What I’m Working On Now

A lot of you have posted comments, tweets, and sent me emails over the last few months since I posted my What Should I Write Next post. I figured that it’s past time to follow up and let you know what I’ve been working on and why.

Most of the folks who responded to that post wanted me to work on next, with many afraid that I wasn’t going to finish off the First Empress saga at all. That was a great affirmation of interest by fans of the series, and it was much appreciated. If you fall into that camp, you may rest assured that I have every intention of finishing the First Empress story (although it may actually take more than a third book to do it), so we can lay that fear to rest right off the bat.

However, after a great deal of thought, I finally decided to temporarily set that project aside and work on something different that wasn’t set in the In Her Name universe. The main reason, despite my underlying concerns on the finance/business angle, was that I came to the firm conclusion that I just needed a break from what I’d been doing. You have to keep in mind that, aside from the novella The Journal Of Avery Moore, the only stories I’ve written in the last six years have been the In Her Name and Harvest books, and my muse needed a bit of a vacation.

So, Mistress Of The Ages is now firmly placed in my queue behind my current project. I suspect that may upset some folks who’ve been waiting, patiently or otherwise, for the next book in the series. But this really will work out for the best in the long run, because when I sit down to write the next part of Keel-Tath’s tale, my mind and muse will be ready and it will be a far better story than it might have been otherwise. There’s nothing worse (at least when it comes to writing books) than trying to force out words you don’t feel.

Of course, now you probably want to know what I’m working on. I can tell you that, something akin to the Harvest books, it’s a blend of science fiction and horror, is set in Nazi Germany during World War Two, has some very nasty bad guys, a portal that is literally a gate to Hell, and a hero and heroine fighting against impossible odds to save the world. The working title is The Black Gate, and I hope to have it out in not too terribly long. I hope, of course, that you’ll enjoy it!

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