Once again, it’s been a little while since my last blog post. It’s a tough juggling act between writing, real life and marketing my writing (by doing appearances and writing blog posts).

The biggest writing news for me has been the release of The Pitchfork of Destiny by Jack Heckel in paperback. I’ve been really pleased with the initial sales, and I’m happy about the appearances I’ve made with it. In particular, I had a great time at RavenCon in Richmond, VA (thank you, Fountain Bookstore!) and my co-author, John, had a fantastic experience at the Phoenix Comic-Con.

On the Jack Heckel front, John and I finished the first book in a new series, entitled The Dark Lord. The first draft came in at 107,000 words, but I’m sure we’ll cut some material and it will probably come in around 90,000 ish when all is done. It’s an interesting tale of a graduate student at a mystical university who is forced to experience the tropes of an epic fantasy story while traveling to another world. Oh, and he’s got to save his thesis as well, which involves saving that world, which would be easy, except he happens to have been “The Dark Lord.” Like The Charming Tales, it should be amusing, however, it’s more for a teenage audience than The Charming Tales.

Speaking of Prince Charming, I had a wonderful talk with an agent, who encapsulated what I write as “adult literature that’s accessible to children.” I really needed that because it helped me understand our place in the world. I’ve received a lot of excitement from 10 and 11 year olds who have read the books as well as from adults (especially those who’ve read fairy tales recently). I hope our readership can continue to grow. As always, reviews are my life blood.

So, a funny thing happened at RavenCon. I was doing a reading, and I decided to take some questions from my small audience. One of the questions that I received was “So when is the next Crimson Hawks novel coming out?”

Oh, James Markson, who did you pay to set me up?

I’ve been close to having book 2 of the Crimson Hawks come out for a while now, but I need to spend some time finishing it. I am going public with my desire to release it before the end of the summer, and preferably around the end of July. I want to do a new edition of the first book with some minor changes, a new title and a new cover. I’d like the release the next one immediately on its heels.

I’ll continue to keep writing and attempt to do a better job with the updates. I hope everyone is well.