I am a very big baseball fan as many in my life know.
Major League Baseball is in Spring Training now. There is quite a bit of time until the World Series Champion is crowned. Quite a few of the playoff teams from last year have added even more fire power to already potent lineups. I have yet to judge the potential individual awards for who will be candidates for MVPs, Cy Youngs, and Rookies of the Year. However, I have seen other predictions about who will win the World Series. Some say that with the addition of Giancarlo Stanton, the NL MVP, that the Yankees will win the World Series. I laugh at them. He likely will see his strikeout total rise but will not top his new teammate Aaron Judge, who will lead in that department. The Yankees will get to the playoffs. But the Red Sox added J.D. Martinez, who had a really good last year and will likely help Boston return to the playoffs likely as the AL East Champions. However, neither will make their way to the World Series. The AL West Champion, and defending World Champions, Houston Astros, added strength to their already formidable rotation with another ACE Pitcher. This gives the Astros 4 ACES: Kuechel, Verlander, Cole, and McCullers. Likely the best one through four staff in the majors. The lineup of the Astros saw no shakeup in the offseason, only minor role players left or were let go. Thus I see the American League Playoffs shaping up this way: WildCards: New York and Minnesota AL East Champs: Boston AL Central Champs: Cleveland AL West Champs: Houston AL Champs: Houston beating Boston The NL is likely to come down to the pitching overall. With Arrieta still not with a home, the Cubs will finds a way to slide into the playoffs in a really weak division. The toughest division looks to be the NL West where 3 teams could emerge to make the playoffs: LA, San Francisco, and Arizona. The NL East looks to be dominated by Washington until someone steps up to take the reigns from them. Not very likely. Thus I see the National League Playoffs shaping up this way: Wild Cards: San Francisco and Arizona NL East Champs: Washington NL Central Champs: Chicago NL West Champs: Los Angeles NL Champs: Washington beating Los Angeles I do not see a repeat of last years amazing world series, but I do not see the Washington Nationals to claim their first either. Houston will win the World Series versus Washington. Washington has the moxie to get through a rather tough NL Playoff bracket. But they do not have enough to take on the starting rotation or to silence the bats of the Houston Astros. I predict that the Houston Astros will repeat as World Champions. I am not biased. Even though, I am a fan of the Astros. I look at this through logic and statistics. The Astros have the AL MVP and most consistent player the last five years, Jose Altuve and two former CY Young winners, Kuechel and Verlander, and a potential two other Cy Young candidates in Cole and McCullers. As for the individual awards... I will have to determine my thoughts on those later in the year and later in Spring Training. With less than a month before the regular season begins, we will see everything ramp up and let's "Play Ball!"
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The plan for ODYSSEY STAR is to write standalone stories and trilogies. These stories will make the overall narrative of the series. Not sure how the saga will be setup timeline wise but they will all fit together somehow.
Already 3 books are set in the series based off three separate main characters: Douglas Harley, Starragaar, and Fiona Harley. The three books are also set in three different time periods decades apart. The three books in progress are:
I am working hard on these books for Galaxia Press / Rising Dragons Publishing along with other projects. I have many tales in the works. Now to get them out. INTO THE UNKNOWN is scheduled for release this September. UPDATE: 2/28/2018.... The UNTITLED FIONA HARLEY BOOK now has a title. It will be called SENTINEL PRINCESS. Not sure when it or STAR SAMURAI will be published. Likely to come out in 2019. But we will see how things go. As I sit here and go through the work of moving all my books into one KDP account and doing some rebranding, I realize that the rebranding was not as necessary as I thought. I may go back and fix things but still tie them all together within the same saga but in separate subseries of the main series, if that makes any sense. Grimoire of Darkness is truly the third of the the Phoenix Hunter series, but it also has other characters crossover from Mind Games and Cyprus Falls Coven series. This book also leads into the next Moontripper book, Order of the Blue Moon. It is not easy to write an interconnected series with subseries of books as well, but I am finding it rather intriguing and challenging as well as a bit fun. Look for the METAVERSE Books Grimoire of Darkness (Metaverse: Phoenix Hunter #3) tomorrow and Order of the Blue Moon: A Moontripper Novel (Metaverse: Moontripper #2) on April 20th, 2018. There will soon be a change in the logos of all the books back to there respective subseries logos that are already created. They will coincide with the next release and update to the METAVERSE saga. I have already transferred all the METAVERSE books' digital copies to the same KDP account. While doing that, I streamlined them from multiple series to just one. They are under the same banner as METAVERSE.
Now, I am reformatting the books to have the same aesthetic throughout. This includes the interior page format and the logos. As I get the paperbacks ready, I am setting up the presale for the digital format of GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS, the 6th book in the series. I am currently writing ORDER OF THE BLUE MOON as well. Check out the new editions at Amazon.com The manuscript to Grimoire of Darkness is completed! I am now working on the back information of the book as well as the preview to the next book in the Metaverse saga, Order of the Blue Moon (Moontripper #2). This book stems off right from the Epilogue of Grimoire of Darkness (the Phoenix Hunter #3).
At the same time I am working on the completion of the cover to GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS. GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS is scheduled for release Feb 16, 2018. DESTINY PHOENIX is the only title character to headline three books in her own series. the Phoenix Hunter, the Phoenix Hunter: Rogue Wolf, and the Phoenix Hunter: Grimoire of Darkness. Destiny is a sixteen year old girl who learns of a secret on her 16th birthday which leads into her first adventure as the newest Phoenix Hunter, a Nephilim hunter with special abilities collectively of the 12 Nephilim families. There is only one Phoenix Hunter in a generation, usually granted with extraordinary healing powers. However, those were passed onto Destiny's twin sister, Faith (Sandy Carpenter), who was sent to live with and adopted by the Carpenters Destiny comes from a long line of female Nephilim who have become Phoenix Hunters. These previous Phoenix Hunters who have not ascended to Seraphim status are her spiritual guides. So far in the books there have been only three spiritual guides who have helped her. Olivia Firebrand, a former pirate on the high sees; Elizabeth Fyre, from the Colonial America; and Heather Callum (not named), her maternal grandmother who passed before she was born. These spirit guides not only help her as she fights, but also tell her about people she meets. They part wisdom onto Destiny. Destiny is, also, joined by her family and family-to-be. Her brother, BRANDON PHOENIX; Twin sister, (FAITH) SANDY CARPENTER, her fiancee, CHRIS CARPENTER; Brandon's girlfriend, ROXANNE SORENSEN; and the youngest Carpenter, MICHELLE CARPENTER. She fights along side her family as they search out Roxanne's missing brothers, OLIVER and THOMAS PRINCE. Their search for Oliver and Thomas lead them to places they do not expect to go to. The search is still on as the trail heats up and cools off over time. Join her adventures in the Phoenix Hunter series by METAVERSE PRESS. The covers to the books in each of the series will have a slightly different look than before... Not much of a difference really. Just a more cohesive look to go with each of the series as I move them onto one KDP. I will update the looks to the books and the forthcoming books such as GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS and ORDER OF THE BLUE MOON.
You will notice a more prominent series title presence on the first and subsequent books in each series from METAVERSE PRESS. Each book in each series combines for an overall story of the METAVERSE. Characters will go into outerspace, travel through telwpostation to other realms, and more... With GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS already being written, I am starting to get the feel for the next book in the METAVERSE, ORDER OF THE BLUE MOON. The ORDER OF THE BLUE MOON is already starting to take some shape as I get into the middle of GRIMOIRE OF DARKNESS.
I have never gotten to these books in the past as I have worked on these various series. But I think they are coming along great. I cannot wait to continue these series through and through. Sorry about the lapses in time between the previous post and this. I am trying to get on a semblance of a normal schedule with my posts, but life has a way of making things harder than expected. |
AuthorBryan Rainey is the author of the METAVERSE and Odyssey Star sagas. He is also the publisher and cover artist of the books. Archives
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