Monthly Archives: March 2022

Coming Soon, Later, and Perhaps Never: March 2022 Update

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Credit: Pixabay

Once in a while, I post an update of where I’m at with my pile of unpublished novels, in their varying states of disrepair. These range from completed first drafts to manuscripts polished and ready to go. However, this list doesn’t include the novel I’m currently writing (I’ve almost finished the first draft). Nor does it include the rapidly growing pile of short stories I have waiting in the wings.

Why the update? Partly to whet reader appetite, and partly for my own sanity, so I’ve a nice at-a-glance piece that lays out which are likelier to see the light of day. (Those that definitely won’t aren’t included.)

These novels are divided by genre (sort-of).

Fantasy

Ravenseed

This Dark Ages set fantasy novel is currently sitting with potential publishers/agents. If I get good news, it will be announced here. As for the plot, it’s a brooding, melancholy tale of knights, sorcerers, and enchantment, simmering with love, lust, betrayal, and revenge. Alongside the Dark Ages story is a parallel framing story set in the present.

Release likelihood: If I can’t find a publisher I’ll self-publish, hopefully this year.

The Faerie Gate (plus sequel)

My long-delayed, horror-story-for-children is now on its fourth draft. Originally written in 2015, it’s my scariest novel primarily aimed at children. But this dark fairy tale is also a compassionate story of a young adolescent coming to terms with the separation of her parents. Last year, I penned the first of a planned trilogy of sequels (currently untitled), set some years after this novel. These stand alone and can be read with or without knowledge of The Faerie Gate.

Release likelihood: Definitely my intention, even though I keep holding it back. I might wait until I’ve written the other two novels in the sequel trilogy before taking the first one any further.

The Deviant Prophet

Another dark fairy tale, but this time for adults. Fantasy and reality clash in a disturbing tale of religious oppression, amid a vivid and surreal world parallel to our own. The initial inspiration for this came from a close friend’s extraordinary dreams. I finished a third draft four years ago, and haven’t looked at it since.

Release likelihood: I’m holding on to it for now, but I’d love to see this published at some stage.

Goldeweed

An epic, three-volume saga I have shaped on and off for almost twenty years. Set in a vast imagined realm on many different planes of reality, it details three love stories that play out against an apocalyptic backdrop at the end of an era. Currently longer than War and Peace, it’s a tale I have rewritten and tinkered with for some time, and I’m still not entirely happy with it. It needs another serious rewrite, which I will undertake when I allocate some serious time.

Release likelihood: Depends on whether unhelpful perfectionism thwarts my ambitions.

Gothic Mystery Thriller/Horror

The White Nest

This novel is something of a culmination for me; a summing up of all the tropes, themes, and ideas I have explored in earlier gothic mystery novels. But although there is an element of Now-That’s-What-I-Call-a-Simon-Dillon-Gothic-Mystery about this novel, it is also radically different in two ways. Firstly, it features a male protagonist. Secondly, it is the most intensely personal novel I’ve written since Children of the Folded Valley. Yes, I know all writing is “personal”, but this one really jabbed raw nerves in an ultimately cathartic way, tapping into traumas regarding siblings, parental fears, false guilt, and more. It is also something of a coming-of-age novel, despite the genre trappings. One more point: The White Nest refers to something sinister in the story, but it’s only a placeholder title. I’m keeping the real title secret for now.

Release likelihood: Needs another polish, but probably my next priority after Ravenseed.

Wormcutter

From something I wrote in 2020, to something I wrote in 2007 (from an idea I had researched on and off since 1996), this detective thriller/horror hybrid begins as an apparently open and shut murder investigation, then escalates into a humdinger of a conspiracy, until it ends up in the most disturbing territory I have ever explored in a novel (definitely 18 certificate stuff). Currently on its fourth draft, and due for another polish.

Release likelihood: Unlikely any time soon. I’m proud of this novel, but I think it might be wiser to hang on to it for the time being, as I do have some concerns about how it could be received.

Miscellaneous

The Balliol Conspiracy

This somewhat old-fashioned, Hitchcockian romantic spy thriller is a conspiracy story of a different kind (much more PG territory, unlike Wormcutter), and proved a real change of pace for me when I wrote it. A strong, suspenseful central mystery results in an historic, fact-based treasure hunt, leading to a new lease of life for the bereaved protagonist. I don’t want to say too much more, except that yes, it does involve Balliol College in Oxford. I also wanted to write a grown-up book that, for once, my mother would be able to read without having nightmares. Currently on its second draft, its actually grown on me quite a bit since I first wrote it, and my wife thinks I should attempt more stories of this kind. But I suspect it is a one-off. We’ll see.

Release likelihood: A distinct possibility, perhaps even soon, but probably self-published.

A Statement of Disbelief

A satirical novel set in the dubious world of Christian television fundraising. It’s only had one draft, and I’ve not reread it for a while. However, I had great fun writing this.

Release likelihood: Unlikely at this point, but I’m not ruling it out.

One final point: My trilogy of children’s sci-fi adventure novels, George Goes to Mars, George Goes to Titan, and George Goes to Neptune, have been withdrawn for the time being. Why? Frankly, these early self-published works didn’t really take off the way I’d hoped. I think they were let down by two problems: 1) The lack of a proper edit, and 2) Titles that make them sound like books for very little children, even though the target audience is the Harry Potter/Alex Rider demographic. My plan is to give them a thorough edit, new titles, and rerelease them in this format at some point hopefully soon (with a clear note that they were previously published in an earlier form under a different name).

New Novel Update

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Yes, my new novel features a sinister house. Photo by Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash

This post is a bit of a cheat, because it is little more than me updating you by saying I’ll soon be updating you. Updating you on what, you may ask? The novel I’ve almost finished writing. I mentioned this novel in my New Year’s Day post. It’s another gripping gothic mystery thriller with spooky, possibly supernatural undertones. I suspect it will be right up your street if you enjoyed my earlier novels such as The Birds Began to Sing, Phantom Audition, and so forth.

I typically spend the winter months writing novels. It distracts me from feeling depressed about the dismal, dark, dank weather, and gives me something to do in hibernation. Getting to a first draft by March (or thereabouts) also makes me feel as though I’ve achieved something significant early in the year. Of course, sometimes I go on to write additional novels. My most productive year to date was 2017, where I managed to pen Spectre of Springwell Forest, Echo and the White Howl, and a third, as-yet unpublished novel entitled A Statement of Disbelief.

Three points about the new novel: 1) No, I’m not going to tell you anything about the plot. At least, not yet. I will simply repeat what I said in my New Year post: “It is set in a fictional south-west England town and features a young journalist who gets drawn into a local mystery with links to her past.” 2) Progress wise, I’m on chapter 19, having written around 75,000 words. 3) I reckon I’ll have a first draft finished by the end of this month, with an estimated word count of around 85,000 – 90,000 words.

I had the idea for this novel in the middle of writing another early last year. The research, outlining, character profiles, and so forth were prepared during the summer and autumn, and I started writing the novel in earnest in January. Do I have a title yet? No, but I will by the time the first draft is finished. The experience of writing this novel has been smooth on the whole, though not without the occasional interruption from other voices in my head, demanding I start on the next story idea. And the next, and the next… Those voices are terribly unreasonable, though they can occasionally be cowed into temporary submission by telling them to form an orderly queue and shut up.

More on the next novel soon. Watch this space.