One of the greatest compliments a writer can receive is that earnest reader-plea of 'When is the next book coming out?' or 'You just have to write a sequel!'

It gives us warm fuzzies.

Before it plunges us into a deep pit of despair and responsibility!

Just kidding. (Sort of.)

When I wrote The Church in the Wildwood I intended it to be a stand-alone novel. I'd created a world that I really loved and thought I'd be happy letting it exist in its little literary bubble while I went on to build more worlds.

But then you guys were like nag nag nag and I was like, FINE!

And so, because readers are the way writing can actually be a viable, affordable, pursuit, an author should listen; and, if it turns out the reader is right, they need to follow the path that's being lovingly cleared ahead of them.

This is not to say the reader is always right. Forced writing is ugly. There is no truth in it. No heart. I want no part of that. But when a suggestion tugs at your heart-strings AND a character keeps pulling on the hemline of your thoughts... do you really have a choice?

The Ghost of Iris Carver is a novella that will form a bridge between Wildwood and my next novel, Black Bird. It will (re)introduce the reader to Iris's small town of Fallmoore as she chases the ghosts and questions of her past. And it's where you will meet my next great love, Bird Mitena. (Click the bolded title link at the top of this paragraph to learn a little bit more... including the first endorsement blurb that has come back from an early reader.)

The Ghost of Iris Carver is currently in the hands of my eight beta-readers and on track to be released this spring, after which all my personal writing energy will be poured into completing the first draft of Black Bird (currently sitting at just under 50,000 words).

And after that? You'll just have to wait and see! Now that I've decided I'm comfortable calling this thing a series (The Fallmoore Chronicles) the possibilities are really endless as to what I could make happen in this little Canadian town. I've had some requests that there be a Promise Book novel. Readers seem really curious about life at the Harridan Bluffs commune. I make no promises, but it would be an interesting narrative to chase...


One quick question before I leave you: Do you think I should re-brand the cover of The Church in the Wildwood with the The Fallmoore Chronicles tag, or is it okay to let it stand as is... or maybe wait for an anniversary edition? Inquiring minds want to know!