Looking ahead to 2025
(And I'm asking a favor if you're going to Left Coast Crime or Bouchercon)
We are officially in that liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s, when it seems like the entire world is taking a collective breath. I’m working hard to get some stuff off my plate so I can hit the ground running.
(I’m also limiting myself to protein powder, vegetables, and egg whites, to try and reverse some of the damage I did to my waistline over the last two weeks…)
2025 is going to be a busy year. The sequel to Assassins Anonymous is coming out in June—that’s called The Medusa Protocol, and it’s already up for preorder. This hasn’t been officially announced, but… you’re going to see more of Mark and the gang after that. So I need to get writing.
I’ll also be working on the sequel to Detour, the novel I wrote with Manifest showrunner and creator Jeff Rake. The first book doesn’t even land until Spring 2026, but we have to get cracking on the next one.
That’s two books to write!
Me and
have our fingers crossed for a Dark Space sequel, which means I’d be writing a third book. And I might be up for a ghostwriting project, which means a fourth. And I still want to write that YA/midde grade book for my daughter, which would be a fifth…So I’m definitely writing two books in the next year, and I could be writing up to five! All this while teaching at Seton Hill, working with freelance clients, and whatever else springs up in the meantime.
(That’s on top of going back to a world where I have to wake up every single day wondering what insane thing our president did that today. I went entire weeks without thinking of Biden. Gonna miss that.)
I’m also going to say the same thing I always say, which is: I want to write more short stories next year. I barely do that anymore and I miss it. If you’re working on a short fiction mag or an anthology and you’re looking for material, give me a nudge! It might help…
(I might do a separate post about writing resolutions, but that’s a good one.)
Speaking of resolutions, I’ve got a favor to ask you…
If you’re going to Left Coast Crime or Bouchercon, you can nominate books, for the Lefty and the Anthony respectively. The Lefty nomination ballots just went out, and the Anthony ballots go out in February, I think. If you would kindly consider nominating Assassins Anonymous in the ‘best novel’ categories, it’d mean a lot.
It would be great to see my book up for an award, even if I don’t win.
Overall… 2024 was a good year. I hit a bestseller list for the first time. I got my publishing mojo back. I saw some encouraging things happen on the Hollywood side. Most of all, I’m still here and reasonably healthy.
I hope it was a good year for you, too. Feel free to share your successes, or some of your goals for 2025, down in the comments.
That's a full slate, Rob. You're giving me a nudge! Although I have a couple of tight deadlines for some short story calls I'd like to submit to... I just have to emerge from my sugar coma and get cracking! Loved Assassins Anonymous. Count me in for the next one!