My next book contract

Osprey Publishing has just sent me a signed contract for my next book.

It's another military history--that's what Osprey specializes in--and it's for a new series called Raid. This series focuses on important raids, examining how they were planned, what their goals were, and what could have been done better. The editor is a big fan of the Wild West and so I'm doing the Northfield Raid by the James-Younger gang. This ill-fated attempt to rob the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, left all the robbers dead or in jail, except for Frank and Jesse James of course.

OK, so this isn't really military history. Osprey has been doing good business in the recession by playing to their strengths while not being afraid to break into new territory. The Wild West is one of them. Plus there are some military aspects. Most of the robbers were former Confederate bushwhackers and used their hit-and-run tactics to rob trains and banks and elude the law. I mention the James brothers in my previous Osprey title American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics.

Frank and Jesse James have cropped up in my fiction too. In an earlier post I talked about my Missouri Civil War horror novel and how because it was set in that time and place I couldn't avoid have the James brothers as characters. They've crept into the plot of the sequels too!

Here in Midlist land we're pretty busy, so we try to save time as much as possible. Writing novels set in periods you're already researching for paid work is an efficient expenditure of time. Now if I could only get those novels published!