May Flowers

April sure went by in a flash, and the weather was the usual mixed bag. We even had snow flurries yesterday, though the sun is shining brightly this morning. Still, the weather will remain rather cool, with temperatures below average, for a while longer. But that’s par for the course. As they say around here, you don’t plant your garden until after Victoria Day, which this year falls on the fourth Monday in May. Mind you, we’re already getting the outdoor living space ready, even if it’s too cold to sit outside and relax. My gas grill and charcoal smoker are ready for action.

I’ve passed the one-third mark on the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, but progress is coming in fits and starts since I’m world-building again to create the post-war Commonwealth and Fleet. And said world-building, of course, needs to account for things mentioned in Decker’s War when discussing that time in history. But it’s also interesting to create the foundations for the bridge between Dunmoore’s era and that of Decker, Morrow, and Ghost Squadron. I’m aiming for a summer publication date, most likely in July, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, fellow humans. Peace.

April Showers

So far, spring has been pretty good around here. The last few days were more like late May or early June. Yesterday, our air conditioning even came on for the first time, but we’ll be reverting to the mean by the end of the week, or so the meteorologists say. However, their seven day forecasts keep changing wildly. Yesterday, we faced a week of low to mid teen temperatures (in Celsius) with almost constant rain, something we need at this time of the year to wash away the winter’s dust and grime. This morning, the forecast gives us nothing but sunshine and high teen temperatures. I’m sure by tomorrow, the next seven days will look different once again. Sometimes, weather forecasting seems more like voodoo than science.

The latest in the Ashes of Empire saga is garnering good reviews and even queries as to when the next one is coming out (early 2022, in case you’re wondering). If you enjoyed the first three books in the series, I’m pretty sure you’ll be entertained by Imperial Echoes as well, so if you haven’t picked up a copy, what are you waiting for?

Work on a seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure is moving along, but at a relatively slow pace, which means I’m still debating certain story line items with myself. It happens almost every time when my initial ideas don’t pan out the way I expected, so no worries. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it should still come out this summer.

And now, I’m off to enjoy a leisurely April Sunday, complete with a brisk hike around the neighborhood later on so we can enjoy the warmth, sunshine, and some good cardio exercise.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

Another Step Forward

My editor started work on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes yesterday, which means, barring any unforeseen issues, it should come out later this month, perhaps in synchrony with an eagerly awaited spring. Mind you, this winter hasn’t been exceptionally cold and we didn’t get as much snow as some years, for which most of us are grateful. Temperatures today and tomorrow will remain well below zero, but judging by the weather forecast, we’ll see the annual melt start on Monday. At this rate, the first day of spring might even be green rather than white. In any case, keep your eyes on this space and on the other internet places I frequent for updates on Imperial Echoes.

While my editor’s doing her thing, I’ll take a little break, enjoy my hobbies and let the next book take shape in my mind. At this point, it looks like it’ll be a seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure. If so, we can expect it to come out sometime in mid or late summer – again, barring any unforeseen events.

In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, fellow humans. Peace.

Happy Winter

I can’t believe January is already gone. It seems that time has both dragged and flown at light speed in the last twelve months. Come March, it’ll be a year since I set up the basement gym so I could keep on exercising after the city shut down the recreation centres where I’ve done my cardio and weights since retiring to become a full-time writer. Strange to say, I miss being around people when I do my sessions. The TV just isn’t an adequate replacement for being around other fitness-minded retirees. Besides, it suffers from the 999 channels and nothing watchable syndrome. I do enjoy watching cooking shows on the Food Network, but there’s not much of interest until later in the day.

With the onset of February, winter has truly settled in around here, even if the sun is shining brightly. It was minus 22 degrees Centigrade when I went out to put the garbage bins on the curb earlier this morning. Looking at the forecast, it appears that our usual late January, early February thaw will be a dud this year. Instead of 4-5 days of above freezing temperatures, we’ll get one day, this Friday, before plunging into the deep freeze again. Mind you, the cold doesn’t keep us from taking 20-30 minute walks around the neighbourhood, for fresh air and to avoid going stir crazy. And yes, I wear a puffy, knee-length parka and Yukon hat with the earflaps down when we go out. It’s not elegant, but it is warm.

On the writing front, Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes is just about at the three-quarters completion mark, and wonder of wonders, the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore story is slowly fermenting the back of my mind. Since it’s fermenting faster than the third Ghost Squadron and Constabulary Casefiles installments, I might even give it a try once Imperial Echoes is off to my editor, hopefully at the beginning of March.

Planning for 2021

Yes, I’m well aware that no plan survives contact with the enemy and that fate laughs at us puny humans planning for the future – nowadays more than ever. But here goes anyway.

The first item on the list is completing and publishing Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes. I’m past the one-third mark and progress is steady, but not as quick as I’d hoped, which means it’ll probably come out in February and not January. That always happens when I’m deep into world building and in this case, it’s intensive since the story concerns Lyonesse’s soon to be nemesis, the Wyvern Hegemony, which took a different path over the many generations since the empire’s collapse.

Then, I’m looking at the third Ghost Squadron and the third Constabulary Casefiles. I don’t know in which order I’ll work on them just yet but I have the high-level story concepts, and since I like playing with graphic design, I have the covers done up as well.

Finally, there might be a new Siobhan Dunmoore story fermenting in the back of my mind. I’m not sure yet, but there are stirrings. In any case, I have a cover idea already done up, though the title might change as the ideas take shape.

Four books in 2021? Not impossible, provided life doesn’t throw me any nasty surprises. After all, I managed three in 2020, and the first of those three took almost six months. And since we can’t travel to our usual destination over December and January, I’ll be here, at my desk, putting in productive writing time instead of pleading with underwater critters to pose for artistic photographs.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

A Day of Rest

Today is the first Monday of September, which means it’s the day when we celebrate work by not working. We Canadians call it, unironically, Labour Day. Our friends in the US celebrate it as well, although without the letter “u”. Around here, Labour Day is the unofficial end of summer, and considering how gray and windy it is today, we’ve reached autumn. Mind you, in recent days, I noticed that the quality of the sunlight was taking on that autumnal quality. I can’t quite explain what it looks like but the sky isn’t quite as deep blue and the sun isn’t quite as sunny as it was in early July.

But back to Labour Day. Those of us who scribble down random thoughts and form them into coherent adventures know no weekends, holidays, or idleness, so today isn’t any different for me. Finishing Deadly Intent (Ghost Squadron #2) is within reach, as I well over the 90% mark. Four more chapters, that’s it. Which means I’m done by the end of this week. Heck, by pushing myself, I could theoretically finish by suppertime tomorrow. I already warned my editor she can expect the manuscript in early October, and then it’s on to the fourth Ashes of Empire story, which takes place in the dystopian, nightmarish remnants of the fallen empire, several generations after Imperial Night. As you’ll note when it comes out next year, the Wyvern Hegemony is Lyonesse’s dark and disturbing counterpart. I look forward to writing it.

Many readers have asked me whether there will be a new Siobhan Dunmoore adventure at some point. The possibility is there, since she still has a long career ahead of her, but I’ll need to come up with a good storyline, which isn’t obvious considering the war is over. Therefore I make no promises.

Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.

Friday Update

I’m at the 85% completion mark for We Dare – Ghost Squadron No. 1 so barring any unforeseen events, I will be done some time next week.  My editor should get it by the end of the month, which means I may well publish before taking a well-deserved rest over Christmas and the New Year.  Concurrently, I’ve also begun the high level outline of Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night and I’ll be plunging into that story in January.

As those of you who read When the Guns Roar (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 6) will have realized, that book finishes her story arc at least where the Shrehari War is concerned.  Will there be more tales of her life and times?  I can’t say.  All I know is that Dunmoore still has a long and storied career ahead of her, but her battles will mainly be fought in the realm of politics as the Commonwealth faces one crisis after another.  If you read Decker’s War, you’ll have an inkling of what I mean.  Should I come up with a good story line, one that’ll keep readers from putting down the book because it’s past midnight, then there might be another Dunmoore, or perhaps even several more.  But no promises.

It’s Here!

Get Dunmoore’s latest and greatest adventure through this link:

When the Guns Roar (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 6)

Onwards!

I’m currently doing the last round of reviews with my editor on When the Guns Roar (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 6).  All of the publishing channels are ready for the final version of the manuscript so it’s just a matter of her finishing that last bit.  Barring unforeseen circumstances, it’ll come out some time next week.

While my editor does her thing, I’ve written more than 20% of my next book, We Dare (Ghost Squadron #1), over the course of the last seven days.  I aim to have it finished by mid November.  With luck, it’ll hit my editor’s inbox in early December and depending on her availability, I might just squeeze its publication in before Christmas.  But realistically, it’ll probably be early to mid January – I do owe Mrs Thomson two weeks of uninterrupted holidays from the writing business.  So far, I’ve held myself to my daily word counts, even if it meant spending another hour at the keyboard after supper instead of relaxing to a Netflix show.  But my brain probably gets a better workout from writing than watching the boob tube, so it’s all good.

Staying on the Move

My editor is almost done with When the Guns Roar (Siobhan Dunmoore Book 6).  I should get her comments sometime next week, then it’s one more pass and done.  Barring any unforeseen events it’ll come out before 31 October.  Perhaps even as early as 21 October.  If you get your books from Amazon and haven’t done so yet, go ahead and pre-order When the Guns Roar.  The moment it goes live on Amazon, you’ll find it on your device (provided said device is connected to the internet!).  For those buying from Kobo, iTunes, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, or other retailers, watch this space for the announcement that the book is live.  The paperback and hardcover will be out, if not the same day, then within a day or two.

While my editor is hard at it, I haven’t been idle.  Many have asked me for a series describing how the empire which we see collapsing in Ashes of Empire came to be.  And I got started on that.  I’m still not sure of the series title.  Right now, I’m using Ghost Squadron as the working title, with the first installment called We Dare.  The end of the Commonwealth and the rise of the human empire will be seen through the eyes of a group of dedicated Marines from the 1st Special Forces Regiment’s A Squadron, nicknamed “Ghost Squadron” because of their ability to strike targets and vanish without being seen.  They will be instrumental in precipitating the events that lead to the Commonwealth’s violent demise.  I finished the complete outline just now, meaning I’ll start writing tomorrow.  It’s slated for a January 2020 release, if all goes well.  Though it will be an entirely new and self-contained series, meaning no need to read any of my other stuff beforehand,  Ghost Squadron will feature a few characters from previous books.

To my Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving.  May your turkey be moist, your stuffing fluffy and the dinner table conversation devoid of politics.  For those not following Canadian news, we have a federal election coming up on 21 October.  Wherever you turn, there are endless radio and tv ads, posters everywhere, panel discussions and the usual mudslinging between party leaders.  The only way to escape is head into the woods.  Mrs Thomson and I will cast our votes tomorrow at an advanced polling station, though we already know who’ll win in our riding.  We live in one of those places which always returns the same party to parliament.  But, as Winston Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”  And that means doing our part, however small.