A couple of years ago, I wrote a book about a cloned, historical figure and needed a set of supporting characters that I thought I could throw away. Little did I know that those throwaways intrigued me so much that I felt compelled to use them in still another book. And another, until I discovered that I had begun writing a series.
I discovered myself in a fictional city that I came to know like the back of my hand and the characters had taken on lives of their own. They came to life in Eggs of Empire, and continued, in a peripheral way, in Questionable Interests, until they came to be full-blown in Dolly Games. I am currently using them again in a sequel to Dolly Games, titled Laying Ghosts.
I have written the books out of order and am working at tying them together with this sequel. For those who wonder what the actual order of the series should be; here it is, in chronological order: Dolly Games, Laying Ghosts, Eggs of Empire, Questionable Interests and still another novel to be named later.
I know that reading them out of order messes up the flow of the story-arc that will not become apparent until the reader encounters the last, un-named novel, but that is the way I have usually read most of the series I have read. Of course, I am an inveterate re-reader of the books in my possession, so I almost always give myself a chance to forget what happens in the series and then go back and read it from the beginning.
I hope this helps my fans and occasional readers.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, both I and II, Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
