Stellar Flash and other writing updates. And some more giveaways.

Other Writing Projects

Hi. 

Thank for subscribing. I very much appreciate your interest in the Stellar Flash series and characters, and your support of Space Fiction.

Things are speeding along nicely with the Robots of Atlantis, and pieces are falling into place. I’ve got some unexpected twists and turns happening that even I didn’t expect! Amazing what happens when personalities come up against each other and suggest solutions that haven’t crossed my mind before their interactions began. I like to give them a bit of free rein before, well, reining them in.

However, I’m taking a short break from it as an editor has asked me to submit something regarding Stanislaw Lem for consideration. For those of you not familiar with Lem’s work, the George Clooney movie Solaris is loosely based on one of his novels. In Poland, 2021 has been declared the year of Stanislaw Lem (amongst other patrons) and its a great reason to have another look at his work. So, the past couple of days I’ve been absorbing his writing style and hope to put together something that does him homage. I’ll let you know how it goes. (You can check out some Lem works on Amazon here: Stanislaw Lem )

In other news, I have just released Space Fiction Collection 2. This contains a collection of stories that two other writers and I collaborated on for early issues of Alien Dimensions. Aric Merchant and Nicky Martin were great at writing to a deadline based on my suggestions and I’m really happy to have these stories see the light in book form again. You can find out more here:

And now, some giveaways!

The first is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Giveaway organised through StoryOrigin. This will end on Feb 28.

Then there’s one I’m organising called Space Fiction Giveaway – Aliens and the Future. Also finishes on Feb 28. This one is through Prolific Works. Prolific Works will also be promoting this in their newsletter and featuring it on their website so I think they like the idea of something specifically focused on Space Fiction.

Another Prolific Works giveway that I’m involved in is called War of the Worlds. This one is running for a bit longer – until the 1st April.

I hope you find something compelling there.

Have a great week!

Until next time

Neil

Stellar Flash News and Free eBook Giveaways updated

Hi. Many thanks for subscribing. I hope you’ve all had a fantastic January. I’m glad it’s finally 2021 and things are looking up.

I’m about a third of the way through writing The Robots of Atlantis, weaving what looks like unconnected story threads together and causing some temporal problems for our heroes. Progressing along nicely. I might have a preview paragraph ready for a future issue.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share the great news that the Antipodean SF Radio Show on 2NVR in NSW, Australia, has accepted one of my short stories and will broadcast my audio narration of it in April. What’s special about this is that it is set in the Stellar Flash universe, but in 2036, so almost a 100 years before our intrepid alien crew begin their adventures. As soon as it’s available to download, I’ll send a link. If I get some positive feedback on it, it might lead to a new book series!

Of course, this newsletter would not be complete without at least one giveaway! And the great news is I have four! Click on the banners to find out more.

Here are a couple more for January. The first is ‘Free Sci-fi and Fantasy.

The second is Alien Winters 2 – Sci-Fi and Fantasy Giveaway.

These two are organised with other authors through StoryOrigin.

Both of these free giveaways end on the 31st January so it’s best to check them out today!

The third one has just started so you have a bit of time to check it out. It’s also called Free Sci-fi & Fantasy Jan 27 – Feb 28 and is organised through BookFunnel. The amazing thing about this one is that there are over 90 free ebooks to download!

And, finally, I thought I’d try organising one myself. Not quite as much as 90 ebooks for my one, but still containing ebooks that are worth checking out. This one is a short one. Just January 22 to Feb 5 and organized via BookCave. Find out more here: Space Fiction – Aliens, the Far Future, and More!

Many thanks for your interest in space fiction and the Stellar Flash series. 

Until next time.

Neil A. Hogan

www.StellarFlash.com

Being Prepared

This is all new for me. 

I’m very excited to be able to create newsletters for you with special offers, bonuses and news, but before 2021 I had almost nothing to say. If you had joined in February 2020 and have wondered why you haven’t heard much from me, well, that’s why. Certainly, as a writer, I’m afraid to bore anyone. My goal is to entertain. My hope is that one of my stories will have you sitting back and thinking about it for hours after you read it. (Hopefully with some semblance of joy or interest!) So, I had thought that the idea of making a newsletter as interesting as fiction is, would be, well, a work of fiction.

However, this year I learnt from a number of writers that part of being a writer is not only updating people about your work, but also letting them know about other like-written author’s works that your readers might also like.

Of course, there must be writers out there that write similar stories to what I write. And many readers read a book a week, some a book a day. If I end up just releasing three a year, then I’m letting my readers down by not suggesting other works that will interest them.

And so, I have organised some giveaways with other authors for you. It’s all very exciting, and it’s kind of like walking into a library for the first time. You’ve suddenly got access to all these great stories that you didn’t know were available.

So, this issue, I’m really happy to tell you about an upcoming giveaway. It’s short and sweet!

It’s running from January 20th to February 3rd, and it’s called Sci-Fi Group Giveaway – Technological Breakthrough

I hope you find a gem in there.

In other news I’ve launched a new collection series. This first one is like a proof of concept release and features 10 of my space-fiction-focused stories. You may have read some of them already as most have appeared in Alien DimensionsScience Fiction Weekly and Hoganthology. If not, please check out Space Fiction Collection 1

Future collections will feature other authors’ stories taken from no-longer-available issues of Alien Dimensions. And, hopefully, some surprises!

Many thanks for your interest in space fiction and the Stellar Flash series. Until next time.

Neil A. Hogan

Finally!

Have you caught up?

Hi!

Many thanks to all our new subscribers for joining.

After the craziness of December it’s great to sit back and relax in January, and do some cleaning! I’m finally done with a full scrub of the little one bedroom apartment I rent with my wife and toddler son. With the chance we’ll be moving to another rental fairly soon, I thought I’d get ahead of the inspections. (This will be my 15th rental in 30 years. Yeah, I’ve been a digital semi-nomad for a long time!)

The downside is less time to write. Still, I hope to get back to that in the next few days. I wouldn’t want to leave Captain Hogart stuck in the situation he’s got himself into for too long, otherwise he might never get out of it!

Thankfully, another author that writes similar types of stories to myself has had time to write, and she’s just made Yufu’s Run 1 – A space opera thriller free until 15th January 2021. It’s the first book in an awesome series. Worth checking out.

There are also some great offers and giveaways happening online. Last issue I mentioned a couple that I’m involved in from Prolific Works. This time I’d like to mention a couple from StoryOrigin.

Firstly, a list of discounted scifi and fantasy in the promotion: New Books for the New Year. Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Sale! Lots of discounted ebooks available! This one is due to expire on Jan 30.

Secondly, a group giveaway called Lift Off! Sci-Fi Series Starters.
Packed with Book Ones! If you’re looking to start a new series, this collection has a lot to choose from. This one is due to end Jan 26.

Hope there’s something there for everyone.
In Stellar Flash news, The Robots of Atlantis will be released in May for US$2.99. Until that time it’ll be at the preorder discount price of US0.99. You can find out more by clicking on the cover.

Many thanks for your interest in space fiction and the Stellar Flash series. Until next time.

Neil A. Hogan

Happy New Year and Free Ebooks!

If you love space fiction, here’s some more!

Happy New Year!

I hope you’ve had a great festive season. To all our new subscribers, many thanks for joining.

I wanted to get this first newsletter out as soon as possible for you as I think you’ll love this one!

I’m always looking for authors that write space fiction and recently I’ve been able to get together with a few of them and help create a group giveaway!

We’re using a service called Prolific Works, previously known as Instafreebie. It enables us to put our books up there for new people to discover – for free! Some are the first books of a series, some are previews. Worth checking out.

I thought I’d start off the new year with something fun like this! In this email I have a couple for you. More will be announced in future emails.

The first group giveaway, due to end on the 9th January, is called The New Year Sci Fi and Fantasy Free Book Party!

The second group giveaway is called Alien Worlds and will end around Jan 26.

I hope you find something awesome there.

In other news, I’m working with some other authors on special offers of releases, so you’ll see me mentioning other books in future issues. I hope to have more news about that in the next couple of weeks or so.

In Stellar Flash news, The Robots of Atlantis is coming along nicely. I have a new character called Kana, half human, half Yahyel, who’s shaking things up a bit for our friendly crew on the Stellar Flash and the team on Space Station X1-a, and Dr. John Patel has started causing problems for everyone, though I can’t go more into that! Of course, the title gives away that there has to be some time travel of some kind. Still working through the kinks on that one!

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the cover.

Many thanks for your interest in space fiction and the Stellar Flash series. Until next time.

Neil A. Hogan

Robots of Atlantis: Stellar Flash Book Four Updates

Hi. Many thanks for subscribing, and for your patience waiting for The Robots of Atlantis: Stellar Flash Book Four. I’m aiming for a October 2020 release for that one. I plan to include a lot more esoteric information regarding the ‘true’ Atlantis so in my spare time I’ve been researching this. I’m thinking that the storylines will follow one from 12,800 years ago (10,780 B.C.) , a storyline from 2053, and our current Stellar Flash storyline of 2133. Still working on how these are all going to come together. 

I took a break for most of this year to focus on my Creative Writing Degree. Just a few more assessments to go, and I’ll get back to writing Stellar Flash Book Four.

As you might be aware, I edit Alien Dimensions. Well, to help raise funds for issue #19, I’ve collected a number of my short stories together into a single 800 (5″ x 8″) page volume called Hoganthology. It’s now available in digital and in print formats through Amazon. It’s also available via Kindle Unlimited.

The news for Stellar Flash readers is that I’ve included a rough synopsis for… Book Seven! Tentatively titled Stellar Flash 2135 A.D, (considering it as a potential high concept movie), along with some excerpts from a rough script.

Hoganthology Digital

Hoganthology Print

So, Hoganthology will raise funds through page views in Kindle Unlimited, and commissions through sales to help launch the next issue of Alien Dimensions. Sales from this and other titles will then help me write more Stellar Flash novels. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the title, please feel free to pass on this email to them.

Many thanks for your support, and interest in the Stellar Flash series.

All the best

Neil A. Hogan

Update July 2020 – Due to the COVID-19 situation, and my city being under lockdown for months, I haven’t had any chance to focus on the book, what with worrying about where my income is going to come from, and being in a one bedroom apartment with my family 24/7. Lucky we’re introverts, but not being able to go to a cafe and have a couple of hours every day in silence to write has meant there’s been no progress on the Robots of Atlantis since January.

I’m really sorry to let everyone down about this. I’ll just have to delay it until 2021.

I hope you’re all safe and well, and hope the rest of the year will be better for you.

Alien Frequency: Stellar Flash Book One

Great news! Alien Frequency: Stellar Flash Book One eBook is now available on Amazon, for a limited time, for just USD0.99! (Normally USD$2.99)

Alien Frequency: Stellar Flash Book One

Captain Jonathan Hogart’s first mission to Frequency One seems to be going well. New crew, new flash ship, and a new race of aliens to make first contact with.

But the binary suns start affecting his team in strange ways, the friendly aliens turn out to be not so friendly, and now he finds himself glued to the ground awaiting possible separation if he doesn’t hand over flash relocation technology.

As the sticky situation gets more and more complicated, and the mushroom bugs reveal further surprises, the alien crew discover that it’s not only planet brown and purple that they have to worry about. There is a much greater threat towards the center of the star system.

One that none of them would ever have suspected.

Alien Frequency: Stellar Flash Book One eBook is now available on Amazon, for a limited time, for just USD0.99! (Normally USD$2.99)

Click here to read it today!

Temporal Incursion: Stellar Flash Book Three. Now Available. A Science Fiction, Fantasy, Aliens and Time Travel Space Opera Adventure.

Available in Digital and in Print Formats from Amazon

Temporal Incursion: Stellar Flash Book Three

By Neil A. Hogan

Dangerous temporal disturbances are appearing throughout the Proxima Centauri system, and 27 scientists have gone missing from the Frequency Research Institute’s base on Proxibee.

When Admiral Victoria Heartness declines the request to help, she mysteriously disappears, too.

Doctor John Patel quickly enlists Admiral Wei Zhou to manage the station, and look into Heartness’ disappearance. But with builderbot’s going rogue and attacking some of the station’s residents, Zhou’s hands get full pretty quickly. 

Captain Jonathan Hogart would be the next best person to help track down Heartness, but then the Stellar Flash ship goes offline, internal doors stop working, and rooms start being erased. With just Raj Kumar and the ship’s Japanese avatar available, and no access to communications or flash jumps, Hogart is unable to even get his crew on board.

In desperation, Patel requests Commander Sue Lin of the Proxima Centauri Space Force to investigate the F.R.I hive,and find Heartness. But with her soldiers being wiped out by a crazed energy cloud, it’s all she can do to stop herself from destroying the base from orbit.

With micro time particles converging, a deadly alien entity expanding, a robot uprising spreading, and flash ship problems increasing, can the Stellar Flash crew get to Proxibee in time to not only rescue Heartness, but also prevent Commander Lin from making a mistake that could destroy the entire universe?

Temporal Incursion is Book Three in the Stellar Flash series. A self-contained story of about 63,000 words.

New Cover for Temporal Incursion

Hi Friends. Yes, I’ve decided to update the cover. The previous one just looked a bit like Earth had turned brown. I wanted to make sure that people knew that it wasn’t Earth. So, now Proxibee takes up half of it.

As I’m using Creative Commons image released by the European Southern Observatory, I also had to make sure I got the copyright statement right. Here it is:

The image of Proxima Centauri B featured on the cover has been released by the European Southern Observatory under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and originally comes from the video: ESOcast 87: Planet found around closest Star. Please visit: eso.org/public/announcements/ann16056/ to watch the complete video.

The video is pretty cool, and I recommend you check it out. Everything you need to know about Proxima Centauri B.

Temporal Incursion: Stellar Flash Book Three is due out on the 5th March on Amazon, in print and as an ebook, and will be available via Kindle Unlimited for a limited time.

From about May it will be available for special order printing through various bookshops , and from June on Apple, Google Play, Kobo, and other places as an ebook.

I’ll post again as soon as it is released on Amazon.

Many thanks for your interest in the Stellar Flash series

The Stellar Flash Dream Team – The Actors and Actresses I would love to be involved if the Stellar Flash book series becomes a streaming series.

When I am writing the characters, sometimes I imagine particular actors in the roles. I find this helps to describe the body language a bit better.

When the Stellar Flash series becomes a streaming series (I hope to begin working on scripts in 2021, unless someone comes to me earlier) then I have a dream team of people I would love to take part, depending on finances, commitments, availability, locations and what producers, directors and casting agencies decide. (!)

Many of my characters are over 40, which means anyone I think would be suitable now, would be a lot older or even retired by the time the series goes into production. Even so, I’ll keep my hopes up until that day comes.

Please note that I have not approached any of these actors and actresses about the potential for a Stellar Flash series. At the end of the day, everything would depend on funding, and the production company may simply not be able to afford to hire performers of this caliber.

My Dream Team

Admiral Victoria Heartness: Nicole deBoer

Admiral Wei Zhou: Liu Yifei

Doctor John Patel: Brian George

Doctor Hiro Watanabe: George Takei

Commander Sue Lin: Lucy Liu

Raj Kumar: Suraj Sharma

Pilot Josie Tonderai: Freema Agyeman

Stellar Flash Avatar: Initially, Koyuki Kato. The eventual plan is for there to be a different guest actor to play the avatar in each episode.

All alien characters will be fully CGI’d, and I haven’t decided which voices I’d like for any of them yet.

Captain Jonathan Hogart: Not sure yet. My Hogart is still a combination of Bakula, Barrowman, Boxleitner and Browder! And looking a bit like Christopher Reeve. I’m hoping a new actor will rise up in the ranks of high tech scifi that has the look I’m looking for. About 180cm tall, thick black hair, pale skin, muscular, brown eyes, clean shaven, square jaw, and with a glint in his eye that says he’s about to either make a joke, or tease someone. Late 30s now.

Any suggestions?