“Sure,” I can hear some of you saying. “Because he hasn’t annoyed me with one of these updates in a while.”
I’m pleased to report that Hearts and Minds, my Star Trek: The Next Generation novel that’s set for publication in May 2017, is now available for pre-order from all of the usual online haunts, which means you can likely also visit your local and/or independent bookseller and let them know you’re interested in obtaining your very own copy. Of course, that’s assuming you actually are interested in obtaining your very own copy. If not, then please click here for the video feed from the Altanta Fulton County Zoo’s Panda Cam.
Still here? Cool. Wanna know what the book’s about? I can help with that, too:
An all-new adventure from the shadows of future history!
2031: United States Air Force fighter jets shoot down an unidentified spacecraft and take its crew into custody. Soon, it’s learned that the ship is one of several dispatched across space by an alien species, the Eizand, to search for a new home before their own world becomes uninhabitable. Fearing extraterrestrial invasion, government and military agencies which for more than eighty years have operated in secret swing into action, charged with protecting humanity no matter the cost…
2386: Continuing their exploration of the Odyssean Pass, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise discover what they at first believe is a previously uncharted world, with a civilization still recovering from the effects of global nuclear war. An astonishing priority message from Starfleet Command warns that there’s more to this planet than meets the eye, and Picard soon realizes that the mysteries of this world may well weave through centuries of undisclosed human history…
Regular readers of my stuff who are hip to such things likely get that Hearts and Minds has more than a bit of tissue connecting it to my earlier novels From History’s Shadow and Elusive Salvation. All I’m willing to ‘fess up to at this point is that in the same way I tried to put a twist on the “formula” with the second book, I attempted to do so again, here. We’ll see how that works out.
Hearts and Minds will be published on or about May 30, 2017, and you can check out the book’s official listing at Simon & Schuster’s website, where you’ll find pre-order links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and so on. There’s even a locator for finding a local or indie bookseller in your area, and I encourage you to exercise that option if at all possible. For example, I’m steering folks in my neck of the woods to Reader’s World in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Not only are the staff of this wonderful little book store first rate, they’re also very supportive of local authors.
And once you’re done with the pre-order thing, the pandas will still be there.
The Fog of Ward. 
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