On Monday I put the first draft Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3 to bed. I normally put a first draft to bed for a year, but things have changed. I have been getting requests through posts to this blog, emails, and reviews on Amazon for book 3. It weighs in at 198,000 words, and will probably finish at 210,000 or more. For reference, Books 1 & 2 were both in the 110K range. I had hoped to do a much better job on book 3, and it will be as good as I can make it, but there will probably be some errors in there, even with other eyes looking at it. Probably no more than the other books though. I think the seven thousand fans who have bought both books 1 and 2 will enjoy this one, and the spinoff tale I am planning for the Fall. Also, I did some things a little different with this novel, writing each character’s story separately, then piecing them together at the end into one tale. I kind of liked that approach, and may do it in the future with other books. I am planning on pulling Exodus out again on April 1st, and will work long days on it to get it ready for publication.
In the meantime I am jumping on some other projects, including Refuge: Book 3 (Doppelganger is not really considered part of the storyline, yet. That novel was written seven years ago when I was still trying to attract a traditional publisher.) Refuge has done well, not as well as Exodus, and I think will do better with some more marketing. I love Exodus, but Refuge feels like an old friend, as I have been developing the world and the story for 15 years. What may put some people off is that it is a genre bender, combining high fantasy and military technofiction. With book 3 it will be leaning more toward fantasy, as the modern weapons are no longer of any use on Refuge. I have eight thousand words done so far on what I hope will be a 150,000 word novel. I am aiming to finish the first 50K words before the major Exodus rewrites start, and then I can take it from there when Exodus is out.
Refuge is my daytime project, and another book I finished the first draft of last year is my nighttime project. Working title is The Last Invasion of Sol, and I call it my Anti-Independence Day. Now I liked a lot of things about Independence Day, and hated just as many. In Invasion I have an alien race who has invaded another human colony and killed all the inhabitants before moving on Earth. Their ships are more advanced than humanity’s, though only capable of slower than light travel (the same tech the human race uses) and the human race knows they are coming. We can prepare for war. Still a daunting task and a close thing.
For the Summer I am planning to write the third novel of The Deep Dark Well Trilogy, titled Deeper and Darker, as well as a novel in the Exodus Universe about the criminal investigation of the deaths of members of Parliament in the Capital, as told in Exodus 1 and 2. That should keep me busy for the year I think. There are other first drafts on the hard drive. Some will come out next year as stand alones, though one, Theocracy, will be the first book of the second Deep Dark Well Trilogy. There is one whic is the first book of a fantasy trilogy that I wrote five years ago, but I don’t have time for another trilogy right now. And some people have suggested that Aura would be a good series, and I might consider it if I can get sales going for the book. Another book, Soulless (and I know there are other books with that name, so I will eventually come up with another) is a kind of Scifi/Horror mix.
I have found that having a number of books out there have made it possible for me to quit my day job next week. Exodus is making a lot of money, Refuge and Deep Dark Well not as much, but still good, and the other books just add a little bit to the pot. I am hoping to work more on publicizing the books that aren’t doing as well. I believe they are as good as the ones that are selling in gobs. But the great thing about the digital bookshelf is they can stay out there as long as I want, hopefully gathering fans.
Hello,
April 1st passend – may I kindly ask when we can expect the next Exodus book?
Hopefull by the middle of May. Still need to do rewrites and then send to the proofer. Sorry, but that’s the best I can do, but I will promise another book in the Fall that is kind of a subplot book about the murders of Parliament Members in the capital.
Oh, that is a little bit later than I have expected – now I have not enough to read in April and too much in Mai. Ahh the perils of commuting everyday by train…
Thanks for your hard work and I really enjoy this series.
Thank you. Not sure which series you mean, but I work hard on all of them.
Loved refuge. Finished both books in a day. The whole idea behind it was brilliant. I actually really liked the combination of both fantasy and military fiction. I can’t wait to see where you continue to take the series. I haven’t read doppelgänger yet. I’m sure it will be just as good. I liked the concept of people trying to apply the scientific method to magic.
Thank You. The technology part will fade as emphasized in the first two novels, but new tech will appear as twenty-first century humans realize the improvements they can make to the way people do things in this world, tech that would see old on Earth, but will be centuries to millenia ahead of anything the natives have. Doppelganger was actually written as a stand alone novel when I was still trying to attract a publisher, but I did some changes to it so it would fit in more with the first two books.
finnished Exodus 3, lots of typo’s you need to get another proof reader 😛 loving the series, the only bad thing is now I’m waiting for 4! keep up the good work
Thank you. The fan who proofread the novel did it for free, and I can’t fault him for finding a lot of mistakes. If you found more, could you tell me what they were. Looking at a new cover for one of my other books which is going to set me back a bunch, and another fan suggested sketches of thye ships in the book. Beginning to understand why most authors only bring out one book a year.
When can we expect the next Refuge books to be released?
I am wokring on Refuge 3 (I don’t really consider Doppelganger to be part of the numbered sequence) right now, and hope to have the first draft finished by this Sunday. From there is it rewrites, additions, and letting my beta reader look it over. Hopefully out by the beginning of August, with book 4 coming the beginning of next year.
Just bought and finished reading all three Exodus books here in the UK over the course of a long bank holiday weekend accompanied by a couple of bottles of wine.
Enjoyble read and an Interesting concept with several possibles in terms of plot development when’s number four going to be released.
Thank you. I really get a thrill out of selling books in the UK. I am working on number four right now, and hope to be at the 100K word mark by this weekend, when I am going to the DragonCon convention in Atlanta. I am hoping to have the book out, at more or less the same length as book 3, by the end of October. I am also releasing excerpts from some short stories I am writing in the Exodus Universe on this blog, and on my website, http://dougdandridge.net . And thanks again fro being a fan of the series.
Great stories. love all your work to date. Waiting for Exodus 4 ( and as many more as you wish to write)