Introducing “The Ben and Kaèly Chronicles” (with free sample)

Over the past year, I’ve started writing science fiction, spurred by the encouragement and friendship of a small community of Colorado-based pro authors. I’ve already got a couple of sci-fi works in-progress, one a solo effort of sort-of warm-up etudes, the other an ambitious epic space opera under collaborative harness with my great friend, award-winning author and colleague Peter J. Wacks.

The etudes have taken form as “The Ben and Kaèly Chronicles“ — I’ve been developing this collection under the auspices and services of LeanPub.com, which makes it possible for me to offer that first story as a free sample, a PDF-file which you are invited to download and read for free here:

http://LeanPub.com/BenAndKaelyChronicles

Far from just a teaser fragment or excerpt, this free sample is actually the complete first Ben and Kaèly story, entitled “Mamba — A story of interspecies trust.”  I’ve elected to release a complete and substantial story in the hope of eliciting readers’ constructive comments.  Any feedback that you care to offer will guide my efforts and development of this collection.

LeanPub.com earns kudos and accolades for the supportive environment it affords to fledgling (and even accomplished) authors.  LeanPub encourages “publish early, publish often” — much in the spirit of free/libre open source software (FOSS) — with the goal of promoting constructive dialog between a writer and his or her readers.  The “risk” of early publication supports not only a formative dialog, but an actual commitment on the part of an author to advance from a “hypothetical book” to an actual accomplished, completed work.

For a complete discussion of LeanPub’s approach to author support and publishing, see “The Lean Publishing Manifesto.”  I was introduced to LeanPub by another author-friend, Josh Earl, when I acquired his (geek alert!) pioneering book “Sublime Productivity”, the first comprehensive guide to the Sublime Text editor.  Josh is currently busy with additional technical guides to Sublime Text’s advanced capabilities — if you’re a software developer, be sure to check out both this great text editor and Josh’s tech manuals.

Notice how I’ve cleverly worked two examples of LeanPub’s support to authors — mine as an instance of an in-progress, free-sample work, and Josh’s instance of a fully developed book which is actually successfully selling — into this article?  I’ve been pleasantly surprised and very happy with LeanPub’s support and guidance for me as an emerging sci-fi author.  If you are an author, give LeanPub’s resources, services and support a careful evaluation.

In any event, please consider this an invitation — If you like sci-fi, and are interested in new works in this genre, please hit the Ben and Kaèly link above, and…

• Find and click the “Sample PDF” link (middle of page) to download your own free copy of “Mamba.”  Read and enjoy…
• If you like (optional), fill your information into the three fields labelled “Interested in this book?…”  Of course, neither I nor LeanPub will sell, share or misuse your contact information in any way.
• Also (optional), click the “Notify Me When This Is Published” button so that we can let you know when “The Ben and Kaèly Chronicles” is published.
• And if (when) you read “Mamba,” please consider sending me your feedback, using the “Discuss this book with the author” button on that same webpage.

I hope you find “Mamba” to be a fun first-outing, and it leaves you wanting more of Ben’s and Kaèly’s adventures.  And I’ll be posting more about Peter’s and my collaborative efforts as our space opera epic unfolds and develops… Stay tuned!

Thanks for your interest and support!…