Trying to get a handle on my novels

From For Blog

Look at the title to this blog. See the 'prolific' up there? It's not just a word I thought would look neat. I am prolific and I have been for many long years. Since I spent many of those years without editing at all or editing badly, that means I have a huge backlog of novels to choose from now that I'm doing some Indie (self) publishing. So, what is there? Where to begin?


I started with Kat Among the Pigeons, an urban fantasy. Since then I've added an epic fantasy trilogy (Silky, Lord of the Land, The Queen's Champion) and the last thing posted is a science fiction novel, Ada Nish Pura. There are also some short stories, but I'll not worry about those right now. I have a contemporary Young Adult novel with the editor at the moment. That probably sounds like a wide range of work and a lot of novels, but it's nothing compared to what I still have in the lists. This is just a quick list of some of the work that comes to mind with short (not very good) descriptions:


Science fiction

1. Cougar Series (Six books)

I loved Andre Norton's Solar Queen books, so I decided to try my hand at a series about a ship chartered by the Inner Worlds Council to deliver packages between worlds. They do find a lot of trouble.

2. Broken Journey

A group sets out in a sleeper ship to found a new colony, but when the leader wakes up, it's obvious things have gone wrong. The ship suffered a bad accident, the colony has been settled for over 100 years -- and she's very late to the game.

3. Darkness Falls

After a devastating attack by aliens, a small group of humans -- fearing they might be the last of humanity -- find uncertain sanctuary among aliens who may be as dangerous as the ones they escaped from.

4. Devlin's Team (Fifteen books)

Devlin is one of the Inner World Council Security's top agents and she's always worked alone . . . until one case where she finds working with others isn't a weakness. She and her team take on the most difficult and dangerous cases. And she doesn't quit.

5. Xenation: Draw the Line

When the abandoned alien space station was first discovered, it drew humans and others to learn the secrets. Then a disaster destroyed one ship, and left Rafael saved only by some mysterious link to the station -- and mistrusted by many.

6. Feather in the Wind

Feather grew up on Home, a quiet world where he learned the art of tracking from his cousin. When he joins the IWC's elite Scout group, his first assignment goes bad, and he has to overcome his own feelings of failure and face the truth of what happened.

7. Kim's Team: Infiltration

Kim, like Devlin, is an IWCS agent specializing in difficult and unusual cases. So far only one book for his team, in which he is joined by a very troubled, and troubling agent who has recently lost his entire team.

8. Vita's Vengeance/Badlands/Rat Pirates

The first two books in this series don't seem to have anything in common, but the two groups join together for the third book. Book 1 is about a war in the Aquila Fringe, Book 2 about an Inner World on the brink of disaster and Book 3 about a group from the Aquila looking for a port in the Inner Worlds.

9. Living in Caine's Hold

When the Cartel Wars nearly destroyed Earth, the four 'Families' faced destruction for immigration to a new world where they learned Earth was small pickings compared to what they could do in the rest of the IWC. Generations later, one of the top people is murdered, the local policing force is dealing with treachery and riots, and the man's poet son is on the run and hiding from his ruthless brother.

10. News from the Front

Alyn Naevon is given the freelance job others would kill for -- to report from the world of Tempest. Unfortunately, there's a very good reason why he should never go back there and get caught up (again) in the violent class wars.

11. Singer and St. Jude (Six books plus more)

At a time when Earth is struggling after several disasters, and before the people have taken to the stars, two local cops in the devastated city of LA fight the growing anarchy.

12. Working for the Guild

The Assassins Guild is a small, secretive band working in the Fringe and Zerod is sent to learn who killed several hundred people in a bombing and bring them to justice. Unfortunately, the enemy seems to be a step ahead of him at every turn.



Fantasy

1. A Plague of Rats

When a single priest of dubious background is the only one who can sense trouble coming from the North, he runs afoul of the bigoted head of the temple and finds himself in the thick of the trouble when he goes to help a small village with a rat problem.

2. Circe's Gift

Circe is the Goddess of the woods, a sanctuary for all that is hunted -- and when a wounded young man is hunted into her domain, it's up to her and her animal friends to get him to safety.

3. Fighting for Strangers

A northern prince escapes his uncle's rule in order to help others fight against the horrible evil that has taken over his country.

4. Glory

This is a post-apocalyptic fantasy blending Egyptian and Cherokee mythology as a woman and her unusual partner fight to stop an invasion of magical creatures that could destroy humanity.

5. Journey to Winter

Kidnapped to the cold north, a young man finds unlikely allies as well as evil lurking evil in a court where a dark mage has more control than most people realize.

6. Paid in Gold and Blood

Katashan left his homeland in search of a new life as a merchant -- but when he uncovers a young woman's body, and realizes she's been sacrificed for power, he suspects the magic he swore to abandon is going to be needed again.

7. Shepherd Boy

A young boy's uncanny ability with animals comes in handy when he helps a woman escape from those hunting her, but the act of kindness leads him into a world of danger.

8. In Service to the Queen

Two poets vie for the position of Voice of the Queen, but a murder at the palace and an invasion by ancient enemies force them into the heart of danger and intrigue.

9. Summer Storm/Autumn Storm

Summerfield works for Woo Woo News -- Wolton World News, a newspaper covering the unusual in the world -- but he's not ready to find it in his own backyard in Omaha, Nebraska. (Summer Storm is actually what I'm working on right now.)

10. The Servant Girl

Elizabeth was the companion to Princess Sondra until the war tore them apart. Now she's surviving by her wits and hoping she hasn't found sanctuary on the wrong side of the war while she searches for information about her lifelong companion.

11. Touched by the Wild

After years in prison in a foreign court, Prince Derry is coming home . . . but he's not who he was, and an encounter with the fae on a foggy night takes him another step away from his old world.

12. Written in the Sand

When his garrison is destroyed, Gareth teams with a band of desert people who believe the Age of Chaos is upon them because the Old Gods are awakening -- and Gareth soon finds himself caught up in their beliefs and magic.


In case you lost count, this is about 34 books. I lost count because I kept remembering others to drop in -- and yes, there are far more like some of the contemporary YA stuff (Differential Equations, Whispers of Winterwood, Waiting for the Last Dance) and a couple historical novels (Serendipity Blues, Dyfed and Shannon, Storm) and a few more sf and fantasy that I just didn't feel like listing.

Sorting through this list and deciding what to do next is going to be difficult. I would like to have some sort of plan. Should I alternate sf with fantasy? Should I focus on one of the sets? What about the new stuff I'm working on at the moment? Where is it going to fit in?

So prolific is good, but has a down side too, because you can get buried in work that needs those final edits or even full rewrites and edits (many of the older pieces in this list will go through both those steps). Would I change it?

No. There is not a book I'm sorry I wrote and the list gives me hope of always having something new to come out.

If, you know, I can stand the pace of editing them all. Looking at this, I worry that the novels might just kill me. LOL