Gene Doucette

I have heard you

I’ve been getting a lot of very specific feedback from my Immortal readers along the lines of, “when is the sequel coming out?” and “that sequel, it’ll be coming out soon, right?” and the occasional, “where the fuck is the sequel?”

To which my answer has been: it’s finished.  And I don’t know when it’s coming out.

Oddly, this hasn’t placated anybody.

Hellenic Immortal

It is true that I finished the final rewrite of Hellenic Immortal back in May, and it is also true that it has not been published since that time (aside from this sample chapter.)  It is also true that it’s almost always a good idea to roll out a new book within a year of the prior book’s rollout or risk losing readers.

Now here is what I couldn’t explain before now.  I had an agreement in place with the publisher of Immortal to publish the second book as well.  But for a number of reasons I can’t go into here, I didn’t want them to publish it.  Which meant finding a new publisher, one that would be willing to take on the second book of a series without owning– and thereby reaping the benefits of the sales of– the first book.  (And the addendum to “publish your next book within a year of the last one” is, “the next book will help sell the last book”.)

Contract pending

As I write this, a contract for Hellenic Immortal is en route and ready to be signed.  I don’t have a release date yet for it, but it should be in the first quarter of 2012.  Between then and now the cover will need to be designed and prepublication blurbs will have to be obtained and so on.  I’m hoping that all of you who have patiently awaited this release can patiently wait a little longer.

Interestingly, one of the things that may hold up the release of Hellenic Immortal is the re-release of Immortal.

Second edition

And that’s the other big news of the day here.  Barring any significant reversals, the same publisher will be obtaining the rights to Immortal as well. This will mean a new edition with new cover art, new distribution channels, additional promotional opportunities and so on.  I am very excited about this, because as well as the book did in the past year (and it did very well) there is still much more that can be done to make people out there aware of it.

And finally

What this means for the future: as those of you who follow my Twitter feed know, I just finished work on a novel called Fixer.  This is a standalone novel about a man who can see a rolling five seconds into the future trying to stop a killer only he can see.  It’s (of course, because it’s me) a blend of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and humor– much heavier on the horror and lighter on the humor than Immortal– that I’m nearly positive you’ll love.  (If there is enough demand, I may put up a sample chapter for you…)

If nothing else were on tap this book would be (possibly self-) published in the first quarter of 2012.  But with Hellenic on its way I’m afraid you may have to wait a little longer for it.

Meanwhile, I have to start work on the third Immortal book.  Believe it or not, it will be the first novel I’ve started from scratch in six years.  Wish me luck.