Welcome to my worlds!

I'm James Maxey, author of fantasy and science fiction. My novels include the science fantasy Bitterwood Saga (4 books) the Dragon Apocalypse Saga (4 books), numerous superhero novels including Nobody Gets the Girl and the Lawless series, the steampunk Oz sequel Bad Wizard, and my short story collections, There is No Wheel and Jagged Gate. This website is focused exclusively on writing. At my second blog, Jawbone of an Ass, I ramble through any random topic that springs to mind, occasionally touching on religion and politics and other subjects polite people are sensible enough not to discuss in public. If you'd like to get monthly updates on new releases, as well as preview chapters and free short stories, join my newsletter!




Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Progress Report

October has been a productive month. I've completed a polishing draft of Burn Baby Burn and sent the manuscript to Rick Fisher with e-Quality press for proof reading and final formatting. I can't wait to get this book out! It's the first thing I've ever written directly for ebook publication, and if it does half as well as Nobody Gets the Girl has done as an ebook I'll be thrilled. My biggest concern is whether I should market it as a sequel to Nobody, or present it as a stand alone book.

In spirit, it stands alone. It takes place seven years after Nobody, and features a different cast. You can pick up Burn Baby Burn if you've never read Nobody and have no problem at all following the story. However, if a person were going to read both books, it would make more sense to read Nobody first, since Burn Baby Burn takes place in a world that's been changed by the events of Nobody, and this inevitably produces spoilers.

Of course, BBB is only one novel I've written this year. The second is Hush, and I'm now producing the final polished draft to turn into Solaris. I technically have until the end of November to complete the book, but my goal is to have it turned in my the end of October. Of course, today I finally bothered to look at a calendar and I really only have four free days left in the month to focus on the book. Eeep! It's still doable, but I'm stunned at how quickly a month gets away from me these days.

After that, I'm taking November off, since I'm getting married November 11 and want to enjoy my honeymoon without worrying about word counts. But, on December 1, I'm back in the chair to start work on Sorrow, the third book of the Dragon Apocalypse. This year will definitely set a record for how many words I've produced in a year. Over the course of the next 15 or so months, I'll have four new books out, doubling the number of novels I've had published to date.

If you needed some further sign that the world really will end in 2012....