New Books

So, two and a half book announcements today. First, The Electric Heist, my third and final book, will come out in 2026. I have not set on a firm date yet, but I aim to have it out before May 16. Just an arbitrary date. Not my 35th birthday or anything. But before then. Ideally, March, if all goes according to plan. We’ll see how editing and revisions go. Currently, it is written. Now I just need to make sure it’s really good. That’ll take a while, I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Second, I’m working on a revised edition of my first book. That book, a silly short story collection, was never intended to start a writing career. It was certainly never meant to be the beginning of a series, and it has some stuff in it that should be retired and replaced with better, more recent work. So that it can tie into the other books better and be stronger on its own terms. So, the new edition of The Intellectual Barbarian will come out in 2027, which will make it the start of a yet-unnamed trilogy, leading to Unquestionably Monstrous and concluding with The Electric Heist.

I do not intend to write a fourth book. Writing a book is a colossal chore. It can be a joy as well, but it is a labour of love to drag 50 to 60 thousand words of stories, characters, adventures, and satire across the finish line and have it be, well, good. While I’m proud of what I’ve written and I’ve enjoyed crafting it, I don’t see any further books to come. My journey as a paperback writer has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Alex Colvin collection.

And my half-announcement is that Commonplace Books in Ingersoll, Ontario, will be carrying Unquestionably Monstrous on their shelves once they open on October 25th! They have a section for local authors. I qualify. My book will be on a booksellers shelf.

Something I have long-since realized as a writer is that I will never ‘make it’. I never want to write popular fiction. I never want to deal with a publisher. I’m too cheap to pay for advertising. I intensely dislike marketing myself on social media, (although I have friends who are quite good at it). As such, I will never sell millions of copies, I will never get a Netflix show, I will not be taught in schools or remembered in history. Because that is the fate of most books. Deserved or not. Most go into the ashcan of history. That’s where I’m headed and I’ve made peace with that.

But to have three books to my name, over a thousand copies moved worldwide, and my books on a bookstore shelf puts me on even footing with a lot of fine writers. And while I will likely pass into history without consideration or comment, I am quite pleased with the work I’ve done and what has been crafted to my name.

So, no more books. Not the end of creative work. I’m in the earliest stages of crafting something more interactive. And, one day, I’ll get around to writing on substack. But this announcement is the beginning of a very long goodbye to an endeavor that has simply run its course. But, before that last goodbye, The Electric Heist will come out and The Intellectual Barbarian will be revised and rereleased. So stay tuned.