This is your chance to influence me over the next book I write!
Caveats:
- I’ll try to go with your preferences, but if I can’t make it work, I’ll switch.
- If I had a plot for the next book in an existing series, I’d be writing that, not this post. So, please don’t ask.
Okay, I have two book ideas in the works, and I can’t decide which to go with. I sort of have a preference, but I also find myself considering plot elements and world designs for both at random. Really, both are probably good, so I’ll explain them and you can let me know which you’d like to read. I know, the answer is both, but give me a push toward one or the other and it’ll get written first.
The first one is Necromance. Again. I’ve tried to get this LitRPG idea going a few times, both as pure LitRPG and isekai. I think I’ve got it worked out this time, but I’m not far into the development. Features necromancy. Is not an isekai. It’ll mostly be about what goes on in a virtual reality, online RPG, but there will be scenes in the real world with the players. It will not be heavy on the game mechanics, it’s more about actually role playing in an RPG than about becoming an uber-powered gamer.
Second one doesn’t have a name yet. Like many owners of Cyberpunk 2077, the Edgerunners anime on Netflix and then started playing the game again (too much, actually). I developed an urge to write another cyberpunk novel, but the next Tatsu plot is still eluding me, and I also wanted to do something involving a netrunner/hacker character. Tatsu is a hacker, but she has to deal with actual computer systems, not the kind of magical internet that is typical in cyberpunk. And then it struck me: why not have a magical internet? So, this is a book set in a world where there is magic of sorts, but society has developed to the point where it looks more or less like a cyberpunk/near future sort of world, rather than a classical fantasy setting. Cybernetics are replaced by what I’m currently calling golemetics; replacing body parts with artificial components, functioning through enchantment. Magic helmets let ordinary people connect to the virtual world in a way that real-world technology is probably never going to be able to manage. Real magicians are able to hack into computers powered by spirits in seconds instead of hours, and to mess with people’s golemetics in the way 2077 netrunners do with cybernetics, which is entirely unrealistic. (As an ex-programmer, I live with fantasy hacking, but it irks me. I can’t bring myself to write it. Actual magical hacking is fine, however.)
So, there you go. Which would you like to see?
Incidentally, Demonscourge, the next Fallen book will be out in December. The next one, as selected, will be available in February.
Witches and Ray-Guns 
Both sound good, but the second one would be my preference for whatever that’s worth.
Ok. So like you said i want to read both, but in this case i have a clear preferenc toward the second as of jet untiteled Story. I think i sounds like a fantastic idear and im a fan of the hole transhumanist cyborg thing anyway.
The second idea sounds more interesting to me. Sounds a bit like Reality Hack but not. Very much looking forward to seeing how you differentiate the two.
I like the sound of Necromance.
I assume, being the protagonist means they are the nominal “good guy”, which is unusual: D R Rosier has a series with a Necromancer as a good guy, and J G Jerome’s Accidental Necromancer has one as well, but they are usually the big bad guy, so that has all sorts of possibilities for plot twists.
Thinking about it, there is also Stuart Grosse’s Lich Returnee series, about an isekai’d character who manages to complete the defeat of the Dark Lord, despite the rest of the Summoned Heroes being assassinated by said Dark Lord pretty much as they arrive, and uses his defeat to power her own return to Earth. She is the Protagonist, but given her attitudes (as revealed to the reader by her own thoughts) it is hard to call her the Good Guy…
Also, really pleased to hear the next Fallen will be with us soon!
Neither. If forced to choose I would go for the second because LitRPG really doesn’t work for me, but what I really want is next book in one of three of your existing series.
Well, you are getting a Fallen book next.
quite difficult to choose between both ideas, but my choice would be the second one, because so far i have read more stories with necromancers than with magical hacking
Hard to choose – I read a lot of LitRPG – but probably the second one.
(I think you might already be leaning that way anyway – I notice you wrote twice as much about that one.)
Definitely the second one. Magical cyberpunk sounds awesome.
What originally attracted me to your stories was the “scientific fantasy” (i.e treating magic as a science and developing it as such) of Thaumatology, and which we see a little of in Death’s Handmaiden but not really any of your other books (possibly a bit in Misfit Magic? I think I need to reread it).
The second idea sounds like a setting where you might have that again, and if that’s your plan then I’d very much want to read it, however since it seems to promise more scientific fantasy, if that’s not how you were planning to write it then I think I’d prefer the LitRPG – while that doesn’t sound very interesting it at least wouldn’t annoy me by constantly reminding what it isn’t, and I’d probably buy it at some point.
I’ve been thinking a lot about magic replacing technology. I suppose this would be the ultimate version of that.
Second option for me. I like the idea of magic hacking and enchantment-powered cybernetics.
Both sound good to me, but I think the second one wins.
Your magik cyberpunk idea sounds like you might be able to turn it into an interesting 🤔 story.
Having said that, I enjoy anything you have written.
Would like to see another Misfits book
You lot are evil. I’m going to have to think of a title, aren’t I?
Thinking up names is perhaps my least favorite part when I’m playing at being an author.
Oh, for people’s names, I cheat. If it’s a pure fantasy, like Fallen, I have to push my way through. For real-world names, I use a random name generator to give me inspiration. Or just to pick the name, if it really doesn’t matter what someone’s called.
My vote too goes to the second option. I like both mind you, but the idea of oldtime magic in a cyberpunk fashion could be really cool.
Perhaps more to the point… I’ve never heard of it before as either a setting, genre or aesthetic. You could actually be onto something completely new!
As for book title. Perhaps…
– Golemacy
– Shattered Ceramic (Golems traditionally being made of clay)
– The Ceramic Legacy (it all coming form golem magic)
Gr Cloak
The Shadowrun game (and novels) features magic in a cyberpunk setting. Whilst the two are separate skill trees, I seem to remember there were some options to magically buff your cyber skills.
As with many games from FASA at the time, the artwork was excellent, and really gave the flavour of fantasy cyberpunk, with punk orcs and elves, and the occasional troll shaman!
Yes, but….. Shadowrun was both SF Tech and Magic. I believe that Niall’s idea is that magic is the mechanism of all of it. Just Magic and not a mix between the two.
That specific iteration I haven’t encountered before. (Tho, I could be wrong of course).
Gr Cloak
Well, there’s ‘Shadowrun.’ That was an RPG (tabletop, though I think there was a computer version) and then a series of books. What I have in mind isn’t the same, however.
And I should’ve read the replies already given… hey ho.
“Magical Internet” really fires me up. Necromance sounds kinda interesting, but meh.
I like you cyberpunk/net magic idea. There could be a tie to a different world having Aneka and Ella discover them in their ramblings
Necromance does sound interesting, as I do like LitRPG and read quite a bit of it and support Azarinth Healer, Blair, Salvos, and Primal Hunter all on Patreon and follow several more on Royal Road as well as read alot of it on Amazon. This prbably has something to do with me picking Necromance as my second choice. Plus, a magitech cyberpunk setting is something Ive yet to come across and REALLY peaks my interest, so the second option gets my vote.
Hmm, I would like the next Nava Novel – but this wasn‘t the question. So as someone who just replay Cyberpunk 1.6 and wait for the DLC … I vote for the Cyberpunk Derivat.
But truly, I would be as happy with a Tatsu book, bc it is really close to cyberpunk. AND 🙂 will be a next Nava Novel? Pretty pls 🙂
I’m working on the next Nava and Tasu books. Particularly Nava. She’s my best-selling series currently, so I’d be dumb not to continue. However, things are getting a bit tense in both series, and I need to get it right. Hence the wait. I’m expecting the next Nava book fairly early next year, however.
The second idea. Technology advanced enough is magic. Scientists have shown FTL and Transporters are possible. Heck, if the laws of physics had gone down a different road magic like Harry Potter might be normal. Try quantum physics if you want to have your brain catch fire.
Yeah, I dig around in quantum physics a lot. I even did the basics at university (and did not understand any of it. What the F**k is a particle-in-a-box? I think I’ve begun to understand it now, which obviously means that I don’t). The basis of the magic in Death’s Handmaiden is quantum physics. Filtered through a heavy amount of fantasy, obviously.
“I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics”
Richard Feynman
Precisely. 🙂
Magical cyberpunk sounds like it can be an interesting twist, so I would vote for that.
Plus I never like necromancy or necromancers. Never saw the appeal.
I’m going to go with the majority here – second option sounds a bit more fun to read (and possibly to write). Not really a fan of necromancy (although I have read Stuart Grosse’ OP Lich series – good in a twisted way).
I’ll look forward to Demonscourge in December, and the Nava/Tatsu books in the new year. Along with any other books you spring upon us in the interim.
She’s not a very conventional necromancer, but I’m not going to push this too much because there’s a pretty clear where people want me to go, and I already spent my insomnia planning the cyberpunk. 🙂
Necromancers just do it for the Chow Mein. Especially in Hackney. 😁
The second one would probably be Good; it would depend on how you set up the magic system, but in the magic-based books of yours I’ve read, you seem to do a good job, primarily where you treat magic like its just another force of nature that can be studied through science, even if it does have a strong feedback loop with sentient minds (like in Deaths Handmaiden and Thaumatology).
The first would most likely be bad, as it sounds like it would be a proper litRPG, i.e. one with intrinsic levels and other attributes (that is where a person’s level is a fundamental aspect of their nature). However, if you managed to make it something more like the system in “The Girl Who Dreamed of a Different World”, it may be OK, but it is still a VR system, which I’d consider a bad sign. But it could be a super advanced VR, like the concept that our reality could, in theory, just be a really advanced computer simulation (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality).
So I’m going to say go with the second one. However, I’m not as enthusiastic about the idea as I’m about several of your existing series. I’d actually like to see a new series set in the demon world from Thaumatology with a mature Ooda (the village mayor’s daughter), who Ceri had to order not to be naughty because she wants to try out the torture machines) as the main character.
I don’t like levels either. That’s not entirely true. I don’t mind levels, but they stem from the fact that no computer RPG has ever gotten past the fact the Dungeons & Dragons have levels. Well, that and levels being a convenient progression mechanic.
I was working on a way to do it without levels, and the VR system is fully immersive, so the in-game segments would be much like a normal fantasy novel with virtual elements like in the Fox or Tatsu books.
However, as I said above, I’ve pretty much turned my full focus on the cyberpunk overnight, so I won’t press the RPG.
The second idea sound best to me.
I haven;t had a lot of time reading recently, due to real life constraints, but I am EAGERLY awaiting the next book.
A sequel to Fallen. Hmm…. *wide smile*
Let’s see what kind of mischief she gets up to this time!
Cyberpunk
I have to say I am not a big fan of the characters playing a game in a book. I find it takes away from the action if it is not real for them. What I do love is gaming worlds becoming real.
There is a series that has done that pretty well I think. After the game becoming real they start researching, developing new spells and recreating technology. Also the npcs remember the interactions from the time it was a game. I would really love to see your take on a gaming world becoming real.
Anyway I have bought and read every book you wrote so far and I am sure I will enjoy whatever you come up with.
Second option
I have to vote for anything other than Necromancy. I can’t really enjoy or relate to books whose main character is a necromancer, for two reasons.
The first being that everywhere I look these days there is some book about a necromancer/necromancy and I’m just tired of seeing them. I crave a little originality in my characters, which is admittedly hard in a world where fiction/fantasy/science fiction is literally omnipresent.
The second being that necromancy is inherently kind of disgusting; what with the dead bodies, and the inherent effluvia involved in such a thing, all over the place. This is often either ignored or hand waived away by others, which seems kind of disingenuous. If you’re going to write about a necromancer go all in and deal with the fact that the tools of the trade are viscera and bones and the secretions of a corpse.
Perhaps that’s just me, and honestly my opinion is no more valid than those who actually like books of necromancy. But *shrug* you asked for opinions.
Interesting. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a book where the protagonist was a necromancer.
I suppose I like ‘Overlord’ and the protagonist there is a necromancer among other things, but then again, the protagonist of ‘Overlord’ is actually the end-game boss.
It’s entirely possible my view point has been utterly skewed by Kindle Unlimited books.
Then again, it’s just my personal opinion and you know what they say about opinions and arse holes. Everyone has one and most of them stink.
🙂
Have you read Gideon the Ninth? One of the two main protagonists is a necromancer. I highly recommend the book.
I have not. Think I’ve heard of it.
Another UK author has used “accidentally a necromancer” as a minor plot device . Justina Robson has her protagonist “accidentally” acquire necromancy capabilities during the course of her Quantum Gravity series. Seems to work fairly well, but admittedly it is not the defining characteristic of her character.
That said, I think you have demonstrated the ability to spin a good story from a wide range of scenarios. I prefer the second option, but really it’ll be good to eventually read both (as we all know you’ll eventually write both of them 😂).
Thanks,
Brent
I’ve been trying to write Necromance for over a year. Can’t seem to get the plot right.
I would love to see another Titans.
I’d vote for the second idea as well.
Well personally I would like to see a Gunwitch sequel or a Misfits or Cygnus or well actuall almost all the series so much to work on so little time. Just keep writing that will do for me.
if you are looking for a long running series where the main is a necromancer than look at Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series,
Good point. I’d forgotten about those. I read several of them a long time ago.
Meeeh 😦 too hetero 🙂
Kind of beating a dead horse here, but I prefer the second version. Isekai and LitRPG don’t really do it for me, and VRMMO stories leave me cold. There’s no reason to care what happens in the MMO, or the reason is ridiculously contrived.
Magic-driven cyberpunk, on the other hand… yes please.
I got hooked on the Thaumatology series all those years ago and have enjoyed everything since.
That said, Thaumatology remains my favorite – couldn’t pinpoint why, maybe because it blended magic and sci-fi with a bit of BDSM and lots of polyamorous raunchiness better than anything else I’ve ever read.
So yeah, I’d like to see option two. Maybe even weave in that venerable old saying about sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable … etc., etc.
Is it really magic? Super advanced tech? Both?
Don’t fret. As soon as you release anything at all I hit buy NOW! NOW NOW NOW!!!
“Instant gratification takes too long. “ Carrie Fisher
How are you planning to keep the noble class from forming in the golem story?
Took a minute to work out what you were asking. I’m not… exactly. Was not. That story, as was, is looking like a bust. I hate it. I’m trying to rejig things into something that works. (Well, not this weekend because it’s an editing weekend.) The idea in the original was that the ubiquitous ‘corporations’ of cyberpunk would be replaced by Families. You could easily look upon them as noble families, but they’ve grown up into massive extended affairs over time. That bit worked. I may well use the idea elsewhere.
Totally off topic, but I was re-reading the Ultrahumans series, and I can’t help but hear Hugh Last as voiced by Tony Amendola (does Khadgar in World of Warcraft).
Huh. Didn’t know the name, but I recognise the actor. He could probably do it. 🙂