Hello there, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted with any consistency and part of it has been I’ve been extra busy of late on some projects. One of which was doing a final review for my contribution to this: The Near Distant.
I haven’t mentioned it much because of all the other things going on late this year for me and then prepping for next year (I seriously need prayers to meet all my deadlines), but I absolutely have to make a huge deal of this now:
- Because it’s releasing today!
- Because it’s a novella collection with the other entries by two incredible authors I got to work with
- Because this is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written
- Because this is vying for the most ambitious thing I’ve ever written
So, items 1-3 probably need no additional explanation, though I will mention that C Kevin Thompson is a Selah Award winning author and Erin Howard is also an acquisitions editor for my publisher Expanse Books who happened to be the one to first say yes to Quest of Fire.
So, my #4. The Near Distant features three stories of college students searching for the mysterious and finding themselves on harrowing journeys in other worlds that will challenge and shape them and leave them with a new understanding of what home means to them. A common prologue sets all three characters off onto the adventure of his or her respective novella. In By Far and Away, my character Tyler has spent years trapped on the planet he’s arrived on. He’s given up hope of getting home and living among a race of super advanced aliens who’s lives are dictated by a super AI, he is barely struggling through each day. That is until he uncovers something sinister that threatens not only the world he’s trapped on, but Earth as well.
It’s a pretty ambitious story. It’s got a world-level threat to face, a novel take on the portal story genre, my first foray into space-based sci-fi, and is a reflection of the Biblical Book of Esther. All in less than 30,000 words. Like I said, ambitious. I’ve loved writing this story and think you will too. The best part is that the novella is complemented by two other incredible stories that visit other worlds and should thrill and excite all while pondering the very intrinsic question of “Where do I belong?”
I’m nervous, excited, and hopeful to be sharing this with everyone. I hope The Near Distant engages, entertains, and resonates as deeply with you as it did with me. You can use the links below to preview the prologue and each first novella’s first chapter for free or jump straight to the Amazon page:
Brett Armstrong 
Congratulations!