What’s coming up in 2016?

Hello! I haven’t blogged in an age because I’ve been busy with Kheris, the next book due out in April, and no, it’s not Book Five, it’s a side-step. It’s the Thieves’ Guild universe and it’s the same characters, specifically LC, but ten years ago when he was a thirteen year old kid caught in a warzone on Kheris.
I am writing Book Five, and planning Book Six, but I think after the end of Four, I needed some breathing space. It’s all been quite intense. If I thought the end of Three had left me standing at the edge of an abyss, the end of Four left me reeling. And what’s coming up in Five and Six is tough, for everyone.
The idea to take a step back started when I first started going to comic cons. I’ve had so many people ask if these books are suitable for teens, and my standard answer was yes, why not? There was no such thing as Young Adult fiction (YA) when we were kids. We read science fiction, we read books. My hubs was reading James Herbert and Isaac Asimov when he was eight. My only reservation was that there are some strong words in my stuff. I edit a lot out. And the few that remain are there for a reason. And I am aware that the language gets stronger as the books progress. But it made me think. I looked into what makes a YA book and it was awesome to see everyone say keep the language, keep the realism, keep the action and tension, give the characters a tough time, because that’s what we all want to read about, whatever age we are. Action adventure scifi is escapism. It’s rollercoaster good guys and bad guys, space battles, aliens, pirates, assassins and bounty hunters, heroes running around with guns, cats and dogs living together… If you love that stuff, it doesn’t matter how old you are.
But… the one big thing that everyone seems to agree on is that kids like reading about kids. So it got me thinking about LC. He never talks about what happened on Kheris when he was thirteen. So I just wondered, what if he did…
So that’s what is coming out in April at Sci-Fi Scarbs this year. Before then, I’m venturing out into Stockton for my first proper bookshop book signing at Drake's, then staying in the north-east I’ll be at the Newcastle Film and Comic Con in March, and then after Sci-Fi Scarborough in April, I’ll be at MCM London in May, back in Stockton for Kapow in June and then down in Kent for Invicta Con in August. After that, who knows! I’d love to go back to NYCC. And once Kheris is finished, I’ll be getting back to big story: Darkest Fears (Thieves’ Guild: Book Five) due out April 2017…


Kheris Burning (Thieves' Guild Origins: LC Book One) is due out April 2016. Sign up for my newsletter at www.cghatton.com to get news on release dates and events.