Should be up everywhere by tomorrow for sure. It takes a while to propagate through their system. So no link yet.
OK link now – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VX84PTW
Should be up everywhere by tomorrow for sure. It takes a while to propagate through their system. So no link yet.
OK link now – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VX84PTW
Just bought it! Yay!
Just bought it
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06VX84PTW
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VX84PTW
That was fast!
Just started reading the sample. You mention that the quantum fluid is necessary for Jeff’s big bombs. I am almost positive that, that is a departure from the earlier books when Jeff put a big hole in China. His bombs are all a result of his fusion technology and he only uses the quantum fluid to counteract excessive acceleration in his spaceships.
The quantum fluid is what allows the gravitational fusion. The scene where Jeff is experimenting and uses first a scale and then his hand to feel the field foreshadows that. I forget which book offhand.
Looked it up – start of “Down to Earth”
At the end of the chapter – “The big question still to be answered was, spun much faster, would it compress hydrogen by gravitational gradient to the point it would fuse?”
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE It’s on KU – but I paid $ for it anyway. Do you make any extra $ if we go through KU? I could always rent it and read it too.
I get paid for KU or I wouldn’t do it. I get about a half cent a page read, so for a book this size my KU normalized pages will be about 550. So I’ll get about $2.74 from KU if you read the whole thing. I am just assuming…but I don’t think they hold back royalties if the book has been read before. So yes, buying the book TOO would be a double dip if you actually want to keep a copy to read again. Thanks – Mac’
Hi Mac. Got the book off KU and i can say it’s just awesome so far! I am a little over 120 pages in with a 302 page count on my device. All i can say is this made my day. Was planning on raiding in World of Warcraft but your book is the sort of thing that makes me call into work and say hey i’m busy today 🙂 I work temp work and they have trouble finding people with my skills and expertise and put up with whatever drama i cause lol. But anyways the book is just great.
Do u make less money on KU or can i help u out with sales if i read on KU and then buy it too? Or would that make no difference? I l just love the April series and the Other one too. But the April series is the best of the 2 i think.
Double dip? Sure it helps to get paid twice for it!
Greetings Mac! Thank you so much for your writing. These stories are very enjoyable, I wait with bated breath for each new release, devoure it in an evening and am back to pins and needles for your next release.
After a couple hundred sales this morning I had three errors reported to me and corrected them. One was really irritating because Word didn’t want to accept it. When I’d click on add to dictionary it refused to do it! Thanks to those who took time to point them out.
Bought and read all within the space of 1 hour after I found the book on Amazon.. the links was not up here yet… I LOVE THIS SERIES.. 😀
Just 1 complaint, there’s not enough books of this genre to satisfy my hunger for this type of stories 😉 ) NEED more!!!! 😉
Very enjoyable. Thanks!
Made me re-read the last parts of _Secrets in the Stars_, too. Both series are excellent!
Enjoyable.
I don’t think a Veselago lens works like in this story. But ‘ve been wrong before. Is there a reference you can point to for a Veselago lens working in this way? Without metamaterial dimensions on the same scale as the distance to the observed object?
Nope. There are none now.
I follow you through Amazon’s system, but they did not alert me to your new book. Goodreads, likewise, has your newest book listed, but it is not listed on your author page. Strange.
No idea why – but looking into it. When I looked at all my books on Goodreads it was there.
Thank you. Just woke up and bought it on Amazon uk.I didn’t realize you got paid twice if I also ordered it on KU, I’ll give that a go.
Dang! That was a good one. It amazes me how you can start so many plot threads for later books without slowing the story.
Apparently some people dislike that and are offended if everything is not wrapped up by the end of the book.
Not the proper attitude at all! If you ever tie up all the loose ends, you might quit writing the series. That’s not something I want to see happen.
So thoroughly enjoyed this. Will be hard to wait for the next installment. Am going to go add a positive review on Amazon now
Thanks, reviews are welcome. I was surprised to see I have more on Goodreads than Amazon. I’ve never been that thrilled with Goodreads to hang out there.
What’s really nice about your books — and frightening at the same time– is that, technology aside, the world in which the characters live is awfully believable.
Of course, we know that technology will likely continue to progress, though it is hard to predict exactly what will happen when as some inventions just cannot be forced, they happen when they happen.
For the rest though, for the political and social climate of the Earth countries, it is impressive that we could see things turning out that way, not even all that far into the future.
Definitely enjoyed the last book and already impatiently waiting for the next.
I liked this one a bit better than the last two, I think. More April -> I’m happy. But then she’s mostly making coffee and talking about stuff instead of actually doing anything – again. Heather has some goals, Jeff has some goals, but April lately seems to be just around for the ride. And there isn’t even all that much tension in the ride: no serious dangers or opposition in this one. Everything gets resolved pretty quickly. Mh.
Well she saved Jeff’s butt three times for sure. Once when she physically defended him, once when he’d have been stupid with Weir, and then when he’d have just jumped blind aimed – out there. She orchestrated Happy’s rescue. Then her intelligence gathering was quite critical to understanding what France is doing. And made coffee.
Yes, but she’s reacting, not acting, thus the mention of goals. I suppose if she’s to be the babysitter of those three she did an admirable job, but that’s not exactly how she came across in the early books. There it seemed like she actually had her own goals to pursue, independent of Jeff and anyone else. In this, she barely has any scene where she isn’t with him, actually.
Of course, she also made coffee back then, so maybe that’s just natural character progression, along with that she’s closer to him (and maybe Heather, but she tends to be away, for obvious reasons).
Nonetheless I think the giant humanitarian catastrophe she causes because she wants to show-off is a bit of a wasted opportunity for possible subplots that could have suited her skill-set; kinda gets disregarded pretty quickly (or if it isn’t it’s not in the novel; like she mentions that she might have to defend herself in front of the assembly, but no assembly scene in the book).
Anyway. Just my opinion. Reviews seem to be generally happy with the product 😉
Pyo, I see what you mean. The basic problem for any writer is that their characters have to grow, but! Once they grow, they become “too senior” to do the darring do stuff.
Note the part where Mac wrote how April does not even captain her ships anymore. Which brings a question: What does she do? I guess she is running her intelligence network (not Chen’s network) full time, reads reports, sifts through news, once she sees something in reports/news that tickles her “spider sense”, she spends time researching/studying it. So. Basically she has desk job now. How exciting is that? Not very. Can Mac write a worthwhile book about April the desk jockey? He can write it, but nobody is going to buy it.
Mac. Correct me if I got any part wrong.
There’s certainly a lot of stories that end once the character reaches a certain level of authority, that’s true.
But a) I don’t think that’s my problem here and b) I don’t think it has to be boring. And in any case, how much more interesting is in your opinion making coffee? 😉
Most recent example I can think of would be Duchess of Terra. Some scifi adventure thing where the heroine ends up ruling Earth (that’s the entire mudball, yes). It didn’t get boring just because she doesn’t command a ship anymore. Instead she cleans up the political problems etc.
Although it’s admittedly not as well done as for example Mara in Daughter of the Empire or Baru Cormorant in The Traitor. They aren’t ever “action heroines”, everything they do is politics, economics and intrigue and such – and it works great.
To me, for April politics/diplomacy seems to make the most sense. She already kind of does that anyway, as you mention, running her gossip network. Which is why I mentioned her mentioning the assembly; she says there could be a split opinion especially with newer arrivals, and it’s a good opportunity for her, using all the information she supposedly has, to “solve” that problem 😉 But she doesn’t seem to be interested, just stating it as a fact. Same way she does with most things lately.
Oh well.
Humanitarian catastrophe, Pyo? Are you referring to her stopping Vandenberg from killing Jeff by missile, by stopping the third set of launches? I really don’t see “wants to show-off”. The motives seemed to be 1) saving Jeff 2) USNA must stop attacking us, which requires 2a) they must learn to respect and/or fear us. There are some debatable philosophical issues regarding proportionality of response in this, as in other parts of the series, but I don’t see any “wants to show-off”.
April does have a lot of businesses to run. At the moment they are not involved in the exciting/larger parts of the story line. I personally think it was a mistake to not make the lander part of Lewis Lines; besides being IMO much more likely than Jeff operating it, it would bring April (at least as CEO and sometimes pilot) into all the actions involving it.
And when it comes to exploring the stars and finding where to colonize, that also seems (to me) to be a Lewis Lines function more than a Singh Tech function. There is certainly no shortage of opportunity for both April and Jeff to be heavily involved there. I do find it curious that Mac has Jeff doing piloting, when April could be the pilot, but I guess that means my image of them is different than Mac’s.
She could have stopped the missile base with just the small rods. I’m not even sure they were technically necessary; it seems Jeff had enough missile defensive capabilities to get back anyway. But at least the huge bomb, as far as I understood, was by no means a “military” necessity. And she comments on how she was disappointed with that the bomb didn’t hit the ground for maximum explosive effect or something, feeling that a crater would be more impressive.
How’s that not showing off?
And frankly, that she could do that, and kill boatloads of children and sick and old etc. as a result, without even once mentioning that she’s bothered by that, just blaming the Earthies for being unreasonable – well, that’s psychopath material right there. I suppose if you’re the type of person who isn’t bothered by fire bombings of Tokyo or bombings against Dresden etc. during WWII, seeing cowing supposed civilian support that way as a legitimate military strategy you can defend her, but, heck, the books don’t even go to the point where they’re _talking_ about it at all.
Instead they kinda go on about how much more reasonable April & Co are than Earthies, but the point is that if they haven’t learned after x bombings, they won’t learn it after x+y bombings either. You’ll have to take the high road at some point instead of trying to terrorize them into obedience (or whatever they’re trying to do). At least realistically. Since it’s fiction it might work of course as soon as Mac decides that it does, but, honestly, were I an US citizen I’d by now be so angry at Home (justified or not) that any chance of any type of peace would long be gone ^^;
I suppose so. There is such a wide range between being a cold blooded homicidal madman who will kill for little reason or no reason at all and a pure pacifist who won’t lift a hand to deflect a blow. I doubt I’ll make everybody happy or comfortable anywhere in that range. I’ve upset military people who told me that they shouldn’t be personally responsible for how weapons are used they service, and people who tell me no individual should make decisions that only should be made by governments. What are governments made of if not people? I honestly think that they simply want to evade responsibility by hiding who makes the decision. It’s similar to people who have no trouble eating hamburger off a Styrofoam tray, but could never butcher a cow. Violence is horrible, but sometimes it is even worse applied half-hearted. It prolongs it and accomplishes nothing.
In Chapter 26 there is discussion between April and Jeff about the future building of a Veselago lens flatanna radar/beam weapon.
This preplexed me as I thought that Lewis Fast Couriers Armed Merchant ships already had a Veselago lens flatanna. IIRC April demonstrated one to the French Navy after a quick pullout from a space station in an earlier book and there was mention of the reinforcement to resist high angular movements.
You are right. Boy did I mess up. Nine books in I just lost track of the backstory. I have so many copies out I’m not going to cut that big a chunk out so late. There will just have to be an inconsistency.
But before it wasn’t a flatanna and they didn’t have enough power to use it as an effective beam weapon.
Sure it wouldn’t be a beam weapon that cut hull material but it could possibly be a beam weapon that destroyed ‘soft’ targets (e.g. sensors).
In your Family Law series you mentioned a usage like this against the USN.
Whether it could at a distance of course is up to you as IP creator/owner and subject to its focusing, efficiency, heating shedding, etc and of course sensor protections.and although the ships should have sufficient power through fusion more than power is required. What should be done is limited by a need to keep full ship operation. Pushing equipment beyond designed specifications is probably a lethal offence in space.
Mac in no way was that a mess up. It was a temporal transition of foreshadowing. 🙂 Designed to keep your readers on their toes.
Tries to keep face straight…I meant to do that!
That old veselago array seemed to be pretty fragile, too. It may also have been an oversight by April & Co. They built a good radar but did not think about other applications.
April, jeff and heather are about to embark on the greatest heist in human history to leap ahead and steal what humanity would say is there collective right to the stars. when that book is released i have a feeling it would be very good, as they said in the book the greatest none secret in space.
i kinda hope you find a reason to put april at helm of a merchant (battleship) once earth finds out what they did and they discover there is jack all they can do, i would just love to see her giving a go away or die speech from the deck of the biggest merchant ( battleship) man has ever build. oh well one can dream
Thank you for a lovely book what we see is the true beginning of “empire” and i cant wait to see where it goes
I cant wait for April 10 or will it be the New Empire Book 1?
Takes some time to build an empire. Especially on the sly. Family Law #4 and at least one stand alone book first.
First, I noticed the veslago lens mis-hap myself and wondered how you’d spin it 😀 You’re supposed to say something like: Oh, that was just a precursor to a veslago array, the French are who called it a veslago lens noting the structure on the spindly structure, not the crew. Now Jeff has the ability to build something really powerful — a TRUE Veselago lens. *cough* .
Next – a bit of critique (whining?) – I enjoyed the pace of this one more than book 8 – book 8 had a lot of “we need you to know this but it’s not very exciting” moments. Similarly in book 9 I’m having trouble figuring out why we’re supposed to care about the earthies “roughing” it in California. Though it does show the pioneer spirit – perhaps these are the Fargone precursors? It wasn’t clear other than for flavor, and didn’t really progress the story that I could tell. Hopefully they will become more important in book 10+. There has been a lot more tangential stories since the main war ended but they coalesced into the main plot line well in prior books. 8 and 9 have had a lot of “out there” lines that didn’t feel well meshed with the core story. I really wanted to hear more of Mssr. Broutain, but I suppose it’s not his time yet.
Lastly, I miss your section at the back “The Last Part” that is in all of the other books. I’m surprised how much I actually enjoy reading the synopsis of the prior books even though I’ve read them. This one just sorta ended. 😀 very nit-picky of me, I know.
I find that interesting anybody would miss The Last Part. Thanks. I may put it back in.
She also made tea 😉
I for myself think, there is nothing wrong for her being in the background a bit.
In my fantasy I see her busy with managing the shares of the companies she inherited of her brother and beeing nosy in the background.
If you’re not able to build things yourself, there is nothing left as waiting, seeing to loose ends and maybe trying to improve some things.
The first step “how” to get into the stars is made.
I guess most of you read Family Law too and just forgot – the people in that story-timeline already know, what’s to do.
And there is a lot to do: organize enough money, build a starship, find and vet a crew, train/equip/feed the crew for the ride, keep all that secret and then point the way.
But I have my own corner for thoughts, so let me be the female here:
I hope some of those lovers of 3 and more declare themselves as familyunits in the assembly of Home – though I think Central could beat them in that (since involved parties could just announce themselves beeing married or divorced there, why not such too).
The youngsters still can take their time, but there should be older folks knowing what they want. And imagine – another scandal and reason for the mudball to be scandalized! ^^
Silke – I don’t think that’s just a female perspective. I always enjoyed the references to the Heinlein Line families and the like. The social aspects are one of the reasons I like this series. I’d like to see the King and Queen and Patsistas declare a quad marriage, if they’re that serious. Barak’s group to me seems like a family of loyalty rather than family of love, so I don’t see that as a marriage group yet. Barak’s certainly too much of a butterfly to set down for very long in my mind. We already know that “The Three” are entwined in loyalty and love, but not excusively. I’m not sure if Mac would feel that is something he wants to point to though. Seems to me most of the Homies & Loonies are more of — “What do you care? It’s none of your business”. Its not like it’s a legal matter specifically – there are no marriage laws. Heather’s already ruled in her kingdom that it’s a contract and if you want specificity you need to be specific on the contract. I’m rambling again.. sorry.
Also – there comes a time after revolution to build. If you look at countries that had a revolution and then the new leaders didn’t know how to do anything but carry on the revolution it just doesn’t work. See – Cuba. I think all of you will be surprised how the Mothers of Red Tree see the actions of Heather and April and Jeff…
Oh, my. The next Family Law is going to be a doozy?
One can always hope it pleases.
Hmmm April 9 comes out and the home people can get to another galaxy. NASA comes our recently about 7 earthlike planets around a system named TRAPPIST-1. Just a coincidence ???
Earthlike planets around Tappist-1 – don’t swallow any more coolaide.
Trappist-1 isn’t a G star, the planets are tidally locked, the water issue is unknown, etc.
There is nothing really earthlike about them apart from possibly the size.
Another galaxy, Brian? I thought they’ve been no farther than Alpha Centauri yet?
yeah i thought mackey chandler was writing science fiction….and my post was in the theme of science fiction. Cuz you know Faster than light travel is completely possible right now.
I follow through Amazon and am a member of Kindle Unlimited. I was notified yesterday of the new release and downloaded it right then. I read it yesterday and last night. I have recommended ALL your books to my sister and she is currently on book 6. Sorry for the long wind up. I really enjoyed this new book, however, for once it just felt like you got tired of writing and just quit. The break point was not really a logical place just a sudden ending. Also, the group on earth was not tied in by the end of the book. This made them just feel like filler. There were already many story splits, like the kid on the Moon, who’s importance was also never tied in by the end of the book. I guess that is why it really felt like the book was unfinished to me.
Thank you for your talent. I really do enjoy your books greatly.
It’s a series. The side stories serve two purposes. They show what the circumstances are on Earth at a personal level. Just saying, ‘public order and utilities have broken down’ doesn’t tell you what that means to the people living there.
The other thing is the characters involved can be brought into future books. I have gone back several times to Gabriel on Home, Lindsey the artist, her dad Mo, Cheesy, the ex-President Wiggen and her writer husband Ben, the former royals of Spain and others without ever resolving their story to bring it to an end. The sum of it tells you in what sort of world April and Heather and Jeff live.
High action books in which a super hero live in total action and never have to eat, sleep go to the bathroom or deal with stupid people bore me.
Heinlein if you read him is an ideal for story telling to me. In even his simplest juveniles he drew a picture of what the characters everyday life was before dropping them into action. We are first shown family life of the main character in “Have spacesuit will Travel”, “The Rolling Stones”, and “Tunnel in the Sky”.
Even his more adult themed books later he let us see the events leading up to the time of the story and what their world is like in “Stranger in a Strange Land”, Or “Glory Road”. That’s even without the books being in a strict series, they are very loosely a future history but without significant continuity.
On the other side of the coin some of the 1632 books are not progressions of the strict story line but collections of vignettes that explore happenings none of which are needed for the main story line. They simply build the world picture of the time and events the cascade from Grantville appearing in the past.
Hope that helps explain the reasoning.
I grew up on Heinlein. Maybe that’s why I love your books so much too. Though, I prefer your strong female characters (April, Lee, Heather) to the soft damsels Heinlein usually portrayed.
I also highly appreciate that you respond to our comments with insights into the universe.
Thanks again for an enjoyable read.
Trivial FYI:
A few times you said impedance when you probably meant impediment or some other word.
A few times in every book you drop the “to be” from phrases like “needs to be done”. Examples in this book: “needs done”, “needs rescued”, “needs picked up”. This is a regional dialect, which you use for people I don’t think are connected to that region. This dialect is centered in the northern Midwest (e.g. Pittsburgh), or so I read. A proofreader (not from the Midwest) can find instances in your books by searching for “needs”, “wants”, and “likes”, since I think the usage always involves one of those. I could send you a list if you want, whatever you wish.
I’ll check out my usage of impedance. I’m using it as “something that impedes; an obstacle or hindrance”. It has that same sense to an engineer or an electrician. I’m more used to hearing impediment used with regard to a problem of speech such as stuttering. I wonder if that is regional also? I’d welcome a list.
I’m from a Pennsylvania Dutch family on my maternal side. So that’s my natural voice you are hearing. I could get it closer to a neutral standard TV anchor English, but when I turn editors loose to change that much it starts to lose a lot of other flavor. Is there any usage that isn’t regional? I find Ivy League English to be strongly New England in flavor.
Just finished “A Sudden Departure” (went back and read April from book one first… I like the continuity that provides), and really enjoyed where you went with this. I was a little curious after reading through all of the “Family Law” series as to how somebody beat Jeff to the stars! Happy to see that wasn’t actually the case ;^)
Also enjoyed the explanation of how the Singh jump technology ends up being so much faster than everybody else. The way “Family Law” tied in with April was a great teaser without being (at least for me) a spoiler. We knew something was going to happen, but were still surprised when it did!
I’ve read both April and Family Law (both series) several times, and am really impressed with them. As you mentioned Heinlein above, I’ll throw in that your story telling style has reminded me of Heinlein since I read the first book of April. These are both great series that I’ve encouraged my daughters to read, too. Part of my (not too) subtle approach to encourage their interests in STEM.
I’m eagerly waiting for the next in the Family Law series to see what Lee and Gordon get up to next. As to the isolated survivors in California, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of that. Maybe Jeff and April figure out some high tech support flights for them… can’t help but think these would be great folks to use as colonists as April, Jeff and Heather continue out to new stars…
please keep up the great work!
Mac, I love all of your stories and you are ruining me for other authors! Anyway, any estimate on Family Law 4? Been salivating for that since your blog post about getting your rights to the series back!!!
Thanks!
I’m finishing up a stand alone first. Won’t be until later in the year for FL #4 – although it is started.
Outstanding! I just finished April#9, really good book.
I’ve really enjoyed this whole series. By the way, I figure you already caught it or someone reported it, but you typed “Jess” instead of “Jeff” towards the end. Probably in the last 3-4 chapters. Threw me off for a second!
Thanks, I will recommend to my friends.
Thanks, I’ll go look for that! Fixed it.
Hasn’t General Kilpatrick, head of God’s Warriors been assassinated ? And aren’t the Sons of Liberty their activ competitors with the Patriots driven into hidding ?
Did I set up a conflict? Will go do a word search.
Ah right you are – will change that to Bellini. But no still a power.
Of course with Bellini moved up Brink got a promotion too…
Anyway thanks – fixed it. I have been writing an outline but it is too sketchy. I guess I need a wiki to keep it all straight.
Downloaded ZIM wiki software. It’s going to take some time to learn to use it I can see. I’m not viewing it as intuitive.
Can you share any teasers about the stand-alone? Same universe? A character we’ve already met, or someone new? I already can’t wait to meet them!
Let be look back and see if I have posted any of it….
Yes the first chapter of HooDoo was posted and a very short snippet of David and ‘uncle’ out in the bush.
I’ll post a small snippet to show which way this story goes…I’m not sure if it is science fiction, fantasy or horror. Maybe the beta readers can tell me how to market it.
Mac, I enjoy your writings.
A couple of typo’s in April 9:
@5320 damned – dammed
@6135 consignment – concession
Thanks will go look for those and fix them.
Great read April # 9!!!!
Can’t wait for Family Law # 4!!!!
Any idea on a publish date for FL#4?
What ever happened to the lunar republic
Bought April on 17, just finished book 9
Keep up the good work.
Not formed yet.
Do a search for “essene” and “dessert rat” ;-). The latter is one of my favs! Although it would be a great way to deal with both food shortages and pest control.
my apologies, they are dessert mice…
Made me think of the Monty Python skit – Crunchy Frog.