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I’m building towards the sequel to The
Temptation of John Haynes, and I’m trying to get a feel for the character again
and his “voice” before I tackle him in a second full novel. Before I write that
book, I want to reintroduce readers to him.
Following some advice I read on Chuck Dixon’s
official website, I’m giving John a more active role in an established
character’s books before presenting him in another novel. Dixon has a good
point, when a character is out of rotation for a while like John, it’s best to
reintroduce them in an established characters’ book first and get the audience
reacquainted with them. Hopefully this approach will build anticipation for the
sequel to The Temptation of John Haynes.
Isis: Night of the Vampires will pick up on a
plot point left at the end of Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess and tie directly
into E’steem: Undercover. In that E’steem story E’steem will be going
undercover as an IT Technician as she investigates a smuggling ring involving
Morris Phillips products.
E’steem has been growing in her role as John’s
helpmeet. She’s ready to take on more responsibility. And John is ready to give
it to her.
E’steem’s investigation has her learning more
about herself and how to work without her powers. While readers are used to her
using hocus pocus and hellfire to get out of jams, in this story I want to show
her using her world-famous brain to solve the case of the Snack smugglers.
And while she’s working at the warehouse on her
case, E’steem needs someone to fill in for her. That’s where Isis comes in. In
Isis: Night of the Vampires, Isis gets to walk a mile in E’steem’s high heeled
sandals helping John do his work at Morris Phillips. During her time there
she’ll learn about the corporate Hell John deals with and the threats from the
evil spirits and principalities in Lucifer’s Legion.
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And she’ll also get to know John a little
better. In Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess Isis met John. And they didn’t get
along too well in the beginning. Towards the end of the story she began to warm
to John, but I left the door open for her to come back. Isis wants to get back in
the penthouse. And here’s her opportunity to go where she’s needed.
In Isis: Night of the Vampires, Isis will learn
what makes John great. And she’ll see why E’steem loves him so much. And she’ll
grow closer to and come to be fond of him for who he is as they overcome
whatever threat they have to face together.
The challenge for Isis: Night of the Vampires
and E’steem: Undercover will be keeping the continuity straight between both
stories. In this cross-over, both Esteem: Undercover and Isis: Night of the Vampires both take
place at exactly the same time. While both stories are self-contained in their
own volumes, events in both stories overlap over the same period of days give
or take a sequence.
While I’ve done crossovers last year such as
Esteem: Deadly D’lilah and Isis: My Sister, My Frenemy, this time I’m
experimenting with a different type of story model. Two different stories, same
characters and both going on at the exact same time running parallel with each other. It’s out of the box, but
it’s a lot of fun doing something different.
Right now the first draft of E’steem Undercover
and Isis: Night of the Vampires are finished. No telling when both books will
be out, but I’m shooting for before the summer of 2015.
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