Reader of Acheron Sequel Teaser

Notes for the Sequel to "The Reader Of Acheron"

"The Reader of Acheron" was released in January of 2014 by Perseid Press. It currently has 63 reviews at Amazon and I've seen it have nice little sales spikes lately (not "The IX" type sales spikes, but few books achieve those). I'm happy with this book and have been planning at least two more in the series since I wrote it. The first sequel is titled "The Literate Thief," and this article is a teaser as to how progress is going.

Originally I intended to have a sequel to "Reader" ready for January 2015 publication. However, Perseid has another book of mine in the queue, a travel memoir about Peru (and semi-sequel to Beyond Birkie Fever) that pushed the Reader sequel back a bit. I'm glad to say that I've been working exclusively on "Literate Thief" since December and making good progress. However, this book has proven to be more complicated than I anticipated.

Above is a little diagram I did just to straighten out some timelines and plot elements. I don't think I actually followed the conclusions I reached in that diagram, but it was helpful to initiate progress. Note that I did the diagram on old dot-matrix computer paper--the kind that had holes punched in the side so the printer could feed it through.

I just finished up writing the first version of the final chapter of "The Literate Thief". How close that chapter will be to the finished project is something yet to be seen. Now, having written the final chapter doesn't mean that I've completed my draft. I've known how the book is going to end for a long time...but getting there is often something of a problem.

Generally, I conceive of several interesting scenes with unique characters and write those, then the book becomes an exercise in figuring out plausible ways to get those characters into those scenarios. I've heard this isn't a common way to construct a novel, but I like it. If I just go where the book takes me they end up looking nothing like what I conceived when I started writing (and I usually leave the project in frustration). A little order is necessary, although some room for spontaneity is what gives the book life.

As it currently stands I still have a couple problems to solve (getting people where I need them to be without violating their essential character or disrupting the existing timeline...all while being coherent and interesting), but I'm confident I can get to the end. I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect I could have the first draft done at the end of this month (I'm currently at 47,000 words, so I need about 20,000 more).

Once I get the book to Perseid, there will be about a month of their editing, followed by me evaluating and addressing their concerns (it will add about 5000 words I think...unless I start deleting chapters which I have been known to do). Then it will be off to line editing and publication prep. So...maybe 4 months minimum yet?  Could be faster, we'll see.

In the meantime, there are a lot of great releases coming up from Perseid including a collection of short stories featuring one of mine. Also, that Peru memoir should be available soon and I think you'll find that interesting (I'm looking to have a group of reviewers ready to go for that, so if you're interested in that write me at: walterrhein@gmail.com). Please, if you've read The Reader of Acheron, take a moment to write a review on Amazon. That is a huge help. Send me a link to the Amazon review and I'll put you on my "reviewer" list and you'll get a review copy of the next one for free! Also, grab a review copy of The Bone Sword...I'm hoping to do a sequel to that one before the end of the year as well.

Thanks folks!  More announcements to come!