Bridge novel?
In a sense, I’ve discovered a way to keep a series going without writing another novel for the series: Write one that connects one series to another. I call it a “bridge novel.” Maybe Grafton wouldn’t have bored me so soon if she’d done that with her “alphabet series”—“B is for Bridge” could have been the title. Baldacci, Child, Patterson, and other formulaic old horses in the Big Five’s stables could have used that trick too.
This isn’t a new concept in my case. The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series and the “Clones and Mutants” trilogy, and Soldiers of God is one between “Clones and Mutants” and the “Chaos Chronicles” trilogy. There’s no bridge between “Chen and Castilblanco” and the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, although the two series are related. You might consider Defanging the Red Dragon a bridge novel (available as a free PDF download—see my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page), but it’s really a crossover novel. (Chen and Castilblanco as well as Esther and Bastiann all have major roles in that story.)
But now the gap between “Chen and Castilblanco” and “Clones and Mutants” will be spanned by three bridges, two novels and a novella: the Virginia Morgan and to-be-published Legacy of Evil novels, and the novella “The Phantom Harvester” (also a free PDF download). All are approximately contemparaneous and nicely fit in that in-between fictional space. And all feature that arch-villain Vladimir Kalinin! (The protagonists are varied: DHS Ashley Scot from the “Chen and Castilblanco” series, DI Steve Morgan from the “Esther Brookstone” series, and Castilblanco’s kids, respectively.)
But Legacy of Evil might lead to a separate series for DI Steve Morgan! In that case, my bridge metaphor breaks down. Maybe I should consider all these series as tree limbs branching out from one huge one, my “future history” series. Asimov extended his Foundation trilogy linearly in both directions. But why limit myself to a linear growth? Stay tuned.
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The Klimt Connection. DI Steve Morgan first appears here and plays an important role in this tale about stolen art and domestic terrorism. After a bomb destroys their flat, Esther Brookstone, ex-MI6 spy and ex-Scotland Yard Inspector in the Art and Antiques Division, and Bastiann van Coevorden, her husband, ex-Interpol agent, and current MI5 consultant, are forced to stay in an MI5 safehouse along with others who are threatened by the bomber and his accomplices. The hunt for the domestic terrorists is UK- and EU-wide and leads to the discovery of a nationwide conspiracy, all financed by the far right and designed to purge the UK of perceived invaders, migrants and refugees who are accused of wanting to “replace” the white majority.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
