The Clash: Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17 Rollout and Audiobook

Your shipment is here…

The day has finally come. Clash: Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17 is here! The release is landing early everywhere. Starting with Amazon and Google Play on 12 / 12 / 2022, Clash will be available to everyone. The other distribution network is slower, so the book will be released at the other vendors (Smashwords, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo), on 19 / 12 / 2022. I’m grateful to everyone who preordered and thank you for picking the book up after the release, it’s been a great launch so far.

The timing for this is unusual, but when I had the opportunity to release it early I took it because I didn’t want this to come out so close to the holidays. People have enough to deal with in the second half of December, so I really wanted to have this out before you started travelling and hosting family.

There’s another thing. I’ve been experimenting with Google Auto-Narration which is, simply put, audiobooks that are narrated by an artificial intelligence. The cost of producing these is extremely low and the quality has just improved quite a bit. I wouldn’t call the Auto-Narration a performance, but the reading style is acceptable now, so I’m releasing the Audo-Narrated audiobook version of Clash along with the ebook edition for a low price that reflects the fact that it isn’t read by a human who is offering a performance instead of simply clear reading with a good cadence.

If I could afford to pay a narrator to produce this book I would, but I’m still five figures in the hole from producing Broadcast 0, 1 and Psycho Electric, so I have to earn that back through audiobook sales before I produce any more with a live narrator. There’s still a small demand for Spinward Fringe in audiobook form, so the Auto-Narration version will do for now, and I’d like to thank the team at Google that is working on this. The improvements over the last year are surprising. Oh, and if you buy this version your copy will be updated every time the Auto-Narrator improves for free. You can check the Clash: Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17 Audiobook out here.

Here are the links for the eBook.

My Bookstore (Out 12 / 12 / 2022)
Amazon – US | UK | AU | CA | DE (Out 12 / 12 / 2022)
Google Play Books (Out 12 / 12 / 2022)
Apple Books (Out 19 / 12 / 2022)
Barnes & Noble (Out 19 / 12 / 2022)
Rakuten Kobo (Out 19 / 12 / 2022)
Smashwords (Out 19 / 12 / 2022)

I truly hope you enjoy this book in the series. I think you’ll find that it’s a little different from the rest because it takes the time for real character development and there is a great big pivot that changes things for most of our favourite characters.

Thank you in advance for picking it up. If you have any interest in an audiobook version, I encourage you to listen to the sample.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17: Clash Is Coming Out on December 21, 2022!

Instead of burying the lead, I thought I’d put the release date right in the title. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17: Clash is coming out on December 21, 2022! For the last few months, members of my Patreon site have been watching chapters come out for this novel. The first draft has gotten pretty good feedback and I’m working on a final edit with a small team that I’ve enjoyed working with before. The Patrons have also helped find typos and a few other errors. Altogether, the book is better for the work that’s gone into it. The Patrons also had the opportunity to make a significant decision that determined the ending of this novel and the beginning of the next, and they definitely made an impact.

The focus broadens a little in this novel as Jacob Valent appears a lot more than in the last few. He and several of the other original characters take a turn down a new path, and I’d tell you a lot more but I’m trying to avoid spoilers here. For a little more info, you can read the synopsis, which is pretty spoiler free:

Jacob, Alice Valent and their oldest friends come face to face with the Order of Eden in a new way as a world of innocents comes under threat. The Spinward Fringe series is carried forward as a story about reunions, reinvention and rivalries unfolds. The war with the Order of Eden heats up as allies begin to rally and a new battlefront opens.
The rallying cry that brought so many people to the fight is taken up again: Deploy. Dominate. Disappear.

I’m looking forward to getting the final draft into everyone’s hands on December 21st. I think there’s something for everyone in this one, and I’m happy to be launching a new phase of the series. Without any more delay, here’s where you can preorder the ebook.

Amazon – US | UK | AU | CA | DE
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Rakuten Kobo
Smashwords

The Psycho Electric Audiobook Is Out!

The stand-alone Spinward Fringe book is now available on Audible. This audiobook is different from most because it was produced with the “Boutique” mentality, where more attention was paid to performance than normal, so it took much longer to create than normal. David Berlekamp already has a golden voice, but he also performs each character separately so their journeys and emotional levels are present. The Editor and Producer, Heather Berlekamp, put it all together expertly. Then it’s wrapped up with music composed especially for Psycho Electric by Patrick D Emond, who posted the full theme for free here.

I’m proud of this collaboration and hope you enjoy it!

This one and all my other audiobooks will only be available on Audible and iTunes for the foreseeable future. Here’s how you can get your hands on it:

Audible US 

Audible UK 

France

Germany

Choose How Spinward Fringe: Clash Ends

Could you imagine being given the opportunity to choose which direction the story will take in a book you’ve been anticipating for over a year? It’s with no small measure of excitement that I’m giving my Patrons the opportunity to do just that.

Earlier on, I asked them what I should call the last version of the Uriel Fighter, a mainstay in the main Spinward Fringe series for over ten volumes. There were an incredible number of quality public responses. Some were pretty creative, others fit really well, and I went with an obvious one that worked best. A name that I should have thought of, but overlooked. I’m glad a couple of readers posted it, or I would have missed a great opportunity.

When I took that name for the new evolution of that starfighter I promised my Patrons two things:

1. That I would refer back to that list of names for other ships and objects in the Spinward Fringe books.
2. That there was a much bigger decision coming.

Well, this is it.

I won’t go into the details behind the decision I’m putting in front of my Patrons because I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone. What I can say is that there are three directions available for my main characters. Each one represents a great opportunity for the progress of the story, and will change the outcome of the book drastically. You could argue that the book could be completely different depending on where they guide the story. It’s a vote for Patrons who contribute $3.00 or more per month.

I’m confident that I can deliver a good, satisfying ending no matter what my readers decide, but I’m so excited to see where they want to take it. Voting closes on Thursday morning, November 3, and the first twenty-seven chapters of the book are available on Patreon, so you could catch up if you like.

Direct Voting Link

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17: Clash Index

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17: Clash is set to release on December 21, 2022.
You can preorder Clash through Smashwords at the moment, and it will be available for preorder shortly with other retailers.

The Last of the Bullet Chasers – A Spinward Fringe Short

It’s out! An adventure no one saw coming in the Spinward Fringe Universe starring a pilot with a mission that could cost him years, his life, or take him to a new beginning in the Rega Gain system has finally come out as an ebook short. This seven-chapter story came about because I had an irresistible idea. What if there was a crew tasked with chasing after missiles, torpedoes and worse that missed their initial target, but could destroy a world, end a civilization, or worse years later by mistake?

I got into more detail in the Foreward, but suffice it to say, I had to follow that story to its end, bringing this pilot, Cooper, also known as “Breaker” along with his repair bot named Ratter and the rest of the crew to life. Characters from this short will appear in at least two of the new Spinward Fringe books that are coming in 2022 and 2023, so if you like the crew, you’ll see them again once this stand-alone tale is over.

Here’s the synopsis:

War has gone interstellar, and the galaxy has become an even more dangerous place. Firing a weapon in the vacuum of space can cause repercussions days, years, or even centuries later when that bullet, missile, torpedo or other instrument of destruction makes an impact. That’s where heroes like Cooper come in.

Interplanetary civil war has raged on in his home solar system for decades. Every missed shot could strike an unsuspecting innocent and one side is interested in keeping the devastation of their conflict from spreading to the rest of the universe. That’s why they started the Chaser program, which enlists pilots like Cooper, callsign Breaker, to pursue wayward munitions so they can be destroyed before they end a civilization, wreck a space station, or end all life on worlds that had nothing to do with the fight that inspired the firing of a weapon.

With the civil war winding down, the government is changing, and the Chaser program is coming to an end, but not before Cooper, a faithful repair robot named Ratter and the rest of the crew of the Monte Carlo finish one last pursuit. There’s a dangerous group of missiles and torpedoes travelling at nearly the speed of light headed for the civilized Rega Gain system. There is enough antimatter aboard those munitions to crack a planet.

For reasons he’s not sharing, Cooper is determined to stop the missile group from destroying the terraformed moon of Tamber and damaging the world it orbits, even if years pass relative to the minutes it takes the Monte Carlo to finish its mission in this all-or-nothing effort.

Come and witness the end of a tradition of duty, sacrifice, and glory. Will it be the end of the crew, or lead them to a new beginning in a solar system that is largely unaware that they’re in danger, but the crew of the Monte Carlo are desperate to save?

The Last of the Bullet Chasers is available at my store in epub format (compatible with all Apple, Android devices and most Kindle readers). It will be an Amazon Kindle exclusive starting on the 24th of September. (The exclusivity will most likely end three months later).

UPDATE: Thanks to readers who contacted me since this post, The Last of the Bullet Chasers will not be exclusive to Amazon, but will be available everywhere. Watch this post for links to Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and other sites as the book comes online before the end of September.

Here’s the direct link to the book on my store: The Last of the Bullet Chasers at Randolph’s Bookstore
Other Retailers: Smashwords | Other retail links will come soon.
Amazon Kindle Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Australia | Amazon Germany | Amazon Canada

3D render of a Robots celebrating at a party

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 17: Clash Begins This Saturday!

This podcast has an audio version!

After writing a fantasy novel (NEM: Awakening), a Cyberpunk Space Opera (Psycho Electric), and a space adventure short (The Last of the Bullet Chasers), it’s time to write the next Spinward Fringe novel: Clash.

This book starts by looking back on major events in Broadcast 11: Revenge, when Jacob Valent ordered the release of an intelligent virus called Mary. The aftershock of that is ongoing as Haven Fleet allies worry that he may resort to breaking other Galactic laws, so they’re demanding that Haven take action to make sure that this doesn’t happen. We see the results of that fear in the prologue, which takes place over three months after the end of Broadcast 16.

At this point, Alice, Ayan, Minh-Chu and the rest of the gang are near their breaking point because the fight against the Order of Eden and the Edxi hasn’t progressed. What happens next will push them over the edge.

I’d love to tell you more about this book, especially since I’ve been preparing to write it for a year now, but you’ll have to read along as the chapters come out or wait a little longer for the completed ebook. For more information and links to each chapter, check out my Patreon index page at www.patreon.com/randolphlalonde.

Welcome To The New Site… Again!

I’m happy to unveil the new, lasting home on WordPress. This will be easier to navigate, update, and it’ll be able to support all the content I offer. Things didn’t work out with Wix for reasons I don’t really care to get into, but I can’t recommend them to anyone.

On a much more positive note, I’m celebrating the launch of this site with a short Question and Answer Podcast Episode! I hope you enjoy it, and hope to see a few questions in the comments, I’ll make sure I answer them as soon as I can.

I’m eternally grateful to Patrick D. Emond for the theme music, which is only a taste of the entire Spinward Fringe Suite.

A short Q&A! Ask questions in the comments to get answers in the next one!