I’m steadily chipping away at Shield of Souls, the first Necrolopolis novel. According to my projected word and chapter count, I should’ve been at the midpoint by now. It’s a tectonic moment in the book and the greater series, and the events of that midpoint are set in stone. I know they’re happening. I know how they’re happening. I’m setting everything up to make those events hit, and hit hard.

The problem is, I haven’t gotten there yet! New scenes keep writing themselves into existence, with me merely as the conduit. And while some of them can be trimmed and tightened, I don’t think the story that actually wants to be told can exist without those scenes.

So…the book grew a little longer this week, both in words actually written and in words that still need to be written. That’s good for the characters, and I believe it will be good for the readers in the end. It will break some generally accepted advice within the industry, though…

• Debut novel in a new(ish) series (not counting the short stories)
• Hard-to-define genre (I like to see it as epic fantasy in dark fantasy trappings, but…)
• Longer than 100,000 words (by a good stretch)

I attended a workshop class on series writing hosted by Jonathan Maberry yesterday, and it was fantastic. Answered some questions I’d been kicking around, affirmed some things I was already doing, and gave me some new ideas and avenues to pursue. Well worth the time and the money to charity ($50 is a pittance for the level of education provided). I look forward to his next one! Follow him on Facebook to see the next time he’ll be teaching a class. He typically does several each year, all worth it.

One of the things he brought up in that was the conventional wisdom given to newer authors trying to break out either in traditional or indie publishing. His first Joe Ledger novel had many of those same “issues” and he was told there was no way it would get accepted or succeed by many.

And, well, you can see what happened.

That isn’t to say Shield of Souls will walk the same path to success. By no means. What I am trying to say is you need to be true to the story you’re intending to tell. If that means it’s a 75,000 word urban fantasy where every one of those words earns its place and no more needs to be said, great! If it means your story is a 200,000 word epic where every one of those words earns its place and no more needs to be said, great!

The story will let you know. It’s your job as the writer to make sure each of those words earn their place.

Like this character here, looming down from the sky. Uluran the ghost. Adelvell Brightmere’s first familiar. If you’ve read any of my Necrolopolis stories, you’ve likely encountered her. Anyway, I didn’t think she was going to be in this novel. I didn’t think there was space for her, not with the other characters, not with the tightly plotted epic-moment to epic-moment clashes with little room to breathe I had planned in my outline.

Then…I started a chapter with Edurne (the pale blue ice girl) by the waterfront. I wasn’t supposed to. My outline said I needed to begin this chapter with Adelvell at Mad Molly’s tavern, catching up on the month’s events with his friends Ferryman and Mortus (god of the dead) before the next main event walks in the door and it’s time to mobilize and head out. And I’m writing that now, as the next chapter.

This chapter, instead, begins with Edurne talking to her dead and passed-on brother about her struggles fitting into Necrolopolis, about her struggles with the most mundane tasks (due to her frostbitten hands), and how useless she feels. It could’ve been a dark, borderline navel-gazing moment. And then…Uluran pops in to say hi. And a whole different sort of scene (and chapter) plays out that I had no intention to write. With characters I didn’t think would fit in the story.

But, fit they do. Fit, they must. Stories and characters are funny like that, at times!

Anyway, time to get B.E.N.T.! We’re days away from Null Pointer Exception, but fear not! If you can’t to read another B.E.N.T. novel and haven’t had the chance to read Hunters Hunted by Gustavo Bondoni, now’s your chance!

Vernon’s powers are only skin deep.

Fortunately, when you have skin like Vernon’s, whose BENT-powered epidermis can feed him, allow him to breathe underwater and shrug off bullets—among other innumerable wonders—you don’t really need to go much deeper.

But Vernon is a man on a mission, and that mission is revenge. He wants to hit the Triads, the masters of Chinese organized crime, hard enough to end their reign of terror, and his skin, no matter how powerful it makes him, simply isn’t built for speed. He can’t work fast enough; as soon as he destroys a Triad installation, they build it back up.

So he needs help. Maia’s BENT is teleportation, and that completely changes the entire ballgame. If only he can convince her to come out of retirement.

When he finds her, however, they’re both roped into an operation that promises to give them what they want most… But at a price.

Someone is going to get BENT. The only question remaining is who… And how badly.

Null Pointer Exception — 02/27/26

It’s all or nothing.

Billy Pointer is but one of the trainees sent to Camp Peary, a CIA facility known as “The Farm,” to participate in a new initiative aimed at responding to potential BENT threats internationally. As he learns the art of espionage, he struggles to reconcile his morals and ethics against the nature of the career he has chosen.

Things only get more complicated when he is injured on his first assignment, revealing that he has a Bend of his own. Now, the major powers in the BENT world are interested in using his newfound ability to aid them in realizing their own purposes and goals.

Everyone wants him on their side. Everyone has a point to make. Nobody is willing to work with anyone who is not on their side. Billy’s loyalties to his country, friends, employer, and what he thinks is right are tested. It doesn’t help at all that, in his naivety, he wants to believe everyone at face value — that everyone wants to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, reality has a way of making itself known.

As Billy learns some hard lessons, he realizes that he has some equally hard choices to make.

On the Wings of a Weeping Angel — 03/27/26

TBlaze doesn’t just kill.
It turns its victims into Weeping Angels.
When it takes Robbie’s daughter, his life ends—and his war begins.

Backed by outlaw bikers, street-level vigilantes, and a barely controlled Bend, Robbie storms Chicago’s criminal underworld. From the Sisters of Midnight to the Violet Syndicate’s brutal super-powered cage fights, he hunts the monsters who built an empire on suffering.

Outgunned. Outmatched. Fueled by rage.
Every fight pushes him closer to his limits… and closer to vengeance.

Step into a gritty, high-octane superhero revenge thriller where pain is power, mercy is weakness, and justice is written in blood.