So...I haven't blogged in over a month. Yikes. In case there's anyone who does all their following of me here, and avoids other social media (I don't blame you), I thought I would update everyone on all things happening in my fictional life.
(If you DO like social media, you can find me most often on Instagram: @hppress. That's where I do book recs, writing progress reports, and sometimes force people to look at my face in between horse and flower photos)
My next scheduled release is 10/31: Dragon Slayer, Sons of Rome Book Three, which I'll talk about in detail a little later, under the "read more" cut.
That means you've got three months to get all caught up with White Wolf and Red Rooster. The Sons of Rome series is my main writing focus right now; it's a mashup of all my favorite elements of fiction: paranormal creatures, world history, and an epic fantasy-style timeline.
The release date for Part Three of Prodigal Son is a bit up in the air at the moment. DS is research- and time-intensive, and working on PS is, by contrast, a frustrating, unrewarding effort. I'm still picking away at it, but I'm not going to let it derail or push back progress on Slayer.
I've also got a few (tiny) fledgling projects floating around on my computer that I refer to as the "Penname Projects." Stories I hope to eventually finish and release under a pen name in the hopes of giving them a fair chance to stand on their own merit.
As for Dragon Slayer...
This book takes the themes we've explored so far in the series, and twists the dial up a few notches. One of the things I've always loved about paranormal stories are the ways they allow you to explore certain elements of human nature in a really intimate, visceral way. There are several scenes I've written in the past week that ended up even weirder and better than I anticipated during the planning stage. With this series, I strive, whenever I have the chance, to "go there." When an opportunity I presents itself, I want to push the scene to go a little bolder, a little wilder, and not ever let conventional storytelling outweigh the things the characters need in that instance.
I've never before written a series that is ongoing like this, and while intimidating, it's also proved to be a much better fit for my personal style. Though my other series need to be read in order, the individual books are more or less self-contained: boy meets girl, they fall in love, resolution, the end. But being able to tell one large, interconnected story like that of SoR, a more typical fantasy series structure, is something I think I was always supposed to do. I hope in future to build on my weak standalone skills, but for now, I'm really enjoying the chance to spread my wings for the first time and really let loose. It's sad, but I'd forgotten how much truth lies behind the idea that writing for yourself produces your best work, and that's definitely the case here.
This series is going to be wild, and book three is, in so many ways, just the tip of the iceberg. I hope you'll join me this Halloween when we finally learn about Val's past, and his sometimes-twisted relationship with his brother. There's more romance in this book (and the ones to follow) than in the previous two books, and definitely a lot more sex. More...everything, really. I can't wait to share it.
No comments:
Post a Comment