Final three update

I have a pattern that I've followed throughout the writing of the Forgotten Worlds series:

1. Write two books ahead of what the next published book will be,
2. Go back and edit the next book to publish,
3. Read through the two books after #2 (one right after and the one just finished drafting), which works out great because I'm still in editing mode and have had enough of a break to start seeing any major issues,
4. Make any rewrites and notes that jump out at me in #3,
5. Then write the next book (after catching up and refamiliarizing myself with what has happened between publishing the latest book and finishing the most recent draft)

This has worked out very well throughout this whole long series.

Now that Book 22 is published, I've been rereading Book 23 and seeing some things that needed a lot of work. These last three are difficult, because events are ramping up for the series climax after all the episodes. Each book has its own themes, motifs, and plot that tie into the larger series plot. I'd like to think I'm pulling it off, but you tell me. I'm making it happen according to my vision, at the least.

The series started out with the first five books laying a foundation of the characters, worldbuilding, and overall plot structure. I saw that in planning but even more so in rereading. By book five, there's a clear purpose for the characters and a solid foundation of how things work in the Starfire-verse I've established, although much of that was set ten years earlier with the first Starfire Angels (young adult) book. By book six, I had a clear pattern and the characters of this expansion of the Starfire-verse had their purpose.

Getting back to my point of Book 23, I finally hammered away at the blurb/description and refined it into the main ideas. I also see the final stinger scene issue that I couldn't figure out while writing the first draft. What I had written felt contrived, but it was something, at least a placeholder. In rereading the story after a year away from it, what was needed for the stinger scene to tie in elements from the main plot of this book and leading into the final two books finally came together. I couldn't be more relieved! I also have made some notes of a few minor rewrites for when I'm ready to get into deeper edits, which will be after writing the first draft of Book 25. Before I move onto rereading Book 24, I'll be writing the stinger of Book 23. I want that draft done now rather than later.

That's a bit of a long-winded update, but now you know.

I also need to get a cover up for Book 24.

As for Book 23, here's the description. It may get some tweaks later, but I'm pretty happy with this:

The time for the attacks on the Issan installations is approaching, as is the birth of Nya's baby, and she has two shards left to find. When she and her friends on the Cartegos arrive at one of the last Starfire worlds, they discover more than expected. A colony of Voru lives under a large shield reinforced by a Starfire shard, a shield that protects an ancient record whose truths could shatter the Issan cult; but the Keeper of the shard is dying.

The Issan have been alerted to the location of the shard, and they've come with forces prepared to defeat anyone who stands in their way. Nya can hardly access the knowledge left for that time while in labor, much less defend against the Issan; and a saboteur has weakened the shield. Their options and time are running out…

-------------------

Thanks for reading!

One more published... down to the final three!

LIGHT AND SHADOWS (Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Book 22) is finally published. This is one of the longest books in the series at around 54,000 words. I’ve purposely limited the books to short novels, but there’s a lot packed into each. Each book is its own complete story but is a chapter in a much bigger story arc that will conclude in book 25. By the time I finish, I’ll have over 1.2 million words of what is essentially one big book told in small, adventurous episodes.

Forgotten Worlds is the most ambitious project of my writing career, but I could not have done this without the experience of having written many other books that became series by accident, including having established my Starfire-verse with the Dark Angel Chronicles. I knew I needed a plan for this monumental of a project, and plan I did! Eight years ago, before I started any writing on this project, I brainstormed possible episodic ideas and briefly synopsized them with lots of room for changes (having learned about the process of JMS with Babylon 5). I then plugged those in where they made the most sense and switched around some of those episodic ideas a few times as the series developed.

Only three more books to go in this series and it’s done. Only one remains to be written, then all three of the finale can be edited and published one after another. (I’ve been writing two ahead of what I publish, because I learned long ago that I’ll need to change something two books down the road. That still holds true.)

After dozens of books published, I don’t feel any excitement in this. Instead I feel fear—What did I do wrong? What did I forget? 😱

Just breathe!

One more down. Three to publish, and now I get to write the exciting conclusion.

I'll send out the newsletter once I have the final retail links to include. In the meantime, you can find the available links on the book's page on my website. I'll also be listing this on Spotlight on Indie with the rest of the series that's already there.

Thanks for reading!

Nearly finished...

A lot of things happened the last couple of weeks to slow my progress on editing Book 22 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, but the work on Book 22 is nearly complete.

I'm giving it one final round of edits to be sure, but it came after being too busy the last couple of weeks to make anything but very slow progress. Fortunately, I was able to rush to finish a round of edits through the weekend.

But that meant some fixes that I want to review. I like these to be as polished as possible, which is why in rereading the series from the beginning, I've also been fixing up those books, again. That's been necessary and so helpful in prepping for the final book, which I'll start writing in October.

I also fixed up the cover image to something much better

Maybe life could slow down a bit so I can catch up.

I won't say it, because every time I think I'll be done any day, something comes up to slow my progress. It's been a crazy last couple of months.

Keep reading!

Book 22... update

It's coming. I'm balancing a lot while working on edits of Book 22.

Besides multiple projects, I also am trying to be extra careful. These last four books need to keep consistent as they tie a lot of pieces together. So there's that too.

I'm finding myself going back and forth between the notes for the final book and Books 22, 23, and 24. I'm also rereading the earlier books and finding that super helpful with making sure I keep details consistent. It's quite a project!

And then there's the planned ending. The slowness of the work has allowed many more ideas to emerge. I keep thinking I have a great ending... and then something else pops to mind to make it even better and really tie things up nicely.

By the time I finish writing the first draft of Book 25 next spring, It'll be an incredible ending!

Stay tuned for a great final four books of this series!

And check out these and more books at spotlightonindie.com.

Status of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Book 22... and more

I'm nearly finished with the first round of edits on Book 22 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds - The End is the Beginning. This has been a slow process, where normally it's fast. I've had a lot of other things going on, and those aren't going to stop any time soon.

It's already mid-August. I would guess it'll be mid-September to publish it.

And in the meantime, I've slowly pieced together something for Book 25 that had been lurking in my mind and stumbling a bit. All this time has allowed the conclusion of this adventure to develop more fully. I won't say it's complete, because it hasn't been written yet, and anything can happen. However, I am satisfied with the issues that have slowly resolved for the planning of how this will end. By the time I start writing next month, nearly everything will be in place and it'll just be a matter of actually writing everything in story form instead of synopsis form.

When Book 25 is done, the final three books will be released in 6-8 week windows of one another. By a year from now, it should all be complete.

This has been an ambitious project. I never could have taken it on at any other time in my life, not like this. It's only by the grace of God, and to honor Him, that I could write this amazing story.

There have been many references to my faith dropped along the way, and more is yet to come. In Book 22, I have the St. Michael door (although it's not called that) and the name of a saint who is special to me. (I already used this saint's mother's name without knowing it at the time when I named Aurelia Station; I just thought is sounded like a pretty name when I found it... or was led to it. The saint whose name I assign in Book 22 has been one calling to me to guide me closer to Christ. A second hint is that the individual was a stigmatist.) There's also the title of the final book - For Such a Time as This - a piece of a quote from the Bible book of Esther which fit perfectly for the final events.

If you don't know the Bible, it'll still all make perfect sense in the setting of the series. The faith is couched in the setting, so there really isn't anything overtly Catholic. It's there for those who are faithful, but it's window dressing and just part of the world ultimately, a layer for those who want to see it.

I've also been rereading about a chapter a day of the start of the series and fixing some tiny issues. I always find details to fix, but I'm also trying to make sure the paperbacks are formatted correctly (copying and pasting removed some of the italics) and review what I can before I start writing Book 25. This is such a long series over nearly a decade (started writing Book 1 in 2018) that I have to remind myself of earlier events, even when much of what I'm writing is developed after things have changed for the characters.

It'll be soon enough and you'll be at the end of this journey. Thanks for staying with it all this time.

God bless!

It's done

I finished book 24 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds last night.

Today, I started a read-through. There are a couple of details I want to insert, but I need to find the right locations to insert those.

I also realized that something I thought I needed as a final scene wasn't needed. In fact, I had given myself a much better way to present the information in one of the scenes and am using that happy accident to cut out an unnecessary POV character.

It came together better than I had expected.

Once I'm done with this, I'm diving into edits on Book 22 and trying to find the right cover image for Book 24. 

Once that's published, I'll reread Book 23 and work on the description. Then I'll start writing Book 25. And after finishing that final book of the series, I'll be editing books 23, 24, and 25 back-to-back. I expect to publish those 6-8 weeks apart starting late spring 2027 through the summer. That means in approximately one year, this will be complete!

On a side note, I've added all these books and the Dark Angel Chronicles books to spotlightonindie.com, where you can access them from my profile there. I still need to add the Revelations books. All the information from my website is there, along with more detailed information for each book. Give it a look and be sure to share the URL with others!

Forgotten Worlds book 24 update

Nearly there!

Book 24 is past the climax, if you can call it that. The whole book is like a build up to Book 25, so the climax in this feels small by comparison to what I have planned for 25, a bit like they need to be taken together as one book split into two but each does have their respective arcs.

All that said, book 24 is over 45K words and I have just a couple short scenes and the end of the current scene to finish. I should be within 3,000 words of the end, but I won't know until it's done done. One way or another, I intend to keep this first draft under 50K words.

Whatever comes, the main story is done and I'm in the denouement and stinger lead into book 25 (as if this whole series hasn't been that, but when the time comes, you'll understand... it's a doozy!)

It will be done by the end of July and I can finally start editing Book 22 for a planned early September release (barring any interruptions).

I can't believe I'm so close to the end.

Stay tuned and keep reading!

Immersed in edits... finalizing Book 21, and other writing updates

At this point, I am immersed in the editing process of Book 21 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. I've made my first pass read-through and noted the first issues that jumped to the forefront. Now, the big edits happen. It'll take a few more passes, but it'll be refined and polished nicely before being published.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that I had a lot of trouble writing this one (although not nearly as much difficulty as writing Book 23). It's a complicated book advancing the present timeline while using flashbacks of the setup to the present timeline at key points. Because it's an interrogation, there are also a few short flashbacks from scenes in previous books and some scenes that would have happened in previous books but weren't in those books, because they were unimportant to those plots but are important to this plot.

L'Ni is a very intelligent character. As a former Inquisitor, he would have to be; along with unwavering devotion to their god, incredible intelligence and skills of perception are requirements to be chosen for the position. They're trained on interrogation techniques and how to stimulate memories to break the most disciplined mind. Hence, the drugs to loosen the victim's inhibitions and having to know exactly how to mix them for the results desired. The Issan Inquisitors have the primary task of rooting out dissidents in their own culture but also act as interrogators for any need. L'Ni had a natural aptitude for the duty and was trained in the techniques, refining those natural tendencies that made him one of the best. However, while that gives him an advantage in knowing what to expect, even he can be overcome.

Showing his planning as a way of revealing the immense acuity of his mind in using his knowledge of what would happen and how he planned his own interrogation to go the way he wants was a tricky writing test for me. The story turned out better than I expected, but it's not perfect. I did a lot of editing while writing, but it still needs a lot of work.

I have a busy month overall and this book is actually the longest, if not one of the longest, of the books in the series. I can't say it will be done by the end of the month, but I will be working to get it published sooner than later. I will also jump back and forth to writing on Book 23, but my main focus is now on editing Book 21.

In the meantime, I finally have the perfect cover for Book 22, which has been updated. The cover image is nearly exactly what I pictured in the book, and I won't have to do any updating of the description of the setting. I like that! 😊

So, while Book 21 will be published later than I wanted, it is coming soon. The good part is that it should be easier to jump into writing book 24, since I'll maintain the flow from finishing book 23. So close to the end! I can't believe this journey is nearly done. (Book 23 will answer some big questions and connect a bunch of dots from the first two books of the series. I was amazed with what came out in the writing so far and still have something more I want to include at the end.) A bit over two more books to write and the series will be complete.

At some point, I also need to format the next omnibus edition, Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Collection 4 (Books 16-20). I'll get to that when I have time. Formatting print is an all-day, time-consuming process. Book 21 editing is my biggest priority.

Thanks for reading!

Update on print collections of Forgotten Worlds!

After reading through the series again and fixing mistakes I've found--as a writer, I'll never NOT find things I want to fix--I've finally begun the process of reformatting the paperbacks to get those available again. I'm glad I waited. I learned a few things that improved the formatting.

Because these are omnibus editions, they're too long for hardcover on Amazon. I'll go back to making them available as paperback on Amazon.

The first of them, Collection 1 (Books 1-5), is in the proofing stage after a long day of formatting that. Once I have a chance to review those proofs and approve them, I'll make those available.

I hope to have the first three ready in time for the holidays and will work on Collection 4 (Books 16-20) once I've read through those books and fixed any mistakes.

Because this is such a tedious process, I did not get any writing done today. On the good side, I now have everything with the updating process down so that the next two should go a bit faster and I can get back to writing sooner.

This has been a nice little break from writing, where I was sort of stuck just under 10K words on Book 23. When that happens, it helps to work on something else for a day or two to refresh the creativity. This has been a good break from the writing side, although I loathe the formatting of print.

And I may just go ahead and release the collections as ebooks also. I expect to price them at $9.99 each (5 books per collection).

That's been my Saturday and will probably fill up Sunday as well.

Thanks for reading!

NOW AVAILABLE - Darkest Depths

It was officially published Sunday, but it took a day for all the major retailers to add DARKEST DEPTHS (Starfire Angels Forgotten Worlds 20). You can find the links on my website at https://melanienilles.com/books/darkest-depths/. All the links are there now.

I have also sent out the announcement email to everyone on my list.

I've started reading the next two books that I have written and am still making notes on how to organize the final three books. I've been planning this for a while, but have new ideas come up that need to be evaluated for fitting into the story. I can't believe there's only three left!

I could have planned for more books in this series, but this is plenty. It's enough that many readers won't start an unfinished series of such length, but I am determined to finish. I'd have to die or end up in a coma not to finish. I don't like leaving anything unfinished. I'm kind of OCD that way. 

Anyway, If you've been waiting, thank you for your patience! I've had a lot on my plate, but I'm in the homestretch on this series now. It's been a long road, but it's getting closer to the end.

Book 20, DARKEST DEPTHS, reveals a little history of Zaer and Shen, and it was fun to write and fun again to edit. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Thanks for reading!

Coming soon... very soon

I'm finalizing edits on Book 20 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. This has been a long time in the works, but I've had a strange summer that made writing difficult for Book 22 and then editing Book 20--the death of a family member and the stress this caused, along with planning and implementing the other project.

Now, I'm FINALLY happy with Book 20. The formatting is cleaned up and ready. I just need a quick review of a few sections. By this weekend, it will be available. A book announcement email will go out with links once those are all ready.

It's been a weird year for me, and readers will finally get some answers of how Zaer and Shen met!

DARKEST DEPTHS (Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds 20)

When a Starfire shard calls out to Nya in desperation, she immediately transports the Iludrin to a world where they discover game hunters threatening the security of the shard.

Nya and L'Ni head to the surface with Zaer and Shen on the Cartegos. There, they find one of the small hunter vessels unguarded. While the hunters are away, Shen has an idea to disable it. However, when one of the local creatures attacks, the ship—with Shen on it—crashes over a cliff into the sea and sinks beneath the surface.

That's not the only trouble to come for them. With no time to grieve the loss of another friend, Zaer and the others are forced to escape the world with the shard, but what arrives reveals that the creatures of that world are not the only ones being hunted.

-----------------

Thanks for reading!

And just for fun...

Bilbo hanging out in the catio

progress on the projects

I am close to getting sick of fresh garden peas. Yes, even for those of us who love fresh peas, we can reach our saturation point.

Around a year ago, I had a lot of peas put away in our freezer, along with some other frozen foods from our garden... until the door of the upright freezer wasn't shut properly and stayed open overnight. Everything thawed. I discovered that mess the next morning when going into the garage to head to work. We lost a LOT of work and food last year, including all the peas I had picked and shelled and measured and bagged.

I've been waiting to restock that. This year, I planted different peas, but they're good and they are indeed mildew resistant. I had always been losing my 5-6 ft. peas (we give them fences to climb) by this time. I was low on those, so this year, I ordered new peas from Gurney's, and they were sold as mildew-resistant. They are. They're short, however, only 24-30" tall. But, boy, do they produce! Not as much as the other plants, but they haven't stopped, so I've been able to refill what was lost.

We also learned from that loss two things: 1) Don't put the kids' preferred foods in the upright freezer, and 2) put a lock/latch on the door to make sure it can't open. Hubby put a child safety lock on the upright, so it's not a locking lock but a safety lock to keep little kids out of a fridge. When we secure it each time we close the door, we can be sure that door will stay shut.

And, we learned that putting the bagged frozen garden produce into large, stackable Rubbermaid containers help us make a lot better use of the space in the upright freezer. The upright is great for being able to see everything and not have to dig around, but it does have that door-closing issue. Putting bags into bins really helps to keep it organized. AND, if it ever does have a great meltdown again, that will reduce the mess!

Writing Update

I've been editing Book 20 and it's going well. I overcame the whole extreme fatigue issue and really gained a good focus for editing again. It's going well and I still have two weeks until the end of this month. I won't say anything, because I always tend to have something go wrong that delays publication. I'll just keep my eye on the target while giving it the attention to detail that readers deserve.

And once this is published, I'll get into writing Book 23. I can't believe I'll be in the final three!

Other 

The other project is jumping ahead. The development is nearly done and all the little pieces are settling into place very well. There's still a refinement stage, but the major part is done. And I already see how this could expand and grow. It could turn into a full-time job, and it could also turn a profit; but for now, it will start small. I hope to make a public announcement by the end of September. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

It's here! Book 19 is available!

That was a test of attention and persistence.

Book 19 is done! I had a lot of rewriting on this one. I knew it would be trouble when I wrote the first draft. Making the setting plausible--where technology doesn't work--is a difficult bit of explanation. I went back and forth on that every other editing round. I finally settled on a little bit of mystery. It doesn't have to be fully explained. It just has to be plausible. Good enough.

I enjoyed the story, but I found a lot of issues in editing needing rewriting. And I'd go back and forth a bit on some small issues with each round of edits. I also would find my usual issues and hope that I caught all of those.

In the end, it's MUCH better than the first draft! If you could compare the first draft to the final draft, you'd see the dramatic difference in quality. First drafts are getting the ideas down and all the pieces in some format or another. However, there are always word choices to consider. And I caught a few inconsistencies to fix. I hope I didn't miss anything. 😔

Sometimes, as with this, details change in big ways, but most of the time, those are good enough to need only minor tweaks. This story had a lot of unusual pieces to it, especially since the secondary characters of the world became almost equal to the series characters in terms of importance in this. Developing those characters adequately and their lives required a lot of work.

In any case, I'm glad it's done, although I worry about what else I should fix. Art is never finished, only abandoned. I would go on fixing forever and never publish if I didn't stop myself at some point.

ALL THE KING'S MEN is done! The ebook will be appearing in the next few days at online retailers.

Happy reading!

All the King's Men - editing update

After the first pass of Book 19 for review, I'm into major edits in the second pass. As a result, I have completely rearranged some scenes in the first few chapters. I kept getting to chapter 2 and thinking that would make a better opening, but there were aspects of chapter 1 that I really wanted to keep.

In starting my second pass, where the real editing begins, the answer came to me. I figured out where certain parts of chapter 1 should be moved to keep the focus on the book's specific main characters and the series characters for certain subplots to keep their points later in the story. Without giving anything away, that's the most I can reveal.

I also had to change a description of an area a bit, since this is in a castle, but I didn't want to have to rewrite too much. It had to give the impression of being a sort of vanity area for the lord of the castle as a grander palace might have yet be practical for the space. It's a small scene and passes in a page, but what I had originally was bothering me, since Miram Castle is a fortress against attack... and not just by other lords and their armies. That actually took a while to figure out after a couple of iterations of redesign and describing it.

It could happen again, but with these big changes, the worst I foresee is making sure everything still flows and that the story structure remains as it was, because overall, it's a good story. I like the subplots but don't want to make certain aspects too big that they take away from the main plot but, rather, intertwine organically.

This is the book that has a bit of GoT type underpinnings while serving the series purpose. It was fun to write and is as much fun to return to editing. I enjoy every book of the series, and the breaks between the original writing and the editing for publishing give them a freshness I especially enjoy. I also wanted to write a book on a cold, snowy world; and with this, I compromised with a winter season. How appropriate to be returning to this after one of the harshest winters in real life that I can remember. It puts the editing in a more accurate perspective for the setting. Since I live on the northern plains, I know winter!

This is also the book that I said has a horse like one I knew in real life growing up. Quint was mean! (And he was gelded--I can't imagine if he had been a stud!) I used that in this book, along with the name and his description.

Because of real life interruptions and reviewing these major changes, I will have to push back ALL THE KING'S MEN to a mid-March release timeframe. It's not much later than I had expected, and I appreciate your patience. I have a lot to manage in my life and writing doesn't always take center stage.

Thanks for reading!

writing and publishing updates

Just a couple of quick updates for readers...

Rereading the series

It's almost not worth mentioning. I didn't find much to fix in Book 3, but it was fun to read it again. I made more notes for adding details to my wiki document for the series than any fixes. I really enjoyed the flow of the book and the events of it and the refresh with what has happened. I found some tiny issues but nothing major. There were two seeming contradictions that needed clarification but that was done with just a few words. Otherwise, it was a few scattered, almost nothing changes--more stylistic preferences than anything.

Art is never finished, just abandoned.

I can read my books innumerable times and always find something that I'll want to "fix". I'm never fully happy with it. But when you go back after a few years, you've grown and had other life experiences that change your perspective. In a series like this, you also know more about the characters, but you can't let that influence how you saw them when the earlier books were written.

It's still fun to read them, though, and they keep me occupied while I'm on the treadmill. I've started rereading book 4 now of the series and will continue through all of them until I'm caught up, which will be just in time going into the final books.

Writing Book 21

I keep discovering that maybe I know what I'm doing with this book. Don't take that the wrong way--it's the little details that really bring it all together that I worry about getting wrong. I get inspirations--while driving usually--that are exactly what I need. That happened again on the way to church Saturday morning. I discovered another piece that I hadn't considered but which was right in front of me. (My flip phone was going bad on me (after almost four years) so I decided to upgrade to an iPhone. I love Siri--I can tell her to make a note or a reminder while I'm driving and not take my attention off the road. And I never forget what I was thinking of by the time I reach my destination. That's always a danger--forgetting that incredible spark of idea by the time I can write it down. I don't how many times that has happened. Incredible inspirations gone forever... 😔)

At the present, Book 21 has about 20K words written, and I tweaked a few scenes based on the idea I had on my drive to church. It was brilliant and demonstrates L'Ni's intelligence so well. I couldn't have come up with it, however, if I hadn't finished the most recent scene, which was a catalyst to making me see this. It was always there in the back of my mind but not fully formed until the right moment. Now, I have one more piece to demonstrate how brilliant of a tactician and strategist that L'Ni is.

I'm making progress on this book. I can't believe that after this, I'll only have four more to go in the series. I'm sure I'll miss it when it's done, but at the same time, I will be ready for it to be done. In other words, it'll be the perfect timing. I just need to perfect the final climax of all this buildup throughout the series.

I'm excited to see what happens. I hope you are too.

Thanks for reading!

It's here!

SINS OF THE FATHER (Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds 18) is now available!

The book went up a couple of days ago and is finally appearing at all the major retailers. Buy your copy today.

In the data stolen from the Issan, Nya discovers her greatest fear about the Ethalian portal research—the Issan have the calculations. In the hopes that the Dirnothril may have more current information, she and her friends decide to investigate the package left for L'Ni on Par Ti'jek. What they find shocks everyone… L'Ni isn't the only former Issan living on the outside.

However, the revelation is the least of concerns. An Inquisitor is ready for L'Ni's arrival, and, unknown to anyone, a more sinister threat lurks on the Cartegos, one that could destroy L'Ni and, through him, Nya.

--------------

Purchase from links at https://www.melanienilles.com/books/sins-of-the-father/.

A couple more days

All the major edits of SINS OF THE FATHER (Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds 18) are done. I'm just in a holding pattern for a day. I thought of something earlier today, got distracted, and forgot. But I remember thinking it was something good, a small tweak that made excellent sense. I'm giving it one more day for that to resurrect in my thoughts. After that, the story is going up. It's ready. I just get very nitpicky and want to constantly try to improve it, but at some point, you over edit. I don't want to reach that point.

This is an excellent story in this series, but I think that of every book, so don't listen to me. This one is about fathers and sons, but not like Nik and his father. This is much different. The theme is very strong in this in multiple ways.

I expect to make the publishing announcement by the end of the week with links to retailers and will send out the book announcement to my email list when I have everything ready.

I don't know if I should warn you of a big event in this book. I think I'll leave the specifics for you to discover for yourself.

Book 18 is coming VERY soon now!

With this book, the series will be about 3/4 published.

Thanks for reading!

Writing time!

I'm back at it... writing on the next book of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series--Book 20. So far, I have 2300 words. It's been a slow start, but I've had a busy week.

Book 17 was released just over two weeks ago, and I took time to read through books 18 and19 and make some notes for when I officially start editing each of those. Now, I'm starting the writing on Book 20. I have 25 books planned (actually more but am limiting the series to 25 books), so the homestretch is in sight.

Here we go again!

It's here... HOMECOMING

The book is finished, uploaded, and already reaching some of the major bookstores.

I finished last night but had some reservations about publishing and waited until this morning, after letting myself sleep on it. I had to be absolutely certain that the book was really ready. Part of that was giving myself a chance to think of any more details like I had done already--things come to me when I'm not actively editing but in that mindset doing something else like household chores.

The other part was debating a couple of places in the book, whether I wanted to keep some sections of backstory (aka info-dump/flashback narrative) in the story about some of the side characters. However, these were characters from the earlier parts of the Starfire Angels series (Dark Angel Chronicles and Revelations). I decided that these characters and their past interactions were worth explaining, because it highlights something more about the Starfire, which readers will know is a key to defeating the Issan deity, and because it offers something about the past of the characters and touches on their links to one another. Those who read the other two series will appreciate the updates more than new readers, but it will help new readers too.

I finally decided that I could either edit it to death or just publish. It's the same old battle. As I get further along on this series, I get a bit more paranoid about missing things or messing up a detail, but I did go back to Remnants and reviewed bits of the Nepur'din information there.

In the end, I feel that HOMECOMING is as good as it could get and any more editing would probably detract from it. It's a fine line between editing enough and over-editing.

It's now available. I'll send out the email notice tomorrow. (I'm still waiting on a couple of retail links.) You can find all the links on the book page as I update them at https://www.melanienilles.com/books/homecoming/.

Happy Reading!

upcoming print book

I have one more round of edits for Book 17 before it's done, but after finishing the latest edits last night, I decided today to take a break to complete a more tedious job... formatting. 😵

I've been working most of the day on formatting for the print version of Collection 3 (Books 11-15) to set up a hardcover on Barnes and Noble and a paperback with Amazon. Editing is difficult, but formatting is tedious.

And while formatting the file for the interior, I discovered a few formatting issues from the ebooks of these, so I'm going back and cleaning up those files to be sure the ebooks don't have any hidden issues (extra spaces, tabs, returns, etc.). I'll finish these five, then go back to the first ten and give those another pass.

There's always something, but the good thing about being indie is that I can easily make these changes and upload a new file... when I have time, because this is a tedious, time-consuming process, which is why many indies hire it out to others. It's also why I hate setting up print books--a LOT more steps to clean up and then reformat into a clean PDF and upload. Ebooks are just a matter of the DOCX file being directly uploaded. I don't have to worry about where a print page ends and a new chapter begins or where a section break ends and a new book begins (applicable to omnibus editions) or messing up my table of contents with page numbers of each book's starting page in the omnibus collection.

This is why I don't just make print books for all the books I have. I could, but it's also cheaper for readers to buy a 5-in-1 omnibus than individual print books. I can sell the paperback omnibus editions on Amazon for $19.95 versus $5-6 per individual book; and since these are 5-book omnibus editions, that's like getting one whole book free. For a hardcover, it's an even bigger savings. However I do have to keep them exclusive to specific stores to keep the prices as low as possible.

So, if you're waiting on a print edition of the next five books of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series, it's in the works, as I had mentioned this past winter. These are the projects that I work on when I need a break from writing or editing. They require a different set of skills that's more process-oriented than creative in nature. It's a way to switch gears for a while.

I won't finish at this time, but I will work on it again after Book 17 is out. For now, the initial setup is done. I have a final clean-up of the files, then uploading and waiting on approval, ordering proofs and waiting on those, evaluating proofs, likely making changes and going through the approval and proof process again (one more more times), and finally approving the print books for sale. The approval and proof processes, since I like to see actual printed copies, are where the delays really come in.

If you're looking for a more exact time frame, I would expect to see Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Collection 3 (Books 11-15) print edition available by the time I'm getting Book 18 ready for publishing; in other words, within the next four months.

That's my best estimate. I'll announce when it's ready, and the links will be available from my website at that time. For now, the individual ebooks are available from all major book retailers, and the first two omnibus editions are available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in paperback and hardcover respectively.

Thanks for reading!