Draft finished of the next book, Buried But Not Gone

It seems like I just released The Case of the Reincarnated Lover yesterday, but it's been about six months now, and I'm getting closer to my next release.

It is in the same genre as The Warlock Case Files. However, the next book will introduce a new set of characters, including another warlock.

There's a bit of history behind this book. I wrote it more than a decade ago, long before I'd created Paul and Dafydd. The book was the result of one of the most vivid dreams I've ever had, and that dream was the focal point of the first chapter. When I first started writing the Case Files, I'd planned to rewrite the older book to make it part of the series. However, that dream caused me a problem.

While Dafydd does have prophetic dreams, and I probably could have made it work, the dream needed to be from the point of view of a different character, and I decided it wasn't worth making the changes necessary to write it in Dafydd's first person narrative. I'm not a fan of breaking point of view unless absolutely necessary, and this reason wasn't compelling enough for me.

Besides, in Reincarnated Lover, Dafydd realized he needed a community of warlocks supporting him, and I thought I had an opportunity. One of the characters in the older book was a Wiccan anthropologist, and it was easy to tweak him to make him a warlock. Voila! Lots of problems solved.

All I had to do was shift the main point of view character to the new warlock and do some quick editing, and the book would be ready. Just goes to show how little we know until we get into the middle of something...

Turns out the original draft was awful. Oh, there was the seed of a good story in there, but it took lots of work to tease it out. I'd be surprised if 10% of the original draft survived. It was more like a complete rewrite than an edit, and it took months longer than I'd anticipated.

However, the first draft is done now, and I'll be reviewing it later this week to make changes before sending it to beta readers. If you're interested in being a beta reader, let me know. I've got a couple lined up, but I can always use more.

The blurb will go something like this. Emotionally, Denise Evans was barely ready for her divorce. When her soon-to-be ex-husband committed suicide in front of her, she thought her nightmare was finally over. Turns out it had just begun, as Denise and a local warlock, Jim Novik, have to figure out why her ex was Buried But Not Gone.

I'm sure I'll tweak it before publication, but that should give you some idea of what's going on. The book is a bit darker and has less humor than the Case Files, but Paul and Dafydd do have a guest starring role!