What I'm Working On

We were supposed to interview author Michelle Hauck today, but she asked us to postpone her interview until her book is out. The Blog Ring of Power will return next week with a different author; Michelle's interview will probably run next month. In the meantime, I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know what I'm working on and what I have planned.

My current and most important project is drafting the next main stories in the SF Catalyst Chronicles series, Catalyst in the Crucible and A Challenge of Catalysts. Whereas there's a break between Books One and Two and then Two and Three, the events in these two books occur right after the other, so I'm going to write them all at once. I have an idea where I want to break the story, but I need to make sure each installment has a complete story arc. I also need to go back and work some more on Julia's (minor character from Twinned Universes) story, which takes place between Twinned Universes and Catalyst in the Crucible. This will be a shorter story, probably a novella. My original title was "Brave New Girl," a play on "Brave New World." However, since Julia is one-quarter Navajo, I'm not sure if this title is still appropriate. Thoughts, anyone?

In addition to my SF series, I want to start getting my fantasy series going. The original title for the series was The Season Lords, a group of magicians who are reincarnated over and over to serve the Four Gods and Goddesses of their country, Challen. Since the current group is all female, I'm not sure if I still want to call them Lords. (Being automatically ennobled, no matter what class they're born into, is a privilege of being one of these magicians.) I plan to start this series with a short story collection that will show the origins of the Chaos Season and the Season Lords. I plan to call this collection Six from the Season Lords, though I may change this title. Next will be Scattered Seasons, the first book in the Season Lords Quartet. This is written but needs to be revised before being sent to my editor. I have some material written for the next books in the series (tentatively titled Chaos Season, Fifth Season, and Summon the Season Lords). However, what I've previously written will have to be revised and edited, and it's going to take a couple of years at my present rate to get that done.

I originally planned to publish six works this year, one novel and five shorter works. Three are already available, while three aren't quite ready yet. I want to publish "Brave New Girl," Six from the Season Lords, and a fantasy novelette called "The Fighting Roses of Sharon." In addition, I've started another fantasy short story with the working title of "Plant Manager." Plus, I have another project in process, but it's not SF or fantasy. I sure keep myself busy, don't I?

Anyway, I hope some of the works I've mentioned above sound appealing to you, though I'm not ready to announce more publication dates yet. In the meantime, any thoughts on the titles would be appreciated.