Sunday, January 3, 2016

Status Update

My New Year's resolution this year was to actually publish a monthly status update consistently, so I suppose I'd better get the year's first installment out. This will be my first year as a full-time author, and I've got some fairly ambitious plans in the works. So in theory there should be a lot to talk about.

I'm currently working on chapter 5 of Perilous Waif, my new science fiction novel. This series is my attempt to resurrect the nearly-dead genre of hard SF (as opposed to the soft SF you mostly see today), by updating the conventions of old Heinlein-era stories with the advances of the information age. So this setting has genetic engineering, cybernetics, neural interfaces, robots, ubiquitous AI, nanotechnology and the internet to go along with the spaceships and exotic planets. It also has lasers, RKKVs, Casaba howitzers and other fun toys - one of my goals for the series is to write interesting space battles without having to pull any punches.

But I know all you Daniel Black readers are anxious for the next book, so let me assure you that the sequel to Extermination will be the next book in the queue. I'm taking some time to get all my plot threads neatly laid out and consistency-checked this time, because things are going to get a lot more complicated over the next few volumes. Oh, and as an experiment I'm probably going to release two versions of this book - one with lots of explicit scenes like the ones in Fimbulwinter, and another that's less explicit and does the traditional 'fade to black' on anything that isn't essential to the plot. I suspect I know which version will sell more copies, but it's always good to have experimental evidence.

So, my tentative release schedule for 2016 is Perilous Waif in the spring, the next Daniel Black novel in the summer, and a third book sometime later in the year.

30 comments:

  1. Happy New Year, Willam! You right, regular updates are essential. Looking forward to both new books! Love hard SF - and DB is my new hero. Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You keep writing them and we will keep reading them love your storytelling can't wait for the next books. The way you are telling Daniel's story I can see we are going to be is very long series and I'm looking forward to that

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy New Year and congrats on being a full time author. As I get to enjoy more works from you, I hope you are remarkably successful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy New Year and congrats on being a full time author. As I get to enjoy more works from you, I hope you are remarkably successful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the Black character. And of course all of the incredible ladies surrounding him. Please please please concentrate on his story. I don't know if I can wait 6 months for another book. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Avid reader of the Black series, love every moment.
    When a character travels to a different world/ time, they always try to recreate the industrial revolution. But in this case there are no interchangeable parts, there aren’t even machinery for the parts for the parts. Everything is ready made. With everything being made the way it is I can see a medieval star treck story.
    And as a big fan I like to say you don’t need to fight all the time. I love the building. It would be awesome if Black built a swimming pool (Berlin, Germany, Tropical Island) or some incredible hotel (Ristorante Grotta Palazzese Polignano a Mare, Italy)/ amusement park (Walt Disney World).
    Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy New year and congrats on making the step to a full time author. I am hoping that in this next book he gets the break he was hoping to get and that the rulers decide to leave as well using the gate leaving a bunch a peasants and wizards looking towards him for guidance and help. Also giving him maybe the resources and bodies to start to develop a small army with the help of his house witch to make them all super power awesome fighters.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great to hear that you will be working full time on writing. I love the Daniel Black series and cant wait for the next one to be out, but I'm also excited to read this new series you are working on cause if its as well done as the others then its going to be another favorite of mine

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very much looking forward to the next books, also will prefer the explicit version.

    Hopefully your timetable holds and we can enjoy the next chapter in about 6 months.

    Point of interest, can you tell us what the difference is between buying the book on Amazon and using Kindle Prime. I usually use Prime for most books and only buy the ones i think are really good (like yours :)) because i think the reimbursement for the author is higher if i buy the book

    Greetings from Germany

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looking foward to the next books, just one question concerning the experiment with the two versions of the books:

    If i understand it right, the explicit version is just a more detailed description and not so streamlined, or would we actually miss anything concerning data, info and so on?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Can't wait for your next books. Never been a real sci-fi fan, but love your writing style. Will give your new series a try. Keep them coming.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The idea that one book will have entire pages gutted from it while the other has more content is probably what will be the deciding factor. If that other book had more action and description as opposed to the sexual content, it might be reasonable to expect different sales figures.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Interesting idea! I'm a bit torn, but I'll be getting the unexpurgated version, I think. It's a bit odd; reading the first book, I felt like the amount of sex was excessive, and cheapened the story somewhat. On the other hand, Extermination's repeated fade-to-blacks felt... wrong. I think in the final analysis, the problem is that the cast of the Daniel Black books tend to be extremely sexual characters, and censoring the actual sex just makes it feel like part of the story is missing. There's too much sexual tension that goes unreleased, and it makes the story feel weird.

    By way of calibration, I think your writing is stupidly amazing. I've read time Braid four or five times, and I think at least two of those were back-to-back. When I read extermination, as soon as I finished it I went back and reread the whole series from the beginning, and then read did the same thing again a month or so later. Your writing is profoundly addictive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Braid sounds familiar, which book was that?

      Delete
    2. Time Braid (I failed to capitalize 'Time').

      It's a Naruto fanfic of prodigious length and exceptional quality, also authored by Mr Brown, that shares some deep similarities to the Daniel Black books but in a much different context. My fourth time reading through it, I went hunting for more by the same author, and ended up stumbling across the first few chapters of Fimbulwinter.

      Similar to DB, it's based around an elaborate optimization problem. I highly recommend it to anyone fiending over the six-month wait for the next DB book.

      https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5193644/1/Time-Braid

      Delete
    3. I know this is a year late, but I love the DB books and want to read the Naruto fanfic but I haven't ever read or seen Naruto. What should I do to familiarize myself with it in order to understand what happens?

      Delete
  15. I don't care about the 2 versions i probably wind up buying them both anyway. About the SF book if it is written in the same style then i'm all in. I don't mean a SF Daniel Black but a book with the same humor, sex and action.
    So keep on writing Mr Brown so we can keep on reading them :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Really, Really Eager to get more of the Daniel Black series... Please tell me that the 'Third Book' of the year is Daniel Black volume 5?

    ReplyDelete
  17. To pass the time till the next book I started rereading the series and decided to post any typos / spelling mistakes that might be left over, so they could be fixed if so desired. Weren’t easy to find though. :)

    Just finished Fimbulwinter, so here goes nothing. Positions are from the kindle ebook. Words in parentheses are the proposed correct words.

    Position 322 – Growing up in the bad part of town will teach you to look out for yourself, but there’s a big different (difference) between…

    Position 356 – Then I got to the shoes and frowned as a though (thought) occurred to me.

    Position 1568 – Free fight (flight) is way too tricky for me to try…

    Position 2397 – I was a bit more concerned that (than) I let on.

    Position 2750 – Her beasts (breasts) were tight and ….

    Position 3544 – I’m so jealous, I hope he does me an (and) Beri soon.

    Position 3956 – It’s obvious just seein (seeing) them look at each other.

    Will make a new entry for the next book, once i get around to it

    ReplyDelete
  18. Really happy to see this kind of communication from you!! I started reading the first DB book just 2 days ago and when I actually got into it I couldnt put it down. Took the day off work today to read the second and start the third. Such a great series!! As an IT person that has pretty terrible weeks at times and wished for something like this to happen, it almost feels like I actually escaping this world to be in this alternate universe. So excited to see the 4th book is planned. Thanks again!! Have a great day!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Really happy to see this kind of communication from you!! I started reading the first DB book just 2 days ago and when I actually got into it I couldnt put it down. Took the day off work today to read the second and start the third. Such a great series!! As an IT person that has pretty terrible weeks at times and wished for something like this to happen, it almost feels like I actually escaping this world to be in this alternate universe. So excited to see the 4th book is planned. Thanks again!! Have a great day!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I finished reading Time Braid(and others) and noticed that he had some identical ideas in them and Daniel Black books.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Awesome news, readers rejoice! I'm glad authorship has been a huge success. Guess you'll be churning out novels even faster now...2 novels in a year and it wasn't full time?!

    That list of sci-fi goodies is quite a mouthful, looking forward to it!

    About the experiment, it's largely pointless from a logical standpoint. If people were bothered (enough) by the explicit sex, they wouldn't be purchasing the new novel or any of the previous sequels anyways. Sure there will be some people who prefer a version without it, but those would be the readers who are getting it regardless. Unless you're planning on revising the entire series up to date, which also kind of goes against the "unconventional"-ness of the series!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm really looking forward to all you release now and to hear about the sci fi book made me really happy. I'm a big fan of the grittier cyberpunk stuff from Gibson and also work from heinlein like 'the moon is a harsh mistress'. Also, while I love the male power fantasy of Daniel black and would be more than happy with Daniel black in space, don't let the fan base dictate how you move forward if that's not what you were going to do in the new series already. As for the new DB book, I know I'll be reading the explicit version. It was surprisingly nice, if a bit of a guilty pleasure, to have actual hot sex in my fantasy book for a change. It really helped the aforementioned male power fantasy idea and served to further stroke my ego.. i hope DB books don't ever get to darkly sexual though, like I would have a very difficult time reading explicit rape scenes so I'd welcome any glossing over on those if they have to exist.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hm, come to think, Daniel now has the means and time to go back to his entry point and fetch the stuff from Avilla's former house.
    I suspect none of it is actually relevant anymore, but it might have sentimental value.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'll be buying the unexpurgated versions if they're available. If not, well, bowdlerized is better than nothing. Loving the story regardless.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Any news about the new daniel black book?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Any news at all about what's derailed the tentativ release schedule?

    ReplyDelete
  27. It would be interesting for you to release a non explicit (or less explicit xD) version of the other books, if possible. It would be interesting to offer that option too for readers.

    More options is always nicer! But I acknowledge the toll that it takes on the author.

    Keep it up :)

    ReplyDelete