Which Book Should You Start With?
This post answers to a question from people who are interested in reading my books: Which book should you start with?
First, I appreciate the interest in my stories. Yes, I write them because my muse insists. But it sure is nice when perfect strangers buy them, read them, and enjoy them enough to write positive reviews. 🙂
Choose Your Catnip
My cats have preferences. One loves the dried catnip and will roll in it until he is covered with dried-leaf goodness. Another much prefers fresh-picked stems from the garden, but not if they have those icky flowers on them. Similarly, you have preferences in your reading adventures, so here is a guick guide to figuring out which book you’d like to start with.
I currently have two genres to choose from: space opera and paranormal romance. For readers who might be new to these, here are quick definitions.
- Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction set in the future that focuses on adventure, action, exciting quests, and real people having meaningful relationships. It’s not so much focused on deep philosophical questions, exacting scientific accuracy, or detailed descriptions of futuristic technology or battle tactics. Though not all space opera* stories have romances, mine do. By the way, my space opera romances have sex behind closed doors instead of on the page.
- Paranormal romance is usually fantasy romance set in the modern world, where the scary monsters of old (e.g., werewolves, vampires, witches, dragons) are transformed into heroes and heroines. My paranormal romances usually involve shifters, so I describe them as paranormal shifter romances to help distinguish them. These stories have sex on the page, but not pages and pages of it, if you catch my drift.
A final note about my books: My muse thinks in series, so that’s what I write. In cases where I fondly imagine I’m writing a one-off, one-and-done story, my impish muse surprises me with the underpinnings of the series. Even my standalone paranormal romance, In Graves Below, was meant to be a series, or so my muse informed me when I was writing the last two chapters.
If You Like Space Opera, Start Here
Last Ship Off Polaris-G (Central Galactic Concordance #1) is the entry point to my main space opera universe. It introduces the Concordance setting, the psychic-talent angle, and the series-wide political tensions. The plot works as a self-contained romantic suspense story, so you can try it without committing to the whole series. The next books (Overload Flux, Minder Rising, etc.) set the stage for a brewing rebellion. Though they are complete stories, they are best enjoyed by reading them in order.
If you’re unsure about launching into a series, you could sample one of my shorter works in the same universe. My standalone novellas (which originally appeared in Pets in Space sci-fi romance anthologies) are your low-commitment chance to see if the tone and worldbuilding work for you. They can be read in any order, and aren’t a part of the Big Damn Story Arc in the main series. As you might have guessed, each story involves one or more pets as supporting characters. Except Cats of War, where the cats are entirely superior and save the day.
If Paranormal Romance is Your Jam, Start Here
If you like paranormal shifter romance, start with Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters #1). This story establishes the tone of unusual prehistoric shifters, found family, and HEA-focused romance. Each Ice Age Shifter book stands alone, so you hop around in the series for your favorite trope. However, I suggest reading Heart of a Dire Wolf (IAS #3) before Dire Wolf Wanted (IAS #4) because they take place within weeks of each other. The series features some recurring characters and locations, and previous main characters make cameo appearances in subsequent stories.
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*Fun story: The term “space opera” was coined by Bob Tucker, a science fiction fan, author, and critic in the 1950s. He loved classical science fiction, and hated the trend toward grand adventures in a galactic setting. In a critical essay, he scathingly accused authors of writing soap opera in space, or “space opera.” The authors loved the name and quickly adopted it. To his dying day, Tucker grumbled that it was supposed to be an insult, damnit!