On Monday, I was getting into the spirit of spring equinox and looking ahead to what was coming up in the next 6 months—still not fully taking in that daylight saving starts this weekend! And today I got an email asking me to confirm potential dates for a Christmas party—I mean, seriously, a Christmas party … How can it possibly be almost Christmas again, already?!

So as I hadn’t got much past October 18 with my looking ahead, I thought I had better extend myself! So here goes …

Well, in 6 months time, The Gathering of the Lost, the second novel in The Wall of Night series, is going to be published in both the USA and UK/AU/NZ. At the moment, the information I have suggests the last week in March for the US and first week in April for the UK/AU/NZ. It doesn’t feel quite real at the moment (after all, it’s a whole ‘nuther equinox away 😉 ) but I am sure it will as I get closer. I’m also sure I will have some covers to show you some time before then—and there is something about having a cover officially “out there” that makes everything seem that little bit more real.

A whole lot closer in time, in the next month or so I should be doing a couple of guest blog spots on SF Signal-–most likely around epic Fantasy, since that’s kinda my thing, but there’s a few other ideas floating around out there, too … Anyway, watch this space, because I’ll definitely let you know when they’re up and running.

In the meantime, I’ll still be doing my regular first-of-the-month post on the Supernatural Underground—and speaking of which, right now Aussie author Nicole Murphy has an interesting post running there, weighing up the pros and cons, with urban fantasy, as to whether mainstream human society “should” know about the alternate / paranormal beings existing in parallel with them—or not. Click here if you want to weigh in with your own thoughts.

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I also hope to be doing more interviews with other writers, similar to the interview with Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris that I posted yesterday, here. Authors I hope to catch up with include Mary Victoria, whose third and final novel in the Chronicles of the Tree series, Oracle’s Fire, will be out next month—and possibly Daniel Abraham, to talk about the first in his new epic Fantasy series, The Path of Dragons.

So as I always say, ‘watch this space’ … But as you can see, there’s plenty for me to keep busy with, quite aside from Christmas coming up (like a rocket!) and the ongoing post-earthquake situation here, which is pretty much ubiquitous at present. (And yes, I know, I “should” do another Earthquake Report update—but quite honestly, mostly I’d rather not even talk about it. Just getting through it day-to-day can be tough enough.)

And don’t forget—the Phoenix Rising giveaway as part of the Pip Ballantine/Tee Morris interview will run through until midnight, Sunday 25 (the official end of NZ Speculative Fiction Blogging week.) All you have to do is comment on the interview, here, to go in the draw.