Hi! I hope your day’s going well. Things are okay on this end, and here’s another update on what I’m working on.

The first draft of Crossover is now complete. It came in at around 15,500 words. I’m going to let it sit for a bit while I work on something else. Then I’ll come back to it with hopefully fresh eyes and do some editing and revisions. I’ll probably end up cutting it down somewhat. That’s what usually happens.

While it’s resting, I’m working on some early chapters of Colonel Grenot, which is the working title for the first Jessie Diamond spinoff novel. Jessie is hired to smuggle a bunch of gold coins into a small Caribbean island nation, but things go awry when the CIA gets involved and a military coup traps her on the island as all hell breaks loose.

I’m calling it Colonel Grenot (for now at least) because that’s the name of the villain. Fleming used to do that (Dr. No, Goldfinger) so it must be cool, right? I don’t have another title right now, but I’m open to alternatives if my subconscious wants to offer some up. We will see.

I’m three chapters in at the moment. Jessie is doing some pre-mission reconnaissance, looking for people in the right positions who are open to a bit of bribery. Then she’s going to meet with her new client. He’s a jerk, but he’s far from the biggest problem she’ll face.

And apart from that I’m working on plotting out the next John Crane adventure, title to be determined. I know, when I released Aftershocks, I said it was going to be called The Vengeful. I also promised it was coming soon, so I wouldn’t rely on that. That book has been through more than one complete reboot in the last couple years as plotlines bogged down and died. (I have salvaged a few ideas from all that work that will likely remix and reappear.)

So that’s what’s going on. I want to update you from time to time since it’s been so long since anything actually made it to publication. As always, if you have questions or anything else, you can reach me at mark@markparragh.com or just pop into the Facebook group. It’s always great to hear from you.