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By Root 1377 0

to finish a novel I began a while ago and set aside when I realized I was getting ahead of myself. The title of that novel is 1636: The Anaconda Project. That book will serve as a sequel to my short novel “The Wallenstein Gambit,” which was published in the first of the Ring of Fire anthologies, and will tell the story of how Wallenstein—working mostly through Morris Roth—begins the expansion of his new kingdom to the east, by encroaching on the Ruthenian territory under Polish-Lithuanian rule. It will also serve as a companion volume to this novel, by recounting some of the developments in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which were left offstage here. The attentive reader of this volume will recall that it was mentioned that the hussar Lukasz Opalinski’s older brother Krzysztof and the notorious up-time radical Red Sybolt were off somewhere in Ruthenia stirring up trouble for the Polish powers-that-be. That tale will be told in 1636: The Anaconda Project.

(If you’re wondering about the distinction, “attentive” readers are the readers who pay attention to the things an author wants them to notice. “Discerning” readers are the damn nuisances who insist on fussing over loose ends that the author thought he’d swept far enough under the rug to be out of sight.)

A number of other novels are in the works that deal with other story lines in the series. I will mention in particular:

Andrew Dennis and I have started working on 1635: A Parcel of Rogues. That novel will pick up the story of the group left behind in England after the escape from the Tower of London depicted in 1634: The Baltic War. The characters involved will include Julie Sims, Alex Mackay, Oliver Cromwell, Gayle Mason and Stephen Hamilton.

Chuck Gannon and I are writing 1635: The Papal Stakes. That novel is the direct sequel to 1635: The Cannon Law, which I co-authored with Andrew Dennis. It will focus on Harry Lefferts’ attempt to rescue Frank Stone and his wife Giovanna from Spanish captivity and lay some of the basis for the continuing tale of Sharon Nichols, Ruy Sanchez and the now-exiled Pope Urban VIII.

Walter Hunt and I are writing a novel set in North America. Since the working title of that novel has already been announced publicly in Locus magazine, I suppose there’s no point in me trying to keep it buried. It’s 1636: Drums Along the Mohawk, which was supposed to have been a private joke. That will not be the title under which it actually gets published.

Yes, the Iroquois will figure in the story. Beyond that, I will say nothing.

David Carrico and I are working on a novel titled 1636: Symphony for the Devil. This is a mystery novel which takes place in Magdeburg simultaneously with many of the events depicted in 1636: The Saxon Uprising.

Iver Cooper is putting together an anthology of his own writing, similar in format to Virginia DeMarce’s 1635: The Tangled Web. These interwoven stories focus mostly on the New World, especially the Japanese decision to colonize the west coast of North America.

Other planned volumes include:

With Mercedes Lackey, a comic novel (sub-titled Stoned Souls) that continues the adventures of Tom Stone and others.

With Virginia DeMarce, a novel which centers on the Rhineland and serves as a sequel both to this volume and The Wars on the Rhine anthology. The current working sub-title for that volume is The Grand Duke of Burgundy, but that will probably change by the time the book comes out in print.

With Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett, a romantic comedy sub-titled The Viennese Waltz which will run parallel to one of my later main line novel and serve also as a sequel to a number of the stories they’ve written about the Barbie Consortium in various issues of the Gazette.

(If you’re wondering why I’m only providing sub-titles, it’s because I still don’t know exactly which year they’ll fall under. Either 1635 or 1636, depending on this and that and the other.)

And there it stands. For the moment.

For those of you who dote on lists, here it is. But do keep in mind, when you examine this neatly ordered sequence, that