My latest book, Downhill, became available for purchase today.
It’s the third book of four so far featuring my original character, Sean Colbeth. After spending quite a bit of time with Vasily, I think it’s kind of fun to check back in with Sean and see how life has been treating him; of course, since Downhill takes place just a few months after Vasily’s abrupt second departure from Windeport, I’m not spoiling much by saying things are… complicated… between Sean and his best friend.
For me as an author — and I’ve said this in an earlier post — I was worried about my ability to slip back inside the head of Sean; as it turned out, he was there, waiting for me, ready to set out on another adventure. Like Vasily, though, I’ve found that Sean has subtly changed as the books have continued. Some of that is me hitting my stride, knowing the characters far better now than I did at the beginning; the rest is that strange organic growth that takes place entirely out of my control. Sean, Vasily and the rest of the universe that has come to life around them seem very real to me, to the point where I let them go where they wish as I write; often, that results in compelling dialogue I’d not originally planned for, or a sudden visit to a location that winds up holding the key to something important.
Anyway — no rest for the weary! I’m currently writing a fifth book featuring Sean as part of Camp NaNoWriMo 2022; my hope is to have the novel debut sometime in 2023 (all things being equal). After that… well, Vasily has been anxiously waiting in the wings, not-so-quietly reminding me that I’ve now written two Sean books back-to-back. It appears the Deputy Chief for Rancho Linda has his own version of the Fairness Doctrine… and who am I to argue?