The Healer's Defense - a fantasy, now a reality

It's now a reality in the making, though at least a few months off from one that you can enjoy with me. The start of the second trilogy, now called Heir of Drachma, has been through the first stage of publishing, and is  sitting inside my computer, somewhere in cyberspace. It is called The Healer's Defense (more on the titles later in this post). I have started the process of going through the editor's recommendations - all the typos and commas to be removed, as well as recommendations: for how I could say this better, and which paragraph just doesn't work, and which sentences can be removed, because I've already said this earlier; and all of the little things that it is their job to sort out. Interesting though - their recommendations are all small ones. There will be no major changes in the plot lines, or even characterizations.

This second series involves the same characters you got to know in the first series (plus some new characters, such as Alexandra - a young girl - so much more mature than her years, Diego Monteverde - a nobleman who survives to become a major part of life in Shepperton, and Tom's brothers. And we find ourselves in Shepperton, which is facing threats even more dangerous than in the first trilogy. And so Craycroft, Kerlin and Tom are left to sort out just how to shore up the defenses of the realm, and to protect what they now have.

After I'm done with the editing, I get to do what is one of my favorite tasks in all this - working with the person assigned to cover design. And as you can tell from the previous trilogy, it is one I take quite seriously. I want something that conveys a feeling of what the book is about, but doesn't give anything away. And eye-catching, as you typically get only 2.5 seconds to make an impression.

And that brings me to the subject of the titles. As some of you know, the titles of the first three books are all borrowed from doppler echocardiography, which is one of my own particular areas of interest, and some would say expertise. What then of the titles of the new series? In this case I chose the theme of chess, which somehow seemed appropriate to the series. The first title is The Healer's Defense. And the title of the second book in the series will be, unless I change my mind, Center Game. Now, it would appear that you do have time to get, and to read the first trilogy before the next one starts to come out. The easiest way to get them would be to go to Amazon.com, and look them up, based on the titles. If you look up Timothy Cook, you're bound to see a bunch of stuff by Apple's CEO, to whom I not in any way related. Anyway, happy reading!