You might have caught the news in my newsletter, or on the socials, but I've been talking about my Secret Project here a lot, so I'm going to share it here too. It's nice to be thorough. Plus, to be fully honest, I'm still super giddy about it, and currently giddiness is translating into ongoing progress, so let's keep that going.
The Secret Project is a novel! You might have guessed that from the ever-growing word count (it's currently at about 90k, and will likely end up around 110-120,000 words). The novel grew out of my short story, Next Question, in the upcoming Chicks in Tank Tops anthology (coming January 3rd!), after Talinn and Bee took root in my brain and refused to move out post-short story.
Also, the Secret Project is a novel for Baen.
Baen! There are so many books on my shelf, by so many of my favorite storytellers, with that fabulous rocket ship logo on it... It's an incredible company, run by incredibly brilliant and delightful people, with an incredible roster of books + authors, and the idea I get to be a part of it is still pretty mindblowing. My level of excitement is Very High, is what I'm saying.
I'll share more along the way, but in the meantime if you pick up Chicks in Tank Tops (with stories by people like Esther Friesner, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Jody Lynn Nye, and David Drake, just saying, still fangirling into eternity) I'd love to hear what you think of Next Question. And what you might be hoping to see/learn in the novel...
Speaking of fantastic publishers with some of my favorite storytellers, I get to keep working with CKP! And in other exciting project news, it looks like Bill Webb and I might be close to wrapping up The Spider, and I've been working on Bryn Siegmund's Valkyries novel, soooo...
Rumor has it 2023 might truly be a rise of the Valkyries situation. Because I have a shiny novel from the fabulous Melissa Olthoff, one en route from another incredible author, a planned 4th Valkyries book with another kickass author...Yeah. We're going to have so, so much fun.
Urban fantasy with buttkicking heroines who definitely get their butts kicked in turn...The drama and shenanigans are about to embiggen, but at least the stakes aren't too high. It's just the fate of multiple dimensions, an international assassin squad, and a crime web with its sticky fingers in a little bit of everything...
NBD. (maniacal laughter goes here)
There are a few other projects in various stages - I recently turned in an outline for a new shared world extravaganza with the wonderful folks at Three Ravens Publishing, the monster anthology Tales of Monstrosity: Monsters, Myths, and Miscreants will be coming out soon, I planned out and filled all of my 2023 (oops?) - but mostly I'm working on No Longer Secret Project and Valkyries at the moment, and also being so grateful for these opportunities.
Getting to work with awesome people who are dedicated to entertaining + good storytelling isn't a given, and even on the days when words are coming out like sludge I remember how lucky I am. The world is wild. Stories help.
And so does crossing things off on my to-do list, sooooo I need to go write another couple thousand words. Ahem.
Ok thank you goodbye until next time. ;)
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