Guys and Gals!
TLDR: Book 4 and book 5 should be out in October...
First, thank you so much for all the great feedback about the first three books in the Contact series – at this nascent stage of my career every bit of encouragement is wonderful and memorable and helps tremendously when burning the midnight oil.
Many people have sent me specific questions about the books, the series and what it will comprise, the characters, storytelling in general, me, whether I’m making a living at this (not yet, I am consuming my savings so thank you for your support thus far), doing it full time (yes, for now), what tools/ software I use, marketing, or movies, or graphic novels or a combination of all of the above. I love to get these notes (thank you!) though I’m giving fairly short answers as I focus on getting the books released. I’d love to do an interview type Q&A using the questions I’ve been sent and post them up but I figure for the moment the books are the thing people care about. Nevertheless, thanks for the mail and the interest (it’s a special thing) and for those who want to help, reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Goodreads and so on are a wonderful boost.
To the crux of the matter: the next episodes of the Contact saga. I’m editing as you read this, with drafts of book four complete at 120k words (provisionally titled Reciprocal Paranoia) and book five complete at 140k words (provisionally titled Rapturous Pejoration). I plan to release these together (as they are more of a two-parter, or even a three-parter with book six, Rabid Penitence) before commencing on Rabid Penitence, which is partly done and so kick ass I am really looking forward to writing it. The sixth book should bring one major chapter of the series to a close (as another one opens) so if you’re looking for a chance to bail, it’s there!
I should have books four and five published in a couple of months (October) so look forward to about a quarter of a million words landing around then. The release is slightly complicated by having two operations under general anesthetic coming up and looking at some time in a sling (don’t go there!).
As an aside, and to show the difficulty of estimating the unknown, I originally conceived of this story as a series of five books. When I release book six, Rabid Penitence, I shall finally complete what I had planned to fill book one of the original five! I tried with book four and five to move the series to books of around eighty to ninety thousand words so I could release them more regularly but that hasn’t worked out on this occasion. If you have reached this far through this post (extra points for you!) I’d love to know what you think of shorter, more frequent books so you get the episodes more often. At the moment I’m thinking not for the Contact series but possibly for others – I have so many stories to tell I wish I could clone myself.
Thanks again for the positive reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, goodreads and so on – they make a huge difference in raising the profile of the books and helping keep this little boat (with its aspirations to be a grand liner) afloat. I'm truly grateful.
I’d love to hear from you, please email me or use the comments on this blog.
Thanks again.
Until next time.
Mike.
Ps. if you’re reading this in December and the books aren’t out I can only apologize for dying on the operating table...
