Why would aliens be interested in Earth anyway?
February 15, 2015Trial of a Traitor
March 20, 2015Coming soon…
Thanks for your patience while I write the third book in the series. Here’s a quick progress update: so far I’ve written 75,000 words out of an estimated 95,000.
Now, that probably sounds like I’m 78% through, but writing novels doesn’t work that way. (Not for me, in any case). Those 75,000 words still need a lot of knocking into shape. On the other hand, other than a few remaining questions about the penultimate chapter, I know exactly what happens in detail throughout the book. It’s just (!) a question of crafting the scenes in the best way. So the remainder of the book will be relatively quick to write.
I mentioned a while back that I’ll be offering some beta copies for readers who want to take a look at the first part of the book. That’s still on the cards and I’ll be mentioning that again soon as I get closer to having something to share.
Here today…
From time to time I like to write something that’s not in the main threads of the books. It keeps my writing muscles loose. But I haven’t strayed too far; I’ve been sketching out little stories that happen in between the main books or spin off sideways. There’s a lot that gets cut out of the books because they need to keep a narrative focus, pace and so on. Some of these ideas and backstory I think could make good stories. Plus it’s fun to put the focus on people who are secondary characters in the books. After all, if you asked the characters, they would tell you that they aren’t secondary!
Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy this story called Trial of a Traitor set in the interval between Indigo Squad and Renegade Legion. I suggest you don’t read it unless you’ve finished Indigo Squad because otherwise you will hit spoilers. I will be doing more of these, so to help keep them organized, I’ve started a section called ‘A Perilous Homecoming’ in the online story page to hold stories set between books 2 & 3. I’m going to upload the new story as a post, because that way it appears in subscribers’ inboxes, but it’s also available here.
6 Comments
Tim, I think the bonus stories are a great idea because they provide something extra for the hardcore followers of your series. You’re really building a whole universe here, and that’s very cool.
Thanks, Mark. I do enjoy fictional universes with real depth to them, so I love fleshing out mine. Hopefully someone out there will enjoy the extra stories too.
I can’t wait to read these side stories you are developing! I know that as some of these manufactured worlds mature and develop a following the creator allows other people to stores and lore to the existing world. Any thoughts on whether you will have other authors write in the universe you created?
Definitely. Bring it on! Although I do need to concentrate on book 3 for now. There are plenty of little explored avenues already, but during book four, scope, scale, geography will grow much larger than I will handle in the main book series. There will be even more scope for side stories. If there are enough good quality stories, I’d love to do an anthology of other authors’ visions.
PS: I can’t wait to buy book three and loose sleep reading it straight through in one sitting!!
I look forward to losing you sleep, Mike. Can’t make absolute promise yet, but expecting the bulk of the third book on beta this month and full release next.