Codename: AXIS

I wrote back in January about “the new book” as I called it then. I’m now calling it AXIS, because everyone loves a codename (it’s not the actual name). The one-sentence pitch I posted was:

An excitingly original, high-stakes queer adventure set on a far-future colony wheel in space, where restless student Pod searches for love and purpose and unravels secrets that could change everything.

I said:

Currently about 124,000 words long, it’s a queer YA coming-of-age story, a sci-fi adventure (with a bit of romance). All originally written longhand like I’m some kind of freak (correct). And all in a hypothetical, constructed future dialect of English (see: freak).

Those things are still true, mostly. Especially the freak bit.

I was hoping to release this book in 2025. Likelihood: hahahahaha nope. Ridiculously optimistic.

I completed the first draft of AXIS in September 2024, and gave it to a couple of alpha readers while I reworked Unstable Orbits and performed all the exciting release and promotional rituals. I avoided thinking too much about AXIS during that time so I could return to it maximally fresh.

My verdict after a reread in the summer: I love the story, the characters, the setting, even the dialect. However, the book needed substantial revisions — especially in the opening chapters. In the first draft, too much world-building appears on the page, broadly speaking. I started writing the book knowing almost nothing about the setting, so this isn’t too surprising, and it means the show/tell balance is off.

And also, 124k words is too long.

My solution to that problem is to add words.

The first draft of AXIS has two parts, so… why not turn it into a duology?

That’s now the plan: part 1 becomes AXIS book 1, and part 2 becomes AXIS book 2.

Each part needs beefing up by about 15k words to make a decent length — around 300-320 pages in total. I’ll achieve this with new scenes, new plot elements, and rewrites/revisions to address problems. And there’s always a natural increase when I flesh out details — the process I call “colouring in”.

At time of writing I’m roughly half way through AXIS 1’s first revision. The changes look good to me so far, and I’m on track for the target length — probably a bit more.

I don’t know how long these major revisions will take to complete. I want to be substantially happy with both AXIS 1 and AXIS 2 before I release AXIS 1, so it’s going to be A While.

And I need to get paid work, because I’m not selling enough books to make a living.

You can help by reading my current books, which are all on Kindle Unlimited or available to buy as ebook and paperback, on Amazon. For links see the book pages for Unstable Orbits, A Room Full of Elephants, The Pauline Conversion, Disunited, The Pink and the Grey, and Till Undeath Do Us Part. And please leave a rating and an honest review as these help new readers find my books.

Don’t forget that I’m on social media in various places:

On Bluesky I occasionally post snippets of my books, including AXIS. Here’s a recent example:

One response to “Codename: AXIS”

technicallyfan5e719164d2

November 3, 2025

I’m happy to hear you’re working on a new book.ð I will add it to my Anthony Camber collection on my Kindle!