Star Again: Blog

The ebook has had a revision pass, mostly the dialogue in the later chapters. The story is the same. Same chapters, same ending. What changed is that a few characters stopped being quite so good at talking. Everyone in that book landed every line, which is not how people speak, so some of them now miss.

The updated file is on ZBookStore.

Nothing for you to do about it if you read here. When I revise a chapter I replace the posted version, so what is on StoriesOnline is always the current text.

Available Light is up too, all eight chapters, complete. A standalone novella about a wedding photographer who can read any room and cannot stand being seen in one, and the woman in the third row who notices. It is shorter than The Long Way Back and the voice is looser. I want to know what you make of that one, and I would rather have the honest reaction than the kind one.

The other thing.

I read the comments. All of them, including the one-liners, including the ones that are mostly a score with a sentence attached. Some of them have changed the actual work. In the next book the money is handled differently, because someone here pointed out that it moved too quietly in this one. I would not have seen that on my own.

Thank you for that. And for the rest of it.

Star Again

Two bits of news today, and both feel good to write.

First, Chapter 9 of The Long Way Back is live. Go read it. We're staying on the two-a-week rhythm you voted for, and so far it feels like the right pace for this story.
Second, the novella is complete. Available Light is finished and fully online now, start to end. If you followed Evan Reed into that too-warm hotel room in Prague, you can now walk the whole way with him. I'm proud of this one, and I'd love to know what you think.

Both the book and the novella are up on ZBookStore as well. Any support over there is genuinely welcome and it's a big part of what lets me keep doing this. No pressure though. Reading here already means a lot. And that's the thing I keep coming back to: your comments and your mails. I read every one. Some make me laugh, some make me rethink a scene, and a few have stayed with me for weeks. That back-and-forth is half the reason I write.

So thank you, honestly. I'm not slowing down. There's more coming, and I'm looking forward to writing it. See you in the next chapter.
S.

Just submitted chapter 8. Hope it will be posted soon.

James finally has a number. The building he lives in has a price now, and a price is a harder thing than a wish. It has to get past a bank, a landlord who's tired rather than sentimental, and a tutoring side-hustle that's outgrowing its room. He's good at building the net. He hasn't asked yet what it closes around.

The chapter turns on a question Marieke has been owed the whole book, and a phone call with his mother that was the hardest thing here to get right. Some care doesn't arrive as help. Sometimes it's a door shutting, quietly.

I also gave Chapter 7 a light trim, cut a few lines that said out loud what the scene already showed. No plot changes. If you've read it, skip the reread.

Scores and comments actually steer this thing, so if a line landed or clanged, tell me. I read them all.

More soon.

— Star Again

A new standalone novella starts today. Available Light is about a wedding
photographer who can read any room and cannot stand being seen in one, and
about the woman in the third row who notices.

It is eight chapters, complete, and I will post it in three parts: chapters
I to III today, IV to VI in three days, and the final two three days after
that. Romance first; the heat arrives late and earns its place.

If you would rather not wait between parts, or simply want to support the
writing, the complete ebook is already on ZBookStore, together with The
Long Way Back. Every copy there directly supports the next story.

Scores and comments are the fuel. Thank you for reading.

Star Again

You voted, and I listened.

273 of you weighed in on how much room you wanted between chapters, and the answer was clear. Two chapters a week took it with 49.5% (135 votes). Three a week came in strong behind that at 28.6% (78), and one a week held its own at 21.6% (59). Exactly one brave soul asked for a chapter every two weeks, and I salute your patience, whoever you are. So two a week it is. That's a pace I can keep and that gives the story room to breathe, which feels like the right meeting point between your appetite and mine.

To make it official: Chapter 7 is live today. Go read it.
Thank you for voting, and more than that, for caring enough to have an opinion about the rhythm of a story. That's a good problem for a writer to have.
One more note. Both the book and the novella, The Long Way Back and Available Light, are now up on ZBookStore. Any support over there means a lot and helps me keep doing this. And if you'd rather wait, that's fine too. Be patient. More will come online in time. Back to two chapters a week.

See you in the next one.

Staragain