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Blogging the news...
September 2, 2019  What an enormous pleasure to be able to report that XENO has uploaded to both Kindle and Smashwords as of this date. It'll filter through to Barnes & Noble, iBooks and so forth in a few days -- but I must update info on the physical (paperback) version of this project, which was ultimately canceled. I'm way overdue on editing this page, for which -- my apologies. I need to offer enormous thanks to Jade right here: she untangled this website yet again when the redoubtable AG discovered that virtually all of the Amazon paperback links had gone belly-up, heaven only knows how long ago. It's the last thing in the world I'd have thought to look at, because Amazon pledged that they would honor the old CreateSpace links when they absorbed CS, so all the old links were "grandfathered in." What a joke. Ten months later, the old links produce "fraudulent site" warnings from the really good browsers, like Opera. Thanks to AG's sharp eyes, and Jade devoting most of a day to the work, the website is in good shape again. But you could be forgiven for being steaming mad. Worse yet, one of the paperbacks -- Storm Tide -- vanished into the aether during the move from CreateSpace to Amazon's new paperback platform. It's GONE. All I have left is a link to nowhere. Search Amazon for the DreamCraft edition, and you won't find it. The book is not there. *Sigh* It's still available through Lulu, and copies of the GMP original edition are circulating at decent prices, so it's no immediate crisis. Just infuriating. Thanks also to the four wonderful guys who proofread XENO. The book is in fantastic shape as it goes to press. I'm sure you all value your privacy, so I'll say, "Thanks to AR, TR, AG and MA," and also to Jade, who somehow found a couple of days to edit before the proofing process began. Not to mention painting a killer cover. I hope you'll enjoy this "Golden Age" romp ... and I'm begging for reviews, folks. If you could spare a few moments to upload a few words to Amazon or Goodreads, that would be fantastic. Thanks in advance! That's all for this "post" ... I'll post again when the paperback ships. August 20, 2019  It's an enormous pleasure to be able to report a new book in pre-press. XENO has just gone out for proofreading, and will be
uploading to Amazon, B&N, iBooks and Smashwords in September. For a long time I've wanted to write a "Golden Age" science fiction novel ... a romp for
the fun of it, rather than a dark and moody tale. NARC and Hellgate are complete -- and they did get very dark, very moody, which "added to their
addictive allure," in the words of one fan. But this time I wanted to write something lighter, brighter, upbeat and for want of a better word,
"joyous." Which isn't to say XENO doesn't have its dark side: it does. But it's an adventure, romance, mystery and thriller where the novel's whole
reason for being is fun.
I want to thank the kind folks who wrote to me after the conclusion of the NARC series: thanks, guys. It's great to know it was enjoyed. I'd also like to thank Jade for the glorious cover art for XENO. That is exactly what had been in my imagination. Best I could do was a stick figure sketch, but she invited me to browse around the astonishing cast of characters she's created over the years, and I chose this one to play the human hero. The picture "happened" and I was immediately thrilled, right down to the colors. No need to make adjustments. Done. I'll be working to get XENO formatted for Kindle, epub, pdf and mobi during the next couple of weeks. The paperback will follow in due course: remember to add enough time for a proof to be delivered around the world. It'll be something like 300pp, since this is a large book, at 155,000 words, and I imagine the price will be somewhere around $18.99 or so. I'll update these pages when it's available -- and dispatch a newsletter. See the flyer right here...! November 20, 2018  Launching today ... a new major novel which marks Mel's return to contemporary fiction, and non-series-related work. FALCONSTONE introduces an Aussie hero, a wild British location, a thousand year old mystery, "bags of panic and blue lights" as we delve into an occult and dangerous world -- the "shadowlands" realm between our reality and the next.
Here's the haunted house story to end 'em all: a supernatural mystery romance which begins with ordinary events and grows rapidly into a nail-biting finale. The work was deeply researched and is set in real-world locations. Where is the fine line where reality ends and the supernatural begins? We'll leave you to be the judge! Click here for the flyer -- you can read the first segment of the work in PDF format, and find the links to Amazon, Kindle and Smashwords. The ebook is available in a wide variety of formats, plus paperback via Amazon. You can also track the ebook down at iBooks and B&N, or buy direct from the Smashwords store, via the pages here, if you prefer. November 3, 2018  New in ebook in October, and new on paper in November ... for the first time in paperback under one cover, Windrage, Tiger, Tiger and Callisto Switch, with the anthology title of FUTURE IMPERFECT. And -- as a bonus in the ebook (not the paperback, folks!!) you get Aquamarine as a freebie in the same volume.
In fact, this is the first time Callisto Switch has ever been issued on paper, and the first time in over a decade that Windrage has been on paper. If you've been interested in these shorter works, but were hoping for a 'bundle,' you're in luck. The whole quartet, in ebook form, will set you back only $7.99, which adds up to a saving of $13 or so, over the full price of all four. Meanwhile, the paperback comprises Windrage, Tiger, Tiger, Callisto Switch ... that's over 110k words, in a 276pp book, priced at $16.99. With Christmas galloping towards us -- well, there's a great gift idea! Click here for the flyer, and the links to Amazon, Kindle and Smashwords, where you'll find the ebook in a wide variety of formats. You can also track it down at iBooks and B&N. October 29, 2018 At last -- and you'd have been wondering how long it would take me to get around to it! -- the older paperbacks have been repriced (in good time for Christmas. Ahem). The magic of the situation is that now DreamCraft is operated by Me, Myself and I, there's the potential to cut the price of these short-run indie titles to bring them into line with the mass market. I've been intending to do this for a long while, but only recently have I been able to get to it, and here we are. A dozen older titles have been slashed back to very attractive and competitive prices; and this isn't a sale. There are regular prices: Fortunes of War, The Deceivers, The Swordsman, The Lords of Harbendane, Twilight and Aquamarine are now $17.99, for books ranged between 125,000 and 155,000 words. Then, Ice, Wind and Fire, Storm Tide and Mindspace are $15.99, for reads ranging between 85,000 and 100,000 words. Ground Zero is now $16.99 ... and the super-long, "thick" titles, Nocturne and Dangerous Moonlight, are now $18.99. Been wanting to do this for eons, and with the impending release of the Future Imperfect Omnibus, the time was right. Nice! Please do tell your friends. I'll be working on getting the pricing changed over on the main website, but rest assured, these prices are already in place on Amazon. August 18, 2018 
With almost two weeks to spare before the end of August, the NARC books are live on the Amazon marketplace, and you'll find shopping links on the pages for SCIMITAR, BASILISK and ENDGAME, here on the website and also on the mobile-friendly version of the site. The proofs arrived in ultra-fast time, and they look gorgeous. For the first time in living memory, Keegan is ahead of schedule. You're probably more amazed than I am. What more can I say? Job done and dusted ... am on a break now, recovering from a major lung infection, which is no so good when one is sruggling to recover from VMC disease (Very Major Crap). When I come back from a short break to recharge the batteries, I'll be starting in on a new book. But I'm not going to say what or when. Lesson learned! Stay tuned... August 3, 2018  It's safe to call the job done and dusted: the
mobile-friendly version of this website is up and running, working perfectly. If there's a
technical issue with it anywhere, we can't find it. So -- feel free to take it for a spin on any
kind of phone or tablet. Go to melkeegan.com, and if you see the
old homepage (meaning, this one!), refresh your browser screen, because you're seeing a copy
loaded from temps. Delighted with this work ... and thanks to Jade for getting this into shape.
Meanwhile, fresh files have been conjured for the NARC paperbacks and will be uploaded later today or tomorrow. The next hurdle will be figuring out how to get the proofs to Australia, since Amazon will no longer ship to Aus, and CreateSpace, the printshop, belongs to Amazon. Stay tuned. August 1, 2018  Today's big news is that the mobile website is in the
process of uploading and testing. It's looking fantastic; the only thing under test is the teleportation
system from the usual login to the phone-friendly site. When you go to www.mekeegan.com, you'll be given
the choice of loading the mobile version of the site, or continuing to the website. It's pretty much working
at this moment ... I captured a couple of shots of the phone and -- well, there you have it.
This answers an oft-voiced protest that this website might be "content rich" and so forth, but it's also a right royal pain to navigate on a device other than a decent-sized laptop. You asked for it: one mobile website, coming right up, courtesy of Jade, who had it conceived, designed, uploaded and working while I was still thinking about how to tackle to job. Any technical question re: the sites, refer them to Jade, she's looking after the "webmaster" aspect of things, making all postings and so forth. I haven't the energy to do this -- not if you want me to write too. But of course if you have comments and queries about the books, contact me. Update on the progress of the paperbacks for SCIMITAR, BASILISK and ENDGAME: there's a holdup due to CreateSpace refusing to accept a font on one of the books, even though they accepted it on the other two, due to licensing issues. The fact they accepted it on two out of three books makes me doubt that any issue actually exists. I suspect the system has just hiccupped; which makes matters worse, because now there is nothing to be fixed, but it has to be "fixed" anyway before we can even order the proofs. This will take a few days to work through, so ... bear with us. Remember how I warned that technical hitches could drive the paperback release into September? Welcome to that realm of confusion! All we can do at this pont is reformat all three books and resubmit them, which begins the three-day review process again ... and no one has the time to re-do the work till Friday at earliest, so --! Sorry, guys, it's starting to look more and more like September, and this time it really isn't Keegan's fault! July 23, 2018 
Many thanks, everyone, for taking us to Kindle Number One overnight, in the LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy category! This is tremendous news ... I'm wearing a wide grin and still a little dizzy as I look at the screen capture of the magic moment when Jarrat and Stone rode right to the top of their niche! In fact, give a click on the above capture and see it at full-size, where you can read the details. The ENDGAME OMNIBUS is two or three times more pricey than it's competitors; and it's not erotic, as two of the others are; and half of the top eight, which you see here, are in the Kindle Unlimited lending library, which means they're technically free! For Jarrat and Stone to sail to the top in this category is immense. Thank you, all! This is enormously encouraging to a writer, and it makes the fingertips itch to be writing. My job for this afternoon is to figure out a mobile version of this website. Everything I've looked at so far either costs a fortune (not going there), or is cheap but they load you up with winking, blinking, dancing ads that would overpower the site (nope), or you promise with yoour hand on your heart that all content is family friendly. Hmm. Well, with the best will in the world, you won't find Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester and Tweetie on my pages, so ... we have a smll conundrum, which I'm going to dump into Jade's more than capable hands. As the long-time webmaster of this site, she'll figure a way around this, and we'll keep you informed. July 21, 2018   Phew, what a job! today's news is
that the whole NARC series is on its way to Barnes & Noble, iBooks and Kobo, and in the interim you
can get the EPUB, PDF and three other file formats via the links on this website, which will take you to
the relevant pages on the new file sever: Smashwords. It's been a huge job, but there's only one last
thing to do. In the next few days we'll be working with the "Series Manager" for these retailers: basically,
a system that ties together series for interested readers. No problem there. Also, Jade has produced
the "series cover" art (right above here), and that looks great too. The big challenge is, I have to figure
out how to "sell" a million-word series in 1,200 characters, including the spaces between words.
Yep, you read that right: you're allowed about 200 words in which to sell an enormous series. In the case
of Hellgate, that's 200 words to sell a 1.25m word series. Ouch. Anyway, that's a job for tomorrow --
and we're also ready to send out a newsletter. [Awards self pat on back.]
If you prefer to wait for the NARC books to show up in the retailer catalogs, give it up to a week. It all depends on the backlog of works headed there, of course, and with fairly major publishers (Such a the British science fiction magazine Interzone opting for Smashwords a the easiest way to get to the big stores, the channels can get somewhat clogged. But for self and Jade, we can just about say "Done and done!" As I began: Phew, what a job! July 7, 2018 It's official, NARC fans: THE ENDGAME OMBIBUS has been uploaded to Kindle at this time. Give it 72 hours or so to "go live," and -- it's yours: the whole final trilogy under one cover ... all 390,000 words of adventure, angst, the whole deal. The browser page is online right now, and instead of rambling on right here with the blurb, let me invite you to surf the ENDGAME page and check it out. Phew! This website has also had a long overdue overhaul. Very little work remains to be done on it, and can't be done until ten titles (including all of NARC, plus EVENT HORIZON) have been uploaded to Smashwords ... which has become necessary since the ARe/OmniLit ebook store collapsed. Last we heard, the folks behind that business were being investigated by the FBI for something along the lines of cyber crime! What it all meant for Mel was that a whole bunch of royalties didn't get paid (ouch!) and this site was suddenly littered with "404 errors" which were a bear to find and fix. Anyway, it's done now, and we'll be using the Smashwords file server for these items in future. Next on the agenda: the paperbacks for SCIMITAR, BASILISK and ENDGAME. Jade will be doing the book packaging and covers next week, and we'll keep you up to date on their progress through the proofing process. They should be available in August. So, if anyone is growling to you that NARC is not finished, tell 'em they're wrong. Tell 'em you've read the final trilogy! Yes -- trilogy, under one cover, three for the price of one ... $9.99 for three books. Not to shabby, and my was of saying "So sorry for the delay ... and, against the odds, I am actually still alive here!  Yes, I know -- it's been an eternity since I posted. In fact, there hasn't been any news to post, short of that annoying practice of issuing stuff saying "Hi, remember me? I'm a writer, buy my books," which is something I don't -- wont -- do (if it annoys me, it's bound to annoy you, right?). However --
Now there's excellent reason to be posting. How long have you waited for THE END OF THE NARC SERIES? You know how long you've waited. You may also be aware that my health has been so poor, I now know more about hospitals than I ever wanted to. Only a couple of people sent "hate mail" (along the lines of, "I don't care how close to death you are, you should have finished the series or "unpublished" the whole thing"). Still, I'm keenly aware that it's been a long road, and many readers may have simply lost interest in the Jarrat and Stone saga. I understand this, I really do. I hope some old readers will rediscover Jarrat and Stone now, because -- It's done. The end of the series is a monster trilogy. It was a fair bet that if I issued it book by book, some readers would say, "Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it -- I'll get back into it when Keegan finishes it." So that's what I did. SCIMITAR - BASILISK - ENDGAME is a single story in three parts, running a whisker under 400,000 words (no, that ain't a typo). I wrote the whole thing before issuing so much as a word of news. It's right now being packaged for Kindle, also for paperback, so it's time to let readers know the good news. My way of saying "Sorry about the delay" is to make the trilogy available as ONE VOLUME via Kindle, at the same price as any ordinary book. In July 2018 you'll be reading the whole thing on your device for a penny under ten bucks. If you want the paperbacks, you'll have to wait till August, due to the time it takes proofs to be delivered to Australia; and alas the trilogy will of course be three paperbacks, because it's far too large to fit under one cover. (The largest book I ever issued was the final Hellgate volume, at 640pp. It's borderline too large: so heavy, it actually hurts your wrists to hold it for long. Now, SCIMITAR - BASILISK - ENDGAME would be around 800pp., and though some of the print on demand companies go to this length, it's not feasible, first because of the shocking weight of the book in your hands, second because of the prohibitive cost of manufacture, even before you get to the post office. So -- one Kindle book for ten bucks, but -- sorry -- three paperbacks. It's huge.) So -- Find out how far Aphelion really extends, in space and time (tying off all threads originating in APHELION). See what happens when the surviving brains behind Death's Head rise like the phoenix from their own ashes (closing out the thread begun in STOPOVER). Witness the horrifying results when the Sorenson Bill is passed in the homeworlds and colonial cities erupt. Sit in on the explosive legal wrangle when Governor Cassius Brand takes on Starfleet, over the Mostov Incident (resolving the thread begun in SCORPIO). Find out what becomes of Stone's old sparring partner, Colonel Jack Brogan -- and what's waiting for the newly promoted Captain Petrov, not to mention the newly launched carrier Huntress. Shake hands with the last of the Angel empires, a nasty called Basilisk -- and hang onto your hats, because hell busts loose. Literally. And what of NARC itself, in a political environment going haywire while the new colonial "super-sleeper" ship, flying the revolutionary Weimann Drive, is opening up a new colony so far beyond the frontier, it looks like the promised land -- but when did anything ever work out that way? Then there's the last of the monsters, Angeliberty, leading to an endgame that will change everything. One massive story. Done, finished, being packaged for Amazon Kindle at this time. Due in July, 2018, with the paperbacks to follow in August. Jade has prepared a fantastic cover for the Kindle one-volume edition, and we already have a mockup for the SCIMITAR paperback cover, with two more due to be assembled in the next few weeks. I'll "ping" the old mailing list when the books go on release, and for now I'll just say, "Sorry about the delay." But I really did finish the whole thing before saying a word of this on the interwebs: the least I could do -- that, and give you the whole thing, three for the price of one. Thanks for your patience, guys -- I appreciate it. 
December 11, 2013: And here -- at last! -- is the news you've been waiting for: The final volume in the HELLGATE series is due December 16th, 2013. Mel apologises to all for the delay in bringing the novel to you: "During 2012 and 2013 I've been sick a great deal, and writing has been a challenge -- much less writing something as complex as EVENT HORIZON! Also, the book overran ... a lot. I'd been thinking I could bring it in at 220,000 words and (what a surprise. You know me, right) it actually came in well over 80,000 words longer than this, which means a whole extra novel's worth was written, edited and proofed, before we could find ourselves in his position -- packaging the book this week, unploading at the weekend. To all who have been waiting for this novel, thank you so much for bearing with me through what have been the roughest couple of years of my life." More...  DreamCraft is delighted to announce that the paperbacks for both HOME FROM THE SEA and
MORE THAN HUMAN are now available. They're coming online in the Amazon catalog this week, but we can give you the "buy now" links
right here, to order the book direct from the manufacturer (which, incidentally, is great for both writer and publisher, since
when you skip the storefront and buy "factory direct," a much sweeter royalty goes home to the creator)...
Home from the Sea: paperback, $15.99; and
More Than Human: paperback, $15.99.
Second piece of great news for this posting: we're starting to process through the entire Keegan list as Mobipocket files. The first experiments have been conducted with the advice of the lovely, friendly staff at All Romance eBooks, and it's "thumbs up" for the very first Mobi title -- Home from the Sea. See it at ARe right here ... we'd welcome your feedback on how the Mobi performs on your device. We've tested it in Adobe Digital Edtions on the laptop, and also in Cool Reader and FB Reader on the Android phone, and also in Kindle Previewer on the desktop PC. It's looking good, so we're about to work through the remainder of the list. Progress report on HELLGATE #6: Event Horizon: almost there. Seriously! We're within striking distance not only of the end of the whole enormous novel (and it's huge), but also of the packaging and presentation. Bear with us just a little longer. And wonderful news regarding MORE THAN HUMAN. After a year and a half on issue, it continues to be brightest light on Mel's list, so it's no surprise that as soon as EVENT HORIZON is "a wrap," MK's next project is to finish a novel entitled THE SKIES OF EIDOLON. The sequel to MTH was devloped at the structural level over a year ago. It actally exists in a skeleton form, just waiting for flesh to be added to the bones. Watch this space: we'll keep you updated with news of forthcoming projects, and in particular EVENT HORIZON. Mel Keegan is back at
sea -- or close to it -- with a new historical novel launching in late June, 2013.
HOME FROM THE SEA will be treasured by readers who
enjoyed Dangerous Moonlight, The Deceivers and Fortunes of War. Set in 1769 on the south coast of England, the story
centers on young Jim Fairley, a taverner who has given up on ever experiencing excitement or adventure ... and as the old saying
goes, be careful what you wish for! Click here to know
more, and order this new Keegan in Kindle, epub and PDF. And a quick headsup: DreamCraft is planning a paperback of this title --
stay tuned: it ought to be available in July 2013.
Introducing Mel's latest:
MORE THAN HUMAN, launcing at this time! Here's a full-length
novel you might have been keeping an eye on for some time as we shared tidbits about the production of it, and it's out now in epub and pdf,
with the Kindle format due later this week. If you have a fancy for
razor-sharp science fiction, exotic locations, romance that fairly sizzles and a thrill or two on the side for good measure, don't miss
this one! Mel and Jayne DeMarco are collaborating
for the first time since Umbriel, and the combination of talents is a winner.
Click here to see that delicious cover at large size, read the first
couple of chapters, and order up!
January 20, 2012  DreamCraft is delighted to announce the launch of Mel's latest, Shadow and Flame, which is new today. It's a fantasy
piece, around half the length of a novel ... and one of the most delicious fantasies we've read in a long time. Great reading, for $2.99, in epub,
PDF and Kindle formats. Incidentally, if you're reading on your mobile phone or Nook, all you need is the epub, and you're home free.
Click here for info on the ebook, to see the cover at large size, and to read a generous sample online.
 The biggest news is ... at last! ... HELLGATE #5: Flashpoint is out. Click here to sample it, and order. At this time, it's available in PDF and epub versions, and it'll be available direct from Kindle in the next 24 hours. The Stanza version (for your iPhone and so forth) will be out by the weekend, and the "due" icons on the paperback edition will change to "buy now" buttons early next week. You can read the first two chapters online right here ... it's a good, sizeable read, which barely scratches the surface of this immense volume. Flashpoint is 250,000 words -- an epic which is impossible to begin to describe in something as flimsy as a synopsis. Here's the good news: even though the book is up to three times the length of an average ebook, and twice as long as many of the Mel Keegan titles, MK and DreamCraft are issuing it at the regular price of $9.99. Also, we've used the "relaxed" typesetting you enjoyed so much in the paperback versions of Cry Liberty and Probe. This makes for a paperback of 576 pages, for Flashpoint ... and both MK and DreamCraft are accepting a much lesser royalty to bring you the paperback at just $1 more than the cost of the other Hellgate volumes. You're going to love every moment of this one ... Check it out here Jade, Ed. Dreamcraft. Welcome to the 2011 revamp of Mel Keegan Online ... and yes, we're a little late with this project. Life has been hectic, and a great deal of work has been done behind the scenes in the last half year or so. Long-time readers will be noticing some of the changes already. Not only is this a whole new site ... simpler to navigate, a lot more streamlined than the last ... but also, the whole MK "backlist" had been rejacketed with brilliant new CG art. And there's more. We know that many readers have made the change over to the epub format for their ebooks -- and we couldn't agree more with this choice. Lately, epub has become my own format of preference. The old PDFs are still favored by a lot of readers, and it's a fact that when it comes to delivering graphics-heavy content, nothing will ever beat the PDF. But for a novel? The truth is, the epub behaves far better in a much ider variety of devices. So -- DreamCraft has already rendered most of my titles to the epub format, and in the coming weeks and months you'll also see NARC and Hellgate series appearing as epubs. Also rejacketed, in a brand-new series livery. And as for Hellgate ... the fifth book is being prepped for publication as this 2011 rebuild of the main website comes together, and while I'm working on the sixth and final book in the series. With the whole thing complete, we'll also be working on a pet project of mine" The World of Hellgate -- more about that when it starts to take shape. The sub-sites for the NARC and Hellgate universes are still under construction at this time of writing, but if you've been following the exploits of our resident artist, you'll have seen some of the most amazing CG art... ...so you can see how busy things have been, and continue to be, though we haven't been sending newsletters. rest assured, when there's news to be shared, it will be! In the meantime, this build of the website brings everything up into "current" status -- including the contact information. Apologies for the recent dead mailbox syndrome." We got caught between the old site and the new for rather longer than had been intended! Huge thanks are due to DreamCraft for their input at all levels, from the mechanics of this website to the continued marketing of books, many of which fall into the "classic" bracket now. The earliest titles in my list are well over 20 years old now, though it's impossible to even think of that much time passing by. Thanks in particular are due to Jade, whose art continues to astonish. What's next for me? Hellgate #5: Flashpoint will be out in a matter of weeks; then #6 just as fast as I know how to complete it and get it to DreamCraft for editorial and packaging servces. Meanwhile, the NARC series is bound for Kindle in the immediate future, and I also have a flock of short pieces I'm working on, which will be along when time permits. My gratitude goes to all of you who have been so patient in these last few years when life and work have made it difficult to keep up with book projects. My fingers are crossed that the near future will offer much more time to be devoted to writing. Cheers from Mel Keegan, August 2011 |
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