After more than a million words, how does one begin to capture the essence of the Aurora Rhapsody saga in a mere few hundred? Three years, 9 months and 10 days ago, I promised to the world that it would be "an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, of the thrill of discovery and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible." I hope it has become all those things and much more.

Aurora Rhapsody is science fiction, an imagined future, space opera, adventure, mystery, romance, action. It's exploration of space and exploration of what it means to be human. What it means to be alive. It's love and lasers, battles with the characters' internal demons and star-exploding space battles. It's an optimistic vision that dares to believe humanity will prove to be both stronger and better than we believe ourselves to be today. It is, I suspect, something different for each one of you. It can't be defined by numbers, but what the hell - I will anyway.

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PAGES ON A SCREEN, PRINTED ON PAPER AND SPOKEN ALOUD:

• 9 novels. 7 short stories. 3 collections (with 1, possibly 2, still to come).

• 4,425 paperback pages.

• 133 audiobook hours.

• 1,121,157 words.

CHARACTERS, LARGE AND SMALL, GOOD AND EVIL AND LOST IN THE GRAY:

• 60 point-of-view characters. (Good gods!)

  • To be fair, 18 of them only have a single point-of-view scene. Of those, 6 only have a single point-of-view scene because they die in it. #oops

• 369 named characters, each the hero in their own story.

• 58 named starships (several of which are characters in their own right).

• 33 alien species, including the butterflies with the nasty teeth and nastier disposition.

• 17 point-of-view characters who die within the pages (lest anyone proclaim me a softie).

• 51 named characters who die within the pages, bringing a tragic or deserved end to their (legitimately or perceived) heroic stories.

• 52 million* (give or take) nameless, faceless individuals who die within the pages. Their stories never got told, because they got blown up.

  • *Not counting those who perish in a certain notable event in Requiem, as that number would...skew the results.

• Literally trillions of individuals, many of them nameless and faceless as well, whose lives were saved as a result of the major characters' actions and sacrifices, from a planet-sized intelligence to a little girl with raven curls and a boundless imagination.

LOCATIONS VISITED, VERY LARGE AND SOMEWHAT SMALL:

• 10 self-contained universes.

• 13 named galaxies.

• 67 planets:

  • Aurora: 33

  • Mosaic: 13

  • Amaranthe: 21

• 21 space stations and other tin cans holding back the ravages of space with thin, fragile walls.

IMPACT ON MY LIFE, TRANSFORMATIONAL AND MUNDANE:

• Hard drive space occupied by Rhapsody-related files: 143 GB.

• Hours of musical inspiration listened to while writing: Something like 10,000.

• Bottles of wine consumed, for courage, inspiration, solace and celebration: Oh, dear. [redacted]

• Books sold as of today: 138,516.

• Lives touched: 1 more than my own is enough (but I've heard it might be a few).

• Friends made: More than I can count. I guess numbers aren't everything ;).

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