I'm hard at work on the next book

I haven't said much about my writing recently, but I'm working hard on the fifth volume of the Maxwell Saga, with the working title (which isn't yet set in stone) of 'Spark to a Flame'.  I'd hoped to have it out by last September, but as regular readers will know, a close encounter with a kidney stone pole-axed me for several months.  It took two procedures to deal with the stone, and a rather longer period of recovery than I'd hoped.  I continued to experience pain and discomfort right through the end of November.  I found that the combination of pain and pain-killers made it very difficult to write creatively in a way that satisfied my own standards - let alone those of my readers!

Another disruptive influence is that Miss D. and I have bought a house in Texas.  We've made trips down there to house-hunt, and had all the paperwork and bureaucracy of the purchase process to go through.  We hope to close on the house in early January, and move down there at the end of that month.  That, in turn, has meant a major effort to cull our belongings, get rid of all the stuff that every family accumulates (and of which I've been most guilty, having brought far too much stuff from Louisiana when we married).  We've both learned and re-learned a lot in the process, which will continue unabated for the next few weeks - then it'll be reversed as we unpack everything again!  Hopefully, there'll be a lot less to deal with by then.

Even so, I've been making time to get back to my writing.  I can't tell you how good it feels to have a brain that can function creatively once more, instead of getting bogged down in a chemical fog in order to cope with pain.  That's no fun at all!  'Spark to a Flame' is under way, and I hope to have it ready for publication early next year.  (Oleg and I will be tackling the cover together later this week.)  'Knife to the Hilt', the final volume of the Laredo Trilogy, will follow before mid-year, God willing, and I'm planning two more books for later in 2016.

Thanks for your patience.  I hope you'll be happy with the results.

Peter