Saturday, April 16, 2022

Writing update

The first draft of UNBROKEN BONDS, Book 14 of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series, is done! The final scene is written (and rewritten). The final word count... 50,000 words.

As readers know, the books of this series are not the doorstopper novels readers have come to expect from most series, but they are still novels (40K minimum words by SFWA standards), except for the first book, which is just under the minimum novel word count. As I've posted before, I try to keep these in the 40K-50K range on word count. Several books now have come in near the 50K mark. This shorter length allows me to explore different plots without getting too complicated and burning me out, and they also make it possible to release more frequent stories (3-4 per year). It also allows me to keep the prices low; and while prices on everything else continue to spike, $2.99 for a few hours of reading enjoyment is quite reasonable.


I now will begin shredding aka editing MESSAGES to publish that soon, just in time for summer reading. Book 12 will mark the halfway point of the series that I have planned (24-25 books total).

Here are the books available in this series so far:

1) A New Beginning

2) The Rule of Yonder

3) Vault of the Celestials

4) In Darkness, Light

5) The Destruction of Walls

6) Disposition of Dreams

7) Remnants

8) Racing the Orast Belt

9) Ferious

10) Dragon and Fury

11) Voices in the Dark

Written and coming in 2022:

12) Messages

13) Soul Shadow

14) Unbroken Bonds

You can find information on the Forgotten Worlds page of this blog or by going to melanienilles.com.

Keep in mind that projected release dates are only estimates. Some books can be easy to write while others present difficulties and take longer to write and edit. I have my goals, but I don't always meet them, especially when a book ends up longer than anticipated or something comes up to take my attention away from writing. This is why I no longer post books for pre-order but publish when they are ready and post the announcements and links as they become available.

If you want to keep track of each new release, follow my Amazon author page, this blog, and/or my MeWe page. If there is enough interest, I may even set up a new-release newsletter. You can sign up for that by completing the contact form on my website.

Thank you for your continued reading and support!

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Forgotten Worlds 14... cover reveal

A day after I last posted about Book 14 having no title, I settled on a title. Now, I have a cover also.

I'm nearly done writing the first draft. It's currently over 40,000 words and in the midst of the climax. I worry about it being too predictable, which means I'm going to not be doing what everyone might expect in some aspects.

You'll have to wait and see.

I can say this, however, Book 14 will be the culmination of a romance that I've been developing, but it's not the Nik and Ann romance, even if the setting is their wedding.

So, without further introduction, here is the cover for UNBROKEN BONDS, the fourteenth book of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series: