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Alien Contact, Alien Invasion, Alien Life, Aliens, Science Fiction Ebooks, SF Books, Space Opera, Stellar Flash, Temporal Incursion, Time Travel, UFOs

Temporal Incursion: Stellar Flash Book Three. Now Available. A Science Fiction, Fantasy, Aliens and Time Travel Space Opera Adventure.

By NeilA

Available in Digital and in Print Formats from Amazon

Temporal Incursion: Stellar Flash Book Three

By Neil A. Hogan

Dangerous temporal disturbances are appearing throughout the Proxima Centauri system, and 27 scientists have gone missing from the Frequency Research Institute’s base on Proxibee.

When Admiral Victoria Heartness declines the request to help, she mysteriously disappears, too.

Doctor John Patel quickly enlists Admiral Wei Zhou to manage the station, and look into Heartness’ disappearance. But with builderbot’s going rogue and attacking some of the station’s residents, Zhou’s hands get full pretty quickly. 

Captain Jonathan Hogart would be the next best person to help track down Heartness, but then the Stellar Flash ship goes offline, internal doors stop working, and rooms start being erased. With just Raj Kumar and the ship’s Japanese avatar available, and no access to communications or flash jumps, Hogart is unable to even get his crew on board.

In desperation, Patel requests Commander Sue Lin of the Proxima Centauri Space Force to investigate the F.R.I hive,and find Heartness. But with her soldiers being wiped out by a crazed energy cloud, it’s all she can do to stop herself from destroying the base from orbit.

With micro time particles converging, a deadly alien entity expanding, a robot uprising spreading, and flash ship problems increasing, can the Stellar Flash crew get to Proxibee in time to not only rescue Heartness, but also prevent Commander Lin from making a mistake that could destroy the entire universe?

Temporal Incursion is Book Three in the Stellar Flash series. A self-contained story of about 63,000 words.

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Science Fiction Ebooks, SF Books, Space Opera, Stellar Flash, Temporal Incursion

Temporal Incursion Writing Update

By NeilA

One of the characteristics of a good Space Opera is opening the story with an explosion, a kidnapping, a death, a war, or some other instantly engaging scenario that catapults the reader/viewer front and center into the action, and encourages them to want to know what happens next.

Star Wars did this well by starting the movie right in the middle of a laser conflict with massive battleships. Doctor Who sometimes did this with a preview before the episode started.

TV shows that want to get people into the action know this works, but episodic shows usually follow the basic three step formula of introduction/conflict/resolution. Unless a viewer is a fan of the show, the opening of an episode doesn’t usually pull people in quickly enough to stop them from hitting the channel surfing button. So, starting with a preview from about twenty minutes in, or even just before the resolution, can hook someone in, and they’re more likely to continue watching.

I had hoped to avoid this idea by starting Temporal Incursion with a robot kidnapping Admiral Victoria Heartness.

I know. Robot kidnappings are an old trope, but I haven’t personally done one yet, so it’s new for me!

But, then I thought, if I start with Heartness being kidnapped, it’ll be like Hogart being kidnapped by the Florans in The Andromeda Effect. I don’t have a set formula for how each book should develop, but two books in a row where a main character is kidnapped at the beginning, might suggest I do. But, besides the other trope of a friend in danger, Heartness has been written into her semi-retirement position on board Space Station X-1a, and there’s no other reason to get her into the action. (Okay, she could get a flash band malfunction, ordered by Earth Council, gets drunk and takes the wrong flight, falls through a wormhole, etc) but I want to create a subtle underlying mistrust of all robots from here on out, to set things up for Book Four: The Robots of Atlantis, due out in 2020.

Eventually, I went back to the old idea of a prequel, prequel. Something that happened over 4 years ago (2129) that would affect the situation in Proxima Centauri B in 2133. So, rather than a disaster which started Book Two, this one starts with more of a mystery.

Book One is a straight out First Contact story with a twist.

Book Two is a high tech defeat the invaders story.

Book Three is a mystery horror story with a deadly alien.

Temporal Incursion Book Three is due out on the 5th March.

Here’s the new cover:

The image of Proxima Centauri B featured on the cover has been released by the European Southern Observatory under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and originally comes from the video: ESOcast 87: Planet found around closest Star. Please visit: eso.org/public/announcements/ann16056/ to watch the complete video.

I’ll post more details as soon as it is released.

Cheers!

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Alien Invasion, Alien Life, Aliens, Dark Matter, Science Fiction Ebooks, Science Fiction Weekly, SF Books, Short Science Fiction Stories, Short SF Stories

A Little Matter by Neil A. Hogan. Science Fiction Weekly #20. Short Reads Series

By NeilA

A Little Matter by Neil A. Hogan

Science Fiction Weekly #20

Digital Format Available

When Julie sees the Guider striding towards her, she knows something is up.

And when he invites her to a safe house to reveal that he had already known about her discovery, long before she had made it, she soon discovers that all is not as it seems.

With the dark matter having left the Oort Cloud, and now heading towards the inner Solar System, it is up to Julie to decide what to do next.

But she has absolutely no idea what that could be.

Could this mean the end of the human race?

A Little Matter is #20 in the Science Fiction Weekly short reads series. A short story of approximately 4600 words.

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Alien Life, Aliens, Science Fiction Ebooks, Science Fiction Weekly

Science Fiction Weekly is Back!

By NeilA

Science Fiction Weekly is Back!

Yes, great news! A new series of Science Fiction weekly has begun. I’ve created some new stories, and rewritten some recent stories to be released on a weekly basis from this week!

Stories 1-13 were released last year, and I’ll release stories 14-26 this year.

The first story in the new series is out – #14 The Hydrofluorons of Krakon 7, with #15 Alien UFO Disclosure to follow next Tuesday.

I’ll post each time a new one becomes available.

Many thanks for reading!

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Alien Contact, Alien Dimensions, Alien Life, Aliens, SF Books, Short SF Stories, Space Opera

Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Anthology Series Shock!

By NeilA

Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Anthology Series Shock!

Now available in print

My goal with Alien Dimensions Issue #16 was to release it in time for the 2nd anniversary. Of course, that was more of a marketing decision than anything else.

I was able to submit the final version of issue #16 for print checks this week. I also got confirmation this week that it was good to go. However, I had planned to release it next week, and wasn’t going to press the release button until the optimal day for publishing a print book (Tuesday).

A few days later I got an email from CreateSpace telling me that their system will be shut down in a few weeks and that everything would move to Amazon.

What?

Of course, I had known this would happen, ever since Amazon bought Createspace back in 2005. There has been a long term plan behind the development of ebooks, KDP and Createspace over the past 13 years, and I’ve been paying close attention since 2008. This is the next step and it will make things a lot easier for self publishers who prefer not to go wide.

(As a side note, I celebrate 20 years as a customer of Amazon this year, so you could say I’m one of its greatest fans!)

Even so, the idea that they are going to move everything from Createspace to Amazon print in a few weeks, whether I want it or not, was a bit of a surprise. My main concern was a huge amount of books with specifically-sized covers that weren’t compatible with the Amazon print system. The other concern was that the date hadn’t been set for my migration. If it happened on Tuesday, then it would cause a problem for the whole launch process of Alien Dimensions #16.

I couldn’t take that risk.

As Createspace says that it would take 3-5 days to appear on Amazon, I thought I’d post it at 12:30am LA time on the 1st of September. Rather than wait until Tuesday and hope it would have the 4th as a publication date, I posted it today and relied on the ‘business days’ situation to sort things out. It also meant I could sleep easy knowing that the launch could not in any way be delayed, as I’d already launched it.

Makes sense. Right?

I had no idea that, because of the merger, rather than everything being delayed, everything was actually being fast-tracked. Within an hour of the printed version being confirmed, it had become available on Amazon. Within three hours sales had started to come through.

Thank you to everyone buying copies. I’m shocked and quite appreciative that the issue has been discovered before I made any official announcements. A nice surprise.

So, if you read this and wonder why you haven’t received an email telling you the print version is now available, it’s because I am going to wait until the ebook becomes available too.

The ebook version is a different beast. There is a slight problem with KDP in submitting for approval, and the dates. If I submit it on the 1st, one of the operators will list it as the 30th or 29th of the previous month. If I publish it on the 3rd, I’ve got a better chance of scoring a ‘1st of September’ listing. I want early September rather than late August as early month dates within that month sell better than late month dates. (Yes, I’ve been crunching the numbers!) A number of times I’ve submitted Alien Dimensions late on the 2nd of a month, and had it listed on the last day of the previous month. I would then politely email customer service and have the date changed. I’d prefer not to have to worry about that, so I’ll submit it on the 4th, and see how things go!

So, if you’re looking for the printed version of Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Issue #16, click here

If you’re looking for the ebook version, subscribe to the irregular mailing list newsletter here, and I’ll send out an email the moment it becomes available.

Many thanks for reading.

Neil A.

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The Andromeda Effect. Stellar Flash Book Two by Neil A. Hogan – Now Available in Digital and Print

By NeilA

The Andromeda Effect. Stellar Flash Book Two by Neil A. Hogan

Now Available in Digital and Print

Sent back 2.5 million years in time to the Andromeda Galaxy to investigate why there’s a record of them having been there, the Stellar Flash crew encounter a creature so powerful that it has taken control of the entire galaxy by thought alone.

With most of the crew unconscious, Captain Jonathan Hogart is in a race against time to defeat the plant-planet, save the galaxy, and find a way to return to 2133.

But another force is attempting to take control, to use the power of the creature from the past to take over the Milky Way Galaxy in the present. And, for this, Hogart has no defense.

How is the creature controlling an entire galaxy?

Who has the technology to transmit the creature’s power from the past to the present?

And will the Stellar Flash crew and the Space Station team be able to save both galaxies?

Available now at –

  

Amazon Digital  Amazon Print

Barnes and Noble Digital

Rakuten Kobo Digital

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Alien Dimensions, Science Fiction Ebooks, SF Books, Short SF Stories

Alien Dimensions Issue 15

By NeilA

Alien Dimensions Issue 15

Alien Dimensions features stories by authors both new and experienced, exploring aliens and the future.

Issue 15 is the most recent edition, and I’m sure you’ll find the stories interesting.

This issue is a bit different in style to those issues that came before, in that I’ve also included some excerpts from previous authors’ novels, as well as some shorter length stories.

It’s also now available from more providers –

Amazon Digital  Amazon Print

Barnes and Noble Digital

Rakuten Kobo Digital

Issue 16 will be back to normal with longer stories, reduced promotional pages, and no excerpts, at this stage.

If you’ve loved Alien Dimensions so far, and wish to submit a story for the next issue, please read my guidelines here: Alien Dimensions Submission Guidelines. They’re quite restrictive! I’d rather you knew ahead of time what I’m looking for, rather than having to send out hundreds of rejection notices every day.

Having gone through most of the stories again that I’ve rejected over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered that there seems to be some kind of correlation between inventiveness and substance, and whether it has been written in the third person or not. As it has turned out, many of the stories I had to reject had been written in the first person.

First Person Storytelling

Why do you think that could be?

Is it because a first person story ends up being a stream of consciousness story where barely anything ends up happening?

Is it because there are so many published writers writing second-rate first person stories, and new writers attempt to emulate them, thinking this is how to write?

Or is it because first person story writing means the story gets bogged down in emotions and angst and reminiscences and circumspection, and everything else is described through how that one character perceives the world?

I’m not completely against first person storytelling, but I’d much prefer multiple characters and lots of head jumping, rather than a single first person view from beginning to end.

So, sadly, I’ve had to add ‘Written in the third person’ to the list of requirements. I realize this will probably reduce the amount of submissions to just one a month, but I think it will be for the best.

What do you think?