STARS RAIN DOWN — Epic Sci-Fi Just Released!

[caleb72]

Thanks - have put this one on my wish list. Love the cover by the way.

Regards
Caleb

[Spectre-7]

Your welcome and thanks for taking a look, Caleb. Glad you like the cover.

In odd coincidences, I happen to be working on something with a character named Caleb right now. Great name, and thanks to practice, it rolls right off my fingers.

[basis]

Just finished the novel and was very impressed with the writing & story. Chris, thanks for releasing the novel & sharing it with us. Though I felt the ending a tad rushed and had no real resolution - though it does leaves questions that I hope are answered in a sequel.

Now another reason why I signed up is to ask a few questions or points of clarification, if it's alright to ask them. There be spoilers ahead:

Spoiler:

1. The aliens that invaded Earth were the Oikeyans and these aren't the Nefram that the Eireki ship "Legacy" fought with?
2. Why does Marcus Donovan need to find out what happened at the "Battle of the Ark"? I mean wouldn't Jack or the surviving Sey Chen have explained everything? Right?
3. What happens now to the remaining Oikeyans in Africa? Wouldn't Jack have tried to explain everything to clear the deadlock?
4. What happened to Kai?
5. Kai said humans looked like Nefram. Legacy said humans looked like Eireki. So humans == Nefram == Eireki? Or maybe I was confused?
6. So who exactly are the Nefram? Where are they now (in the novel)?

[Spectre-7]

Thank you so much for the comment, basis! I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry it's taken so long for me reply. I simply don't stop by here as often as I should.

It's also absolutely okay to ask questions. Unfortunately, some of your questions cut directly to central mysteries in the story, so I won't be able to answer everything. I'll do my best to answer what I can, though.

Spoiler:

1. You've got that absolutely correct. The Oikeyans are refugees from a Nefrem attack.
2. The only people who know what happened are Jack, the Bravos, and Kai, and for one reason or another, Donovan hasn't found any of them yet.
3. A good question, and one which I hope to answer fully in the next book. I can tell you right now that the events at the end of Stars Rain Down will have a bit of a ripple effect on the Oikeyan colonies in Africa and South America, and the resulting political dissent will be a large part of the story going forward.
4. You'll have to wait to find out.
5. That could possibly be a fair conclusion to draw.
6. Another bit of information that's not ready for daylight yet.

Overall, one of my goals was to write a story with a somewhat naturalistic approach to mysteries, in which a number of details remain hidden and no single character has the entire picture. While I think I was somewhat successful at this, the side-effect is that a high proportion of readers are hitting the end and scratching their heads.

There are ways to frame a mystery so that the reader is at least aware of what they aren't supposed to know (known unknowns, so to speak), and that's something I need to work on. This was my first novel, and I hope to do a better of job of that in the future.

Anyway, thank you so much for your interest, and I hope this helped clear things up. Cheers!

[Xanthe]

I got the book way back when you first informed us of it, and somehow it got lost in the shuffle of my various ereaders. I just rediscovered it the other day and started reading it, and have to say, I'm enjoying it. The story is moving along nicely, I like the characters, and like the fact that there several subplots running alongside one another.

[Spectre-7]

Glad you're enjoying it, Xanthe. If you haven't, you may want to grab the newest edition from my site; there were a number of errors in the initial release (a number around 40 ) that've since been corrected.

[Xanthe]

Thanks for that head's up!

[thrawn_aj]

Originally Posted by Spectre-7

Glad you're enjoying it, Xanthe. If you haven't, you may want to grab the newest edition from my site; there were a number of errors in the initial release (a number around 40 ) that've since been corrected.

Just bought it from B&N (I know it's free on your site but I like good indie SF and this one looks really good - I hope the dénouement is better than Out of the Dark . I love Weber but sheesh - that plot ).

Question: should I still download the version from your website or is the B&N version fully up to date?

[Spectre-7]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Thanks for that head's up!

You're very welcome.

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

Just bought it from B&N (I know it's free on your site but I like good indie SF and this one looks really good - I hope the dénouement is better than Out of the Dark . I love Weber but sheesh - that plot ).

Question: should I still download the version from your website or is the B&N version fully up to date?

Thanks for the purchase! The pay versions are always the most up-to-date, so you should be fine with what you've got.

And yeah... When Out of the Dark came out, I thought it had a lot of thematic similarity to my book so I decided to give it a look. In order to avoid sounding unprofessional, I'll just say that it wasn't exactly my favorite book of all time, and in case you're worried, there are positively no

Spoiler:

Dracula Ex Machinae

in mine.

[thrawn_aj]

Originally Posted by Spectre-7

You're very welcome.



Thanks for the purchase! The pay versions are always the most up-to-date, so you should be fine with what you've got.

And yeah... When Out of the Dark came out, I thought it had a lot of thematic similarity to my book so I decided to give it a look. In order to avoid sounding unprofessional, I'll just say that it wasn't exactly my favorite book of all time, and in case you're worried, there are positively no

Spoiler:

Dracula Ex Machinae

in mine.

Thanks and glad to hear it . Love that term (DEM) by the way. That's exactly what it was .

[Spectre-7]

Stars Rain Down is FREE from the Amazon Kindle store through this Sunday. Grab a copy while you can, and please feel free to send them to anyone who might be interested.

[passive62]

Dear Chris,

Thank you for sharing your first with us. I am Martian-Green with envy that you did this as your first book.

When can we expect the sequel, as there must be one. As previously mentioned, the end seems to be a bit rushed, which is a pity, but you can make that up to us by releasing the next chapter.

thanks for hours of fun.

[Spectre-7]

Originally Posted by passive62

Dear Chris,

Thank you for sharing your first with us. I am Martian-Green with envy that you did this as your first book.

When can we expect the sequel, as there must be one. As previously mentioned, the end seems to be a bit rushed, which is a pity, but you can make that up to us by releasing the next chapter.

thanks for hours of fun.

You're very welcome, and thank you so much for the kind words! I'm always glad to hear that someone enjoyed it.

My plans for a sequel are still percolating so I can't say much with confidence right now, but I'm planning to finish my current project by this Summer, and would very much like to complete the follow-up to Stars Rain Down by Christmas.

Cheers!