Hunt the Stars

Hunt the Stars Edits Are Done! Here’s a Tiny Snippet!

This morning, I sent off my edits for Hunt the Stars. I added about 6k words, bringing the total manuscript to just under 113k, which falls right between Aurora Blazing and Chaos Reigning.

This was a pretty fast edit for me because I usually plan for about a month, and I finished in under two weeks. I’ve now read this story more times than anyone should, and I still love it, so I hope you all will, too.

Bree, half of writing duo Kit Rocha, read an early copy (before I was done editing, even!) and had a few very nice things to say about it over on Twitter, including, “Ok I just finished my early copy of Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik and somehow it’s my favorite thing she’s written yet, it’s AMAZING…” which made my whole weekend, y’all. 💕😭

Here’s a little snippet of the first chapter to celebrate turning in edits. This hasn’t been finally approved or copyedited, so it’s still subject to change, but I won’t tell if you don’t. :)

And, in case you missed it, HtS is now available for preorder. The cover isn’t up yet, but I’ve seen a rough draft and it is IN-CRED-I-BLE! 😍 I can’t wait to share!

Preorder:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo | IndieBound


I leaned against my ship’s cargo ramp and watched with narrowed eyes as four soldiers in Valovian armor stalked through the landing bay. This was a human station in human space—Valoffs shouldn’t be here. Yes, we were at peace—for now—but both sides had made it clear that they preferred it when everyone stayed in their own sectors.

The soldiers moved from ship to ship. At each, the group leader spoke to the ship’s captain for a few minutes before continuing on. They moved like Valoffs rather than like humans wearing stolen armor, so I raised my mental shields as they approached. It wasn’t easy for a human to learn to shield against Valovian abilities because we had no natural defenses, but I’d learned the hard way during the war. Certain death provided excellent motivation.

The leader was male: tall and muscular, with thick, black hair, dark eyes, and skin a shade or two lighter than my own golden tan. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t immediately place him. He was encased in layers of synthetic black armor from neck to feet, and I knew from experience that it would deflect all but the strongest plas pistols and blades. It had exactly two weaknesses, and you had to be within reach to exploit either of them.

The group stopped several paces away, but even at this distance, their leader looked almost human. In general, Valoffs had a wider variety of hair and skin color and were a little taller than humans, with a slightly finer bone structure. However, their eyes were the biggest giveaway. Their irises were often threaded with multiple vibrant colors, and they had better-than-human night vision. They spent a lot of time in the dark—days on Valovia were only ten hours long.

Hunt the Stars Edits

Edits for Hunt the Stars landed on Wednesday, which means I’ll be quieter than usual as I work on polishing the book. Or maybe I’ll be less quiet as I work on procrastinating. Could go either way, lol.

Selling a book on proposal is an interesting experience. The first book I sold, Polaris Rising, was completely finished, and editors read it before deciding whether they wanted it or not. They knew exactly what they were getting.

Once you are a little established and your books are doing okay, your editor no longer expects you to write a whole book before they buy it because publishing works on very long timelines, typically more than a year.

So authors write a proposal. It’s an overview of the next book, and the series, if applicable, that gives the editor a general idea of where the book is going and if they’ll be interested in acquiring it. Some proposals are super in-depth.

Mine was not.

Since I’m not a plotter by nature, my proposal involved some general ideas, a high-level blurb, and part of the first chapter. So my editor sort of knew what she was getting, but only very generally, which made turning in the finished book a bit nerve-racking. AB and CR were a little of the same, but at least they had an established world to build on. A new book series is a blank slate.

But luckily, my editor loved it, and didn’t ask for her money back, so we’re all good. 🎉😂 Now I just have to shine it up and then get back to writing book two. Happy Friday!

P.S. I’m still planning on sending out the newsletter I promised last post, I’m just waiting on Bookshop to update with HtS, so it’ll probably be Monday. Most of the other stores have both paper and e-books available for preorder now. Come on, Bookshop, you can do it!

New Shiny/Hunted is now Hunt the Stars!

Say hello to Hunt the Stars! The preorder links are still populating (Amazon and Barnes & Noble seem to be first, though BN is kind of broken for me), but the cover copy is up and I couldn’t wait to share. :)

This is the copy for the sales catalog and sometimes the wording gets tweaked a little before it goes on the back of the book, but the essence won’t change. :)

Voyager placeholder cover for HUNT THE STARS. Official cover to come.

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.

Preorder now!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo | More to come!

Edit: Paper books and audiobooks will be available (as far as I know), but because it doesn’t come out until next February, all of the preorders aren’t up yet. Don’t worry, they will be eventually. :)

Even though writing last year was a bit of a slog, I had so much fun with this story, and I absolutely can’t wait for you to meet Tavi and Torran! It’s a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers between two people who have no reason to trust each other, but even less reason to trust the powers that be. Plus there might be a little bit of science-y magic… in spaaaaace! ;)

Edits are supposed to land soon, and my editor said she was ADORING it, so yay for that! I will update the post and the book page with all of the preorder links once they’re available.

And, in a first, I already have the (tentative) titles for the next two books. If you’d like a peek at them, head over to my author newsletter and get yourself signed up. Once all of the preorder links are live, I’ll send out an update with the top-secret info. :)