From SRP author Mark Posey:

A No-Spoiler Update on Fall From Grace

(Which Contains Exactly No Useful Information)

I’ve had a few people ask how the second Thomas Billings thriller is coming along.

This is that update. I am happy to report that the book exists.

More specifically: Fall From Grace is currently being written, and I am roughly halfway through the story. Words are appearing. Scenes are happening. Coffee is being consumed in alarming quantities.

So far, so good.

What I Can Tell You (Without Telling You Anything)

• Thomas Billings is in it.
  This should not surprise anyone. If he weren’t, we’d have bigger problems.
• Grace Worthington is also in it.
  Still competent. Still complicated. Still not someone you want disappointed in you.
• There may be one bad guy.
  Or two.
  Possibly three.
  This number is subject to revision based on how badly they behave.

There are conversations. There are decisions. There are consequences. Some of them are ill-advised.

No one is having a relaxing time.

Things I Am Absolutely Not Telling You

I am not telling you:

• What the central threat is
• Where it takes place
• Who is in danger
• Who is lying
• Who is making things worse while believing they are helping

I am also not confirming or denying:

• Moral dilemmas
• Escalations
• The phrase “this seemed like a good idea at the time”

The Only Real Update That Matters

The story is moving. The characters are doing what they do best (which is not listening to sensible advice). And the book is behaving like a proper thriller should: by refusing to be tidy.

Which is exactly what I want at this stage.

When I do start talking specifics, you’ll know we’re getting close.

Until then, rest assured:

• Thomas Billings is being Thomas Billings
• Grace Worthington is being Grace Worthington
• And someone, somewhere, is about to regret something deeply

More when I have something I’m allowed to say.

—Mark

PS.: If you haven’t read the first book in the Thomas Billings thriller series, you can find Saving Grace here.

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Mark Posey

SRP Author and thriller writer.

Mark Posey is the author of the award-losing Nun With A Gun thrillers*, a series featuring Sister Jacobine, a nun with a habit of making bad people pay. Readers have called the stories “sharp,” “darkly funny,” and “alarmingly satisfying.” The author calls them “therapy with a body count.”  (*No awards were harmed in the writing of this series.)

Mark writes thrillers for readers who don’t mind a little dirt under the nails — stories with emotional weight, lean prose, and characters who rarely do the right thing for the right reason. His work lives somewhere between noir, revenge fantasy, and literary grit, though he avoids calling it any of those because that sounds like marketing.

When he’s not writing fiction, Mark also works as a professional editor and story consultant. His editing blog offers straight talk for indie and traditionally published authors alike — especially the ones who are tired of being told to “find their voice” by people who can’t define what voice is.
He believes in clarity over cleverness, clean narrative over trend-chasing, and that semicolons are fine, but you probably don’t need as many as you think.

He lives in Canada, which explains the politeness, but not the sarcasm.

You can find him online at MarkPoseyAuthor.com, where he blogs about writing, editing, story structure, and whatever else is on fire this week. His books are published through Stories Rule Press, an independent publisher of genre fiction with strong characters and sharp writing.