The admin work is steadily chugging along. The LLC is formed and most of the relevant contractors are hired. I have series editors, copyeditors, designers, and artists working on all four series, with books in various stages of production. The print and distribution network is slowly falling into place, as well. We have accounts set up and configured, with distributors and bookstores ready to ship and shelve our books. Amazon is the one notable exception, but I’m confident we’ll iron out the details in time to keep the November 11 release of Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies. Unfortunately, Amazon pairs its deliver-it-yesterday logistics operation with the white-glove customer service of an Indonesian MLM. I’ve talked to a few other small and indie presses who share my pain, and they provided some very helpful pointers for dealing with the Minions of Bezos.
Ardent Wings isn’t quite ready for preorder, anyway. I just got the galley proofs back from the copyeditor last week, and I’m still waiting on final cover art, but we’re inching toward the finish line with that one.
Speaking of… We’ll do a full cover reveal once the art is finalized, but I wanted to give you all a sneak peek. Here is the work-in-progress cover for Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies:
For anyone interested in process, the character is still in pencil because the artist and I went back and forth on a few different poses. This is the one we settled on. I’ve seen an early draft of the back cover as well, and it looks just as good.
Progress report
I put down the pen for a few months to get the business up and running, but at the beginning of June I found time to jump back into The Mark of Cain, Book 3 in the Tales of Ciel. I’m pleased to report that on July 12, 2025, I wrote the two best words in the English language: The End. The first draft of The Mark of Cain is in the can. This book concludes the trilogy and the first arc in the bigger saga.
I still have a lot of work to do. Second drafts are the hardest part for me. Every writer works differently, but for me, the second hack is when a series of events becomes a story. This draft came in about 30% longer than I was hoping at 150,000 words. Concluding novels in a trilogy are tough. We’ve got arcs to resolve, foreshadowing to deliver on, side characters to check in with, thematic resonance to perfect. It’s a lot of ground to cover. I’ll likely trim some of the fat in revision, but I wouldn’t expect this one to land too far south of 140k words.
If I like where the second draft lands, the manuscript then heads to the series editor for a developmental read. I’ll incorporate that feedback into a third “polish” draft, then send that off for a copyedit and a final proof. That, friends, is how a manuscript becomes a galley.
I prefer to let a first draft sit for about a month before returning to it, and that’s the plan with this one. While the dust settles, I’ll devote my limited writing time to the second book in the Compact Cycle, The Kakistocracy of Flagging Need.
Here’s where works-in-progress stand to-date:
Book 1: Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies – proofed and awaiting final art
Book 2: Ophiuchus Flinched – with the copyeditor
Book 3: The Mark of Cain – first draft finished
Book 1: The Politics of Fear – polish draft about 25% finished, art commissioned
Book 2: The Kakistocracy of Flagging Need – first draft about 5% finished (So little. Moses wept…)
Book 1: Seven Days of Mercy for the Apostatic Priest – with the copyeditor, art commissioned
Book 2: What Lies Between – first draft about 10% finished
Book 1: The Girl Who Woke the Moon – polish draft 0% finished
The original release plan slots The Politics of Fear for release following Ardent Wings, but I may swap Seven Days of Mercy into that position depending on how production progresses.