When one manages to live through the simultaneously gratifying and agonizing experience of writing a novel, emerging more or less intact if just a bit off-kilter for a while, there is a natural reticence to begin that process all over again. Oh, the bitter weeping and creepy low giggling! Ah, the tearing of hair and joyous shouts of, "That's it!"
But one thing is true for any writer worth his/her ink: The words never stop comin' and if ya don't get 'em outta your brainpan they will drive you to a madness more profound than that of King George III or perhaps Bugs Bunny when he was really and awesomely off his nut--I refer you to this clip from 1952 as proof.
Being fully aware of this danger to the mind and wishing to keep some measure of my sanity--not all of it, of course--I announce today that work on the sequel to my first novel Artifacts is under way!
Now, certainly not every novel should have a sequel. A follow-up to Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, for instance, would be categorically absurd as that masterpiece is beautifully and wholly complete. But not every story can be told in one installment. Also, many readers of Artifacts have clamored in my ear for more, more, more! And while I am not one to easily crumble to peer pressure, I too believe more, etc. is a very fine idea.
I cannot give you a publication date at this time--sheesh, I just started, kids!--but I will try to provide periodic progress reports on the official Artifacts blog. In the meantime, if you haven't yet read the original, click on over to artifactsnovel.com where you can download the first three chapters for free and then buy the whole thing if ya like!
