With the publication of SEXTETTE comes a conundrum: I now have more historical novels in the works than contemporaries.
What happened was: knowing I was writing this very different thing, and needing it to be visually different so as to signal the prospective buyer, I went looking for a different cover artist. Very much enjoyed working with Victoria Cooper on this one. Along the way, I stumbled across a trio of pre-made covers by another artist, and - very uncharacteristically - impulse-bought them.
So now I have these three covers, which I succumbed to because they sparked a concept, and I don’t dismiss strong ideas. It won’t be a trilogy in the sense of three books that focus on the same main characters, with a three-book through-story (as in KJ Charles’ excellent Will Darling Adventures). What I’m planning to do is write three books that each focus on a separate pair of main characters, and all the main characters will be involved with different pieces of a particular endeavor. It is historical - 1920s Paris, to be precise - which calls for an absolute ton of research and a three-book outline. I need to get the outline done fairly soon so I can give that artist my titles, etc., so she can finish up the publication files.
In addition to the Paris trio, there’s a multi-decade showbiz romance I want to write. It starts in the 1930s and goes to the 1980s. I have a good idea what I want for the cover, and in this case I’m going to wheedle my usual artist (aka Awesome Sister) because while this book mustn’t look like my contemporaries it should be manageable with our toolbox.
I hope. We’ll see.
That’s four novels in the planning stages. The fifth novel in-the-works is a contemporary but I intend to query it out, meaning I’ll only self-publish if it doesn’t sell (and I don’t expect it to sell, so at some point we’ll have to design it, but it’s similar to my other contemporaries so shouldn’t break our brains). And that is the book I need to work on first, in the sense of Doing Actual Writing, because it’s a holiday-themed book which means … well, the publication calendar is way ahead of the real calendar, let’s put it that way.
While I’m developing all that, I’ll be publishing two new M/M novellas and a new F/F/M novel. I’ll also be pursuing the re-branding project. Depending on brain functionality and energy levels, I might actually get the four historicals completed and published in 2023.
Whether there will be any new contemporary titles next year is a complete mystery to me. There is, I’ll confess, a fifth Andy & Victor book percolating (the CO-STARS series). And since Andy & Victor are my happy place, it’s not inconceivable that they will jump the queue.
Watch this space!