Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog! Last year’s #Pit2Pub was a great success for The Cities of Luna and I’m hoping to do even better with Kingdom Come.

I am querying a SciFi-Rom duology set on the human-colonized world of Kingdom Come. The Jubilation of the Southern Cross is complete at 72,000 words and Hearthsong is complete at 85,000 words. Together, the duology is titled From Earth to Kingdom Come. Both manuscripts are available, in part or full, upon request. This duology is the beginning of a planned series.

THE JUBILATION OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: BOOK ONE OF FROM EARTH TO KINGDOM COME

Bethany intends to spend her four-month star voyage lounging by the pool and going over the mounds of data her new employers send her every time The Jubilation of the Southern Cross drops out of FTL. She ignores the constant flirtation from Richard, a traveloguer who is returning home to the same city where her new office will be. Richard is nice, and it is helpful that he knows many of the people she’ll be working with, but he makes a game out of flirting with not only her, but anything with two legs.

A casual flirtation with Drew, a concierge who works for the starline, begins to snowball into something more. With Richard’s advice, Bethany uses Kingdom Come’s traditional parting ceremony to end the relationship. But Drew is in love with her, and refuses to let her go. Although he could be fired for having an affair with a passenger, they continue their relationship in secret, aided by Richard.

Richard soon becomes entwined in their relationship. Although being with two men at the same time seems scandalous to Bethany, it is considered a rather small group to Richard, who grew up in the polyamorous society of Kingdom Come. To complicate matters, Bethany is pregnant, which only solidifies Drew’s insistence that he will never let her go.

Toward the end of the voyage, when Richard proposes marriage, Bethany spontaneously agrees even though her brain is telling her she’s being rash. When Richard insists the ceremony take place while they’re still on board The Jubilation of the Southern Cross, both Bethany and Drew are surprised, but agree since it seems so important to Richard.

As the three of them draw close to Kingdom Come, all are wondering whether they’ve already found their happily-ever-after, or whether they’ve just stepped into an adventure greater than any of them has ever imagined.

HEARTHSONG: BOOK TWO OF FROM EARTH TO KINGDOM COME

Richard has spent fifteen years travelling from star to star and writing about exotic locales and unique vacation destinations. He has earned both his reputation and his fortune. When he learns that one of his fathers has died in a stupid accident, he decides to go home, even though no one there needs him or will be impressed by anything he’s accomplished.

Since starliners only visit his homeworld a few times a year, it takes him months to get home. On board The Jubilation of the Southern Cross, Richard falls in love with Bethany and Drew, and in a whirlwind romance the three of them get married before they reach Kingdom Come.

When Richard arrives with his new husband, new wife, and a baby on the way, his newlywed status earns him a reprieve from his large, overly-attentive, match-making family. But being married and staying on just one planet is difficult for Richard. He continues to travel, spending days or weeks elsewhere on the planet, continuing to write. He makes it clear that he hates being reined in, and soon Bethany and Drew stop asking his when he’s coming home.

Although the freedom is what he wanted, it doesn’t make him happy. He’s an outsider in his own marriage, a third wheel that could easily be disposed of at any time. To complicate matters, his wife not only works with but has become close friends with Sylvie, the woman whom all his friends and family expected he would come home to sweep off her feet. Richard holds Sylvie in high esteem, but he has no romantic intentions toward her. It irks him that so many people still seem to think the two of them are destined to be together, and he can see that it bothers her too, although she pretends not to notice.

The baby arrives, and Richard struggles to figure out where his place is in the marriage. The three of them have started to see other people together, in particular a marriage of five with whom they would add up to an ideal marriage of eight. Richard left Kingdom Come so he could be in control of his own life, and after fifteen years of doing just that, he can’t just surrender and let his new wife and husband make all the decisions about their family. Then again, that might be exactly what he needs to do in order to be truly happy.

This duology is the beginning of a planned series.

I have written several novels in this world. During the process of writing, I created a warm and vibrant civilization that approaches marriage and child-rearing as a team. Writing polyamorous romance, however, can be quite complicated. To simplify, most stories focus primarily on one or two characters. The stories are grouped together in mini-sets such as From Earth to Kingdom Come, which is a duology. The first book focuses primarily on Bethany, and the second book focuses primarily on Richard. The first book ends in a ‘small’ marriage of three, and the second book ends in that marriage expanding to include several more spouses. The next set, Dogs, Cats, and Allergies, focuses on certain dog-loving characters in the first book, cat-loving characters in the second, and the third book brings them all together.

My hope is to contract with a publisher who is eager to explore the non-traditional strategy of releasing sets of two to five books as a set. Each set includes an overall story arc that would be lost if only the first book was released. Whether they are all released at the same time, or once a month, or some other schedule can be discussed with consideration to marketing and other factors.

More details about the series as a whole can be found on my Kingdom Come page on this blog.

I will be checking in with #Pit2Pub throughout the day, then organizing queries and such this evening. I look forward to making lots of new contacts!