Caina Amalas will return in GHOST DAGGER

Before I start revising SOUL OF SORCERY, I need a mental refresher (142,000 words in 48 days is a bit of cognitive effort, let me tell you), so first I’m going to write a short 20,000 word novella in THE GHOSTS setting. Called GHOST DAGGER, it will be set between GHOST IN THE FLAMES and GHOST IN THE BLOOD, and will come out a few weeks after SOUL OF SORCERY – late October, most likely.

Why do this? Four reasons.

First, I had a cool idea for a Caina story that wouldn’t work as either a novel or a short story, so I wanted to write it.

Second, like I said, I want to give SOUL OF SORCERY a chance to cool off before I start editing it, and a few days spent writing GHOST DAGGER would fit the bill nicely.

Third, I have several different series in progress (DEMONSOULED, THE GHOSTS, and THE THIRD SOUL) and I thought it might be a good idea to put out a novella in a different series after I finish a book, to tide people over until the next book in the series.

Fourth, I used to love writing novellas – when I was much younger, it was my favorite format. Eventually, I stopped, because in old-style publishing there wasn’t much of a market for novellas.

So this is a fun experiment. Meanwhile, I’m already 2,500 words into the rough draft of GHOST DAGGER, and it shouldn’t take too long too finish. Then it’s on to the edits of SOUL OF SORCERY!

-JM