After the terrible
A.I. war Terrankind had begun to move out to the stars. But, the void between stars
can harbor unseen dangers. Jack Lagroose has settled in as Governor of the Eden
colony. But, when a survey ship comes in with a warning of being attacked, he
has to martial the colonists to find a way to defend themselves should the
aliens find them.
In Sol, Terrans are
slowly rebuilding from the war when the survey ship returns to spread the
warning. Consternation and disbelief hit the population like a wave. Some
people are determined to put up a last ditch defense by forming a volunteer
navy while others do everything in their power to undermine them.
But the aliens do not care. They are coming, relentlessly...
I am psyched you folks will finally get to see how the Confederation (and eventually the Federation) navy is formed, plus a few lingering questions will get their just due. :)
I just finished with Amazon and Nook, I need to go back to Amazon to explore the print option and see if it is viable. I'll keep you posted with links when I see them up. :)
EDIT: here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Defense-Interstellar-Founding-Federation-ebook/dp/B06XCMN7SJ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
EDIT 2: Thank you Duncan:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/desperate-defense-chris-hechtl/1125888348?ean=2940157272036
Edit 3: I want to leave this up for another week before I add another blog post and push it down. But, in the meantime, sitrep:
I finished Waking the Sleeping Giant (the sequel to Desperate Defense) last week and sent it off to the Betas. I'm hoping to get it published by the middle of next month.
I just finished the first draft of the cover and sent it off to some of the betas and other people for feedback.
Also, there is this:
I did these guys and another figure over the first week of the month. Yes, I know the camera angle stinks and the scale is off on a few figures. Plus a few are out of position. And yeah, a few don't like to stand on their own well.
Also, Sergie lost an index finger, (I dropped him and he shattered. I glued him back together but the finger got lost in the carpet) the humans had a terrible print, Chirby did too since he lost the tips of all 4 legs, (actually they broke off in the ziplock bag I stored them in), Gusterson's leg is splinted, and I dropped Gunny and snapped his ear and tail off while talking to Thomas. :P Still, it is kinda neat to see my figures in print form!
My favorite is Letanga, even though the sniper rifle didn't come out too snazzy. Still looks cool though!
I check your Blog way to much. This is like the 8th time I know about a release before Amazon will let me download it. So thank you for a wonderful new book to read. I hope my small monitory enough helps you.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteGot it, like it a lot, but to short for someone used to your books Chris.
Anyway good book
Thank you Sergiu. I'm trying something different. The next installment is 7 chapters away from completion. :)
DeleteShow me any other author putting out 600+ pages for 3.99. Honestly he should have cut it 100+ pages shorter AND charged 4.99 or gone Amazon unlimited. Although I think there is a page limit for unlimited? Chris needs to make enough money for him to write full time and he is struggling to do that. Putting out 900+ page books is good for the reader not for the author @ 3.99. Bought this book even though I really dislike the foundation series. Keep em coming Chris. I NEED to know what happens in the main story arc :p
DeleteHi
DeleteThis was not a critical of Chris but a statement of fact.
I will buy at 5 and 6 without a problem because I enjoy the
Books and I want to support the author.
I am also anxiously awaiting the next main line book.
Hope is soon.
Any word on a Nook upload time frame?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/desperate-defense-chris-hechtl/1125888348?ean=2940157272036
ReplyDeleteThanks Duncan
ReplyDeleteWhen I tried just checking Chris hechtl it was not showing for some reason typed in desperate defense and Chris hechtl it showed
DeleteYeah B&N is really jacked up. I had to publish it twice to get them to release it.
DeleteI have considered Kindle Unlimited. I keep my books as is because I have fans like Mat and others who are into the Nook or other platforms.
Sitrep: I finished 1 print project but it spawned a copy. I am going to start on it tomorrow. (curio cabinet shelf)
I am 3 chapters away from the climax of WtSG. Getting there. I am hoping to get it done by next weekend barring any interruptions.
Future plans: Once I get WtSG fully into the hands of the betas I will work on the cover and try to play catch up on some projects before I dive into Court Martial at the end of this month. Wayne has already started egging me on with leading questions and stuff. lol
Watch out or the gremlins might strike again. Remember I have NO Recall or Control over them until they return to base.
DeleteCute. So far so good, I've had only minor issues, most of it the usual getting the stuff to stick to the bed today.
DeleteYou better hope I don't get any serious issues though, you haven't seen one of the project I've been working on...
Finished the book yesterday. Great stuff. Next book, please ...
ReplyDeleteThank you! You made my morning.
DeleteFunny you should mention the next book, I'm at the climax. But I have to stop to see the doctor and find out if I really did break my ankle last month or not. :P
So, ... you are at the climax ... and want to see the doctor ... ;-)
Delete(NOT)Sorry: Could not resist after some thinking.
Lol I saw the original version of that. :)
DeleteYeah I'm still in the climax of WtSG. I'm going slow, much to Wayne's ire. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend, but the family is planning on dragging me off to shop tomorrow. :P
The ankle is not broken just badly bruised. (I'll say! And it's been a month since I did it!)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo the book was too short, felt empty at the end like you did not complete the story you were trying to tell. Good 1&2 books in series have some type of cliff hanger or anticipation that is built in. Yours really didn't, it had the big one for the series like how are they going to win, but not a micro one like this character is in immediate peril or the ship is shot up left floating in space.
ReplyDeleteYour writing style is a long winded ramp up, a short bit of action battle sequence then some further character building and story line development and then the big battle. You probably are writing the same way and you are cutting it in half and for someone used to your writing and flow it is kind of hallow.
Your issue is not writing books that are too long, your problems are beating the same themes to death like, "this is the military and we are super secret with code clearances" or talking about the bureaucracy of the military over and over again.
Write the way you like to write and stop letting people tell you write too much. Good God could you imagine if someone told Robert Jordan that and he listened? Horror!
When it comes to supporting yourself and finances, the issue is not readership. Don't get distracted on needing to sell more books focus on the reason why you are not selling books and it sure the hell is not because people aren't reading them.
Liked the book over all, did kind of wish Jack was more in the space part of it and the ship building. Kind of felt a little light on the engineering parts and details of the ships like guns and missile launchers talking about weapon systems and so forth, but enjoyed it
Ouch. Okay, yeah, it was originally planned as a 500+ page book with Waking the Sleeping Giant as the real second half. I split it into 2 books.
DeleteI want to explore printing it. I can't print my big books so I thought I'd try this. Unfortunately Amazon keeps crashing when I try to set up the print. Dunno why.
I'll tag your feedback and look into making some tweaks with WtSG. It is in the hands of the betas now.
Chris, just finished DD. I saw the earlier comments in this particular thread/blog. Be true to your style of writing - it works for you and it is what got you your fan base. I enjoyed this book, but the ending felt surprisingly short and a bit shallow. To be honest, it felt like it was stopped at where you usually break your "books" as part I, consequently, I did not get a feel of depth of character development or universe complexity that you usually create with your longer books...in other words, this was more like reading a report than experiencing the adventure as it usually feels like when reading one of your books. Having said that, there were parts I did like and chuckle at...the references to Pern and landings...great! I love the Pern saga as well. Great to see the development of the Lagrosse family...full disclosure I may have been more than a little distracted...had to deal with the tragic aftermath of an aircraft crash and that affects an entire wing and command....hope the sleeping giant comes out soon...kind of feels like I got put on hold before finishing one of your books.....thanks!
ReplyDeleteOuch, thank you for the honest feedback DKH.
ReplyDeleteI put some of the back story in the Cornerstone short stories, but not all.
Pern: Yeah, I had to slip it in somewhere. :)
I'm sorry to hear about the aircraft crash. My condolences to all those effected.
WtSG is in the hands of the betas at the moment. I have some ideas to spice things up after yours and Soren's feedback, but not much.
Part of the problem is, yes they are short which doesn't give me a lot of wiggle room. There is also a lot of characters, and I can't see getting into someone's life history while they are under fire. (Though some do see their life flash before their eyes!) Sometimes I can slip in an anecdote or something, but not always. Some story threads will have to be continued in short stories later I suppose.
As one of the beta I can say there is several satisfying battles and other things. Though I do have to wonder if Chris went back and edited things in response to a comment I made. Either way I enjoyed the book.
DeleteAre you talking DD or WtSG?
DeleteI'm still waiting on feedback from the betas on WtSG.
Wayne is trying to drag me kicking and screaming into Shelby 2. lol
And, for some maddening reason, I am spending my time off working on print projects for dad to keep him busy since his spring break is next week. That way he'll leave me alone or keep the long suffering sighs to a minimum!
WtSG. The comment I am referring to is at the very end. As for my vote on what you should write next it comes to a four way tie. It consists of Irons (either current or Xeno war. I am not picky), Jethro, Shelby, and Horatio.
DeleteMy Vote is Irons, Shelby, Jethro, Horatio
ReplyDelete:-)
Irons current to be exact
ReplyDeleteThe next book will be Court Martial. I'll be starting it this week. After that it will be Irons and The Gathering Storm.
ReplyDeleteWayne is lobbying me to write CM, TGS, and SMT (Shiver Me Timbers, Shelby 2) all at the same time. lol I'm betting Thomas and others will chime in with their thoughts in J6 or one of the side books I've been putting off like Academy or Semper Fi. :P
of course we would want a story of the black cat...kind of left us hanging with his last ending...oh okay, it is more on seeing if his cousin and SiL are going to become an item and how much trouble his kits get him in with their mother...Seriously, when is WtSG coming out? Looking forward to it
DeleteLol
DeleteWtSG Sitrep: I got it back from Rea yesterday. I am sitting on it for another day or so as I do some more writing in Court-Martial. I have a specific scene in mind for the sneak peek but I haven't gotten it ironed out yet.
Once I do that I'll finish the TOC and other bits and then send it off to Goodlifeguide for final formatting.
So, to answer your question, sometime this month. Most likely by Easter or there abouts. :)
Court-Martial sitrep: I finally got into it yesterday. I just finished my 10 pages (I'm up to 80 total so far) and the first chapter (chapter 7) today. Chapter 3 is almost done as well, I've got 1 scene left there plus 1 there that might be out of order. I think I shot myself in the foot there and in a few other places so I need to slow down go back to EE and check on a few people and see where I went wrong. (if I did at all) I'm still getting into things with that book.
Oh, if you wanted to know a little more about Jethro and family, there is a cameo appearance in a recent book I released...
DeleteIf you mean the short story collection,....NOT ENOUGH...NOT ENOUGH...not that I am pushy or greedy or anything...LOL
DeleteNaaa, you? LOL
DeleteHello Chris ... As an engineer, I very much enjoyed the trial and tribulations of Jeremy Irons. I really enjoyed the backstory of the Irons family in First Steps. In general I really like the technical aspects of your books. You have the on planet and in station down fairly well. You have the time lag between Earth and Mars (4 minutes best case) figured out. But, your space battles are killing me. I'm 89% of the way through Desperate Defense and found myself extremely frustrated with your space battles. Thus, this post (rant?) on your blog.
ReplyDeleteOur solar system is huge ... ~12 billion km diameter. You've stated that ships must be beyond the edge of the solar system to transition, so that is ~6 billion km from the sun. With the speed of light being roughly 1.08 billion km/hr, travel time from the sun to "the edge" is just over 5.556 hours. So, travel times that are measured as fraction of c (speed of light) start get longer and longer.
Speed of light travel times to sun:
Jupiter ~43 minutes (~7 hours at 0.1 c)
Saturn ~1 hour, 19 minutes (almost 12 hours at 0.1 c)
Uranus ~2 hours, 45 minutes (27.5 hours at 0.1 c)
Neptune ~4 hours, 11 minutes (over 40 hours at 0.1 c)
Pluto ~5 hours, 29 minutes (nearly 55 hours (> 2 days) at 0.1 c)
Ships traveling at 1/100 c would take 3 weeks to get to the orbit of Pluto.
Communication lag is measured in hours once you get to Jupiter. Ballistics get measured portions of days. Ship travel times get measured in weeks.
I believe you state projectiles are traveling at 1/10 the speed of light (108 million km/hr). The delay between "seeing" the ship fire and the witnessing the impact grows as the distance increases. It is like the difference between seeing the lightning strike and hearing the thunder clap. (1.08 billion km/hr vs. 1.225 thousand km.hr ... yes, that's roughly 1/881,633 ... an extremely small percentage of c.)
If I'm in an orbital platform around earth around earth and I witness a ship near the orbit of Jupiter pointing and shooting a projectile at me, it will take over 6 hours for the projectile to get to here. It will be a problem for the next shift to solve. (Actually, if it points at me, I won't be there when the projectile arrives. I will have moved in those 6 hours. Talk about needing to "lead your target".)
Between Earth and Mars at closest proximity, 1/10 c is still 40 minutes. Subtract the 4 minutes it took light to travel the distance and we still have >30 minutes to figure out a firing solution to knock out the incoming projectile.
You're not the only author who forgets about the vastness of space and travel times when measured as fractions of the speed of light. I actually threw (and broke) a Kindle the first time I ran into this problem; expensive lesson. Now I just get angry and mumble to myself.
Normally I would just stop reading your books ... just give up on you as an author. I've done that to at least 10 other authors. However, I like your stories. I like most of your characters. (It would be nice if you could develop the Earth-First characters a little more. Your distain for them leaves them one dimensional.) I like how you keep slipping in names from other SciFi franchises. (Except, I keep stopping your book and spend time researching the other series to see if there are more tie-ins than just the name.) I want to keep buying your books and supporting you.
This is a good refence: http://www.northern-stars.com/solar_system_distance_scal.htm
So is this: https://theplanets.org/distances-between-planets/
Best regards,
Bill
Wow Bill, did you ever bury this comment! I'm glad I have it sent to my email, sorry about the delay though.
DeleteYes, I, like a lot of authors forget the time lag. I try to work it in there. Sometimes I do but then drop it out as a scene progresses.
Sorry about that.
The fun thing is I used some of the same references you pointed out when I was talking to one of the Betas about his newest book the other day. Thanks for that.
I'll try to do better. Sometimes though, I get caught up in the heat of the moment. Please bear with me or use a moderate clue stick. :)