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The Novel is Finished
About six weeks ago, at the start of nanowrimo, I wrote my first words for the novel I’m still affectionately calling ‘Novel #4’. Today I wrote the final words*. All told, during these six weeks I’ve written 126 000 words, a few more than the 100 000 I had been aiming towards. Why did the novel end up a bit longer than I had planned? Honestly I think it was because I didn’t want the story to end. I know how it needed to end but I became too attached to some of the characters (not Wanderer specifically, he’s the backbone through the story arc driving the world he lives…
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It is finished… again!
I’ve finished the second draft of Novel #3! What does this mean? I have a novel that I could start submitting to publishers (though I am *not* going to start submitting it just yet… more on that, below.) This revision has taken longer than I expected partly because I expended more energy on completing and promoting the Lazy Designer game design book than I had expected. Plus I did more revision work than I had intended. What have I Learned? My first drafts need to improve. I am still spending too much time on the revisions. This revision was finished quicker than the last; I hope for the next novel…
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Read: The End of the Road by Brent Knowles
Wanderer looked down in satisfaction as he walked the old mountain road and saw the town below him. The stagnation of the human race was at an end and the survivors were now rebuilding. So ended the apocalypse. Wanderer continued towards this hotel from his past, an old, sprawling structure sitting high atop a cliff, until loud noises from ahead made him pause. A cat’s howl. A woman’s cry. The raucous laughter of boys on the verge of manhood, the cruelest and most dangerous of ages. With a sigh he resumed his pace. He was the Wanderer and he would do what needed doing before doing what he needed. The…
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Read: The Prophet by Brent Knowles
The helicopter disappears beyond the horizon and Wanderer returns his attention to the laptop sitting awkwardly on his knees, sharing space with a can of cold beans. He digs into the beans with a plastic spork as he views the web site behind his dust-covered screen. A photo of a large man with wide, powerful eyes, stares back at him. It surprises him that these remnants of the old order linger still. Web sites: illusory constructs, full of ideas and utterly lacking in physical substance — devoid even of the paper reality of a book. Of course, they too will fade eventually as power grids collapse and the servers of…
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Read ‘The Prophet’ online at Megaton!
The Prophet, which is already free through Amazon and Smashwords can now be read online at the Post-Apocalyptic fiction side Megaton. And if you enjoy it please consider checking out ‘The End of the Road‘ where the adventures of Wanderer continue.
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People Like Free Stuff
My story reprint ‘The Prophet’ is now free through Amazon-Kindle and it pleases me to see it at the top of the free charts, though I suspect this will only last a day or so. I don’t think I’m quite at the point where I’m ready to self-pub original work (so far everything I have available online has been previously published) I am starting to think about it. The sheer number of readers, and the resulting correspondence with several of them, has been more significant than any of my print appearances. Things to think about at any rate.
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The Prophet
My story ‘The Prophet’ is now available in the anthology END OF DAYS: AN APOCALYPTIC ANTHOLOGY VOLUME 2 from Living Dead Press. You can order the anthology directly from Amazon. This story is actually the first (chronologically) in a series of stories featuring Wanderer. The ‘end’ of the series was my first story in print. It was called ‘The End of the Road’ and appeared in Not One of Us and is available through AnthologyBuilder. Goodreads reviews for The Prophet Reviews from Goodreads.com
