As I am now over 100 pages into the second installment of the Barbarians of the Storm book series, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what the roadmap needs to be, going forward.
The next book release will obviously be the follow-up to Dan the Destructor, but what lies ahead beyond that?
When I finished the first book, I wasn’t 100 percent sure on whether I wanted to jump into the direct sequel or if I wanted to start working on the short stories I have planned for a Fenrik anthology, which I already planted seeds for in the first book. That book would serve as a prequel, as it would focus on different tales from Fenrik’s past, many of which were casually mentioned in Dan the Destructor.
After receiving feedback on Dan the Destructor, I decided that it’d be better to do the sequel, as many people wanted it. I also wanted to tackle it, as I knew it would be a bigger story than the first and I was eager to spend some time expanding on the other core characters that are as important to the series as Dan and Fenrik.
As big as the next portion of the overall saga is going to be, I decided that it’d be best to take my time with it and have it spread over two books. So with that, I will probably start writing part three of Barbarians of the Storm once the second book is finished.
After that, I’ll probably start work on the Fenrik book. Like the other ones, I aim to make it a pulp novel somewhere between 150-200 pages. I do have several Fenrik stories I want to tell, though, so I’m planning for his short stories to take up at least two books.
Additionally, I have other short stories in my head that I want to put to paper. Most of them deal with the backstories for several characters. Some of these evolved from old stories I worked on that I never published, which I thought could be resurrected and reworked to fit within the Barbarians of the Storm universe.
As I was going through some of these old stories, I was also reintroduced to some unfinished work that I’d like to revisit. Most of which is very pulpy stuff that could be expanded and reworked into different stories apart from the Barbarians of the Storm banner.
There is one story that I’d really like to turn into a pulp novel trilogy. However, I’d have to get to it after the first “phase” of Barbarians stuff is done. Plus, there are other graphic novel ideas I’ve had more recently, that may work better as books too.
I also want to do anthologies featuring pieces from other writers that have short stories in various genres that fit the pulp style. I’m not going to start working on these sort of projects, however, until I get where I want to be with my first batch of novels.
Beyond that, I still want to put together several compilations of my film reviews, organized into volumes by specific genres or styles. I’d probably lead with either a book focused on film-noir or kaiju/tokusatsu stuff. These are books I can compile and work on alongside my current projects. The one thing that’s held these back is my real job, which has been pretty crazy the last few months.
If the Barbarians of the Storm series ever does get a decent following, I already have some merchandise ideas in mind. However, I’ll get more into that if the time ever comes.