Dragon Hunters Part 2, The Battle of Conborine

The remodeling of the old Immigration Terminal on Conborine by T&B Spaceyards goes horribly wrong. As the construction project is attacked by local forces working for an unknown enemy, Annie Tolen is kidnapped from the site.

Is her kidnapping part of the campaign against the Tolen and Blom Star Traders?

Or is this a matter of DragonHawks?

Manchor Tolen, Elder of the Tolen Star Traders and the leader of the T&B expedition to Conborine does not know. Convinced the Star Trader Council cannot help him, he turns to the only Star Traders capable of finding his niece and saving his people - the StarHawke Tycho and his Hawkkur Legion.

The Drakkon of Tycho know that this is a matter of DragonHawks. As the StarHawke Tycho prepares his forces for a possible Trade-wide war, he sends his son Elias and a Hawkkur Combat Team to rescue Annie Tolen, secure the T&B facility, and deal with threat on Conborine.

Sound interesting?

Completing and editing Part 2 is coming along pretty well. I took last weekend off to go to Round Rock and visit my wonderful son and daughter in law, and my oh-so-wonderful granddaughter Caitlyn. But now I'm back on track, working when I can on the story.

Looking at different sources for a website. An article in a local (Clear Lake, Tx) magazine featured an author who is selling his stories on Amazon in Kindle format and advertising via one of these do-it-yourself websites. I had already started looking at Amazon and the Kindle format. Its a huge platform that could help get my stories out to a wide audience. And it would be a start.

I plan to spend some time this weekend looking at converting Part 1 to see how it comes out in the Kindle format. Maybe I can get a website set up. I already have two domain names: davetransou.com and starhawke.com. I also have to set up a PayPal account and an Amazon seller account.

So, plenty to do! And an actual path forward...


Thanks for reading,

Dave

Dragon Hunters, Part 1 Gaanard Bay

It started out as a routine trip to the Gaanard Trade Station. But the StarHawke Tycho knew that nothing was routine these days, as the Trade drew closer to the war raging in the InWorlds. A surprise attack on a neutral planet, an attack by Dragon Hunters against the StarHawke Tycho, and the discovery of a young, female DragonHawk hiding among the Tolen Star Traders who could trigger the Return of the Great Dragon keep the StarHawke Tycho, his wife Mani Hawkes, and their son Elias guessing as they and their fierce Hawkkur Legion respond to new threats to the Drakkon of Tycho.

Dragon Hunters, Part 1 Gaanard Bay, is finished. I hope to have it in Kindle format soon and available on Amazon. Also watch for a new website coming soon!

Thanks for reading!

Dave

A Quiet Saturday...

A quiet Saturday of writing and drinking coffee.

Today I'm working on breaking Dragon Hunters into two parts, which requires a bit of modification of the story.

Once I have the two parts cleaned up, I can start working on the publishing and marketing process.

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Dragon Hunters, Part 1 and Part 2?

Well, we are back from the cruise. A nice relaxing week without having to think about anything beyond what to have for dinner or what to have to drink while laying around the forward pool.

As I said before I left, Dragon Hunters is complete. Time to start on the marketing side of publishing a book. Ugh, I'm not very good at marketing.

Dragon Hunters is a large novel. The current manuscript is 143,091 words spread over 539 double spaced pages. Those who are knowledgeable of the publishing world say that the average book should be no more than 80,000 words.

So I think I will break it into two parts. Part 1 will be about 293 pages. Part 2 will be about 245 pages. A little modification should further equalize them out.

All of that work should take a couple of weeks, if I don't get sidetracked by work.

Well, its late and I am tired. As always,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Dragon Hunters is Finished

Dragon Hunters is finished! The first book in the DragonHawk Saga is ready for... what?

That's a good question. The work list right now looks like this:

Update all of my notes and background information:

• The DragonHawk Saga Rules Manual, which describes all the rules of how things work in the Star Trader Galaxy.
• The DragonHawk Saga Development Manual, which contains notes on characters, storylines, plots, sequences, etc.
• DragonHawk Saga History Manual, which is my attempt to write a formal history of the Star Folk/Star Traders.
• DragonHawk Saga Reference Manual, which  is a reference to everything Star Trader, including the Major Star Trader Families, the Trade Stations, Star Trader technology, food, beverages, starship construction details, military organization, governments, and a myriad of other details.
• Star Trader Data, a spreadsheet that is a quick reference to everything in the Reference Manual that I frequently refer to.
• Master Storyboard, a spreadsheet that describes each story by chapter and is the primary sequence of events in the DragonHawk Saga.

Then there's publishing. What to do with the story? I may send queries to some of the "paper" publishers, but I don't hold out much hope for that route. So I will e-publish in a variety of formats and list the book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

And eventually my own website. (Anyone know someone who does really good website design cheaply? And graphics! I draw about as good as I sing... I think you can figure out where I am going with that!)

Meanwhile, Book #2, Dragon Heart, is already underway. The prologue and the first two chapters have been written, and there are some other bits and pieces in place. This story will be more challenging, because I have to write about the courtship of Elias Hawkes and Annie Tolen, more romance than sci-fi and fantasy, although I have to have enough action to make sure these elements are taken care of.

But, I will be taking a few days off for now. Cindy and I are taking a four-day cruise on Disney Magic from Galveston, Texas, to Cozumel. Be back home by Saturday. (If you've cruised to Cozumel before, and have any suggestions for places to shop or eat, leave a comment!)

I'll probably get back to work on the DragonHawk Saga on Sunday. Not sure I can stay away from the computer that long, but we'll give it a try. As always,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Dragon Hunters

Just some clean up of the last chapter and epilogue and its done!

Maybe tonight!

Thanks for reading,

Dave

Dragon Hunters Update

I'm closing in on the finish to Dragon Hunters. I stayed up late last night until about 1:30 AM working on an important chapter, the Battle of Conborine. It's still a bit rough, but I think it is more coherent than it was.

I tempted to end the story here. I wanted to end with a good lead-in to the second book, Dragon Heart, but I think I can accomplish that with what I have.

Hmmm....

I may be closer to the end than I thought I was.


Thanks for reading!

Dave