Big plans for 2021
All plans are subject to change of course, but assuming I can keep my schedule in tact, I have several books in the works to release this year. After slowing down considerably the past couple months, I’m ready to dive into January and get started on the first of a dozen new works.
Among those dozen are four children’s tales, a trilogy of fantasy stories, an alternate history novel, an adventure/revenge novel, and three Bible commentary books.
In terms of children’s tales: In February, I hope to complete a children’s story, THE TROLL WHO CHOSE TO READ. By the end of May I expect to finish 20K LIGHTYEARS FROM EARTH. In late-July I expect to finish FROGGY WENT A-COURTIN’. And in September I hope to complete BILLY RICHMOND AND THE APPLIANCE WARS. More details on all of those are forthcoming. Preliminary work is well-underway for THE TROLL , and I’ve got a fair bit of early work already done on 20K , as well as a rough outline of both FROGGY and BILLY RICHMOND.
And then there’s the next trilogy of stories in the CENTURY OF WIND, FIRE, AND WATER series. Book four, entitled A BOLD NEW WORLD, will hopefully be done around early May. Book five, entitled, STORM CLOUDS GATHER, is expected to be finished around mid-July. The last book in the second trilogy, DOWNPOUR, will hopefully finish around late-September. There are a total of four trilogies in the story and the second takes place about twenty years after book three, meaning a lot of new characters and stories happening in a very changed world.
A pair of stand-alone novels are also in the work, with one I’m already a few chapters into. I’d say more about it but these are crazy times and people are censoring stuff left and right, so I’m just going to leave it a mystery (perhaps never to be revealed) what I’m working on right now. Moving on…
The last novel I have planned for 2021 is DISHONORED, a revenge/adventure set in an alternate history version of ancient Feudal Japan. The story is set in a culture where honor can be stolen through evil actions and the only way to reclaim one’s honor is for justice to be done. When you are wronged, it is not the criminal that becomes dishonored, but you. In this story, a young prince escapes the brutal killing of his royal family members, and hides away in seclusion on an island home to people outcast and condemned by the rest of their people. He plots his revenge while the traitor who betrayed his father seizes power and begins invading neighboring kingdoms and expanding his hold on power. The tale is a sort of a superhero origin story told through the prism of a classic Japanese revenge tale. I’m really really excited about it and have been sketching character designs and mapping out the plot for the past several months. By the time I sit down to write, I’ll have done more preliminary work on it than any book since the second Kingdom of Arthur story. I expect to have it done by mid-November, Lord willing.
Finally, having completed my New Testament commentary series in 2020, I now turn my attention back to the Old Testament. Verse by verse notes on DANIEL, EZEKIEL, and LAMENTATIONS are on the docket for this year, with Daniel hopefully done in late-February, Ezekiel done in early November, and Lamentations finished in early December. It’s going to be another decade before I’m done with the whole Bible, but it’s a worthy goal to press toward.
That’s my 2021, but if 2020 has taught me anything it’s that plans are most definitely subject to change!