First Gods Series
Book 4 in the First Gods Series (Alien Cities) has been completed in draft form (September 2024). This was the second attempt for this book! I originally finished a first draft in 2023 but it was too rushed and incomplete. I had my mind on the last book in the series (Book 5) and it was obvious. The story of Book 4 was more than what I’d written—I’d glossed over some major events when they should have been explored. In this second attempt I’ve added two important characters and re-written the last two thirds of the book. I won’t publish it until after I’ve written the final book (Book 5, Time’s Resolution). There may need to be alterations to the Book 4 story and since the series is self-published I have that luxury of being able to wait.
Book 5 (Time’s Resolution) has been outlined in detail, down to the chapter level. This took nearly six months to do. I don’t normally outline to this level of detail but it was necessary because of the consistency required with the extensive time travel components. There is more than just what happened in what order (in our 4D spacetime, that is) but also what each character knows (and there quite a few major characters) at each point in time since they may have got to that point in time in different ways. So their motivations and character arc points will be different because each “person’s” timeline is slightly different. It was a challenge to outline while maintaining consistency and keeping it logical and also understandable but even so it may be a book what needs a timeline chart for each character to make complete sense. I hope not and that will make writing it an even greater challenge. The story is great, I just hope I have the skill to write it well enough. It’s a longer book than the others and may take more than a year to write. My anxiety about the challenge and the time investment is putting me off getting started. And I have other projects on the go (see below).
The First Gods Series was originally conceived as a 2 book series. Awaken was always the first book and the epilogue was written to jump straight into the action of the final book. However, the prologue of the “final” book was too interesting a story to let it only be a single chapter. It became Book 2, Community. And then the location of most of the action in the “final” book needed an introduction and that story became too compelling to not explore in detail, so that became Book 3, Habitat. And that’s why the end of Book 3 (and also the end of Book 2) is only a few minutes after the end of Book 1. The final book, Time’s Resolution, will begin repeating the epilogue of Book 3 but from a different POV and a bit more detail, and necessarily including a bit of backstory about what happened in Book 3 and Book 2.
And while Books 2 and 3 were additions, Book 4 was an Interlude about a third of the way through the final book, much like Brandon Sanderson does. But, again, I found it a too compelling story to only be a few chapters. It’s turned out to be an 85,000 word novel. I’m hoping that’s the end of the distractions from the final book. Maybe, if I get distracted again, I’ll try to make them novellas and write them after the final book’s done. I have an idea for a novella telling Devrell’s story, set before Book 1, but I won’t look at that until after everything else is completed.
At The End Of The World Series
I’m currently writing a 3 book series set a long time after the First Gods Series books but in the same world. Different planets, different characters. The story outlines are done, and they look like they might be long-ish novellas but we’ll have to see. I’m about two thirds of the way through the first book of the series and it’s nearly 40,000 words.
This series is set in a future after the Guild have been managing the universe for some time and there has been a Guild War (this will be another series but I haven’t thought about anything in detail yet). The Guild lost the war and had to make compromises and this is the story of a couple of main characters and their troubles with an unwanted occupation of the universe.
I don’t think there are many science fantasy novels set among hunter-gatherer societies but the first book in this series is one of them! It’s fun to write. I’ve been fascinated by Australian archaeology (I almost began a PhD in it) and by the Maya culture since a trip to Mexico in 2005 and while this is science fantasy, I do use some of the cosmologically signifiant religious beliefs of the Maya. Book 1 takes the timeline from hunter-gatherers into the first societies with cities. There are aliens involved, of course there is.
The Holographic Assistant Series
This is another three novella series of books. It’s the backstory of the holographic assistant introduced in Book 3 of the First Gods Series. It’s set on the moon, Eo, a billion years before the events of Book 3.
I’ve competed first drafts of the first 2 books. Book 1 is 23,000 words, Book 2 is 44,000 words. I have an idea of the concluding story for Book 3 but I haven’t done an outline yet. I don’t intend to return to Book 3 until after I’ve completed the drafts for the At The End Of The World Series. I won’t publish any until all are competed. This gives me the chance to make small alterations (like foreshadowing of things in later books, etc) after the last book is done.
So then… I’m busy just not publishing anything at the moment. Although… if you join the newsletter list then you get the first book in draft form of the Holographic Assistant Series as a PDF download. (It’s a complete story, with an end, but it has the possibility of continuing… which it does)
