Unto the Breach (Ghost IV) is out in December. Mike and the Keldara have to stop "Armageddon on a plate" in nearby Chechnya. Unfortunately, to get there they're going to have to cross the high Caucasus (think Alps) in winter. I'm hoping to do a media blitz on this one. Why? Because I think it's worth it. Unto the Breach is probably the best book I've ever written. Unlike most of the Ghost series, the sex is muted. But the threads of the series, high-action, ethnology, personal interaction and operatic drama all came together in a synergy that is just...awesome. I don't normally talk up my books, but UtB is not only the best thing I've ever written, it's the best book I've ever READ in the action-adventure millieu.

Yellow Eyes (Posleen in Panama) in March. The Posleen, having occupied most of the rest of Latin America, start spreading into Panama. They're about to find out that it's possible for Posleen to get a black eye. Mostly written by Tom Kratman, as was Watch on the Rhine, Yellow Eyes not only has an insane AID who thinks it's Daisy Mae it does something that seems nearly impossible: Humanizes the Posleen. It's a great book and an excellent addition to the Posleen millieu.

Those are the breaks. Then there's another one until sometime in the summer of '07. Maybe early spring. I'm not up on the exact scheduling for next year. However, later next year, we're looking at:

A Deeper Blue : Ghost V. Mike and the Keldara take on Colombian drug lords allied with Al Qaeda attempting to smuggle VX into south Florida. Mike is tired of the long drawn strife. Still reeling from the losses of the previous mission, he decides to sit this one out. That is, until an assassination aimed at him catches Adams and Vanner instead. There are many classic errors in life, getting involved in a land war in Asia, going against a Sicilian when death is on the line, pissing of a microbiologist. But very high on the list is pissing off the Kildar. Lighter than Unto the Breach, the book still explores some deeper values such as whether anyone can take seriously the "Mountain Tiger Beer Offshore Powerboat Racing Team." If you're a terrorist the answer is: Yes.

Vorpal Blade : The, heh, "long awaited sequel" to Into the Looking Glass pits Dr. William Weaver, now a Navy Lieutenant Commander and Astrogator of the NCC-4144, and Chief Warrant Officer Miller with the task of going "where no man has gone before." A ballistic nuclear submarine has been converted, mostly through shade-tree mechanics, into a warp ship. Weaver, Miller and a cast of hundreds are given the mission to check out the local area and make sure the Dreen aren't moving in through normal space. The security for the ship is the first company of "Space Marines", Force Recon Marines whose mission in life is to be bored to tears for days and weeks on end, drilling, cleaning, more drilling, followed by landing on a planet, getting mostly wiped out then loading back up on the ship. "We're Space Mushrooms. They keep us in the dark and feed us horse shit all day." Written with Dr. Travis Taylor, PhD, the book again is a combination of combat SF and hard SF, delving into details of astronomy, astrophysics, quantum mechanics and just how much firepower it takes to kill an armored cross between an octopus and a crab. Answer: More than they brought. "Next time, I'm bringing bigger guns." Really the first book of a new series, there are seven more outlined.

Sister Time : The Bane Sidhe O'Neal are on the outs with the rest of the resistance. Thus they are, among other things, strapped for cash. So when they're asked, by an old friend, to take on a mission to secure a strange device they're willing to do so. Especially when the "old friend" is Cally's sister, Michelle, who wasn't even supposed to know Cally was alive. Featuring the return of Michelle, who is the first high level human/Indowy Sohan, Sister Time explores just how far you're willing to go when family is on the line. And what happens when you teach an O'Neal how to manipulate the universe on the microscopic and macroscopic level.

What I'm working on right now:

I write better when I'm cold so summer's always a slow time. I'm currently finishing the last tweaks on Vorpal Blade. A Deeper Blue is turned in. I've got ten thousand words of the first-next Mike O'Neal novel done. Next week I'm going to Dragoncon. That's a week's worth of preparations right there. :-)

Just thought you should know.

Take care,

John

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