I thought for the end of the year it might be good to cover some of the book related questions I’ve been asked this year by various readers, since only they saw my answers.
When will you write the final book in the Badari Warriors series? I’m going to try to write it in 2026. This one is difficult for me because there are a lot of threads to tie up, many ongoing characters, etc., and I want to do justice to them and satisfy the readers who’ve been on the journey with me and the Badari. I had to wait till the Muse was ready. I do have the cover already. I have known the general plot outline since the beginning though.
Will there be more Badari babies? Well Darik didn’t do all those heroics in Darik’s Quest for nothing! But as yet I have no specific plan. I don’t outline, I don’t do detailed plots in advance. If I think too much about a story then I’ll never write it.
Will there be any more Badari Warriors stories? Yes, absolutely! I can’t walk away from them. I’m planning two spinoff series – Badari Squad, which will deal with various Badari Warriors once they send men into the Sectors to serve as a special unit with the Sectors military. A lot of rich plot possibilities there. And Badari Home, which I envision as stories set on the original planet after the war is over and the Badari begin to spread out from Sanctuary Valley and settle the wide open spaces. And of course my South Seas pack of bad boys will get to go home and start over.
What about the Badari Gladiators? Will there be any crossover? I already have the next two Badari Gladiator covers. The next book won’t be Dmitri’s (sorry) because I already had a story in mind prior to his arrival on the scene in Benet. I have a hazy idea for a crossover novel with the original Badari down the road a bit. Not in 2026. And you may be surprised who the Badari Warriors send out to look for their brethren who were sold to become gladiators. (But probably not Yonn.)
Will Yonn get his own book? Someday, yes. I have to wait for the plot to begin stirring in my mind.
Why don’t you write all the books in a series before jumping to another series? I’m a mood writer which for me means I have to write what I’m in the mood for. And it’s helpful to me to refresh my creativity to write different things. When I switch off to my ancient Egyptians or my romantasy stories it’s good for my Muse. Also sometimes a story will come to me completely whole and demanding to be written so then I have to drop everything and write it because that’s a rare gift. I’ve had maybe 5 books like that in my career to date.
I realize some readers find it frustrating that I don’t write all the gladiators or all the Badari or whatever but it just isn’t the way my Muse works. I’m very superstitious about my creativity and my process.
Will there be more Haven Colony stories? Yes, I plan for there to be five total and I have the cover and the basic idea for book three. Those books are partially inspired by an actual island here on Earth where I have relatives and let me tell you, some STUFF has happened there in the past few years which gives me ideas. All of the people, places and events in my books are fiction and not based on any actual place or person, living or dead but events generate ideas and concepts.
Will there be more ancient Egyptian stories? I hope so. I like to write one a year but this year was just too full of commitments. I love writing them and have a few ideas, plus a finished cover for one.
How about Star Cruise? Again, I like to write one a year. I love revisiting my cruise ship and its crew! So far I don’t have a plot lined up for 2026 but if I get invited to join a themed anthology, for sure it’ll be a Star Cruise. Otherwise I’ll try to get to it for Fall. There are endless stories possible on that ship!
Will you do the Intergalactic Dating Agency again? If I’m invited, for sure! I wasn’t sure how readers would react to those stories. Even though I placed them in my Sectors world and they have my usual action, adventure and romance they’re a bit more romance-y than what I usually write. Royal prince and a waitress! Grumpy sunshine! Age gap! Single mom! The thing there is that I had to write three novellas back to back to back, which (see note above about my process) my Muse wasn’t really on board with. I just felt if I didn’t I’d have a hard time completing my commitment to IDA to get 3 novellas out on time. I had to get in the IDA mindset and stay there for as long as it took. And while I was doing that, there was an opportunity cost of not having time to write anything else.
So about these zombies…I’d always wanted to write my own apocalyptic, dystopian story and I’m having a great time with Planet of Last Resort. I’m really proud of Arrival, book one. After I wrote it, I wanted to tell a sort of prequel about the outbreak happening before my characters arrived on the planet. That became Tamsyn. Then while I was writing her story, I got fired up to write another novella for two of the supporting characters in Tamsyn. But now I’m concentrating on writing books 3 and 4 of the main series. Then the series will be complete. I keep having ideas for more slice of life short stories on other parts of the planet but for now I’m just making notes and setting those aside. So yes, I’m kind of breaking my own rule about not writing in the same series in a linear fashion but it’s foremost in my mind and I have the feeling, kind of like I did with the IDA that if I wander off from it before all four main books are done, I’ll have a hard time getting back to it
Reading order for Planet of Last Resort? Arrival, Tamsyn, Escape to Nowhere, Journey, Resolution. You could skip Tamsyn and/or Escape to Nowhere and be fine but those characters will all appear in book three Journey.
When will you be at a signing or con? I no longer travel for health reasons – sorry! I used to love meeting readers and other authors at events so it makes me sad to say that.
Will you continue doing preorders? Probably not. I never did them before because I usually write the book, do the edits and put the book out as soon as it’s ready but the Intergalactic Dating Agency required them. And then because of the way my writing schedule worked this year, I had Tamsyn and Escape to Nowhere done and waiting, hence their preorders.
Writing Plans for 2026? Sort of nebulous, as you can tell from the above. I’ll finish books 3 and 4 of Planet of Last Resort and then…I’ll need to write a completely different palate cleanser…and then possibly the finale for Badari Warriors…IDA again if I get invited…who knows what else will strike the Muse’s fancy? I might do my first Kickstarter, for a Special Edition of the Dancer of the Nile romantasy trilogy. I’m also looking into setting up my own site to sell my books direct (but even if I do, I will still be wide on all the other platforms.) I also have two or three shiny new series ideas in mind but whether I’ll get to them in 2026 remains to be seen.
Why do you do the weekly New Releases Report and what makes you qualified to curate it? I started the NR report years ago because I thought there needed to be one place where my favorite genres got reported on. At the time the major book blogs like Dear Author did weekly new releases but rarely included scifi romance or indie authors. I saw a need and I filled it. It’s my contribution to the author community in the genres I love. And I buy a ton of books every week myself as I’m curating the various places where I gather up books to report.
I’ve been a published scifi romance/PNR author since 2012, I’ve hit the USA Today Best Sellers list three times and I have 80+ published books. I covered scifi romance for USA Today as a contributor for a number of years and also wrote about the genres for various other platforms like Heroes & Heartbreakers. I still do columns for the Amazing Stories website and the Roswell Daily Record newspaper. I see literally thousands of new books every year while curating the NR Report and that keeps me on top of what’s trending, hot new authors, releases from beloved established authors and other aspects of the genre book world.
Where can you be found on social media? I’m active on Tiktok as @vscottauthor (let’s see what the new ownership and new algorithms may bring in 2026), Facebook and Bluesky.
I do a newsletter about once a month and here’s the signup.
And on that note, happy reading and Happy New Year to everyone!
VS Note: This photo below is way out of date – I have 80+ published books out there now!
