Yesterday marked the final corrections and updated to my latest Seth Jackson military SF novel. Seth’s an American serving in the European starforces in a future where the United States took a wrong turn in the early 21st century and became a third-rate power.

In some form or another the character of Seth Jackson and the setting has been with me for 25 years, originally taking up residence in my brain about 1988. I have written him and characters around him in short stories and in novel, none of which have yet been published, but hope springs eternal.

The previous Seth Jackson novel got very nicely complimentary rejections from publishers, with no two editors agreeing on precisely what it was about that novel that didn’t work for them. That was encouraging for me. If they all or even most agreed on the fault then it was likely an actual failing in the text but with each having their own reaction it becomes much more about personal preferences.

One editor commented that she really liked the central character and when I started this novel I had hopes of submitting it her first. Sadly, for me not for her, she has now retired from the industry enjoying a well-earned rest.

The novel clocks in at 100,000 words which was the target length I had aimed for. it also represents the first time in this setting where I have written points of view from the ship’s chiefs, which I found to be much more fun to write than the officers.

Now comes the part of the process that I, along with many other authors, despise. The shopping it around. Creating query letters, trying to change my hat from creator to hype man, a role for which I have never been well-suited. I could not sell water in the Sahara.

Whinging about it will not help. Time to do the work that is not fun.

A gentle reminder that I have my own SF novel available from any bookseller. Vulcan’s Forge is about the final human colony, one that attempt to live by the social standard of 1950s America and the sole surviving outpost following Earth’s destruction. Jason Kessler doesn’t fit into the repressive 50s social constraints, and he desire for a more libertine lifestyle leads him into conspiracies and crime.