As a first-time novelist, you are asked a lot about (and worry about) 'what is your next one about'? Even before the first one is out! Talk about pressure! So, I'm writing THREE 'next ones'. Which is typical me. The first, which I titled 'Deep River', is in the bag, first draft done.

It starts like this:

ENROLMENT

This is a tale of three Henrys. One was young, adventurous and trusting. Another was an alcoholic, opioid abusing, empty hulk saved from self-destruction against his own wishes. The third, is me.

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I'm also working on an alternative version of that one. A totally different take on the same theme, a little more suspense, than dark humour. It's about 2/3 done. Let's call it 'Deep River 2' even thought it's almost completely different - it starts like this:

SOL VISTA

I like it quiet. I like the soft, dusty stillness of people ageing. I like walking down the frangipani bedecked pathways, past the apartment doors with just a television burbling away or someone singing nursery rhymes softly to themselves. It used to be peaceful around here, but lately there’s been way too much yelling and screaming.

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The third novel, I just started in Feb, but it's also 2/3 done because it's turning out to be such fun to write, that it's almost writing itself. I'm calling it 'Goat Island' and it starts like this:

1994, SUMMER

Sometimes you choose a place, and sometimes a place chooses you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those hippie earth-mother Gaiea freaks. But you have to admit there’s a certain power about the land we live on. Geothermal, tectonic, gravitational. It won’t be ignored, if it decides to assert itself.

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All three will be finished soon (by summer I hope). I wonder if any of them will make it into the big wide world?