I am doing research right now for a story for Air.  I’m taking history and twisting it around. Two men worked together as Washington’s spies. What if they had relations between each other? I won’t go into the whole thing, but I am taking liberties with history.

There’s nothing wrong with taking history and putting a spin on it for fictional purposes. But it has to be believable. In my case, the story is inspired by Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose. The book itself is interesting, but I’m making assumptions about the two men in the Culler ring, assumptions that probably never happened. But it’s an inspiration, not fact. It’s not narrative non-fiction; it’s fiction, with some history thrown in.

Personally, I love little history nuggets. Although Air is an erotica series, I want to make the settings just as important. Air will have the spies, a vigilante marshal in the American West, and an abolitionist teacher of freed black slaves. All of these require some research. I can get away with some things, I’m sure, but if I put in that the marshal is using a 9 millimeter gun, I’m doing a disservice to my readers. It’s like a clunky stop that throws the reader out of the story. So I try to be as accurate as possible.

Fire is coming out on Tuesday. I already have the preview for it on my L.A. Jacob FB page. My favorite in that book is Leo (for some reason, I really like the first-person narratives). I’m thinking of putting Blood From a Stone – which needs some heavy-handed editing – be Max’s next novel.

Meanwhile, I am going to do NaNoWriMo this coming November. As usual, it’s based on a character from Champions Online. The character’s name is Vegas Fey, and his story in Champions is going to be different than the story I’m developing. I want it to take place in Jamestown, RI, because I’m familiar with it and a trip to Boston is required, but I also want to broaden my reach and horizons. Maybe it takes place in Florida, at Fort Pierce (which I am familiar with, also). A drive to Tampa might be in order there…I have almost three weeks to decide.

I hope to have Marc Ducrow, who did the covers for Homecoming and War Mage, do the cover for this upcoming novel. I really want this story to be told, and I think with some editing, it my be out next year.

And then the first weekend in November, I will be at RI ComicCon. So that kills 24 hours of writing time. But if it means I sell books or gets my name out there, then it’s worth it.

A new Dark Mystic Quill podcast is out as well. It’s about magic, not writing this time around, being that it is October and the time of year for weird and magical things.