Katoji: Ask and ye shall receive…even if a bit late!
The “how” and “when” of RoC: Alizant is a bit involved (what isn’t in my life!?! 
) A sequel involving Alizant’s machines was always “in the plan”, but after I finished Ring of Destiny, I really wanted to get back into my SF universe. By that time I’d gotten the rights to the original GroundTies Series back from Warner, whose SF line had pretty much gone down by the stern anyway. I also wanted to write a book on spec for the first time since my first novel to try to get some real feedback on my writing from new editors who weren’t already committed to a series. I felt my books still weren’t as “accessible” as they could be, even without compromising my own style.
Thus, ‘NetWalkers came into being. I knew reselling the GT series was going to be difficult, so a new book and a prequel that would give the new publisher a market for the backlist was the plan. Besides, that was the book aching to be written. Wesley clambered for my attention throughout the writing of Ring of Destiny.
The following few years were … interesting. I was about halfway through ‘NetWalkers when we made the big move from OKC to Spokane. This makes for a very short sentence, but involved dropping everything to pack way too much stuff, prep a house for sale, and unpack once we got here. Again, a short sentence for a very involved and stress-filled procedure that took months out of my writing schedule.
‘NetWalkers consumed my writing time for the next couple of years as I wrote the original, rewrote several times, the final time based on the first real feedback I’d gotten from NY, which had been very, very helpful, then rewrote all three of the original books to include the expanded knowledge I’d gained from the prequel (as well as that feedback). This was a massive rewrite because the idea was to make them different enough to warrant new editions, yet still have the same story.
During this period, I also lost both my parents and we moved yet again.
Finally, in … 2004, I think, I wrote RoC: Alizant. Because of the delay, it took quite a different direction than I’d originally planned…a far better one, IMO. My brain had had some time away from the series and characters and I was able to go back to the world with a fresh energy. At this point, I really can’t reconstruct what the original story was going to be, but I can tell you a new character is introduced that I’d never dreamed of five years before!
I also wrote it from a very positive place mentally. DAW had ‘NetWalkers and the rewrites and was making noises that they were very, very interested. I had hopes that perhaps, finally, that series was going to get something remotely like proper care and feeding. So there’s some really upbeat moments in it that wouldn’t have been there had I jumped into the story immediately after I finished RoD, with Wesley still being sulky and the move and all the rest, still wondering what I needed to do to be more “accessible.” (That magic word…)
So…anyway…that’s how the actual physical writing of the book fits into the overall history. How the story fits into the series chronologically, it starts several months after RoD ends and centers around first Deymio’s wedding, then Alizant’s electrical company and a little fellow by the name of Jeremin. 
Thanks for asking! Back to work!
