Hi, folks. It's been an incredibly busy year for me thus far, and I have (at least) three books releasing in 2026--and also big comics news (that I can't share yet, because I'm waiting on contracts).
The first book is FLESH OF ALL SORROWS, a dark, gripping thriller about two families in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona that's rapidly transitioning from its farming and ranching roots to a modern, 21st Century suburban community. One family is that of a police officer, newly appointed chief of police, whose father was the chief decades earlier and brought local fame to the family by apprehending and convicting the serial killer known as the Bookbinder. The other is the family of a troubled young man who was raised by a father who was himself raised by the serial killer known as the Bookbinder. The coming clash will affect and alter both families forever. It'll be published in August by Crystal Lake Publishing in the English-language world, and in Italy by La Corte Editore under the title Le Radici del Buio (The Roots of Darkness).
My other August book Western novella written for a special project from Dusty Saddle Publishing called "America 250". The project comprises twelve novellas, one each month of this landmark year in American history, each telling a fictional story about a significant actual person from the American West. My book is CHEAT THE HANGMAN: A TALE OF BILLY THE KID. As part of my research, I traveled to the Fort Sumner, New Mexico area, where Billy spent the last months of his life, and tried to follow in his bootprints.
The third book--I don't know the pub date yet--is an authorized sequel to a short novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter, etc.) called BEYOND 30. My sequel continues from where his book leaves off, and is called BEYOND 30: A WORLD REBORN. It'll be published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company Burroughs set up to publish his own works.
Finally, I have closed a deal to revive a successful, award-winning comics series I wrote from 1997-2007. I'm waiting until ink is dry on the contracts to announce the details, but I'm already working on the first script.
I have a horror novel with an agent right now--an 80s-style monster meal with a side order of murder cult, and various other projects at different stages. And I've been doing freelance copy editing for other writers.
It's always great to hear what folks are up to. And if there are any producers out there looking for material, hit me up!
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hi Jeffrey J. Mariotte ! huge congrats on all of this - and all really cool stuff :) keep it going! it's only April so plenty of time for even more kickin' butt!
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Wow, congrats on all the books, Jeffrey J. Mariotte! And on the revival deal, too! How exciting! Will it be revived as a series of features or a tv series?
As for me, last year I launched my Off Duty, Thanks! brand (www.offdutythanks.shop - I just made new apparel for Mother's Day!) and this year I'm focusing on publishing my #StoryMath YouTube channel and book. It's not ready yet, but here is the channel if you'd like to start following ahead of our launch: https://www.youtube.com/@storymath.onlineI spend most of my time in the Stage 32 Writers' Room, though, so if ever you need accountability or more regular activities throughout the week to keep your projects moving forward, feel free to join me there! For more info, you can drop me or Geoff an email at WritersRoom@stage32.com Cheers!
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Wow! Congrats!
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Karen "Kay" Ross, my comics series--a weird Western series--will be in comics/graphic novels. The publisher has put together entertainment deals for some of its properties, and the person who heads up that effort was a big fan of my series in its earlier incarnation. So I'm hopeful that it has possibilities there as well. #StoryMath sounds great--might have been helpful for me when I was in school and couldn't get my head around math at all.
Awesome news about the deal. Can you let us know what the company was looking for and how did you convince them you were the right person for the revival? The pitching and negotiating process is fascinating and something we can all learn from.
Geoffroy Faugerolas, the comic series is one that I own, so nobody else could write it but me (without my permission). I used to be VP of Marketing for the original publisher of the series. I took it to DC Comics when I became a senior editor there, then to IDW Publishing when I became their first editor-in-chief. But it's not the kind of thing DC's doing now, and IDW has been through significant changes and focuses largely on licensed entertainment properties now. I still know a lot of people at positions of influence in the industry, so I went first to a former colleague who's now running a publishing line. He was interested, but through conversations with other friends, two additional potential publishers came into the mix. I weighed three separate offers and made some counter-offers based on that, and in the end, I went with the one where I know the entertainment guy is already familiar with the property (and nearly made a deal for it, before I went to DC--which killed that deal because DC wanted to sell Jonah Hex before my book, then by the time Jonah Hex came out, I'd already moved on). This time, he'll be in on it from the start, as we re-release the old material and out new stuff.
This is so beautiful, congratulations