So, in the spring of 2016, my debut novel, Edge of Oblivion, launched with Enclave Publishing. The second novel in the series, Into the Void, was due out in the spring of 2017, but because of circumstances out of my control it was delayed to February 2018.
With the extra time between books 1 and 2, I started thinking back to something.
During the editing process for Edge of Oblivion, my editor had suggested fleshing out the novel’s endgame. (No spoilers here, but for owners of the book, it’s Chapter 25.) I took a hard look at doing it, but I decided not to for one simple reason: time. Deadlines were tight, and I was not at all convinced that I could take on a project of that scope and do it right in the limited window I had, especially given that there were a number of other elements I was working on within the novel. So I didn’t.
The editor’s words stayed with me, though, and they were echoed by some of the post-release feedback I received. And with Into the Void‘s delay, I had that precious time element to do better justice to that part of the story than I could have before.
I needed it. At 24,000+ words, Hope Colony is the longest short story I’ve ever written, closer to a novella than a short story. It expands significantly on the chronology at the end of Edge of Oblivion, while also pointing to Into the Void — even if that second part may not yet be obvious.
As with my previous sci-fi work, there’s also a pronunciation guide if you’d like one.
Hope Colony is free. The only prerequisite for getting it is to sign up for my mailing list.