Thursday Thirteen...books I want to write

Thirteen…books I want to write Okay. Here we go. These are all the things floating around in my head, books I’m gonna get down on paper one day. When I’m done writing the one that’s under a deadline. And the sequel to that. And the one I started ages ago and put on hold because of the deadline. And the one… Yeah yeah, excuses. Let's call this my To Do list instead. I wish I could work on more than one thing at a time, but I find it hard to constantly switch back and forth. I have to get myself immersed in something, and not dip in and out with another book. Fidelity is a terrible thing! 1. Almost Magic, or whatever I’m going to call Kett’s book. Erotic Romance. Sequel to Almost Human. This is actually one I keep trying to get back to, but something else always gets in the way. I am having huge fun with it though. Kett is pretty much the opposite of Chance. I mean, you wouldn’t want to meet either of them in a dark alley, but while Chance is charming and elegant and beautiful, Kett is older, snarkier, and so angry she vibrates with it. Chance smiles; Kett swears. She’s great. And her hero, Bael? Is like Kett, only slightly more…more! 2. Devil Makes Three. Chick-lit Mystery. This is the next book in the Sophie series. Actually, I tell a lie…the next book is Still Waters, and it’s contracted with Samhain. After Still Waters comes Run Rabbit Run, then Wink Murder, then Dead To Rights. Those are all written, even if they need some work. DM3 will be book eight (eep!). Sophie is still going strong, having survived multiple murder attempts, the pursuit of MI5 and the CIA, losing her job, her cat, and her boyfriend…several times. She’s even made a music video. And been engaged. And dyed her hair pillar-box red. And now she’s on her way to Vegas. 3. The Untied Kingdom. Alternate History. I really, really want to write this book. It is, as the Monty Python team would say, something completely different. It’s about Britain…but a different Britain. A Britain who never had an empire. An England who lost every war she’s ever been involved in, even when she was fighting herself. A United Kingdom so divided that Wales and Scotland have seceded. A poor, undeveloped country to whom Africa sends aid workers. England is at war with herself again, and the rest of the world is watching with minor interest to see when she’ll implode. So when a washed-up popstar falls through a hole in space, into the Britain where nothing works (from a Britain where only some stuff does), it’s like the whole world has come unravelled. A Great Britain who was never great. A United Kingdom…that has come untied. Plus, it has the best hero I’ve ever written. A bit Sam Vimes, and bit Richard Sharpe, a bit Mal Reynolds…and he looks like Richard Armitage. Swoon! (thanks to Phillipa Ashley for the picture!) 4. The Spaceport Book. Erotic Romance. Spaceport is a series emerging from Changeling next year. It’s sort of the bastard brainchild of Firefly and Babylon 5, set around a rusty and decaying spaceport hovering over a dead planet on the edge of civilised space. In a place where prostitution is legal and scavenging dead ships is organised, all kinds of people wash up. Including a jaded bounty hunter searching for a pampered princess, and a pampered princess disguised as a whore. Oh, and the cats have opposable thumbs. 5. The Madam Periwinkle Book. Erotic Romance. I really need to title this one, the proposal is due in soon! Another Changeling series, from the brain of the wonderful Michele Bardsley, based around the eponymous Madam P and her little shop of rather unusual items. Every purchase comes with something extra, whether it’s a Magic 8 ball that’s actually magic, or a vibrator that comes with a repairman who’s the real deal. Or perhaps a bra that opens a portal between dimensions. I don’t know what I was smoking when I came up with that one. 6. That Sundown Book. Erotic Romance. Johann’s story. Devout readers (I must have one somewhere) might remember Masika and Magda’s irascible boss from the beginning of the series. He’s the only member of the team—and I use that phrase lightly—who is actually human. His only superpower is a ferocious temper. And does anyone remember a shit-stirring faery? She locked Lily in a fishing float and tried to kill Aura and her unborn children. And I have a sneaking suspicion she had a lot to do with the hit on Ruarc. Well, she was turned into a human…and at some point, maybe, she’s going to run into Johann. And snarks will fly. 7. Another Sophie book. Chick-lit Mystery. This time set in a ski resort. I don’t have much on it, apart from the sheer comedy value of Sophie on ice. I have a yen to call it It Shouldn’t Happen To A Blonde. Maybe I’ll write a new series about blondes. Is It Because I Is Blonde? could be one. Blondes Have Less Fun could be another. Hmm… 8. That Paranormal PI Book. Paranormal Mystery. There’s no title yet (at least there may have been one, but I, um, forgot it). This has its roots somewhere in Sundown…or maybe Sundown has its roots here. I started it a while ago, but didn’t get very far due to other projects that were actually going to make me some money. The basic features are: a girl with pink hair who can see ghosts; a very snarky Victorian child who is her guardian angel; a WWII pilot stuck haunting the same office…which now houses a paranormal investigations agency. Where the secretary was going to be a werewolf, but probably isn’t going to be any more! Oh, and some guy who looks like Fox Mulder. 9. Caged Bird Singing. Erotica. This has been lurking in the back of my mind for aaages. The premise—which believe it or not actually did come to me in a dream—is basically European King Takes Teenage Mistress. When she’s of age, obviously. Although he has no intention of marrying her, he makes her position almost official. She’s a celebrated figure in their tiny country. Then…he gets older and nastier…and…she’s falling for his court doctor, but she belongs to the king and can’t leave. It’s a sort of memoirs of a courtesan sort of thing. I’ll probably never write it. 10. That PA Book. Rom-Com. While I was brushing up on my romantic comedy skills, an idea came to me for a book about the PA to a rockstar. Her name is Lucy. He’s basically Robbie Williams (only without the burnout). That’s…about all I have right now, but it’s a start. 11. Lip Service. Rom-Com. Slightly more developed in my head. I have an author who puts everything that happens to her in her books. She starts a new job so she can research how a holiday park runs, and in the meantime falls for a colleague…who incidentally is dating her best friend. And who is going to be really mad when he finds out she’s been writing about him. 12. The One With All The Mistresses. Erotic Romance…probably. Another half-baked idea that came in a dream, clearly after I’d been eating too much cheese. The giant insects alone were terrifying. Anyway, this is about a futuristic society (I was going to say ‘dystopian’ but I don’t actually know what it means) where the ruler is genetically created, and has a harem of 28 women who run his city for him. And sleep with him. Once a month. He falls for one of them, but he’s not actually allowed to marry, just donate DNA for the next ruler to be grown from. The giant insects attack the power plant, incidentally. 13. Another Book About Striker. Erotic Romance…probably. Yeah, I love Striker. I wrote a whole load of books about him and Chalia and Tanner, Chance and Kett’s parents and their friends. But they were rubbish, so I shelved them, and came up with Striker’s daughter, Chance. But now I really, really wanna write about my favourite psychopath again. Bless him. So there you have it. Thirteen things on my To Do list, and that’s not counting the books contracts, in edits, to be promoted…it never ends!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!