Upcoming Projects
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway
I plan on bleeding a lot in the future…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
It’s a lazy Saturday morning, which I don’t get very often, between travelling to Renaissance Faires and Science Fiction Conventions and gearing up for airsoft, Saturdays are not usually a day where I have a lot of leisure time. The best part is that the teen-age son went to a friend’s house last night and won’t be home until later in the weekend, the eleven-year old boy is off playing Minecraft on his brother’s Xbox, and the baby is napping. House is quiet. Quiet enough to take stock of some of the projects I’ve got in the works.
I’ve noticed that I tend to do this after finishing a major project. Maybe it’s because writing the last words of any work, I suddenly feel productive. The weeks and months previous to that, where I’m cranking out words like a madman, don’t really mean that much – at least not to me. Writing is what I do, and putting those words out through the keyboard is just part of the daily routine. But actually finishing something, on the other side of the coin, is different. I don’t do that every day. If I did, a lot of you would have a ton more reading material.
Anyway, this morning I’m looking over the projects I’ve got in the works and getting pumped up about all the cool stuff I’ve got for you guys in the near future.
First up is SPELLPUNK. I’m diving back to work on my epic urban fantasy. You can see the first twenty-one chapters on this site. The twenty-second will be up sometime before I go to bed Monday evening. Been talking to the artist who’s going to do the web-comic of this book, and things are coming along on that front. All told, when it’s done and ready to publish, SPELLPUNK will probably be in the 225,000-250,000 word range.
Next is The Fires of Night, the working title of the next TEARS OF RAGE book. I opened up some of the early drafts of this one, and man oh man, the joy I had writing some of those scenes jumped right back into me. The web of schemes on both the mortal plain and celestial plains…well, let’s just say that this book will grab readers by the scruff of their necks and drag them into plots, schemes, alliances, betrayals, conspiracies, and conflicts that have only been hinted at so far. Looking forward to seeing reader reactions to this one. If you thought the first three books made your head spin, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. So far, this one is coming in at 90,000 words, with a whole lot of still to write.
I’m starting on Legacy of the Dragon Bone Flute today. This novella is a follow up to my first solo self-published work, The Dragon Bone Flute. I’m attacking this is a shorter project, before tacking one of the larger ones so I can hopefully keep up this sense of productivity.
I’ve also got an Untitled Jaludin Adventure in the works. It will take place shortly after “Jaludin’s Road.” Jaludin, Rief, and Ishara travel to the Kandian Free Cities, hoping to find a cure for Ishara. Of course things don’t often work out as planned.
In the land of Halloween Jack, I’m working on some short stories that take place between the books. I’m about half-way done with “The Courtship of Halloween Jill” which takes place in the year following Halloween Jack and the Devil’s Gate. And, earlier this week I came up with a couple of great titles while watching The Magnificent Seven, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. At some point, I’m going to pen “A FistFul of Jack o’ Lanterns” and “A Few Jack o’ Lantern’s More.” These will most likely take place between Halloween Jack and the Curse of Frost and the next book, what ever it’s name happens to be. Right now, my brain is telling me they will feature Miss Fiona Dalton, who you will meet in the upcoming Halloween Jack book.
Last, but not least, I’m outlining/planning which stories I’ll include in my collection Of Silk and Cobwebs. Like Otherworlds in 2012, this will be the book available ONLY at storytelling shows and readings throughout the year 2013. Planned stories are “The Two Pick Pockets,” “Prophecy,” “Familiar Choices,” “Legacy of the Dragon Bone Flute,” at least one of the afore-mentioned Halloween Jack short stories, “Gold Farmer Hero,” “Hyde and Seek,” “Let’s Kill Us Some Fuzzy Woodland Critters with High Powered Rifles,” and an as yet untitled TEARS OF RAGE story about a young Maxian, Sorka, and Josephine. There will be more as I’m sure I’ll come up with some over the course of the winter. That book will be ready in time for my first event of the year.
So, that’s everything going on in my writing world, except the one thing I didn’t mention…because I can’t… super secret project. Might be huge! We’ll see. Will post on that as I can.
Think I’ll be busy enough over the winter?
