Yes, I’m still working on the follow-up to The Aos Si’s Gift. I’ve started on the second draft, which includes some major overhauls to the first draft. A lot of work is probably going to the scrap bin, but such is life.

In the meantime, I’ve been dividing my time between the follow-up to The Aos Si’s Gift and a side project I’ve titled The Pale Man. This will be a few (very) short chapters that delve into the creature and cosmic horror genre. Oddly enough, this work is based on a text message exchange which concluded with the tongue-in-cheek statement, “whatever you do, don’t look directly at the tall, pale figure in the backyard.” To be fair, I’m not much of a horror writer, and this is my first work delving into the genre. So, any commentary, critique, or advice is greatly appreciated.

Format-wise, The Pale Man will (ideally) be in a format in which each chapter can be read in < 10 minutes. Basically, this is something that I’m hoping you can easily read on a short break.

The first two chapters of this work are up and available on Substack:

• Chapter I: The Summer Begins
• Chapter II: Mystic Ranch

I encourage you to jump over to read it over at Screaming Into the Void. Feel free to peruse anything else while you are there.

In the meantime, here is an update on what’s been happening:

• I finished the first draft of the followup to The Aos Si’s Gift. The working title is Long Live the Queen, but I’m not quite liking the title–that, and I’m sure it’s taken somewhere. I’m also not much satisfied with the first draft.
• Large portions of the first draft are being rewritten, or even scrapped entirely. Frankly, this is something which I should have done long before I got as far as I did.
• The purpose of rewrites and scrapping is to improve story flow, provide a more active role for major character, and build on a plot-point which was introduced in the first book but wasn’t really having the impact it should have going forward.
• It’s obvious to me that the cover of The Aos Si’s Gift needs an overhaul. Among other things, the vibe of the cover certainly does not catch that of the contents. Some of the internals also need significant work. (Yes, I did the best I had with the tools available, but the discovery of new tools has me looking at options.)
• I am officially shelving plans to release an audio book for The Aos Si’s Gift or subsequent work in the near future. This is largely due to the fact that I do not have the hardware, software, or funding to produce a quality audio book at this time. I still have a recording of the Prologue to The Aos Si’s Gift, but I have not been able to convince myself to make it public.

As we come toward the end of the summer, I am hoping to be able to complete some significant work both in continuing The Wolf of Vespin series, and in side work I do for practice or for other purposes. My current end-of-year goals are as follows:

• I will be rewriting The Princess in the Cell. I will be doing so to pull it away from it’s current article-like prompt-response format, tidying it up, and re-releasing it as something that is more obviously a stand-alone short story. The original will still be available, but it will be moved to the Archive instead of being a part of the front-facing material for Screaming Into the Void.
• I will be continuing The Pale Man series. I’m hoping to keep this series under 6-7 chapters so that each chapter can be read in < 10 minutes and the entire thing can be read in < 60 minutes. We’ll see how that goes.
• I will be polishing up Screaming into the Void a little. I’ll admit that I’m still learning how to format everything. Some articles will be edited so that there are more clear links between related articles or stories. For example, the first chapter of The Pale Man currently has no links to the second. In other cases, links are currently placed in a manner that is easily overlooked.
• I will, obviously, be continuing my work on Long Live the Queen, including finding a title I’m more comfortable with. I am hoping to have this second draft completed, a final edit done, and be down to polish editing, formatting, and cover design by the end of the year.
• I will be working on an overhaul to some elements of The Aos Si’s Gift. This will include a new cover, chapter headers, and possibly the addition of some illustrations. The new cover will be drawn so that the covers for The Wolf of Vespin series follow a theme rather than being disjointed scene illustrations. Unfortunately, I can’t just send out new physical copies. However, anyone who has the eBook should automatically get the new cover. (I’m hoping to have this work done in time to relaunch The Aos Si’s Gift shortly before launching the sequel.)

This sums up the current state of things and rough plans out to the end of the year.