Hey, everybody!

As you might guess, a mix of novel and short story drafts is again the watchword for this new 365-day stretch of writing, with room for shifts from one to the other depending on inspiration and energy. It’s gotten off to a packed start (hence the delay in updating you all this month): three projects nearly at the same time, and while effort has waxed and waned at times, I’m happy to report great progress on all of them!

First, my Alternate History short story “Vive L’Empereur!” (set in a world where Napoleon won a narrow victory at Waterloo in 1815, reestablishing the Bonaparte dynasty) has finally crossed the finish line, leaving just the usual final draft edits. Latest word from Sea Lion Press is that the “Alternate Monarchs” anthology which this story is intended for remains open; if everything aligns right, this collection may see a release before the year is out!

Official draft work has also started on my AH project A More Perfect Union (new title for “Divided Brothers”). Some basic details: Set in the aftermath of a Second American Civil War (triggered by a worse 9/11, a more overextended War on Terror, and a dictatorial Cheney gov’t refusing to accept defeat in 2008), a fluke event near Gettysburg creates a time rift to the same area as it was in the late 1850s…and eventually pushes the shaky postwar U.S. government to attempt to bring about what was once thought impossible: an earlier Union victory in the first Civil War, through supplying the North with WWI/WWII weaponry, thus averting the repression, hatred and failed/crushed reforms of our post-ACW history. I’ve been outlining and tinkering off and on with this draft for a long while; don’t expect to finish more than a chapter or two in the time set aside, but am thrilled to see it finally on the screen!

The third area of work for January is more tinkering and outlining for what will be an on-off YA-esque project stretched over the entire year, and maybe beyond: “Canine Kingdoms” (working title). The basic premise grew out of a random, funny musing some time ago: observing my family’s dog Maddie on “her” throne/chair by a window, it seemed to me like she was “watching over her estate,” or her “queendom”. This led to wondering: “What if all dogs really were kings and queens of their houses/properties, with humans as servants/serfs of varying degrees of loyalty?” (prove me wrong! LOL), and “What if all their interactions with each other were really along the lines of medieval or ‘Great Game’ diplomacy and jockeying for power?” A joke at the time, it’s since grown to a list of (all canine as of right now) characters, a rough hand-drawn map of the various “kingdoms” in a particular neighborhood, and some early ideas about the “society” and “alliances/enmities” amongst the “rulers.” No idea yet as to when I’ll start setting down actual scenes, and writing in YA style may prove a steeper learning curve than anticipated; still, it’ll be a hoot even to try.

There’s plenty more on the docket for the rest of the year. March and April will see a return to the universe of my “Divided Worlds” novella; by the end of the latter month, I hope to have at least two short stories set within this (“The Ussuri Incident” and “One Giant Leap”) finished and on track for (self-)publication. Then it’s on to starting work for the first of my “John Lawrence” Civil War Historical Fiction short drafts; if the Muse is kind, I’ll have this within shouting distance of finished by the end of June. A restart of work on my AH draft A House United is on tap for my first attempt at “Camp NaNo” in July; no telling where it’ll pause when that challenge is done, but hoping to set down a major chunk of the story any which way. For August and September, it’s back to the Civil War short drafts once intended for an anthology; “Hill Country Commune” is my likeliest bet for the next finishable/publishable story, at this point. More work on my murder mystery “School of Whacks”, or on A House United, will occupy October; then it’ll be back to writing for my “Pangaea” AH/fantasy series, all the way to New Year’s Eve. If there’s anyone out there who can’t wait for any of these to reach the shelves, have a look at or pass along those already there–like my very first novel Red Delta, back on sale thru Kindle at the link below, starting on 2/1!

Well, the many drafts are calling again, so I’ll sign off here! See you in February!