Yes, I know, I suck at updating my blog lately. I do. I’ve been a shameful sort of blogger the last month and a half, but I defend myself by pointing out that the only reason anyone ever strolls by my blog is to find out about my books or to be amused by some very low-quality drawings of myself doing something absurd or embarrassing. The latter is down a few paragraphs, and for the former, I can say that the dip in blog production (and book review production) has come upon the rise of book production instead. As evidence, I present the fact that, while my editor, Joyce, has been scouring the pages of Rift in the Races, freeing it from as many typos and grammatical ineptitudes as possible, I have been furiously working on the third book of the series, which will be titled Hostiles. And guess what… it’s almost done, at least the first draft is.

As of today at 3:00 P.M., Hostiles is 126,635 words in length (470 pages), and I estimate I’ve got about six chapters left or so to finish it off, which will put the draft length somewhere around 530 pages. I typically add 5 pages per 100 through revisions, so it will probably end up at 560 pages when done, which is just barely longer than book one, The Galactic Mage. What I wrote today was essentially the final climax of the book (and the opening trilogy), and what I have left to finish in the book is to tidy up loose ends and get you all prepped for the next trilogy in the series.

Now, I know this is not exactly the sort of news that people waiting for Rift in the Races to come out are hoping to hear, as I know people want RitR NOW! However, RitR is almost ready, so, the wait draws near its end. Here’s why the glass is half full on this long wait:

Besides being nearly over, and while the wait between TGM and RitR has been long, the wait between RitR and Hostiles will be very short. It’s even possible that it might be out as early as April, though I am promising no such thing. (I’ve learned my lesson about setting deadlines for myself. I need to give the long end of the possible, not what seems reasonable at the start.) I do think it is very reasonable to say it will be out by May or June, so the claim of “Summer, 2013” is perfectly reasonable to make.

I’m soooo happy with it too. I feel like it’s really good, although, obviously, we’ll have to wait and see what readers have to say (and I hope they do say something, especially on Amazon; those reviews mean a lot these days). For those of you who follow The Galactic Mage series page on Facebook, you saw my post yesterday about how I felt like I had just written the best chapter I have ever produced, and today, with 24 hours of emotional distance, I stand by that still. I’m super stoked. I was so jazzed when I was done, my shirt collar wet from the tears that ran and ran and ran as I wrote, my hands shaking, charged with so much release of emotions and energy. It was awesome. It was the absolute high of writing that keeps me going all the time, the hope of that happening. I guess it’s the writer’s equivalent to a runner’s high, not that a beer-swilling cheese eater like me would know about that from personal experience. A runner’s hi for me consists of my greeting the paramedics who come after I have tried to run—but, hey, just thinking it inspires a low-quality drawing of myself doing something absurd or embarrassing, which some may have come here hoping to find:

“Runner’s Hi” is not spelled with a G or an H.

Anyway, I felt a post was long overdue, and this is definitely the longer version of the update I put up on the RitR bookstore page the other day. Rift in the Races is almost here. I’ll get the last pages back from Joyce probably on Monday. I will go through them and go through the whole thing over the next week or so, and then get a print file made. I’ll get proof copies printed and sent to me, I will hand them out to my proofreaders, and then, it’s all about updating the final file. I’d like to say that could be by December 10th or so, but that might be optimistic. I’ll just be happy if I can have it out a few days before Christmas still given how big a story it became. But, we’re close, no matter what.

Additionally, since we are close, I’ll finally be able to sneak-peek the book trailer video and the full cover art to everyone pretty soon. I’ll start leaking cover images again once I have the book print files made and proofreading underway.

I’m very happy with how this trilogy came out. I really hope everyone likes it as much as I do, and I’ll be super grateful for those who stuck it out all this time while I worked on RitR. The reader emails I get and the occasional Amazon review really do help me keep the focus through the long days, tendinitis and aching carpals. I think the series is just so charged with fun and fantasy and science fiction action that, well… I just love it and am really excited to share it with everyone. So, Rift in the Races is coming super soon, and Hostiles will be right on its heels: a combined 1500 hundred pages of epic fantasy and galactic adventure!