UPDATE 1/10/06  Oxton House tells me that the new project is currently in the hands of a class of test readers and they'll be getting back to me as soon as they have that feedback. I'll keep you posted!

UPDATE 3/13/06 The test readers love the project! As far as I know, it's moving forward; I'll give full info here as soon as I hear for sure.

 

On the non-educational side of my writing, somewhat against my will, I've been persuaded (by the characters as well as a couple of faithful beta readers) to plan two new series. The first, "Dark Path," follows Dominic Letellier, father of Blake and Topher from "Dark Portals" as a teenager, when he is sucked into and then tries to free himself from servitude to the dark force. There are five books planned for this series; I've completed the first draft of book 1, Covenant, and am currently working on book 2, Pursuit.

UPDATE: I just love it when my characters take over. Book 2 is now book 3, which I'm almost halfway through. Then I'll have to go back and write book 2. The series is now a planned 10 books instead of five. As long as they don't throw anything else at me I should be fine. (I really shouldn't have said that...)

UPDATE 8/17/05: I just finished book 2- I mean book 3- oh, bother. I just finished Pursuit and am preparing to start the next- I mean the previous- I'm getting ready to start another one in the series. This one is called Exile.

UPDATE 9/8/05: I'm nearly finished book 4 (it really is book 4), which is called Betrayal, and I'm getting ready to start book 5, which might be called Reunion (assuming the characters don't change it on me).

UPDATE 9/23/05 Work on book 5 is progressing slowly, but I should be finished within the next week. So far, it's still called Reunion.

UPDATE 10/2/05 Finally finished Reunion! I'm just starting book 6, Pardon. Now that I'm halfway through the series, I may add a "Dark Path" page to the site. Let me know what you think.

UPDATE 10/15/05 I finished book 6 several days ago (okay, so I'm slow updating my site) and I'm about a third of the way through book 7, Denial. Oh, and the title of book 6 may change. (Of course.)

UPDATE 10/31/05 Happy Halloween! Book 6 is now called Regression. Book 7 is now called Uncertainty. And I'm about a third of the way into book 8, Retribution. That title will not change! I'll set up a separate Dark Path page when I actually finish the series.

UPDATE 11/25/05 I finished Retribution about a week ago and I'm on chapter ten of book 9, Intercession. Another title I refuse to change. Kind of scary; only one book to go after this.

UPDATE 12/5/05 I'm still working on Intercession but hope to finish it this week. Things have been complicated around here lately...

UPDATE 1/10/06 After many personal-life complications, plus holiday preparations and celebrations (gee, that's a lot of "ations") during December, things are getting back on track. I finished Intercession a few days after the last update and started book 10, Redemption; progress has been slow on that but I'm up to chapter 19 now and hope to have the book finished in the next week or so.

UPDATE 1/21/06 I finished Redemption!! The series is done!! See below for an update on "Dark Incarnation."

 

The second series, "Dark Incarnation," will start about two years after Dark Destiny, the final book of the "Dark Portals" series. (Does anyone else see a pattern in these titles?) "Dark Incarnation" brings Blake, Faith, and Eli back to battling the forces of darkness as they seek revenge for the destruction of the previous dark force. This time, taking a cue from the forces of light, the dark forces choose to have one of their number incarnate in human form. Blake, Faith, and Eli, along with Blake's mom's cousin Matthew, who's an incarnate force of light, must find the incarnate force of darkness and destroy him/her before he/she reaches full strength and begins destroying the forces of light. There are 9 books planned in this series; so far it's all still in the planning stage, but since Blake and Matthew have been filling my mind with plenty of ideas, I think it's a pretty safe bet the series will be written.

UPDATE 8/17/05: Now it's going to be 10 books. Other than that, I haven't had anything weird thrown at me for this series yet. (Of course, I haven't started writing it yet, either.)

UPDATE 1/21/06 I've just started Turnaround, the first book in this series. The title will probably change...

UPDATE 3/13/06 These books get slower to write... I finished Turnaround a couple weeks ago and I'm now on chapter 9 of book 2, Voices in the Dark. I just posted a description of Turnaround on the "Dark Incarnation" page.

UPDATE 5/11/06 I finished Voices in the Dark on April 17 and finished book 3, Home Is Where the Dark Is on May 9. I'm taking a short hiatus on this series to work on a new one, which is detailed below.

 

For some reason, a new series, Dark Realities (that's the working title, anyway) has taken over my mind. LOL. Jonah Leighton and Shanna Bailey have learned that an entity from another reality wants to enter ours. If it succeeds, Earth will be destroyed by the energy surge it would generate. As they work to locate the person the entity has chosen as a portal, they also encounter demons, possession, and dead spirits who can't figure out that they're dead, and Shanna learns that a bad past doesn't make a bad person. This series will encompass several metaphysical concepts in addition to those already mentioned, including channeling and energy healing. I started the first book of the series, Connection, on May 9.

 

Stay tuned to this page for further developments!