Waterstone in 2018!

Hey everybody! I’m going to say before this begins that this will probably be a pretty long post. I’m doing it both to keep everybody informed, but also as a way to reflect and plan. I’ll be starting off by reviewing everything that happened in 2018, then move on to my thoughts about 2019.

For those of you who prefer extreme tl;dr versions: 2018 was a year of fun and learning, and 2019 should see the release of a number of new fantasy projects.

So, let’s look at 2018.

The year started with the publication of Nightblade’s Honor this spring. This was the second book in the Blades of the Fallen series I’ve been working on with 47North, and I was really excited to release it.

Not long after that, I released the Code trilogy in three straight months. This was a sci-fi project that takes place in a shared universe, and I learned a lot through the process of releasing books so quickly.

I ended the year with the release of a short story: No Way Home, a novella: Edge of Duty, and a standalone fantasy novel: Relentless Souls. I experimented with some new release strategies – including giving away my short stories and novellas for free to email newsletter subscribers. I really liked the writing and releasing of short stories, and plan on doing more of that as my time allows. Relentless Souls was the largest launch, and I was very excited to see that book released out into the world.

This year also saw the release of Chosen by the Blade, the first book my company has released that wasn’t written by me. I enjoyed seeing that one come to fruition as well, and it was a definite milestone for the company.

Beyond the releases, I was working on a fair amount of projects behind the scenes. The big one that I just completed was to create paperbacks that are available pretty much everywhere. Now all the Nightblade paperbacks, the Primal paperback, and Relentless Souls should be able to be ordered from any bookstore, pretty much anywhere in the world.

There were also a few projects that I worked on this year that have not seen the light of day yet. I’ll talk more about them as we look at 2019, but in short, I also finished a Primal novel, the conclusion to Blades of the Fallen, and an untitled manuscript.

So, it’s been a busy year, and a good one. But I’ll be honest, I’m really excited for 2019. I’ll also admit that while in 2018 I had a pretty solid plan for the year, there’s a lot of question marks in the calendar for this next year. But, I’ll share what I know.

Bring it, 2019!

The first, and some of the biggest news, is that I finally have details on the conclusion of the Blades of the Fallen series. I’ve had the first draft completed since the spring of 2018, but it fell into a bit of publishing purgatory. Thankfully, it has clawed its way out, and will definitely be released either at the end of March 2019 or the beginning of April. I’ve spent the past two weeks diving back into the manuscript and beginning the editing process, and it feels great to be back in the world again. Once that book releases, that will probably be the end of the Nightblade world for a while. I might release some more short stories, but there won’t be any other major releases in 2019 in that universe.

I’m also excited about another manuscript that I just finished a first draft of earlier this month. It’s a book I’ve had in mind for a year or two now, and it has the possibility of becoming my favorite book I’ve written. Unfortunately, I can’t say much for this book at the moment. My goal in 2019 is to secure another traditional-publication contract, and so it could be a while before it sees the light of day.

After finishing up the Nightblade work this spring, the rest of 2019 is honestly a pretty big question mark. I’ve got a ton of projects that I’m interested in, but nothing that has a particular time stamp on it.

One project I’d like to continue is the Primal universe. I had originally sketched out the series as nine books, and I’ve released the first three, completely written the first draft of the fourth, and was a little over halfway through the fifth before I decided to set it aside for a time. My goal was both to write a fun sci-fi series, and to have smaller, easier projects that could break up my larger books. But as a reader, I’m feeling a little bit of series burnout. I don’t mind trilogies, but books of five, seven, or greater really need to earn it. I’ve debated just releasing Primal 4, 5, and 6 all as one omnibus. We shall see, I suppose. I’ve been leaning more towards fantasy lately, and there’s even a chance Primal might just take a back seat to other projects.

Another project I’ve considered is writing another book in the world of Relentless Souls. To be clear – it wouldn’t be a series, and wouldn’t be connected to Relentless Souls beyond the sharing of a world. I just really enjoyed writing in that universe and would definitely be down for doing some more.

Finally, there’s a project I’ve been sitting on for a few years. One that I’ve been debating off and on for a long time. It would end up being really, really big, but I’ve been sketching out ideas for a connected series of worlds and lands. If possible, I’d really like to get to work on that in 2019. It’s something I’m really excited about.

Beyond all that, I’ve also been working on a video game! Of sorts. I love video games, and I love stories that have branching paths. Over the course of the past year I’ve been sketching out what amounts to an interactive book. It would look and act like a book, but you would make the choices that make the story advance. It’s been a fun side project, and I am hoping to release it in 2019.

Whew!

Well, I think that’s just about it. I do apologize that I have so little concrete detail for 2019. Right now, most of the year is unwritten, and that really excites me.

As we near the end of 2018, I just wanted to once again say a tremendous thank you to everyone for your continued support. It means so much to me to be able to tell stories for a living, and I am constantly grateful. May your 2019 start wonderfully!