Sequel Progressing

I've been working diligently on the sequel to the surprisingly well-received To Honor You Call Us.  I'm about 20,000 words deep into For Honor We Stand and it is going well.  I have the first three chapters written and the basic narrative structure of the book planned.  I am trying to build into this book the same elements that people seem to like in the first book, but with a bit more ambition.  Don't be surprised if this book comes out a little longer than the first one.  No promises, but that's the way it's looking.

I don't want to give away too much, but I can tell you that the book opens with a rip roaring battle--the Cumberland is running for its life from two Krag Heavy Cruisers (Crustacean class) and becomes locked in a life or death struggle in the complex system of moons, magnetic fields, ion streams, and other phenomena around a gas giant planet known as Mengis VI.  You will see more of Max Robichaux's wily cunning in that chapter than you saw in the whole first book. 

There is also high level diplomacy involving the doctor, a return appearance from the very dapper, refined, and honorable Mr. Ellington Wortham-Biggs, lots of Chief Engineer "Werner" Vaughn Brown, an interesting new XO in the person of a the brilliant Brazilian tactical prodigy Eduardo DeCosta, more from old friends Kraft, Kasparov, Bartoli, Chin, LeBlanc, Shepherd, Park, Wendt, and, of course, Vice Admiral Louis "Hit 'em Hard" Hornmeyer.  The Cumberland receives a highly secret mission critical to turning the tide of the war against the Krag, and the war enters a new and perilous phase.

That's what we have planned for you.  We're working twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, to try to bring it to you by mid to late January.  In fact, we remember that Max took command of the Cumberland on January 21, 2315.  So, we have set January 21, 2013 as our deadline.  Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't (after all, we've only written one novel so far, so it's not like we are deeply experienced in this process), but that is what we are shooting for. 

Until then, hang in there, readers.  Keep telling your friends about this book--the more interest there is, the more sequels there will be.  Seriously, I've been thinking about this stuff since 1966, so I've got enough material in my head and in my notebooks to write fifteen or twenty books.