Language of the Bear is THIS close to publication! We had some back and forth with our editor for a bit, and are now finalizing edits and cover art.

And because publication is so close, I want you to start reading it.

I’ll be sending out the first chapter free to you lovely people on my mailing list. If you’re already on my it (thank you!), you’ll get an email in the next few days. But if you’re not,

click here to get on my list before the book comes out and I’ll send you chapter one of Language of the Bear.

And don’t worry about getting hammered with emails—I don’t send newsletters often or bombard you with nonsense. I’ll generally only email you when there’s actual news, special announcements or deals.

LOTB is getting so close I can smell the campfires, but the writing goes on for other projects. And everything that goes along with the writing, like the research so key in historical fiction.

Here comes the summer reading.

LOTB is the first novel in the Tomahawk & Saber series and it takes place in the days just before the French and Indian War. And then the second book, Through the Narrows, brings our heroes even closer to the actual war. (It’s sometimes called the Seven Years War, which is odd because it’s generally marked as 1754 – 1763. You do the math).

Then the untitled THIRD book … well, I won’t tell you exactly. But suffice to say, I’m redoubling my efforts at research for the French and Indian War and all the goings-on around it.

Of course, I’ve been reading books about Colonial history, Native American tribes of the eastern woodlands, and all that goes along with that era for a long time. Especially during the writing of LOTB, there was a lot of digging for historical details again.

But that book largely takes place on the frontier, away from much of what makes it into history books. Now, though, as Evan Ronan and I are finishing the plotting for the third book, we’re both refreshing our history and getting some additional research in to really make this era and story come alive.

I’ve got a stack of books to start with. Some I’ve read before, others not. And the research begins in earnest as soon as LOTB is published.

(I say that as if it’s an onerous task. Really, I get to sit and read about exciting history and people. … Good work, if you can get it.)