Jeremy C Kester

Update 6/2/22 – links added for Remember the Yorktown for iBooks and Barnes & Noble.

Over a week ago, in (somewhat) keeping with the timeline I laid out for myself, I published — or rather re-published — Remember the Yorktown on Amazon Kindle and in print. However, unlike I had said, I did not make it exclusive. Instead, I let it sit outside of the Kindle Select program and pondered. Well, last night that pondering came to an end and I made a decision. That decision was to publish wide.

So, without much fanfare other than the prior announcement, I released Remember the Yorktown back into the wild. It’s available through Amazon and soon will be available through most other ebook retailers including Kobo, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble Nook.

IF you purchased the digital copy of it before through Amazon for Kindle, then you should simply be able to update it. It was my small gift for those who already bought it before on that platform — on other platforms I didn’t have that ability. Now, this new revision is actually a rewritten version of what used to be 3 novella-length stories, the first being of the same title. Needless to say, it was a sorely needed rewrite meant to help get the story onto a track that I could work on to further the story. (There were a few terrible errors I caught, plus the bonus of a means of editing I didn’t have before, so there’s that…) Anyway, further releases of the story will not be done the same way as this was. So if you purchased books 2 or 3 through Kindle of the original novellas too, then I am sorry. Those two books were incorporated into the latest release. The next books in the series, expected no earlier than a year from now at the soonest, will be full-length novels too.

That being said, I leave open the possibilities of writing short stories, novellas, and other things within that world at a later time, but the main plot will work in a series of novels.

That’s enough for that one.

In another topic, both episodes 1 & 2 of The Colton Skyward Chronicles are up and available for free through Kindle Vella. And episode 3 (the last of the free episodes) will be posted soon — June 15th to be exact. Successive episodes will be posted (each between Vella’s word count limits of 600 to 5,000 words, each costing in relation to word-length) on the 15th of each month. If you enjoy action-adventure stories set in a pre-WWII landscape with slight alterations to fit a scifi/fantasy angle with humor, then you will enjoy this saga.

Finally, the release date of my next collection of poetry remains set at June 23rd. There’s a chance it might go up sooner, but I am not promising that. It will go wide right out the gates, not exclusive through any retailer.
I am still debating on the final list of poems to be included in it along with the order. The cover is going to be purposefully simple. Very simple, meaning that a cover will not take long at all. Basically, the final selection, picking an order, and then drafting a title will be the longest part of it all. Even formatting the insides takes me very little time. Being proficient at Word helps there.

Not finally! Or rather — But wait! There’s more!

So, I’ve spent a good bit of time sitting and wondering what I am going to be doing with this site, and this blog on said site. What am I going to write? What updates am I going to post? Am I going to resurrect Free Fiction Friday? How about Poetry Wednesdays? Then there’s that whole thing about social media and how I (really don’t) post there. Realistically, my site — this site — is my hub, and though I have plenty of accounts in pretty much every platform except TikTok and Twitter, I ignore every one except Instagram. And even then, it mostly boredom scrolling. But with my site, there’s opportunity. A lot of opportunity.

Though I’ve teased on it before and tried a few things on for size, I never took it really serious. Hell, I barely ever took the idea of being a professional writer serious. It always took the form of a side-hustle — or better put: a hobby. Yes, social media platforms have their advantages in that “everyone” is on them, but no matter which one uses, you are bound to the rules and aesthetics of the platforms. But on a site of my own, it’s a blank canvas I can really craft into something that is all my own.

Given all that, I plan to start posting on here more often. I’ll also experiment with things, maybe bringing back some of the things I’ve done in the past like Free Fiction Friday and all. No promises, of course, as I don’t know what I’ll find I like doing the most until I really get into taking this seriously. And, like how I’ve done things in the past, there’ll be plenty of sputters, starts, and stops as I get moving. It’ll all take getting used to.

After over 800 words of my babbling though, the point is that I am starting to make some progress. It’s not an Earth-shattering kaboom, but expecting such things will be foolish of me. One day, one step at a time. Keep tuned and let’s see where this goes!