My novels are available on Itch.io

All five of my novels are now available on itch.io at https://jalanerwine.itch.io/

I'm not sure if this was worth my time, but if the novels seem to sell there, I'll start uploading my short story collections as we

Slave to the Stars is a bestseller

My new novel is currently sitting at #33 on the bestsellers list at DriveThruFiction. Check it out at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/top_100.php

Tilmath was born a slave, but she was no ordinary slave. Unlike most humans, she was an Espari, a human capable of sensing the emotions of other beings.
Now, having escaped from her slave masters, the teenager finds herself on the run and about to meet some of the most interesting creatures she could ever imagine, and go on an adventure that she could never dream of. Using her poorly trained empathic senses, she tries to do everything she can to survive, but quickly learns that survival isn’t the most important thing for a slave girl escaping to the stars.

The bad part about finishing a novel

Now that my fifth novel, Slave to the Stars, has been released, I'm faced with that let down that comes from finishing a novel. I spent months on this book (it was actually the fastest I've ever completed a novel), and now I'm faced with the reality of what's next?

I have numerous ideas for new novels, but which one do I really want to write? In addition to this, I'm faced with the fact that none of these novels have even been started. It takes so much work to write a novel. Ideas are great, but the work is very difficult.

So, today I sit facing a blank computer screen, trying to figure out what should fill the page. Sigh....

Five novels for $12

Would you like five novels for just $12? You can now download all five of my novels, including my newest title Slave to the Stars from DriveThruFiction at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/468859/

You get The Opium of the People, Red Moon Rising, A Problem in Translation, Echoes from the Deep, and Slave to the Stars. These are five very different, but hopefully enjoyable novels. You're bound to find something you like.

A review of Do You Really Want to be a Writer?

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

A new review of Do You Really Want to be a Writer? by J Alan Erwine has been posted at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1503357

"Written in an informal, chatty, style this short book by experienced writer and editor J Alan Erwine gives sound advice for the beginner."-we corrected the spelling errors...

 

Slave to the Stars

My fifth novel, Slave to the Stars is now available.

Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7GTW1CZ

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/521193/

Order from another market: https://books2read.com/b/3Gg068

Tilmath was born a slave, but she was no ordinary slave. Unlike most humans, she was an Espari, a human capable of sensing the emotions of other beings.

Now, having escaped from her slave masters, the teenager finds herself on the run and about to meet some of the most interesting creatures she could ever imagine, and go on an adventure that she could never dream of. Using her poorly trained empathic senses, she tries to do everything she can to survive, but quickly learns that survival isn't the most important thing for a slave girl escaping to the stars.

Laura Givens

I recently learned of the passing of Laura Givens. That's her on the far left, next to me (Can't believe I was ever that young.)

Laura was an amazing artist, a great writer, and one of the best people that I've ever known. She did numerous covers for my books, the ones I've written, and the ones I've edited, and she was always wonderful to work with.

All the great memories I have of her art and her writing pale in comparison to the memories I have of all of the fun we had at cons. One of the first panels I ever did at a con was the Alien Archaeology panel at MileHiCon. I signed up for it thinking that it would be a discussion of how archaeology would work on other planets...boy, was I wrong!!!!

Laura was the moderator for the panel, and one of her improv partners was also on the panel along with MileHiCon guest of honor David Drake, and then the lesser types like me. What I thought would be a scientific discussion quickly turned into tales of sexual innuendo and double entendres as we "described" the various artifacts. Laura was a very outgoing person, one of the most outgoing I'd ever known. She could talk to anyone about anything. I, on the other hand, am one of the most introverted introverts that you'll ever meet. Talking to people has never been easy for me, and I was completely overwhelmed in this panel, but I ran with it, and we had the very large audience laughing their asses off for the full hour.

There are so many memories I have of the fun we would have at these cons, and it's an unfortunate reminder to me that I have neglected my friends so much over the years. I've shut myself off from the world quite a bit over the last few years, and as a result, I hadn't talked to Laura in years, and now I realize that I will never be able to again. Don't close yourself off from the world, people! We're only here for a very short period of time, and we lose friends so quickly and without warning.

Laura will be missed. I can't imagine ever going back to MileHiCon and not seeing her there...

Bestseller for April 2025

Maybe I should just keep cutting and pasting these posts. The bestseller for April was The Divided States of America RPG once again.

Order from DriveThruRPG: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/511906/

Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWQJTXMV

Order from another retailer: https://books2read.com/u/4jzYgk

No one can say with any reasonable certainty when the United States of America began to fall apart. Many point to the presidential election of 2016, but most believe the breakup started long before this. Now, in the year 2110, the former United States is made up of fourteen nation-states and The Wastelands. Some of the nation-states have prospered under self-rule, while others have declined. Some nation-states are very accepting of outsiders, while others trust no one…sometimes not even their fellow citizens. There is chaos in some places, and order in others…sometimes too much order.

The first state to break away from the USA was, not unexpectedly, Texas, and from there, things continued to spiral out of control as the national government tried to hold on to control that the state governments wanted back, and eventually, the federal government was no longer able to control the states, and the break-up came about.

Some of the nation-states kept the name “America” in their new names. Some did this as a tribute to where they had come from, while others did it to remind their citizens of what they were breaking away from. Others adopted new names, or took on names that were given to them.

Borders in some areas are heavily patrolled, even walled in places, while other borders have no protection at all…mostly it depends on the views of the new government and its citizens, even though sometimes those two groups still don’t agree. Let’s face it, greed and independence are bred into the human race, and even allying with others that have similar viewpoints does not necessarily mean that they will always get along.

As a game, players create characters with seven attributes that are used to enhance a variety of skills. As the characters advance, they gain experience, which can be put towards their skills, their health, or banked to allow the player to raise their character’s attributes.

Magazine sale

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

To celebrate regaining the publishing rights to The Fifth Di… and The Martian Wave, we're offering the back issues for these zines for just 50 cents…and we're also throwing in back issues of Environmental Holocaust and Mundanities. https://www.drivethrufiction.com/saleguide.php?src=sgrc 

 

The last $1 e-book...for now...

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

Our last $1 e-book…for now is The Divided States of America Vol. 1 available at https://books2read.com/b/bPw87Y

No one can say with any reasonable certainty when the United States of America began to fall apart. Many point to the presidential election of 2016, but most believe the breakup started long before this. Now, in the year 2110, the former United States is made up of 14 nation-states and The Wastelands. Some of the nation-states have prospered under self-rule, while others have declined. Some nation-states are very accepting of outsiders, while others trust no one…sometimes not even their fellow citizens. There is chaos in some places, and order in others…sometimes too much order.

 

Mainstream Fiction

For the most part, I'm a science fiction writer that occasionally dabbles in other speculative genres, but there was a time when I tried my hand at mainstream fiction, writing several short stories and a one-act play. I'm still trying to find copies of some of those stories, but a few of them are available, so feel free to check them out at https://www.jalanerwine.com/mainstream.htm

The Fifth Di... and The Martian Wave

Nomadic Delirium Press has recently reacquired the publishing rights for The Fifth Di... and The Martian Wave, and I will once again be editing these zines. As a bit of history, both zines were created by James Baker of ProMart Publishing roughly 30 years ago. Yes, these magazines pre-date my writing career, and I feel like I've been doing this for a very long time. The zines have bounced around from publisher to publisher, with NDP publishing them for many years.

Now that the zines are back, we need to come up with publishing schedules, and figure out what and how to pay our authors.

More details will be coming when they're available.

$1 e-book for April 14th

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

This week’s $1 e-book is Future Syndicate II available at https://books2read.com/b/bzq9jj

Many would like to think that as our species evolves, crime will disappear, but most know this is not true. Crime has always been with us, and it always will. Future Syndicate II features stories told from the point of view of the criminals, sometimes bad people, sometimes people forced to make bad decisions, but always, in the eyes of society, criminals.

Climbing the Hill with Sisyphus

My one-act play, Climbing the Hill with Sisyphus is now available as both an e-book, and in print at https://books2read.com/b/bPpGz7

Eric is a teen with troubles, the biggest of which is his alcoholic father. This one-act play uses a split-stage, showing Eric talking to his therapist on one side of the stage, while we get to see flashbacks to the last couple of troubled years on the other side of the stage.

This was a play that I had written years ago when I was in college. I reworked it, and I had published it earlier, but there were some problems with it, so I pulled it, and reworked it some more. Unlike most of my work, this is not science fiction.

Ephemeris 1.0 sale

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

In answer to the huge demand for the re-release of the Ephemeris 1.0 titles, we have answered, and re-released all of them. In celebration of this, we’re making them all available for 50% off, and we figured if we’re offering these titles for sale, we might as well offer all of our RPG titles for 50% off. So, you can save on Ephemeris 1.0, Ephemeris 2.0, The Divivded States of America, Rocks on the Other Side, and The Battle for Turtle Island titles…all of them.

Order today: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2805/

 

I'm delaying the release of my new novel

I've decided to delay the release of my new novel until May. One of my daughters will be having her first baby sometime in the next couple of weeks, and when that happens, we will be leaving town to be with her, so this isn't the best time to be trying to worry about a book release.

I guess I'm delaying the release of one baby for another. Keep an eye on this page next month for all of the details.

Support me at Patreon

Want to help support my writing and get copies of my future releases? Support my Patreon at http://patreon.com/jalanerwine

There are three different levels of support, and two of them will get you copies of anything I write between now and well, til I can't write anymore.

The new novel is done

I've put the finishing touches on my fifth novel. I'm now waiting for the cover art, and I still need to come up with a title for the damn thing. Usually titles are easy, but not this one.

I'm really liking the way this book turned out, and I'm hoping my readers will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Another $1 e-book

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

This week's $1 e-book is Do You Really Want to be a Writer? Download it today at https://books2read.com/b/bwVAy9

Do you really want to be a writer? It's a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.
In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.
You won't find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you'll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you've started selling.
Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

 

Bestseller for March 2025

Once again The Divided States of America Role Playing Game was my top selling title. March was a lean month for sales. Obviously people are starting to worry about the economy, and books are one of the first things people stop buying.

Can the game be the top seller for April?

Order from DriveThruRPG: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/511906/

Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWQJTXMV

Order from another retailer: https://books2read.com/u/4jzYgk

No one can say with any reasonable certainty when the United States of America began to fall apart. Many point to the presidential election of 2016, but most believe the breakup started long before this. Now, in the year 2110, the former United States is made up of fourteen nation-states and The Wastelands. Some of the nation-states have prospered under self-rule, while others have declined. Some nation-states are very accepting of outsiders, while others trust no one…sometimes not even their fellow citizens. There is chaos in some places, and order in others…sometimes too much order.

The first state to break away from the USA was, not unexpectedly, Texas, and from there, things continued to spiral out of control as the national government tried to hold on to control that the state governments wanted back, and eventually, the federal government was no longer able to control the states, and the break-up came about.

Some of the nation-states kept the name “America” in their new names. Some did this as a tribute to where they had come from, while others did it to remind their citizens of what they were breaking away from. Others adopted new names, or took on names that were given to them.

Borders in some areas are heavily patrolled, even walled in places, while other borders have no protection at all…mostly it depends on the views of the new government and its citizens, even though sometimes those two groups still don’t agree. Let’s face it, greed and independence are bred into the human race, and even allying with others that have similar viewpoints does not necessarily mean that they will always get along.

As a game, players create characters with seven attributes that are used to enhance a variety of skills. As the characters advance, they gain experience, which can be put towards their skills, their health, or banked to allow the player to raise their character’s attributes.