Annie Bellet

Book 7 of The Twenty-Sided Sorceress is out in the world, and now I get to think about what is next.  First, to answer to main question I’ve been getting: Magic to the Bone ties up the Samir storyline more or less, but it is hardly the end of stories for Jade Crow and her friends.

So… what’s next? ALL the things. Here’s a list, by no means set in stone, of what I’m going to be working on over the next year.

The next 20sided book will be a side novel and I think from the cover there you can guess whose story it is. It’ll follow Harper as she deals with the events of the previous books and has her own adventures in the world of gaming conventions and tournaments.  I’m loosely aiming for this book to come out late summer or early fall of this year.

Book 8 is coming, as well, but likely not until the winter of 2016. It’s set chronologically after book 7, of course, but will have its own stand-alone story with Jade and company.  Here’s the cover for that one (it’s one of my favorites and should be a blast to write, since this plot is going to be balls-to-the-wall gamer fun):

Notice how those things are loosely set to come out later this year? That’s because, for the sake of sanity, the quality of my work, and my health, I’m doing a couple things differently going forward. First is… I am not going to set deadlines or release dates until a work is pretty much done and ready. My doctors (and my husband) have demanded I reduce stress, so… deadlines are out the window.  Another thing I’m going to do is take a break from writing 20sided books for a few months. I have other series I started, other ideas I’m dying to work on, and I want to make sure I’m writing books because I’m ready to write them and not just because people want them now now now.

Here are the non-20sided things I’m going to work on this year. I’m pretty excited about them and hope my readers will be also (and if you are on my mailing list, you might get to read some of this stuff for free, just saying…)

First up is Brood Mother, the 5th Gryphonpike Chronicles novella.  I feel pretty confident saying it’ll be out in June or July because it’s half done already. It’s another fairly stand-alone adventure with Killer and her group. If you like D&D-inspired epic fantasy, then give that series a shot. First novella is free.

The big project this year will be getting going again on the Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division series. The first book, Avarice, has a beautiful new cover. My plan is to work on books 2 and 3 (they are outlined but not begun quite yet) and release once I have both done so I can make sure to release in a reasonable time frame. Each of those books will stand more or less on its own also, as they are mysteries at their core. Think Law&Order but with sword fights.  Below are the covers for the three books in the series I’m planning on working on this year (book 1 is, obviously, already done and out if you want to read it).

So… there’s my plan for the next year or so. I also have book 2 of the Cymru that Was duology about 70% finished, but I am not sure if I’ll get to it, so I’m making no promises on that one. I might finish it right after Brood Mother, though, since it would be good to finally finish that. That might not happen until 2017, however.  I can’t answer how many 20sided books there will be right now, because I don’t know. What I do know is that the next few will be stand-alone stories without a huge over-arching plot. I definitely know the very end of Jade’s story, but there might be more stories I want to tell before that.  I have at least two side character novels planned as well, plus I might spin off Alek’s sister and her crew into a whole different series (she’s so different from Jade, she’d let me write some really cool stuff that just wouldn’t fit with Jade’s story). I’m going to follow my muse on this and write until I don’t have ideas that I feel are worth sharing. When Jade is ready for the end, I’ll know, and wrap it up.

Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me through this crazy journey. The last couple years have been a lot of fun and I hope to keep the crazy roller-coaster flying along. The support and awesomeness of all my readers are what make this even possible. You peeps kick so much ass. Thank you.