In case you missed it, A Warm Place 5 is now out!
It’s gotten a pretty good reception, so that’s been really nice.
At present, I am working on A Warm Place 6 and I intend to get it, and the second collection, out before the end of June.
I didn’t have too much else to say, May was better than April, but still far from good. I’m hoping June will just be recovery. But then I decided since we’re about halfway through the year, maybe I should give an update, because clearly some of the plans laid out in January have changed. Like, a lot.
So I figured I’d give you a mid-year update and some of my thoughts on things.
Paranormal is still closed out, no change there. I’ll probably stop mentioning it after this.
With my Fantasy Universe, obviously I canceled the serial fiction. I’m pretty sure at this point Demoness is going to be the final series in that universe, but it’s still got a ways to go. Unfortunately, because it’s not a good seller, I can’t have it be the thing I give my primary attention to. I know I said I’d try to get a new Demoness novel out this year, but we’re this far into the year and I haven’t even touched Demoness once, and I have so many other things to do, so…honestly the chances seem low that I’ll get to it in 2021, or even 2022. I’ve got a lot of ideas for future novels, but a lot of the time I do wonder if maybe it’s a stupid idea to, I guess you could say ‘waste’, these cool ideas on a series that most people aren’t ever going to read, and instead save them for something much bigger and better. I guess we’ll see. An idea I do keep coming back to is perhaps doing one more series after or alongside Demoness, one that introduces a new protagonist, but has a much stronger storyline and utilizes the characters and world I’ve already created.
With my Science Fiction universe, I’ve got two more series I want to write. Much like Demoness, Like A Fine Wine did not do well. And unlike Demoness, I had a lot of trouble writing it, which was why I ultimately ended it at Part 4. Consequently, the follow-up series I have planned may be delayed for awhile. The other series, the one that has more emphasis on tragedy and comfort, I actually did some writing for it last month in a fit of creative spontaneity. I have a cover ready to go and a full layout for the whole first novel, as well as strong ideas for the following two novels, so I might actually get this one written. I don’t expect it to do good honestly, and it’s much more slow paced than A Warm Place or Haven. There’s no action, it’s closer to my older ideas, with a group of people just trying to find happiness and build a simple life together after each suffering a personal tragedy. I might get the first novel out before the end of the year, but we’ll see. Even if I do, I don’t intend to make this a main series. I won’t be pressing on relentlessly trying to get it done, I’ll definitely be taking my time with it. After these two series, there’s nothing else.
Plans have changed for the Post-Apocalyptic Universe. I know I said that I had two series left, but after some serious consideration, I realized that the core concept for the next series would make WAY more sense as its own series and universe. Consequently, it will now be the launch series for my new pen name. I feel really good about it. All that leaves is one final series that will serve as a nice capstone. It takes place an appreciable amount of time after the end of Haven, features a brand new and unique protagonist, and will be extremely action and plot heavy. It will be a fundamentally different type of narrative than I’ve ever written before, something far more in line with most other stories nowadays. More of a ‘we’re going to save the world’ type series. I have a lot of cool ideas and I’ve already begun planning it. I think I might actually make it my next big thing after A Warm Place.
Speaking of which…
Plans for A Warm Place have changed a LOT since the beginning. And honestly, while I have a much more solid vision for the series as a whole, it’s still in a state of flux. The thing that’s making me reconsider so much is just how fucking good it’s doing. A Warm Place puts EVERYTHING else to shame in terms of the reception its getting, even Haven. In short: I’d be fucking stupid not to write a lot more A Warm Place novels. Even now, it’s not like I plan to just milk the fuck out of it and stretch it out needlessly for the sake of sales. But I can’t necessarily just stop at the first convenient stopping point any longer. If I have more ideas, it’d be really smart of me to keep going, and I’ve got ideas for at least 12 novels right now, maybe even more. I obviously don’t want to say too much about the future of the series, but I can say that it’s going to get more action-oriented. I feel like I can only write about Chris and the girls wandering around, fucking, surviving, and scavenging for supplies for so long. I mean, that will keep happening, but I am aware that I’ll need more of a plot. And I have one! And another one for after that, and one more after that.
The current plan is to keep writing A Warm Place as fast as I can, while simultaneously beginning work on the new Post-Apocalyptic Series in the background. Ultimately, I’ll launch it and try to get people to start reading it while also beginning to wind down A Warm Place novels, and then the transition between the two series will hopefully not be too much of a financial burden on me sales-wise.
The only other thing I want to talk about is the wildcard. There’s always a wildcard with me, because I have a lot of ideas and poor self control. I REALLY want to write a goddamned caveman primeval harem story, and while I have one planned for my new pen name, it’s obvious to me that I won’t get around to it for a year, maybe two, possibly even three. So I’m seriously considering writing a more basic, low-stakes series set in that same universe.
Would you read that? I don’t want to talk too much about it, but I don’t like blindsiding people so I’ll say it’s not like a straight-up 15,000 BCE caveman style harem because I don’t think I’m skilled enough to pull that off. More imagine caveman level society in a world with a few different races and some basic magic. Because I honestly really just want to write some cool village-building, resource-gathering, survival-harem caveman series for fun.
Let me know what you think. For now, onwards with A Warm Place.