Aftermath Completed

I’m just back from an amazing long weekend in Southern California, visiting with friends while taking part in what will be the last Disneyland Half Marathon weekend for a bit; with all of the upcoming park construction, runDisney is pausing events in Anaheim, though they will still take place out in Orlando. As much as I love Walt Disney World, it’s hard not to be partial to the coziness of Disneyland — especially when the 5K stages the corrals along Main Street, U.S.A. Somewhat foolishly, when I registered for the race I thought I’d be over my desire to run a half marathon and only signed up for the 5K and 10K events. Once I arrived on site, though, I quickly realized I’d made a mistake, especially given how wonderful the weather turned out to be. Now I’m going to have to wait it out, or break down and drag my wife back to Florida again in order to experience the unique magic that is a Disney running event.

Visiting the park always makes me think of my characters, which was especially appropriate given how I managed to finish Aftermath just a few days before we departed. Overall, I’m happy with the story and how well it progressed Sean Colbeth as a character, though it wound up a bit shorter than I’d expected. Most of my novels (save for the first two) average around 90,000 words, which is a comfortable read for a mystery; that also generally gives me the freedom to explore several side plot lines in addition to the main mystery. This novel wound up being laser-focused on the mystery and only a single side story — that being Sean dealing with the (ahem) aftermath of the events depicted in Belie. I found that content compelling, and in re-reading the novel during my first editing run, didn’t feel like it needed any adjustment. As promised, we do land on the doorstep of Vasily’s wedding, but the actual event will take place in the next novel of that series (which seems incredibly appropriate).

And yet, this little voice in the back of my head kept mumbling I might not have tied up quite as many loose ends as I thought I had. That is one voice I always listen to, for as a mystery writer, the last thing you want to do is leave something hanging or solve the case without having actually provided enough evidence to do so; thus concerned, I tucked back into the narrative one more time, and realized I had the absolute best coda for the story hiding in the wings. While I’d not planned on cracking open the novel for a new addition, it has to be done, I think, in order to truly allow everything to move forward in my little universe. I expect I’ll have it completed in a few days, and then I can turn my attention toward expanding the world of Oliver and Vasquez with Midnight, which I still plan on getting released by the end of the year. Given how dark the real world seems to be at the moment, I think we could all use a little heroic fantasy; dusting off Ocelot and letting him take out a few bad apples seems like the least I can do to brighten our perspective, even if it’s just for a little while.

In case you missed it, the next Vasily Korsokovach novel, Silenced, became available for Kindle preorder on Amazon; I expect hardcover and paperback editions will also appear in the next few weeks. I’ve spent a bit of time re-reading it recently and have to admit it’s becoming one of my favorite stories. Reserve your copy now so you can have it when it drops!