Here we are at week thirteen, and despite a mile case of triskaidekaphobia, we’re one week closer to the July release of Acts of War: Aftershock.

Progress: The first draft is still under review with Privateer Press, a process that can take some time since there a number of people who need to look at the manuscript. In the meantime, have a look at the next exciting release from Skull Island eXpeditions, Godless, the first novel in the Fire & Faith series by the very talented Orrin Grey.

The Best Part: My own little world. While the Iron Kingdoms is an established setting with established characters, but one of the little bonuses about writing a series of novels there is I get to create my own little cast of supporting characters. For example, I introduced many of the men and women that make up Lord General Stryker’s group of senior officers in Flashpoint, and now I get to continue their stories in Aftershock. Some of them have been promoted, shuffled around, given new duties, and so on, largely because of the events in the first book, something I hope to continue in the third. Today’s mini-excerpt focuses on one of these characters.

The Hard Part: Too many choices. Writing a book that’s based on a tabletop miniature game like WARMACHINE has a lot of upsides. I mean, there are so many cool warjacks, troops, and characters I want to put in there. The trouble is deciding which ones. There are essentially three armies in Aftershock: Cygnar, Khador, and the Llaelese Resistance. That’s a whole lot of men and machines to choose from. I have to narrow it down to what makes the most sense for the events in the book, but then, every once in a while, I do indulge myself by including something because it’s too damn cool to pass up. 🙂

Mini Excerpt: Today’s mini-excerpt focuses on one of Lord General Stryker’s officers, a woman who commands some of his most effective troops, the powerful galvanic cavalry known as Storm Lances. This brave storm knight was present during the siege of Riversmet in Flashpoint and continues to serve Cygnar directly under the command Lord General Stryker as the army moves on to its next target.

“There aren’t more than fifty Khadorans guarding that pass, sir,” Captain Archer said. “My Storm Lances can handle them.”

“Of that I have no doubt, Captain,” he said, took Quicksilver from its stand, and balanced the huge mechanikal blade over his right shoulder. “You are more than capable of defeating fifty Khadorans, but there may be more, and you’ll want a warcaster for that eventuality.”

Lissa Archer was a young and talented officer. She’d been knighted at the age of twenty and had spent the last six years serving in the Storm Lances, mostly in combat. She’d been promoted to captain after Riversmet and showed every sign of climbing well beyond her current rank. She was less than satisfied with his answer. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You know, there’s a major back in Riversmet who asks me that question a lot.”

Warcasters are often devastatingly effective frontline fighters, which is exciting, if a little nerve-wracking for the officers who try and keep them alive long enough to do all that leading from the front.

If you have a question or comment about the book or my writing process, ask away in the comments section below. And if you’ve missed the updates for the previous weeks, you can find them right here:

• Week 1 Update
• Week 2 Update
• Week 3 Update
• Week 4 Update
• Week 5 Update
• Week 6 Update
• Week 7 Update
• Week 8 Update
• Week 9 Update
• Week 10 Update
• Week 11 Update
• Week 12 Update

Twelve weeks down as we march steadily toward the July release of Acts of War: Aftershock.

Progress: No real progress on my end this week. The manuscript is with Privateer Press and under review. I suspect I’ll get the draft back with notes and suggested changes within a month, though it could be a bit longer depending on what else the editors have on their plates.

The Best Part: Cover art. So while I’ve been writing the first draft, Privateer Press CCO Mathew D. Wilson and art director Mike Vallaincourt have been working with the supremely talented artist Nestor Ossandon to create the cover art for Aftershock. It’s done, I’ve seen it, and it is awesome. I’ll be talking more about the cover art and, you know, actually showing it to you, in the near future.

The Hard Part: As some of you know, Privateer Press isn’t my only writing gig, and I’m working on a dozen other things like short stories and novel pitches for my agent while I’m waiting for notes on Aftershock. I’m not saying that part is hard—I love having a bunch of stuff to work on. The difficult part is switching gears. If you’ve read any of my other work, then you know it’s not at all like the stuff I write for Privateer Press. That is absolutely not a comparison of quality; it’s simply a difference in genre and tone. I’ve had my head buried in the Iron Kingdoms for months, and now I need to step out of that world and write stories in another one. It’s kind of like if you’ve been writing stuff for the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) for months and now you need to write Logan. There’s kind of an adjustment period. 🙂

Mini Excerpt: Today’s mini-excerpt focuses on a secondary character, a former pirate turned trencher lieutenant named Shamus Brigland. I had a bit of fun with his backstory. Brigland was once a seadog aboard Calamitas, the massive “privateer” ship of the infamous warcaster Captain Bartolo Montador. After leaving life at sea, Brigland joined up with Asheth Magnus and has served with him for some time. He’s climbed the ranks after the events of Acts of War: Flashpoint and the loss of some of Magnus’ most trusted former mercs. The concept art would more closely resemble Lieutenant Brigland during his pirating–I mean, privateering days.

Stryker followed one of Magnus’ less odious former mercs though the camp, a man named Brigland who wore the rank of a trencher lieutenant. His uniform and armor were trencher standard issue, but his weapons, a brace of pistols across his chest and no fewer than four long-bladed dirks, were anything but. Brigland was a garrulous man, coarse, but possessed of a certain rough charm.

“I’d just like to say, sir, I’m glad as hell you pulled through,” Lieutenant Brigland said as they walked. “I know you and Major Magnus have your differences, but this army needs you both.”

Stryker wasn’t sure if he should laugh or reprimand the man for his presumptuousness. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said. “How long have you served with Major Magnus?”

“I joined up with him in 607, sir,” Brigland said. “I’d had my fill of life aboard a pirate . . . I mean, a privateer ship, and I was looking to get into a different line of work. Major Magnus was looking for men with, uh, certain skills for an important operation, and I fit the bill.”

I haven’t given a lot of thought about why Brigland left the pirate life, though I suspect it was a fairly “urgent” departure. I did write a scene in WARMACHINE: COLOSSALS where Asheth Magnus and Captain Bartolo Montador meet, so maybe it had something to do with that.

If you have a question or comment about the book or my writing process, ask away in the comments section below. And if you’ve missed the updates for the previous weeks, you can find them right here:

• Week 1 Update
• Week 2 Update
• Week 3 Update
• Week 4 Update
• Week 5 Update
• Week 6 Update
• Week 7 Update
• Week 8 Update
• Week 9 Update
• Week 10 Update
• Week 11 Update

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Check out the first book in this series, Acts of War: Flashpoint, if you haven’t already. You can get the e-book at 25% off from the Skull Island eXpeditions website by entering the code ACTSOFWAR1 at checkout.

Eight weeks of steady writing has nearly brought me to the finish line on the first draft of Acts of War: Aftershock. One more week ought to do it.

Here’s how I did for week eight.

Progress: I managed 11,282 words and ended on chapter 33. My total word count was just shy of 90,000 words, and I feel pretty confident saying the first draft will be about 95,000 words total. I’m very pleased with the pace I’ve maintained, and I’ll beat my deadline by a couple of weeks minimum. That’ll give Privateer Press more time to review the manuscript, which will in turn give me more time for revisions.

The Best Part: Plot twist! You always want the resolution of your story to be somewhat unexpected. That’s not to say it should come out of the blue, but a nice surprise reveal is fun for both reader and author. Last week, I was kind of struggling with my big reveal. I knew generally what it was going to be, but I couldn’t quite nail down the details. Then I had a conversation with Privateer Press CCO Matthew D. Wilson and lead designer Jason Soles, and it all fell into place. So, thanks guys. 🙂

The Hard Part: That’s just mean. Characters in my stories tend to suffer a bit, and I often catch myself thinking, “Oh, you poor, poor bastards,” when I’m writing a scene.  I’m not trying to be sadistic, but, you know, bad stuff happens. A lot of it comes down to stakes, in that a story needs to have them. The heroes often have to sacrifice life and limb in order to achieve their goals, beat the bad guys, save their friends, and so on. I try not to pull any punches with what my characters go through, and it’s not always physical pain that’s the worst of it. Psychological wounds can be just as awful, if not worse. Stryker’s horror and disgust over the use of devil’s gasp, a type of Iron Kingdoms WMD, in the first book is a good example of a character dealing with a terrible situation that tests his moral resolve rather than his physical limits.

Of course, sometimes characters do lose their lives, and, unfortunately, for the good of the story, I had to say goodbye to a character I really liked last week.

Mini Excerpt: This week’s mini-excerpt sees Asheth Magnus and Ashlynn d’Elyse knocking down doors, trying to find a very important character. Ashlynn uses Crash, her pet Mule (a type of warjack), to do the gatecrashing. Today’s concept art from Geoff Shupe depicts said gatecrasher.

Crash, Ashlynn’s Mule, did justice to its namesake and slammed its shoulder into the first cell door, smashing it off its hinges. The cell was empty, and they moved to the one across from it. Crash battered this one down, and it, too, was empty.

The sounds of combat ahead grew in volume and ferocity, and Magnus saw Stryker was using Rowdy to plug the passageway while he and his men returned fire around the warjack. Strakhov would overwhelm them soon.

Crash smashed in the next cell door, and the slab of wood and steel landed inches from what Magnus thought was a corpse in a tattered gambeson. When the “corpse” raised its head, revealing a tangled beard and a face that seemed little more than a skull with a thin layer of skin stretched across it, he realized they’d found who they were looking for.

Ashlynn pushed past him into the cell, and Crash rumbled down the passageway to join the battle. “Legate di Morray?” Ashlynn said, using what Magnus assumed was the man’s title within his order.

Rescue mission? Who is this Legate di Morray? What else has Crash crushed in the course of the story? These questions and many more will be answered over the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned!

If you have a question or comment about the book or my writing process, ask away in the comments section below. And if you’ve missed the progress reports for the previous weeks, you can find them right here:

• Week 1 Update
• Week 2 Update
• Week 3 Update
• Week 4 Update
• Week 5 Update
• Week 6 Update
• Week 7 Update

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Check out the first book in this series, Acts of War: Flashpoint, if you haven’t already. You can get the e-book at 25% off from the Skull Island eXpeditions website by entering the code ACTSOFWAR1 at checkout.