Time for an Update

I know that I’ve said this many, many times, perhaps every time, but I suck at blogging and keeping everyone updated.  So, here it is, update time.

I first of all want to thank everyone for the great reviews on the last book.  I really appreciate you taking your time to come back and post reviews.  I read each and every one of them and ma humbled by your support.  And I would also like to thank you for all of your kind messages.  They truly make my day.

Okay, so, I said an update.  It’s been a little busy lately so I’ll try to keep this brief.  I am currently working on a companion book to the series.  It’s a set of short stories of others around the time when everything fell apart.  I wanted to do this to give a wider view of what people went through.  I passed through the 51k word count mark last night.  What does that mean?  I really have no idea.  I would like to make this a full novel length but I’m not sure at this point.  Nor do I know when I’ll be finished with it.  I guess that’s not much of an update, eh.  The writing has been slow lately but I’m hoping to pick that up now.  I’m hoping to have this one finished and out sometime by the end of April.  We’ll just see how that plan goes. 🙂

Once I finish with the companion novel, I’ll be starting on book number 10.  There are a lot of ends to tie up following the last one and I’m excited to get to it.  Jack and the gang have taken care of one headache but another, potentially more deadly one, looms on the horizon.  There are a lot of decisions to make and time is not their friend.  And no, I haven’t forgotten the collaboration with Mark Tufo.  We’ve been chatting and will get to it when our writing schedules allow.  Just know that it hasn’t sunk below the waves as yet.

I hope your week has been treating you well and the upcoming weekend is a fun one for you!  Thank you all so much once again!

John

Chaos FB Welcome Page2

Summer Is Over

Unfortunately, summer has ended. Of course, I guess that depends on your perspective.  I took a little more time off than I usually do at the end of a book.  The sun came out, the kids came over, and I spent the summer hanging with them and taking a trip here and there.  Of course, I suppose that was bad timing seeing how the last book ended.  You have my apologies for leaving everything hanging like that. But now, the sun said its goodbye here for another few seasons – there are only really two here – and the wet weather has shown itself.  That means I sat down, dusted off the keyboard – I had to find it first – and began hammering out senseless words once again.

I had left the draft of the 8th book sitting close to the 1/3 mark, typing away on it periodically, but now I am tied to the chair.  Starting last Sunday evening, I passed the half way point last night.  There is a particular furry one here who isn’t appreciating my time spent in my chair much and lets me know from time to time his dissatisfaction.  So, I spend my time here and seeing to his whims.

The characters have been calling for some time and so I must answer their call.  Without giving any spoilers, there is a lot going on and it’s not easy keeping track of all the threads.  The action is slow to materialize but it’s coming and so I hope the writing will become easier as well.  Again, sorry to keep everyone waiting to see what happened after the ending of the last book.  Hopefully you won’t have too much longer to wait.  I don’t have a date or time line to when it will be ready as yet, but I’ll make sure and let you know when it’s drawing near.

Thank you so much for all of your words of encouragement and support.  And yes, those words of ‘when is it going to be done’.  I wish everyone a very happy week and hope it treats you well!

John

The Journey Continues

The story is calling once again.  I’ve left it hanging for far too long and the characters are itching to continue their tale.  Summer is about on us so this may take some time – when the sun is out in the Northwest, it must be taken advantage of.  However, with that said, I don’t think Jack and the group will allow me to idle too much with the story.

Today will be musing on the tale and thinking through story line, although that is  seldom held to.  But, we have to start somewhere.  Lurking in the background, Michael is calling as well.  *spoiler* Sandra and her craziness may have been dealt with but the danger from the night runners is far from over.   Greg has been left out on the road with just one team, the sub continues its journey along the seaboard, and a sniper shot has rung out.  The world has become an interesting place.

I do want to clarify something regarding the last title.  I referred to the last book often as “Rampage”.  When I finished the book, that title no longer truly corresponded to the story so I changed it to “Takedown”.  I apologize for any confusion about that.

I am often asked how long the story will be… how many books will the series eventually encompass?  The answer is that I don’t really know.  I know of three books at least including this next one.  It could end up being just those three books or it could go on.  The line I walk is to tell the survival story of the group without becoming repetitious in the events.  And the timeline of the story is an element as well.  The seventh book, Takedown, takes us to a point four to five months into the apocalyptic event.  I keep asking myself how long this will go and what it will entail but that is something that only Jack and the group of survivors can answer.  Once I start typing, they let me know what happens.

I wish all of the fathers out there a Happy Father’s Day and a fantastic weekend to all.  Thanks for following along with me.

 

John

It’s Alive

Okay, perhaps not alive but awakening.  Like that segue.  The fifth book in the series is out.  It took a little longer to write this one.  There is a little more character development and thus transitional scenes which take me a little longer to muddle through.  I am both happy and worried although a lot less worried now with all of the great responses so far.  The worry stems from a little departure from the action.  I guess not though.  As my son says, “You have worried about every book.  This is no different.”  He generally keeps me grounded like that.

Here’s the Amazon link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NFNN5S

I’ll just keep this short and wanted to get the word out that the book was released.  Thank you so much for all of your support and great responses.  That really means a lot to me.  I hope you have an awesome day.

John

Time For An Update

I have once again been a little remiss about posting.  Blame Facebook, the nicer weather showing up, the solstice, or where it should actually lie with me.  I have been pecking away at the next book in the series, A New World: Awakening.  I am pleased to say that I am about 3/4 of the way through the draft.  It felt like I was pushing an elephant when I started but it seems to be flowing much better over this past week or so.  I will have to go back and look at the first part and possible rewrite it some.  We’ll see.

When I first started this book, I didn’t think I had enough to write a whole book and I would have to draw on some of what was planned in the next to complete it.  Well, now I’m having to shove stuff off to that book.  Once again, the story has taken control and I’m at its mercy.  A part that I was hoping I could eke 1/3 of the book about has now taken up most of it.  Which leaves me in a dilemma.  There were so many threads that needed exploring from the last book(s) and now they may need to be in the next one.  I think I will be able to cover most of them but one needs its due status as a greater aspect but I think I’ve found a way to guide into it for the next one.

When you ask?  Or maybe that is me asking.  I am hoping to be finished by the end of the month so it looks like early July.  There are a lot of things that could change that time frame – finishing the book for one.  I want to thank everyone once again for all of the nice messages and great reviews.  Each and every one of them are appreciated.  Thank you!

The Summer of Zombie Blog Tour is going well and I hope those of you following have enjoyed the posts and interviews.  I am admittedly lacking in writing some guest posts but will be submitting more in the near future.  I have to tell you the bunch are a great group of folks and great authors.  I am quite humbled to be included in their midst – Ian Woodhead, Armand Rosamilia, Mark Tufo, Dave Jeffery, and Todd Brown.

Well, I guess I’ll keep this short as the story is calling.  I wish everyone a great day and week and hope it’s a prosperous one for all!

John

 

6 Days Later

The fourth book, A New World: Taken is finally out – well, it was published last Friday but it’s been a hectic schedule updating everything.  I would really like to thank everyone who has messaged and/or written reviews.  I have to admit I was a little worried about this book seeing most of it focused on a single event.  The worry was whether it was too detailed and therefore tedious.  I am more than happy to see it well-received so far.  Thank you!!!

I’ll be starting on the next book most likely next Monday.  I have to compile my notes and sort through them seeing some of them were supposed to be in this book.  I do have some great ideas on the story line on have to see how to organize them and how to integrate them into the story.  At this point, I am envisioning anywhere from four to six more books to tell the story although that could change at any point in time.  I’ll just have to see where the story wants to take me.

Again, I appreciate all of the great reviews and feel humbled by the kind words.  I hope the evening and week are treating everyone well!

John

A New World: Return Prologue

Here is the prologue for the second book in the series, A New World.  I hope you enjoy and have a great day!

Prologue

The sound of feet running behind him was constant as he ran through the darkened streets.  On this clear, summer night, the moon was out and almost full causing his skin to tingle only slightly from the reflected light.  It wasn’t as bad as when the other bright light, which caused immediate and intense pain, was in the sky.

He and his pack of seven behind him were out searching for something to eat as they did most every night.  He became leader of this pack because of his greater strength and ability to locate food.  There was food to be had in plenty, it was just a matter of finding it before the other packs did or had a chance to get away.  There was the two-legged and four-legged kind – that was how he thought of them.  They had found and chased down one of the four-legged ones last night; large enough for the whole pack to feed.  The two-legged ones were his favorite but were becoming hard to find.  Plus, they had to be cautious as he had lost several of his pack to them.  They were smart and crafty and had to be taken with care.  That was another reason he was the pack leader, most of the other of his kind would rush blindly at them in a persistent manner.  Sometimes this worked and sometimes they paid for their rashness.

His thoughts did not come to him in the form of words but more in images and smells.  He was cunning and could think through situations, finding ways to get food and other things they needed, but it was not a familiar thinking pattern.  The pattern consisted of images that were similar to complete pictures that tell a story; both simple and complex in nature.  He hunted primarily by means of smell and had become adept at picking up the faint smells of food, sometimes up to a couple hundred yards away if the wind was right.  The scent was different somehow than the smell of everything else.  It was more like a warm scent, if a smell could have a sense about it, along with a certain sweet mustiness.  The smell from the others of his kind was not appealing in a food sense.  No, there would not be any form of cannibalism there.

Not that he thought along those exact lines as he ran through the streets.  Up ahead, he saw the flash of another, smaller pack quickly cross his path several streets up; vanishing quickly into a side street as he listened to their echoing footfalls diminish.  Along with his heightened sense of smell, his vision at night was adequate as he was able to pick out the varying shades of gray relatively well and it seemed to improve almost nightly.  The moon certainly helped.

Buildings continued to pass by as he ran through various streets in a search pattern trying to pick up the scent or sight of food.  One large building he passed by had two circles around a central dot on it.  For some reason this triggered something inside his mind; almost like he knew what that symbol meant.  The flash of a memory passed through, the meaning hanging there just out of reach but tantalizingly close; like the name of a song remembered from long ago but forgotten and keeping just outside the grasp of knowing or comprehension.  His mind was actually remembering and, for a brief moment, he thought he knew he had been someone or something else before.  Then, the brief opening of the mind closed, shutting the memory or even the memory of having a memory off.

The pack stopped behind him as he stopped and were searching the area for the reason.  Food was plentiful so there wasn’t any danger of being attacked by competing packs but there were other dangers.  Packs of four-legged ones sometimes attacked the smaller packs of his kind and so they kept a watch out for them.  On occasion, some of the two-legged ones were out hunting and those were the dangerous ones.  There was something compelling about the other two-legged ones that caused something inside the pack to want to attack them on sight.

Forgetting why he stopped in the first place, he started his jog once again and, after a short distance, caught the warm scent of life and food.  Coming to another stop, he sought to ascertain its direction.  The scents in this area swirled around the streets and buildings making it hard to accurately tell exactly where the food was located.  This smell was of the two-legged kind and the light intensity of it indicated that there was only one or two of them.  He stood sniffing the air and, suddenly knowing exactly where the scent was coming from, started in that direction.

Rounding a building, he saw one of the other two-legged crouching outside of one of its lairs, trying to sneak through the night.  Sometimes they seemed so stupid that he could not fathom how they were a danger.  Did that one not know he could see him crouching there in the open?

Signaling his pack to spread out with grunts and signaling with his hands, he turned in mid stride toward the two-legged one.  Letting out a scream to let the other packs in the area know they had found food – an instinctive reaction he could not help – he launched himself toward the crouched one in ever-quickening strides.  The two-legged one turned toward him and let out its own scream and tried to run but it was too late.  To his left, one of his pack members launched itself over a fence and tackled the two-legged one in mid air just as the food turned the corner into the yard of one of its lairs.  It was over in seconds and the rending of flesh began.

Out of the corner of his eye, the pack leader saw another of the two-legged ones leap a fence several yards away.  Giving a signal to several of his pack, they launched themselves after the one fleeing.  Several minutes later, he heard one of his give a shriek of finding.  It was followed by a couple of the loud bangs that sometimes accompanied the ones who ran on two legs.  Those bangs were the danger and were what caused him to lose some of his pack earlier on.  The ones he had sent out returned a short time later with another food.  He had sent out four but only two returned.  He had lost more of his pack but they ate well that night.

They weren’t quite finished with the second one when the glow in the sky indicated the return of the bright light.  It wasn’t so much of an actual glow but more of a hint of the sky lightening.  The small lights in the sky in that direction started to fade and so it was time to leave and head back to their shelter.  With this, there was no hesitation with any of them or the other packs.  They had all felt the intense burning and heat of the bright light.  Those who were caught in even a glimpse or hint of that bright light for more than a couple of seconds died.

And so it was with haste that they retreated to the building where they stayed accompanied by the sound of many packs heading to their own lairs.  The night filled with the sound of feet slapping on the pavement; not the paced jogging of the hunt but an all-out run.  The streets quickly emptied.  The time of the other two-legged ones was coming.  They lost two this night but others would come to fill the gap.  There were still single ones or in twos or threes running around just waiting for a pack to scoop them up.

Stepping into the broken door to the building where they holed up during the day, he trekked up the stairs and into the darkened room where they slept.  He chose this room because it had no place to the outside where the light could shine through.  He was tired and laid down with his pack, nestled together for warmth; some nights closer together and others spread out depending on the heat of the day.  He kept closest to the entry because he was the strongest, their leader, and that was his place.

As he lay there, a certain musky scent came to his nostrils; a scent that aroused an even more animalistic nature inside of him and one he could not resist.  He rolled over to find one of his already trying to couple with the female in his pack.  He pushed the one aside with a warning grunt and mated falling asleep shortly thereafter.  He felt content but in a slightly different way than we would know or understand.

You can find the first and second books on Amazon:

A New World: Chaos

A New World: Return

Dream Talk

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope the weekend went well and the injuries have healed 🙂  I want to take a little different track today and talk about dreams.  Or, more specifically, someone to help with dream interpretation.

My mother, June O’Brien recently retired from the working community where she worked with and ran drug and alcohol treatment centers; also conducting reviews and studies for others around the world.  A tremendously intelligent and wise woman – no bias here:)  Along her journey, she became very immersed and knowledgeable with dreams and dream interpretation.  There are those, including local tribal leaders and medicine men, who seek her out to talk about their dreams.

My point is, yes, there is one, that she has started to do dream interpretations online for others.  If you find yourself interested, you should head over to her site and check it out:

http://dreamtalkwithjune.com/

I wish everyone a very happy day and hope that your dreams come true!

Saturday and the Writing Bug

I thought I might have reached a burn out stage by now withe the second book, A New World: Return.  I began this writing binge on Monday with 20,000 words into the story and finished last night with a little over 41,000 surprising me with how easy the story is flowing now considering the block I felt before.  Perhaps it’s just that I didn’t want to.

Writing is such a funny thing and very much akin to reading in my humble opinion. – yes, I do have humble opinions.  The story changes, evolves and twists as I’m writing it just as it would for a reader.  A thought will come to mind as I’m typing and it’s down on “paper” before I know it, complete with its own little story line and everything.  Then, I come to a stop thinking about how I’m now going to have to incorporate that into the entire story.  Or the character will do something I didn’t expect or intend and I will have to allow for that.  See, I treat the book and story like a living. breathing thing.  Alive.  And so am hesitant to go back and change something or rewrite it.  I have only done that once and it was for a minor aspect.  The story flows through me.

For instance and a small one as I don’t want to give and of the story away.  Jack and the group were moving along a road, alert and ready for anything.  I thoughts, well lived the moment to analyze the surroundings to describe them.  I then thought about seeing a dog as part of the scenery, then that morphed into the dog trailing us as I typed along.  The thought of befriending the dog came to mind and a side story line developed along those lines; my mind seeing and my fingers typing.  the story just flowing through.

Well, obviously I have had a lot of caffeine and rambling on now.  Time to get to the book.  I hope everyone has a tremendous day today and it treats them well!

Friday and at the keyboard!

The second book in the New World series is starting to flow along nicely.  Hit the 37,000 word mark yesterday and so the impossible goal of finishing the rough manuscript by the end of the month may entirely be possible.  We’ll see.  As long as Jack and his group doesn’t throw any new twists in that I have to account for.

Sales on the first book seem to have stabilized in the past couple of months.  I’m glad to see that but the house over the lake is still some distance away.  Okay, just kidding there as I write to tell the story and not for the dollars.  I’d be in a bit of trouble if I was writing for that reason.

It’s rather lucky the sun is hiding behind the fog or I might just be tempted to take the kayak or bike out although I am feeling a little under the weather.  Probably a good thing as I really want to spend today moving the story along.  Seems the procrastination but is biting me a little but once I get to the story, I will find myself immersed in it.

Well, not really much to write here today as the story is now calling.  I wish everyone a great and fun Friday!