It's true. Jack is back but Tor doesn't want him.
The publisher of 23 Repairman Jack titles says "No mas." They've made it known to my agent that they've decided not to proceed with any new Jack novels.
I see this as the result of a perfect storm arising from a confluence of poor sales of the very noir, pure-crime Early Years Trilogy (for which I take full responsibility), plus the death of the long-time editor of the series, plus the sidelining of my long-time publisher, Tom Doherty. I suppose it doesn't help that Jack is not what you'd call a "woke" character and has no allies in the Tor editorial department
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[SIZE=3]However it
will be published. Gauntlet is as anxious as ever to do the signed limited edition (hell, it might wind up the
only edition) and I'm talking to Harry Morris now about the cover. The title is
The Last Christmas and you can expect it in the fall. The print run will be limited. You can pre-order
here to guarantee yourself a copy.[/SIZE]
As for trade editions, I'm looking into various options.
Why a new Repairman Jack novel? I never said I was through with Repairman Jack. I said I was through turning in a new novel every year. I also said when a story came along that was right for Jack, I’d write it. The Last Christmas is that story.
Consider: It’s late December between Ground Zero and Fatal Error, a winter of discontent for Jack who’s perhaps spending too much time hanging at Julio’s. An old contact, Edward Burkes, convinces him to take on a missing-person fix. As usual, nothing is as it seems and it turns out the missing person isn’t exactly a person. In fact, it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen.
And in the middle of all this, the mysterious Madame de Medici hires him to safeguard a valuable object. Simple, right?
Not even close.
Yep, Jack is back and, as usual, weird trouble is close on his heels.
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