TL;DR: I'm writing a brand new book called Suicide Flats that should be available in about a month. This email talks about the reasons and conditions under which I'm writing it, but if you don't care about any of that and only want to know what the book is about and how to get it, you can read the indented blurb toward the end of this message or just wait until next week's email.

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Stick with me for a second after reading the subject line. Because OF COURSE if I'm writing a new book, I should publish it and let you read it, right?

Well, not so fast. I didn't really intend to publish this one (a stand-alone book in the Gore Point world called Suicide Flats) when I started writing it -- not in the normal way or on a normal timeline, anyway. This book was a "stretch goal reward" for my last Kickstarter campaign: If the campaign hit a milestone, everyone who backed the campaign would get it for free. That's why I was writing it: to fulfill the stretch goal, not to distribute it through normal channels.

That original promise remains true. Everyone who backed the City of Fire campaign will still get this book for free. It's just that the story is much cooler and much longer than I'd anticipated. It was supposed to be a novella, but it's now a full-length book ... and because it's turning out so awesome, everyone should be able to read it.

I'm currently shooting for a mid-November release for Suicide Flats. We'll see if I make it.

Nothing should be exclusive in the Truantverse (except new releases on Kickstarter, which backers get a few months ahead of time).

I never said I wouldn't publish this book. I did imply it, though. I think I said something like "I have no immediate plans to publish it." That was true, but that was also before it became a full-length book. Once I started writing it -- and once I started to really, really like it -- I made plans after all.

(NOTE: If you backed the campaign because you wanted something exclusive instead of just getting it free and my decision to publish it therefore annoys you, reply and let me know so we can work something out. I don't want you pissed.)

See, I finally came to terms with something this week that I've never acknowledged before. Simply and arrogantly put, I love everything I write too much to make anything exclusive. So far, another Gore Point novella called Moloch is only available to Kickstarter backers, and only Kickstarter backers can download the eBook version of Mine Zero, complete with an actual book cover. I kind of hate that, though. I'm glad I was able to give my most ardent readers something that nobody else had ... but I'm stuck more on the "nobody else has it" part than the "most ardent readers DO have it" part.

Eventually I'll release both of those stories, but not for a while. Suicide Flats, however, is different. It's hot. It feels to me like a brand new thing rather than a side project. I can't explain why; it just does. The idea started as a short story, became a novella, and end up being a full-fledged book. And, you see ... I haven't written a full-fledged book in a while. I've been in a rut. I've been blocked. This book, however, finally got me through it.

Guys. Gals. I think this current project is hitting me hard because I haven't written a full-length book in over a year.

That really sucks, but it's true. I've been too busy rebooting my books and career after splitting (amicably) with my old publishers and partners at Sterling & Stone. Now, though, I'm finally writing regularly again.

I feel like I'm back in the saddle after a very long time away. It's wonderful. But that right there is the problem: I can't write my first new project in forever -- my "back in the saddle" project -- and then only let 120 people read it. That would be like a chef making an enormous banquet, feeding two people, and throwing the rest away.

I write because I love the craft, not just for business reasons. Because this is art to me, not being read feels like a dagger in my chest. If I'm going to write, I want everyone who wants to read my work to be able to do so.

Over the next few weeks, I'll tell you all about Suicide Flats. For now, though, I'll just give you the blurb. The blurb will sound familiar if you originally voted on the premise that became Mine Zero, because this premise was one of the options that wasn't chosen. Shocking, right? Instead of only writing one of the three proposed story ideas, I wrote all three exactly like I should have expected myself to. (The third became Moloch, BTW.)

Here's what Suicide Flats is about:

It's so cool, you guys. You're going to love it.

While you're waiting for Suicide Flats to be ready, you might want to read Gore Point if you haven't yet. That way, you can immerse yourself before reading this new stand-alone novel that takes place in the same world.

​You can get Gore Point here on bookstores or here on my store for a dollar cheaper.

I think of Gore Point as a "horror procedural." Its logline is "Backdraft with demons." It's about a brigade of demon fighters: Legions, who fight the demons coming through rifts to Hell, and Stitchers, who close them. And so it goes, until a saboteur unsettles the balance, and chaos reigns.

(Teaser: Suicide Flats contains the origin story of Legions, right down to the choice of that word. That revelation was actually what made me say, "This book is too cool to keep exclusive!")

Oh, and just FYI: I'm done with promising exclusivity that lasts more than a few months. I'm apparently a show-off and want everyone to be able to read everything. I'm apparently just not built for holding anything back.

JT

P.S: Speaking of "not holding anything back," Suicide Flats is only the first of three monthly releases I have planned, meaning I'll have new releases in November, December, and January. City of Fire's public release is one of the others, but I also added a surprise book that I'll tell you about later. (Don't get used to this pace, though. I'm absolutely NOT going to keep publishing this fast. Things just worked out that way this time.) Stay tuned for more details to come!