My Other Works (Finished, In Progress, and Planned)

When I tell people that I had a book published last year they instinctively ask me the title. When I tell them its called The Ascension Legacy I don't stop just there. I am quick to add that it was just the first book in a six book series. In fact, the first book's full title is The Ascension Legacy - Book 1: The Shamed Ranger but that seems like a mouthful to say during a casual conversation.

Well, as you might imagine, upon hearing that it is a series of books the next question I get without fail is "When will the next be available?"

The answer that question is a bit complicated. All 6 books are written but are in different stages of publication at any given time. For example, as I write this blog post book 2 (The Ascension Legacy - Book 2: A Legend Confirmed) is at the printers and should be released to retail very soon. Book 3 (The Ascension Legacy - Book 3: A Hidden King Found) is at my publisher in the early stages of editing and typesetting, one of the first steps in getting everything ready for print. Books 4, 5, and 6 (A Fallen Hero, Conquest & Conflict, and The King Revealed respectively) are still in my hands being privately edited and fine tuned before being submitted to my publisher Newman Springs Publishing. As book 3 progresses through the various steps and nears its own release then book 4 will begin its journey from me to you and so on.

But my work is not limited to only this series. In fact, I have several other books at various levels of development with plans to see many, hopefully all, of them published eventually. The timing of when those other works get published is based on a combination of factors really but in a worst-case scenario I see at least one book a year being published until they are all available for public consumption and ridicule.

What other books do I have? Well, that's going to be a lot to take in so I hope you're ready. Below is a list of books that I am working on in some form or another. Feel free to reach out to me on my social media pages (Facebook & Twitter) to tell me if there is one of these books in the list that jump out at you that you'd like to see sooner rather than later and I'll see what I can do.

(Note: the works below do not have working titles or expected titles listed to avoid confusion/conflicts with other works that may be released between now and the time I publish my works.)

1. A 1 book space adventure that follows an ex-military turned bounty hunter space captain and her crew. They take on a job with a personal connection to their bounty only to discover not everything is as it seems and there are greater personal connections with this job than the crew first realized. When the job goes sideways, the crew are forced to fight for their survival even when the odds are stacked against them.
1. This manuscript is largely finished aside from some fine tuning that I continue to do to improve the overall quality of writing. Right now, this is the first book I plan to publish once all books in my Ascension Legacy series have been released.
2. A 1 book science fiction novel that attempts to blend history with time travel. The plot focuses on a post-WWII world where the Nazis won with the assistance of their very real and documented secret weapons programs but some of those same programs have such little documentation that they are included in some interesting conspiracy theories. Those conspiracy theories mixed with both history that was and history that could have been come together to create mind and time bending experience from a different perspective than most books.
1. This book is largely finished aside from some fine tuning, much like the space adventure book above. I have contemplated publishing it first after my current series is finished but I think the space book will appeal to a larger audience
3. A 1 book spin-off from The Ascension Legacy series that follows a character from the next generation of adventurers in a post-Ascension Legacy world. I don't want to say too much about it as it may provide spoilers for the remaining books in the series that haven't been published yet. Just know that it is connected to the world created in the series but is largely a standalone story.
1. I'm still writing this one. To date, I'd say its only 20-25% finished. I know what I want the story to be and the overall arc I want to follow but there is still a lot of writing to be done. And then there's the post-writing editing that has to take place before I can even consider publishing.
4. A 1 book spin-off from The Ascension Legacy series that explores a dark time in the history of Corsallis. Book 1 talks about the rise of the Black Dragon and the aftermath it had on the magical laws and practices of the land. This book will tell the story of the rise of the Black Dragon in detail and the bigger impact it had on the land and people of Corsallis.
1. This one is still in the planning phase. I have a good concept for what I want but writing hasn't started yet. After writing the complete Ascension Legacy series and starting on the first spin-off I decided to mix things up a bit to give me a break and ended up writing two unrelated stories.
5. Superheroes are real and live among us. Nobody knows how superheroes are created or born but know that they exist. So far science has had no explanation for their existence or superhuman abilities but one prominent geneticist on the verge of solving the riddle. But before he can made his findings public, the man of science comes under attack from an unexpected source who are hellbent on stopping his research and stopping the truth about superhumans from becoming public knowledge.
1. I've started this one and had completed a good portion of writing but scrapped it in favor of starting over. I know the plot I want to use and the general story I want to tell but the first draft lacked the pace and level of excitement that I wanted to convey. This will probably be the next one I complete after the ones I'm working on already.
6. A space murder mystery. Inspired by the popular game from 2020 Among Us, the book revolves around a crew of a spaceship that find themselves living with a murderer as their friends and colleagues begin dying under mysterious circumstances. Will the crew survive the trip? Will the murderer be caught? Nobody knows but all they can do is their duty onboard the ship as they try to watch their own backs while suspicion and distrust among them grows.
1. The rough draft is around 75-80% complete. The final few chapters are all that remain and then I can start the process of editing and tweaking. This has been my primary writing focus for the past few months.
7. My twist on Interview with a Vampire. Vampires as society understands them are fictional but there are those among the population that are ancient in age who have survived millennia by consuming the blood of others. Where did they come from? How does blood sustain them? Are they a threat to the population? All these questions and more are answered as the oldest of the "vampires" gives an intimate interview to hunter in the Middle Ages that had been tasked by the early church leaders to verify the rumors of "eternals" and slay them as an affront to church beliefs.
1. This one is very early in the developmental stages. One of my more recent concept plots that have not been explored or fleshed out much beyond the high level idea though I am excited to explore this one as I think my approach to the history of the "eternals" will be unique and interesting to readers.
8. A crime fighter novel that is set in a dark, gritty modern city that is dealing with a pretty nasty crime problem. The criminal underworld has rallied around a lone individual that seems to be more capable and ruthless than anyone else in the city and has ambitions to rule over the city as the ultimate crime lord. His endeavors though are challenged by the city's newest vigilante.
1. This one is still pretty early. I have the rough concept but I'm still working out some of the finer plot details in my notes and looking at ways to tell the story consistent with how I want it to go without being obvious where I hope to have twists.
9. A different space age book where humanity has left Earth to live among the stars but hasn't really ventured out much beyond our own orbit and the moon. Different factions have evolved among the groups of fledgling space dwellers who each have their own interests in the world left behind.
1. This one I've started but only gotten maybe 10% done with. Other ideas have been more appealing to me lately so I have focused my attention on those stories over this one. The plot is largely set but the longer it sits the more time I have to adjust my goals for it so who knows where it may end up.
10. A post-apocalyptic crime story reminiscent of Judge Dredd type stories.
1. That's pretty much it so far, that's as far as I've gotten. I know I want to do it but don't have much in the way of a plot concept, character concepts, or anything yet. I just have some notes to remind me later to circle back to this concept to see what happens.
11. A non-fiction collaboration with my wife to discuss the different perspectives of raising an autistic child and the impacts of the challenges that such a diagnosis had on us individually as well as a couple. Raising children is hard normally and can add a lot of stress and strain on relationships and even one's own mental health. Raising a child with a disability is no different, perhaps even more straining for some. Have four children, one with autism, we had our fair share of stress and in talking with parents of other children with disabilities it seems that we were not alone even though at times we felt we were. Our hope is that by telling our stories that we can help individuals and couples from feeling alone in their challenges and suffering some of the same problems those feelings caused us.
1. We've started writing but when it is a collaborative effort with more than one writer it is challenging. My wife's schedule doesn't have as much time for writing compared to mine so I'm able to write more often than her but don't want to get too far ahead and have things get out of sync or lose perspective. Something tells me this will be a work in progress for a while that will be a passion project that we take on in spurts as our schedules allow. I would love to see this come together sooner but our lives are not always conducive to the dependencies such collaborations demand.

And there you have it. In addition to the 6 books I've written for The Ascension Legacy series, I have 11 more books either written, being written, or waiting to be written. And who knows, I may be struck with inspiration later today and add another to the list. When I first started writing I only had plans for The Ascension Legacy series. Nothing else. No spin-offs. No space adventures. Nothing about time travel. Nothing else. It was going to be the story of Riorik and Nordahs and that was it. But once I started writing that story, I realized that I enjoyed writing, even if I'm not very good at it, and that I had other stories that I wanted to tell. From there, the list of potential books started to grow and continues to grow to this day. By the time I decide to stop writing there may be a dozen more books out there with my name on 'em. Whether or not anybody buys them or reads them may be a whole different story but at least the books will be there.