Writer's Grove

Lookin’ ahead

Behold! ‘Tis a brave new turning of the calendar, when we all realize we ate too much and allow gyms to sucker us into membership! And we indulge in other goal-setting activities, of course. So here we go:

In ye olde New Year, I shall read: 

CORMORANT by Chuck Wendig and probably something by James S.A. Corey. I also have a giant TBR pile and feel guilty looking ahead at new releases when the ones I have are already giving me lonely puppy dog eyes. I keep telling myself that maybe I should focus on the TBR pile and avoid the shiny, but I have found this particular flow chart thanks to following author Myke Cole on Twitter, which describes my thought process astoundingly well:

On my laptop with faded keys I shall write:

A Star Wars novel (in progress), an epic fantasy (outlined), and hopefully get a start on book 8 of IDC and a short story too that might stretch into a novella.

Into the wilds of untamed bookstores and electronic commerce I shall release: 

An IDC short story called “The Chapel Perilous” sometime before the first buds of spring. It’s already appeared in the anthology UNFETTERED, but it’ll be available to snag separately on your e-reading device thingie for cheap. I’ll release it worldwide too. More details on that when I have it, so stay tuned.

Book 7 of IDC, SHATTERED, in hardcover, ebook, and audio, on June 17! Paper and ebooks are available for pre-order now wherever you buy your books, and the audio should be up for pre-order sometime in May. Many thanks for pre-ordering if you can spare the time for a mouse click or two; it helps a lot and you don’t get charged for the book until the date rolls around. As always, if you’d like a signed copy (and personalized if you want), you can order one from The Poisoned Pen, an indie store near me that ships anywhere on the globe. Barnes and Noble will also have 500 signed editions, so you might be able to snag one of those if you want to put in an order with them. SHATTERED will be available in the UK/Commonwealth on June 19—audio too.

If I can get another short story finished, that will appear after SHATTERED. Kind of counting on it, actually; it’ll be a necessary story that picks up right after the events of book 7 and lead us into the goodies of book 8. So maybe Octoberish or Novemberish for that. And if I don’t take this opportunity to say that I’ll also release the kraken sometime this year, my daughter will be very disappointed.

I shall travel to and say howdy in the following places:

Tucson, AZ in March for the Tucson Festival of Books; Chicago for C2E2 in April; New Orleans for RT Booklovers Convention in May; Phoenix Comicon in June; then a brief tour for SHATTERED that is still being worked out, but confirmed dates are Scottsdale on June 17 and Houston on June 18; my first visit to Canada (Toronto) is likely but not confirmed for June 24; San Diego Comic Con in July; and Dragon*Con in Atlanta in late August. Cannot even begin to work on IDC 8 until after that visit to Toronto; I have vital research to conduct there. :)

Also: I shall drink coffee in the mornings, play Firefly (both the board game and online when it’s out), pet my doggies, and move out of Arizona to a state with more trees for me to hug and a college where my brilliant wife can get her Ph.D. Maybe I’ll take some graduate lit courses for giggles and brain food.

Hope the year ahead for you is full of awesome books and many blessings!