Category: science fiction

science fiction

The Stellaris Fracture

Joe Hallett1 Comment

My current work in progress: The Stellaris Fracture: The Xeno war has been over for years now, or has it? Deep within the Inner Rim, The Stellaris, a new branch of the family tree, struggles to find a foothold in the galaxy. When hatred and bigotry are resurrected, war is inevitable. For the Outer Rim, it was a blip in history and all but forgotten; little do they know the war never ended, it just went silent. The struggle rages behind closed doors when an unlikely hero raises the stakes and brings the war to the surface. Now a group of frenemies is forced to work together to save humanity and the galaxy from a threat far greater than anyone expected.

I am shooting for a June 2026 release! Stay tuned!

Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · readers · reading · science fiction · spiritualism

Read an Ebook week

Joe HallettLeave a comment

Happy Read an Ebook Week! To help you find a book to celebrate, you can find my entire collection at a promotional price at @Smashwords from March 3 – March 9. Find my books and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek #ebookweek24 #Smashwords

30-minute shivers. · about me · Audible · Author · blogging · Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · Horror · Instagram · NaNoWriMo · narrators · readers · reading · science fiction

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Joe HallettLeave a comment

I have always liked that saying. I don’t know why. Maybe I enjoy duality. As I poke my head out of the cave of 2023 into the dawning of 2024 I am looking ahead for a great writing year. I have some great intentions, both long-term and short-term.

I will pause here and do my obligatory reflections of 2023. I’ll start with the fun stuff, I published another novel “Emergence Ascended.” I Wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo, which was a bucket list item. (Now I feel like I can legitimately say I am a Novelist.) I Did an interview on Youtube to promote my new novel (It didn’t help, but it was a fun experience). If you follow my social media accounts you may notice that I do not do the random selfie post as I prefer to stay in the background (Introvert stuff) but in the spirit of self-promotion I powered through.

There is probably more highlights of fun things in 2023 but sometimes I want to keep things for me. That being said there was some interesting things in 2023, just to keep it spicy. The big one is a series of events starting with a road rage incident, our vehicle got a nice bullet hole. Sent it to the bodyshop for repair, of which there was a break in and OUR vehicle was stolen to commit a crime. It was recovered a month later with a group of homeless occupying it in an alleyway. Toxicology report deemed it hazardous and it had to be ‘totaled’ by the insurance (we didn’t want to drive a Meth car anyway.) Replaced the vehicle with a new one from the insurance money. Whew. But that is not all. A month later a windstorm took out a tree, causing it to fall onto our home, and, Guess what?… The new Van. Yup. Lucky it was a glancing blow and our Insurance (again) fixed the repairs for that (No we did not take it to the same bodyshop) But wait there is more. Our upstairs bathtub cracked and flooded the garage. SO now we have a shiny new bath room remodel (that we are still paying for at the cost of 400$ a month)All in all, though it was a financially and mentally stressful year, we survived, and I still think the good outweighed the bad as far as 2023 goes.

Whats next? I have some very good intentions for the year coming up. First on my agenda is to finish “Yellow Man.” the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo. There are some good bones in the story, and I am working on fleshing out some details and adding things I missed or neglected in the first rough draft. Who knows how long this process is going to take me, but I am optimistic I can get it finished soonish.

I have several more stories I want to get down. Most are just thumbnail thoughts, and don’t have names yet. The “Bigfoot” story is next after Yellow Man. I love Cryptids and am excited to get that one rolling. I have two possible endings rolling around, I guess I will decide when I get there. Another one is the Will-o-the-wisp story. I want to get that one done before the BIG project. The Big Project is a storyline that will turn into a series (more than likely) with some vignettes here and there. There is a great setting that I thing I can create a small little world around with different adventures to play with. But this one I am going to give a lot of thought while I finish the other three stories. I want to get those out of the way because I predict that the big project will consume a few years (at the least, unless I get bored or distracted, which is probable)

Of course I will keep on keeping on with the blog. I will jot down some more short stories for your enjoyment. I am still compiling short stories for my book “30-minute Shivers.” A collection of short horror stories.

The Audible project, I intend to start recording (for realz this time) on Sunday mornings. I can enjoy my new “recording studio” and give you my least cringy narration to Emergence Collective on Spotify.

Thank you for spending your time visiting my blog; I sincerely appreciate it. I love interacting and building friendships, so feel free to comment and like. You can follow my socials and other projects by clicking the linktree. https://linktr.ee/jshallett

Emergence Ascended · Emergence Collective · Horror · interview · music · science fiction · spiritualism · video blog · writing · Youtube

I got interviewed!

Joe Hallett4 Comments

HERE IS THE LINK to the interview by a local video blogger.

Do things that make you uncomfortable in your life complacency and comfort do not help you grow. So I am taking a heaping spoonful of my own medicine. I have always firmly believed that to grow, you need something to push against, even if that thing is your stage fright. I hope you enjoy it! for me, let the cringe begin.

Emergence Ascended · science fiction · spiritualism · writing

It’s been a long time coming!

Joe Hallett2 Comments

“Emergence Ascended” is now finished! I think I found an Illustrator for the book cover. (Of course, you will be the first to see it when it is completed.) I have no idea when it will be released on Amazon (Kindle and paperback), but my hopes are it will be released sometime in mid-November!

I have a few more projects lined up; next is my ghost story. I am very excited about this. As a discovery writer, or “seat of the pants” writer, as some call it, I feel pretty comfortable. I do hit a few snags here and there and sometimes have to write my way out of corners I put myself in, but I manage to muddle through. However, the ghost story is pretty complex, and there are a lot of components that need to mesh just right. So, I am going to make myself uncomfortable and try to do an “outline.” I know it’s strange saying those words, but I’m going to give it a go.

I already have a plan; I want to start by gathering up all my characters and writing bio’s on them. Establish relationships and behind-the-scenes details that may or may not make it in the book. I am excited about this process since I am usually getting to know the characters as I write them.

Also, since there are some complex mechanics, I am flirting with the idea of writing most or part, at least from the end. And work my way backward. I am not sure if that will stick; I will have to play around and see.

Thank you for checking out my blog! If you like it, leave a ‘like’ or a comment! I love responding to comments and I do my best to respond to all of them. (If you commented in the past and I missed it, I apologize. Thanks again!

Emergence Ascended · readers · reading · science fiction

Sacrifices must be made…

Joe Hallett7 Comments

It’s October. The veil between worlds is thin, and the old gods demand tribute. Blood will flow! Muahahahahahaa! Maybe I should have waited to post this until tomorrow, Friday the 13th (or lucky you to the Australian readers), To post my sacrifice piece. Okay, not a blood sacrifice, but I donated part of my soul to the cause.

It doesn’t happen a lot, and maybe it should more often. I don’t know. I had spent a fair amount of time writing chapter 42. One of the last chapters in “Emergence Ascended.” I am wrapping up the main conflict and setting up for the satisfying conclusion that will make or break my book. Nothing is worse than getting invested in a story only to have it fall flat in the end. (my new fear). I recently watched a movie that did just that, though I can’t remember the name because I try to forget disappointment.

The chapter flowed well and had all the elements I was hoping for. The tone was right, and I think it invoked the emotion I was trying to instill. Then, I deleted it. I even set up for it a couple times in earlier chapters (I had to go back and change those breadcrumbs, too)

It was painful. I do not get much time to write (this book could have been completed a year ago, to be honest), so the writing I do accomplish is precious. I deleted it because, even though I knew where I was going, it didn’t read like I wanted when I got there. My inner critic told me things like, “It’s pretentious, expository, and leaned too heavily on outside references.”   DELETE.

Sometimes, sacrifices are needed, and some are even worth it. So, I have mixed feelings, but the strongest is eagerness. Excitement to take another approach. I am so close to the end, its worth my effort to make sure the reader gets the best out of me.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my post!