Advanced Reader Feedback and Trips to Spain

Hey… How you doin’

Here we are, May 2026. That is crazy. The year is flying by. Last month was insane for me, so let me catch you up. At the beginning of the month, I visited my middle child in Spain. He lives there with his girlfriend… probably soon to be fiancée. It was a big trip for my family as my wife, my oldest child, my daughter-in-law, and my daughter all went. We had a blast exploring the Spanish and French Basque Country. We spent ten days just hanging out, hiking, eating good food, and seeing medieval fortresses and castles. I really enjoy Spain; it has a lot to offer.

It was really good to step away from the grind for a bit and enjoy the time with family. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until we were halfway through it.

Before I left for Spain, I sent out advance copies of my next book, DEMETER-9, to my advance readers for feedback. I got some great feedback, as I always do. This put me into edit-and-rewrite mode, which I have been working on since I got back. I am pretty much wrapping that up now. Sometimes that feels like major surgery.

I had an interesting discussion with my wife, who always reads my books to check grammar. I don’t think she much enjoys my books, even though she is the genesis of the character Perry, but that’s okay. Grammar is one of her superpowers for sure. We were talking about how reading an advance copy of one of my stories is so different from reading the published version. I was telling her some of the things I was adjusting, and she stopped and said, “I feel like I get robbed when I read one version and something different is what goes out in the end.”

It’s true, though: the story ends up changing quite a bit once you put it out for feedback and make adjustments based on it. I believe it just gets better as a result.

All that being said. I am very proud of the story that DEMETER-9 has become. I can’t wait to release it. I set it out for pre-order this time around, and I am putting the finishing touches on it now. I'm deciding whether to wait for the pre-order date or release it a bit early. If you have strong feelings, reply to this email and let me know. Right now, it is scheduled to release on Memorial Day, May 23, 2026. I expect it will be ready for release in the first week of May.

Once I put it out for advanced reader feedback, I immediately started working on the outlines for books 4 and 5. The outlines are ready, so I will be starting book 4 very soon.

I have also been talking to Anthony Aiello, who has produced the first two books for Audible as audiobooks. He is on board to run it back again, and as soon as I have finished all my rewrites, it will be heading his way to get started. The whole audiobook thing is tough. I have always dreamed of a simultaneous release of the audio and the written book, but given the way I currently publish, that is hard to do. I would have to leave my story on the shelf for a long time in order to do that, and I am not that patient. Once I finish my story, I am ready to get it out into the world.

So, Book 3 DEMETER-9 will be released very soon. Of course, I will send out an email when it does. The audiobook will be in production soon. I will start writing the first draft of book 4 within the next week or so.

I am also still playing with my high fantasy concept. I think I mentioned I chucked about 30K words a while back because I wasn't happy with the direction it was going, but I have been massaging it to make it more what I want.

I hope you have a great May!

Shamon

P.S. The photo above shows my family and me on a wine-tasting tour in Laguardia, Spain. They make and store their wine in caves under the medieval city. They also buried the dead down there as well, and Napoleon forbade the practice as unhygienic after he conquered them.