During the panel at HowlerFest on Saturday, Pierce Brown admitted that he has a number of unfinished books on his computer. Whether or not any of them are ever completed and see the light of day, Jove only knows. But when a fan asked Brown about other fictional worlds he might have in mind to explore when he’s finished with the Iron Gold books, Brown revealed two different scenarios, both of which sound pretty fantastic.

“I have this really fun fantasy series I’m into. It’s kind of a cross between Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. So, that.”

The first one is apparently some kind of mix of Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Um, yes please?

Completely guessing, I would say that this potential story involves artifact hunting and magic? Or maybe wizards and nazis? Really, we can only speculate, but the potential for such a story, inspired by the tone or subject matter of J.K. Rowling’s magical series and George Lucas’ excellent film franchise seems brimming with potential. Also potentially brimming with snakes.

As for the other world brewing in Pierce Brown’s mind…

“I also have one that has to do with alternate realities but that one’s a bit tricky to execute, so we’ll see.”

Again, yes. Please. I imagine alternate realities to be either a writer’s paradise or a writer’s hell. Possibly a little bit of both. Taking into consideration past sci-fi works that have dabbled in this device, the thing I love most about alternate realities as a reader is that they often give us the ability to explore the what-if scenarios that could play out if different choices were made, or if events played out some other way.

Let’s use Red Rising as an example. If Eo hadn’t died, what would have become of Darrow or the Society. Basically, there’s no story, so maybe, instead, we say, what would have happened if Darrow had been paired with anyone else in the Passage. A virtual prism of scenarios is laid out in front of us, with different outcomes all depending on who Darrow was paired with. The not-Julian scenario offers a greater chance that Darrow and Cassius would’ve remained friends throughout Red Rising, if not the other two books as well. But then there are all the realities that exist that follow the track from the death of whoever Darrow killed to whatever would have happened next. The possibilities for a different story from there are endless. If you need a practical scenario, Sevro seems like a likely (known) alternate opponent for Darrow, given his position in the draft. I don’t think I want to think about an alternate reality without Sevro, so let’s move on…

As a reader, I have a tendency to obsess the writer’s choices and why things go as they do in order to get the story to end up where it’s supposed to. Alternate realities give us the chance to actually see what could be, for better or worse. Done the right way, it can make for some truly fantastic character development and story progression. Done the wrong way, it can be a complete mess.

Suffice to say, it’s an ambitious endeavor to use alternate realities in a story. And I wonder if time travel is involved in Pierce Brown’s potential story. Not only because time travel is a great way to work an alternate reality or two into the mix, but because Brown recently dropped a photo in an Instagram story that showed a list of Time Travel rules…

Thankfully, Pierce Brown’s handwriting is slightly more legible than the average doctor’s.

Now, to be clear, it’s pure speculation that these notes have anything to do with the mentioned alternate reality world. This was posted late last week, and as far as I’m assuming, Brown is busy working on the Iron Gold followup, Dark Age. Still, I grabbed the screenshot because I obsess over time travel rules myself (the rules are important!), so I kind of love that he’s got these notes, even if it’s for his own entertainment.

And if he’s actually thinking about working on a time travel story, I’m all-in. I’m also all-in on the Harry Potter-Indiana Jones fantasy thing he’s got in mind. As excited as I am to see how this Iron Gold series plays out, I doubt I’m alone in being very eager to see where Pierce Brown takes us next.

Now, someone please get the man a time-turner so he can finish the Iron Gold books and write these other stories at once.

(Quote source comes from the HowlerFest video shared at the excellent Hic Sunt Leones Facebook Group. Join that group if you haven’t already!)