I’m having a wonderful spring weekend writing and responding to reader comments. It’s so much fun to hear from people who are reading Smuggler’s Dilemma for the first time. I’ve always known there were people in the world who enjoy my style of science fiction and love to imagine what it would be like to live in the future.
Spoiler Alert – Level 1 alert, not many beans will be spilled.
I’ve received the question of what’s next a lot recently. Without spoiling too much, Smuggler’s Dilemma is the end of the Red Houzi Pirate arc that I started with Rookie Privateer. I’ll be honest, when I started RP I didn’t understand what a great time it would be to explore how Liam and crew would make their way through the solar system and ultimately defend it from this threat. But as all good things this arc had a logical conclusion and at the end of Smuggler’s Dilemma we reached it.
So does this mean we’re done with Liam, Tabby, Nick and Marny? Well this is only a level 1 spoiler alert so I can’t say much about Tabby. But as for the rest of them, heck no, we’re not done. It’s true that the solar system has calmed down a lot but image how Liam feels. He’s gone from saving the system to hauling equipment for the highest bidder. If you’re now wondering how long that will last, I’d say probably not much past this summer.
Seriously, what’s next?
If you’ve paid attention, you’ve already guessed that there’s probably a short-story or novella being readied for release. If you haven’t paid attention, just reread the last half of that previous sentence.
The novella, Cutpurse, is currently in the hands of our wonderful beta readers. It will be sold as Privateer Tales #6, but it could easily be sold a standalone novel. One fun part of this novella is that it is in an entirely new solar system, Tipperary. We meet some fun new characters and of course they cross paths with our current crew.
Cutpurse will be available for purchase on Amazon in April and I’ll make sure to have some announcements leading up to this.
That’s nice, but you didn’t tell me about Liam and Nick.
I’m currently working on the first book of the Buccaneers story arc. This particular arc will take place in the Tipperary star system. The entire crew is pulling up stakes in Sol and headed out to execute mining claims in the Descartes asteroid belt. Liam’s not super excited to be back in an asteroid belt, but for the sake of family and the chance to explore a new solar system, he’s willing to go along. I’m currently at 31% of my word count goal and hope to be done writing in June for a summer delivery.
Anything else shaking?
Yes. I’m starting a new series that I think I’ve talked a little about. Henry Biggston is a rookie bounty hunter, bail bondsman living in the future. This is a story I’ve been kicking around for a couple of years and I’m hoping that I’ll get it finished sometime this year.
I’m also working on a novella length story in the Guardians of Gaeland universe. I’ve slowed work on this particular series as it hasn’t received the same interest as Privateer Tales.
So stay tuned – there are a lot of exciting things to come in 2015!
