A few people have reminded me that Dauntless, the tentative name for the sixth Blood on the Stars book, is also the title of the start of Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series. I’ve read many of the Lost Fleet books, and enjoyed them, but I hadn’t really thought about it when I named Captain Barron’s ship Dauntless.
I did borrow the name, as sort of a tribute, but the source was much older than the Lost Fleet books. Dauntless was also the name of several of Kimball Kinnison’s ships in “Doc” Smith’s classic Lensman series. The Lensman books are old now, and enormously dated, both in writing style and in depictions of society, but they were hugely inspirational to me years ago, when I was nine or ten and first read these books.
For those of you who haven’t read the Lensman series, I can’t say whether you’ll be able to look past the dated nature of so much of it, but if you can, you’ll be amazed at the vast scope of it all, the sheer audacity of a six book series tackling several billion years, two super races, a desperate, multi-generational struggle to control not just one, but two galaxies. For a kid just getting into science fiction (and this is back in the 70s), it was mind boggling in its scale. I think my love of worldbuilding can trace its roots back, at least in part, to these books.
So, now you know why Dauntless is called Dauntless. And you also know why the upcoming book six might get a slightly different name.
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Will you notifying about the release of Dauntless, as I’m looking forward to reading it. Thank you
Dauntless should be out the very end of December or beginning of January.
I’m SO ready for Dauntless to be released…any idea how much longer???
Not long! Tuesday, January 9. – Jay
Thank your for the amazing story. Do you know if this will be released on audio? I drive a lot, and nothing has made that easier than your wonderful storyline. In fact I often find myself sitting outside of work unable to go in.
Troy – Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the books. Yes, Audible is producing the audio version of Dauntless right now. I’d expect to see it, probably sometime in March. – Jay
Do you have plans to continue this series? Have read all in the series today and now look forward to the next. The series doesn’t seem finished yet.
Matthew, if you are talking about Blood on the Stars, The White Fleet is the most recent book (#7), and Black Dawn (book #8) will be out, probably very late June. There will be a number of books following. If you mean the Refugees books, number 5 (Storm of Vengeance) just came out, and the sixth and final book of that series will be out sometime this summer or early fall. – Jay