Those are good points. I've been keeping this lowkey and not talking about it in Dev Journals becasue sales of Ulcer were so bad, but I started a sequel tonight. It's called (at the moment) A Crooked Life and it picks up Shorvan Leonedovich after the events of Ulcer and the trauma he suffered there (not to give anything away). I suspect it will be part 1 in a six part story, following his continued career as a Witch-Hunter.
I've also been working on a novel, called The Siege of Heaven. It's currently taking place in the Echoes of Heaven but I make no promises with this one. If I can sell it to a publisher but not as an Echoes product, I will. If not, I'll probably have to release it as a serial, as I don't foresee sales being high enough to release it as a novel by then, but we'll see. Maybe. Anything I do with a novel is probably two years off. I write them pretty quick but I need to let them set for a bit between drafts.
Anyway, just an update. I'm working on the new short story because of this thread. Tonight is fiction night and I had it scheduled for the novel.