To all readers : Here’s a quick update on the status of the Angel Brings Fire, Future Burns Bright and Bonnie’s New Auntie series of novels, as of the end of 2022.
I took a hiatus from writing last year to attend to various personal matters (long story there; in my “day job” I’m an IT security consultant, and things have been busy at work), as well as attending to issues with some of the publishers from whom you can acquire these books.
Furthermore, in mid-2022, my wife and I welcomed a family of Ukrainian refugees (from Mariupol… need I say more) into our home, and much of the rest of the year found us preoccupied with trying to help these people “get settled” in Canada. It’s amazing how much we take for granted in North America… for example, just the ability to register one’s children in school; this is anything but “easy” if you’ve showed up in a foreign country, with little more than the proverbial shirt on your back.
Let’s hope that the terrible war now plaguing Ukraine comes to a rapid and just end in 2023. The people of that beleaguered country have suffered far too much, already.
Anyway, hopefully the issues that complicated the ABF / FBB / BNA project are now (mostly) dealt with and I’ll have more ability to write in 2023.
And on that note, right now, I’m considering a variety of potential story lines that would take place after the events of the previous novel series.
These are :
(1.) The further exploits of one Ms. Bonnie Billings (and her side-kicks, Megha and Anna-Maria), as the three teenagers (and Bonnie’s brother Dylan) learn the “ups and downs” of “how to be a super-hero”.
(2.) In the vein of “Gulliver brought down by the Lilliputians”, Karéin-Mayréij is beset by lawsuits over “slights real or imagined”, brought by various U.S. citizens who believe that she (and / or her followers among the “New People) has somehow wronged them. The President and Minnie Chu are caught in the frustrating position of having to support petty harassment of an alien goddess who saved the planet from complete destruction… something tells me that this all will turn out badly for the complainants! 😉
(3.) Some or all of the crew of the now-defunct Eagle and Infinity spacecraft, re-visit Mars (but this time, without the distraction of a planet-killer comet, on their minds). What do they find, as they explore the cave complex where they first found mighty Karéin-Mayréij? Do they encounter the “Ancient Ones” that the Storied Watcher described to Bob Billings?
(4.) Fast-forward a few years; characters like Curtis Claremont, Elissha Billings and Kevin McGregor, are now young adults, each with his or her own super-powers. How do they use these abilities? Are they all still able to obey the Storied Watcher’s orders never to use super-powers, in a “dishonorable” manner?
(5.) Then, there are some really “out there” possibilities; for example, stories set in the far future (in which Earth, now mostly populated by “super-beings”, ventures out into interstellar space), or in which an evil Watcher (one whom Karéin-Mayréij thought that she had defeated, eons ago and galaxies away, tracks her down on Earth, resulting in a Titanic battle), or in which the Storied Watcher is forced to abandon Earth entirely, for some catastrophic reason… or other themes to similar effect.
I’m honestly not sure which, if any, of the above appeal to me, and note that one or more of these themes could be combined in the same novel or novels… but if you have a preference, now’s the time to say! (Drop me an entry in the blog’s “Comments” section.)
Happy New Year, everyone!
Marcus Shields
Author, The Angel Brings Fire, The Future Burns Bright and Bonnie’s New Auntie