My co-author of SDOM is writing a book called Wages of Sin (possible title), set in the River City world.  It is a dark book, with a corrupt detective named James Morgan as the protagonist.  Although the subject matter and the perspective of Morgan are darker than the patrol series and even darker that SDOM or Waist Deep, I think it's a good idea to have a few different voices (radically different!) in River City.  And having an evil detective in River City presents some nice opportunities for story-lines and tie-ins.

I put together a rudimentary chart for River City tie-ins yesterday.  All it is now is a list of the different works in that universe and the characters that appear or are mentioned in each work.

If this ever takes off, I'll have to do a reverse directory of some sort---have all the characters listed and what pieces each appears in.

Unfortunately, it is a word document and right now I don't know how to post such things here...

Well, Good Shepherd is now officially part of the River City Universe.  Waist Deep will remain with all it's tie-ins...just a few minor adjustments to the Rolo character for the sake of consistency and that's all.

I spoke with my friend Colin this weekend and he suggested something I've been considering, and that is eventually collecting all of the short stories together that take place in River City and publishing them together as Tales of River City or something like that.  When I do that, I hope he will include Daddy's Girl, where Rolo is introduced, plus Dookie's virgin tale.  In addition to that, I think he's going to write a short story or two in River City.  That would be cool.

Right now, I've only got one more River City short story brewing in my head...but that's just for right now.

Sometime soon I'll have to put together a River City timeline/tie-in list and post it here.  Much of it will still be unpublished work, but that is the cool part.  Once these books and stories start getting published, anyone who takes an interest can take a look and see what else is coming down the pike...

Of course, that's assuming that anyone's even reading this right now and hoping that someone will in the future.

Had a chance to meet with my friend Colin today.  As always, talking with him about writing energizes me on the topic.  And we always accomplish something beyond merely recharging batteries---story ideas and such.

So what came out of this meeting?  One, that the River City tie-ins are cool with him (i.e., regarding Waist Deep).  Also, he helped me out with some ideas on my LT Hart story and kicked around some ideas about a short story in the River City universe written by him--a kidnapping story that would probably be novella-length by the sounds of it.

I have also been conversing via email with another writer, and I'll tell you this--that contact is really crucial to keeping your chin up.  I only hope I'm as supportive for them as they are for me.

"River City" is a local (though not unique) nickname for Spokane, Washington.

I've written "Under A Raging Moon" in that setting.  I began the book in 1995, put it aside in 1997, pulled it back out in 2004 and cleaned it up and added to it.  I just recently completed another editing pass in March of 2005.  It's currently being submitted to agents and publishers.

UARM takes place in August and September of 1994.  The follow-up novel, "Heroes Often Fail," will take place in Spring of 1995.  Both of these novels feature Stefan Kopriva as a central character.  He will not be a main character in the third ("Beneath A Weeping Sky") or fourth ("And Every Man Has To Die") novels in the patrol series.  Other characters in UARM and BAWS will be central to the final two patrol books [who says only four?  Well, maybe I should say "at least four."  There's a quatrain at the beginning of UARM, which is essentially the titled of each book.  I suppose that doesn't mean there can't be more patrol novels, does it?].

"Some Degree of Murder," though written in 2004, is still unpublished and so I think we can easily say it takes place in April of 2005, ten years after BAWS.  This, of course, is something that my co-author will need to approve, but I don't think he will really care either way.  Some of the characters from the patrol series appear in this novel.  Some characters from short stories by Colin Conway (Rolo the pimp, Dookie, Rhonda the prostitute) appear in SDOM, too (see his personal website wayofthecon.com and online magazine at acruelword.com).  Rolo, in particular, has an important supporting role.

My short story, "If Only" (published) takes place sometime in the year before SDOM.  It features the characters of Officer Paul Hiero and Toni Redding.  Both of them have important supporting roles, in chapters written by both Colin and I.

My short story, "Saving Grace" (unpublished) features a prostitute named Grace.  She appears in SDOM, in chapters from both Colin and I (though Colin uses her more frequently--I only included her in one chapter).

My short story, "No Good Deed" (published) takes place in the same setting and makes mention of Lt. Hart, who appears in the patrol series and is mentioned in SDOM.  Other officers are in this story, but none of whom are mentioned in SDOM or UARM.  As I write other patrol novels, those officers may (probably will) make appearances.

My novel "Waist Deep" (in progress) features Stefan Kopriva in February of 2005, ten years after BAWS and a couple months before SDOM.  Some UARM and SDOM characters make appearances in this novel.  Some involve characters created by Colin and although I've written the passages, I haven't confirmed that he is okay with the use of his characters.  Within the confines of SDOM, and the ongoing process that was, it was easier to do that and make sure it was okay.  Outside that novel, although it exists in the River City universe, he may not agree to it.  I think he will, because I think I wrote the characters true to his portrayal of them.  But if he doesn't, that's understandable--he created them, after all.  I'll have to re-write the passages, but not radically.  Even without the Conway-created characters, there are significant tie-ins to SDOM and UARM, as well as the story "No Good Deed."

I have a few ideas for future crossovers and tie-ins, as well.  This will include both short stories and novels.  All of the stories and novels will stand alone as an independent story.  However, if one were to read all the stories and novels, the tie-ins would be apparent...and kind of cool, I'm thinking.

I'm excited about the possibilities of all these works having some commonality, but also showing different perspectives.  My friend Colin said that Ed McBain did that with his 86th Precint books.  I haven't read them myself.

I think this idea allows me to go a lot of different ways...for example, I make Lt. Hart look pretty bad as a patrol lieutenant in UARM and rip on him as an IA Lt in SDOM and "No Good Deed."  But I've started a short story, yet untitled, in which Hart is the protagonist.  His perspective, his story...and we'll get some insight or information into other officers in the River City universe through his eyes (including, if you're reading this COLIN, secret revelations about a character based on a suggestion you made!).

When these short stories and novels are published, I believe the reader will enjoy seeing the  different characters that they come to know go through changes, meet their fates and how different people see them and how they perceive different events. 

I've suggested to Colin that if he writes any other stories or novels using his characters from SDOM that he could work in some connections with River City, too...so we'll see!