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aryanhwy who is probably my most prolific random prompter. She asked on Twitter: "Do you have any non-Alpennia book plans, or only short stories for the time being?"
It depends on how far in the future one can allow "plans" to exist. There are a number of books in various stages of development in my head. (Some of them even have previous stages on paper, though nothing that will recognizably survive contact with the revision process.) Here are some book ideas that are fermenting, roughly in descending order of solidity (though not necessarily in order of expected completion). The question of where I'll fit them in with regard to the Alpennia book schedule is fairly open.
Skinsinger: Tales of the Kaltaoven [title tentative] - The most complete and immediate project, of course, is the collected skin-singer stories, completed by the new novella. This is all queued up to work on when Mother of Souls goes out to the beta readers. It needs: revisions of all the older stories, lining up a professional editor to work the whole thing over with a baseball bat, identifying a cover artist and commissioning a piece, lining up a cover design professional (possibly an overall book design pro, depending), and then strategizing a release and publicity plan.
The Rebellious Heart - Lesbian historic romance set in Roman Britain at the time of the Boudiccan rebellion. I wrote a complete version of this a couple decades ago, submitted it various places, then put it away for further revision. In the context of my Lesbian Historic Motif Project research, I've returned to poking at it and have a fairly solid idea of how I want to overhaul it. Mostly, I want to make my protagonists older and more experienced. The Roman protagonist is going to be Egyptian (at least on her mother's side, haven't quite pinned it down) so I can bring in some of Bernadette Brooten's lovely data, and the British protagonist is going to be much more knowingly reckless and assertive (rather than fecklessly so). I'm going to stick with the framework of the Roman woman being sent (against her inclinations) to be under her father's authority in a Roman settlement in Britain, but I think he's going to be a civilian official rather than a military man. This will affect certain aspects of the plot. I'm also thinking of extending the story a bit beyond the romantic resolution, probably in a temporal jump-cut to show what "happily ever after" might look like in that context.
Whimsical Creatures - Ever since I read The Adventures of Mademoiselle de Richelieu, I've wanted to write something based on those madcap adventures of two 18th century cross-dressing women romping around Europe. My current idea is to juxtapose a modern framing story with retellings (in a more modern-friendly style) of the core story of the original novel. The modern framing story involves an English Lit. post-doc who is working on a study of the Richelieu novel and is completely mentally blocked on it, while angsting over her job prospects. She convinces her girlfriend/partner to take off with her on a "working vacation" in Europe, retracing the route of the characters in the novel to help "unstick" her research. The book will cut back and forth between the modern and historic stories in parallel, as the modern couple work through the strains of the trip, of social politics back in the US (it's set in the era of the first same-sex marriage decisions), and of differing life goals and priorities, and as the historic couple re-invent their understanding of their friendship in a way that wasn't able to happen in the actual 18th century novel.
...and much more further out in development...
Iultig's Dreams - This is a secondary world fantasy novel that I finished a complete draft of just at the point when I decided I needed to focus all my writing energy on my dissertation. I honestly don't know how much hacking and slashing it would take to be willing to send it out. I've grown uncomfortable with some of the tropes I used, and it ended at an awkward point where it needed a second volume but I didn't have enough story to fill one. I think it could be reworked into something exploring the human-fae interface in a colonialist framework, but...I dunno.
Katla's Awakening - Lesbian historic romance. When we read The Waking of Angantyr in Old Norse class and I combined it with Professor Carol Clover's "Maiden Warriors and Other Sons", it was obvious to me that the story of Hervor was just crying out to be re-worked into a lesbian historic romance. This is the story for which my elevator pitch is "Viking girl kidnaps Welsh princess, hijinks ensue." A story of raiding, revenge, love, and finding your true self, in a 10th century setting ranging from Iceland to Gwynedd to Dublin. I have a detailed outline and a bunch of text.
The Broidered Purse - Re-told medieval romance with lesbian subtext made maintext. I've got some fun ideas of ways to...well..embroider the French romance "L'Escoufle", which involves the adventures of an emperor's daughter when the knight who seduced her to run away with him abandons her unexpectedly to make her own way in the world. Needs lots of research on the original story, which I'm only familiar with from scholarly articles.
Untitled Project - Re-told medieval romance with lesbian subtext made maintext, based on the story of Yde and Olive. No concrete ideas of how to "make it my own" yet.
Untitled Project - Lesbian historic romance. In the aftermath of the Glyndwr rebellion, Joan's father was one of many Welshmen who fled to France and served in a mercenary company during the last throes of the Hundred Years' War. Growing up in the rough and tumble of a mercenary camp, she has been raised loosely-disguised as a boy for her safety. But the fortunes of war shift, and her father saw an opportunity to aid a key English victory for which his reward is to be the return of his properties back in Wales. Alas, he dies on the journey, and Joan arrives with nothing to support her claims but a couple of loyal retainers and a royal order that identifies her as her father's "son". Determined to try to see the masquerade through far enough to secure her inheritance, Joan runs up against the current proprietor of her lands who is loathe to part with them. But his only child is a daughter of marriagable age and he has a brilliant idea...
And at this point my lunch hour is over, so that will have to do for now.
aryanhwy who is probably my most prolific random prompter. She asked on Twitter: "Do you have any non-Alpennia book plans, or only short stories for the time being?"It depends on how far in the future one can allow "plans" to exist. There are a number of books in various stages of development in my head. (Some of them even have previous stages on paper, though nothing that will recognizably survive contact with the revision process.) Here are some book ideas that are fermenting, roughly in descending order of solidity (though not necessarily in order of expected completion). The question of where I'll fit them in with regard to the Alpennia book schedule is fairly open.
Skinsinger: Tales of the Kaltaoven [title tentative] - The most complete and immediate project, of course, is the collected skin-singer stories, completed by the new novella. This is all queued up to work on when Mother of Souls goes out to the beta readers. It needs: revisions of all the older stories, lining up a professional editor to work the whole thing over with a baseball bat, identifying a cover artist and commissioning a piece, lining up a cover design professional (possibly an overall book design pro, depending), and then strategizing a release and publicity plan.
The Rebellious Heart - Lesbian historic romance set in Roman Britain at the time of the Boudiccan rebellion. I wrote a complete version of this a couple decades ago, submitted it various places, then put it away for further revision. In the context of my Lesbian Historic Motif Project research, I've returned to poking at it and have a fairly solid idea of how I want to overhaul it. Mostly, I want to make my protagonists older and more experienced. The Roman protagonist is going to be Egyptian (at least on her mother's side, haven't quite pinned it down) so I can bring in some of Bernadette Brooten's lovely data, and the British protagonist is going to be much more knowingly reckless and assertive (rather than fecklessly so). I'm going to stick with the framework of the Roman woman being sent (against her inclinations) to be under her father's authority in a Roman settlement in Britain, but I think he's going to be a civilian official rather than a military man. This will affect certain aspects of the plot. I'm also thinking of extending the story a bit beyond the romantic resolution, probably in a temporal jump-cut to show what "happily ever after" might look like in that context.
Whimsical Creatures - Ever since I read The Adventures of Mademoiselle de Richelieu, I've wanted to write something based on those madcap adventures of two 18th century cross-dressing women romping around Europe. My current idea is to juxtapose a modern framing story with retellings (in a more modern-friendly style) of the core story of the original novel. The modern framing story involves an English Lit. post-doc who is working on a study of the Richelieu novel and is completely mentally blocked on it, while angsting over her job prospects. She convinces her girlfriend/partner to take off with her on a "working vacation" in Europe, retracing the route of the characters in the novel to help "unstick" her research. The book will cut back and forth between the modern and historic stories in parallel, as the modern couple work through the strains of the trip, of social politics back in the US (it's set in the era of the first same-sex marriage decisions), and of differing life goals and priorities, and as the historic couple re-invent their understanding of their friendship in a way that wasn't able to happen in the actual 18th century novel.
...and much more further out in development...
Iultig's Dreams - This is a secondary world fantasy novel that I finished a complete draft of just at the point when I decided I needed to focus all my writing energy on my dissertation. I honestly don't know how much hacking and slashing it would take to be willing to send it out. I've grown uncomfortable with some of the tropes I used, and it ended at an awkward point where it needed a second volume but I didn't have enough story to fill one. I think it could be reworked into something exploring the human-fae interface in a colonialist framework, but...I dunno.
Katla's Awakening - Lesbian historic romance. When we read The Waking of Angantyr in Old Norse class and I combined it with Professor Carol Clover's "Maiden Warriors and Other Sons", it was obvious to me that the story of Hervor was just crying out to be re-worked into a lesbian historic romance. This is the story for which my elevator pitch is "Viking girl kidnaps Welsh princess, hijinks ensue." A story of raiding, revenge, love, and finding your true self, in a 10th century setting ranging from Iceland to Gwynedd to Dublin. I have a detailed outline and a bunch of text.
The Broidered Purse - Re-told medieval romance with lesbian subtext made maintext. I've got some fun ideas of ways to...well..embroider the French romance "L'Escoufle", which involves the adventures of an emperor's daughter when the knight who seduced her to run away with him abandons her unexpectedly to make her own way in the world. Needs lots of research on the original story, which I'm only familiar with from scholarly articles.
Untitled Project - Re-told medieval romance with lesbian subtext made maintext, based on the story of Yde and Olive. No concrete ideas of how to "make it my own" yet.
Untitled Project - Lesbian historic romance. In the aftermath of the Glyndwr rebellion, Joan's father was one of many Welshmen who fled to France and served in a mercenary company during the last throes of the Hundred Years' War. Growing up in the rough and tumble of a mercenary camp, she has been raised loosely-disguised as a boy for her safety. But the fortunes of war shift, and her father saw an opportunity to aid a key English victory for which his reward is to be the return of his properties back in Wales. Alas, he dies on the journey, and Joan arrives with nothing to support her claims but a couple of loyal retainers and a royal order that identifies her as her father's "son". Determined to try to see the masquerade through far enough to secure her inheritance, Joan runs up against the current proprietor of her lands who is loathe to part with them. But his only child is a daughter of marriagable age and he has a brilliant idea...
And at this point my lunch hour is over, so that will have to do for now.
