AUGUST 2026 UPDATE

Damn. Is that the time already? I am deep into my next draft of Secret in the Blood, and very happy with how its going. It’s sitting on 244 000 words at the moment, which is like pretty much exactly the length that Gods of the Hollow Wild was when I finally said goodbye to it/had it wrenched out of my grasping claws.

In the last update I was thinking I would have written about an extra 10000—15000 words by now instead of the 5000 or that I’ve achieved, but I’ve just been doing a lot of rewriting, which always happens at this stage for me. I’m a huge re-drafter, usually going one or two drafts past the point where the people that read my work (like my editor) think it’s done.  

Things tend to get more and more intensive as I approach the finish line too, as my mind goes into overdrive and I see everything I could do better. When I politely asked my editor, Mandy, if I would get to see another typeset copy of Gods of the Hollow Wild before it went to the proofreader, she was like, ‘not on your life, Sala.’ I think she’s gotten to know me well.

Anyway, the book has so many characters I loved writing and just can’t stop thinking about, and at its heart (amongst many other things) there is (gasp) a love story that I just wasn’t expecting to see emerge with quite that intensity. But the heart wants what the heart wants.

My goal is still to get it done by the end of the year, but I will have to push myself really hard to get there. Lots of late nights and avoiding social engagements and saying sorry to my friends and remembering to eat and do a bit of exercise so I don’t fall over and die. Basically, I think of myself as a life support system for this series.

I’m super excited about SITB, though, and am so excited to share it. But only about four people have read it. And it’s like the biggest thing I’ve ever done. So that’s a difficult thing to keep under my hat. Oh well, I only have to wait around 22 months before SITB finds its way to the world. Yaye!

Meanwhile, of course, Gods of the Hollow Wild is coming June 2027, and I am anxiously waiting to see the cover art from Tor UK. (Any day now! Please!) And I am doing a podcast series with my friend Ben where we talk about the wonder and horror of writing SF. Weekly episodes will be dropping once that launches. More about that soon!

Urgh. Enough of me. Back to my hole in the fabric of the universe!

Michael