Yesterday was Sky Song release day, and it went great! I’m so grateful for my readers – thank you so much for appreciating the stories I have to tell. I receive so many kind comments, and it always warms my heart to hear from you. I continue to be amazed at how far-flung my books now are. They’re read in all the English-speaking countries, but also Sweden, Brazil, India, Japan, Poland, Mexico, Netherlands, Italy – it’s wonderful and slightly terrifying. Pressure!

Excited about the release date, I kept thinking about Cricket and Lyle’s story, and felt like I can’t let it go just yet. There are other characters that appear in it worth exploring. I really felt for poor Rosamma and the short straw she pulled in life by being born the way she was. She has so much to give to one lucky man. She deserves a happy ending, too! Of course she does.

But not so fast…

The last we see Rosamma is at the door as she departs to camp out near the space depot with other would-be passengers. They wait for Lyle to take them out. If you read Sky Song, you know that Rosamma and the group do get to fly out, separate from but following Cricket and Lyle’s transport, with the handsome, uppity Phex as their pilot. Only their trip goes horribly wrong when they’re captured. By pirates. Yes, some leftover dregs from Lyle’s birth planet. Poor Rosamma, so sick and sheltered and meek – and at the hands of the lowest of the low!

Anyway, I have a plot and a general outline. I was so hyped up by my own ideas that I wrote the ending already (no story, just the ending 😆). Can’t say much more at this point because things change a lot during the creative process, but I already know that this story will likely be more hardcore than Sky Song. Lots of violence, including towards women. Some truly revolting scenes. Crude language. But what can you expect from this cast of characters? I can smell them from here.

Pirates (and then there were ten):

Fincros – big and burly, cruel, with burn marks, the (most of the time) leader

Esseh – big and burly, unemotional, scarred, the (sometimes) leader

Massar – tall and thin with darkness in him; sadist

Nud – short and burly, vicious; brawler with a short fuse

Keerym – the only Tarai among Rix; second in command to whoever’s the leader that day

Xirris – uncouth, stupid, and smelly (more so than the rest); makes unfunny toilet jokes

Galan – always stoned

Thilza – big and burly but not aggressive, blends into the background; good mechanic

Ucai – sharp and clever but not big and burly; wants to be the leader and hates both Fincros and Esseh

Aolis – the pirate who dies violently at the beginning of the story (a memorable mention)