The Warrior's StoneThe Last Flight of the PhoenixThe Prophet's Stone
When I wrote the first book of the Sci-fi/Fantasy series for the New Terra Sagas, The Warrior’s Stone, I felt that I had created an entire universe full of stories. I actually had two more ideas for books before I even finished the first.
The first of these continuing stories has do to with the starship T.S.S. Phoenix which was introduced in the first book. Halfway through the first book, the Phoenix is crippled behind enemy lines and they can only have enough smaller ships with QSG drives to evacuate two-thirds of the crew. I wanted to tell the story of what happened to the crew. Which also gave me an opportunity to tell a new store with different themes in the same universe. To me, that was a sequel, but when my content editor read the first draft, she said it was a spin-off because I hardly mentioned the original main characters. Now I did not want to abandon Roy and Katreena. As a matter of a fact, the next book was going to focus on them and their family. Yet, my editor had a point. I could either call it a spin-off or make it a continuation of the main character's story from the first book.
After considering the options I had an idea that would not just work but improve the story. The power found on New Terra is the prize the new alien threat is after. That gave me all I needed to write several chapters that were Roy and Katreena’s part of the saga.
My biggest concern about writing a sequel is creating original content while staying true to the original story. I love all of my characters, but I don’t want to have them do the same things over and over again. Yet, I may have made a mistake in calling The Last Flight of the Phoenix a sequel. I didn’t account for readers falling so much in love with the main characters in the first books that they would be discourages with them not being the leads in the second. The third book, The Prophet’s Stone, is more of a direct continuation of Roy and Katreena’s story. Yet, I can’t bring myself to change the listing on my books. There is still a direct tie-in between all three books.
My other series, Lt. Reilly, is a spin-off. It takes place in the same universe, but with entirely new characters, locations, and themes. I even place them in a different category. Instead of Sci-fi/Fantasy, these books are Military Sci-fi. They are also told in the first person, whereas the other series is in the third person.
So, in what order should you read these books? Well, you can start with the New Terra Sagas. If you do, read book one, The Warrior’s Stone. From there you can read either book two or book three and you won’t be lost. They are both continuations of the first book, but not linked much to each other. The Lt. Reilly series doesn’t require the other series, but if you like to be in the know of some subtle inside connections, then you might like to have the foundation.
My editor has suggested making more of a cross over between the two series in my next book. I am considering that, but I can’t say if I will until I sit down to write it.