From SFScope:
Tad Williams sold a new urban fantasy series to long-time editor Betsy Wollheim at DAW, via agent Matt Bialer of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
Bialer’s assistant, Lindsay Ribar, says that “as this is his first urban fantasy series, each book will be significantly shorter than his usual epic fantasy fare.”
In the series, “Doloriel is an angel. He doesn’t know who he used to be back on Earth, but now he works as an afterlife investigator for the Heavenly Host, making sure the souls being judged haven’t inflated their claims. It’s a minor job, but a cool one, since it means he often gets to go back to Earth to investigate, wearing a body and calling himself Bobby Dollar—or Bobby D. Doloriel’s latest assignment as Bobby D is supposed to be routine: figure out what happened to a recently disappeared soul, finish the paperwork, and make it look good for the folks upstairs. But a series of not-so-coincidental encounters—including one with a terribly attractive demon named Sennaie—makes him sure that there’s more at stake here than one missing soul.
“Knowing that he’s in over his head, Bobby D tries to pull out, but his bosses won’t let him. Somehow, his identity—more specifically, his identity from his former life back on Earth—is the key to the entire mystery, and he has to find out who he was before he becomes an unwitting pawn in a game of power that could end in the destruction of the entire human race.”
Working titles for the books seem to be SLEEPING LATE ON JUDGMENT DAY, HAPPY HOUR IN HELL, and ANGELS RUSH IN.
Tad Williams’ first stab at Urban Fantasy, The War of the Flowers, is one of my favourite novels and had a huge impact on me as a writer. To say I’m excited about this upcoming series would be an understatement.
I read and liked The War of the Flowers too.
Good to hear that Tad will write an urban fantasy series.
Sounds like a killer trilogy and I’ve wishlist The War of the Flowers…is DAW dropping any release timing for Book One?
Well, the final volume in his current trilogy is due next year, and he seems to publish a book every two or three years. So… a long time from now.
Bialer’s assistant, Lindsay Ribar, says that “as this is his first urban fantasy series, each book will be significantly shorter than his usual epic fantasy fare.”
I hope this means that Tad can do one book a year with these! Shadowrise (Shadowmarch #3) should be out some time spring/summer 2010, so maybe we’ll see the first book of the new series in 2011.
Shadowrise out in 2010? I might have known.
I bought the first two because I thought the third would be out in 2009. I’ve not learned a thing from other authors here. ;)
(Assumed release date + 6 months overtime for author to hand manuscript in + X months for more time the author needs + time it takes to print the thing) / wordcount * whatever else goes wrong = release of book x1. The same formula applies for x2 and x3 that were never planned. :D
That’s not a gripe on authors, btw, I understand creativity can’t be pressed into formulas.
Hurrah – this is great news! I loved The War of the Flowers (and have read it several times) and would welcome with open arms anything else he writes like it.