June 5th, 2017: Working on Book Two.

     I recently published Book One of my Word Series, "Let No Word be Spoken", which is the first novel I have written about the Christian space Captain Henderson Johns. You can find out more about that book in other blog posts here.
     I went into semi-retirement at the printing company I work for, and immediately began writing Book Two, tentatively titled "A Gentle Word..." and continues the adventures of Captain Johns, his wife Loran Evandell Johns, his crew mates, Brian "Rascal" and Lee MacLagain and the jumpship The Dreamer's Fortune.
     The story picks up a few months after the end of Book One and describes the Captain's next diplomatic mission on the planet Wellis, where the monarch of the world hires the crew to find out why the subjects of his kingdom seem so unhappy despite the amount of money and materials he gives them. Splitting up and going in three different directions, they begin to dig into the problem and uncover some betrayals going on at some pretty high levels.
     As if that isn't enough for them to deal with, Loran has begun to exhibit some very strange behavior that has Johns wondering what is wrong with her. Her world had never been exposed to any alien life forms before he crashed there; did he bring some kind of disease to her that has made her sick? Johns finds himself agonizing over the very real possibility that Loran is suffering from some human sickness for which she has no immunity.
    In this book, the readers will get to know Lee and Rascal better, and see how they function as vital members of Henderson Johns' diplomatic task force. Like a finely oiled machine, each member contributes skills and social abilities that Johns pieces together to solve the mission for the client.
     There is humor laced through the story, and a believable world full of living, breathing characters that will grab the reader and engage them in the difficult political warfare that surrounds them daily. There will actually be two missions in this book, and five groups of aliens involved that will make the story rich and full of interesting events to make you want to stay up and read all night long.
     I already have the full story outlined and the synopsis for the third and final book of the series written down on paper. The ending of Book Two will leave the reader wanting to know what happens next. I am excited about this series and am thoroughly enjoying writing it, every bit as much as I enjoyed Book One.