I’m coming to the end of a brief transition period between writing projects, so it feels like an appropriate time to share an update. I currently have five writing projects in various levels of progress, some far more developed than others.
Untitled Cosmic Horror WIP
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen my posts as my outline expanded from this:
To this:
Which means it is finally complete, and ready for a first draft! I think this is going to be a great story. It has something to say about cultural expectations and faith and cult mentality and con artist leaders, and yes, eldritch beings from beyond space and time.
I truly cannot wait to get started!
So, of course, the only logical thing to do is put it away and move on to a different project.
Shallow Trenches/Open Skies
It is, in fact, time to return to my World War I set alien invasion manuscript. I like to have as much time as I can justify between my first and second drafts to best “forget” the writing and look at both the prose and the story with the freshest eyes possible. Between the cosmic horror outline talking longer than I expected, and the whole of September commandeered by the record breaking number of short story submissions for my speculative fiction magazine Perseid Prophecies, I think I have accomplished that goal.
And it’s a good thing too. I’ve recently been itching to get back to Lt. Bernard “Griz” Behr, and his first foray into the First World War. I was really unsatisfied with the writing when I finished a few months ago, but it had been so long since I finished the first draft of Gas Giant Gambit that I couldn’t remember if I had felt that way then.
My wife Jessie reassured me that I had, and either way, I reminded myself for the umpteenth time that first drafts are only meant to exist (a concept I feel like I will struggle with my entire career). As they say, you can’t edit a blank page–and next to the world building/outlining phase, editing is my favorite part!
I start tomorrow and am very much looking forward to it!
This is usually where I make some ham-fisted prediction about when the draft will be done. I am not going to do that this time. I obviously have no concept of how long these things really take.
I will say, I hope to be done by my birthday in March. At which point the manuscript will (again, hopefully) be ready to go to either my publisher or beta readers.
We’ll see which direction they want to go.
At that point I will likely start writing a first draft for the cosmic horror.
The Cobalt Fist
The other (enormous) project I have on the boil is my long gestating seven book sci-fi/superhero/dark fantasy/cosmic horror/alt WWII history series, The Cobalt Fist (a working title only).
I want to have the series arc as a whole outlined, as well as each individual book outlined in the same manner as the cosmic horror up there before I even start a first draft of book 1.
Having only published one novel, written a draft of a second, and an outline of a third, outlining and writing seven books feels like an absolutely monumental task. But, this is the story that put me on the track to become an author, and I am bursting with ideas for it.
Little work has been done recently as I focused on the cosmic horror (as well as some non-writing related hobbies and projects), but now that that is done and I’m moving back into editing mode, (and the seasons and activities are changing) I hope to get back into it in my spare time.
I already have the basic gist of each individual books and the larger, overarching story, and all I can say is…
It is epic.
The story. The action. The message. The meaning.
I only hope I can do it justice.
I had planned on starting book 1 possibly after the cosmic horror first or second draft, but now I’m not sure I will be done outlining it all yet at that point. If I am not, I may try to squeeze another Tall Tale Beyond the Cygnus Rift into the manuscript lineup
Short Stories
The final two projects are both short stories, and both at the same level of development, so I’ll just group them together. Both were written earlier this year as entries in the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2026.
The first, “Lines of Demarcation,” is a sequel to my technoir short “The Stuff Legends are Made Of” from Rare. I loved writing this story, and not just because while “The Stuff…” was heavily inspired by The Maltese Falcon, “Lines…” is more inspired by “The Stuff…”
It’s more it’s own thing, while still existing in the world created for the homage, if that makes sense. “The Stuff…” was the first short story I ever wrote, and while I will always love it, “Lines…” shows how my writing has changed and refined (for example, you might not be surprised to learn that “Lines…” is more overtly political than “The Stuff…”)
“Lines…” got me through to the second round of the contest, but I haven’t touched it since. I want to expand it (NYC imposes a strict word count), and while I love it’s uniqueness, I also want to bring in a little more Casablanca influence–I want a happy medium between the homage to my influences and that more refined personal voice.
The other short story came from the second round of that same contest. “Crème Brûlée” did not allow me to advance to the third round (a feat I have yet to accomplish), but I really enjoyed writing it and would love to see it published. It’s sort of a romance, which is outside my wheelhouse, but it is also a part of The Cobalt Fist’s universe. The Cobalt Fist character is a golden/silver age style superhero, and in the book series, fights in World War II. “Crème Brûlée” takes place years before that, when the character was actually doing his superhero-ing, and is from the perspective of one of his rogues gallery.
It needs work, but again, an expanded word count could fix a lot of the areas of improvement the judges pointed out.
The only problem with these two stories is, with so much else going on, it’s easy to put them on the back burner and forget about them for long periods.
I’ll need to prioritize getting these (and a few others I’ve been sitting on for far too long) edited and out on submission soon.
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