I’m doing my New Year’s Eve reflections on the past year a little early.

Honestly, when I released The Marann, I expected it to fail. I thought, My friends and relatives will buy this, I’ll sell maybe a couple dozen copies, and it will sink without a trace.

Little did I know.

The Marann sat relatively unnoticed for about 2 weeks, and then… something happened. I don’t know what, because I didn’t do any marketing. It started climbing Amazon’s charts, eventually peaking at #2 in Space Opera, #10 in Futuristic Romance, #20 in Science Fiction, #49 in all Science Fiction & Fantasy, and #468 in the Kindle Store. I didn’t sell just 12 copies. I sold well over four thousand.

That’s amazing for a new and unknown author.

It’s sinking back down now — more slowly than I was told (what “6 week cliff”?) — and the first contact stories (Into Tolari Space) have just rocketed up the Free charts, landing at #2 in Science Fiction Short Stories (right behind Hugh Howey’s Wool) and #5 in Space Opera (keeping company with the likes of Eric Flint and Andre Norton).

This is way cool. There actually aren’t very many new SF/F authors who have done something like that this year.

I certainly wanted to create a compelling world that readers would love. Despite a few bumps — some readers really don’t like the apparent infidelity of my Tolari — I have hopes that I have managed to do just that.

My. Most. Amazing. Year. Ever.