ll keep a running journal about writing and publishing my books.
GRONE gets recognized.
GRONE has been selected as a finalist for the 2023 BEST BOOK AWARDS by the American Book Festival in the science fiction category!
Audiobook released.
GRONE is now an audiobook! The amazing voice talents of our narrators Jennifer Jill Araya and Nikola Hamilton are on high display with their performances. Jennifer is an Audie Award winning performer who really brings my characters to life. Nikola is a producer and engineer whose dulcet voice is absolutely enthralling. Check it out: the GRONE audiobook is available on Amazon, Audible, and Apple Books.
GRONE garners five-star reviews from Kirkus and Seattle Book Review
6/2023: GRONE has earned praise and five star reviews from both Kirkus Reviews and the Seattle Book Review!
“Kinetic and sharply written.”
-Kirkus
“An absolute masterpiece of science fiction.”
-Seattle Book Review
GRONE released!!!!
4/2023: My debut novel GRONE was just released from Broken Monolith Press. Get it now, or hear what critics and reviewers are saying.
I got an award.
5/2023: I’m honored to be the First Place recipient of the 2023 Chapter One Prize for fiction!
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