Then launch days comes along and I'm checking to see how everything went, shout to the skies that the new book is out, send a bunch of emails, Facebook posts, write my tri-annual blog, do what I can to distract myself, and then wonder if anyone will actually like the book (aside from me, but I'm biased).
Anyway: Cold Blooded – Raike 3, is out now. What's it about? Raike (a mercenary in a sword and sorcery universe) and Alysia Kasera (Raike's boss' daughter) are on a secret mission to topple a foreign king and break the alliance he has with a vampire clan. Why? Because vampires are assholes and this alliance is probably going to direct the blood suckers to kill as many of Alysia's people as they can. Along for the ride are a few dozen of General Kasera's best soldiers, who are fully aware that their actions here are not going to be sanctioned and the only way this goes well for them is if Alysia is able to convince the king's rival to stage a coup and take the throne for himself. What happens? Things go wrong. What happens after that? It becomes an epic fight for survival, trapped in a foreign land with enemies gathering on all sides, desperate to work out who betrayed them and who among their former enemies they can still trust.
Get your copy here.
So, what's next for me? I'm going on holiday! Seriously, I have not had a holiday in years. I'll be in England, Switzerland, and hopefully Iceland if I get around to booking that leg in time. I expect to have some downtime but the truth is I began writing Raike 4 a couple of weeks ago in the hope that I would have it finished (but not published) before flying out, but that ain't gonna happen. So I'll probably be tinkering with the story and spending more hours staring into a screen than seeing the rolling hills of Yorkshire or the geysers of Iceland. My best guess for publishing Raike 4 is August, but let's be honest here: I have never made a deadline. Books get longer, life gets busy, and there's always a hundred things to do on any given day.
Anyway, happy reading!