Rogue: A New Beginning PT 1: The Spoiler Free Bit

Image licensed from Adobestock.

To explain what the Rogue novel is, I have to go back to the beginning, when I was writing Spinward Fringe Broadcasts One and Two. Originally, the Spinward Fringe series novels were going to be about 40,000 to 70,000 words each. As an unlimited series, I planned to gather books into boxed sets or collections with themes and story arcs.

The idea of a small crew on a ship with a captain who had a mysterious past was a good starting point. The difference was that I wrote his backstory, Broadcast 0: Origins, first. Anyone who read that would know (or think they knew) what his backstory was and characters from that would start joining the cast of the Unlimited Spinward Fringe series.

The Spinward Fringe Unlimited Series grew in complexity and it worked well with a large cast of characters. As a result, the books got much longer, each became a greater undertaking and the series became what it is. I love it, and there’s no going back to that simpler, shorter format with the main Unlimited Spinward Fringe Series.

Then we come to the end of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 16: Hunters and the origin of Rogue. I had a lot of fun creating that character for the book, so I decided that she’d wander off at the end instead of sacrificing herself. That was the way it was going to go originally. Until I started writing the chapters featuring Rogue, she was going to blow herself up to accomplish her goal. That changed early on because I saw potential.

I wanted to bring her in as a guest in several Spinward Fringe novels, but as I tracked what she was doing along with the timeline, I saw that she was busy. What was she doing exactly? Getting to know Tabrus, building wealth in the wasteland while avoiding most people. There were other things going on too, but I won’t go into it because I don’t want to spoil anything.

Considering the timeline and the fact that I wanted to write the character again, I decided that it was a good time to dust off the short novel concept, especially since I would be writing her in the first-person perspective. This would be her experience, her adventure, and it would take time for her to get her crew, her gear and other trappings together. It helped that she was having a problem too.

The first adventure would have a cyberpunk flavour. It would be a good test, a pilot episode if you will, and I would include some surprising characters.

I’m afraid that’s all I can say about it until you’ve finished reading the novel, but I’m happy to share this experiment with you.

Rogue: Ascending will be released on December 14, 2023. You can read the serialized version on Ream if you don’t want to wait.

I Am On Ream, and Why I Left Patreon

Before I get into the reasons why, I have to thank everyone who made the switch with me from Patreon to Ream. This could have easily been a disaster, and it wasn’t because of you taking the time to move over. The Ream Migration Team has been a great help too. I’m happy to be on Ream and am working to make it worth it for everyone.

What is Ream?

Ream is a Patreon-like subscriber page where you can support me and get some great content in exchange before anyone else sees it. For example, Rogue: Assembly, a brand new book, is serializing right now. Over a month before anyone could see it in the completed ebook form, people were reading the first three chapters. Now it’s almost finished.

What’s next? Samurai Squadron III: Broadcast 20 will begin serializing as soon as Rogue: Assembly is finished.

Sorry, the $1.00 tier that was once on Patreon is forever gone because a lot of that gets eaten by fees and the minimum tier on Ream is $3.00. My goal is to make every tier worth your while. If you want to see the subscription levels, take a look at my main page here. If you can’t reach it, please clear your browser’s cookies. The favourite tier overall is the Library Access! level. I love the library, which has almost every book I’ve ever published. All the Spinward Fringe and Fantasy work is there along with the fresh serialized stuff and I’m working on getting older stuff in along with short stories along with other things I’m not talking about yet.

Now, for anyone who is curious, here’s why I switched from Patreon to Ream.

Patreon is a great site, I don’t want to fling anything negative in their direction. It’s just not for me anymore. After they finished a major update to their platform I saw that it’s a place more well-suited to people who produce videos and podcasts. There’s also a much more corporate feeling there, which is great for increasing confidence in the site.

Sadly, only one feature I was hoping for was implemented in the form of Collections. That definitely doesn’t meet the requirements I’ve had for years. It seems that Patreon would never be the place for me. That’s why I switched to Ream, which is designed by writers for writers.

Ream is ready for use, meaning that it has all the most important bits finished and pretty polished. The developers are busy at work, adding features and refining what they have. The customer service is far more personal and very quick, so I’m quite happy. The few road bumps I’ve run into happened mostly behind the scenes and were smoothed out rapidly. I’m enjoying it there, and, as I’ve said before, I love the library. They have an app that you can download here and that will allow you to read the serials at any subscription tier. If you’re a member of the Library Access! Tier or higher, you can also read anything in the library as well.

Why am I using a subscriber platform at all?

Well, there are two main answers at this point.

It keeps me writing at a good pace.
I love writing, and I love it as a job, but sometimes the pace of work can slow down if I get too distracted by research or developing parts of a book when I don’t necessarily have to. If I’m releasing two chapters a week most of the time, I’ll spend some of my personal time on unnecessary stuff instead of diving into a rabbit hole professionally. If I need a break, I’ll take one, but they last a few days instead of weeks like they used to. The pace is good, and I enjoy having a required number of chapters to complete every week. It keeps me focused on one project at a time too.

It promises to stabilise my income.
There have been times when I had to strain to buy medication (I have glaucoma as well as Type 2 Diabetes and no coverage for meds), and cover the bills. My subscribers have saved my butt multiple times. Book releases pay the rent at the moment, but even with good reviews very few independent authors can make what they used to, myself included. I hope that I can eventually earn enough Ream Subscribers to make publishing secondary and have a very stable income from that. Many people who use Patreon get there.

My plan is to continue releasing quality fiction that doesn’t simply reflect what you can find on television or in movies right now so you can have amazing experiences when you read my work. I’m also going to be adding support documents, like Guides that I wouldn’t publish, but exist on Ream, where they can be added to and refined over time. A Guide will be a kind of Encyclopedia that anyone can use to look up characters, places, timelines and key events. There will also be short stories and some other stuff.

I thank you for reading this far, for picking up my work and supporting me. I hope to see you on Ream, but make no mistake, I’m grateful to everyone who buys my books normally too. I like publishing too, so I won’t be stopping that anytime soon.

IMPORTANT LINKS FROM THIS POST
My Ream Site
The Ream App
More information about Rogue: Assembly

Samurai Squadron: Writing Minh-Chu

Man jumping between rocks. Overcome a problem, challenge, and hope for a better future. 3D illustration

This was originally released on Patreon during the Samurai Squadron serial. It’s a little piece about what it was like to write from Minh-Chu’s perspective. For the curious ones only, enjoy!

Minh-Chu is a complex character who is much more charming than I am. That’s not really the problem with writing his character though. I can consider what he says for a lot longer than it takes to type it, hours if I have to, so I can try to be Minh-Chu charming.

The biggest problem with writing a character like Minh-Chu is that he’s been a favourite in relatively low doses for many books. I haven’t written from his perspective in about a decade. Coming back to the character means that I have to write what he thinks and how he feels between those quotable moments and weighty conversations. So far I’ve enjoyed putting him at the centre of this book, but it hasn’t been easy.

I”ve been writing him a certain way, as someone who carefully chooses when to speak and how. This is why.

There are three things that are key to this novel and don’t worry, I won’t spoil the story for you. The first is family. That is made more difficult because Ayan, Little Laura, and Minh-Chu’s sister are all absent. It’s made easier because the extended family is established and interesting. The second key is the establishments. The Rebel Captains, Haven Nation’s expansion through the Nodes and Privateering Initiative, and the Order of Eden. The third key is conflict. Minh-Chu is the character who will see all of these things. That is the point of his story in the first part of this season of the series. So, he’s watching and performing what he sees as his duty right now.

Along the way, I hope to do him justice. I have to write Minh-Chu as he is after experiencing so much since we were last in his head. He’s been a Wing Commander for a while now, and he’s settled into a relationship with Ashley who has discovered that she has a sister of a kind. How he gets along with and views Jake and his other close friends have evolved as well, so showing that takes time and has to be done right. I hope that I’ve gone some distance towards accomplishing that because most of the book is written now. Thankfully, he’ll be in the middle of the next novel.

The last important thing about Minh-Chu in this volume is simple and incredibly important. By the end of the book, he’ll have something to say about what he’s seen. I hope you’re looking forward to it. What did you think of this non-spoiler peek behind-the-scenes?

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.