It often seems to be the way with new projects that the inspirations for them appear before existing works in progress are complete.

As a result, rather than having two main works ongoing, I now have three- and the third one is a standalone novel, which took me by surprise at first.

Ideas come along as and when they feel like it, often demanding to be documented. Luckily in this case I'm excited enough about this latest work that it's more than welcome to its place in the list. At the moment I don't feel that I can share the title (I actually love it too much- how self-important is that?!), let alone the plot, but suffice to say it straddles genres and doesn't belong in a particular niche as far as I can tell. All of which may well make it very difficult to market, but I'll cross that bridge as and when I have to. I hate marketing anyway, and I won't hate marketing this one any less. It'll just be a different challenge.

How is it different to the Aona books? (he asks himself- there's that self-importance again) Well, it's a standalone work and it will have a limited cast of characters- and probably no more than three viewpoints.

It's occupied so many of my waking moments (and even dreams- get out more I must) in recent days that I've no doubt that this work will see the light of day sooner rather than later.