What's Next?

 

When I write “What’s Next”, I’m referring to my book plans not my movie reviewing plans.

Two down, one to go. With The Last Whisper of the Gods and The Curse in the Gift both now available, I have turned my attention to the third and final volume of the trilogy, Shadow of the Otherverse. It was without a doubt the most difficult of the three books to write. Yesterday, I put the last touches on the final rewrite. It’s ready to be submitted to amazon.com for publication. 

The release plan is straightforward. The cover illustration will be revealed in two weeks on Valentine’s Day. Shortly thereafter, the book will be available on amazon.com for preorder. (Since it’s longer than either of the previous titles, the price point will be slightly higher: $3.99 instead of $2.99 - still a lot cheaper than a movie ticket.) The book will be published on March 7.

After that, I won’t quite be done with The Last Whisper of the Gods universe even though the main storyline will be complete. In the June/July timeframe, I plan to release The Last Whisper of the Gods Saga: Stories of Ayberia. This will be comprised of three elements. (1) The eight prequel short stories currently available on this website will be revised and expanded.  (They will also be removed from the website soon - probably within the next few weeks.) (2) Several “deleted scenes” - chapters or pieces of chapters that were written but edited out of the final version of The Curse in the Gift - will be reworked into short stories. (3) A new sequel novella, “The Prelate’s Legacy,” is being written. This will be connected directly to Shadow of the Otherverse and uses a cryptic phrase from the epilogue as the jumping-off point. It is expected to be a rather substantial endeavor - not as long as the novels (and not “required reading”) but hefty enough to allow for some character development.

Then it’s on to something new. Currently, I’m planning to launch a new, five book fantasy series with YA overtones before the end of the year. I have been told by several people that, if I edited out some of the sex and violence in The Last Whisper of the Gods, it becomes YA. So that’s what I will be doing with the new series - less (overt) sex and violence. Book One, The Elusive Strain, is scheduled for an October/November release. Book Two, The Malignant Earth, will be before mid-2017. Books Three, Four, and Five will follow at 4-6 month intervals.  I am considerably faster than George R.R. Martin when it comes to writing novels.

A final note of thanks to those who have taken the plunge on The Last Whisper of the Gods and The Curse in the Gift. If you get a chance, please take the time to write a short review at amazon.com for one or both of the books. There are promotional opportunities that are enhanced by large numbers of reviews. As a film critic, it feels odd to be asking for reviews, but there you have it…

Thanks for reading!