Good question, huh?
The answer, of course, is the same as for the old adage (can a question be an adage? Ed.): ‘How long is a piece of string?’
In other words, it depends who’s buying. I, for instance, would buy thrillers, crime novels, anything about the Great War, anything set in Roman Britain or indeed the Roman world of BC300 to AD450 . . . in short, anything that appeals to me, really. It’s a subjective, personal thing, this reading business.
It’s a particularly perplexing problem for me right now, because I have to decide not what to read next, but what to write next. In this I have created a problem for myself because all four of my currently published novels could be continued as a sequel.
But which to choose?
There’s ‘The Trespass’, the Amazon top 20 bestseller. I have some interesting sequel ideas for this one, fairly wacky, I have to say, involving M-theory, parallel universes and an extraordinary encounter from the off for Simon Dracup, the protagonist of ‘The Trespass’. If the poor man thought he had problems before, he ain’t, as Bachmann-Turner Overdrive would say, seen nothin’ yet . . .
And then there’s ‘The Ley Lines of Lushbury‘, my children’s fantasy thriller. This was great fun to write and is absolutely begging for a sequel as I left it on a cliffhanger. What does Tim find when he eventually gets home from the Cusp of Eternity? Ah, so many possibilities. We haven’t seen the last of Mr Adrian Masota, not by a long chalk . . .
And what about ‘The Serpent and the Slave’, the historical thriller set in AD367. This was my first novel, and I have so much emotional and imaginative currency tied up with its characters that a return to Calleva would be a sheer delight.
The Roman Baths, Aquae Sulis
Marius, newly appointed military tribune, Barnabas the cleric and emperor’s spy and Fraomar the gladiator are due to return to Britannia in early 368 to track down the troublesome Nipius Quintilius and lend their support to Count Theodosius’ restoration of Britannia following the Barbarian incursions of AD367. Action, blood, guts and intrigue are on the menu for this one. I can’t wait to get started . . .
Lastly, there’s Inspector Brendan Moran and his Eastender sidekick, Sergeant Robert Phelps who had a close encounter with the monks of Charnford Abbey in ‘Black December’, my crime thriller for Christmas. I’ve grown very fond of Moran, maybe because I gave him such a hard time during his murder investigation at Charnford Abbey.
Black December
He’s an interesting character, flawed of course, but dedicated to his role as Thames Valley’s top DCI. There are several possible plots milling around my cranium for Moran and co in the follow-up (as hinted in my last blog entry ‘This is how murder begins’).
You know what? I want to write a sequel for ALL of them! But which to choose first? We’re talking an investment of two years plus (this seems to be the average time it takes me to finish a book), so I want to make sure that the time is invested wisely, and that my readers are eagerly anticipating the sequel to . . . ?
Now it’s your turn – yes, you, dear readers, are going to decide which sequel I tackle first. Drop me a line with your vote and I’ll announce the winning candidate in my next blog.
Watch out too for my new website which should materialise out of the gloom of cyberspace over the next week or so. You’ll be able to sign up for news and freebies, find out more about my tortured, angst-ridden soul, chuckle at some new photos and videos (well, you’re not supposed to laugh at all of them), read some short stories, keep up with the blogs, check your bank statement (not really), but you get the gist . . . it’s going to be a better, super, faster, more wonderful author website than before. I hope.
So, settle down with a nice cup of tea, or glass of mulled wine and a mince pie, and let’s have your votes for my next opus . . .
In the meantime, thanks for all your enthusiastic support – a fantastic, blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you and yours !
And remember . . . keep on reading . . . 🙂