First draft of Chamber of Ghosts is finished

I had always aimed to get the first draft of Chamber of Ghosts finished before Christmas, and I just about did it. It's not finished finished; I need to wind down with a few more pages, perhaps even write an epilogue, but the final important scenes are in place.

The next step is to walk away. I'm putting this aside for a month while I work on something completely different. Then I'll come back and start the editing process. Currently the novel is over 105,000 words, which is longer than it needs to be. I expect to cut 5,000-10,000 words during the editing.

This book is definitely on track for release in April 2013. After that, you can expect a number of other releases throughout the year, including one or two standalone novels and several Island of Fog short stories.

While Chamber of Ghosts wraps up the primary story of Hal and his friends, it also introduces a new important character named Chase and paves the way for the prequel novel. Actually, today I decided that the prequel novel might have to be a trilogy instead! It's not my fault, honest. The plot of the first prequel novel is already firmly fixed in my head, but then I want to know what happens right after that story is told... and that's where Books 2 and 3 come in. So although the prequel is initially about Miss Simone and her classmates first transforming at eight years old, the story moves on and follows Chase into territory that even Miss Simone knows nothing about to this day.

Those of you who have read the series so far may have picked up on a small detail regarding Miss Simone's class. At the end of Chapter 11 of Labyrinth of Fire, Charlie Duggan mentions that there were twelve of them in that class. In later books, Miss Simone insists there were actually ten of them, not twelve. Both are correct, but in Miss Simone's view, only ten made it through the shapeshifter program and so only ten are worth mentioning. But what happened to those other two? We'll find out in the prequel trilogy.

Starting in January, I'll be embarking on a collaboration novel with fellow author Brian Clopper. This novel, entitled Fractured, is a serious sci-fi and fantasy mash-up. And it will be free for all. So stay tuned!