Progress report on the new book

Since my last progress report the new book has kept right on coming.  I'm hovering just short of 50,000 words right now, which should be about halfway.  I've sent the first draft (or should that be 'first half-draft'?) to a few alpha readers for a status check - not an in-depth beta read, more of a "Does this hang together and hold your interest, and are there any bits that scream to you that they need fixing or deleting?"  I hope to hear back from them within a few days, so that I can repair any obvious problems before I bury them under the concrete of the rest of the book.

I'm enjoying the change of pace caused by taking a break from the Maxwell series for one book.  I'll be going right back to Maxwell Volume 4 when this one's finished, hopefully with a refreshed imagination.  I can already see two or three ways in which this new book could grow into two or three volumes, and tie in to the Maxwell series several books down the road.  I may do that, or I may not - I haven't decided yet.  It's fun looking over all the possibilities.

I've also got to prepare for LibertyCon during the last weekend in June, where I'll be presenting a panel and participating in others.  If any of you are going to be in Chattanooga, TN over that weekend, drop in and say 'Hi'.  There'll be several hundred SF geeks wandering around, so you'll be in good company.

Peter