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I am told that readers like updates on my work, so here’s one.  I’ve just sent the manuscript for my next novel, The Darkening Green, off to my editor.  That bad boy is done.  At least for now.  The edits and tweaks will come later, but I am very happy with what I’ve done.  Right now the book is vaguely slated for spring of 2011, and I will be posting more updates soon.  In the meantime, let’s just say that this is a very different sort of book for me.  In some ways, I’m still grappling with economic history – the background is the Luddite uprisings in England in the early 19th century – really the first organized resistance to the industrial revolution.  To some extend the book is interested in how technological progress, for all the good it has brought, also destroyed countless lives, and ways of life, all over England and later the world.  On the other hand, the book flaunts more famous people than I usually like to work with – in this case, William Blake and Lord Byron.  It also has a female protagonist, and it represents a move into an entirely different genre.  I like to think of it as historical urban fantasy.  It was also a blast to write, and I can’t wait to get it into the hands of readers.

And now, Anthony Trollope -like, I will immediately being work on something else.  No breaks for me.

Meanwhile, it is time to catch up on some old news I should have posted earlier.  First of all, swell pal and brother of the book-writing business, Mark Haskell Smith, has recently published an article about his research at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.  And here I am, like a sucker, researching 19th century Nottingham.  Many of you may know that I’m a big fan of Mark’s whacked-out brand of hilarious crime fiction — I have even used his novel Moist as a teaching text for a creative writing class.  I read a very early draft of his forthcoming novel, Baked, and I am super-psyched to read the finished book.

watchlistBut enough of praising other people.  Let’s talk more about me.  I somehow missed the pub date, but now available for you to purchase is Watchlist: A Serial ThrillerWatchlist is comprised of two multi-author projects that were previously only available as audiobooks: The Chopin Manuscript, in which I do not have a chapter, and The Copper Bracelet, in which I do.  22 authors were involved in this thing, and it was a blast to contribute along with some of the biggest names in thriller-writing.   The real stars of the show are Jeff Deaver, who begins and ends each book, and  Jim Fusilli, who heroically edited the projects – both great guys, by the way.  Here’s the whole list of everyone involved.  Many of them are my friends.  One of them is my blood enemy, and I will have my revenge.

Jeffery Deaver
Linda Barnes
Brett Battles
Lee Child
David Corbett
Joseph Finder
Jim Fusilli
John Gilstrap
James Grady
David Hewson
David Liss
Gayle Lynds
John Ramsey Miller
P.J. Parrish
Ralph Pezzullo
MJ Rose
S.J. Rozan
Lisa Scottoline
Jenny Siler
Erica Spindler
Peter Spiegelman

2 Responses to “”

  1. Shyama says:

    Which one is the blood enemy? 🙂

    I can’t wait to read your new book, the concept sounds really exciting!

  2. Rovi Scolari says:

    I like the title of the new book. Lots of well earned luck to you!

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