The Little Ships final draft is off to the proofreader.

Sent it off Tuesday morning, 9/29, and I expect it back by 10/15. It should just take a couple days after that to fix the typos, then I can release it via Amazon. Unfortunately, there’s a vagary of the Amazon prerelease system that means it’ll be ten days from the time I say it’s final until it’s actually released. It’s an Amazon thing.

I’ve also been in touch with Elizabeth Klett, the narrator who’s done such a fantastic job on the Into the Dark and Mutineer, and she’s scheduled to narrateThe Little Ships in November, so the audiobook should be available before the first of the year or shortly thereafter.

I also have an update on Planetfall, the novella prequel to the Alexis Carew series.

Originally, Planetfall was supposed to cover the time from the founding of Dalthus until Alexis’ birth (really until when her parents die). What I found was … that’s a really long time!

Almost thirty years, which is a lot to cover in a novella of thirty or so thousand words. And, in fact, it’s really two stories: First the founding of Dalthus until Lynelle, Alexis’ grandmother, dies; and second her father’s, Harlynne’s, story.

So I’m now going to release it as two novellas, each covering one of those things. The first will still be titled Planetfall and should be finished around the end of December or January time frame, with the second, still untitled, coming after that.

Newsletter subscribers will receive both of these novellas at no charge.

The fourth book in the series is underway — tentatively titled HMS Nightingale — and is so far about 10% complete.

Thank you all, again, for your support of the series — I hope you enjoy the next installment as much as the first two!

J.A. Sutherland