December 2022 - MY NEXT NOVEL!
ALL THE WORDS IN THE WORLD.
Welcome back! This one’s all about my next novel – my fourth to be published, fifth to be written. I’ll tell you the title, show you the cover, tell you what it’s about, how you can order it now (obviously – I’m no fool), and a bit about something else very cool connected to it that will happen in a few months. It’s a Novel-a-ganza, which I think is appropriate. I’ve been working on this for a long time, and I want to give the first public unveiling of this book the weight it deserves.
My fourth novel is called…
THE ENDLESS VESSEL
This story started with a very simple idea, an image I couldn’t shake – a ship that never stopped sailing, on a non-stop, centuries-long voyage.
That’s the literal interpretation of the title. The more figurative version is that it’s us – we are all endless vessels, constantly seeking to fill ourselves with experience, love, and the most important, elusive quality of all… happiness. Joy, even. Our souls are endless vessels. Humanity itself is an endless vessel.
I wrote The Endless Vessel over the past three and a half years. By the time it comes out (currently set for June 6, 2023), it will have been in progress for four years – one of the longest stretches I’ve ever spent on a single creative project, and the most work I’ve ever put into anything I’ve written. The novel is, unabashedly, about happiness. Why we want it, how we gain and lose it, why it matters. It includes my own sense of how to get it (and I’m right, by the way.)
It represents the final part of my Three Questions trilogy that began with The Oracle Year (“What is the one thing you’d want to know about your own future?” and Anyone (“Who would you be if you could be anyone?”)
The question for The Endless Vessel is: to you, and to everyone… what is joy?
Why was I so fixated on this idea? Why was this what I wanted to write about? Well, friends, it’s pretty simple. I needed to. (That, by the way, is the reason most of the really good creative work in humanity’s history gets made. Not all, but so, so much of it.)
I would guess many of you can relate. The past several years had far more than their share of unhappiness. We creative types have the luxury of working out our shit through our projects, and The Endless Vessel has a LOT of me in it, even though you might have to squint at it a little. Or maybe not.
Here’s the cover, the beautiful, stunning cover – both a close-up of the front and the full, extended dust jacket that will wrap around to the back:
I love it. It was designed by Laura Anastasio for HarperCollins, and it’s one of my favorite covers for anything I’ve ever done. It’s one of those great images that just looks great on its own, but takes on enormous additional resonance once you’ve read the story.
And what is that story? I don’t want to spoil the twists and surprises, but I can give you enough to get you excited.
The Endless Vessel is an adventure. It is a voyage, it is a treasure hunt and a quest. It goes all over the world, from Hong Kong to England to America and across all the seven seas. It’s thrilling as hell, and retains the “oh my god what’s going to happen next I can’t put this thing down” quality many of you have told me you’ve enjoyed from my other books, especially my last one, Light of the Jedi.
The story begins in the present day (maybe a few years from now). The world is ours, under the same pressures and facing the same issues that are dragging us all down. It follows three women: Lily Barnes, Molly Calder and Jane Morello, who have vastly different lives but are all looking for the same thing, answering that same question – how can I be happy?
Lily (a British expat living in Hong Kong), comes across something she can’t explain, a piece of technology that should not and cannot exist. She starts looking for answers, a journey that takes her across the world. She discovers a secret society, a rock star, a monster and the greatest treasure humanity has ever found. Her story intertwines with that of Molly and Jane, two women each damaged and searching in their own ways. All three ladies completely remake the world.
Is there more to it? Oh, of course. There’s that always-sailing ship I mentioned. I had to research an endless (heh) list of things, from post-Revolution American history to Dutch agriculture to materials science (FASCINATING) to French Impressionism to weird weapons to the Hubble Space Telescope. All of that went into the story, and then I cut a lot of it when I realized I was just showing off how many books I’d read. But it all added something.
I love this book, and I hope you will too.
If you’re interested, you can order it right now and you’ll have it in June. There will be e-book, audio, all the formats. We will also be doing a special edition alongside a second project set in the world of the book, and you’ll hear more about that in my January update. Pre-order links are below - support whichever makes you happiest!
THE OTHER ONES
The Endless Vessel will be out in June, but if you haven't read my other novels, or you missed one and want to catch up before then, I have them all available (signed hardcovers, no less!) on my webstore. Click on any cover below to go directly to the purchase page for that title.
I had another few books come out this past week that I'm proud of - the first is the collection of short fiction I created with my friends Justina Ireland and Cavan Scott for Star Wars: The High Republic. It's called STARLIGHT STORIES. The second is a huge omnibus collection of my big Boba Fett-centric event for the Star Wars comics line at Marvel: WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS. I have a limited number of both of these up on the webstore as well (click on the images below!), alongside many other signed or hard-to-find items from my work if you're looking for last-minute holiday gifts.
Thank you all so, so, SO much for your support of my stories. The Endless Vessel is a big, wild swing of a novel, and I'd never have had the chance to write something like it (or have enough confidence in myself to try) without your help and constant reinforcement over the years. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, the most personal and meaningful, and just a kickass, thrilling adventure to boot. If my stories have ever connected with you – any of them, from Strongman to Star Wars… I hope you’ll consider it. I’d owe you one.
You're incredible.
Happy holidays, and see you soon!
--Charles