Thomas Riley 2 is done

I'm done! After way too long and the roughest yet most amazing and wonderful time of my life, I'm so happy to say that Thomas Riley 2 is finished. I promise, this won't happen again. I'll literally be starting Thomas Riley 3 tomorrow. Thank you to everyone that have been so awesome waiting for the next book. I hope that the extra time it took to finish this has yielded a more dynamic novel. Musically, it took everything from Cradle of Filth to Made out of Babies to La Dispute and Touche Amore to get the steam to write this. Also the art above is a rough in progress look at the cover art by the amazing Will Routon (who did the art for book one). I figured he wouldn't mind me sharing.

Thomas Riley 2 (which doesn't have an official title yet) is a much darker story than book one. It's definitely an act two kind of tale. It's a love triangle that has turned into a love square. The story follows Thomas Riley and Cynthia Basset into a new battle against their longtime enemies, the Lemurian nation where Cynthia threatens everything with her love for famous sky pirate and now Lemurian recruit Sam Burges.

This instalment in the Thomas Riley series has a title wave of new characters and dangers ranging from Lemurian sharpshooter Joseph Allerberger, the even more insane than his predecessor, Doctor Wolfgang Gerhard and an airship larger than the Titanic that has the futuristic ability to manipulate the weather. Also there's an "American" pirate, Captain Bradford Booker who assists Thomas and Cynthia on their journey with his ethnically diverse crew to find Sam Burgess when he was taken prisoner after saving Thom and Cyn in book one. And finally, a young Sophie, or (Long Form) Sophie Marie Franziska Antonia Ignatia Alberta von Hohenberg, daughter of the Lemurian ruler takes center stage in book two. You may remember her from book one when Thomas and Sam infiltrate the Lemurian palace to rescue Cynthia. You'll also get a more in depth look into the characters from book one. Ann Read has become more bitter and vengeful while her counterpart Kathleen Benika has become completely mad. The latter may or may not have cannibalized a priest...

I like to think that more time was taken for the reader to really get involved with the characters, you get some back story as well as a hearty look into their personalities (even though many of them are completely crazy). Also for those who were wondering where the phantoms come into play in book one... all of that is explained and actually is now a part of an evil Lemurian scheme to win the twenty year war. Also, for those wondering what happened to Lillian Beuafort's soul? You'll get all the answers while being given a host of new ones.

So again, thank you to everyone that has been so patient waiting for this to be finished. This includes everyone from friends and family to Zova Books and fans that have been so great during this process.