A few days ago (you can read it here) I made my last update regarding the fifth book in the Corrosive Knights series.

I’m proud to say that over the weekend I finished work on it, doing a few more revisions to a couple of sections but felt, as of Sunday, that the book was about as good as it was going to get.  So here, the announcement I’ve been dying to make for a very, very long time:

Ghost of the Argus, the fifth book in the Corrosive Knights series, is available via Amazon!  (Click on the picture to get to the Amazon website and order it!)

Now, some background information.

The Corrosive Knights series, at this moment in time, consists of five books which, taken together, form one “large” story that concludes –with a couple of cliffhangers!–in Ghost of the Argus.  Please note, just because Ghost of the Argus concludes the first major Corrosive Knights story, it does not mean the series itself is over.  In fact, I already have the skeleton framework for the next Corrosive Knights novel written out.  That novel begins almost immediately after the conclusion of Ghost of the Argus and, if all works out, should be one hell of a ride.  I also have the actual, final Corrosive Knights book in my hard drive in a very rough form!

So with Ghost of the Argus we reach the conclusion to my original larger Corrosive Knights story line, the one that came to me all those years before when I started working on Chameleon (book #3 in the series).  For those who have read the previous four Corrosive Knights books, it should come as no surprise when I say that Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon, the first three books in the series, can be read in any order.  None of them requires you to read the previous book to understand just what the heck is going on.

When I wrote Mechanic and The Last Flight of the Argus, I set the works in the same “universe” but during far different epochs.  Mechanic takes place in a dystopian Earth some three hundred or so years into our future while The Last Flight of the Argus was set in a much, much farther space opera future.

Though these original two books were linked by that shared universe and certain terminologies, it was only when I began writing Chameleon, which takes place roughly in our “present” time, that I realized there was a larger story to be made incorporating all three of these books into it.  So, for those keeping track, it wasn’t until I reached book three in this series that I realized I was actually writing a series!

When Chameleon was done, I got to work on Nox, a novel that is a direct sequel to Mechanic but whose story is also intricately tied into the events of Chameleon.  This, the fourth book in the Corrosive Knights series, was the first one that began putting the larger story pieces together.

As I was writing Nox, I was also working out elements of what became Ghost of the Argus.  I had a general idea of where I wanted to go, but as with all stories the devil is in the details.  Because this novel was a conclusion to the first “big” Corrosive Knights story line, in my mind it had to be bigger and better than all the books that preceded it while delivering on the promise of concluding this first major story line in a rousing manner.  With that goal set and after finishing Nox, I went to work.

Did I accomplish what I wanted?

I sure hope so.

I’ve given Ghost of the Argus more attention and spent more hours working on it than I have any of my previous novels.  It usually takes me about a year to write a novel and approximately six or seven drafts before I’m satisfied all is well.  For Ghost of the Argus, its taken two years to get her done.  I’ve gone through thirteen full drafts and at least ten or more “partial” drafts.  I’ve started, I’ve stopped, I’ve changed directions and deleted dead ends or misfires, I’ve streamlined, I’ve expanded.  In the end, I have twelve pounds of paper to show for it.

In sum, Ghost of the Argus just about killed me!

And you know what?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sure, I would love for the novel to have come together all at once and with minimal effort.  But that just isn’t the way these things work.  Contrary to what is often shown on TV or in the movies, writing is not some leisurely activity one does after an eventful day traipsing around the countryside and finding the love of your life or after solving mysteries while accompanied by your very hot partner, one that you are secretly in love with.

No, writing is hard work that requires many, many hours of intense -solitary!- concentration.  At times it can be agony.

But the pleasure you feel when the work is “done” and you hold your novel in your two hands…that’s pure bliss.

I couldn’t be happier with the Corrosive Knights series.  I feel that I’ve accomplished what I’ve wanted to and delivered a group of books that should satisfy anyone looking for good, suspenseful, action packed sci-fi.

And more than anything else, I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed getting it done!

Now, off to book #6!