I thought it was about time I brought you guys up to date with what I’ve been working on, and what my provisional release schedule is looking like moving forward. It’s laid out in timeline order by year and quarter.

As this is a ‘Tepris Press‘ crystal ball, I’ll also put in here the things that my partner-in-shenanigans, NT Anderson, is releasing/has planned too. So this should be your ‘go to’ page for all future release news. 

There are loads of things coming down the pipeline, and I know you’re all eager to know what’s in store for you. So here goes!

NOTE:  This blog post will be constantly updated to reflect the current state of the timeline. Which is why it’s pinned to the top of the blog!  Come back here from time to time to find information on expected releases!



So, what’s planned for 2024?


TOOTH & CLAW should have been out a long time ago, but its path to publication has not been a smooth one. After the quick release of HUNTERS and BLOOD TO EARTH, I decided to take a break from the series and establish my FEMME FATALES books. This went spectacularly to plan as I released both THE SCORCHED SKY and the KNIGHTINGALE novella in 2022. This cleared the decks for a TOOTH & CLAW release in early to mid-2023.

The first road bump was my hospitalization in August 2022 for a Strep A infection. I was in hospital for 2 weeks and then couldn’t use my right hand properly for a couple of months after. This inability to write drove me mad! It was then compounded by the arrival of our new puppy, Lyssa. She’s an adorable Border Collie, but we were totally unprepared for the amount of time she would take from us. 

There were also some issues with the book itself. It is the completion of the first ‘arc’ if you will. Tying up a bunch of loose ends and answering some key questions before we move into the next phase. (The next two books, DRAGONSONG and THE TECHMASTERS, will almost be like one big book split into two. Then the final two books in the series THE RIVER and THE BROKEN CIRCLE will likewise form one narrative and complete the seven-book run.) This meant that it was super-complicated from a continuity standpoint. Add to that that it was originally supposed to take place over the Christmas period in the book timeline but changed at the last minute due to the rapidly growing word count. I had to move the Christmas chapters forward to DRAGONSONG, so all references to the holiday had to be purged.

Anyway, the book is now deep into its edit phase and Nikki is making fast progress. (She says it’s her fave book of the series and she can’t put it down! Which bodes well!)

At the moment it is looking like the release will be early in March. There will be a release date announced VERY SOON!


There are no release plans for Quarter 2, but I am now deep in the throes of writing the second FEMME FATALE novella and novel. 

So, very much spending this period of the year with my writing cap on. 😀


And the flip flopping continues.

Originally I had Kasai coming out first, and then The Broken Ground

Then… I flipped them around because I had to plug some holes in the narrative before releasing Kasai.

Now I’m back to doing them the first way again. BUT I’m writing them simultaneously.

The biggest reason for this is because Kasai introduces a new character (meow) that will be in The Broken Ground. So it makes sense to release the novella first before getting you stuck into the second book of the main arc.

If Nikki is up for a whole load of editing (though still less that Tooth & Claw!) then I’m increasingly looking to do a dual release or at the very least a very rapid staggered one.

Stay tuned for more info!

Ideally I would like these out before Christmas. I’d like the writing finished off before the end of Q3 so that I can move into the writing of Dragonsong (the 4th Ballad of the Songbird book) toward the end of the year to gear up for releasing that in 2025. It was too long between Blood to Earth and Tooth & Claw, so I’d like to avoid that again if possible.

The advantage of the first bunch of FEMME FATALES books is that on the whole they’re already written. The original stories were fan fiction for the City of Heroes game, so the skeleton is already there. What I’m doing is running through them and adjusting the characters and the background items. Thus, the book is already in hand and mostly done, so I’m hoping it won’t take too long to finish it and polish it. Then it’s all up to Nikki and her editing availability. (Sorry, Nikki!)

I can get away with this for perhaps the next 5 or 6 books in the series. After that, I’m back to writing them from scratch. 


This one is VERY tentative.

Adam, fresh off doing the HUNTERS audiobook, has already committed to doing the BLOOD TO EARTH book He is, it seems, a glutton for punishment. I’d hope that this one would be ready for release in mid-2024, but it all depends on Adam’s timescales. I’m not pushing him, so it gets done when it’s done.

But, from what I’ve heard of it so far it sounds awesome. If you want a sample of his voice, head to my homepage and listen to the first few chapters there. I’m so pleased with the work he’s done, and as it’s on a royalty share, please think about buying a copy of the HUNTERS audiobook just to give him some dollars for all his hard work!


Okay, so let’s get out the telescope and see the other things far out on the horizon.

The wheel doesn’t stop turning, and I have all kinds of ideas floating around my head. Some more solid that others, but here’s a little overview of what I’d like to do…

The plan for DRAGONSONG is to hopefully get the draft finished by the end of 2024 so that Nikki can have it and do her editing thing. Then I can push for a release early in 2025, maybe in March.

I have a few chapters written and the cover art is now finished. Other than that there’s not much to report on this one as yet.


Femme Fatale Novellas

These are a certainty. I’ll get them done. I currently have plans for books based on Reflex, Centurion, Rogue, Honsou, Mr. Infinity, Ecstasy, Shield Maiden, and a few more. I’m also still looking forward to my friend Steve Vimes finally popping his publishing cherry and releasing the Coin novella/novel.

 Femme Fatale Ongoing Series Novels

So, after THE BROKEN GROUND we have a few more in the pipeline.

  • Book 3 will be THE SHATTERED SHARD.
  • Book 4 will be THE FEMME FATALITY
  • Book 5 will be THE TANGLED WEB
  • Book 6 will be THE FOUND FAMILY
  • Book 7 will be THE FUTURE FEMME

I don’t intend it to end there, the series could run and run till everyone gets bored. But this is the first complete arc, so to speak. Book 7 is the only one that isn’t really written in any form yet, just a few chapters here and there. All the others are written in their original fan-fiction form but will need converting to the new Femme Fatales universe.

It should be a fun series.

Of course, this is the main event series. I’m hoping to have at least one of these out every year, which should mean the completion of the saga by 2027. Fingers crossed.

In case you didn’t know, here are the titles:

  • Book 5 – THE TECHMASTERS
  • Book 6 – THE RIVER
  • Book 7 – THE BROKEN CIRCLE

And that will bring us to the end of the saga.

Or at least the end of the Ballad of the Songbird. The ending I have in mind does leave it kind of open to another series that follows but I’m not sure I’ll ever do that.

However…

Ballad of the Songbird Adjacent Books

There are a few books I’d like to write which are linked to the Songbird series. known as The Rising. This is the thing that turned the world upside down in 2016, three decades before the events of the Songbird series.

First up, there’s a mention in book 2, BLOOD TO EARTH, of a case that Allyson worked on when she was a London detective. She referred to the horrific murder spree case of ‘The Holloway Horror’. I’d kind of like to write the story of this case as a detective novel. And then, maybe, a little series of detective novels based around Allyson’s time as a detective.

The name of this one may be subject to change…  I’m thinking about it.

Secondly, I already have an almost complete book in a series that I’ve tentatively entitled ‘The Hunters Files’ which will detail the exploits of the 137th Hunters up to the events of ‘Bloody Valletta’ which, anyone who has read HUNTERS and BLOOD TO EARTH will know, is a major event in Gayle Knightley’s life. This will be a series of novellas.

Thirdly, there will likely be a trilogy series set around the events leading up to the apocalyptic event known as The Rising. This is the thing that turned the world upside down in 2016, three decades before the events of the Songbird series.

And lastly, I tentatively started to do a series of Young Adult books based on the adventures of the cadets at the HFA Academy. Kind of like a supernatural Harry Potter. Not sure whether I’ll move forward with this as plans kind of changed with what I was going to do with the kids, but you never know.


And that I think pretty much gives you the heads up on everything that’s bubbling away in my head. 

I’ll try and keep this thread regularly updated so you know what’s going on.

Love & Books

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