MESSAGES has arrived!

It's done!

The latest installment of the ongoing Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series is now available from major ebook retailers. It's been a lot of work getting this ready. As I mentioned in my last post, I've had a lot going on in my real life. This book also required a lot work to hammer it into shape, but it's finally done. I hope you enjoy the latest book of this series, available from most major retailers and eventually from all of them. Purchase links are updated at https://melanienilles.com/books/messages/ as they become available.

When a distress call is caught by the Iludrin, the team can't ignore it, but no one is prepared for what they find. The signal leads them to an unstable star system, where a slaver vessel drifts aimlessly. Despite multiple life-signs, no one answers their inquiries.

Saving the prisoners is a priority, but when rescue teams board the derelict vessel, they soon discover why no one has answered. Something deadly is lurking in the grim corridors, killing crew and prisoners alike. The rescue teams from the Iludrin could be next. However, when a secret is discovered on the ship, they can't leave it for the Issan to claim, or the mysterious threat on the ship will be the least of their concerns.

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In case you're new to this series, here is a complete list of books in order (more details on the Forgotten Worlds page of this blog or at my website Forgotten Worlds series pages):

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

12: Messages

Upcoming (written but not yet published):

13: Soul Shadow

14: Unbroken Bonds

More to come! (expect around 25 books total in this series)

Remembrance

 

the view from the saddle

Most of Buddy's herd,
still a ways off from me.

I haven't reported on my horse for some time (months!). We made a change last summer in which I moved him closer to me from my parents' farm to a boarding facility. It's been a very good experience for him. He's in a pasture with a large herd of geldings, so he has plenty of freedom to roam and other friends for company and play. But it's a big pasture and can take me a while to reach him when he's at the far end (about a half-mile walk) as he was today. I'm glad he was out today in the pasture, though (maybe not so glad by the end of summer). The grass is starting to green up and he needs that. Hanging out near the barn end of the pasture eating the old hay isn't good for him, especially with better alternatives springing up.

Today was a beautiful day, except for the chilly breeze. In a couple of months I'll be wanting that breeze, but for now, it added a chill on what would have been a perfect day. Nevertheless, Buddy was a good boy, where he used to be a snorty freak on days like this.

He's come a long ways in just the last year alone. This spring, I finally buckled down and started asking for more forward and more attention to shoulder-fore. Now, he's picking up the canter from a trot within a step or two of my asking. No more taking lots of set up or running into it. He's so much better balanced, and it shows.

The view from the saddle
is magnificent

I also figured out why he's always so jumpy and fidgety--something missing in his diet. He needs a complete multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. It's a long process how I figured that out, partly by accident and observations that clued me into the issue. When he's on green grass, he's always calmer than on dried grass or hay (which is leeched of nutrients by the curing process and just by aging). I also noticed that when I changed his sweet feed treat to a complete feed, I had a calmer horse about an hour later. I added some Grand Vite to his before-ride treat and that hits him with more of what he needs immediately for a much better ride. He gets the rest after we ride, along with some digestive supplements and beet pulp. It's made a HUGE difference for him.

And that has made a HUGE difference in his training. He's finally reaching more of a solid dressage first level, although now he's so out of shape that we can't work too long yet. His muscle tone is gone right now and he's a fat boy. (He's pretty stocky / solidly built, but one can see the hay belly and the lack of muscle in his hindquarters.) And after our big spring snowstorm, he quit shedding like he had been, but I'm seeing signs that it may pick up again soon. I hope to have a sleek, shiny boy in another month.

I'm going to try to ride more often this summer, which is what he really needs to overcome his lack of confidence in new situations and to build up his strength to advance his dressage work. He isn't a fancy mover nor very athletic (and certainly not built for dressage), but I know I have the skills from all my years of experience and training to help him become something that he wouldn't otherwise have the chance to be. He's already come very far since I bought him as a youngster broke by horse traders to make a quick buck at the auction six and a half long years ago (he's now 9), when I was looking for just a simple little project horse to play with after giving up on the showing. I bought an ugly duckling (in terms of movement) and with proper training, am transforming him into the swan that was hiding inside. If he can be transformed, any horse can be with dressage training. It's exciting to see this sweet little guy blossom into his potential as an adult horse!

The shadow shows me on his back.

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!

a short update on FW book 14

I post more frequent updates on my MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p/melanienillesauthor.

I'm still writing, although I deal with health issues that can make that difficult. I've been trying to figure out if I might be deficient in my diet somewhere, but testing supplements can be difficult. I can't take multivitamins because they're imbalanced for me. The other part is middle age--getting older sucks!

I love writing too much to not write this series and must see it to the end, which will be spectacular (at least in my mind for what I have planned). I have over half a book written on Forgotten Worlds book 14 and am seeing all my planned scenes get plugged into place despite the unconventional storytelling of this book. It will be an interesting wedding story with a little mystery.

Part of why I love this series so much is that I can play with different story types and even subgenres and situations. MESSAGES has a touch of horror, and this has a bit of a mystery for the characters to solve to rescue one of the team, and it's not Nya this time.

That's all I can say without giving too much away. You'll just have to stay with me to find out. 😉

Later this spring, I'll publish MESSAGES (Book 12), but I have to finish the first draft of this book (14) first.

Happy Book Day!

Voices in the Dark is done! It is publishing now across ebook retail sites. Be sure to check out https://melanienilles.com/books/voices-in-the-dark/ for links to be updated as it shows up in various stores.

Escaping the Paxons caused damage to the Cartegos that requires more extensive repairs than Vel and Shen can perform in space. To access the damage, they need to set down in an atmosphere. To reach a planet with an atmosphere, they need Nya to open a portal, and the Starfire entities have the perfect location.

While the ship undergoes repairs, L'Ni accompanies Nya on a journey into a cave on Karam Three to find the shard left there. However, the wildlife is protective of their world and attack ferociously to defend their territory, driving Nya and L'Ni deeper into the abyss of the cave.

The situation is no better for their friends. While Nya and L'Ni are trapped within the darkness, their friends must make a difficult decision.

Not all is what it seems on Karam Three.

Forgotten Worlds format explanation

I have been wondering for some time if some readers may have an issue with some of the formatting styles chosen for the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds books. So, I thought I might make a quick post to explain some of the styles used for those who aren't certain or who believe those might be errors.

LANGUAGE

First off, because this series is multi-cultural and that involves many made-up languages, I had to find a way to designate when characters are speaking a different language, besides always saying it with every dialogue line. That could get very annoying.

Since the primary language is Standard (pretty cliche with science fiction), short for Standard Galactic Trading Language, I don't do anything special for that. That's your basic "English" language for the characters, because I'm an English-speaking author. However, if I had this translated into another language, Standard would be that language. You get the picture.

Second, in my Starfire Angels books, I have always used square brackets for the Inari language translation [], so I kept that.

Then, I added Ru'owa, the Feri language, so I had to designate that a different way, so I chose the fancy brackets or braces {}.

If I use a third language or don't use Inari, I may use the square brackets in that particular book but will state what language it is. Or I may use a different way to designate that language translation.

In general...

[] = Inari language dialogue

{} = Feri Ru'owa language dialogue

TELEPATHY AND THOUGHTS

This was a little tricky. Traditionally, thoughts were always put in italics and so was telepathy. I've also used quotes around telepathy to designate speech. However, since Nya isn't telepathic but her thoughts can be heard by telepaths and sometimes telepaths can block their thoughts, I felt that it was important to differentiate in a new way.

What I did was only put quotes around non-POV thoughts that the POV character can hear. All POV character thoughts are quote-less. This can also be helpful, if you see the pattern, to know from whose perspective a scene should be seen. Sometimes it gets a bit hazy when there aren't any or are few thoughts or a character is observing another only from the outside.

OTHER ITALICS USED

I also used italics for some non-Standard (aka alien) words and also for ship names. This helps you see that sometimes a word isn't translated in [] or {} dialogue or that a word is actually a ship name and not a word, besides being capitalized.

Another way I use italics in the series is with dreams or Starfire visions, to differentiate dreams or memories from the present or reality.

If I think of any other formatting styles I've used not mentioned here or someone leaves a question, I will edit this post. Otherwise, I hope this helps alleviate any confusion.

SOUL SHADOW News and Cover!

It's done! The first draft of Book 13 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds is complete at just over 49,000 words. Up next--editing.

And I have a cover for Book 13. I think this conveys the internal struggle of the story about something dark and sinister. The story involves L'Ni's memories, so there's plenty of science fiction to it, but a space station or space battle might give the wrong impression of this particular story.

The plot isn't this series's typical action type of story but something more dramatic, personal, and of an internal conflict nature, which is why it's difficult to fight for such a warrior as L'Ni--the battle is taking place completely within him. (He can't fight it with his hands or weapons.) He's defied its rule, and now the creature he once called a god has found a way to attack him from within, since it can't yet breach the barrier between dimensions. It essentially is a demon.

I just hope this cover is intriguing enough for the series.

ps - The blurb was harder to write than the cover was to design, and I may still tweak it before publication.

music suggestions for Forgotten Worlds

I've never applied it as a reader of any particular book, but as an author, music definitely has an influence on me. There's something about music that inspires, whether it's a deep, thumping bass; a lively jig; a dramatic score; something discordant and creepy; or soft and gentle. Music can affect ones emotions and inspire ideas. Its affects are well documented in studies.

As a writer, I often hear a song that connects with a particular scene or character. It has a power all its own on my creativity, igniting a focus that I can't escape.

All of my books have at some point had songs or scores that hit the right note (pun intended) with a scene or character.

In my latest series, Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, I've found some scores along the way that kept me going, but when it came to Book 10: DRAGON AND FURY, there have been two now that really struck me. Initially, Shadowlands by Revolt Music Productions struck me as the combat games entrance of each titular fighter, the Black Dragon and the Fury.

I can't help but to picture their entrance, the pause before the fight starts, and then the beginning of their fight. It first struck me at some point while writing the book. I could see it for other possibilities too.

And then, after releasing the book, I was struck by Undefeated by Skillet.

This one too, I could see for the intense action between the combatants, but I could see this in general for many parts of the series.

And long before these, when I heard Everlasting Legacy by Really Slow Motion, I saw a trailer for the series.

Similarly, there's In Ascendance, also from Revolt Production Music. (I find the whole album to have a very action-intense/science fiction feel, but this one in particular has hooked me with the trailer feel.)

Others on my playlist that inspire me in this series include music not only from the composers I mentioned but also Two Steps from Hell, Ivan Torrent, Audiomachine, and Future World Music. There are others, but I just thought I'd share something of what I like when I'm writing this series. Two Steps from Hell is soft compared to some of the others I listed, but you hear their music in many trailers and are hearing more of these others. I've listened to these so often that I'll watch a movie trailer or hear a commercial and instantly recognize the music.

There are far more songs and compositions I could go through, but this will give you an idea of what presently inspires me in my science fiction and some of the music that really grabs me with imagining particular points in the Forgotten Worlds series, up to this point in it. I'm sure there will be others as I continue to write.

Off topic, I just have two other notes... I can say that the first draft of Book 13 is two-thirds done. It will be interesting, but I hope all the books are. I also saw a first glimpse of my new website and... WOW! I can't wait until it's ready for the big reveal.

Now Available - DRAGON AND FURY

It is done! DRAGON AND FURY is finished and published as of last night. It will take time to appear at all the online ebook retailers but is already at the major bookstores (links below image).

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMH33NB/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=melanie+nilles&qid=1633108942&sr=8-8

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/dragon-and-fury/id1588334813

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-and-fury-m-a-nilles/1140238141;jsessionid=0F4533BE2A02190A7B55C54290583ED2.prodny_store02-atgap08?ean=2940165675799

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dragon-and-fury

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1107325