So, Amy, what are you working on now?

Oh my God--it's like I'm finally coming up for air.

I've been telling people that I wrote an amazing number of words in six months-- 450,000. I sort of made up for that by taking an entire two months to write Fall Through Spring, and now I'm super under the gun writing Silent Heart. 

But, back to the beginning. String Boys has done great--better than I could have hoped, and I'd like to thank ALL the people who reviewed it in ALL the places as part of that. You really made a difference and I appreciate it so much. But now that it's out, people want to know what comes next.

So I'll start with what's got a solid due date (and, in some cases, a cover) and move on to what's been turned in, and then talk about what I'm working on and scheduled to work on next. If it's not coming soon, I'll talk about if it's coming at all (usually it's just in a refractory period) and tell you what the hold up is.

Are we ready?

Let's go!

Okay-- starting with Warm Heart which is my next Dreamspun Desire, and is out on July 16. This is the first of three books, and they're sort of action packed and have simpler casts than I usually write, but hopefully memorable casts as well.



Warm Heart
Search and Rescue: Book One

Survive the adventure. Live to love.

Following a family emergency, snowboarder Tevyn Moore and financier Mallory Armstrong leave Donner Pass in a blizzard… and barely survive the helicopter crash that follows. Stranded with few supplies and no shelter, Tevyn and Mallory—and their injured pilot—are forced to rely on each other.

The mountain leaves no room for evasion, and Tevyn and Mal must confront the feelings that have been brewing between them for the past five years. Mallory has seen Tevyn through injury and victory. Can Tevyn see that Mallory’s love is real?

Mallory’s job is risk assessment. Tevyn’s job is full-on risk. But to stay alive, Mallory needs to take some gambles and Tevyn needs to have faith in someone besides himself. Can the bond they discover on the mountain see them to rescue and beyond?

So, looks fun, right? I hope so, because it was a blast to write!

Anyway, after Warm Heart is the long awaited sequel to Beneath the Stain. It's titled Paint it Black.   This book will be released with Beneath the Stain in MASS MARKET PAPERBACK on August 13th.

Paint it Black

Everybody thinks Mackey Sanders and Outbreak Monkey is the last coming of Rock’n’Roll Jesus, but Cheever Sanders can't wait to get out of his home town and make a name for himself where nobody expects him to fill his famous brothers’ shoes. He’s tired of living in their shadow.

Blake Manning knows the feeling. He's been Outbreak Monkey's second lead guitarist for ten years. He’s come to terms with the fact that he’ll never be Grant Adams, the guy he replaced, and that Kell Sanders will never love him like Mackey loved Grant. He got this gig on luck and love, not talent. So watching Cheever blow through Outbreak Monkey's hard-earned money in an epic stretch of partying pisses him off.

Blake shows up at Cheever's nonstop orgy to enforce some rules, but instead of a jaded punk, he finds a lost boy as talented at painting as Mackey is at song-making, and terrified to let anybody see the real him. It’s something he and Blake have in common.

Both men have to make peace with being second banana in the public eye. Can they find the magic of coming absolute first with each other?

Now, if you haven't read the Beneath the Stain extras, go to Prolific Works and pick up your copy-- they'll give you some insight to the characters, and they came out when Beneath the Stain did, and that will help. If you haven't, and don't plan to, don't worry. This book was meant to stand alone. As for the plot? Well, uh, sex, drugs, and rock n roll--I mean, what else?

I will say one other thing about this book? Cheever was surprisingly alpha--and Blake was amazingly vulnerable. Neither of these things were how I expected this book to go.

Now, after Paint it Black, we have the the next Fish book--Fish on a Bicycle--which, a little bit like Fish 3 has some crossover elements. 

Before everybody starts running around going, "Oh my God! What do I have to read next in anticipation," don't worry. 

A. I had some very serious editorial help shaping this one up so it could be read independently. Will it help to have read the other books first? Yes. Of course. But is it necessary? I think these last two years I've been working super hard on how to make books standalone. Hiding the Moon was a training exercise for this one, and I think I did a good job. 

B. If you're still worried about whether or not you should read the crossover books, and you've been an Amy Lane fan for any length of time, I wouldn't worry. I think the crossover characters will be really super familiar. 

Just saying.

Now, after Fish on a Bicycle, which is in editing and should be out in October, we have another long awaited sequel, and one that will come with a makeover for the whole three book series. 

Yes, I said three books. 

I know that with titles like Winter Ball and Summer Lessons, you sort of expect a fourth, but the fact was, Dane and Carpenter were really the only other characters any of us were interested in by the end of Summer Lessons, and I just didn't want to force things. So expect Fall Through Spring in December, and while it's not Christmas themed, it's snarky and hopefully charming, in spite of the fact that Dane and Carpenter had some serious issues to work through. I tried (oh my God did I try) to keep the tone of "it's all gonna be okay" even throughout the books. We know they go to some dark places--I mean, we saw Dane's nervous breakdown in Summer Lessons, right? But this is through their POV, and I hope that alone makes it worth it. 

Oh! I almost forgot. If you've wondered about these books and thought, "Mmmm... but the covers..."  Don't worry. The entire series is being recovered. I SERIOUSLY can't wait.

So that's what's in the pot. How about what I'm working on now.

Now--RIGHT now--I'm working on the sequel to Warm Heart, titled Silent Heart. It's Damien's and Preston's story, and six months after that, you'll see Glen and Cash's. I love this series. I'm such a sucker for action/adventure--writing it is more fun than I can say.

And what comes next depends on when I finish.

It was GOING to be Nesting, which is the sequel to Homebird, but I'm running up against a super tight deadline, and Nesting might have to be pushed back to make way for the first Flophouse book, which is either Henry's book or Jason Constance's book (remember him from the Fish vignettes and Hiding the Moon?)  The Flophouse books will be set in the Johnnies world, but they're going to be shorter, tighter stories, with more of the focus on romance and less on the angst and pain. See-- growing up as a writer can hopefully make for some super awesome reads, I hope!

After Flophouse 1, I'm going to do a standalone titled Slow Pitch, and after that, I'm starting a series called The Hedge Witches Lonely Hearts Club. It will be in the Dreamspun Beyond line, and, again, so looking forward to short and fun and sweet! And sometime in the next year, I'm starting a series based on grifters, that is really turning my key.

But... but... (I can hear you all thinking it!)  But... but... what about... what about my favorite...

Okay-- there are a couple of sequels that are being put off for a while, due to lack of sales or lack of general interest. There's a push at DSP for things that can be put on the IPG catalog and that's usually the first of series or standalone books, and in this business you can either adapt or die.  

This doesn't mean I won't finish the series. It just means that I'll have to lengthen the timeline a little. I mean, I LOVE the Familiar series, but Angels and Demons ain't selling, which is a shame. I really want to see Larx and Aaron get married--but I may need to wait a little while before I get to write that book. I'm going to be doing more standalone volumes, shorter books, trilogies instead of sagas. It's taking a change in the way I think of plotting and a change in the way I write--and change is always hard. If you grow disheartened, though, remember. 

I wrote Rampant in 2010 and people waited seven years for Quickening. It may take a while, but I really do finish what I start. And in the meantime, I put out some damned good fiction based in other worlds.

So that's the state of Amy-- I hope I'm writing to your flavor, because it's quite a recipe!