The Next Book, 2026

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So, if you've been paying attention to my social media updates, you'll know I'm working on a book for 2026. Well, here's a post with a few details.

The main character of the story is Odo. Yes. This is the same character from THE WIZARD'S STONE. In this story, he's all grown up and is a full-blown wizard.

The story takes place about 150 years after the events of The Wizard's Stone, making Odo roughly 170 to 180 years old. How can this be? Well, because wizards are divine creatures in my world, they don't age like normal men.

Odo will be traveling to the far north of my Fantasy world - further north than Nolangard (the homeland of the Nolans) to help a people known as the Sevedaini. Think of them as being like Slavic Vikings. There are lots of crazy names for things. Steve Fortune will have his work cut out for him (if he decides to sign on for the audiobook).

Like THE REVENANT AND THE CULT, the story has two distinct parts to it. Unlike THE REVENANT AND THE CULT, I won't be breaking up the story into two separate books. While my intentions were good with dividing THE REVENANT AND THE CULT, doing so probably cost me more than it provided a benefit. So, this next book will be bigger than some of my previous works (I think).

Right now, I'm sitting around 40,000 words, and I'm not even halfway through the adventure. So, this looks like it'll be about 80,000 words or more, with the emphasis on "or more."

The first half of the story is an adventure, culminating with a battle. The second half takes on a THE REVENANT AND THE TOMB vibe. I'm nearly finished with the battle chapters, though I've put a hold on them while I start to piece together the various fragments I've written. I'll say this: they were fun to write.

My hope is that I'll be able to release the paperback and eBook in early March. However, I did get a late start writing the book. Initially, I was working on a different story, which I had to abandon. Elements of the story did not gel, and there were some theological issues that sort of forced my hand. Changes to the core elements of the book really blunted the impact of the story. So I had to abandon it in favor of the one I'm working on right now. The consequence of this change in direction means my timeline is all messed up. I may not make March 2026. If I can't get it out by May, then I'll have to wait until October 2026 for a release. There are lots of reasons for this that I don't particularly want to get into.

The story has a couple of tie-ins to the first Odo book. It also explores magic in my Fantasy world as well as tying into other books I'll eventually write. There are some very Lovecraftian themes with this one. They'll be subtle.

The battle scene is a wild ride. Odo shows off why wizards should be feared and respected. I've really been off my game when it comes to writing. That hip replacement I had, and my shoulder issues, have really done more damage to my timeline than anything else. However, I'm back in the swing of things again, and the words are flowing. I'm going to be disconnecting from some of my "extracurricular activities" in June to focus on finishing the story. If I can get things ready to release by July, I'll be back on schedule. But, to be frank, that's a lot of words that need to get written and a lot of chapters that need to be finalized in a month. I'm a bit pessimistic about my chances.

The thing is, I don't want to just throw words on a page and call it done. I like to think through the chapters before I write them. Despite any flaws that my stories have (and some of them aren't actually flaws), I'm not just writing to sell books. Everything I'm publishing is connected in one form or another.

So, anyway, this is what's heading your way in 2026.