So, if you've read any of my books, chances are it was American Vampires. All three of you. Of the things I've done, it's the most popular, so I figured I'd take a little time to talk about it here, and we'll have a little chat on where it's been and--most importantly--where it's going.

For those of you who don't know, you can hear me say pretty much the same thing in the introduction post, but I'll reiterate here: in 2008, I published the first novella I ever completed, American Vampires. It was very much a beginner's work, and rough upon the initial release. It's a better book now, but still certainly the work of a teenager, although I can't help but look back on it with fondness and I know it has its appreciative fans. As my writing developed and I got better at it, I couldn't stop thinking about those characters. Couldn't stop thinking about what happened after that ending.

And so The New World: American Vampires II and Sunrise: American Vampires III came to be. I'm still very proud of American Vampires as a trilogy. As one solid work in three volumes, I think it holds together pretty well. The third book was published in 2009, and I felt changed once I finished writing it. The characters had written themselves to that ending. The story had come full circle. I had spent the last couple years with them, and even though they were fictional, it felt pretty weird to think about moving on without them.

Although I did, for a time. But after a year or so of new writing, new projects, I kept thinking back on it. Couldn't stop thinking about those characters. Couldn't stop thinking about what happened after that ending.

Now, in my humble opinion a trilogy is a trilogy and it's a commitment that means something to both a writer and a reader. It would also look damn foolish to go back on. So I am not taking this time to announce American Vampires 4.

But I am saying (although many people have gathered it just from hearing me talk) that I am not done with that world. It's an obvious point that I've grown up a lot since I wrote American Vampires. It was the first thing I had ever written. I was seventeen. I have matured a great deal (as a writer and otherwise) and I'd like to think that some of those characters (immortal as some may be) have matured with me. So no American Vampires 4.

But here's what's in the cards:

Full disclosure, when I was working on Sunrise, the third book, I knew that there would be one particular character who's story would not be able to come to a close within the pages of the final chapter, and so I knew he would one day carry on his adventures in his own book. That character was a vampire hunter named Roland Kane. A hardened, cynical man and one of the few prominent human characters in the series. Kane had a lot of untold backstory, and more than that, at the end of the trilogy he still had a lot of lessons to learn. He had discovered that (maybe) not every vampire was a monster, and this went against his entire world viewpoint. This, I thought, was the perfect jumping off point for his own story.

The first draft of Kane was completed in February of 2011. After a couple more drafts, it is nearly complete and the plan is for it to be out next year. I think I owe it to the people who have read the series since its beginning and any new readers who have come in along the way. Of course, I also think the novel stands fine on its own if you've never read the trilogy, because the last thing I'd want is to put out a book that people found alienating. So I can safely say that Kane is on its way. It took some time, though, because I wanted to make sure it was exactly the book it had to be to move this mythology forward.

In the meantime, there's a smaller but just as delicious treat on the way much sooner. As I've already mentioned, I've got an anthology of vampire stories on the way in just a short amount of time. So if anyone actually has missed that universe or those characters, here's a nice sampler to get you hungry again. Some of the stories in this collection (titled Over the Red Rainbow) are explicitly set in the world of American Vampires and some are not. I wanted to put together an entirely vampire-themed collection, but I didn't want to limit myself in any way about dealing with the idea of vampirism, so that I could deliver an anthology that--while wrapped together under a single theme--contains a lot of diversity. And I believe I've done just that.

Last, but not least, there's the future that's still yet to be written. After Kane is released next year there will still be more vampire stories to come. Although I can't say when for sure, I do have a plan (however vague.) And that plan will be big. While it was not my intention when I wrote Kane, when all is said and done it's going to serve nicely as a bridge book between the trilogy and what comes after.

That will be a book titled Snowfall, which will be the first entry in a brand-new vampire series. That's right. It won't be American Vampires, but it will be vampires, and many of them will be American. The plan right now (which hereby means it will change two or three times) is for a series of seven books centered on a character named Annabelle Kane. If you'd like to learn more about her, I'd suggest picking up Kane when it comes out.

So if you haven't read American Vampires, go ahead and get started now. The whole trilogy is still available in print at wordclay.com. The ebook is available in all formats at smashwords.com and will shortly be available in the iBookstore and on kindle and Nook. It's a short book, but if you're interested, I'd get reading because there is a whole lot more on the way.

As always, thanks to anyone who actually has read any of them. Your support means everything to me. If anyone has any questions about the series, if you're excited, or if you can't wait to tell me how much vampires blow and I should be writing about zombies, go ahead and leave a comment.

And yes, I apologize for the post's title. It's bad and I should feel bad.