Stars in Chains and other updates

Just got an email from Midnight Showcase Fiction that my novel 'Stars in Chains' has been accepted and my contract is forthcoming. I sent it in August 31. So this is the longest time I had to wait for a positive answer from MSFiction.
I'm busy with my novel 'Epsilon'. It took me a while to get back into the story, but it is beginning to flow. I left it alone and wrote 'Stars in Chains', which took longer to write than anticipated; it also got longer than I had planned. But once I was fully into the story, I couldn't stop writing and more and more stuff popped into my head.
That's usually the way it happens. I'm over 70,000 words now with 'Epsilon' and no end in sight. I'm beginning to enjoy the story again. I had sort of met a roadblock when I was at 60,000 words. That's why I started with 'Stars in Chains', originally titled 'Mindgod'.
'Epsilon' won't have as much erotica in it than my other books. There'll be some to spice up the story a bit. I have a feeling my readers expect it, but perhaps I can attract a different group of readers. Not everyone likes erotica.
Once I'm done with 'Epsilon', I will continue with Book Four in the Xandra series, of which I've written around 20,000 words so far. I'm excited about that story also, but it will have to wait, even though it keeps calling to me once in a while. I MUST RESIST THE CALL OF THE SIREN. I MUST!
I have no title for it yet. That one, also, will have fewer sex-scenes in it. I want to concentrate more on the story itself, even though all my tales, no matter how much or little erotica they contain, do have a story line. They are not just one mindless sex-scene after another.
But you can find that out for yourself by reading them. Don't just take my word for it. ^_^

Symbiont of Passion is alive

Finally. Symbiont of Passion is live on MSFiction. That is one of the problems with publishing. It takes sometimes forever until a novel or story is published. I sent it to MSFiction in February 2008. That's over a year. That is a long time to wait. A long time of anticipation. But now the wait is finally over. I wrote the story probably over twenty years ago. I decided to bring it out of its drawer and rewrite and edit it. It has quite a bit of erotica in it; there was more when I wrote it. I culled much of it and rewrote other scenes. I believe it's a good story. Science Fiction, what else? This is the second story featuring Orion. The first one was 'Orion, the Hunt', also available from MSFiction.
Orion is an Agent for the Colonial Worlds of Sol Terra. He is human, on the outside, but inside he is much more. Part of his mind is alien, immortal. He possesses certain powers, like telepathy. But read the stories and you'll find out.
Anyone sending me an email at hegro@shaw.ca and mentions that he (she) read my blog and tells me on which site he (she) saw my post will get a free download of 'Orion, the Hunt'. I will also draw one name for a free download of 'Symbiont of Passion'. That will happen Friday, October 23. I will announce the winner on the sites and the winner will also be notified.
Thanks for visiting.
Check out my website Herbert's World for another excerpt.

Merry Christmas...I mean Happy Thanksgiving

What a surprise! Yesterday we had our first Winter storm. It is supposed to be warm around Thanksgiving, but not this year. Then of course what do we expect. It's been a lousy summer. Why not have a lousy Fall. We had a warm September, but my wife and I missed it. We were in Germany for three weeks. The only consolation we have, the weather there was quite descend also.
There is still quite a bit of work to do in the yard. All the plants are still in my garden. They need to be pulled, the soil tilled and prepared for next Spring. We can only hope the snow melts away.
I went duck hunting yesterday morning, but the ducks have started to go South. Smart birds. Not a successful hunt. It was nice though to spend the time outdoors standing among the bulrushes. It was cold, minus 6, but when you're dressed for it, the cold doesn't penetrate. The weather was otherwise not bad. The storm didn't start until about noon, by that time we were already on our way home.
Here is what we saw this morning looking out of our sunroom. Brr...too cold to even sit in it because it is not a 4-season's room.

FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer

Has anyone watched the new TV series FlashForward? The story was originally written by Rober J. Sawyer, a Canadian science fiction writer, and published 1999. He watched the first episode in Winnipeg, Canada, where he was one of the writers attending the Writers Festival, which happens every year in Winnipeg. My son Perry organizes the event and he is responsible for bringing Canadian writers to Winnipeg. Part of his job is to pick them up at the airport and make sure everything runs smoothly. Well, I am very proud to say that Robert J. Sawyer sat in my car, because my son used my car to pick him up. Maybe some of his magic will rub off on me. One can only hope.
The show is different from the book, which is okay, especially for the people who read the book. I liked the first two episodes. The show may turn out to be the next hit series, like Lost. We'll see.

Review of Outpost Epsilon

My book 'Outpost Epsilon' has been reviewed by Coffee Time Romance and received three cups. Please check it out by clicking on Coffee Time Romance
Coffee Time Romance is open again after their site had been attacked by a nasty person and had to be shut down.