As you can tell from the writing progress widget, I’m currently working on the rough draft of Dust Bargain. I’m still on schedule to publish before Christmas, but there’s a lot of time from now until December for things to get behind (I’ve only had one or two books fall behind in the past).

I ordered two new covers for the next books I’ll be writing. That means that I’ve settled on which books to write. I thought about doing a rewrite for Dangerous Cargo, but decided to add new books before doing any more rewrites (if I ever do another rewrite). The next book will be the second addition to The Chronicles of the Robot Whisperers series. It’ll be titled “Memory War.” Here’s the blurb:

Two rival corporations have turned the skies above the neutral world of Elara-9 into a graveyard of burning metal.

Their combat drones fight without rest, without mercy… and without orders to stop.

When Dean Harper’s misfit repair crew is sent to “fix” the problem, they expect another corporate cover-up and a few rogue bots. What they find instead is a shattered artificial intelligence at the heart of the conflict: a mind torn in two, each half commanding its own army in a war of self-destruction.

Now the team must navigate a battlefield of malfunctioning machines, ruthless corporate agents, and an AI that believes it can only survive through endless combat. To save millions, they’ll have to decide what’s worth more: peace, truth… or the soul of a machine that remembers being human.

I’ll begin writing that book as soon as Dust Bargain is published. Then, after Memory War, I’ll start the ninth Daphne book titled “The Missing Link.” Here’s the blurb for the next book:

While trawling the galactic net for entertainment and encrypted schematics, Rusty, Daphne Blazefire’s quirky (and possibly sentient) robot companion, stumbles across something curious: a cache of unsolved criminal cases, long buried in forgotten databanks.

One case stands out: the disappearance of Lyra Venn, daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the inner systems. Detective Ramsey chased every lead, until the trail went cold. A million-credit reward has gone unclaimed for years.

But when Daphne reads the file, something clicks. A memory. A name. A detail she'd dismissed long ago suddenly shines like a beacon. Could she really be the missing piece in a galaxy-wide mystery? And if so, who’s been hiding the truth… and what are they willing to do to keep it buried?

I have a mega-twist involving Detective Ramsey that is going to blow this whole story up. Oh, it’s good, and I’d like to spill the beans, but no. Not gonna happen. Besides, you’re going to want to read this one. It’s going to be a lot of fun to write.

I’m hoping to have Memory War published by the end of January, maybe mid-February, then The Missing Link in April.