Some news of good import: Thanks to a friendly Twitter follower (nobody ever tells the writer these things directly), I have discovered that Frail is now available for (US) pre-order at Amazon. The definite for-real release date: October 4, 2011. So soon! So far away! (ETA: The paperback edition of Dust drops on the same date. Faraway, so close, et cetera!) Eventually I plan to have the first chapter of Frail up for preview but for now, enjoy some jacket copy:

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Since a devastating, morphing plague swept through human and zombie populations, almost everyone who survived is an "ex" these days. Ex-human. Ex-zombie. Both creatures crave flesh, have the strength and speed of predators–and what seems like immortality. Pierced skin and broken bones mend, but their all-consuming hunger never dies…

Amy is the only purely human survivor from her town–a frail. Her mother is gone, but Amy won't believe that she's dead. Feral dogs stalk her, in reality and in her imagination. Amy thinks she's losing her mind. But when an ex-human named Lisa saves her life, a fragile friendship forms, a bond that will save Amy over and over again when she and Lisa are abducted into a makeshift community run by exes who use humans as their slaves.

For a girl used to going it alone, trusting anyone isn't easy, but Amy will have to. She has secrets from her past she can't afford to face by herself, and secrets in her future that will cost her just about everything–including her humanity…

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Since folks have asked, I do expect this one to be available on the same release date in Kindle/e-book format, just as Dust was, or at least I haven't been told otherwise. As the description suggests, Frail shifts over to the all-important human perspective–though what's "human" and what isn't, in this universe, is an open question–while also continuing the stories of several of Dust's characters, and in some cases ending them. To find out about all that, read the book–and to find out what happens to everyone, human and inhuman, in the very end you'll have to read the third and final book in the series. Of course, before you can do that I actually have to write it. This fact suggests I may possibly have ahead of me another busy year.

–JFT, 2/22/11