Welcome to my blog

Hello visitors. On my blog I'm talking about my books, but also about what I'm currently working on and, maybe, some other stuff. Browse through my posts and don't forget to check out my older posts in the archives. If you are interested in my books, please, visit my website Fictitious Tales for more information and a few excerpts. Also, take a look at my second blog Herbert Grosshans, where I talk about fun-stuff and things that concern me.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

#Codename Salamander released




Finally, the day has arrived. My new novel Codename Salamander has been published. It’s been a long wait and much work but worth it. I love the cover. This is the first book in a new series ‘Operation Stargate’, which is part of a much larger series: #The Spider Wars. It all began with Outpost Epsilon. When I wrote that book, I had no idea it would expand into a series.

Creating a fictional universe is a slow process. For me anyway. It begins with the first paragraph of a new novel and grows and swells and becomes more real as the story develops. In the course of writing I create more characters, different alien races, backgrounds of the characters and of the places like planets and planetary systems. I need to create and develop different nations and societies with their unique laws and customs.

Every character in the story has his/her own background and story to tell. Most of it usually stays untold unless it is important to the main story, but it has to be created. Every time a new character appears, I create a short background which fleshes out as the story moves along. I will write down things like age, physical attributes, education, job, parents, siblings and stuff like that. I may use none of this information, but it is there if I need it.

Once the story is finished, I have a whole world populated with a host of characters, aliens, and different societies. It took work to do this and it would be a shame if I didn’t use this universe I created for more adventures. That’s how a series is born. The next book will be much easier to write, because I already have so much information at my fingertips. The file of this information gets larger with every book I write in that new series.

Will there be a second book in Operation Stargate? I don’t know. It is a good possibility. I could also write another book in the other subseries of The Spider Wars: Lizard World. It consists of 3 books and there is plenty of opportunity to write more books in that series. One advantage with writing any of those future books: They all happen in the Universe I created with Outpost Epsilon.

Now here is an opportunity for you to get familiar with that universe and it won’t cost you a dime. Just send me an email to hegro@shaw.ca and I will send you an electronic copy in any format you chose of either Outpost Epsilon or the first book in the Lizard World series: Epsilon.

I hope to hear from you. You won’t regret it.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Codename Salamander is available from my publisher Melange Books. Just click on the link and it will take you there.


Happy Reading

Friday, November 18, 2016

#Codename Salamander

My new novel ‘Codename Salamander’ Book One in my new series ‘Operation Stargate’ is scheduled to be published November 29 by Melange Books.

Operation Stargate is part of the larger series #‘The Spider Wars’, which I started with Outpost Epsilon, the prequel to the sub-series ‘Lizard World’, which is a trilogy so far, but that may change in the future.

#Lizard World:
Book One: Epsilon
Book Two: Epsilon City
Book Three: Lizard’s Tooth

I love the Universe I created with that first book and expanded with Lizard World. The events in Codename Salamander take place 15 years in the future of Lizard World. Terrex Stonewall, the main character in Outpost Epsilon and also one of the main characters in Lizard World appears again in Codename Salamander. Older but still very much alive and active. I’ve also introduced his nephew Bret Grayson, a man who possess an eidetic memory and he is a genius.

The book also features colorful and sexy alien females and a host of other aliens. There is a little bit of erotica in the book but nothing as explicit as in the other novels. I’m trying to keep explicit erotic scenes out of my novels now, but a bit of soft erotica enhances the stories. Let’s face it, sex plays an important part of our daily lives and ignoring it would be like pretending we don’t eat or sleep. When males and females, be they humans or aliens, spend time together emotions come alive and sexual sparks fly. It is a natural thing and healthy.

The day a beautiful woman won’t cause me to turn my head to watch her walk by will be a sad day indeed and I might as well bury myself. I love to look at beautiful women and I like to write about beautiful women, be they human or alien humanoids.

There is also intrigue and plenty of adventure in Codename Salamander, new worlds to be discovered with interesting aliens. I enjoyed writing the book and I’m planning to write more books either in the Lizard World series or in my new series Operation Stargate. The more I write about this Universe the more ideas pop into my head. There is so much potential when a created Universe becomes populated with different aliens and new worlds. The only limit is my imagination. Everything is possible. It is exciting to write these stories and I hope my readers will also find them entertaining and enjoyable.

The book was supposed to be published in October, but there were issues with the numbering of the volumes. That’s why I created a new sub-series for this book, which will allow me to write more books in the Spider Wars series without making things confusing. Problems like that pop up when you create a series from a book, unless as a writer I plan to write a series from the beginning. But that would make it too easy. Not every book written will be made into a series.


We also had to change the cover with new headings. Instead of Spider Wars it says now: Operation Stargate, which sort of gives away the premise of the book, but that's okay.

Drop by and visit me here and find out more about the book. Don’t forget to check in November 29 when it becomes available from Melange Books.

Here is the new cover: