June 2026 Update from James on Book 3 Progress
>As at 06/2026
>I'll get the bad news out of the way first - the second draft of The Justice of One is currently sitting at just over 30k words. That's progress, certainly, but nowhere near as much as I had hoped or expected a few months ago. In fact, this has probably been one of the most disruptive three-month periods I can remember experiencing as a writer: some of that been professional obligation, some has been general life stuff, but it's all combined at once to make everything move far more slowly than I anticipated.
>The (relatively) good news is that the pace was nothing to do with any difficulties with the story itself, which is feeling great: when I've found the hours in my day to work on it, I've been enjoying it, and remain very confident with how it's shaping up.
>Looking forward, the next few months are a bit of an unknown, as they encompass both the September 1 launch of Scion, and my US tour around the same time (details to be announced soon - I'll post details here as soon as they're confirmed!). My hope is still to make up some lost ground by the end of September, and then get a big three months in at the end of the year to have a draft suitable for submission by Christmas. But we'll see.
>As usual, I'll update again at the end of September. Very much looking forward to seeing some of you in the US in a couple of months!
https://www.jamesislington.com/updates.html
I doubt we’ll get Book 3 in 2027, TBH. Early to mid 2028 seems the most likely release date.
