Space Highways

Frequently asked questions

Right now I am working on SpaceHighways‘ first arc The Awakened
Let’s answer some possible questions:

General Questions

Yes. More exactly, a series of serialized novels. From the beginning, Space Highways was intended to be a series.

Actually, quite a lot. And more in the future…

None of the issues I address are premeditated. In fact, most of them appeared when describing the future society I envision in comparison to the one we live in.

I address the technological, medical, and social issues humans and other species might face in the future. Obviously, further, deeper topics arise constantly. See the non-exhaustive lists below.

Right now, the following topics and issues are dealt with in Space Highways:

  • Inter and intra-species racism and xenophobia.
  • Gender equality and gender roles.
  • Male chauvinism and patriarchy.
  • Matriarchal societies.
  • Interracial and interspecies relationships.
  • Non-binary personalities, genders and societies.
  • LGBTQ+ issues.
  • Non-heteronormative relationships.
  • Race and species mixing, miscegenation.

In the future, the following topics and issues will be dealt with, some of them already hinted to:

  • Polyamory and polygamy.
  • Gender transition.
  • … (more to come)

At first, I intend to publish one chapter each month. If the project gets enough attention I will consider publishing a chapter every two weeks.
See the chapter publishing calendar for more details.

Once a story arc is completed, I will publish the whole arc as an ebook.

Each chapter will be around  8.000 words, meaning each can be read in about 30 minutes.
I don’t like to calculate the length of the chapters in pages, as it depends on the font sizes and the spacing. Keeping this in mind, each chapter should be around 20 A4 pages, around 26 if the chapter is dialogue-heavy,  or about 32 novel-sized book pages, 40 novel-sized pages if dialogue-heavy.

Please note that this number is tentative. You might find chapters having only 6.900 words and others reaching up to 9.200 words, it just depends on my inspiration… But my goal is to reach an average of 8.000 words per chapter. The 8.000 words ‘limit’ does not include the extended scenes, some may go way over this limit.

Six possible icons appear just above each chapter’s title-image:

Short link to this chapter.

v (version): Indicates the revision and version of the chapter. Each chapter will go through several of such revisions following the input of the readers (only writing-related, not content-related, except some inaccuracies).

Manuscript: Means that the chapter is still considered a manuscript and might change in the future.

 Patreon: Means that the chapter is only available to patrons, for now.

 Extended edition available: A special extended edition is available for patrons of Instructor or higher tiers.

 NSFW Chapter: A special NSFW chapter is available for patrons of Instructor or higher tiers.

In short: Yes.

However, I will use Patreon to fund the project, so it will be published on a patrons-first basis. The free chapter will be published two weeks later, but will always remain free.

See the Patreon section.

Once an arc is finished, I will publish it as an ebook. This ebook will be for sale at a small fee to aid the further development of Space Highways.

You are completely free to choose. If you think my time and work is not worth paying for, then don’t.

However, by becoming a patron you will gain access to behind-the-scenes posts, patrons’ only polls, and other goodies. Plus, the nice feeling of supporting an author.

As stated in the above answers and if you want to wait until I finish the series, yes.

Once the first story arc of the series is finished, that is 24 chapters, I will publish it as an e-book on several online stores.

Of course, you can always read the free public chapters individually on this site.

All readers and Patreon tiers have access to:

  • Access to most YouTube videos.
  • Q&A through Social Media.
  • Public polls.
  • Find and correct an unreported grammar error or typo: appear in the Mechanics Thank You Page and annex of each chapter.
  • Create a new species, be approved, and appear on the Species Creator page!
  • Create a new world, be approved, and appear on the World Creator page!

NSFW & eXtended Chapters Questions

Yes, it does.
During the first Arc, there are only three full NSFW/Adult chapters. In future arcs, however, about 25% of the chapters will be NSFW/Adult.

There are “full NSFW” chapters and eXtended chapters.

No, they are for patrons only. Once the arc is finished, they will be included in the ‘eXtended’ edition of the full book.

There are two types of NSFW/Adult chapters: full and extended.
In Full-NSFW/Adult chapters, over 75% of its contents are of ‘Adult’ nature.
Extended chapters, have ‘Adult’-scenes and won’t be larger than 10% in total of the whole chapter.
Both are only available for patrons of the tier Instructors and above.

They include greater details of, obviously, mature content. The extended fragments are embedded all over the chapter. They add more exciting details to the reader.
What the extended fragments not do: break the narrative nor are forced.

As a ’normal’ reader, you won’t miss anything important from the overall story. You will miss, however, some details about the characters and their intimacy. The extended chapters just include some spicy scenes and descriptions.

In a way, yes.

That’s not the main reason but might look that way.

Now, seriously, I simply don’t want my base series to be X-rated, R-rated is enough. I believe that sex and eroticism should be more accepted in nowadays fiction without immediately being classified as pornographic. But, as we all know, many do not believe so and want to hammer X-rated onto anything showing some nudity.

The ’ regular’ edition includes some light nudity with almost no description and is allowed on more platforms to be shared.

The ‘extended’ edition includes more in-depth details, even explicit sex, not apt for those close-minded platforms and individuals.

You have two options:

  1. Login in to your Patreon account and search for the publishing post of each chapter. The extended chapters are attached as downloadable files to their publication posts.
  2. Login into the Space Highways site via Patreon. Now you have full access to every extended and NSFW chapter of the series. You may read it online or download each chapter as PDF or ePub files.

I am working on it.

Once I am able to integrate Patreon into the Space Highways main site, you won’t need to leave the site but to pay the tier on Patreon and to login to this site.

The base, “normal”, chapter will comply with the standard, around 8.000 words. The extended scenes are added to those.

The full adult chapter will vary in length but should be around 5.000 and 6.000 words. Some of these chapters may be as short as 3.500 words or as long as any standard chapter.

That’s your decision. You can either wait until the first arc is finished and buy the finished book or support the next arc where more explicit material will be published. I have planned to let any Instructor and above tier subscriber to be able to download all chapters from the prior arc.

Patreon Questions

It is a kind of tip-jar, with a bonus.

If you like my work and want to help me to develop it further, you can become a patron.

To become a patron you’ll need to pledge at least 1$ (1 USD) a month. There are several tiers of patrons, depending on how much you are willing to invest in my work you may get different extras as thanks.

From simply being the first to be able to read the new chapters to special chapters and inside information.

Depending on the pledge amount, you may download DRM-free e-book and PDF versions of the chapters, participate in story changing polls, hangouts, special chapters (even extended and NSFW chapters), behind the scenes stories, detail descriptions of characters and locations, and even access to internal development documents.

Again, you have two options:

  • You can download the extras from the tier-specific posts on Patreon.
  • All extras can be read in the Behind the Scenes section of this site.

 

Simply visit the Space Highways Patreon page on patreon.com/spacehighways or click any of the Become a patron buttons.

Once you have pledged, you can log in on this site via the Patreon Log In button

Patreon Tier 0: Hitchhiker
Tier 0 Hitchhiker (free):

  • Free to read, two weeks later.

Patreon Tier 1: Copilot
Tier 1 Copilot ($1):

  • Be the first to read the new chapters.
  • Access to the Patreon-only news via the Patreon page.
  • Download each chapter as PDF and ePUB (DRM free).
  • Access some Behind the Scenes post once in a while (no interval defined).

Patreon Tier 2: Pilot
Tier 2 Pilot ($3):

  • Live Q&As Discord chat with the author twice a month.
  • Patreon only polls.
  • Download as Mobi. DRM free!
  • Access Behind the Scenes posts once a month.
  • Access to a dedicated Discord channel.
  • Plus everything the Copilots get.

Patreon Tier 3: Instructor
Tier 3 Instructor ($5):

  • Extended and NSFW chapters! (3 full NSFW chapters, at least 50% extended chapters in this arc).
  • Live Discord audio/video chat and/or Google Hangout with the author once a month (after reaching the $100 goal).
  • Access special, spicy Behind the Scenes post once in a while (no interval defined).
  • And your patron name appears in the Instructors Thank You page on the official website and in the annex of each chapter.
  • Plus everything the Pilots get.

Patreon Tier 4: Ace
Tier 4 Ace ($10):

  • Get behind the scenes stories! These are complete short stories, not the usual behind the scenes posts.
  • Get more info: Character descriptions, location descriptions, history data, and more.
  • And your name appears in the Aces Thank You page on the official website and in the annex of each chapter.
  • And if you have supported SpaceHighway for at least 6 months, you will receive a personalized and dedicated DRM-Free edition of the final Book of the current arc.
  • Plus everything the Instructors get.

Patreon Tier 5: Ace of Aces
Tier 5 Ace of Aces ($20):

  • You or your ideal character will become a secondary character inside the main story, one of the yet unnamed Aces of the ISTM.
  • Notes:
    • Please contact me to establish the character’s features if you are interested. The character has to keep the SpaceHighway’s look-and-feel.
    • Your character will appear at least once every two chapters as long as you pledge this tier. Once support is withdrawn, the character dies inside the story.
  • Plus everything the Aces get

100$/month

I will be able to offer live streams and Q&As for more in-depth details on the progress of the series, behind-the-scenes details, and more information about the Space Highways universe and its inhabitants.

What will I do with this money?

  • I will change from my old ADSL provider to Fiberglass.

Why?
Due to the installation of Fiberglass in my neighborhood, the copper pair will not be updated for higher speed allowing me to stream.

Plus:
Integrate the Space Highways website further into Patreon and allow patrons to read and download new chapters and extras directly from the main site. And, no more ads for patrons.

 

200$/month

Hire a professional proofreader. Hey! No more goofs!

What will I do with this money?

  • I will hire a professional proofreader to get rid of the annoying typos, grammar errors, and syntax failures.
  • This includes the expenses of the former achieved goal.

 

500$/month

Hire an illustrator to create illustrations of characters, species, etc. Artists don’t live from art alone, don’t they?

What will I do with this money?

  • I will hire an illustrator.
  • At least twice a month new illustrations will be published.
  • This includes the expenses of the former achieved goals.

 What is in for patrons?

  • Additional only for patrons illustrations.
  • High-res images.
  • Rough sketches and dismissed designs.

 

1000$/month

Leave the underpaid side-job and publish twice a month instead of once.

What will I do with this money?

  • I can set myself up as self-employed/freelance and dedicate my time exclusively to Space Highways.
  • This includes the expenses of the former achieved goals.

 What is in for patrons?

  • Two chapters per month.
  • More detailed encyclopedia entries.
  • More detailed backstories of the characters.

 Why?
I live in Spain and basic taxes for freelance workers are absurdly high. About 35% of this goal’s money will go to the Spanish state, which leaves me with just 25% for my living expenses.

 

1500$/month

Two options goal!
Patrons will be able to vote for one of these options:

  • Hire an illustrator to recreate scenes once to twice a month.
  • Hire a 3D artist to visually design cities, worlds, etc

What will I do with this money?

  • I will hire either another illustrator or a 3D artist depending on the poll’s outcome.
  • This includes the expenses of the former achieved goals.

What is in for patrons?

  • For the illustration option:
    • Full scenes instead of the free cropped ones which will be published with the free chapters.
    • One full-color scene per month.
    • High-res files of the scenes.
  • For the 3D option:
    • Full scenes/designs instead of the free cropped ones which will be published with the free chapters.
    • High-res files of the scenes.

 

2000$/month

Translate Space Highways into another language!
The target language will be chosen by a patron-only poll.

What will I do with this money?

  • I will hire a translator for the chosen language.
  • This includes the expenses of the former achieved goals.

What is in for patrons?

  • Until the translator catches up with the series’ current chapter, chapters will be published once they are translated, at least once a month.
  • Translations will become free a month later instead of a week or two.

NOTE:
If there is no interest in a translated version of Space Highways, the losing option from the past goal (Scene illustrations or 3D designs) will be taken.