What’s next? The inevitable question! Since wrapping up the Crimson Empire trilogy I’ve been hard at work on a number of very different projects. While I’m keeping details about my next novel(s) tightly under wraps for now, I’m happy to report that I’ve recently completed sundry shorter works that are either forthcoming or already available:

  • “Beasts of the Burnished Chain” is a Crimson Empire novella that appears in Issue 14 of Grimdark Magazine. Fans of a certain wildborn warnun will be pleased to learn it’s a prequel of-sorts to A Crown for Cold Silver, but for those who haven’t read any of my Alex Marshall books yet it should serve as a fine stand alone introduction to the series. Here be an excerpt, as well as the means of procuring the full issue of GdM #14.
  • And speaking of Chainite prequels, my story “The Divine Death of Jirella Morningstar” appeared last year in the r/Fantasy Stabby Award-winning anthology Evil is a Matter of Perspective. I’m in great company thanks to editors Adrian Collins and Mike Myers. Again, no previous experience with the Crimson Empire is necessary to appreciate the tale (though it certainly doesn’t hurt).
  • “Zach Galligan is Coming to Save Us” is…a thing I wrote in response to the over-the-top reality we find ourselves occupying. What kind of a thing? You tell me, reader, you tell me. Whatever you wanna call it, it’s one of the last pieces to ever run on the now-defunct-but-eternally-badass website Pornokitsch.
  • “Stray Frog” is a hardboiled bowl of bio-mechanical soup that will appear in Selena Chambers’ and Jason Heller’s forthcoming anthology Mechanical Animals.
  • “Above the Light” is the piece I’m completing for a currently top secret anthology that will be released next year. The likewise-classified editor described an earlier draft as “a weird dancing line between Dunsanian and Lovecraftian,” which is definitely my kind of liminality.

And that’s it for now in terms of what I’m willing to talk about, because it turns out I am incredibly superstitious and don’t like even hinting at works in progress until there’s a draft I’m happy with and a contract in hand. That said, I do hope to have some major announcements before the end of the year, as the bigger projects I’m developing sloooooowly coalesce. Thanks for your patience, and trust that it will be worth the wait!

Also: over the last few months I’ve received some really great fan letters and thoughtful reviews, and seen some incredible Crimson Empire fan art. It gives me all the warm and fuzzies-there’s no better sensation than discovering your work has resonated so powerfully with a stranger that they’ve been moved to contact you, tell the world in a write-up, and/or create their own art. I have the best readership. Thank you!