Hi, there. I’ve had a number of people join the mailing list recently. I want to make sure everybody gets their free Frosthelm book, Traitors Unseen. If you haven’t gotten it, you can get it free from many sources here.
Best, is here!
It’s release day! I’m so excited to share Best, our new novel. It’s a romantic comedy (my first!) starring two quirky, flawed protagonists, Flora and Mark, who need to set aside years of enmity to solve a mystery at the small college where they both work. Along the way, they start to realize that they can actually stand being around each other. At least, some of the time.
I co-wrote this with a good friend and academic colleague in alternating chapters, with her writing Flora and me writing Mark. It was one of the most fun, most rewarding writing experiences I’ve had, and I think that’s reflected on the pages. If you’ve ever worked at a university or attended a liberal arts college, you’ll find many of the quirks, indignities, joys, ironies, and frustrations of that environment mixed throughout the story.
It’s not a bodice-ripper or steamy/spicy at all, although a love story is at the heart of it. That story is an enemies-to-lovers slow burn romance that stays clean throughout, although there’s a lot of swearing by both main characters. If you want to see behind closed doors, you’ll need to write your own Mark and Flora fanfic. 🙂
The book is available in ebook and paperback, and free to read for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. If you’re willing to post a review to Amazon, Goodreads, or elsewhere, you can get a free review copy through StoryOrigin. I will have paperback copies to sell through my home shop starting next week, so if you’d like to get one of those, let me know!
Writing update
I’ve been busy getting Best, up and running with the release, and I’ve also been working on a prototype for a deckbuilding card game idea I had about a month ago, which is fun but a lot of work. Think blue underground fantasy people with goat horns riding a boat around building stuff, recruiting allies, and buying and enchanting stuff.
I’ve also been writing! I’ve added over 10,000 words to my new sci-fi novel since June 15, and it’s coming along. I’m still in the throes of a sticky plot point, but I think I’m navigating a satisfying way through. I will be helping my oldest move cross country for the next 4-5 days, but hopefully I’ll still get a little more done while on the road, and I hope to be able to come back refreshed and ready to do more in July. I really love the main character – a resourceful ship’s engineer in the Patrol who’s caught up in a mystery, a betrayal, and a situation spinning well out of her control. It’s set in the same far-future universe as Daros and Kenai, where humanity has spread to the stars but suffered a massive war, leaving only a small set of worlds on the fringes inhabited and communicating with each other. In this book, a pair of deep-space exploration vessels have been sent back to where humanity used to be, before the war destroyed most human worlds.
I had the first 15 pages of my play, A Light Reign, read at the most recent meeting of the Greensboro Playwrights Forum, and I got some useful advice from my fellow playwrights there, along with the joy of hearing people speak the lines. Not sure where to go next with the play, but I’ve got it in the hands of some readers and submitted to some competitions and festivals, so hopefully something will come of that. I’d love to see it produced, or before that, do a staged reading and hear how it sounds all the way through. If you know any theatre folks willing to have a look at a silly medieval farce, send them my way!
Some stories to try
I’m part of several author collectives, and we share each other’s work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:
The first is Defiant Space by Richard Rimington. This is the first book in his Infinite Void series. It’s about a planet facing an alien invasion which launches a desperate mission into deep space. The ship, carrying the hopes of the entire planet along with its crew, faces a host of enemies and hazards as it works towards completing its mission. It’s free as a review copy, so click the cover or the link and give it a try if you’re interested and willing to review.
Next, I have Cave of Time by Luna Fox and F. Lowberry. This 100% free fantasy story is about a village drained of its magic, beset now by mysterious enemies, and one boy trying to save it. My OG “Cave of Time” is of course the Choose Your Own Adventure one from my youth, but this looks cool too!
Thanks so much for being a part of my little writing community. I’m so excited to share Best, with the world, and I hope you’ll give it a try if it sounds like your kind of story. As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or book ideas, I’m all ears, especially if you want to talk about one of mine that you’ve read.
May the Bloodmother watch over you –
Dave
Dave Dobson Books 417 Scott Avenue Greensboro, NC 27403 USA
