Staying On Your Toes

The life of the IX Series has experienced some ups and downs this week - thankfully, with a positive ending. One of my readers spotted a formatting error, (every writer's nightmare),
and all the more so as the master template was error free when submitted for printing.

(I'm sure I'm not the first author to have experienced such hiccups when delving into the world of hi-tech production - and I won't be the last).

The more frustrating thing was, eBook versions were unaffected. The gremlins involved in knocking things out of key seemed to like the taste of the paperback versions. And even then, just the words hidden within one particular chapter? (Spooky with a capital spoooo)

I know - I had visions of Skynet infiltration myself. Especially as some examples produced whole chunks of bold italics. Another just four words...or one word...or none? (I never knew printing machines had to be caffeinated to work properly).

In any event - thank you to AsISeeEm (he or she must be shy) for spotting the glitch and letting us know so quality could be maintained.

***
And a special thank you goes to Terry Crotinger.
After reading The IX, Terry was good enough to leave a review on Amazon and made a comment about how much he'd like to see what happened to the other/previous 8 intakes to be selected from Earth and taken to Arden.

Ever since reading it, I've been giving the idea serious consideration.
(Terry - if you read my blogs, stay in touch, I may have news for you in the future)

That's it for this week,
and remember

Stay on your toes...Skynet is watching

The IX - Exordium of Tears

This past week has been rather encouraging.

The series managed to pop into the top ten on a couple of occasions in the USA, UK and Australia, and two recent reviews were rather spectacular.

Take a look to see what I mean:

For The IX:

Wildly Inventive

For Exordium of Tears:
Best Science Fiction Book In Years

If you'd like to find out what all the fuss is about, you know what to do:

The IX

Exordium of Tears

The IX Series Competition

Hi everyone, I'm glad to say the competition is over

And we have a winner!

Congratulations to:
Kimball Nilsson

I will be contacting Kimball today to arrange the sending of a signed copy of Exordium of Tears, as well as notifying the runners-up of their impending ebooks

Thank you to all who entered.

And dont forget:

If you want to find out more about the world of the IX. 

Just stay tuned to this blog or tune into the Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/TheIXbyAndrewPWeston/ 

Fight or Die!

The IX Series Competition

Those of you who are new to The IX Series - or those who have read the first installment of this epic saga - might be wanting to get to know the a little bit more about the men and women who take the battle to the Horde.

Well now you can. (But you'll need a Kindle to do it)

All you have to do is send me a message through the comments section at the bottom of this post - OR - a message through my website - between now and March 26th.

Your message will need to contain you name AND your kindle address.

The 1st person selected from the list will win a signed trade paperback version of Exordium of Tears.

The runners-up will get a Kindle version.

It's as simple as that.

Good Luck

The IX Series

This time around, I thought I'd share some of the responses received during the week. 

As you'll see, they've been very encouraging.

For example:

The IX and Exordium of Tears have been in the Amazon top 10 in Canada, New Zealand & Australia, peaking at #2 in Canada itself.

Thank you so much to the fans out there for making that possible.

On top of that, both books continue to dominate the Goodreads charts in their categories.

******

Here are some brief excerpts from recent reviews:

Suffice it to say, Andrew Weston and The IX are ranking as my find of 2016

A book you need to read

Fascinating subject matter and guaranteed to make you think. Highly recommended!

A stunning effort by Weston

I love it when an author has the courage to step outside the box and try something different. This is exactly what you get here with Weston's, The IX

Excellent concept and gripping story. Awesome!

Impossible to put down

It follows the same crisp and beautiful writing style of its predecessor

Andrew P. Weston has given us yet another stellar masterpiece from his epic arsenal

 Take the step, and find out why the IX Series is proving so populat

The IX Series - Worldbuilding Part 6

I know quite a few of you will recognize the ship above.
For those who don't, its the USS Sulaco, a Conestoga class starship and the 13th of her line - as seen in "Aliens". A craft operated by the United States Colonial Marines as a rapid-response military transport, possessing orbital bombardment and fleet support capabilities.

As you know, I'm a bit of a worldbuilder, and going into Exordium of Tears, I needed a spot of inspiration to bring the ships in that story to life. 

In particular, I wanted to devise something in my mind that summed up the Sulaco itself, whilst adding an element that was totally kick-ass for the book alone, and its main battleship:

the Avenger Class dreadnought, Shadow of Autumn.

So, what components would I incorporate into the battleship of the mind?
*********

For that, I turned to a couple of shows I've watched from beginning to end on a number of occasions.

The thing that made me think of Battlestar Galactica, was its unique Crocodile-head design. It extends a concept I think is important - secure bulkhead compartmentalization, (with Operations, Flightdeck control, the drive section and engineering being partitioned away into distinct sections of the ship). However, I didn't really like the retractable hangar deck idea. As such, I turned to Babylon 5 and the Warlock Destroyer. 

I mean, just look at it. Ultra-aggressive or what? (yum yum)

Now, I know you won't actually get to "see" the Shadow of Autumn, per se. Nevertheless, I like to work from visuals as it allows me to scope things out in my mind. I know what goes where; who does what; how long it would take for crew to get from one part of the ship to others; where the armaments are situated, etc, etc, as it adds that solidity that might otherwise be missing, especially during battle scenes.

Here are a few of the preliminary sketches I made to start working from.

Remember, I do this to add foundation.
My more detailed, later sketches show where the menta accelerators are; the torpedo tubes; the missile launchers and silos. It details the size and capabilities of the drops ships, the EMT shuttle, the hangar decks.

After a month or two, I'd devised quite a lethal bit of imaginary kit, something I'd have craved to operate from when I was in the military: Something the book describes as 

"Three miles of lethal tactical divinity — personified by bristling guns and metal"

*********

I wish I was a graphic artist, I really do, as I'd have loved to show you what I eventually settled on.

However, while perusing the art sites I like to look at - look what I found last week
(On DeviantArt.com)

As you will note, someone out there was thinking along similar lines, as certain aspects of the above starship (Especially the armored exoskeleton) are comparable to what I came up with.
(Great minds think alike)

So there you go - I hope you like this latest peek into the creative process that makes the IX Series special.

(And may I also take this opportunity to thank - David Kerin & Crouchy for their respective artwork too)

If you would like to find out more about the IX series, you know what to do.

The IX Series - Making Waves

Well, it's been a week since Exordium of Tears, the latest book in the IX series, was released. I thought you might enjoy a little round-up of what impact it's made.

Goodreads:

The IX maintains its grip, holding the #1 spot in 13 categories, and a top five place in nearly a dozen more. (Pleasing indeed). 
The astounding thing is, Exordium of Tears has already moved into the top five in no less than six different slots.
AND - has actually reached the #1 spot on one of the Sci-Fi shelves.

Most excellent news.

Amazon:
Exordium started off really well, peaking at #22 in the first few days, and ranking in various other countries around the world. The IX seemed to follow along, reaching #9 in Canada. (So, "thank you" to the fans out there)
A healthy start indeed.

Now the print version of Exordium has started to roll out, we hope to see a difference to people like me, who prefer to hold an actual book in their hands...speaking of which...

I'm delighted to announce the Hard Cover for The IX is now available too.

All in all - The Ninth are surfing the waves of success in their far-flung corner of the universe.
I hope they make the most of it...The Horde intend to bring a riptide of hate their way sometime soon.

If you're not already a fan of The Ninth, 
just click on the links and find out why the IX Series will rock your world.