Dream Whisperer was just longlisted for BookViral’s Millennium Book Award. That means they think it’s one of the 40 best books they read and reviewed this year.

Earlier this year BookViral posted a rave review of the novel, describing it as: ‘A full-on fantasy epic. Dream Whisperer delivers a rousing, large-scale adventure that rivals the very best in its genre.’ I never expected they’d include the novel in the longlist of their best books of the year, though. For a beginning author, this is high praise indeed and an encouragement to continue writing. Honestly, I write for the fun of it and not to become the next J.K. Rowling, but a pat on the back once in a while feels nice.

What happens next? They’ll whittle down the longlist to a shortlist by the end of November, and then decide who gets the award in December. We’ll see what happens, but, as far as I’m concerned, this is already a success.

The sequel to Dream Whisperer is in its final stage. Hopefully, it will be ready to submit to agents and publishers before the end of this year. I’m quite satisfied with it. The novel will revisit several characters from Dream Whisperer and introduce a slew of new ones. Of course, Fleming, Rebecca, and Mycroft Holmes are along for the ride, but an African magician will join their team as they battle a blast from Holmes’s past. The story starts a few months after Dream Whisperer’s conclusion and will lead our heroes on a journey through fractious interwar Berlin, hunting a threat that just might exterminate all of Britain’s human population. The working title is Pestilence — pretty appropriate for the virus-ridden times we’re living in.

I plotted the third instalment last week, and my fingers are itching to start writing. Again, there will be no time leap to speak of as the story will follow close on the heels of its predecessor. The British quest for oil will feature large in Fleming’s next adventure as ancient forces awaken.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. My first priority is to finalise Pestilence and peddle it to the usual suspects in the publishing industry, hoping that the pedigree Dream Whisperer has slowly been building for itself in the last few months will help to convince them to make the leap.