Colonized is now available for your reading pleasure

And, as usual, I'm giving my blog readers a discount for your continued support. I've gone back to publishing my ebooks dually on Amazon and Smashwords, so this coupon code is for Smashwords: YZ46W. Note: The coupon expires after one week, so if you're planning on using it, get on over to Smashwords now. Here's the link.

The book is also available on Amazon here.

I'll put the story synopsis at the bottom of this post, but before I do, here's a tragic little tale for anyone wondering why I started using Smashwords again.  Kindle Unlimited was a goldmine for a little while because its illogical borrowing policy meant writers got paid more for a $.99 ebook someone borrowed than for a $.99 ebook someone bought. We all loved the system while it lasted, but we knew it couldn't last, and it didn't. Kindle revised its policy in June, and now we get almost nothing from borrows unless they're for novel-length books. That being the case, I've pulled almost all my stuff out of KU and am now selling it in two places at once again. The only exceptions are my novel-length Sleepwalkers, What Do You Give the Alien Who Has Everything? and Dark Spaces. Those will stay in Kindle Unlimited because they're long enough to make the exclusivity worth it.

Speaking of which, I'd encourage any of you enrolled in Kindle Prime to borrow those three books and just flip through them, even if you don't read them. It's an easy way to help me out, and you don't have to spend a cent to do it. ;-)

Now here's the synopsis for Colonized:

After a raid destroys their colony, a small ship of humans flees into space, desperately searching for a new world to replace their stolen one. Just as their supplies are running out, they find what seems like paradise: a lush green planet with a breathable atmosphere and no natural predators. Well, there is one predator, but the humans don't notice Her because She's as large as the planet itself.

The Queen is over two million years old, and after such a long and varied existence, She's too refined to eat Her prey. That would be a waste of entertainment. She'd rather play with them; and in the end they're happy to be played with. In fact, they want nothing more.

As always, the game begins when the Queen chooses an Avatar, a victim through whom She can play the game up close. But making Her newest proxy leads to an unexpected complication. Another human, one slated to serve as a pawn, proves worthy of a greater role. Now the Queen must make a second choice: stick to Her original plan or change the rules of the game.