I’m finally done with my last two releases for 2013. BLACK Is The New Black and JET VI – Justice are in the can and at the editors and proofreaders.
Which has left me sitting around, staring blankly into space, wondering what the hell I’m going to do next. As an example of what I can get up to when not fully engaged, I have spent far too much time reading the reviews for this masterpiece: How To Avoid Huge Ships. Talk about hours of time suck. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I then got drawn into the masterful, 2009-2014 Outlook For Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China, starting with George Takei of Star Trek fame’s hysterical review for that tome. Which then took me to The Big Book Of Lesbian Horse Stories (which was a rip-off – there were no lesbian horses in any of the stories, and the book hardly could be called big – meh), which naturally then led to A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates, and finished up with Uranium Ore.
When I came to, two days had passed.
Actually, I know what I’m going to do next – a final draft of the MS I will be shopping to trad publishers next year, which is a blockbuster, I think. As in a real, live, holy S kind of novel.
But once I’m done with that draft, I have a dizzy week or two before I start on BLACK 4, which will plunge our beleaguered hero into a reality TV show. My plan is to take some time off and smell the flowers (code for binge drinking), reconnect with loved ones (strip clubs), and do good deeds (you really don’t want to know). That should take me to about the 15th, when I start BLACK 4, followed by another JET, while it’s fresh in my mind.
One kind of cool thing that’s been happening is the bundle I assembled – 9 Killer Thrillers – with a bunch of my friends, has hit #7 in the UK store, and typically sits in theĀ #60s-70s in the US store, which is shifting a lot of units between the two. Tens of thousands. Many tens. As in closing in on forty or so. Which makes it a resounding success, because the goal was to reach readers we otherwise wouldn’t have, and cross-pollinate. Which sounds dirty to me. But never mind.
Another cool thing is that, because I’m going to be shopping my new MS to trad publishers, I’ve taken a lot more time with it than my usual fare, partially because it’s longer (about 110K words) and partially because it was research and plotting intensive. But the end result was worth it, I think, and is probably my best work to date – assuming it doesn’t get laughed out of the building when presented. One never knows with trad publishers, but hey, nothing ventured, and all that… It’s a treasure hunt adventure novel that will be the first in an ongoing series that’s got a lot of heft to it. I’ve already got the rough idea for the next in the series, and all I’ll say is that it involves the Chinese, Myanmar, ancient treasure in a lost location, riddles, puzzles, conflicted good guys and unambiguously bad guys. Can’t wait to write it. But that’s next year’s task.
That’s about all I have. BLACK Is The New Black should be out before Xmas, and JET VI – Justice should hit about Christmas day, give or take. Maybe the 26. It’s all up to the editors now. Slackers. They seem to want to do stuff like eat and sleep rather than working on my important screeds. But it’s the holidays, so I’m filled with good cheer (we all know what that means) and nothing can sour my mood.
Except clowns, obviously. Bastards.
Those books are too funny. Maybe you still have too much time on your hands…?
Congrats on two more in the bag. Looks like I’ll be busy over the holidays!
Jet Justice. What a great title. Looking forward to reading it this Christmas. It’s fun to go on a journey with a woman who can kick butt and handle a gun. I’ve never seen a gun in real life and if I did I’d probably faint or accidentally shoot myself in the foot. Better for me to live vicariously through Jet.