[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]
Got a note last night from a fan/friend in Australia who is finally getting a chance to read Kosnett after he’s gone through some serious health issues over the last couple of years. And he’s really enjoying himself and reminding me of what I wrote.
A little secret that’s part of my success? As soon as I finish a novel, I tend to flush most of the plot out of mind, save for about an elevator pitch worth of stuff. That lets me go back later and edit as if a stranger, because I only start remembering bits as I encounter them.
But it also means that I completely forgot the “Cap, it’s Sam. On your left.” moment from Domain and he had to tell me what chapter it was in (48, by the way).
Also, I have finished Heather’s War, so I’m five books and about ten years past where he is, at least in my head. And setting up a spin-off that “should” be a single long book, though I reserve the right to change my mind later, as all I have right now is a title and a cast. (One that won’t make any sense to you until you start reading Warlord of Yaumgan next year.)
Main timeline will continue outward with Veronika Provst. Eventually, I want to write Kati Wiegand, but she’s got to grow up first. As they do. And as I have time and interest. After all, I’m twenty-five books into Jessica’s timeline so far. That’s a lot of galaxy-shaking content.
At the same time, I have blank spots on the maps to explore.
First Centurion Kosnett takes place in the galactic west from Aquitaine and Fribourg. The pearl that is the Balhee Cluster. Heather’s War moves all the way over to the arm that contains Zerzan, who is bigger than those two combined in overall size and population. About where the Holding of Man was before Moirrey and friends killed the God of Winter.
Along the way, we’ll explore that zone, then go beyond it on the other three sides (farther west, coreward, rimward) and meet people. I have vague notes about what’s well coreward and west of Buran, but have never detailed them. Similarly NovLao (far side of Buran somewhere) has exactly one representative, and a couple of lines of who they used to be before being assimilated.
As the map scales back, I have places to explore. And characters to do it, as the old crew ages out and retires and kids come along to replace them.
One of these days, luck and ability on my side, I have a whole set of notes for Suvi/Summer/Autumn that take place some 1500 years after Jessica. Just need to sort out better what happens in between, because the whole prequel issue is always a pain in the ass for tracking continuity.
If I do something in the future, then hop to the past, I have to keep it all in mind when writing what happened then, so I don’t end up contradicting myself. Suvi, much as I love her, was a bit of a pain to write, since Last of the Immortals was written and published long before I started writing Season Two of the Science Officer (Alien Seas coming forward to Guardians of Tomorrow).
And she’ll have to talk about “what happened?” when she appears on that day in the distant future. I’ll either have to know, or I’ll start painting myself potentially into that corner. With all the risks.
Side notes: Altansarnai and York (the space opera erotica) is up to 8 stories now. And I have about half a million words worth of ideas to explore, depending. Zach is up to 8 stories as well. You’ll meet him this weekend when I send out the Patreon story to everyone.
Both are serialized fiction. Not chapters, because longer, generally running 5-8k, but part of a much larger arc, in the same manner as Scattered Tribes. I’m enjoying the format, and it lets me write three novels simultaneously, which I understand would drive other people a little insane.
Finally, I started Ollie 4 this week. Capstone of that series, which also started out as a series of shorts, but turns into a novel about a third of the way into Book One and runs from there.
The plan (written in pencil as always)
- January: Marrakesh 6
- February: Heather 1
- March: Ollie 1
- April: Heather 2
- May: Ollie 2
- June: Heather 3
- July: Ollie 3
- August: Heather 4
- September: Ollie 4 (complete)
- October: Heather 5 (complete)
- November: TBD
- December: TBD
As you can see, busy.
I’m looking at January 2027 for Last Stand 13 (done and coming in Boundary Shock Quarterly in July 2026) and potentially writing another season there as part of a long story arc broken into episodic television. That might fill 2027 entirely, giving me space to write a whole bunch of other things to fill in/finish series and expand into Action-Thriller and such.
More as I know, but we’re getting there
shade and sweet water,
b
West of the Mountains, WA
—————————-
Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!
If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.