Presently, this novel is 40,264 words long. There might be slight ups and downs until publication (maybe plus minus 200 words), but I don’t see the length changing dramatically.
40,000 is exactly the length I’ve been wanting after realizing that this wasn’t going to be a short story… and also not a long short story… and also not a novella. 40,000 words is firmly in the “short novel” territory. I love this length. Skippable Kitties and Those That Aren’t is right at 40,000. Laika’s Void is also right at that length.
This is the length where you can spend one intense weekend on a novel and you’ll emerge going, “What just happened?”