The edits on Synthesis are making progress, not fast, but I’m not in a hurry. Meanwhile, work on the rewrite of Pendulum is progressing as well. The outline is complete, and I discarded the content I want to replace and created some new scenes. But both books are “done projects”. Pendulum Rewrite is going to be a one chapter per week thing, which will go on for about a year. Synthesis has no deadlines. It’s done when it’s done, but this is just the final round of edits, and then I’ll put it up on Amazon.

Now I have another baby in the making, brand-new and shiny, and I named it 5150. This one features Daniel Collins (from Emergent) as the main character, and it plays out in the capital of the Holy State of Gilead, Memphis. I finished the outline a few days ago and started working on it. Two scenes are written so far. After the giant project Synthesis, which is pretty long, this one will be short and less complex, mainly because I only have two POV characters narrating one arc, and only a handful of locations.

Of course, things can change anytime, but my outlines are usually pretty much set in stone once I’m happy with them, and then the changes are miniscule and comprise mostly just new scenes. It can still happen that a character breaks out and takes the story on a different path, but that won’t change the fundamentals of the story.

In this book, I will look at Daniel’s past and pave the way for his future. Some time earlier, during his work for the Inquisition Office, he killed a Cascadian spy, whose wife came to help him, but caught a bullet herself. They left an orphan child, but Daniel had more pressing business and left. With things being how they are now, after what happened in Emergent, Daniel has the time to revisit his life, retrace old decisions, maybe come to terms with what he did in the past, and the special circumstances that threatened his life in Emergent are still present and hamper him in interesting ways.

5150 is a dark book, set in the most dystopian corner of the Aes Sidhe universe, and explores themes such as guilt, religion and redemption. I’ve been looking forward to revisiting Dan, even though he’s probably not that thrilled about me knocking on his door.

Anyway, this is it, the new book. With everything else I’m working on, I won’t rush to get it done. I plan to take turns writing Pendulum and Gilead, while doing edits on Synthesis, whenever I receive new feedback on that. I’ll also think about two future books, one that continues Deirdre’s story, and one that introduces another cast of characters elsewhere. When I have more than just an idea in the back of my head, I will write about these new projects here.