DEMETER-9 is Now on Amazon for Pre-order!

Hello all!

I am trying something new and putting my next book, DEMETER-9, up for pre-sale on Amazon. It’s the third book in the Humanity Shattered Series and picks up shortly after the events of TRESSELL 113. It officially releases on May 25, 2026.

I am super excited about this story. It was so much fun to write, and I feel it moves the world of Humanity Shattered forward in some cool ways. So I started it the same day I released TRESSELL 113. That was at the beginning of December in 2025. I was sure I was going to take a break during the holiday month, but I was feeling it and in the flow. Things were a little slower with my day job during the holiday season, so I was able to get some serious writing sessions in.

Getting the story down is the fun part for me. It’s almost like I see it visually in my head, like a movie happening scene by scene. I have to capture the moment by writing it out. I often hear people say my work is cinematic, and that seems true to how I get it down on “paper.”

I don’t worry about errors or how bad it is when I am just trying to get it down. I can bang out quite a few words in a session that way. I always think to myself, I can fix it in editing, just get it down now before I lose it.

I finished the first draft of DEMETER-9, and that felt really good.

But, I think I hate editing… I mean, at least today I do.

Going back and fixing stuff is a pain in the ass. My editing process involves a few different passes of the work. First, I go through it and make what I have readable with a pass of line and copy editing. I use Autocrit and Grammarly for this. They are great tools for authors that help me find crap that needs fixing, like repetition of words or phrases (which I tend to do a lot). I fix crap like word tagging (I struggle with this in my drafts). I go through and remove adverbs and adjectives so I can focus more on showing rather than telling in my writing. I try not to use adverbs and adjectives in my writing, as they say it's a big no-no, but I really suck at that, no matter how hard I try. I wish I could write a clean draft that already had that taken care of, but I guess I still need to keep working on that.

After I finish that first pass of editing, I read the story myself all the way through and make notes on what works, what sucks, and what needs fixing from a plot perspective. I end up throwing a lot of words away in this editing pass. It feels painful at times. There always seem to be huge fixes I have to make in this round of editing. Autocrit is really helpful as it points out plot holes and things I should consider to make the story stronger.

Then I send it to Beta Readers. I have a few trusted folks who read over the story for me and provide feedback, and I am forever grateful. That part takes some thick skin, though, because nobody likes hearing where things they create don’t make sense or seem screwed up. In a perfect world, I would just create a perfect work that needed nothing else, but that is not the case.

I take the feedback I get and try to see what fits to make the story stronger. Then I make adjustments to the story.

The last pass is one final read-through, where I always seem to find other last-minute stuff that needs fixing, like grammar or whatever else I find. It never fails, I can think I have it all perfect and then find some dumb grammar mistake.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because right now I am in editing hell, and since I put the book out for pre-order on May 25, 2026, I have to get this editing part done.

On another note, I recently threw out about thirty thousand words that I had typed with my freaking fingers on my fantasy project. I started to feel that the story was not moving in the right direction. I paused that project for now to finish editing DEMETER-9. I know, I just told you last month I was kicking ass on it. See what I get for opening my big ass mouth.

I plan to pick up the pieces of the fantasy story and retool it. I will use everything I have created and the characters I have begun to develop relationships with, but move them all in a different direction. That hurt a little, as I had spent some serious time on all of that. I kept thinking I could save it, but I dunno. I need to refocus on that project and see where it goes.

Anyway… I am excited because I will be spending the first week of April visiting my son and his girlfriend in Spain. I am looking forward to some rest and adventure.

Oh, I promise the Audiobook for TRESSELL 113 is coming soon. Anthony is working on the finishing touches now. There were some technical setbacks, but we are moving forward again.

Shamon

P.S. I really dug this cover concept for DEMETER-9.