Work in Progress
Caution: author at work. Anything you say or do may be written into the manuscript.
Rebel’s Bargain (Cortii series #5)
Anyone who starts humming ‘Mambo #5’ here is dead to me. But, yes, there is a fifth book in the Cortii series in the work in progress cauldron; it was largely sidelined until Death is for the Living made its debut, but it’s coming.
Right now, it’s running under the working title of Rebel’s Bargain. That may change through edits, so much tends to (me, a complete, unashamed pantser???), and the story is going to take us back to Corina Base, with all the cut-throat fun and pretzel politics that entails.
It’s largely written, give or take substantive edits, which can mean anything from a copy-edit to ‘let’s re-write a third of the book’. As you can see, it doesn’t yet have a cover; keep watching this space, sooner or later there will be a grand reveal.
Number 5 of how many? Don’t ask daft questions, I’ll tell you when the characters tell me.
- Drafts 78%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%
Running Dark (Cortii series #6)
Well, without getting into too many specifics, Jack Connagh, our hostage from Through the Hostage, is going to make a reappearance – and within him, his sister, Khyria’s genetic template. (*Cue dramatic music…*) And, I’m not giving away more than that right now – why yes, I am a spoilsport.
When’s book six going to come out? Well, sometime after book 5…and I’m hoping book 5 will come out sometime late 2019 / early 2020. Of course, if anyone wants to feed and lodge me over the intervening time, halve that, but otherwise, those are the likely dates.
I also suspect that book 6, despite being largely drafted, is going to be one of the ones that takes a lot of shuffling, snipping, and re-writing to get right. The framework’s all there and solid, but some bits are too detailed, I’m pretty sure there are entire sections I only told myself, etc.
It will be all beautiful and coherent before launch, promise.
- Drafts 68%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%
Full Circle (Cortii series #8)
No, this isn’t the last book in the series. It’s just the last book I have a draft of. Or at least, part of a draft of.
All the rocks Khyria and her extremely illicit allies turned over in Book 7 get a highly-classified, two-Cortia mission authorised. Past history and high-level misjudgements all get dragged out of their archives, and there are, yes, explosions.
This one’s only partially drafted. I got side-tracked, back in 2015, by the deadly question ‘So why don’t you publish?’ and my time since then has been largely tied up in editing the preceding works of genius (*ahem*). I’m looking forwards to getting back to it and finding out how it ends.
- Drafts 41%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%
Steal the Peach
The peaches of immortality ripen only once in every three thousand years. If you can find and eat one, you’re guaranteed near-immortality. Unsurprisingly, the business interests whom I represent would like the opportunity to acquire some. Imagine Hollywood able to buy almost everlasting good looks? Hell, we could buy some more property. Mars, maybe.
Sarah Song is a half-siren, half-asshole ‘acquisitions specialist’. She doesn’t particularly like humans; she doesn’t particularly like other supernaturals; and given her origins, she particularly dislikes human magic users. In summary, social relationships are marked as an ‘area for development’ in her top-secret personnel file.
She is, however, very good at her job – although sneaking into the Jade Pool might be considered a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for anyone.
- Drafts 6%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%
Shadows of Memory (Cortii series #7)
Yeah, the title’s probably going to change before the dust finally settles.
Book 7 brings us back around to Khyria, why in the hells she survived a Councils trial in Through the Hostage, and an extremely covert recon mission to discover the secret that over 300 Cortiians died for… (why yes, I do want a personal soundtrack, thanks).
I had a lot of fun writing this one. There’s drama, spaceship chases, things exploding, and of course, the hooker – why? Why can Khyria blow pretty much anyone else off the map, Ability-wise? Who or what caused her memory loss? And what’s their interest in one particular mined-out asteroid belt… (did I mention the explosions? There are some.)
It’s mostly written, to occasional gleeful chortles from the author’s den, and will make its appearance in due course.
- Drafts 71%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%
Cat Were
Well, a few years ago now, someone handed me a dare, and did it in the way that I’m ashamed to admit still almost always gets me. They dared me to do NaNoWriMo with them, and added the magic words ‘no way in hell’.
So I waggled my typing fingers (all two of them), and said *expletive* I was going to have 50,000 words written by the end of November. I did, in fact, have 50,000 words and a safe margin written by the end of November, on an urban fantasy about the supernatural community of Vancouver.
However, because I’m not one of those ‘write first, edit later’ folks, writing first and editing later means I’ve got about three-quarters of a book, but it’s a horrific mess that’s going to pretty much need re-writing to be legible…so I’ve been putting it off. And putting it off some more, because there’s a ton of other stuff that doesn’t need re-writing, already has people out there who want to read it, and bad first drafts make me wince because I never usually have to see them.
- Drafts 53%
- Substantive edit 0%
- Copy edit 0%