What's going on? What is New Worlds? I'm confused...
The New Worlds Saga was originally the first five books of Symbiotica although it was never offically given that title. I did say that I have been working on something and this is the first insight and also a major change. New Worlds is now a trilogy in fitting with my other series. The Foundy has been combined with Sum of their Whole, and Bound Hearts is now combined with Full Circle.
Secondly, these books have been heavily rewritten and added to. You have across the three books over 75.000 words of new content. On top of this all, these three books are now classified as general reading - the adult tag has been removed.
They are available now here:
They are priced at $3.99 as part of my new pricing policy.
Now.... a little insight in to what is going on in my head....
It is said that every journey starts with but a single step
forward, and going right back to where the epic story of Symbiotica and Proteus
started, there was a single Saga. It is called New Worlds.
It followed a group of refugees, the last survivors of their
doomed world as they finally found what they were looking for, a species
compatible with their needs that they could share their lives with. That
species was us, humanity.
Of course, back when I first started writing New Worlds, I
didn't even know it was going to be called that. The idea of Proteus was
nothing more than a set of jumbled and haphazard thoughts and I really never
envisioned the idea that my creation would evolve to such an epic story. But it
did and now with way over twenty books I have created a universe of stories,
ideas and barking mad characters.
There has been a problem though. New Worlds was not entirely
what I wanted. It was a good story, it had an epic conclusion, but as with all
journeys, it got off to something of a rocky start. To start with, I had
originally planned this to be a trilogy, but as the ideas poured out that idea
fell by the wayside as it evolved in to a five book saga. Also, the original
books were not in fitting with the books that followed. In 2017, I did a rewrite
of New Worlds trying to get past this obvious issue and while it was a good
start, I still had reservations about it. In the latter half of 2017 I was
faced with a second issue. I would love to see these books in print and after
some research I found that while my books were close to being novels, they
actually weren't.
So how to solve the problems?
Firstly was going back to the very beginning. I sat down
with pen and paper and looked at the story in detail. I wanted to ensure that
each character's journey was rich and full, I needed to look at the still
frankly adult content in the books (mostly bad language if I am honest) and it
has to be said I got brutal. At the end of this process I had a plan.
The five books would go back to where I started becoming a
trilogy. Books 1 and 2 would be merged together, followed by the same for 3 and
4. This decision alone took the books to over 100,000 words each fulfilling the
idea of novels. From there, using the plan I stripped the books back, removed
redundant plot points and even one of the characters. After four months of
editing, rewriting and throwing in new material I had the finished products.
Symbiotica Sum of their Whole is now 110,000 words, has
nearly 20,000 words of new content after the rewrites and editing and takes you
on a journey. First books are always tricky as you are introducing people to
these characters you will in time know and love, but finally I hit the nail on
the head with them. This first book shows our human friends as they learn about
their new alien partners and the "New Worlds" they are showing them.
Symbiotica Full Circle is now the second book, again with
110,000 words and nearly 20,000 words of new content. In this book, the aim was
to shift from the idea of discovery, and look at the alien side in more detail.
With back stories ongoing, what was a very human adventure now takes on a more
alien feel as we are introduced to what the Alphians are really capable of.
This all culminates in the shock ending to the book which is takes us in The
Way Home.
This of course brings me to the last book, The Way Home.
This book was always the odd one out in the original New
Worlds saga for the simple fact it was written as an add on to the series. At
the end of what was book 4, I intended on leaving the story there. Everyone
went their separate way and the story ended. During the creation of this, I
started coming up with ideas, and in the end The Way home was born.
In the second book we given an insight in to the back story
of our alien friends, we learn some surprising truths and we are given a
glimpse of the huge story behind them. In The Way Home, that story is revealed
as the entire lore and history of the Alphians is brought in to the light as
they travel back to their home world and I tell the story of how they got to
this point. In this book I bring many new characters in to the series and
establish what will become the roots of the Proteus books.
That in a way brings me to Proteus and the stories told in
that series. While The Way Home brought many characters in to the light, in
Proteus those characters and stories were added to. At this moment writing the
final conclusion to Proteus, the world I created in now vivid and rich. I know
where everything started and where it will end.
It seemed only logical in that case to go back to The Way
Home and expand on it. The original story has been edited, cleaned but not
heavily rewritten. This Ultimate version of the book features over 35,000 words
of new content and introduces some of the characters you will meet in Proteus.
At 103,000 words this book takes you on the journey start to finish and I have
added many easter eggs in for those who like a little bit of fun.
So, there you have it. The Symbiotica New Worlds Saga. Three
books, 323,000 words of reading pleasure with 75,000 words of new content (or
effectively a new novels worth!), all finessed, rewritten and now no longer
classified as Adult reading.
For previous customers, I have been working on ensuring you
are up to date so...
If you have bought Symbiotica Sum of their Whole, either the
original or the Pure Edition, or you have bought Symbiotica The Foundry
(formerly book 2), go back to your retailer and you will find there is the new
merged book there ready for you to download.
If you have bought Symbiotica Bound Hearts or Symbiotica
Full Circle, again I have uploaded the new second book for you.
Finally if you have bought Symbiotica The Way Home, there is
a new copy waiting for you.
To sum up, I have lost two books from my line up, but as
readers you have gained so much more with this Ultimate Edition of New Worlds.
I hope you also like the new covers too.
This process is only just starting though. Expect Symbiotica
A Matter of Time and Dystopia soon. Again these books are far more than the
originals and feature new stories and richer detail!
Alexander Nassau