~ April 11
The Writing Shop announced today
that the popular Kirov series novels by John Schettler will now extend to a
seven book series. Since its release in March of 2012, the breakthrough novel
Kirov has attracted an audience of dedicated naval fiction readers in the Men’s
Military Adventure genre. The first sequel was released in December of 2012 as
Kirov II: Cauldron of Fire, which took the ship from the North Atlantic to the
Mediterranean of WWII. It was followed soon after by Kirov III: Pacific Storm
as the Russian Battlecruiser squared off against the Imperial Japanese Navy and
the battleship Yamato. The fourth book, Men Of War was released on
the first anniversary of the series, March 15 of 2013, and it tells the story
of what happened to the ship and crew after they returned safely to Vladivostok.
At the end of that book the author penned a brief preview of the next volume,
to be entitled 9 Days Falling, promising it to be a depiction of the outbreak
of the Great War over its first nine days in 2021.
Yet the story has expanded
dramatically in Men Of War and the author has now determined that he cannot
adequately depict the entirety of what he had planned, particularly the combat
sequences, in just one volume. The author explains the new structure for the
series in this brief interview:
“I have so many plot lines
running now that it is just not possible to conclude the series in book five,”
said Schettler. “This is the war that was darkly foreshadowed throughout the
first three books in the series, and it has extensive sequences of air/sea
combat that just need time and space to tell the story adequately.” It was
therefore decided to release 9 Days Falling as a trilogy, with each volume covering three days of the nine day war.
“I wrote Men of War to tackle the many unanswered
questions that arose in the story, particularly in regards to the fate of
Gennadi Orlov and how this ties into the Great War in 2021. The fuse was lit in
the conflict over the Diaoyutai / Senkaku Islands, but the war actually begins to
get serious in 9 Days Falling. As the story unfolds I had a lot of irons in the
fire in Men Of War: the Orlov plot line and Haselden’s effort to capture him in
1942; the investigation over what happened to Kirov conducted by Kapustin and Volkov,
Fedorov’s mission launched from 2021 with Troyak and Zykov, and then the
outbreak of the war itself at the end of that novel as Karpov takes Kirov out
to sea with the Red Banner Pacific Fleet and China prepares to strike Taiwan.”
What’s in store for us in 9 Days Falling?
“There will be some BIG surprises
in the next book, particularly during Fedorov’s mission and the mystery of
Rod-25. There’s a lot of new material that expands the war to the Persian Gulf, the Caspian oil region and the Black Sea as well. The British Royal Navy
of 2021 gets involved in some fast paced naval action in one of the new story
branches, while the US Navy has three Carrier battlegroups engaged in the
Pacific. There’s submarine action, air duels, intense naval combat that needs
to be done right. So the way I conceive this now, the Kirov Series formed a very
satisfying trilogy in the first three volumes. Men Of War is then the bridge
book that leads you into the final trilogy: 9 Days Falling. The combat
sequences just get more and more intense as the war plays out, and behind them all is the intrigue and action of the plot lines in 1942, desperately trying to find a way
to prevent the war from ever happening.”
The next volume in the series, Kirov Saga: 9
Days Falling covers the first three days of the war and is presently
scheduled for release in May, 2013. It will be followed by two more books to
complete the seven book series, which is now collectively entitled “The Kirov
Saga.”
Check back again for the final release
date for 9 Days Falling, which should be announced by May 1. And our thanks to
all the readers out there who have helped make Kirov the great epic saga it has
become!
