I set myself a ridiculously ambitious target for 2023. To get 6 books finished and published. In the event, 2023 saw two new novels go into print – “The God of the Dead” and “England’s Pleasant Pastures”. The other four novels are still languishing unfinished on my OneDrive. So what are my goals for 2024? I would like to see book 5 in my Greater German Reich series released in the first quarter. It’s full of war and intrigue, and the first draft is perhaps 75% complete. Of course, I’d like to get the second in my Dark Satanic Mills trilogy out – “Our Clouded Hills”. That’s about 75% complete as well. So they’re both achievable targets, so that’s definitely two novels out in 2024. The fourth Alex Savage novel, “For a Few Dinars More”, is 60% complete, and I can definitely see that getting a 2024 release. I’m also 70% through the first draft of an exciting new novel, “One Eight”, a slightly futuristic sci-fi novel set a few years from now, featuring clones and moral judgements. This one has been sitting on my hard drive for a few years now, and I really need to get it out there. The first few chapters were written, in pen, in third-person present, which was an experimental phase I was going through. I’m currently changing it to third-person past, and I still haven’t decided on an ending, but I’m perhaps 70% certain I can get it finished in 2024. And though the first DCI Woods novel, “Genesis”, was not well-received, I would love to get the follow-up, “Exodus”, finished in 2024, though that will require a good three months of solid writing to get even the first draft complete.

So, 2024 Resolutions? Oh, that’s a different thing. To remain sober. To keep my office tidy. All of the usual.

But my targets as far as completed novels? In order of possibility:

1/ Our Clouded Hills: Dark Satanic Mills 2
2/ Lebensraum II: Operation Eisbär
3/ One Eight
4/ For a Few Dinars More
5/ Exodus

Other promises? I’m currently running a comprehensive “typo check” on my Greater German Reich novels, and combining this with a special spine art for the paperback version, which will, when the series is complete, feature a cool image to stand out on your bookshelf. “die Stunde X” is done, and I expect this particular project to be completed this year. I will combine its completion with a competition to win paperback versions of all four/possibly five novels in the series so far.

Exciting times – hopefully – ahead. Keep reading, and please, if you can, keep reading my novels and let me know what you think of them.

Happy New Year.

Shaun