Hey there. 

Since my last update, I wrote a novella called Acheron Rising, which is set in a new universe that I intend to write a series of books in beginning next year. I’m also in the middle of writing First Colony – Book 9. I’m anticipating the release of that book to be in November.

 Fracture – First Colony book 8 audiobook update – Scott Aiello will be recording the book in November and I hope to release it in December. I was also able to get on Scott’s schedule for book 9, which I’m currently working on. For those of you who are waiting for the audiobook, I really appreciate your patience. Progress is being made, and all of the First Colony books will also be released in audiobook format. I get a lot of questions about that.

At the end of the month, I will be attending the NINC conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. Novelist INC (NINC) is an excellent organization for writers. I attended the conference last year and loved it. It’s very informative and it’s nice to meet other writers who write in different genres.

Last month I did a Facebook live event in my reader's group, where I answered a lot of questions. It was my first time doing that and it was definitely a learning experience, but one that I enjoyed. I plan to do more of those events as the group grows and also as a check-in, in addition to writing updates on this blog. If you’d like to see the video, you can access it by joining the group – Ken Lozito’s SF Worlds

That’s it for me. I’m going to get back to work. As always, thank you for reading my work.

Ken

PS – If you're wondering about the title to this post. I have a good friend who is also a writer and we exchange daily emails about what we've accomplished that day. It keeps us motivated and accountable. We-(mostly he)- comes up with the monthly subject lines for our emails. I'm pretty sure he'll be okay that I used it for the title here.

This summer is flying by and it'll be back to school here at the end of the month. Muahahaha! I have two kids in high school so hence the evil laugh. 🙂

Moving on to more serious stuff:

Last month I released Fracture – First Colony Book 8 continuing the saga of humanity’s first interstellar colony. There's a lot that happens in this book and the return of some characters who were in the previous books.

Whenever I release a book, I’m always stunned by how fast people can read. It usually takes me at least a week or more to read a book. Yet I have people who have contacted me after they finished the book telling me how they’ve read it in one sitting. That’s both amazing and humbling for me to hear. First, that they’ve finished the book so quickly and second, that they enjoyed the book so much that it held their interest for that long. Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy of Fracture and read it. Please if you have a few minutes, leave a review and recommend to others who might like it. Word of mouth helps out so much. 

After I release a book I usually get the following questions, so I figured I’d put them here along with the answers.

When is the next book in the First Colony (Book 9) series coming out? I’m currently writing it, but I expect to release it by the end of October. I’ll be posting my progress in these monthly blog posts so check back next month for an update.

When is the audiobook for Fracture – First Colony Book 8 going to be released? That’s a tough one. It usually takes about 2 or 3 months to produce the audiobook, but this one might take longer because of things outside of my control. It’s a bit frustrating when things don’t line up, but please know that one way or another there will be an audiobook version of Fracture released.

How many books will the First Colony series be? That’s another tough question. The current series arc that began with Discovery (Book 5) will be at least two more books after the current book I’m writing (Book 9). I’ve always said there are a lot of stories to tell in the First Colony universe and not all of them will be as epic in scope as the current storyline. I could see this series easily growing to be 15 books and beyond, which doesn’t account for spinoff series. I love writing in this universe and plan to write in it for a long, long time.

What else are you working on? I just finished writing a novella that will be part of a multiauthor anthology released in a few months. I’ll be revising it in the coming weeks while I’m writing First Colony Book 9. Beyond that, I haven’t decided yet. Either I will jump in and work on First Colony Book 10 (Most likely) or I will be writing the first book in a new series. 

So there you have it. Thank you for stopping by. I’m going to get back to the writing.  

I'm excited to share my latest book release. Fracture – First Colony Book 8!

Colonel Sean Quinn is stranded in another universe, along with two thousand people under his command. They've been hiding from the enemy long enough, now it’s time to return home. Outnumbered against a superior foe, Sean must risk everything in a daring operation, but the mysterious enemy has a few surprises of their own.

Meanwhile, a division threatens to tear the colony apart and Connor Gates is caught in the middle. Their best chance to prepare for a formidable multidimensional aggressor is to form an alliance with one of their victims, but the more they learn about New Earth's inhabitants, the more resistant to an alliance the colonial government becomes. 

When a shadow group seeks to undermine the alliance, Connor must do what he swore he would never do in order to protect the colony. For Connor, the stakes have never been so high or so personal. The price will be paid by everyone if he fails.

Fracture is the eighth book in the bestselling military science fiction series, First Colony.

Since my last entry, I finished writing Fracture – First Colony book 8, and I’ve started revisions. I’m probably about a month away from publication. I’ll work on my revisions, and then send it to my editor who always does an amazing job. I’ve been working with her since 2016 and this will be the fifteenth book she’s edited for me. After that, I use a separate proofreader to help give it that final polish. So we’re getting closer and progress is being made even if I’ve gone a little quiet. In a nutshell, Fracture continues the story where Vigilance left off. This storyline will be a multi-book series arc that I hope you will enjoy.  

In other news, the audiobook for Vigilance will be released in just a couple weeks. Another noteworthy item is that yours truly will be recording the Author’s Note. For anyone who hasn’t read the Author’s Note at the end of Vigilance, I included a rather personal account about my journey as a writer. I received such a great response to it that I wanted it included in the audiobook. Audible agreed but wants me to record it in a recording studio.

June marks the mid part of the year and I will be planning the projects I’ll be working on for the rest of the year. This will include the next First Colony book, which is book 9. Also, I’ll be working on a few new projects as well, but I'm not ready to say much more about them. 

I do get questions about how long the First Colony series will be. It’s not going to end with the 9th book. There are a lot of stories left to tell in the First Colony universe and more characters to explore. I’m looking forward to it and I hope you do as well. My plan moving forward is to rotate my writing projects between at least two series. 

Last month I speculated that Fracture will be released by the end of June. At this point, it’s a long shot. It really depends on how long revisions take me and I’m not going to rush it. To be on the safe side of scheduling, I anticipate releasing this book the second week in July.

When I was kid in the late 70s and 80s they played reruns of Godzilla and I loved it. My only disappointment with those movies was when Godzilla fought King Kong. I still feel that Godzilla should have won that fight decisively. He shoots nuclear fire from his mouth and King Kong doesn't have armor. Last week I saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters in the movies and loved it. What's not to like. Monsters fighting other monsters. It was just fun to watch with some pretty stunning visuals. Do you have a favorite monster?

Last week I attended a small writer’s conference with some pretty well known science fiction authors whose careers I’ve been following for years.  Special guests at the conference included David Weber. Yes THE David Weber, author of the Honor Harrington, Safehold, Dahak series, and much more! I stood in the presence of a living legend who has sparked the imaginations of so many readers. I listened as a true master craftsman told us about his writing career and I even got to hear about some of his upcoming projects. 

Sometimes meeting the people whose creative work you admire can actually be a negative experience. Be it a musician or a writer. The person who actually creates the art can be quite different than the person we imagine them to be. Getting a chance to meet David Weber was a tremendous experience. It took me a little bit of time to contain my enthusiasm. I was happy to learn just how genuine and nice a person that Mr. Weber was. Very easy to talk to. Just listening to him speak left you with a sense that David Weber is a master storyteller. One whose skill I’m working to achieve with each book that I write. I have a few authors whose skill and mastery at storytelling I’d like to emulate both in science fiction and in other genres. 

  For me it was awe inspiring to meet the man who created such rich worlds that I’ve spent so many hours of my life lost in. I’ve been on Dahak’s command deck with Colin MacIntyre as he struggle to save humanity from an invading fleet of over a million ships. I’ve witnessed Honor Harrington serve in the Royal Manticorian Navy as she ascended the ranks and overcame astonishing odds. I’ve even enjoyed seeing Merlin fight for humanity’s future and soul in the Safeholdian universe. 

Reading David Weber’s work for so many years was a major driving force that inspired me to write science fiction. It was nice to discover the person behind the stories and learn that we had some things in common. We’re both just two people who are trying to do what’s best for our family, and we’re both fathers with kids who are of similar ages. If you’ve raised teenagers then I’m sure we have some common ground too. 

No meeting would be complete without a picture being taken so here is mine with one of my favorite authors in the universe.

Last but not least, my current status. 

I’m writing Fracture – First Colony Book 8 and am making great progress. Tentative release for this will be the latter half of June. Vigilance – First Colony book 7 is currently in production for audio and also has a tentative release in June. The month of June is going to be a great month for releases.

Have you ever met an author in person? How’d it go?