This month’s progress report, in an unprecedented and likely never to be repeated circumstance, is actually early, for the very good reason that I am heading off on tour in but a few short days in support of the mass market paperback releases of the Devils, which comes out in the US on April 28th and the UK on May 28th (you can get it early at the tour events). My beautiful copies with art by Will Staehle are already in my hands…

TO THE MATTER the last couple of months have mostly seen me revising and improving the sequel to The Devils, which will be coming out next May (2027). I’ve done my own character pass, working on the voices and central arcs, and am just now getting the line edit back from my wonderful editors (this is the detailed edit where the manuscript is actually marked up – once upon a time with pencil on paper but in this era of wonders using Microsoft Word’s track changes feature – I actually rather wish it was still done in pencil as I kinda prefer the physicality of it, but it is tough to take a paper manuscript on tour with you). I’ve been steadily trimming it and it’s now running about 192,000 words, which is maybe 20k shorter than The Devils, and I’m actually starting to get quite pleased with it, which is always a delightful relief following the unspeakable horrors of writing a first draft.

I’ve got a busy couple of months coming up. Touring in the US first week of May, the UK second week of May, then I’ve got the British Book Awards on the 11th, a London event with Brandon Sanderson on the 21st, and a Bath event with Shannon Chakraborty on the 2nd June. I’ll also be doing the line edit on the sequel to The Devils and my own final pass through the details before I hand it off to the copy editor. There’s also art approval and signing going on for a couple of special editions of The Devils (one very special, of which more in due course), and as with the last couple of seasons, I’m writing some scripts for Season 5 of Love, Death and Robots (based on other people’s stories, incidentally, not mine).

I should also say that May 4th brings a significant milestone, as it’s the 20th anniversary of the publication of that seminal pillar of gritty epic fantasy, The Blade Itself, still every bit as dangerous, subversive and exciting as it was when it was released on 4th May 2006. I’ll likely do a post about that if I get the chance.

20 years in the business. And still a fresh new voice…

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