Heart of the Nebula (50 page)

The second draft was finished by the end of 2011, at
which time I started to realize how bad the story was. Then I went
overseas to teach English. The culture shock of life in a
developing country threw me into a creative funk, and for a couple
of months, I hardly wrote much of anything. Still, the break was
good, because it allowed me to approach the book with new eyes.
This was how I put it when I started the third draft over the
summer:

“
Basically, I let some of my
darlings live, and they grew some extra limbs and started drooling
acid without my realizing it. But now, I’ve put enough distance
between myself and the first draft that I have no qualms about
grabbing the ax and chopping off heads.”

The main thing that needed to get axed was the love
triangle. There were also a few extra characters, like Kyla’s
siblings, and some characters that needed to be fleshed out more,
like the patrician (who never got a first name, by the way—I think
he would approve), and James’s parents. Also, James had turned into
something of a Mary Sue and needed to be taken down a few
notches.

The third draft was where I cut out most of the
stuff that was broken, but it wasn’t until the fourth draft that
the heart of the story really came out. By then, I’d gotten
discouraged with it so many times that almost four years had passed
since the genesis of the story idea. This was the story that should
have come together at the very beginning, and probably would have
if I’d deleted the first draft instead of trying to power through
it. By the end, I had something that was pretty good, even if it
was a little rough.

By this time, I’d self-published
somewhere around twenty books, most of them novellas and short
novels.
Heart of the Nebula
was the
fourth book in the
Gaia Nova
series, after
Desert Stars
and
Stars of Blood and Glory
which I’d published in the interim. It took a lot longer to
write
Heart of the Nebula
than I
had originally planned, but at the end of the fifth and final
draft, I feel that it’s something I can look back and be proud
of.

If you enjoyed this book, please
share it by posting an honest review! Those really do help in
getting the word out and helping people find great books. For
updates on my latest projects, be sure to check out my blog
at
One Thousand
and One Parsecs
(onelowerlight.com/writing), where you can
sign up for my email newsletter
for updates on special offers and new releases.
You can also find me on Twitter as @onelowerlight.

Thanks so much for all of your support! It’s readers
like you who make it possible for me to write them—not only that,
but to make a career out of writing them. It’s been a fantastic
journey so far, and with the books that I’ll write in the years to
come, I hope that it will only get better.

Thanks for reading!

Acknowledgments

There are so many people who helped out with this
book, I hardly know where to start! First, thanks to my first
readers Mykle Law and Liel Boyce who helped me suss out the story
and read some of the early drafts. Thanks also to Kindal Debenham’s
writing group for critiquing the first chapter: Kindal and Emily
Debenham, Aneeka Richins, Chris Lambson, Ben Hardin, and Megan
Hutchins. Thanks to Mykle Law again for reading the penultimate
draft, as well as Logan Kearsley and Stephen Dethloff. Josh Leavitt
did the copy editing, and Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe did the
magnificent cover art. Thanks so much guys!

Thousands of years after mankind’s exodus from
Earth, a band of starfarers fight for the freedom of the Outworlds
in
Sons of the Starfarers (Omnibus I-III).

BROTHERS IN EXILE

Deep in the Far Outworlds, a
derelict space station holds the bones of a long-dead people—and a
beautiful young woman locked in cryofreeze. When the star-wandering
brothers Isaac and Aaron Deltana find the sleeping girl, they soon
realize that they are her only hope for rescue. If they don't take
her, then slavers certainly will.

With no way to revive her, they
set a course for the New Pleiades in hopes of finding someone who
can help. But a storm is brewing over that region of space. After a
series of brutal civil wars, the Gaian Empire has turned its sights
outward. A frontier war is on the verge of breaking out, and the
brothers are about to be caught in the middle of it.

They both harbor a secret, though.
Somewhere else in the Outworlds is another derelict station—one
that they used to call home. That secret will either bind them
together or draw them apart.

COMRADES IN HOPE

War has come to the Outworlds. An Imperial
expeditionary force has taken the frontier systems and threatens to
strike at the heart of the New Pleiades. The only thing standing in
their way is a ragtag flotilla of starfarers and merchanters, their
motives as varied as the stars from which they hail.

Aaron Deltana can barely speak the same language as
his Outworld comrades, but he isn't about to let that stop him.
Though he has no military training or combat experience, he's
determined to prove his valor. Besides, the Imperials have taken
something very dear to him—something that he has sworn to take
back.

He isn't the only one with a score to settle. Mara
Soladze, the only other Deltan in the Flotilla, has vowed revenge
on the Imperials for killing her father. Where Aaron hopes to prove
himself, though, Mara fully expects to die—and her fate is tied to
his.

Aaron isn't prepared to make the
ultimate sacrifice, but when the war turns against them, it looks
as if he may not have a choice.

STRANGERS IN FLIGHT

For countless ages, Reva Starchild
has slept in perfect cryostasis. Frozen in secret to escape a
catastrophic death, she awakens only to find herself the sole
survivor of a people whom history never remembered. Light-years
from her homeworld, among a culture she finds both perverse and
obscene, she must somehow build a new life for herself where
misplacing her trust could be fatal.

With nowhere safe to run, she
finds refuge on a small starship with a mysterious young man who
seems to be fleeing something as well. Where others have sought to
enslave her, though, he treats her with unexpected kindness. As
they slowly open up to each other, she learns that he too carries a
burden—one she can barely comprehend.

Isaac Deltana indeed carries a
burden. The failure of his mission at Colkhia has brought untold
calamity to the Outworld forces and almost certainly led to the
death of his brother. Now, he flees from the Gaian Imperials to
prevent them from obtaining the secret technology he carries—one
that will change the face of interstellar war forever.

Little does he know, the Imperials
aren't the only ones hunting him.

CLICK HERE TO BUY SONS OF THE STARFARERS (OMNIBUS
I-III)

Thousands of years after mankind’s exodus from
Earth, a young starship pilot and his accidental bride wander the
stars in search of a homeworld in
Star Wanderers: The Jeremiah
Chronicles (Omnibus I-IV).

PART
I: OUTWORLDER

When Jeremiah arrived at Megiddo Station, all he
wanted was to make some trades and resupply his starship. He never
thought he'd come away with a wife.

Before he knows it, he's back on his ship, alone
with his accidental bride. Since neither of them speak the same
language, he has no way to tell her that there's been a terrible
mistake. And because of the deadly famine ravaging her home,
there's no going back. She's entirely at his mercy, and that
terrifies him more than anything.

Jeremiah isn't ready to take responsibility for
anyone. He's a star wanderer, roaming the Outworld frontier in
search of his fortune. Someday he'll settle down, but for now, he
just wants to drop the girl off at the next port and move on.

As he soon finds out, though, she has other
plans.

PART
II: FIDELITY

Oriana Station: a bustling frontier settlement
between the Outworlds and the Coreward Stars. A popular
port-of-call for free traders and independent starfarers alike—and
the latest target in the aggressively expansionist plans of the
Gaian Empire.

Life was simple for Jeremiah and Noemi before they
arrived. Though neither of them speak the same language, they've
reached an understanding that goes beyond words. But when the
colonial authorities make them into second-class citizens of a
fractured empire, even that might not be enough.

Their newfound friends in the immigrant community
can only do so much. With Noemi and her people depending on him,
Jeremiah must find a way back to the Outworlds—before they lose
everything that they came for.

PART
III: SACRIFICE

When Jeremiah found himself alone on his starship
with an accidental bride, he had no idea how much his life would
soon change. Now, with Noemi's quiet confidence supporting him as
she carries their first child, it's hard to imagine life without
her.

But life in the Outworlds isn't so simple. Good men
are hard to come by, and Noemi's friends expect her to share. As
part of a colony mission bound for an unsettled star, Jeremiah
can't say no without causing a rift in the community. But if he
says yes, his new-found happiness may soon come to an end. One way
or another, he will have to make a sacrifice—one that could tear
their starbound family apart.

PART
IV: HOMEWORLD

For years, Jeremiah has wandered the stars in search
of a home. With his wife Noemi about to have a baby, he thinks he's
finally found a place to settle down. The Zarmina system lies on
the edge of the Outworld frontier, but together with their friends,
they hope to establish a thriving new colony. The only problem is
that the system is already inhabited—by pirates.

The colonists no sooner arrive than they fall
prisoner to Captain Helena and her band of rogues from the New
Pleiades. She gives them an ultimatum: live like slaves on the
planet's surface, or breathe vacuum. With all their dreams about to
be shattered, they have to find a way to fight back. But to do so
may endanger everything—including the lives of the ones they love
most.

CLICK HERE TO BUY STAR WANDERERS: THE JEREMIAH CHRONICLES (OMNIBUS
I-IV)

A coming of age sci-fi romance from the author of
Desert Stars.