Publication of each chapter is dependent upon receiving $300 in reader contributions. The first chapter is a gift from the authors. The rest is up to you. Reader contributions drive the process. You may donate whatever you like, or nothing at all. Those kind folks who donate $25 US or more will receive a trade paper edition of the finished book, should there ever be one. Those who donate more than $25, and any "over-contributions" will help to pay for cover art, professional editing, and associated production costs (yes, we do pay the authors).

And, yanno? The reasons that started us on Fledgling are still valid:

First, if we are ever to write the much-requested "next book after I Dare," we'll need insight into Theo's character. The way we gain such insight is to write a novel from that character's viewpoint. Conflict of Honors began as exactly this sort of character study.

Also? Fledgling and Saltation are "side books." A "side book" is a book that is coincidental to the main action of a series, which is expected to be of little interest, except to stalwart fans -- and to the authors. To put this in perspective, both Local Custom and Scout's Progress are side books, falling outside the main thrust of the Agent of Change sequence.

Note: The phrase "first draft" used in this context, by writers, does not mean "please send in corrections and suggested fixes," which is what I am told it means to scientists and engineers. When used by writers "first draft" means, "It's a mess. We'll fix it later."

We don't know how many chapters there will be. We're free-form writers, and while we do have a working outline, it is (1) vague, and (2) subject to change without notice. Steve has said that he's shooting for 111,111 words in draft. Advertant readers are referred to (2) above.

Also! The default for donations of $25 and over is ONE BOOK. If you have donated $50 or more toward Saltation and wish to receive MORE THAN one book, please, please for the Love of Ghu, write to Sharon and tell her so. We don't want to crush anyone's expectations and we really don't want to cause unhappiness or create a scene. Work with us and everybody wins, yes? Yes!

To help everybody keep up, here's where we are so far, in terms of books ordered:

954 books spoken for/ Only 246 to go!

Thank you all for your ongoing interest and support!

What you can't do:
1.      Copy the work and sell it, or pass it off as your own. Saltation and Fledgling are copyright by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. In addition, Liaden Universe® is a registered trademark. That means the universe, the characters, the story and the right to sell it belong to Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

All of the Liaden Universe® novels and many of the short stories are available in electronic format from Baen Webscriptions.

OR you may send a check or money order (in US funds only) to:

If you would like to donate to the Saltation project as a gift (or in someone else's name) please log directly into Paypal and use the paypal "send money" or direct payment method to make a donation to saltationATkorval.com (where The Usual replaces AT).

When you do, please use Saltation Gift as the email subject. Please note the name and reasonable contact/ID information in the "Note (optional)" field so that we'll be able to identify the intended recipient in the event that $25 is accumulated in their name and they become eligible for a trade edition of Saltation, should one be produced.

Gift subscriptions can also be made by check or money order (in US funds only) through the mail to: