Current writing work...

[seawasp]

Since this is one of the things people know me best for, an update on my works in progress:

1) The Wanderer: this is the story of the legendary and oddball wizard seen briefly in the Phoenix books, somewhat more in the Godswar dualogy, and mentioned and (likely, but not certainly) seen in the Spirit Warriors trilogy. Those familiar with my longer tenure online, especially back in the Usenet days, would know the Wanderer is also a self-insert character; he originated as a character based on myself dropped into a Middle-Earth setting. Given the recent popularity of isekai and LitRPG fic, telling his story seemed to be sort of the distillation of the concept -- an author and gamer dropped literally into their own world. My beta-readers seemed to think it sounded interesting, and once I started I found the story taking shape rather quickly. This takes place a few Chaoswars prior to the other three stories set on Zarathan, and so it's interesting to explore the earlier version of the world in some detail. In this book we also get a much closer look at the Way of the Eight Winds (which has only been a more background detail) and at Elyvias, a section of Zarathan I've used for games but until now only mentioned in passing in the books. I'm up to about Chapter 65 and heading toward the climactic confrontation of the book. 

2) The Impractical Quest: In the second book of The Spirit Warriors, Move and Countermove, Xavier Ross spends a few important chapters with some temporary companions, one of them being a bilarel (essentially an ogre equivalent) who is seeking a way to become a true wizard. I came to like the character, Enochlis, enough that I ended up deciding to write his story. I think it's going to end up being an actual novel, and I'm quite a few chapters in now. It's mostly in the vein of what are being called "Cosy fantasy", in that most of it isn't concerned with the usual Adventuring antics (in fact, the main character has a chance to be an Adventurer and, unlike the other major characters we know, firmly rejects that idea, even though he could do quite well at it). It's much more about finding oneself than about battling bad guys.

3) Light of Reason: Now that I finished all three of the Zarathan stories relevant to my overarching plot, I have finally started writing Jason Wood's next book in earnest. This starts with the short story "Bait and Switch" and will include a few more of his adventures; I have just finished the section titled "Burnout" which, in addition to Jason's main case/investigation of the section, also introduces his new employees and addresses a problem that had started to become noticeable towards the end of Paradigms Lost but that I'd actually set up by the end of the second section of that book. I admit I was a bit hesitant about it at first, afraid that I wouldn't get Jason's voice back, but after a bit I started hearing him again. 

Following these, some future work will probably include the next book in the Arenaverse, and the next in the Ethical Magical Girl series. 

In addition, I'm working with my wife Kathleen on her "Fall of Veils" series. She does most of the writing, though I have one character that's mine to write, and I also serve as a sounding board/advisor in the rest of it.