In my last update, I let you all know that my Imperial Mars books would no longer be available from Midnight Meadow. They were over a year delinquent on payments to everyone, and I was beginning to mistrust their explanations, so I ended my relationship with them.

Well, I did finally receive the letter returning my rights, as well as getting sales reports and cover files. The cover files were a kindness, since they were technically the property of the publisher, and that made it a lot more affordable for me to re-release the books. I have not yet received my royalties; this makes them now 22 months overdue. The check has allegedly been in the mail for ten days; I assume it’s making a tour of the greater 48.

But money is less important to me than the books themselves, and they are now both out again, with the third book now available for preorder! If you buy a copy now, they cost dramatically less than they did under MM, but I will receive the entire profit this time.

You’ll notice a slight update in the covers. I never really liked the ornate lettering on their version; it was a little hard to read. So the new ebooks and paperbacks are recognizable by their cleaner covers, without borders:

They also have an updated interior, with fresh formatting and a glossary for those difficult-to-remember sailing terms.

“But!” you object. “I already bought the first two, and I wanted to have a neat-looking set of all three for my shelf!”

Never fear: I will be releasing the third book in both updated and “classic” versions. My current plan is to do the paperback in the new version and the hardback in the old, but let me know if you’re looking for other versions. My cover designer is a delight to work with, and she believes she can make the third book match the other two just fine. I already have the art, which I’m unreasonably excited about, and I am looking into how to make the set special: boxes to fit the set, for instance, or some special editions if you get all three together. We’ll see what I can make happen. So far it’s just the ebook that you can preorder, but the rest will appear in due time.

I have set a release date for book 3, which is February 28. The original plan was in September, but the publisher was already planning to push it back thanks to…not having edited it at all by August, I think. It’s now getting edits and I’m excited to be able to get it to you in exactly the form that fits my dream for it.

Meanwhile, while we wait, may I interest you in my next standalone, Invasive? It’s about a family beginning a new life on another planet and making first contact with aliens. It comes out December 15th and is available for preorder now.

Thanks for being fans: for reading, for screaming about them to me and to your friends, for leaving reviews, and for being so patient about the delay for book 3. Soon we will have this whole series wrapped and tidy on the shelf, and I can start thinking about prequels and tie-in stories and all the other little delights you can do when the main plot is finally tied off with a bow.