What Next, You Ask?

I published the final chapter of "Beyond" about 5 seconds ago. I'm very happy with how the story turned out, and really hope you all enjoyed it. It was a risk, taking your and my favorite Mass Effect characters into uncharted and at times uncomfortable territory—both physically and personally—but I think it was a rewarding challenge. See the bottom of this post or my ID for links to the free eBooks of "Beyond."

The adventures of Graceyn Shepard and Co. are not over. I will continue to share their stories under the "If It Meant Living: Tales" series; in fact, I already have a delicious plan for a spin on the Citadel DLC. In addition, the timeline coverage of "Tales" is being expanded to encompass events that occur after the events of Beyond.

But…

Writing "Beyond" utterly and completely infected me with the writing 'bug;' more like obsession, some might say. Bringing to life original locations, aliens, enemies and events was a tremendous amount of work, but also incredibly fulfilling and wacky fun. Now it's time to remove the safety harness and training wheels and step out beyond the Mass Effect universe.

Today I took the construction tarp off a new website, www.gsjennsen.com, a new pen name (G. S. Jennsen), and a new science fiction trilogy.

"Aurora Rising" is an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, action and high drama, of the thrill of discovery and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and its worst, of the struggle to rise above our intrinsic weaknesses and flaws—or face annihilation. It's a story of love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, fear and heroism. Most of all it's a story of one woman, Alex Solovy, who…well, you'll just have to wait to find out .

(I'm not setting expectations too high, am I? )

Book One of Aurora Rising will be titled "Starshine," and the first two chapters are available on www.gsjennsen.com for your perusal right this minute.

I invite all of you to swing by the website, take a look around, and say 'hi.' If you like what you see, subscribe to receive email updates; I will be updating the site regularly with blog posts, art, news and more. Bonus, everyone who subscribes on the website will receive the Starshine eBook for FREE when it's published in a few months!

I'm not leaving Deviant Art by any means. There will be more game art, more spacescapes, and more fan fics; but news and updates relating to my original writing will largely be located on the new website rather than here.

Thank you so much to everyone here who has supported me over the last 2 years, and all around been awesome. Thank you for more than 15,000 , 425thousand deviation views, 4,000 comments, and uncountable friendships. I never imagined when I uploaded a few lightly-enhanced screenshots 2 years and 4 days ago that this is where the path would lead—but I'm thrilled it did. And thanks as always to my amazing husband, best friend and co-conspirator, without whom I would never have the courage and daring to do any of this.

Here's to never standing still.