Last post was a year in review, this one is a look ahead to 2024. As of right now, I have three books coming out this year. One novel through Wicked House Publishing and two novellas through D&T Publishing. There may be a few surprises along the way too, but nothing is finalized in any of them yet so I don’t want to announce too much too soon.
The novel is titled The Gods Among Them and is something I’d been thinking about for a while and while I don’t want to give too much away just yet, the book centers on a homeless man in Chicago who decides he cannot spend another cold winter in the streets. Instead he looks for and finds an abandoned house to squat in for the winter. While it seems to be the set up for a haunted house story, it is most definitely not and there are a lot of twists and turns along the way. I’m excited for readers to meet Philip Mayhan and go on a horrific, life altering journey with him.
The first novella is titled And Then I Killed All the Ghosts. When I tell you that this book and The Life and Times of Edward Morgan were some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing, I’m not kidding. Imagine if there was a super hero with a bad attitude who just wanted to sit at home, drink beer and eat pizza whenever there was crime going on. If you can picture that, then you get the idea of this book. Frank just wants a quiet night at home, with his beer and frozen pizza but he also happens to have super powers. Hes a recluctant and violent super hero who does the job because it’s the right thing to do, not because he likes it. Franks character and his sarcasm grows on you and I’m excited for readers to experience his story.
The third book is titled Phobia. Another novella, this one is the third part of the Contact Series. Like the first two parts (Decay and Justice) this is a stand alone story that can be read in any order. This one follows a hypnotherapist as she uses her special ability to help those with debilitating fears. Jamie Atherton is able to take someone’s fears with a simple touch. The problem is, if the person has a fear of spiders for example, Jamie can take their fears but then she develops her own sense of arachnophobia. This one takes some strange turns and we begin to see a thread develop between all of the stories in the Contact series.
As far as new writing, I am finishing up the third and final book in the Mr. Nightmare Trilogy. The working titles of this one is Eater of Dreams. This will be the longest book in the trilogy and most likely the longest thing I’ve written. It has a different feel that the first two books and some much darker subject matter. In a few interviews I have mentioned that I got the idea for Mr. Nightmare all at once. I was working out and the idea for the story came to me. I spent about an hour writing down my thoughts and the idea I had for characters and the plot of the story. What I ah ent mentioned is that the ideas I came up with that night were actually the bulk of the plot for all three books. I couldn’t have written a published such a massive book and the way the ideas broke out it made more sense to me to break the story into three separate parts. But there are scenes and parts of this book that I knew about when I was writing that first book three years ago. It’s great to see the final pieces of this beast of a story finally come together.
While most of my writing time is focused on finished up Mr. Nightmare 3, I’ve also started working on a post apocalyptic science-fiction/horror book. I can’t tell you too much about this one yet because it is in such an early stage. But I’m excited to see how this one comes out. Right now I only have about half of my scaffolded scenes mapped out so the second half of the book is still a
mystery to me. I’m slowly adding to the first few chapters and once Nightmare 3 is done all of my focus will be on this one.
Finally I’m writing the fourth book in the contact series. This one also doesn’t have a title. However it is fully plotted out and ready to go with characters and some pretty sweet plot points that I think readers with love.
Thats everything I have on the horizon for now, but as I said earlier, there are a few surprises in the works I just can’t say for sure yet if or when they will come to fruition.
Due to sickness in the family, my TV and movie watching time has taken a tremendous hit so I don’t have a single recommendation for you this week. I did however get the chance to read Killing the Image an autobiography/memoir by Olympic gold medal winning boxer Andre Ward and it was fantastic. Ward takes the reader through his life before and during his boxing career and gives us a glimpse into the non-boxing side of his life. It is a story about perseverance and should ring true for anyone looking for inspiration for overcoming obstacles. Highly recommend this one whether or not you’re a fan of boxing.
Thats all for this week. Until next time…
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