What’s in the works?

Where’s the new Balum book???

The peasants are revolting!

I know. I’m putting pen to paper. Or fingers to keyboard, anyway. A new Balum novel, the 9th in the series, is in the works. I won’t give any spoilers here, but the novel will focus heavily in Denver, where a lot of our favorite reocurring characters appear. Chester, Pete Cafferty, Ross Buckling. Shane Carly, the scoundrel you love to hate. An old theme, also: gambling. Not to mention sultry women, a search for a new gun, kidnapping, and more women. And whiskey, of course. Plenty of whiskey.

Release date is set for November of 2020.

Why so late? What’s taking so long?

Well, here it is, the big news: I have a new trilogy in the works. That’s right. And not just any trilogy. There are many genres the world of fiction, and in almost all them I can find things to admire. Crime, Romance, Sci-Fi, Horror… even Fantasy. It’s this last one in particular that I find holds many possibilities but often fails to deliver. And so I’ve taken a stab at it.

When the Western genre meets the Fantasy genre, a new genre emerges: The Weird West.

This trilogy features Cletus Henry James, a Civil War deserter who heads west to rob a train. Confederate gold aboard. Only things spiral out of control. He’s forced to flee into AlbaMar, a land where witches and werewolves roam, where dwarves and gnomes mine for gold, a land of nymphs and vampires, trolls and fairies. A land wherein lies the fabled Fountain of Youth. A magic elixer. And Cletus Henry James needs that elixer. Because Cletus Henry James is dead. He’s been dug up from the earth by a witch in need of a gunman, and the only way to get his life back is by doing what the witch requests… no matter what the task.

And finally, one last thing. Something extra. This series will contain illustrations, both in ebook and paperback. The artist is an extremely talented friend of mine, a fan of both Westerns and Fantasy, and from the drawings I’ve seen so far, it’s set to be a real treat.

Release date, if everything remains on schedule, is for June or July of this year. The first book in the series will be titled “The Witch and the Gunman.”

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy. I’ll be doing the same, here at the keyboard. Keeping the peasants from revolting.