Hello, friends and fans!
Welcome to another “Peek At My Week”! Here’s a look at some of my latest news: July 31, 2023! Here are some things that happened this past week.
News About Writing & Publishing: This Is The Current State Of Things
Let’s take a look at the current status quo on various ongoing issues affecting my writing or publishing:
- Publishing: Last week I mentioned that I’d started working on another technical manual for various different types of ship, buildings and other items featured in the Quantum Series, called “Through Technical Spectacles – A Quantum Guide“. This book is now available on Amazon, by the way. These background items might not seem as important as the stories themselves, but not only should they be of interest to the readers, they also help to create a more-or-less standardized image of these entities in the storyline. It was published on Thursday in eBook and paperback formats. I’ve included the cover/poster for this new item below:
- Audiobooks: “Underground Movement” – book 7 in the Quantum Series (narrated by Darla Middlebrook), was launched on Thursday 20 July, and is now available on Amazon and Audible. The audiobook is 7 hrs 40 min long.
- Articles: During the past week I posted “New Release: ‘Underground Movement’ Audiobook“, “Coming Soon – “Through Technical Spectacles – A Quantum Guide”!” and “New Release – “Through Technical Spectacles – A Quantum Guide”! “.
- What Readers Say: I’m not sure, I know I can’t please everybody (so I’m not trying to!) – drop me a line and let me know how you think I’m doing – or, preferably, leave me a review!
Let me tell you why the following review is special to me: it’s from an LGBT social/reader’s network! As such, I’m extremely happy with it, and flattered also!“When you have no idea what to expect, you sometimes end up pleasantly surprised. Black Sunrise is a weird little gem of a story that has elements of satire and parody—a talking plant named Fred, a planetary setting that’s something akin to an old Western, reptilian alien invaders taken out by a vat of sherry—as well as other fantasy and sci-fi aspects.
But there’s also a dry wit and humor wrapped around a serious, heartfelt subject here. Cindy-Mei Winter is a trans woman who was fired from her job for showing up in a dress. She suffered transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, and general stupidity from her coworkers and bosses. After her gender affirmation surgery, she takes a galactic cruise and ends up in the middle of major weirdness. So much for a relaxing vacation!
The cast of characters is divine. There’s the bored-off-his-gourd Captain of the vessel that brings Mei to Deanna. Gary Beck the Badfeller is a PI/bounty hunter who got his tough nickname from a stupid childhood stunt. The Gimps aka Ruminarii, reptiles who think being bad is good and typically rise in power and status by killing those above as well as below them in rank and power. And Fred, the Arborian, a talking plant who has spent the last several years hanging out on the rec deck of the freighter that brought Mei to Deanna.
The multiple-points-of-view style the author chose works very well for this story. There is a large cast of characters, and we get to see their thought processes, and often the inner workings of the characters’ strange, minds. The pacing of the story reminds me of the ending of the Clue movie, where Tim Curry runs from place to place explaining what really happened: rapid bursts from the characters, some ironic, some humorous, and some sad and heart-wrenching.
I thoroughly enjoyed this raucous little story. It’s weird and irreverent, but has a deeper, more important message dressed up in a slapstick-comedy tale. I will definitely read more by author Christina Engela.” – Lucy, Queer Sci Fi, 29 July 2023.
Other Stuff:
Here’s a few of the other things that happened this past week:
More Of This, Please!
I’m not a Barbie fan, never have been. It always seemed to me like an attempt to sexualize and pigeonhole little girls, a celebration of shallow preoccupation with appearance that led to body shaming and eating disorders… BUT:
After reading up on this new movie and watching the fallout of it on my news feed, I have to say I’m impressed at how it’s receiving praise (and hate) for it’s message of feminism, criticizing patriarchy and reinforcement of positivity for young girls – and also adult women who are old enough to recognize the war being waged on us all by the institution of patriarchy in broader society globally.
This one little movie, brightly clad in pink fur and rhinestones, has made right wing nutters unleash the crazy and lose what little shit they had left. Frustrated “incel” losers and whining conservatives who already hate everything “woke” – probably because it leaves them looking like real twats, are crying about how “feminism will be the death of us all”, supposed adults paying to watch a movie they know they’re going to hate just to write scathing hour-long video reviews of it, and grown, angry men are burning dolls they paid for themselves and having meltdowns on TikTok. I have to say, this will never get old.
Anything that can upset the lunatic fringe this much has to be worth something.
I may not like or watch the Barbie movie, but I will support it and that message. Well done! More please.
A New Series?
Over the past few weeks I’ve contemplated starting a new sci-fi series. I’ve been picking up inspiration here and there for it, and on Saturday night I went to bed thinking about it further, getting some more ideas during the night as I slept and woke up, turning over and thinking further…
So on Sunday, I got up and spent 5 1/2 hours working out a plot for it. It still has no name, but so far I’ve fleshed out five main characters and their profiles, descriptions and skills. I’ve also laid out a functional plot and story arc that should be good for four parts of a novel. Whether or not this will be number one of a series still remains to be seen, but I’m really very excited about it, not to mention wrapped up in it already.
I’ll let you know what happens next
That’s all for this week!
As always, I’ll keep you posted about any further developments. And remember:
In spite of some of my books having been on Amazon since 2005, not one of them has yet reached the magical 51 reader reviews yet! (The highest number any of them has, is ten – which is a pretty good number, but still not high enough for Amazon!) I would really appreciate your help on this! Come on, leave a review – it’s free!
I wish you all a pleasant week until next time!