Coming up in 2014

I've been slow on the blogging front lately because I haven't had a whole lot to blog about and have been busy writing. And I deliberately avoided posting around April 1st because I didn't want to be accused of pranking. (Me?)

Anyway, here's the latest:

Prison of Despair (Island of Fog, Book 8) is written and I'm currently running through some edits which should be done in the next few days. Then it'll be off to my first beta reader to "test the water," and after that to a bunch of beta readers for a wider range of feedback. I'm confident this book will be published in July.

Castle of Spells (Island of Fog, Book 9) is next up, and I'll be starting right after my Book 8 edits are complete, so probably Monday onwards with a view to completing by the end of May. Then I'll work through the edits for another couple of weeks, and then ship it off to beta readers in June. This book will be published exactly one month after Book 8, which means August.

I had expected to publish the first of my Unearthly Tales books, Sleep Writer, by now. But after letting it stew for a bit, I decided to adjust a couple of scenes in the story. I'll send it out to beta readers later this month (April), and Brian Clopper, who is both an author and a fifth-grade teacher, has offered to give it a test read in his classroom. This kind of attention and feedback before the book is even published is invaluable! See, this is the first book in a new series, and it's essential that the story works. What if I end up with twenty books in this series? The first one MUST work. It has to pull the readers in and make them want to read the others. I want to make sure I get it right.

Brian and I now have now agreed to start on Unearthed (Fractured, Book 2) in July or August with the intention of publishing later in 2014. We're hankering for some Kyle and Logan action and can't wait to get stuck into the amazing underworld we're conjuring in our heads. I can't help wondering if there's enough material to split this sequel into two... but at the moment I'm expecting Unearthed to be a single, very intense book.

Anything else I start writing this year will be a bonus -- for instance the second Unearthly Tales book and also the first spinoff Island of Fog Tale (though I haven't decided on who it will be about).

Thanks, all, for your patience and readership! And by the way, if you haven't tried Fractured or Quincy's Curse yet, please give them a look. I'm not just about fog, you know! :-)

Fractured

FREE on Apple | Kobo | Issuu$0.99 on Kindle (US) | Nook£0.77 on Kindle (UK)

Quincy's Curse

FREE on Apple | Kobo$3.99 on Kindle (US) | Nook£2.52 on Kindle (UK)