by Amy DuBoff
“How did the debrief go?” Samantha asked.
“Debrief-y,” she replied. “I don’t think we’ll ever have the complete story. Too many unknowns about where the Dyons came from.”
“Just glad they’re gone,” Samantha muttered.
Ava looked down at the floor, then plastered on a forced smile. “Not our problem to worry about now.” Her gaze met Luke’s.
“Well, thanks for filling me in,” he said to the team. “Catch you later.”
“See you at dinner,” Ava said to her team.
She and Luke exited into the hall and walked several meters to the nearest recess.
Ava pulled him out of view. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
Their lips met, and she relaxed against him. “It’s nice having someone to come home to.”
“From now on, you always will.”
* * *
Nothing about Karen’s mission to Nezar had gone how she expected. However, with the Dyons’ deceptiveness behind them, people on the world could finally begin rebuilding.
She looked around the conference table at Trisha and Fiona. The women had earned her trust in her brief time on Nezar, and she was happy they would have that foundation to build upon to help forge a lasting friendship between their worlds.
“I guess we can finally get back to why I was here,” Karen said after a moment.
“Right, figuring out our new leadership,” Fiona said, followed by a sigh. “I guess Garett is really out of the running now.”
Trisha’s brow knit. “How is he?”
“It’ll be a process to rediscover himself,” Karen replied. “The TR has been dissolved, not that the Dyons are around anymore to tap into it.”
“All the same, I feel better knowing there aren’t ticking time-bombs in our brains.” Trisha shuddered.
“Can’t agree with you more,” Karen said.
“I guess the task falls to us, then.” Fiona drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “No small feat, selecting those who will determine the future of an independent planet.”
“The bigger question is, do we need to stay a separate world?” Trisha asked.
Fiona smiled. “If recent events prove anything, it’s that we’re stronger together than we are alone. If the Alucians and Coraxans are amenable, I move that we unite the Alaxar Trinary once and for all.”
Karen pushed aside the work that sounded like it was about to become moot. “Do others feel the same way?”
Trisha shrugged. “The fact that no one has stepped up with a desire to hold a leadership position indicates to me that Nezarans are ready for a change in structure.”
“We’d have a lot of details to work out,” Karen cautioned.
“Of course,” Fiona acknowledged, “but this is our chance to build things the right way from the ground up.”
Somehow my projects keep getting bigger and bigger. Karen folded her hands on the desktop. “All right. Let’s get to work.”
* * *
When Ava had sworn revenge against Edwin for all his pranks, she had known it would be a long game.
The stage was set. With the help of Sven, and a friend responsible for ordering fresh produce, Ava had procured all the materials she’d need to turn Edwin into his own viral sensation on the Net.
She’d arranged an assortment of fresh flowers on the table, with a vase filled with water sitting nearby. Based on his assertion of making arrangements in the past, it’d drive him crazy seeing the incomplete task.
To top it off, Sven had helped rig a helium tank up to the air handler for the common room. All that she needed was to get Edwin in place.
“Hey, Edwin,” Ava called over the localized comm. “Could you meet me in the cafeteria on Deck 7? I think they need some help getting ready for the party later.”
“Sure,” the warrior replied. “On my way.”
Ava crept into a closet with slotted doors that gave her a clear view of the table with the flowers, and from where she would be able to film Edwin in action using a combat recorder she’d disconnected from a helmet.
Shortly after she was in place, Edwin entered the room. He looked around for other occupants, and then wandered toward the table with the flowers.
>>He’s never going to take the bait,<< Ruby said in her mind.
He will. Just wait. Ava’s eyes sparkled with glee.
After five seconds of staring at the vase and flowers, Edwin sighed. “Can’t just leave them here to wilt,” he mumbled while picking up a bundle of stems.
Ava covered her mouth to keep in a snicker as he continued to arrange the flowers in the vase.
>>Helium is flowing,<< Ruby confirmed in Ava’s mind.
I really hope he says something quote-worthy.
Ava watched him work for another five minutes. At last, Edwin stepped back to admire his handiwork.
He smiled. “That looks delightful,” he said in a voice two octaves too high. “What the fuck?” He clapped his hands over his mouth.
Ava busted out in uncontrollable laughter. ‘That looks delightful’?! she repeated in her mind to Ruby, unable to speak aloud through the laughs. I could not have scripted anything better.
>>I’ve already edited the footage and set it to that cheery song we picked out, if you’d like me to upload it to the Net,<< Ruby replied.
Oh, yes. The universe needs to see this!
>>Venting the helium now. You can enter.<<
Ava emerged from her hiding place with a grin on her face. “Hi, Edwin. Whatcha up to?”
The warrior stepped in front of the flower vase. “Just, uh, helping out for the party,” he said, his voice returning to normal.
“Oh, this?” Ava gave him a quizzical look, sneaking a peek behind him. “I thought you were on banner duty.”
“Banners? Since when do we make banners for anything?”
“I’m sure it will seem appropriate after you get your first million hits.” She smiled sweetly at him and then sauntered out of the room.
“Shit! You didn’t…”
She glanced back over her shoulder. “I warned you.”
Leaving Edwin to fume, Ava traced the halls to the real party location, which would be getting underway in the next half hour. Samantha had roped her into setup duties, but that was a welcome change of pace after being shot at and mind-controlled for the last two weeks.
She greeted her friend, and they began the final preparations for the celebrations ahead.
At the designated time, their colleagues arrived and began partaking in the copious refreshments.
Ava smiled at Luke when he entered and worked her way over to him. “This is a good chance to meet the support staff that keep this place running,” she said around a mouthful of cheese and crackers. “Best to stay in their good graces.”
“I can only imagine.”
She introduced him to some people, and then eventually found herself surrounded by her team. Edwin had decided to show his face, but he shot her a daggered glare every chance he got. Ava couldn’t wait to send a link of his new video to the rest of her team.
With Luke by her side and her friends around her, Ava’s heart was filled with the sense of fulfillment and belonging she’d always desired.
Eventually, Ava’s cup ran dry, and she went to get another round. When she turned back to the group, she realized that Luke had wandered off. She spotted him several meters away, leaning against a table and staring out the window.
She moseyed over. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.” He stood up and faced her.
“I thought you’d be more enthusiastic about joining in the celebrations.”
Luke smiled and reached out for her hand. He squeezed it. “I couldn’t be happier to be here with you.”
“Then why isn’t all of you here?” She tilted her head and gave him the questioning look that she’d perfected over their years together as teenagers.
He sighed, yielding to her just as she k
new he would. “There’s something that’s been nagging at the back of my mind that I didn’t want to bring up at the meeting.”
“What’s that?”
“When we drew that line in space from Gidyon to Coraxa, we only traced it the one direction. What if there was something else deeper in space, outside Federation territory?”
Ava frowned. “Like a homeworld?”
“Yeah.”
Ava took a deep breath. “If that’s the case, then we just royally pissed them off.”
FINIS
Thank you for reading!
Ava Landyn and her team will be back in Dark Rivals in February 2018! We will not have an advanced pre-order on this book, but you can sign up for my mailing list below to be notified when it is available.
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Author Notes - Amy DuBoff
Written December 27, 2017
Wow, thank you for reading this third book in the Uprise Saga! I can’t properly articulate how much it means to me to have your support.
I know this book was a little light on the combat action compared to the previous installments, but I hope you still enjoyed it! I wanted to explore a different kind of conflict that wasn’t reliant solely in a brawn-based solution. Rest assured, the fourth book will be a suitably epic, action-y cap to this four-book arc :-D.
This was my tenth novel, and that makes it a special milestone. I especially didn’t think I’d have released ten novels in less than three years! That is the power in indie publishing.
I know Michael has talked a lot about the business side of the indie publishing world in his Author Notes in the past, so I won’t dive into it too deeply. I did, however, want to take a moment to talk about covers and series branding—specifically about matching reader expectations.
One of the amazing things that Michael offers his collaborators is a custom cover photoshoot with Andrew Dobell. We selected a model (Estrany, in this case) and provided a brief about the series and Ava as a character. When we began the process, we were still thinking of this series as being more on the military sci-fi side. Dramatic, action-oriented poses made sense.
Well, as we got into it further, the inner Amy took over, and the series went more in the space opera direction (anyone who’s read my Cadicle series will be going “yep…” right about now, haha). What can I say, I like some romance in my sci-fi, and if you’re going to blow something up, why not do it with your mind? ;-)
But I digress. Branding!
So, after the books were actually written—and once we knew the fans liked them—we realized that the original covers no longer gave an appropriate impression of the story. That, and a number of fans wrote me saying, “THIS ISN’T AVA!” (okay, maybe not the all-caps). But, the message was the same: the covers weren’t resonating.
Through the power of indie publishing, however, we had the flexibility to quickly say, “This isn’t working. Let’s do something different.”
I’m not sure exactly when the new covers will go live, so you may or may not have ever seen the old ones. Here’s a little side-by-side example from Book 1:
Were we working in the traditional publishing world, there’s no way we could have rebranded a series in two weeks over the holidays. Or, probably, within a year. Indie, on the other hand, is all about agility, adaptability, and catering to the market. You spoke, we listened—and we will continue to listen.
Anyone can be a writer, but this could never be my career without readers. I want to write books that you want to read, and I want the cover art to be something you want to see.
No book or art will please everyone, but my promise to you is that I will do my best to deliver a top-notch product that will keep you coming back for more. If you ever have any questions, ideas, or concerns, feel free to reach out to me directly. Let’s explore these new worlds together!
Thank you to Michael Anderle, Craig Martelle, Steve Campbell, and the rest of the LMBPN family for their support with all the behind-the-scenes work that’s made this series possible. Thank you to Jen McDonnell for editing, Andrew Dobell (and Estrany) for the beautiful covers, and to all the JIT readers. Special thanks also to Craig, Kurt, and Ron for their draft review and insightful comments.
I hope you’re looking forward to continuing Ava’s story in Dark Rivals. Thank you again for reading!
***
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Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Written December 30, 2017
First, THANK YOU for not only reading through this story – but through these author notes as well!
I’ll add a little to the cover discussion to round out the understanding(s) of publishing just a bit. The cost to create a book can be very cheap to very, very expensive.
Obviously, if you publish a book and your expenses are low, it does not take much to become profitable on your product. This is somewhat the path I took with my own series, The Kurtherian Gambit, when I had NO idea if anyone besides myself would ever read the books. When it became evident that I was going to need better editing and new covers, I started trying to figure out how to accomplish both tasks.
And, I spent a lot of money and time learning how to get ripped off on the editing side – and a lot of money and time doing bespoke covers that paid for themselves on the covers side.
We have our editing mostly figured out now, which is a blessing. The covers? Not always and not so much, unfortunately.
We try, we tweak we place the covers out there but sometimes you look at the covers and think “THAT IS AMAZING.”
But, they don’t sell.
Or, we (I) might think “THAT IS MEDIOCRE.”
And they sell amazingly well!
This industry teaches you that while you think you might know; you don’t always know anything about covers for sure.
Readers like and dislike different covers due to tastes, expectations, genre tropes and probably the cycle of the moon, where the stars are aligned and whether or not some random occurrences have happened in another galaxy.
Cue Star Wars music.
For PT Hylton’s series in the Age of Magic, we realized that while they are very pretty covers, they don’t scream MAGIC at all, but rather more of some sort of historical drama series.
DAMN!
In short, it’s damned hard to pinpoint great covers. We get better designing covers (or explaining to the cover designers what we want) based on our familiarity with a particular genre, but we are never perfect.
During 2017, we have had to restart / recover multiple series for different reasons. Amy’s series is maybe the fourth or fifth series we are having to tweak in LMBPN’s history.
Unfortunately, it won’t be the last.
So, in 2018 we are working on doing better with covers because now, it is a huge business expense to get them wrong. It is JUST as huge a business expense if we leave them wrong.
I appreciate the effort you, the readers, Craig Martelle, Amy and Andrew Dobell have made during our re-covering effort.
I hope it pays off! (In this case, I’m not speaking to increased sales, although that is one component, rather I hope that you, the readers, like them!)
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Read more from Amy DuBoff
Cadicle: An Epic Space Opera
With adventure, telekinesis, romance, and intrigue, the Cadicle series spans sixty years across three generations as one family challenges destiny to win a war
where enemies are not always who they seem.
"Appealing characters and detailed worldbuilding draw the reader into a tale of politics, sabotage, kidnapping, telekinesis, and clones. [...] DuBoff weaves together sympathetic characters, an intriguing plot, devious villains, exciting space adventure, and hopes pinned on a chosen savior."
- Publisher's Weekly
Unknown to modern-day Earth, the galaxy-spanning Taran Empire is in the throes of an interdimensional war…
Cris Sietinen, heir to the most influential High Dynasty in the Taran Empire, was born with prohibited telekinetic abilities. Determined to be true to himself, sixteen-year-old Cris leaves his privileged life on Tararia with hopes of joining the TSS, the only organization to offer a sanctioned telekinesis training program.
But being an Agent in the TSS isn’t what he imagined. After years of service, Cris discovers his family is at the center of an elaborate galactic conspiracy orchestrated by the governing Priesthood.
Genetic engineering, political manipulation, and preordained destinies converge when Cris and his son Wil learn of a secret interdimensional war against the mysterious Bakzen. But the real enemy may be far closer to home. With knowledge of the Priesthood’s hidden agenda and its disastrous ramifications for the Taran Empire, Cris and Wil embark on a mission to save their civilization from certain destruction.
Start reading the complete seven-book series today in Kindle Unlimited!
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