Coming Soon!

The first book in The Phoenician Series to be released will be Conditioned Response. It is actually the second book in the internal chronology of the series. The first book hasn't even been written yet so don't ask where it is but don't worry either. You won't need to have read it in order to get hooked on the series.  Conditioned Response is infectious and addictive--like any conditioned response, you'll find it "unputdownable" and then want more!


Four other books in the series were written during the period 1986-1990, and two short stories in the same universe were added in 1990-1992 when even I, the author, just couldn't leave this universe behind. The books were submitted to and solicited by an editor at Del Rey, reviewed by him and returned with requests to make changes.

I was young, inexperienced and didn't understand that this is unheard of for a first-time author. Later, when speaking with published, well-established authors in the industry, I would hear awe in their voices that I managed to get a request for changes upon my very first submittal--instead of a flat rejection like they and everyone else has typically gotten for a first book. Conditioned Response, in its original form, was the first full-length novel I ever wrote. I am not only proud of it, but it holds a special and cherished place in my heart. Like any first-born child, I offer it up with the hope it will survive out there in the strange new world it finds. Be kind to it when you meet ^_^

Final edits are being conducted in the month of December, 2011 and release is still scheduled for New Year's Eve, December 31, 2011. However, I will hold the release date unless or until the final galleys are proofed. Even if it's "just an eBook" released by "just an Indie Publisher," it's still a Phoenician Book and as the flagship series for the new company I'm founding to produce this and other great SF stories I've written (as well as by other authors I've met over the years), my standards are high. I'd rather delay release a month to make the book 100% error-free than rush to market with a text where typos abound. Why?

When I pick up a book from the library that was released by one of the Big Six publishers, I have the reasonable expectation that there are not going to be typos, grammatical errors or just plain wrong words, so when I see those things, it's infuriating. I don't do that with my books; how can they get away with taking 85% of the cover price and not even bothering to copyedit, let alone proofread? What are they spending all that money on? Cover art? Probably--that and buying the shelf space in the bookstores (which yes, you have to pay huge sums of money for if you want a high-traffic location).

The only thing saving a typo-filled book from hitting the wall is the fact it belongs to the library, not me. If I've paid good hard money for a book and it turns out to have errors in its production, I get so angry that yes, I red-pen it at first and will eventually throwing it at the wall, unfinished, if the errors persist. It appalls me that the Big Six traditional publishers still put out error-ridden books. By founding Phoenician Books, I'm vowing to never ever do that to my readers. After all, if you throw your Kindle, Nook or other Tablet eReader at the wall, you might do real damage to the wall--and the book won't fare so well either! *haha*

If you'd like to get updated news about the release date for Conditioned Response, just use one of the widgets in the sidebar to the right to subscribe to this blog and/or follow me (@phoenicianbooks) on Twitter or "Like" The Phoenician Series on Facebook. Twitter and Facebook will be updated more often than the blog but I'll deliver all of your freebies and specials here, so I advise you to follow all three. See? There's always a Plan! Hey, I had to say it. That's the tagline of the series (and they'll know if I deviate from the Plan. They always know! *muahaha*)

-Friday