CHERUBS 2 is out… Finally!!!

Originally, CHERUBS 2, the third novel in my Josh Haman series was scheduled to come out in September 2015. It was released this week – a mere 10 months later than planned.

A lot of things conspired to make the book late and someday might make an interesting plot for a novel. Combine a cat fight between the chief operating officer and the owner of the publishing company that started with a difference of opinion in the direction of the business.

The differences led to an offer by the COO to buy the company that flew like a lead balloon so he left to start his own publishing firm. The result was that decisions/commitments made by the departing COO were not met. Add in competition for the same freelance editing resources, an owner who had a day job who had to either learn how to run a publishing company or shut it down and one has a mess.

Schedules went up in flames. The manuscript needed some rewriting and editing and it gave me more than a spectator’s role in the politics. All I wanted was to get the book out which meant I wouldn’t take sides. Listening and gentle prodding was the order of the day.

Version control also went out the window with employee turnover because one editor wanted one approach to certain scenes, another wanted the passage written differently. Passages that I thought were added weren’t and vice versa.

The days and weeks flew by. September turned into probably January which turned into maybe March which turned into definitely by mid-May which turned into June, but in reality July.

Out of all this, three great things happened. One, CHERUBS 2 will now out. Better late than never and that makes three books in print.

Two, from the discussions I had with editors that led to writing additional scenes for CHERUBS 2 with new characters. Those that wound up on the cutting floor morphed into a new manuscript. Over the winter, I finished the book with the working title FORGOTTEN POWS and am now sitting on it, so to speak. Like most drafts, it still needs a lot of work, but I really like it.

Three, I am under contract for a fourth book titled INNER LOOK. The contract is with a different publisher and based on what I know at this moment, it should be out in late December 2015 or January 2016.

The moral of the story is out of most bad situations good things do happen!