heads up

I was determined to send my editor the entire Queen of Swords ms. today, but alas and alack, I can’t fool myself into believing that the last chapter is done.

But I did send her everything else, 198,000 words. Now I have to finish futzing with this chapter and the epilogue, and then I will be done done done.

I hope you’ve all had a good holiday (pick a holiday, any holiday) and that you haven’t forgot about me entirely. I’ll start posting again regularly as soon as I possibly can.

And finally, here’s a statement I feel I have to make.

I get email on a regular basis from people who tell me with great seriousness that they really hope that Elizabeth and Nathaniel are the main characters in this novel, and how disappointed they will be if that is not the case.

That is not the case.

I understand the attachment to Elizabeth and Nathaniel, I really do. But the story has to be told in a certain way or not told at all, and this piece of it is mostly about Hannah and Jennet and Luke. It takes place in the Caribbean and in New Orleans, and the view you get of Paradise is restricted to an occasional letter. So those of you who are going to be angry about this, maybe you can vent now and then by the time the book comes out, you’ll be prepared to enjoy it for what it is. That’s my hope, at any rate.

At some point there will be another book in the series, one that will take place in Paradise and will have Nathaniel and Elizabeth as main characters. It will also resolve Daniel’s story, and Gabriel’s. But at the moment I don’t have a contract for that book, and so it will take some thought on how best to proceed. It won’t be soon, I’m sorry to say, but it will happen. Though there be mountains and lyons in the way.