What's Next?

Since the series finale to Origins came out I’ve had a lot, I mean a WHOLE lot, of fans ask me what’s next. I gave it a think, and here’s where it led me:

I figured it would take quite a while to piece together my next project, working with a blank slate again had me more than a little intimidated, but the ideas, plots, twists and grand story have actually come together amazingly fast for me over the last couple of months. Way quicker than the original Origins series did, that’s for sure.

I considered moving on from the Origins universe, but as numerous fans have pointed out, there is a lot of human history still to tell with Hastelloy and his crew working their agenda in the background. Besides, I have entirely too much fun with the characters to just walk away. With that in mind, I’m envisioning a new 5 book series titled Origins: The Crew Chronicles.

These will be entirely rooted in the past (i.e. no parallel story line in the present to bouncwe back to) starting with Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the new world. The second will feature the American Revolution, followed by a novel focused on Napoleon and Imperial Europe. The fourth book would revolve around the American Civil War (sorry my non-American friends, this is a must for me since I grew up visiting battle field sites as a kid on our way to and from family vacation destinations). And finally the fifth book will wrap things up amidst World War I.

The plan right now is for each book to get told from a separate crewmember’s point of view. Hopefully the prospect of getting under the hood to see what makes Tomal, Gallono, or the others tick excites everyone. In addition, I have a whole new set of bad guys in mind for the crew to tangle with that will not involve the Alpha (that story has already been told).

Now there is still the question of timing. When will the first book be out, and how often will the others follow? I might, MIGHT, get the first one out before Christmas. Much depends on the amount of time my training to run the Ironman Wisconsin triathlon in September takes up – I expect basically every waking second away from work so...a lot. If that is the case, then it would not be until probably March or April 2016. From there I figure every 6 months to a year per sequel.

Now if the series keeps climbing in popularity and I by some miracle am able to quit the day job to write full time, that timing would be much shorter. So if you want it faster, get the word out… ;)