This many things make a post

In the last week or two I've gotten quite a lot of email regarding my vampire books, Bloodshot and Hellbent - asking when the next one comes out. I've posted about this before, but it looks like it's time to post again, so here goes: The answer is - I don't know.

The Cheshire Red books were only a 2-book deal; and now that both books are out, the publisher is (quite reasonably) taking a "wait and see" approach to the situation. Markets are fickle. The industry is giving itself ulcers over the Borders bankruptcy. People are being careful.

If you love the books and want to see more of them - oh, say, one called Sawbones about a haunted 19th century baseball that brings catastrophically bad luck to even the best of planner-aheaders - then I can only recommend that you become quite vocal about your opinion.

Buy them for friends. Post reviews. Tell the publisher you dig them, and want more of them. And if we're all very lucky, perhaps they'll come asking after another couple of books about an OCD undead flapper and her ex-Navy SEAL drag queen sidekick.

Of course, this is true for all authors, and all books everywhere. If you love them, don't keep it to yourself. Spread it around, and help us writers keep on writing for you.

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Don't forget, you can pick up a number of steampunk ebooks for $2.99 via this great promotion through the end of the month. Alas, my most recent offering - Ganymede - isn't offered at that price; but the first book in the series - Boneshaker - is available for just a few hundred pennies.

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While I'm on the subject of steampunk, please allow me to point you in the direction of this Ganymede review, courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The reviewer in question started his entire steampunk reading experience with Ganymede, which he followed just fine (having not read the previous books), and seems to have enjoyed quite a lot. I am relieved and delighted! I always want people to enjoy my stories, and I always try hard to keep these books connected, but independent of one another. I'm therefore always glad to hear when someone, somewhere, thinks I succeeded.

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If you are idly curious about such things, you can find my short story "Wishbones" live and free for the reading over here at Tor.com. I wrote that one back in 2006, and it was originally part of the Stoker-nominated Aegri Somnia anthology through Apex.

("Wishbones" is about a Japanese monster that eats the bones of people who've starved to death; and it's set right outside Plains, Georgia. You folks with a fondness for Civil War history will no doubt grok immediately why I chose that setting.)

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One last cool thing that came across my desk today - Illos From An Abandoned Boneshaker Comics Adaptation Pitch by Ben Towle. I'm always tickled to see how other people imagine my world and my characters, and Ben has done a nifty job.

I particularly like his take on Briar Wilkes. In my head, she has longer, thicker hair, but I appreciate how he depicts her as petite and age-appropriate without looking fragile. She's a desperate, scrappy little thing, not a trained fighter.

Anyway - well played, sir.