A field guide to the Jon & Lobo universe

My friend Susan, a talented costumer and dancer who blogs here and who posted a couple of comments on an entry two days ago, asked if I had a bibliography of stories in the Jon & Lobo universe. I didn't, but when I finish writing this entry, we all will.

The first story in this future history is "My Sister, My Self." It appeared in 1984 in the original anthology, Isaac Asimov's Tomorrow's Voices. Jon is 16 at the time, so it's about 135 years earlier in his life than the next story. Lobo doesn't appear, because they haven't met yet. This story is very different from the Jon & Lobo tales, but I like it quite a bit. An editor has said he'd buy reprint rights to the story, but the deal isn't done yet, so I don't have anything to announce. When I do, you'll read it here first. Until then, I'm afraid the only way to read this one is to prowl the used-book sites.

The next story chronologically is also the first to feature both Jon and Lobo. "Bring Out the Ugly" appeared in Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures. If you've read One Jump Ahead, you'll recognize many of this story's events. When the story and the book conflict, however, take the book as the definitive version.

The third and only other story in this universe is "Broken Bits," which appeared in Future Weapons of War. Again, if you've read OJA, you'll recognize much of what happens in this story, but, as above, when the story and the book conflict, the book version rules.

I wrote both of these stories, by the way, before I wrote the book, but as you can tell I did not feel at all obligated to treat them as sacrosanct.

Looking ahead, Slanted Jack, which as I noted in an earlier post is now available on Amazon and should be in bookstores soon, is the second Jon & Lobo novel. It is a completely standalone book; you don't have to have even seen OJA to enjoy it (though if I've done my job right, it will feel richer to those who read the first book). Other than Jon & Lobo, no characters from OJA appear in this book.

Third in the series is Overthrowing Heaven, which I'm writing now. It is also a completely standalone book, though as above if you've read the others you'll find it an even richer story. Once again, no one other than Jon & Lobo reappears from the past books. This one does, however, give you some significant back story on Lobo and answers some key questions about his past. (It would take major bribes to get me to say more, but I am always open to them.)

The fourth book and the last one under current contract will be Children No More. I'll speak further about it after I finish the current book.

If the series sales figures follow the proper path (which would be upward) and the publisher thus wants more of these novels (which I hope will be the case), then I have many interesting plans. I have at least rough ideas for about a dozen books, including prequels, spin-offs (wonder what Alissa Lim's been doing?), a concordance to this rather complicated future history, and some big answers to some big questions.

I think that covers it, but if you want to know something else about the Jon & Lobo universe, just drop me a note via the site or post a comment, and I'll either answer your question or tease you with forbidden knowledge; ya never know.