The next Time Bubble book

The single most important aspect of starting a new Time Bubble book is coming up with a fresh, innovative concept that has not been explored before, either by myself or anyone else. While it may be easy and tempting to churn out endless variations on the same theme, like Enid Blyton's Famous Five series, I'm not interested in taking that route. My goal is to make each Time Bubble book as exhilarating and novel as the first, even if it means waiting for the perfect idea to strike me.

This waiting game means that I typically take around a year between books, as I'm committed to delivering one exceptional idea per year. While I've explored numerous ideas in the past, only a few have made it to completion, while others have been incorporated as parts of other works or have been put on hold for future consideration. Some of the alternate universes that Josh and Lauren visit in my books have been born from these unused ideas, and while others remain dormant for now, they may resurface at a later date.

It's been almost six months since I completed the last Time Bubble book, and I didn't have another idea ready to go with. Instead of churning out something mediocre just for the sake of it, I decided to focus on another project and wait until a killer idea came to me. And I'm happy to say that it has! Over the past month, I've developed a brilliant concept that fits perfectly within the existing universe. I wish I could tell you more, but I can't give away any spoilers. There's a huge element of mystery, and you'll just have to wait to find out why. But I promise you, it's an absolute cracker of an idea!

What I can reveal is that it will be set sometime in the mid-2020s, around the time Alice first met Josh, when Peter was in the Time Bubble, and Hannah was bringing up Jess alone. I have two provisional titles which are either Gone to the Rapture or Gone to the Angels. Those should certainly pique your interest! I'm still in the planning stage, but I'm confident that it will be ready for release this autumn.

Fortunately, I haven't been idle during the last six months. While it's true that I can only produce one Time Bubble book per year, which takes six months to write, I make good use of the remaining six months to work on other projects. This year, I focused on writing two Ronnie and Bernard books. I acknowledge that the first one received mixed reviews, but it was my first attempt at something different, and it was created in a different way than my other books. It started as a film script, co-written with another writer. When it became apparent that the film wasn't going to happen anytime soon, I decided to turn it into a novel, feeling that it was a good story that shouldn't go to waste. 

As you may have noticed, it's not as serious as my other books, and much of it is a self-deprecating send-up of itself and the era it's set in, but that was part of the fun. I enjoyed the process enough to write a second book, which I'm very pleased with. The Haunted Theatre is also comedic, with more of Ronnie and Bernard's antics set around another time travel plot. I conducted extensive historical research for this book, which features a famous person from history, Marie Lloyd, the music hall singer. The story is set in a fictional seaside resort called Skegmouth in 1974 and is a lot of fun - in my humble opinion, anyway! I'm in the final editing stage now, and it's scheduled for release in early May. 

Images of both are below - as you can see, I have changed the cover on the first one as I wasn't happy with the first attempt. Those of a vintage that remember the TV of the era will recognise what the three circles pay tribute to - it's similar (though not identical) to the ATV ident that opened all TV programmes made in the Midlands in the 1970s.

I'm not sure if there will be any more Ronnie and Bernard books after this second one. I have an idea for another, but I'll wait to see how this one is received first. After finishing the new Time Bubble book, I may work on developing something new entirely. Only time will tell!

All that remains is to wish you well and thank you for your continued support!

Jason