Not one to rest, I dove right back in and began work on my next novel shortly after doing the first edit on the last one. Typically I would wait until the next NaNoWriMo event as an excuse for creating a new project in Scrivener, but for whatever reason, the idea for my next story featuring Vasily Korsokovach decided it wanted to be written now — and who was I to refuse?

Part of the insistence was my fear that, given I’ve written two straight books in the voice of my original main character, Sean Colbeth, I’d have a hard time recapturing the unique worldview that is Vasily. I shouldn’t have been worried, though — as you can tell from the screenshot, I’m already 15,000 words into this new work and it’s chock full of his trademark dry wit, somthing I’ve come to adore. Of course, not everything is roses and peaches for our poor Deputy Police Chief — I have to throw him a few curveballs, right? — but nothing he can’t surmount with the love of his significant other and the support of friends like Rosie Frankenhoffer.

Tentatively titled Requiem, I expect it will be out sometime next year. I know that is a long time to wait for another standalone Vasily novel; depending on how this one works out, I might be a able to promise another one right behind it. We’ll have to see how it goes…