Hitting the ground running

. . . for values of running that include a leisurely amble.

So, last year, we had Things to Do, and we were a little lazy in the matter of writing new stories and publishing chapbooks.

Steve and I have just gotten up from a Creative Meeting, and we’ll be doing some work behind the scenes, in and around Novels in Process, and on-going Medical Recalibrations, with an eye to getting new Pinbeam books up and out there.

At this stage in our planning, I’m going to be cautious about sharing details, knowing, as we all do, that no plan survives contact with reality.  I will say that I hope to put out another Archers Beach chapbook, and we also hope to reissue an specialty anthology that has been out of print for more than a decade.  Also in the plan are new Liaden stories loosely (so we think now) around Events on Surebleak while Val Con and Miri are . . . away.

What we can tell you is that the mass market edition of Salvage Right will be published at the end of April; Ribbon Dance will be published on June 4; the Plan B anniversary edition will be published at the end of the year, when we also expect to see The Last Train Outta Kepler 283-C, which will include Liaden story “The Last Train to Clarkesville.”

As for WIPs:  I’m lead on the sequel to Ribbon Dance, and the sequel to it, as the Traders are demanding Equal Time.

Many people have been writing to us about Trade Lanes, the last Jethri Gobelyn novel.  Trade Lanes is taking much longer than we’d like.  Steve’s  recasting the book since an insidious plot miscue meant two of the core threads actually conflict with established Liaden Universe® canon.  Which means the novel is being re-written from the ground up.  Obviously, we want to get this right, and sometimes getting it right means tearing it down and starting over.

For those keeping track at home, we have four books still under contract with Baen:  Trade Lanes, the sequel to Ribbon Dance; the sequel to the sequel ; and a Player to Be Named Later.  At current rates, the last book will be turned in some time in 2027.

And that’s the news that’s fit to print on this fine, cold, Maine morning.

Everybody stay safe, and thank you all for your support, from one side of the Universe to the other.