It’s been nearly two months since I posted my last blog, and nearly two months since STORMBLOOD hit the shelves.With all the reviews, bloggers, blog posts, video reviews, guest posts, Goodreads rating, signings, launches, and general tomfoolery, it’s been one whirlwind of a time. Barely had the chance to catch my breath.
Reviews so far have been very, very good. Better than I was expecting. I’ve been signing every copy I can get my paws on instore – the feeling of actually seeing All My Words out in the wild is amazing. Even more so when I’m rubbing alphabetical shoulders with Tolkien, Neal Stevenson, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tade Thompson, etc. But more on that later.
For those of you not in the know, STORMBLOOD is the first book in the Common series. Or trilogy, rather. And I’m waist-deep in editing the second book in the series, BLINDSPACE. Without spoiling anything, this book goes full blown space-opera. We expand beyond Compass, beyond the solar system, in fact. Whereas the first book had a noir cyberpunk-ish theme to it, especially in the early pages, BLINDSPACE is very much in the vein of THE EXPANSE (you’ll know when you see it), and authors like Alastair Reynolds and Pierce Brown. They’ve always had a strong influence on my writing, but now it’ll be much more obvious. More characters are added to the main cast, both new and familiar. And not all of them are human. The story will be told entirely from Vakov’s messed up, alien-infused first-person PoV.
It’s also much darker than STORMBLOOD. Elements of PTSD, addiction, fanaticism, and, of course, absolute rage are very central themes to the book. It’s also significantly longer. STORMBLOOD clocked in at around 155k (in hindsight, I could have shaved 2-3k of prose calories off that and the story would be the same). But BLINDSPACE will be sitting at around 180k. Probably. Maybe. You never know what my editor will make me cut!
I’m also working very, very hard to make BLINDSPACE work. This will not be a middle book that exists to set up the finale. This will not be a big, isolated narrative. Events from the first book have consequences, and events taking place in Book 2 have consequences further on.
And because of that, writing and editing it is taking longer than I anticipated. We’re flirting with an April 2021 release date, but those decisions are not up to me, (and nor should they be). I have yet to hand it into my editor (although my agent has read the first half). But I’m working on it full time: 4-5 days a week, 8-10 hours a day. I do it for you, oh readers! I do it for you. And seeing folks already pumped for it is fabulous, but it doesn’t come with its own added pressure. But it is what it is, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Watch this space…
JEREMY SZAL 
Can’t wait for Blindspace. It sounds grrrreeat!!
Thank you!