Isis Series Book News and the John Haynes Sequel

Isis: Night of the Vampires and E’steem Undercover are coming to Smashwords!

But with a twist! Bill Walko did an amazing job on the art on the Isis/E’steem crossover covers. And he even did a pair with a different trade dress. And with Smashwords having a larger distribution network than Amazon, I thought that would be a great place for both to get their debut!

In other book news I’ve just completed the first draft of  sequel to The Temptation of John Haynes. The book is tentatilvely titled The Man Who Rules the World. I'm pondering calling it  John Haynes: The Man Who Rules The world to keep it in line with the other Isis and E'steem series books. Temptation was one of my most acclaimed novels in 2011 and it had a fairly strong following. Some asked me back as far as 2011 if there’d be a sequel, and I wanted to have just the right story premise in mind before I made any promises.

I planned this story back as far as 2009 and I’ve been trying to write The Man Who Rules The World for close to seven years now. I started this book and stopped it numerous times and struggled to get this book to go anywhere. However, while I was stuck on Isis: Imitation of Life I got inspired to write The Man Who Rules The World and completed the entire story in a week.

Some of my readers have wanted me to write books for Black boys for several years. And I wrote this story specifically with Black boys in mind. I made it a point to create a story where we see a Black man in a leadership position being assertive, authoritative and commanding. I’ve learned a lot of lessons about manhood and the male identity in the last seven years and I wanted to make sure they were applied in this story.

Readers of the Isis series got a glimpse of John Haynes in his appearances in Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess and Isis: Night of the Vampires. And the story of The Man Who Rules the world will take place right after Isis: Night of the Vampires if you follow that continuity. Like Temptation, this one is action packed and is extremely fast paced. If you like superhero movies like The Avengers, you’ll love The Man Who rules the World. Almost every major character from the SJS DIRECT Universe makes an appearance here.

The Man Who Rules the World is the first full John Haynes story in the Novelette format. I wanted this book to be longer, but as it was writing itself this was the format it was flowing into. I would love to do a John Haynes series like I do with the Isis series, but I’d have to see the sales numbers for the book before I made any commitments.  

I’m pondering doing a Kickstarter for The Man Who Rules the World I would love to see Bill Walko’s version of John Haynes to go along with Isis and E’steem. And I’d love to see his trade dress for the cover. He did a great job with the Isis/E’steem crossover covers and I’d love to work with him again.

I’d love to release The Man Who Rules The World in Summer 2016, but I’m making no promises This is just the first draft and I have a long way to go.