I figured I’d give a quick update on the next book, as I like to chart my writing progress weekly if I can.
As the main story (the Elizabeth and Steve tale) is being written, I keep being flooded with ideas that work really well within the strange world where it takes place. It’s not a location that readers have seen yet. Still, the story is already ten pages longer than the Erzulyn main event short story from the first anthology. Honestly, by the time this one is said and done, it is probably going to be the size of my previous novels’ title stories.
That being said, I already have one short story written. When paired together, these two tales will equal the length and match the format of all previous non-anthology books. Essentially, this is becoming more of a Side Quest book ala Fenrik 1984 than an anthology. However, I must fit in one more story, regardless. It’s a story that has to be told before I get to Book IV, which is next on the docket.
So, I will still probably label this an anthology, even though it will have three stories instead of the 5-to-7 I shoot for with an anthology collection.
As for the other stories I had planned, here is the rundown I posted on Discord over the weekend. This is spoiler territory, however. If you haven’t read the five books, you might not want to read the quoted section below.
Short story titles so far and update on the next anthology's contents.
-A Crown of Furious Color (main story - feat. Elizabeth, Steve)
-The Heart of Agun-Sur (feat. Fenrik, The Seawolf, The Hell Valkyrie)
-Of Wings and Wrath (feat. Magnar aka Fenrik's brother aka King of Azakah)2 maybes:
-2nd Killer & Bozmir story, on their way to get Killer back home
-Fenrik & Erzulyn's quest to obtain the Voidwrencher & the Orb of Abbar, set just before The Black Cathedral2 probably nots (for now):
-Théorn & Merith's interrogation of Palus where he gives his true origin
-Kornfel & Tibrüt's hunting down of the Wild Dog (a Nosferatu-like cosmic vampire) in his deep lair of twisted monsters - think of a very deep dungeon lived in by the Sawyer family from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films.For the 2 probably nots:
-the Palus story will be worked in to Book IV
-the f'd up, gnarly, uber gruesome Kornfel & Tibrüt horror tale will probably be told exclusively on Substack and then included in the eventual 3rd anthology. There's no reason why I have to tell this one now. Whereas most of the other stories in the upcoming anthology actually set some things up for Book IV.
Since writing that, a few days ago, I think that the two maybes will also be omitted. I’ve planned to tell that Fenrik/Erzulyn story for awhile, but it doesn’t need to be in this next anthology. The focus should be on stories related to things that will add more context to the events of Book IV. While I may omit the Killer story, I’m going to decide on that once I get the Magnar story done.