Greetings from a galaxy far, far away! I hope you are all well and enjoyed Thanksgiving along with Black Friday and the upcoming Cyber Monday. Today, I want to share some quick news with you regarding a new science fiction series I have plans for in the near future. I also want to spend some time reminding you, and myself, of other book projects I am working on. Let’s hope 2023 sees more books published by me than in the last few years.
Hades’ Star science fiction novels
Hades’ Star isn’t simply a name I made up. It’s the name of a mobile and PC game I’ve been playing for months, developed and published by Parallel Space Inc on Steam and Google Play. It’s actually free-to-play, so feel free to check it out. The game features a yellow star with planets, moons, and asteroids around the central sun that you need to discover. When you unlock access to other types of stars, you’ll engage in combat and find riches.
While there is no central story to Hades’ Star, my mind has been playing with the idea of making one. Since you can name the planets and ships, the game is unique to each player. As such, it’s easy for me to create a universe and book series based on this game. As a matter of fact, that’s what I intend to do.
I’ve wanted to write a science fiction story for a long time, having grown up as a teenager reading many of them in the local library or at home. I could have easily just made my own series not based on a game. As a matter of fact, I have one planned already, but Hades’ Star has me more excited at the moment. It contains many elements I can see introducing into my novels.
The best part is that Parallel Space Inc has already given me permission via email to create novels based on the game. It was such a joy to receive a positive response to my query, letting me write my books based on the elements they created. On top of that, they were comfortable with me naming the sci-fi series The Hades’ Star Collection. There are so many different approaches I can take, which is where my planning comes in.
I’ll keep all of you updated as development progresses. For now, there isn’t a specific number of books allocated to the series. It’s more a case of seeing how it goes at this point.
Other work in progress
While I want the Hades’ Star news to take centerstage, I also want to give you some feedback on some of my other projects. Here’s what’s happening with my other planned novels.
Silent Hill: Obversion progress
I haven’t forgotten about Silent Hill: Obversion, the second book in my Boatman Saga. Something happened that forced me to put this project on hold, but I can’t tell you what that is at the moment. Once there is a resolution, I promise I’ll make a post about it and explain what happened. For now, I’ve been asked to keep this matter hushed up, so this is about as much as I can tell you right now until further notice.
Oh, and in case you missed it, here is a Silent Hill Retrospective video that I wrote the script for, narrated, and did video-editing for. I hope you enjoy it. You can also see the series of articles on Celenic Earth Publications.
MALUM: Rise of the Seven Deadly Sins
Since my Silent Hill novel is on hold and the Hades’ Star series is in planning at the moment, MALUM is one of the two books currently in progress. In case you may have forgotten, MALUM is my dark fantasy series inspired by the Diablo video games. I had started on it at the same time as SH: Obversion, but then the latter took priority earlier this year. For now, a lot of my energy will be going back into this first novel while I await news on my Silent Hill novel.
Dream Whispers
The first book of my new epic fantasy series The Dreamweaver Saga, Dream Whispers, started a few years ago. It was a project for NaNoWriMo in 2018 that I then stopped when I left my previous employment to run my own company. It’s not forgotten, though, as I still plan to continue with the series. With Silent Hill: Obversion on hold no, MALUM takes priority before other projects.
Open Door
Here’s another book I started in the erotic thriller genre. You may have seen me post about it on Instagram in the past. It involves a married couple that decides to go into an open relationship, exploring with other people. However, something goes wrong when someone becomes obsessed with one of them, turning pleasure into terror. It’s a fun project I started last year that I would like to continue.
So many books, so little time
While having so many books planned is awesome, finding the time to write is another issue. I need to make a living for my family and myself, so most of my writing energy goes to my clients. If I could just sit and write my novels all day, that would be perfect. However, reality isn’t always that easy, so I need to make time for my novel projects in between earning a living.
I’ll keep you updated on the above exciting projects in time to come.
SHAUN M JOOSTE 