Drifting and Drafting

I'm drifting on the wave of post-book bliss. I finished the first draft of Sand into Glass this afternoon. It took me two years longer to complete it than I expected, but it turned out I needed to trudge through my own personal abyss to figure out how to drag Arden through his.

This book is unusual and I'm not sure how to categorize it. It's a courtroom drama from the defendant's point of view, but it's also an epic fantasy and a dive into the underground caves of mental illness. I went into this book prepared to dig into my own psyche and toss it out naked for the world to see, and I think that is exactly what I am doing.

Now I wait and let the bats settle for a short time while my mind clears. I need to do some rewrites and flesh out the bonier parts, but the story is there and it is finally out of my head. In the meantime, I have some other projects to attend to.

I'm currently waiting to receive my proof copy of The Crystal Lattice. I decided to switch things up and make Lattice first in the Emergence trilogy even though it is chronologically second. I wanted to start out the trilogy with the lighter book and then dig into the dark. I have some additional copyedits to fix on the proof and I need to make sure the formatting is correct, then hopefully I can hit those little "Publish" buttons and release my oldest and most reclusive baby into the world sometime this month.

I'm also starting to take notes for the final book of the trilogy, which is also the final book in the Malora series. This story has been in my head for a couple years but I needed to write everything else first. I'm going to have fun with this one, and I hope you eventually will, too. You'll finally get to meet the elusive Oblivion. Also, several characters who have been fixtures throughout the series finally get what they deserve, especially Rassa. At least, they get what I think they deserve. Arrow of Entropy is going to be a wild ride and it will mark a very definitive ending for my stories of this world.

Emergence is a loose trilogy and not a continuous storyline. Each of the books is told by a different narrator in three different generations of an interconnected family. Tesji is a fiery bard with a knack for embellishment, a love of alliteration, and a hunger for adventure. Arden is the troubled son of an immortal who finally finds himself in a situation he can't escape from. Zella is a light mage with such severe social anxiety that she prefers to remain in the shadows and observe the world from a distance... which directly leads her to a kindred spirit in the form of an ancient Emergent with a lot to atone for.

I hope you enjoy reading this series as much as I've enjoyed writing it. It won't be long now. The Emergents are nearly ready to come out and play.