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Day 9 of NaNoWriMo, and day 2 without any political ads or phone calls. My word count isn’t where it needs to be, but it’s moving in the right direction. Contracts for Wererat’s Tale: The Collar of Perdition have been signed.

I’ve taken a break from the oddly coincidental were-creature kick I had been on to return to a high-fantasy, high-seas novel based on a short story I’d written a couple years back. I’m feeling really good about how this new novel is shaking out. The main character is a smuggler who specializes in small, but potent magical packages. Think of Han Solo, except as a dark-skinned, blue-eyed, nineteen-year-old orphan girl, and instead of a seven foot tall Wookie, her traveling companion is a seven foot wide Seabat named Zephyr. Her name is Katagida, and she’s plied the open seas for six years, ever since losing her father to a Storm.

But things go sour for her early one morning, when a routine run from the authorities turns into something far more terrifying as another Storm comes calling. In moments, it plucks Katagida, her boat, her bat, and the only life she’s ever known out of the water and high into the sky.

However, what appears to be the end is only the beginning of something vastly larger, as Kata learns that the world is a far stranger, bigger, and more dangerous place than anyone had imagined.

I’ve read the first chapter of this piece several times at conventions, and it’s always been met with positive feedback. I think it’s time to start posting some teasers for everybody to peek at while I move towards completion. Check back soon for the first excerpt of Kata’s adventures.