“The time has come,” the Walrus said…

I’ve finished the first draft of the next Ishmael Wang book. It went to beta readers last week and to the final copy editor today. It’s slotted in for production in September and publication sometime in October.

Yes, I plan to narrate it and put the audio up, but that’s down the road. I need to get more stories moving in the pipeline and it takes a month to produce an audio version. I want to write while the words are flowing. I can record when I’m dry.

August was a trial month for me. I’ve established a writing schedule and it worked very well for me and my family. The goal is to produce one rough draft per month for the next five months. That will give me six new books in the pipeline. The nature of the beast is that – even if I succeed – that doesn’t mean six new books in six months for you.

I’ve reserved four slots with my editor, one is already in use. The next availability is November and I’ve asked for one each in November, December, and January. Since she has no openings in October, that gives me an extra month to get ahead of her schedule. That means each month I’ll have one book in production, one book being written, and one book waiting for editor. While that last one seems like it’s wasting time, the reality is that it gives me some elasticity in the process so if I get really stuck for a couple of weeks, there’s slack that won’t get in the way of my editorial slots. I’m hoping to publish a new book every other month starting in October. Any faster than that and I’ll be short-changing the production or the writing or both.

The next book is tentatively titled From Ashes Born. In the book, Pip returns, hijinks ensue, and Ishmael solves a silly problem. It’s the first volume in what I’ve been calling “Seeker’s Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper.”

Which brings me to the book I will be working on this month: Book 1 of the parallel series in the “Smuggler’s Tales From The Darkside Of The Golden Age.” This is a new cast and crew telling the stories that the CPJCT doesn’t want you to think about. There will be some cross over between the two trilogies and my plan is to merge the two story lines into a new series when these complete.

In other related news, I’ve got 30k words into Cape Grace, the sequel to South Coast, and have some ideas about what I need to do with that one, too. I’ll probably drop back into that story sometime in the next few books just to wrap up that branch of the canon.

And with all of that, I’m still planning to revisit Tanyth Fairport and the world of Korlay. I just don’t know when.

August has been a good month. Here’s hoping September is even better.

Shayne Pruyne contacted me some time ago about the possibility of making a board game based on the Trader’s Tales. I’ve had lots of poeple ask, but – so far – Shayne’s the only one with a working prototype.

If you’d like to play test it, he has the game up on GameBoardGeek: http://boardgamegeek.com/article/19942703#19942703

And if you try it? Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks, Shayne. This looks hella cool.

August just sort of happened. I must have blinked. Sorry about that.

So, news:

1. If you follow my podcast, you know I’ve been dealing with some medical issues. Again. I think I’ve got the meds sorted out now and I’ve been walking again. This is a Good Thing.

2. In addition to walking, I’ve also been writing.

I started Cape Grace some time ago and have about 30,000 words in. I need to go back and revisit that because – so far – it’s just Otto’s story. That’s wrong. I need to add Sarah in there, but I need to cogitate a bit on that before I dig in.

I also took a swing at the first Smuggler’s Tale. That’s the Solar Clipper series that’s _not_ about Ishmael Wang. It’ll be a trilogy (I think) about Natalya Regyri and her wingman, Zoya Usoko, as they navigate the Dark Side of the Deep Dark. I had to put that one down, too.

I found I missed Ishmael too much. I’ve started the first of the Seeker’s Tales. I’m sitting at 11,000 words right now and the story is beginning to take on a life of its own. I’m not sure how long this book will be, when I’ll finish it, or even what the story is. I’ve got some ideas, but these things don’t really like to pay attention to what I think the story is.

I can tell you this much. Theme: “It’s not how hard you’re hit. It’s what you do after that matters.” With everybody still reeling from Owner’s Share, that seemed the most likely place to pick up the action as Ishmael picks himself up and … well, we’ll see if he moves on with his life or let’s the past become an insurmountable load of baggage.

Oh, and he teams up with Pip again.

3. You might find clues about where the stories are going if you play Eve Online. In a recent change to their policy, they removed a lot of unused names which allowed me to get Ishmael Horatio Wang, Phillip Carstairs, and Alys Giggone as avatars in game. You’ll also find Natalya Regyri and Zoya Usoko there. As the stories develop, I’ll have more stuff that Eve players can find. If you don’t play Eve, don’t worry. The story will be the story. Game stuff won’t make any difference – other than I won’t log in and find that fans are already playing my characters. 🙂

Late  summer and fall have – historically – been very productive times for me.

Fingers crossed that the trend continues.

Thanks for hanging in with me. We’ll get there.