Hello, friends and fans!
Welcome to my 69th monthly newsletter! Pull up a chair, let’s chat! In this month’s newsletter: updates on publishing, reviews and news. Let’s take a look at this months’ “stuff”!
Some General News
In the past month I’ve made a lot of progress in getting things sorted out via my new KDP account and I’m happy to report that most of my books are back up and available very much as they were before! That said, I’ve recently experienced a huge sense of relief!
Beyond that, there hasn’t been terribly much else to write home about as it were; work has continued as it does, and with the trend of everything being generally downward with little hope of any reprieve by means of unexpected long overdue salary increases or other windfalls, I’ve come to view my monthly budget plan with something vaguely akin to rising hysteria. Meanwhile, as with the man who fell from the fifth floor – that is, in the sense of him being “okay” when he reached the fourth floor, and still perfectly “fine” by the time he reached the third, and so on – I’m still generally “okay” and “fine”. Hopefully something momentous will happen before “splat”.
As for writing itself, I haven’t done terribly much of that this past month. I’ve been a bit busy and stressed for that. Hopefully next month.
As I’m sure many people have had to do in the past couple of years, we’ve had to tighten our belts, strike items off the budget and cut back where we could on non-vital spending – unfortunately these meager savings were almost immediately absorbed by increases in everything else… fuel, food, taxes and other expenses. It’s really obscene how little value the Rand has these days – but not as obscene as the views of politicians who claim that “there is no money” for salary increases while they splurge billions on frivolities and award themselves massive increases instead!
The world is a cold and hostile place, this is known, but we do what we must, and we carry on.
News About Writing & Publishing:
Carrying On Writing, Regardless
This is the current state of things:
- All issues with KDP appear to finally have been resolved; 33 of my book titles are now available via my own KDP account in eBook format, with some also now available in paperback and hardcover. The existing audiobook versions are still available via Amazon and Audible.
- Previous Moon Books versions of my books have all been removed from MBP’s KDP account to allow me to republish them myself unhindered (thank you Elizabeth!).
- MBP royalty payments for the period February 2022 to the present are still outstanding.
- Re the audiobooks for the “Panic! Horror In Space” series: in communicating with the narrator, Darla Middlebrook we’ve experienced almost a whole month of delays due to problems with her mailbox. Production is still in process though, so there has still been progress!
Publishing
Currently Available Titles:
My books are available as eBooks, Paperbacks, and Audiobooks, and you can find them everywhere. Click the links in the slideshow below to view titles available in these formats.
If you’re still wondering where to find them in the format of your choice, you should read “Where To Get My Books – Specially For My South African Readers!” (recently updated).
New Titles:
These are recent titles published in 2022 (some are re-releases) via Smashwords and my new KDP account:
New Releases!
My most recent new releases for 2022 are “We All Fall Down” (July 27, 2022), preceded by “Sentinel” (May 07, 2022).
Sentinel – Book 4 in the Galaxii Series:
The starship I.S.S. Munray is a ship crewed by a lot of ill-disciplined misfits barely one step away from another court-martial – and the Captain’s the worst of the lot! When the opportunity presents itself for Vice-Admiral Beens to rid himself of the troublesome, malingering Wynne Polluk, he jumps at the chance to introduce a new broom, in the form of one Sonia La Belle.
In order to meet the deadline, she must deal with all the obstacles in her path; an old rundown ship whose engines lie disassembled, an uncooperative senior staff, and negative hopeless crewmembers who’d probably be more at home in the stockade than running a starship! The Munray and her crew resume their life of routine space patrol – which is soon interrupted when the ship is diverted to pursue a pair of dangerous fugitives who’ve escaped from a max-security facility – one that was supposed to be escape-proof! This turns out to be an exercise which will push ship and crew – and the Captain – to their limits!
Can they overcome all the obstacles they face, track down the Corsair fugitives, and do so in time to prevent the destruction of Earth?
…Ashes To Ashes…
Stuart Flane, Captain of the starship Mercury is called in unwillingly, kicking and screaming, to investigate the mystery of the ghost-ship Amundsen, which has just pitched up out of the black after being missing for 63 years. On top of that, Flane must also race to a mining colony where strange preternatural fuckery has resulted in six missing children and a series of inexplicable related events had left the subterranean city in a state of panic. What dark, aberrant secret lay behind the tangible terror of Caverna?
How would Flane’s skeptical superiors react to his next report – and above all, how would he word it? The word “carefully” always came to mind. What was he supposed to do – lie? Well, if he didn’t use apparent trigger words like “ghost”, “haunted” or “undead”, that’s pretty much what he’d have to do! Trouble was, some high-ups at Fleet HQ were starting to ask pointed questions about his reports – and sooner or later, Flane worried, someone was going to turn up demanding answers.
The astute Captain’s fears are realized when the Mercury is ordered to Starbase 43, where Commodore Link is waiting to ask a few questions about Flane’s reports. The Commodore, a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic and heavy-handed disciplinarian, makes it his business to interrogate and intimidate crewmembers referenced in Flane’s reports – at least, the ones who aren’t dead yet. Flane grumbles as Link’s investigation progressively turns his life into a bit of a miserable hell. Then, as if by coincidence, the Mercury is redirected to a nearby industrial colony to investigate disturbances at what – much to Flane’s acute embarrassment, turns out to be one of the most haunted hotels in the outblack.
Audiobooks:
I have 15 audiobooks available on Audible and Amazon! Click the links in the slideshow below to view titles available as audiobooks.
New Audiobooks:
You can view my audiobooks here.
Coming Soon!
When complete, these next three audiobooks will be released via Spoken Realms!
Feedback & Communication
Reviews:
You can see all my previous reviews here.
Interviews:
I have no new interviews to show you this time, but all my interviews are linked to from this page.
What The Readers Say:
All my reader comments are linked to from this page.
Videos:
You’re welcome to browse through the videos on my YouTube video channel! I’m not really the performing seal type, but I do my best! There’s also a 13 minute movie on there, called “Bang, Splat!“, based on characters and settings from “The Time Saving Agency“.
Latest Articles:
Below are links to a few of my most recent posts or articles since my previous newsletter:
- A Peek At My Week! #66
- A Peek At My Week! #65
- Have You Read Panic! Horror In Space Yet? Why Not?
- A Peek At My Week! #64
- A Peek At My Week! #63
- Christina Engela’s Monthly Newsletter: #68 August 2022
In Closing
Until next time.
Thanks again for all your support, sharing, friendship and interaction!
As always, feel free to email or message me via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn if you have any comments or questions!
Cheers!
Catch me on social media!
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2022.