Good news, everyone!
As of yesterday, I have finished the FIRST DRAFT of Grand Theft Sorcery! ...except for how I'm still chewing on maybe changing the epilogue scene. BUT THAT'S PART OF REVISING!
I tend to revise pretty fast. Cover art is just now grinding to a start. I have no projections on a release date, but I'm pretty certain I'll have it out well before the end of the year. And I have zero projections on audio, but I'm determined to get that done somehow. Anyway, the biggest part of the job is done!
That brings us to this month's chapter. I feel like this is the point where I warn you that the final published novel will probably see some significant changes. I need to move some late-book exposition up to the front, and foreshadow some elements that I only came up with in these later chapters. If you're familiar with Chekov's Gun, well... sometimes you don't realize you need it on the wall until you're already writing Act Three. But I think we still have a good narrative here, anyway, and most of the book will still be the same. Mostly I'm just saying that yes, the final novel will be well worth reading from the start when it releases even if you've read everything here. :)
And now, on to Chapter XII, when things start to explode! This chapter also brings us back to the Hollywood Hills.
Somewhere on my list of inspirations for this novel belongs a shout-out to Selling Sunset, a trashy reality show on Netflix about real estate agents specializing in expensive Hollywood homes. To be honest, I tend to fast-forward over the pointless drama just to see the homes and all the shots of LA, but that's one of the things that put me in the mindset for this book. I also recently went home to LA for book research, including a drive around the Hills to look at said pricy homes.
Actual reality will give you a look at big homes without the color correction of television, and it turns out that neighborhood is much more crowded than it looks on TV. But if you want a better idea of what Christian's home looks like, it's straight out of that show. Just, y'know, without the vampires. Everything's better without vampires.
Hope you enjoy the chapter! I'm gonna go back to the beginning of the book and start my revisions!