My time this week was consumed by admin in preparation for the release of Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies. That said, it seems as good a time for any for a proper accounting of where all future projects stand.
Cooler weather has finally come to Iowa. The apples on my trees are turning red, and the Des Moines renaissance faire is in full swing. The Cyclones are 2-0, the Giants at least look like they’re going to be more entertaining this year, and my son just got his first pair of hockey skates. I’ve always associated the fall with new beginnings, as much as that seems like an inversion of the natural order. I like the fall. I like Halloween and football and not sweating. Historically speaking, the fall has also been a good time for writing. The calendar year yields two big blocks of creative time for me. I usually accomplish the most between New Year’s Day and Memorial Day, but the block of time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving is a close second. Here’s what’s on the docket:
Out of my hands
Ciel Book 1: Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies is already cast in stone. I’m in full marketing mode on this one, so once the ARCs have been distributed and the professional reviews are locked in, there won’t be much for me to do except wait for the public verdict.
Ciel Book 2: Ophiuchus Flinched is proofread and awaiting final art. I expect to get this one off to the printer sometime this fall. I also plan to give the galley one final, neurotic proofread, not because I don’t trust my proofreader, but because I am insane. The rule of thumb in publishing is that one typo per 100 galley pages is expected and acceptable. That may fly for traditional publishers, but sloppiness is the main industry critique of indie writers. Our books need to be perfect. No one’s going to hold it against George R.R. Martin or Bantam Spectra if a character name is misspelled in the First Edition of The Winds of Winter, but the Tales of Ciel won’t get the same generosity of spirit. The last thing I need is a pedantic reviewer pointing to a comma splice error as evidence that I’m not ready for primetime.
The Divine Heretic Book 1: Seven Days of Mercy for the Apostatic Priest is also back from the proofreader and awaiting final art. This one should be off to the printer shortly and available for preorder hot on the heels of Ardent Wings. The proofreader found very little to quibble over in the galley, so I’m more confident that this one is so fresh and so clean.
Needs immediate attention
The Divine Heretic Book 2: What Lies Between remains at the top of my to-do list. I’m grinding my way through the first draft, which currently sits at about 30% completion. This project will account for all the new prose I can produce over the next few weeks and months. I’m still hoping for a Summer or Fall 2026 release date.
The Compact Cycle Book 1: The Politics of Fear may be finished in draft form, but the editorial feedback was substantial and most of it was on target. Getting a polish draft together on this one is going to require at least as much creative energy as a first draft. Once I reach a natural stopping point on What Lies Between, I’ll likely turn my focus here. My goal is to have the polish draft with a copyeditor before Thanksgiving.
Tales of Ciel Book 3: The Mark of Cain’s first draft has been sitting in my desk drawer for about a month now. After leaving it to settle, I’m about ready to revisit the manuscript. I mentioned in a previous newsletter that the first draft came in a bit longer than I was hoping (150,000 words). I’ll be as ruthless as possible in revision, but I don’t expect to cut more than about 5-10,000 words. Fortunately, this draft is in pretty good condition and shouldn’t need major revisions, but we’ll see what the developmental editor has to say. It’s a straight continuation of the story begun in Ardent Wings and Ophiuchus Flinched, so the writing flowed pretty smoothly. I don’t expect any issues getting this ready for edit before Thanksgiving.
In the back of my mind
The Compact Cycle Book 2: The Kakistocracy of Flagging Need is about 10% written. I don’t want to let too much time elapse between the release of Book 1 and Book 2, so I will need to frontburner this as soon as the pressing projects above are in the can. The Compact Cycle is a sprawling space opera with multiple intersecting plots and dozens of points of view. It’s by far the most challenging project to draft. At a minimum, it will take me six months of concerted writing time to get a first draft down, and that first draft is likely to need some TLC. It is the second novel in a trilogy, so I’m hopeful the writing won’t be quite as arduous as it was on The Politics of Fear.
The first book isn’t even out yet, but I’m already thinking ahead to the second trilogy in the Tales of Ciel. I’ve got a solid outline of the meta-arc running through Books 4, 5, and 6 and a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of Book 4: Cut Him into Stars, but it’s still early days here. My blue-sky projection is that Book 4 will be ready for release in Q4 2026, but this may very well slip to Q1 2027. Pending sales of the first trilogy, I’m planning a collected and illustrated hardcover edition of Books 1-3 with a few extras for loyal customers. That release will help bridge the publishing gap between Books 3 and 4.
Which brings us to Shattered. I haven’t written much about this series. It’s the farthest out from publication, but not because I lack confidence in the story. Actually, quite the opposite. This is the series that almost was. The manuscript that landed me my first literary agent and got the closest to traditional publication. Book 1: The Girl Who Woke the Moon already exists in more-or-less publishable form. I’ll run it through one more round of copyediting, but this one already has the benefit of countless workshop hours and the dedicated attention of two world-class authors, a professor of philosophy, and a professor of literature specializing in science fiction. I’ll have much more to say on this project next year, including a full accounting of its journey in and out of the trad publishing system. I note it here only to say that I do plan to release the series through High Trestle Press beginning Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, but before I do that, I’d like to have my teeth in Book 2.