It's been a little while - I know, I know. But you were all spending your summer outside, sunbathing and hiking and gardening, right? (Unless you live in Australia, in which case, snow!) But now fall is upon us, and there is news:

• I'll now have two Aurora short stories appearing in upcoming anthologies. The release date for The Galaxy Chronicles is November 15, 2015. My contribution, APOGEE, tells the story of the opening hours of the 1st Crux War between the Earth Alliance and the Senecan Federation, as lived by the Senecans who started it. You can read an excerpt from Apogee here, and see all the outstanding books in The Future Chronicles series here. In particular, check out the new Immortality Chronicles - proceeds go to charity.

I'm also contributing a story to the upcoming Crime and Punishment anthology, a follow-on to the terrific No Way Home. My short, titled SOLATIUM, takes place 12 years before the events of Starshine, features two characters from Aurora Rising...and that's all I can tell you. Crime and Punishment is expected to be released in mid-to-late October.

• Take a look at the sidebar on the website, and you'll see SIDESPACE has all the words. In fact, it's with the developmental editor now. I'm eyeing a November release, but grain, salt, etc.

What does all this mean? It means it's going to be a busy last quarter of the year around here!

• If you've visited the website lately, you've noticed www.gsjennsen.com now goes to a static landing page. Why? Well, I have enough books published, and enough future books announced, that someone who's a new, first-time visitor needs to be able to quickly get a feel for the overall universe of books - what's available, the order they should be read in, and future plans. If they visited the old home page first, they were likely to be overwhelmed and perhaps a bit confused, which is never a good thing.

The important fact for you is this: none of the content on the site has changed. Click "Home/News" on the new landing page, or bypass it and go directly to www.gsjennsen.com/home, and you'll find yourself at the front page, just as it was and still regularly updated.

• New blog post today: The Art that Inspired the Worlds of Aurora Rising. Enjoy beautiful scenes of futuristic cities created by talented artists? Check it out.

• I've also written two guest blog posts this summer. Both were targeted at independent authors and people who are considering trying independent publishing, so if you're interested in the topic, give them a read: Controlling Your Own Fate, over on the Read Write Muse blog, and Getting Your Money's Worth: Self-Publishing on a Budget, on E-Books Done Right.

• I went to a convention! Magic City Con was held at the end of July in Birmingham, AL. Rather than blather on about it here, I'll direct you to the After-Action Report I posted on Facebook, complete with pics (you don't need a Facebook account to view it). While I was at the con an inquisitive reporter stopped by to chat, and ended up writing a delightfully quirky piece about our conversation. (Note: there's an amusing error in the article; if you know what it is, don't spoil the fun).

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I've recommended the first two books in EJ Fisch's Ziva Payvan series, and I'm certainly not going to stop now. See my review of #3 here, then grab Ronan: Ziva Payvan Book Three, or catch up with Dakiti and Nexus.

Ronan: Ziva Payvan is no stranger to keeping-and uncovering-secrets. But when she swore to fulfill the final wishes of a dying friend, she never expected it to include exposing one of the biggest and longest-kept secrets in the galaxy. A new threat has been looming on the horizon, one nobody ever saw coming. Now Ziva's choice becomes simple: protect herself as she has always done, or make a personal sacrifice to protect everything she holds dear.

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