StarFire Dragons: Book One of the Dragon Spawn Chronicles, now on Amazon.

Self-publishing a book is a daunting task. It’s not just the convoluted and time-consuming tasks that make it so. It’s the nail-biting anxiousness that tumbles in the gut afterward. Will people like it? Will someone leave a scathing book review? Do I suck as a writer?

Writing StarFire Dragons was a roller coaster of challenges and emotions. But it was well worth the ride. And I’m so happy to find that there are people who enjoyed reading it. My newest positive book review is from Becca Saffier with Reedsy Discovery. She gave StarFire Dragons 3 out of 5 stars and says, “A subtle space opera that explores the ethical conundrums of intergalactic relations with main characters who are worth rooting for.” For the full 6 paragraph book review, visit Reedsy Discovery here.

Three things stand out in this book review that matches what other reviewers are saying (albeit sometimes in a subtler manner):

1. It resembles Star Trek with a few differences – I can’t ask for a better comparison! Truth be told, it was the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Suddenly Human” that inspired this novel. And I had a difficult time keeping the Odyssey crew from being too much like the crew of the Enterprise.
2. It has notable well-developed characters and great character interactions – It’s so true that this space opera novel is definitely more character-driven than most other sci-fi space operas.
3. The middle is slow but the beginning and end are great – So, StarFire Dragons is not the exemplary tale I hoped for, but I can live with this imperfect aspect. It just means I will be more conscientious of the middle parts when I write the sequels. Besides, despite Becca Saffier’s critique of the middle, she still says at the end of her full review, “I would totally read the next book to see what happens next.” Well Becca, I promise the sequel will be much better.