Tad is currently working on a new urban noir fantasy series about an afterlife investigator — the angel Doloriel (Bobby Dollar) — who searches for a missing soul and finds himself caught up in a battle much larger than he imagined.

Three books are planned for the series, with working titles: The Dirty Streets of Heaven, Happy Hour in Hell, and Sleeping Late on Judgment Day. Each will be shorter than Tad’s usual epic fantasy fare, and although part of a series, may also be read as a stand-alone novel.

Updates from Tad

June 17, 2011

Two pieces of news. Finished the first draft of the first Bobby Dollar book, and then instead of celebrating with a nap had to rush smallest canine off to the emergency vets to deal with a torn dewclaw, blood, and heart-rending squeals of alarm. Three hundred and seventy dollars later he is wearing a bandage halfway up his leg and being cuddled by Girl. Life comes in all shapes. Many of them are expensive.

June 16, 2011

Getting down to the final scenes in the Bobby Dollar first draft. I’m leaning toward saving “Sleeping Late on Judgment Day” for the third volume and calling this one “The Dirty Streets of Heaven.”

June 8, 2011

Well, it’s a relief to know that when I get time to write I can still do it. But poor Bobby Dollar, angel without portfolio, is in a lot of trouble. I wouldn’t want to be one of my characters when I’m in a bad mood. My divorce earned Simon Mooncalf about three months on the wheel of torment.

April 12, 2011

After several days full of interesting and even useful distractions, I’m itching to get back to Bobby Dollar and San Judas. I was out scouting locations today. It’s so much fun to build a city largely from scratch in one’s own backyard, I couldn’t possibly tell you. Well, I could, but I’d rather show you.

March 1, 2011

Two hundred pages into Bobby Dollar. Have to remember this is a short book and it needs to end at some point. I mean, I will, honest — that’s the whole point of this exercise, writing shorter books/more often. But it’s fun to work on this one.

February 19, 2011

One of the really fun things about the Bobby Dollar/Angel Doloriel books is that I get to invent an entirely imaginary city that lies right on top the actual place I live and in which I grew up, the Peninsula of the SF Bay Area. The imaginary city is called San Judas, and I’m having nearly as much fun just playing with that as I am with the rest of the story — and I’m having a lot of fun with the rest of the story.

February 9, 2011

First hundred pages on “JUDGEMENT DAY” written and revised. I’m feeling it now. Hope to have the first draft finished by the end of March, although that’s obviously optimistic. But I’m -feeling- optimistic…

February 5, 2011

I’m almost back to the part in JUDGEMENT (been rewriting) where I introduce Garcia Windhover (very unimpressive gangster son of hippie parents), and then soon after that the informant who looks like a cream pitcher. I already introduced Fatback the were-pig.

February 4, 2011

Today’s itinerary: play basketball, trip to the vet (for a dog, not me), family get-together including Bengali folk music (will explain later) and perhaps, if I’m lucky, a little thinking time about midnight. I’m deep in JUDGEMENT DAY and need reflection time for best plotting results.

January 2, 2011

Couldn’t get to sleep until about 4am because JUDGEMENT DAY plotlines were slithering around in my head like snakes in springtime. Fun, but lousy timing.