In what I good-naturedly call a cruel twist of irony, I recently learned that Pocket Books is sending The Last World War back for a fourth printing, while at the same time electing to take a pass on contracting me to to write a follow-up. As I said in another entry, Pocket has moved away from publishing original SF and fantasy novels, at least for the time being. I'm one of several writers who find themselves in this situation.

Now, before you get too excited, I need to be honest and say what while "fourth printing" sounds cool at first, one has to understand that when talking about the total number of copies that have been printed to date, we're nowhere near the league of, say, The Da Vinci Code, okay? My book had a modest first print run, and has since been followed up by appropriately-sized reprint runs.

Somebody likes this book. I mean, my mom can't be buying all of the copies.

Anyway, it's still good news, and I take it as such. If nothing else, it might convince another publisher that taking a chance on the follow-up book isn't such a boneheaded idea after all. As for updates on that front, I'm happy to say that one publisher is at least interested in taking a look at the project before making a decision. More on that as appropriate.