So, yesterday I finished the short story “Hotel Whiskey Papa”. It’s 5,839 words, though that could change in the final edit, which will start tomorrow and take only a day or two, I think, and then I will publish it. That is, if I can get the cover made with no trouble. That will give me four stories in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series of stories:

• Whiskey Zebra Tango: set in Cranston, Rhode Island
• Charley Delta Delta: set in Greece
• Sierra Kilo Bravo: set in Italy and Switzerland
• Hotel Whiskey Papa: set in Austria, mostly Salzburg

As far as how many there will be in the series, I have no idea. The number of places I’ve visited give me enough fodder for 50 to 60 stories, if I can get enough ideas to wrap around the locales. That will be a good series. I’m hoping the fact that I’ve been to the places that I will put Sharon and her antagonists in will add authenticity.

Conventional wisdom says I should continue with this series and whip out several more fairly quickly. I’d like to do that, and I may change my mind and do at least one more next. But the fact is that coming up with C.I.A. operations that work as short stories and involve Sharon and seem like they will be interesting has been more difficult than I expected. The inspiration for “Hotel Whiskey Papa” came slowly. It was ten months after I published “Sierra Kilo Bravo” before inspiration came for HWP; and HWP will be published almost a year after SKB. At present I have no inspiration for the next, though I believe I have the title an setting: Tango Delta Foxtrot, set in Paris, France. But I’ve sort of wrote myself into a corner with this last one, and I’m not sure how the next one will flow. So, for now, I’m not going to rush into the next one. Besides, when did I ever follow conventional wisdom regarding what would be best to write next?

No, when I finish editing HWP, the next thing I do will be to edit chapter one of Preserve The Revelation, and start on Chapter 2. I have a little research to do, so I may do that before plunging into the writing.

But that’s my project. It will be good to once again see Augustus ben Adam on my screen, and to add his two sons, Adam and Daniel. I’m looking forward to it.