Overview

Just a quick update...

So I was thinking about what would be next, what's the next thing that happens to Blackjack, and my first instinct was to have him get a break. He knows some pretty influential people, after all. To turn the backstretch and throw the throttle to full, in his character arc.

But something's been eating at me. In my own life, I've had a few moments like this one. None as dramatic, of course, but there were those moments when I had some bad karma built up, and due to the natural goodness that's in all of us, I'd stepped up and done the right thing. I'm sure you guys can relate. Well, in everyone of those moments, I've had the authority figures in my life behave the same way; punitively. The first time was a simple mistake I made, tempered by an honest effort to correct it. It ended in failure and public humiliation. It's one of the most emblematic moments of my life, and I carry that scar with me to this day.

The other was something similar. Perhaps due to being in one of the lowest moments in my life, I tempted the law and the law won. It's not a situation I recommend to anyone, but we learn by doing, no? Well, at the end of a process that lasted a few years, I came forward in an act of full contrition, and was rewarded with a nice stay in the local jail. It was an opportunity for those in charge to behave with restraint, something I hadn't done, but instead, they threw the book at me. It's only the efforts of a particularly good attorney (and the inspiration for our old friend from book one, Sandy), that I didn't spend a few years in jail.

If that translates to any of you guys, to anyone reading this, then you'll know where we're headed next. The last thing you want is to be an undesirable, like Blackjack; who, despite saving the world twice, finds himself categorized as an escaped and convicted felon. Remember, he took the wrap for the events of book one (something I have some experience with - law enforcement doesn't care for nuances when they have their man), and there's little proof that he was the victim of Zundergrub's attack on Utopia in book 2. For all people know, he was in on it. After all, weren't they all chummy chummy in book 1?

Thematically, it makes sense to go in the direction I'm going. Remember that he "fell" in book 2, hitting rock bottom in typical Blackjack fashion: at full speed. When he "died" as he lay on the gurney on the back of Superdynamic's plane, he didn't see a bright light at the end of a tunnel, bidding him come to a better place. No, he fell to a pit of cold endlessness, to a place where he would be haunted forever by his dark deeds. How much of that was a mental projection, or how much of it is a divine finale, is really up to you as a reader. I don't make you question your value systems, but I do put Blackjack's under the hot spotlights, and as is typical for our wayward villain, he usually doesn't fare well. Book 3, should therefore be the long climb back. Remember the classic movie "Excalibur"? Remember the line, near the end when Percival hands Arthur the grail to drink from, "I did not know how empty my soul was, until it was just filled." Blackjack didn't know how far he'd fallen, until he slammed, face-first into the darkest depths of his soul. And from that depth, will begin the hardest part of his life, the long climb out.

What it means is I've written a the first third of a book that doesn't go next. It's good stuff, and the core of what I have makes for a fantastic book four. But book three has to resolve the issue of Blackjack's comeback. That comes first.

I've also gotten some great character ideas from you in the recent weeks. Most of what you guys threw down on this blog is rolling into one of the two books, but the next story is going to deal with something that we only hinted at earlier in book one. I don't want to say much more, save to say this new revelation has me more inspired and motivated than I've been in awhile.

Yeah, but when are you going to have a freaking book for me to read anyway??? I know, this isn't good news if you're in a hurry, but it's good news in the long run. Starting book 3 from scratch isn't what you want to hear, but I'm more focused than before, and I have book 4 one-third done. The plan is to do 3 for this year, and 4 for March/April of next year, so we get back on track with a book a year.

Interstellar Overdrive sucked up a ton of my time, and will continue to do so, but I've got a great new partner to spread the load, so I'll be able to spend 75% of my time on Blackjack 3 & 4, and get those to you as soon as possible.

So, Blackjack 3 will be "Fugitive", Blackjack 4 will be "Hero".

Blackjack 3 Cover!

No, not the final cover. Calm yourself! But Erik Von Lehman is on the job and here's his first rough drafts:

Yeah, Blackjack's back, baby!