So, Here's the Thing...

Publishing dates are set for lots of different reasons. Many of those are financial or accounting-based. While The Castle Doctrine is finished (we completed our final proof and layout last night), the release date was set to 10/1 for boring accounting reasons I'm not gonna get into. And I've just learned that said reason was actually not necessary in the first place. What does that mean?

It means The Castle Doctrine is coming out tomorrow. It'll be up on 9/27, bright and early, assuming nothing goes weird on Amazon's end. The hardcopy version should be out just a few days later, and the audiobook is currently in production. This is the first full-length Faust novel since last year's Killing Floor Blues, and I'm so very excited to share it with you!

(Besides, tonight's the presidential debate. I figure everybody's going to be angry from dealing with arguments and Internet trolls all night, and you might want something cheerful to look forward to.)

(Well, for a certain value of "cheerful.")

I've had a few recurring questions about the book since Saturday's cover reveal, so here are some non-spoilery answers you might be wondering about:

This does wrap up a loose second "trilogy," like The Living End did. Not every plotline is resolved, but some things that began in A Plain-Dealing Villain will come to a definitive end, as Faust enters a new chapter of his life.

The situation involving Nadine's envelope, and the claims she made about Caitlin (staying super-vague to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't gotten that far), is not resolved. Sorry, I originally planned to, but the book was so jam-packed with other stuff there was no way to do it without giving it short shrift. Suffice to say that this will be addressed, in full, in next year's Surface Tension.

And if you've read the Revanche Cycle, somebody has a very special message, just for you. Don't worry. You'll know it when you read it.

And that's all I can tell you. I'll put up another post when the book goes live -- see you tomorrow!

Cover Reveal Time? Yes. Cover Reveal Time.

We're exactly one week from the launch of The Castle Doctrine, the sixth Daniel Faust novel, and that seems like the perfect time for an official cover reveal. And here's the synopsis:

Out of prison and back on the streets, Daniel Faust returns home to a city on fire. The Chicago mob is making their play for control of Las Vegas, with an army of gunmen and a lethal shapeshifter on their side, while Daniel's friend Jennifer marshals the forces of the Vegas underworld. Staying on the sidelines isn't an option, especially when a Metro detective orders him to get the war under control -- and if he can't, he'll expose Daniel's secrets to the FBI.

It's a bad time for ghosts of the past to come calling, but Damien Ecko is on his way with a hit list and a legion of walking corpses. Marked for death by the courts of hell, the mad necromancer plans on making sure that everyone who framed him, Daniel first and foremost, dies along with him.

Hunted by the living and the dead, pushed to his limits, Daniel will have to be smarter, faster, and more ruthless than he's ever been. He'll need to call upon new, dark powers, and darker allies. His enemies thought they took everything he had. They couldn't take his hunger. When this war is over, Daniel Faust will rise like a phoenix...or go down in flames.

Greetings from Editing Hell

So, this is a first. By the luck of timing, both The Castle Doctrine (Faust book six) and House of Wolves (Harmony book three) are in editing at the same time. This means that for the next couple of weeks, I get to spend all day, every day, confronting my shortcomings and mistakes, having every single flaw in both manuscripts pointed out by two very skilled editors whose job it is to ensure I deliver the best book I can. Yes, it is every bit as painful and ego-crushing as it sounds. These ladies do not pull their punches, nor would I ever want them to. Much like going to the dentist or working out, it might not be fun, but it's good for you.

I thought it might be interesting to write a little about the process, which is certainly not a way for me to productively procrastinate. Nope, not at all.

The Castle Doctrine is in the final round of edits, getting it ready for the October First release. This is the point where Kira delivers her final verdict on the manuscript, with every page liberally doused in red ink. Much of it is grammar/formatting tweaks; I'm fairly clean when it comes to basic typos, but if there's one thing I've learned at this point, it's that errors always slip through. Always.

Between finishing my first draft and the final, formatted book, I'll read a manuscript around six times from cover to cover. While you might think that means nothing could get past me, the truth is actually the exact opposite: once you're that familiar with a story, it becomes easier and easier to let your eyes glaze over and "see" what you think is there, not what really is. That's one reason it's so vital to have an editor or a proofreader (or both) hit your manuscript with fresh eyes, and catch all the errors that have become invisible to you.

The rest of Kira's annotations are there to catch continuity mistakes, things that stand out as illogical or jarring (or just plain cliched), and things that I take for granted but a reader might need reminding of (like if I bring back a character from four books ago and forget to say who they are). Some errors are easy to make when you're buried in a story but obvious to a reader, like a gun being empty in one scene but loaded in the next, or a character (and this is something that happened in the Harmony manuscript) being bloodied and bruised from a fight, going into a public place, and nobody glancing her way or seeming to notice. The kind of head-slapping mistakes that seem super-duper obvious when your editor calls them out, and make you wonder how you didn't see it before.

This is why writers need editors. Period.

On the Harmony end, Andrea is my developmental editor. The developmental phase isn't as concerned with typos and the nuts and bolts (that's for proofreading, the next step), focusing instead on the structure of the book itself. It's all about story: is this scene tense enough? Can we raise the stakes? What's the theme, the emotional through-line? Do the characters change and grow? Big questions that often come with big rewrites.

I'll give you an example: we're in the second round of rewrites on House of Wolves, and at this point, it's about 3,000 words longer than the original manuscript. It had a major problem in that 1) a major character vanished for half the book, and ended in a totally unfulfilling resolution, emotionally, and 2) the ending was way too easy. Now, it's important to note that telling me what to write isn't Andrea's job: she calls out scenes and elements that she thinks don't work or could be strengthened, and why. Figuring out how to fix it is my job.

Right now, we've got a completely rewritten ending, as well as new scenes throughout the book aimed at keeping the tension high and emotions on edge, and...well, it's better. A lot better. And the changes, which again seem obvious in retrospect, never would have occurred to me if I hadn't had an expert on my side to lend a guiding hand. Believe it: artists may work in solitude, but a good book is a team effort.

And we're 15 days from The Castle Doctrine, so I'd better get back to work.

"Free" is Faust's Favorite Price

Hey everybody, hope you're having a great week so far. A number of you might remember the launch of The White Gold Score, a Daniel Faust novella; because of how my writing schedule wound up, I realized it was going to be a full year between novels, and I really hated making y'all wait that long. So, I wrote it as half-apology, half a story to tide folks' appetites over until October. Oh, and when it launched, I gave it away for free, because...because I do random things like that sometimes, to my accountant's chagrin.

A lot of you have found my books in the time since, and with The Castle Doctrine one month from release, I figured it was a good time to share the wealth. So, from right now until the end of Saturday, The White Gold Score is once again free. For folks who have only read the Harmony Black or Revanche books, this novella was also written as a stand-alone introduction to the Faust series; it's technically book 1.5, but only has a couple of references to The Long Way Down and you can pretty safely dive right in.

(Well, I don't know about "safely"...)

Oh, and for everybody waiting for The Castle Doctrine's release on 10/1, you'll definitely want to have read this one. A couple of characters introduced in The White Gold Score will be making their return next month, for better or for worse. Probably worse. Almost definitely worse.

Happy Women's Equality Day!

Ninety-six years ago today saw the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Actual history, as it always is, is rather messier than that: we have records of individual women voting, here and there, as early as the late 1700s, along with (always successful) bids to outlaw and silence said voters. The fight for the Nineteenth Amendment wasn't one single groundswell that paved the way. It was a long and hard-fought battle that played out over more than a hundred years, marked with tiny victories and painful setbacks.

Isn't that crazy? The very idea that over half our population voting would be seen as controversial seems mad today, yet suffragettes faced decades of verbal and physical assault, public shaming, and even prison time for advancing the radical notion that women should have a voice in society. And they kept fighting, for the simple right to speak out, to be heard, as much as for the right to cast a ballot. As Susan B. Anthony said, "No advanced step taken by women has been so bitterly contested as that of speaking in public. For nothing which they have attempted, not even to secure the suffrage, have they been so abused, condemned and antagonized."

And here we are, in 2016, with a woman heading up the candidacy for a major political party. Now, this isn't a political post and I'm not here to tell you who to vote for, that's not my business; I'm just saying, isn't it incredible what a difference less than a hundred years can make? It wasn't time that made the change, though: it was the hard work and sacrifice of so many people, who fought and struggled and laid their livelihood and often their lives on the line to give women their due. So many of their names, lost to history now. So many of their individual sacrifices forgotten, even though we benefit from them today, every single day.

So here's a toast to the suffragettes, then and now, and the spirit of freedom. The spirit of this nation I love, where I'm free to make my art and tell my stories in part because of those brave sacrifices. There's still work to be done, but there's nothing wrong with a little celebration now and then.

Queen of the Night -- Now on Audio!

It's surprise new audiobook release day! (A surprise to me too, because I never know when they're gonna go live). The audiobook adaptation of Queen of the Night, final book of the Revanche Cycle, is live on Audible and voiced by the ever-talented Susannah Jones. And just to celebrate, the e-book version of Winter's Reach (book one of the series) is free on Amazon all weekend long.

(BTW, it's Whispersynced, so you can grab that free e-book, then go over to Audible and get the audiobook version for something like two bucks. Have I mentioned how much Susannah's work amazes me? Seriously, check her out.)

I know my readership is a little divided; some folks only like the Faust/Black novels (or just one or the other), some folks only like the Revanche books, and some (bless you) read 'em all. Whether you read the print version or go for audio, people in that last category will definitely want to get caught up before The Castle Doctrine drops on October 1st. Why? Oh, you'll see. It'll be October, after all. Witching season. Lots of strange things afoot...

(And stay tuned -- before 10/1, I'll be running a short free giveaway of The White Gold Score, for the folks who missed it the first time around. I'm just finalizing what day it'll happen on.)

One Million Words

Between polishing the draft of The Castle Doctrine before it goes to my editor next week, and finishing the manuscript for House of Wolves before deadline, I'm a teeny-tiny bit swamped right now. That said, a chance calculation just stopped me in my tracks: as of the release of Queen of the Night, I have a little over one million words in print.

One million. Wow. That's a big number. Technically it's nothing significant, no different from 999,000 or 1,001,000, but something in the human brain is wired to find Significant Numbers interesting. It's a pretty cool milestone -- and reflecting on the journey so far, all the way back to The Long Way Down -- it's been a hell of a ride.

Now I'm going for two million.

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me. A writer is nothing without readers, and you're what keeps me going. Okay, reflection break is over, back to work.

Urban Allies is Here!

Today's a pretty great day, for a Tuesday. Urban Allies, an anthology of ten all-new urban fantasy stories, has just gone live. And there's a twist! Each story was collaboratively written by two authors, bringing their main characters together for the first time. Including the story "Sweet, Blissful Certainty," which unites Steven Savile's Cadmus Damiola (from the forthcoming Glass Town) with...I don't know, some dude named Craig Schaefer, and his "Daniel Faust" character? Anyway, I hear it's okay.

I wouldn't suggest you pick up the book for just one story; fortunately, I don't have to, because this thing is packed with coolness. There's a team-up between Kelley Armstrong and Seanan McGuire. Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden. Carrie Vaughn and Diana Rowland. The first thing I did this morning was buy a copy for myself, because I've been super-excited to read this thing.

This was my first time collaborating with another author, and a wonderful learning experience. I'm pretty amazed to be in such great company, too.

In other news, I'm working hard on House of Wolves, the third Harmony Black novel, and it'll be off to my editor in a couple of weeks. The Castle Doctrine is in editing now, and we are absolutely on track for an October First release. And if you haven't read The White Gold Score yet, don't -- between now and then I'll be running another free giveaway, for everybody who missed it when it first came out.

And now, back to work. Talk to you soon!

Looking Back on ThrillerFest and NYC

I’m flying home on an early morning shuttle, LaGuardia to O’Hare, after almost a week in New York. Can you fall in love, in less than a week? Less than a day? Terminal romanticism has always been my greatest weakness, and NYC blindsided me. This city moves fast.

I was in town for ThrillerFest 2016, the official convention of the ITW (International Thriller Writers). I’d been eyeing the con for a few years now, but that good old inner critic kept me home; I couldn’t possibly show my face at a pro convention until I was a “real” writer, you know? Then I finally sat down and said, “I’m a full-time author who’s written over ten novels. If I’m not ‘real’ now, I never will be.” Call it a rare moment of clarity. That, and confronting my own introverted nature and forcing myself out of my comfort zone.

(Hint: that big scary world outside your comfort zone? There’s a lot of fun stuff there, just waiting for you to find it. If I can do it, you can too.)

I needn’t have worried. ThrillerFest is a beacon for writers at all levels of experience, and the cooperative, supportive ethos was evident from the opening reception. All these writers in one room, sharing their experiences, their stories, and everyone was welcome. I was able to rub elbows with veterans I’ve admired for decades, legends of the field, and offer some advice to a few aspiring pros (I hope I was able to help!).

I met Lawrence Block. Lawrence Block, y’all. The Matthew Scudder series, the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, the dude who’s been a legendary writer longer than I’ve been alive, that Lawrence Block. When I was younger (a lot younger) his book Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print was an ever present, dog-eared presence on my nightstand. I told myself I wouldn’t fanboy, that I’d be cool and calm and collected. I lie to myself sometimes. Fortunately, he took my babbling in good stead and was incredibly gracious.

No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn

I might be babbling now, for that matter. Haven’t slept much since I arrived. Part of that is the swing of a great convention, wine parties, the kind of good company that makes you hate to say goodnight.

The other half is the beds at the Grand Hyatt. Let’s just say, as much as I'm sad to be going back home, my back aches for the comfort of my memory foam mattress. Literally aches.

The convention was wall-to-wall panel discussions, with some great programming and well-informed presenters. There were discussions on methods of building suspense, the use of horror (and it’s close cousins, shock and dread), technical discussions about legal jurisdictions, Federal agencies and all the elements that make up a good thriller. And that’s just the starting point; my notes are many and diverse, and I think I found a few gems to bring home with me.

Parting was bittersweet, but the best part of the trip was yet to come.

Shooting on Location

The other aim of my visit was to get a feel for the city, putting together background material for The Secret Trilogy. No, I can’t talk about it just yet; soon, though. I had the best of tour guides in the form of Susannah Jones, who you may know as the narrator for the Revanche Cycle audiobooks (and more — hopefully many more — to come). We walked the streets of the West Village on down to the Hudson, taking in the sights, drinking the atmosphere.

See, I had a thematic notion, the symbolism of the Crossroads of the World being the perfect starting point for this new story. Turns out it’s not the perfect place, it’s the only place. I went into Writer Mode, and saw the ghosts of chapters yet to be written play out on those mist-touched streets, just before a rainstorm came rumbling through. 

I could tell you about a candlelit dinner at at a little Italian restaurant called Cotenna, or a cop with no badge standing on the steps of a twenty-million-dollar brownstone in the West Village. Or a furtive and fateful rendezvous at a small, rustic bar in the lobby of the High Line Hotel, where dangerous decisions will be made. Instead, I’ll just have to show you. It won’t be long; I feel like my heart is bursting and the only cure is to get these words out on the page.

I’m writing a love story, with bullets and razor blades and a one-way drive to the end of the world.

I think part of the writer’s condition is to fall helplessly in love with people who don’t exist. You feel the pangs of longing, just as if you’d seen them in the flesh from across a smoky room, but you’ll never take them home. All you can do is tell their stories, and try to dream up a worthier partner than you, the one they really deserve.

We’re getting ready to land now, coming down from a rocky sky, and there’s an hour of road between my suitcase and my front door. Already wish I was back in New York. But I’m driving home with a bagful of memories that will tide me over until my next visit, and that’s the best I can do.

Queen of the Night is Live!

Good morning, everybody! I'm pleased to announce that Queen of the Night, the final book of the Revanche Cycle, is live. The ebook is out now, and the paperback version should be available in a couple of days. Audio is coming soon; Susannah Jones is going into the recording studio in just a couple of weeks.

This is a pretty special one. True, it's a less-popular story compared to the Daniel Faust and Harmony Black novels, and a departure from my usual style, but it holds a place in my heart -- and this is the first time I've had to actually finish a series, wrapping everything up and coming in for a landing. I learned so much in the creation of the Revanche Cycle, from start to finish, and it's experience I'll be happy to bring to my other series. I hope you enjoy it! I'll warn you, this one's kind of a rough ride (but then again, if you've read the first three, you already know that...)

If you haven't read 'em, that's cool too. You might be more interested to hear that I'm almost done with the first draft of The Castle Doctrine, the sixth Daniel Faust novel, and we're still on track for an October release. Daniel's headed for his final showdown with the Chicago Outfit and Damien Ecko -- at the same time, no less -- and the situation is explosive. Literally. There are explosives involved. Once that's done, it's back to work on House of Wolves, third in the Harmony Black series. I don't have a firm release date for that one yet, beyond my publisher wanting the manuscript ASAP (it's outlined and the rough draft is halfway done), but I should know more in a couple of months.

I hope you're having a great summer! Stay safe, stay cool, and I'll talk to you soon.