We are now seventy-five days out from the release of Late Eclipses [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], the fourth book in the ongoing saga of "Toby tries to drink a cup of coffee without something trying to eat her face off." Poor Toby.

My ARCs came last night. The large print of the front cover (which is gorgeous, and can be ordered directly from the cover artist, should you ever decide that you want Toby watching you sleep) is on my living room wall. I expect I'll have my cover flat for the actual book soon, and then that, too, will wind up framed and hanging somewhere in my house (the living room is sort of filling up). And sometime around the middle of February, finished copies will appear, like a magical gift from the Bookmaker's Elves.

It's all getting very real.

Late Eclipses is the book that takes me out of "trilogy" territory, and into the big wide world of "the series." Toby's story has never been a trilogy, but people have persisted in calling it that, because that's how we're conditioned to think about things that come in blocks of three. Late Eclipses is also the first book that wasn't a part of my initial contract. DAW could easily have published An Artificial Night and said, "Well, that was fun, what other series do you have?" Instead, they said "We believe in Toby," and they bought this book. I am so grateful. I am so determined to prove that they were right.

I'm really proud of this book. A lot of things get resolved here, and a lot of things get set up; all the rules of Toby's world are fully in place, and I don't have to deal with them anymore. Plus, the whole of what I consider to be the "central cast" is now in place, which gives me a surprising amount of freedom. I'm happy. I hope you will be, too. (And remember, a pre-ordered book makes a lovely holiday treat for someone. Maybe even for yourself. I'm not picky, here!)

Book four is already almost here.

Wow.

So Kate swears that I'm the creepiest thing going at any length less than thirty pages (I suppose because when I'm working under thirty pages, I don't have time for the why-porn to really saturate whatever it is I'm writing). Now's your opportunity to find out if she's right, because "The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells" will be appearing in the January issue of Apex Magazine.

YOU GUYS YOU GUYS I SOLD "PAVLOV'S"!!!! THE STORY WITH LIKE ONLY THE MOST TIPTREE TITLE EVER!!!!

...in case you can't tell, I'm pleased.

"Pavlov's" is the middle piece in what I view as my mad science triptych. The other two pieces are "Laughter at the Academy: A Field Study in the Development of Schizotypal Creative Genius Personality Disorder," and "Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box." (No, you can't read the other two yet; I'm hoping you'll be able to eventually, I just need to get there.) They're sort of my id/ego/super-ego of mad science, and now that they're all written, maybe I can get it out of my head for a little while.

Ha. Ha. Ha. No, really.

But anyway: I finally found a home for "The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells," and it's a totally cool home, and I couldn't be more pleased. And if I ever do a short story collection, the odds are good that it'll be called The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells, so publishing the title story is always a good maneuver.

Mad science, killer viruses, and all that other good stuff can be yours in just one short month! You're welcome.