…And I’m back! This will be short, so let’s dive right in.

First, for the little news I have. Flawed to the Core: Creating Memorable Characters and Writing is going live tomorrow, so don’t forget to pick up your copy for $3.99! A paperback version of the book will be available as well for $10.99, just as soon as Amazon fixes their issues. I sent a copy to an early reviewer, and the analysis is posted to Goodreads. You can find it here. I’ve also joined a local writing group, but it’s more of a come-in-and-write type of group than actual critique swapping or lessons. Still, it’s nice to be a part of a group again; I’ve missed the comradery of fellow writers. 

In 2018, with the writing group I was a part of in Okinawa, I set a goal for myself. I wanted to publish at least one book a year for the next five years. So far, I’m ahead of the curve and hope to remain that way. With that said, let’s get to the rest of the blog.

I’ve contacted my editor in England, and volume III of the grimdark fantasy series is slated for the June timeframe. As of now, the word count puts it closer to volume I rather than volume II. I do plan this to be a 2022 release. I will need a cover artist. Moreover, when this is all said and done, I may want to recover the first two or make an omnibus cover for all three novels.

Continuing on with the Dark Legacy series, I’m retreading some ground and going back through the first novel, and preparing it for wider dissemination. Hopefully, soon I’ll be able to publish to Apple Books, Barnes & Nobel, and the likes. If this goes well, I may do it for all my books.

To the spinning wheels … I’m currently in between projects, and I’m kind of at a loss where to proceed. I guess this post is more for me to sound out where I need to go. I’ve got the sequel to The Demon’s Fate, the military sci-fi fantasy. It’s beleaguered with issues, primarily the sagging middle. A stark difference between the original and this one is the world-building aspect. There’s a lot introduced in those terms. The second is the action. It’s kind of hard to top the first when the premise of the novel is quite different. The first is an active unraveling of a mystery, and the follow-up is the effects of those causes, more investigative, and following those tethers to their natural conclusion. It’s still on the back burner at the moment. 

The Dark Portal is also slated for a sequel, but a non-sequitur one. As of now, it’s set in a fictitious Bramble, Texas 1859. The first Dark Portal was an alien first contact with an advanced civilization, whereas this one may be more of a paranormal romp. This said, there’s a lot of directions I could go with other sequels, including returning to the planet in the original with the sothor species, a continuation of Darrovan’s story, or making it its own spin-off. Other Dark Portal sequel concepts I’ve kicked around have been the Apollo missions to the moon, or maybe even stretch it out to the not too distant future and make it a Mars type of setting.

Another novella idea I’m tossing around is a series based upon characters in my main fantasy series, the Time Warden, Xenomene, or a young Judas Lakayre, though to be honest, I’m hesitant on the latter two options. All that I do know is that I need to immerse myself back into my fantasy series and finish the series. 

Along this same thread is a prequel novel I started years ago and got about a third of the way through it. It was on a minor character, one who’s mentioned more than seen, a female assassin named Lady Cassandra. I very much wanted to explore this story, but at the time, I felt it was pulling me away from my main body of work, the series. Now, with all the additional books and stories I’ve released, the original intent is no longer valid, and I may return to it in addition to my main series.

Another novella I started but set aside is a … well, I won’t say romance, but let’s call it a love story. I have a few chapters of it written already, and I like where it’s headed. I don’t want to speak more on it just yet, but depending on how things go, it could either get pushed up to my next project or put on the back burner. In the meantime, any short stories I contemplate on writing are going into a project of their own, a collection of them.

Anyone who’s been following the blog knows that THOLAC (The House of Lust and Candor) crossed the finish line with the second draft. Instead of immediately starting the third, I’ve gone on to outline the sequel—something I normally don’t do. The meat of it is plotted, that’s about 60% finished; now I just need to plug in the extra characters and flesh out their stories. I’ve actually got a raunchy plot twist cooked into the story—well, a couple of them—but now I need to figure out how it’ll all play out. The sequel’s tentative title is THOPAG (The House of Pride and Guile). 

Well, no sense in info-dumping on you too much, but if you made it to the end, congrats! Thanks for listening, and I would love to hear your comments and feedback, so please feel free to reach out! Have you read one of my books? Which was your favorite? Let me know!

That’s it for this round, short and sweet. I shall return…

If you enjoyed this content, check out my books, The Bearer of Secrets, Mark of the Profane, The Demon’s Fate, The Dark Portal, For Heathens of Heaven, and Flawed to the Core: Building Memorable Characters and Writing on Amazon. All works are available on Kindle Unlimited, eBook, and print. Reviews can be found on Goodreads and Amazon.