Off Sick

It’s been a while, so here’s an update on how the books are going!  

To get the bad news out of the way first, I’ve caught what seems a lot like the Covid-19 virus.  I’m not a hundred percent sure whether that’s actually what it is, since I took the standard test provided by the UK government and it came back negative.  On the other hand, the symptoms so far have been:  

  • Days 1-5:  muscle aches & pain
  • Days 6-10:  malaise, exhaustion, slight fever
  • Days 11-15:  more fever plus dry cough & shortness of breath

. . . which match up pretty closely with other people’s accounts.  So maybe the test got messed up somehow or it’s a slightly different strain.  Who knows.  (I don’t usually talk about my health on this blog, but I figure that this one might be of scientific interest to some of the readers out there!) 

Anyway, this combined with the previous months of taking care of two small children during lockdown has slowed down my writing a bit.  

On the positive side, while it’s slowed down, it’s still making progress.  Alex Verus #12 is about 20% of the way through its first draft – this might not sound like much, but I generally find that my worst roadblocks tend to be in the first quarter, so it ought to be all downhill from here.  I’m still hoping to get the first draft done by the end of the year, though that might be optimistic.  

And of course none of this affects Alex Verus #11, Forged, which is currently with my publishers, edited and proofread and out of my hands.  Release dates should be November 24th 2020 in the US and Canada and December 1st 2020 in the UK and the rest of the world.  As usual, the audiobook edition is planned to come out at the same time as the paper and ebook ones, and also as usual, I’ll release the first chapter online a month or two in advance.  

And finally, for the German readers of Alex Verus, there’s some good news:  the books have continued to do very well in their German translation and Blanvalet has contracted to keep publishing the series all the way up to book 8.  Chances currently look good that they’ll go all the way up to 12.  

And I think that covers everything.  More Ask Luna next week!

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7 Responses to Off Sick

  1. HS says:

    Sorry to hear that you are unwell. Take care of yourself and your family! We will happily wait for Verus 12.

  2. Syzygy says:

    That does sound like COVID-19, especially the dry cough and shortness of breath. Many of the tests used yield a fair number of false negatives. Any anosmia? (Loss of sense of smell or taste?)
    At any rate, please rest and take care of yourself! Being sick for weeks is no joke. The book can wait till you’re well again.
    I hope your cat is better, by the way!

  3. Pendarric says:

    Take time to rest up after you start feeling better too; don’t rush straight back into things. Your body still needs time to convalesce after the illness itself has gone.

  4. Lakshmi Bhaskara says:

    Have a look at Ayurvedic medicine.
    They have been checking and found positive helpful results.
    Mostly things you probably eat sometimes anyway, like tumeric. But if you go to an Ayurvedic shop and get some medicine it will be a stronger mix.
    Sorry I can’t recommend anything as u don’t know what’s available UK
    Take care, thanks for giving me s lot of happy times reading your books.

  5. Patrick Olson says:

    I’m sorry to hear that you are not well. Please rest up and take care.

  6. Matthew says:

    Get well soon Mr J!!!

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