the next book

I was running, and an idea for my next book came to me in a vision – or was it a hallucination? One or the other.

A man named Strand, a master locksmith and trap-maker, the finest in the city of Istarinmul. Except he’s addicted to a popular hallucinogen. At first the visions are sublime, transcendent, beautiful beyond description. But slowly they darken, bit by bit, until his every moment, waking or sleeping, is filled with horror. Desperate, he manages to break the addiction with the help of some priests. But now his life is in ruin, and he badly wants to return to the drug, even though he knows – knows – it will kill him.

Strand needs a distraction.

A woman named Nerina, a Shaykhal (high noble) of the Emperor of Istarinmul’s court. Except she’s not really a noble – she’s a thief, a swindler, and a con artist who built up enough wealth to retire as a Shaykhal.

But Nerina has enemies who want her dead, badly.

A man named Nasser, the luckiest pirate and boldest reaver on the Cyrican Sea. He’s going to do what no pirate, no brigand has ever dared to do – he’s going to rob Istarinmul’s College of Alchemists – and the Alchemists keep the bodies of thieves, their bodies transmuted to stone and glass and crystal – mounted on the walls for decoration.

To pull that off, Nasser’s going to need talent.

Meanwhile, Strand figures something out. He wasn’t hallucinating when he was addicted to the drug.

He was seeing real things.

Have to edit “Nightfighter” first, so I think I might start this towards the middle or end of February. Unless I have a better idea first.

-JM