I finally (self) published my second book!

That's right! After, geez, over a year of work, I've finally finished Space Cops 5000. It's actually been close to two years since I first got the idea to write Space Cops 5000, but I was mid-way into writing my first book, and I don't like writing two books at once. That's biting off more than I can chew.

One book at a time, though? Totally manageable, and also a lot of fun. Since I don't want the mods to instantly shut this down for being an advertisement on the forums, I'm not going to get straight to shilling for the book, though this sentence may have just given my plan away. Oh well, if you're reading this, then don't touch that dial!

Anyway, when I started writing The Allegiance of Justice (you know, my first book), one of the main reasons why I was doing it was to see if I could write a full novel. Not only to see if I could be diligent enough to stick with it and finish it, but to see if I had the skill to write a cohesive narrative that was entertaining. And while the book hasn't really met with spectacular sales, or even good sales, I'd like to say that it's developed a cult following in the time since its release. I'd like to, but it wouldn't really be honest. But that's neither here nor there, it's not like someone stole my idea for a religion based around Batman from that book and is using it in a movie that people will associate with Batman-based religions even though I thought of it first. Oh, wait...

I kid of course. Terry Gilliam will get what's coming to him once I amass fame and fortune from my works.

So, back to Space Cops 5000. After I was done with Allegiance of Justice, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to do with the universe that I had created. It was going to be a trilogy, because everything is a trilogy, and I had a good idea of what I wanted the second part of it to be. But, since I now knew that I could write a full novel, I wanted to challenge myself again. I didn't want to just crap out something quick and easy, I wanted to try to do something bigger, and bolder.

See, if you haven't read Allegiance of Justice, then you wouldn't know, but it's not a super complicated book. I intentionally went with a mostly straightforward story. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that it involves the characters embarking on a quest to go get some, well, they're macguffins, to be frank. But like I said, it's just these characters moving along toward a clearly stated goal. There's twists and turns along the way, but it's pretty simple, overall.

I didn't want to do that again. So, instead I wrote this mystery crime novel that is in space. It's actually quite a bit different than what I originally envisioned. At first it was going to mainly be about a private detective, but as I got into the book, the story ended up shifting to have a heavier focus on the police stopping an assassin and the nefarious organization backing him, so it became more about police detectives. If you read it, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, even though the final product is not what I was expecting, I do still think it's good. I would say that it's a better book overall than my first one. Maybe not as funny, but I wasn't really trying to cram in jokes like I was with the first, because it has a more serious tone overall. What with it involving an assassin and some other, fairly dark stuff later on (that I shan't spoil).

At least that's what I think, I don't really know how people will react to it. At a certain point, when you've worked on something like this for this long, and it's a product of solely your creation, you begin to lose perspective on it. I forget things like what the jokes were. No, seriously, at a certain point I had re-read the stuff in this book so many times that I had to remind myself that some of the things I had written had been intended to be funny, and that's why they were in there. Maybe that's not something I should be saying here, but whatever.

When I wrote the first book, I managed to convince myself that of course it would sell, because it was a good book, and good books get good sales. I was wrong, and I'm not coming into this second book with that same level of hubris. If it sells, then great, I'll be ecstatic. Aside from maybe five of the people reading this that will buy it, I don't really expect sales, especially not on the level that I'd need to actually make money off this thing.

This is not to say that lack of sales won't make me feel bad. I mean, I poured my heart and soul into this book for over a year, and of course I'll feel bad if all that work was for naught. But my saying that probably won't sway anyone, will it? What if I give a sob story about medical bills? I should probably wait until after I get my long-term treatment Crohn's, and see how bad they are, huh?

I'm not going to lie, I want people to read it just so I can know if this stupid book is actually good or not. When I wrote the first one, I got a couple of my friends to read through it and critique it for me. It helped shape a lot of the book in re-writes, and for the better. Not so much because I changed things, it was more that I added things to make the book better, based on their feedback.

But, for whatever reason, they were too busy to actually read through Space Cops 5000. To be fair, it's not a short book. With my formatting, it's just over 400 pages long (402, I think), and contains over 150,000 words. It's no War and Peace, but it ain't short. To put that into perspective, using one of the only book franchises I've actually read, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is 160-something thousand words long. So it's mid-range Harry Potter length.

At least they say that they were too busy, I have a feeling it has more to do with the book itself. I mean, you can't say that something is better than the first, and then proceed to not finish it, even though you finished the first. Both of them did exactly that, and I know that one of them is reading this (because I linked it to you, Kris), so don't take this as a complaint, or an insult or anything. I'm just letting my audience know up front: No one else has read this thing to completion besides me, at least before publication.

With that in mind, I now get to the actual shilling portion of today's program. If, after reading all this, you too would like to read this fine electronic book, you can purchase it on Amazon. No physical version, because I still haven't actually attempted to get either of my books actually published (I will some day, maybe).

Either search Amazon for "Space Cops 5000," or follow one of the handy links below. I have it priced at $2.99, which I think is a fair price for what you're getting. Honestly, I think it's worth more than that, but I can't start charging famous novelist prices until I'm famous.

If you're not in America, then the price should be whatever the equivalent is in your homeland. No, that's not video game price equivalents, where they hell of over-price the Brits. I don't remember what the UK price is off hand, but I remember it was under two pounds. Amazon has an option to just auto-set other countries to the equivalent. You know, so the Mexican version is something crazy like 39 Mexican dollars. I'm not joking.

Links:

US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan?

Check your local country's Amazon store if I didn't link to it here. I don't know what Amazon's e-book situation is in Scandinavia, but they didn't provide me with links or anything. Maybe buy it through the UK store if you're Swedish or Finnish? Or Norwegian, I don't want to leave them out!

It's only in English, so don't go expecting a translation if you live outside an English speaking country. But I have a feeling that if you are reading this, you can read English.

If you buy it, then thanks! As much as I'd love actually getting money from this, just knowing that someone might actually be reading and enjoying is enough. For now, at least. I mean, some day I'll have to stop living with/mooching off of my dad, and get a real job, and then the added income would be lovely, but I figure I've still got some time before then. I can probably write a whole other book before then!

For the latest on news on my literary works, you can follow me on Twitter. It's the same as my user name here, and there's the "Official" Twitter account for Space Cops 5000. Make sure to follow that and spam your followers with my "Official" hashtags, #SpaceCops5000 and #SC5K. Also, links to the appropriate pages on Amazon can also be spammed to your followers, or anyone, really. I encourage it.

That's all I have to say, so I'll leave with an "official" "endorsement" from a "trusted" "celebrity."

"I'm-a Luigi, and I say, buy-a this book!"