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I have completed the first draft of my latest project, COLD MAGIC. For me, it's short (first draft is about 170,000 words and I expect that will be trimmed down to 150,000 -- but I have to say that despite that heap-o-words the thing does, I believe, read very fast).
This is a very different project for me. For one, it's written in first person. For two, it's got funny bits -- not comedy so much as the voice of the main character and the way she sees things sometimes -- as well as dead serious elements (I seem unable to write any book that does not in some way deal with and examine the consequences of the exploitation of some people by other people).
The physical plot (that's what I call the sequence of actions which carries the reader through the chapters) is extremely straight forward, especially compared with the far more convoluted plots of, well, just about everything else I've written so far.
The landscape, however, is by far the most challenging thing I've ever done. This is not alternate history; it's Earth in another universe, one in which dragons sleep within volcanoes. I'm still working on the landscape (by which I mean the setting and the complex cultural milieu), which will be an unending and ongoing effort.
I don't have the contracts yet, so can't talk about the publication arrangements for this book. I will as soon as I can!
But, yes, this is the Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency mash-up with Bonus! airship, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendants of troodons. In case you were wondering.
This is a very different project for me. For one, it's written in first person. For two, it's got funny bits -- not comedy so much as the voice of the main character and the way she sees things sometimes -- as well as dead serious elements (I seem unable to write any book that does not in some way deal with and examine the consequences of the exploitation of some people by other people).
The physical plot (that's what I call the sequence of actions which carries the reader through the chapters) is extremely straight forward, especially compared with the far more convoluted plots of, well, just about everything else I've written so far.
The landscape, however, is by far the most challenging thing I've ever done. This is not alternate history; it's Earth in another universe, one in which dragons sleep within volcanoes. I'm still working on the landscape (by which I mean the setting and the complex cultural milieu), which will be an unending and ongoing effort.
I don't have the contracts yet, so can't talk about the publication arrangements for this book. I will as soon as I can!
But, yes, this is the Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency mash-up with Bonus! airship, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendants of troodons. In case you were wondering.