by runsforcelery » Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:51 pm
I realize that I said I wasn't going to be dropping in on the forums, and I meant it. I really did! However, I happened to find myself sitting in a doctor's office reading things off my phone, and I checked the forums. And, lo and behold, there was a thread (which got itself snipped by Duckk in the fullness of time) about where the books are.
So, for those of you who missed it the first time around, I will summarize.
Current project: Uncompromising Honor, present word count approximately 185,000 words (Barregos just announced the Maya Sector's independence :twisted:), project delivery date, end of June. Current publication date, probably second half of 2018.
Current project: A Call to Vengeance, currently with Tom and Tim (who had to wait for me). Project delivery date Sometime Real Soon Now. Release date, March 2018.
Next project: the new Safehold book, starting 20-25 years after At the Sign of Triumph (with the discovery of the Lost Testament of Schueler). Projected delivery date, end of November. Publication date, probably second half of 2018.
Next next project: the second Sword of the South book. Project delivery date, first-quarter of 2018. No current projected publication date.
Next next next project (probably concurrent with the fantasy novel); sequel to A Call to Vengeance. (There are supposed to be at least four more books in this series.)
Hopefully, somewhere after this Python lump is out the door, Joelle and I will be looking at the next multiverse book, as well. We have two more, I think, under contract for that series.
Now, anyone who wants to make comments on my writing style, 2 D characters, etc., is certainly free to do so. It would appear to me that quite a few people disagree with those comments. I certainly do, and I hope that the projects I have in hand will be at least adequate.
For the record, I never said that Uncompromising would be the end of the Honorverse. I anticipate doing a lot more books in this literary universe. Some of the novels I want to write amount to backstory — Alfred Harrington's Marine career, for example. Others would explore threads I never got the chance to follow up on in the main arc. And others will probably continue with core characters from the current line of novels.
What I've said is that Uncompromising will pretty much wrap up my originally projected storyline that began with On Basilisk Station. In fact, it will wrap up the storyline that was supposed to begin after the OBS storyline per se ended with Honor's death in the Battle of Manticore and the negotiated peace which followed. The entire story line with the Solarian League and the Alignment was supposed to begin a couple of decades after her death in battle, but (as I'm sure I've said elsewhere) the collaborations with Eric screwed up my original timeline. Now, I'm not objecting, because, frankly, I always knew that killing Honor off would be a high risk move for the series and would cause me quite a lot of emotional pain after how long she and I have been together. I'm only saying that there was a certain amount of readjustment of storylines, and that I am now preparing to bring that readjusted storyline to the conclusion I had in mind from the beginning, modified by the fact that (so far, at least :twisted:) Honor is still alive.
I have no intention of shutting down anytime soon, folks. It does seem probable that I will reduce my output from 750,000-1,000,000 words a year to, maybe, 660,000 words a year and spend a little more time with my kids while I still have them at home and with my wife, who has a right to see me more than 90 minutes a day. And if that happens to mean that I get the amount of sleep I need, well, that's probably a good thing too.
I'm going to be around and writing for a long time yet, though. I'm not Jack Williamson. That being the case, don't expect any miracles, but barring something unforeseen, I anticipate at least another 15-20 years in front of the computer.
As Isaac Asimov once said, my greatest fear is that someday the publishers will figure out that I'd write whether they pay me or not. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and David gotta spend some time sticking words down.
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"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
