Slowly But Surely

Hello everyone,

I apologize for once again taking so long to post anything.  I will endeavor to correct this behavior.  I have been focused to a large extent on the fourth book in the series.  I started on a companion novel dealing with Jack’s past but have shelved that for the moment to continue on with the main story.  It would be very cruel and unsportsmanlike to leave the last book with that ending and not endeavor to continue on.

As always, this book seems to have taken a life of its own.  What was going to be a relatively short part has grown into half of the book.  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not but it’s what it is.  I have no control over it apparently.  Sometimes I don’t even know why I bother with a story line at all.  The good news is that I am about half of the way through the draft/story having reached 42,000 words tonight.  That’s not too bad considering I was only at 17,000 at the beginning of the week.  I guess the good news would really be that I was finished so perhaps it’s only half good news.  Which, on second thought, would just make this news.

I have to say I’m a little perturbed at the Underworld movies stealing my title.  I had this book title planned for quite some time in the sequence of things and here I see my title displayed on the movie theaters.  I’ll have to see if I stick with the title A New World: Awakening.  I certainly don’t want to seem to be a copycat or riding a coat tail.  We’ll see.

Another bright note has been to see A New World: Return sit at #6 in Amazon’s top rated horror list (the kindle version) for a little while with A New World: Sanctuary climbing to #9 as of today.  Thank you so much for all of your great reviews.  I appreciate each and every one of them.  As I appreciate everyone who writes and lets me know they are enjoying the story and books.  Thank you!!!  I also want to send a thank you out to each and every reader.  You are absolutely the best.  There are so many great authors out there and I feel so privileged and humbled to see my name even remotely close to theirs.

I’m taking a few days off to rest my weary fingers and then I’ll be back at it with gusto.  I am hoping to finish the draft by the  end of the month – yeah, we’ll see about that one – and then that editing thing.  I am having a tremendous amount of fun writing this one, yes, I did the others as well, and hope it can match the others.

I hope everyone has a very pleasant day/evening and enjoy your weekend!

John

At it again!

Well, it’s been a while since I posted last and my apologies for staying in the dark so long.  I’ve recently changed the direction of the next book.  Whereas I was going to write about Jack’s early beginnings before the dreaded flu and subsequent vaccine, I decided to continue on with the story.  I had written a bit into the beginnings and will continue along with it but at a later point.  I had a friend write that part of the fun is the mystique and mystery of what Jack did before which adds to the story.  I realized that if I defined Jack, then that would lock him down.  Plus, we all have out vision of Jack and to define him might ruin that image.  I will write that companion novel but now it will more than likely come out after the story is told.

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful messages and reviews!  And, for sharing your thoughts and ideas.  They are all great and I enjoy getting and reading them.  Please keep that up!

For now, it’s on with the story.  I have the plot line figured out, but like the previous books, that goes out of the window when I actually start down the path.  I like to have it handy though.  I started the fourth book, A New World: Awakening, last night after carefully tucking Jack’s story away and managed to get a little more than 1,500 words into it.  More today.  I am hoping that I can be finished by the end of February but we’ll see how that goes.  Starting a whole new  part of the story is daunting.  But once started, the story takes over and it just flows – well, mostly.

I wish everyone a very happy and wonderful day!

 

John

A New World: Sanctuary Finished!

At last!  It’s finished, scrambling my mind in the process.  I have literally spent all of my waking hours on trying to finish it and get it out by Christmas – which I managed only by an hour or two.  I had only hours to spare.  For the moment, It is on Amazon and Smashwords in eBook format which should propagate out to the other sites within the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, I will be getting it ready for print which should be available sometime in the first part of January.

Thank you all for your patience!  I know it was supposed to be out a few days ago but, well, that just didn’t happen.  I hope everyone enjoy this next phase of the story!  Now to get some sleep!

Happy Holidays!

John

Not quite there yet!

I apologize that the book isn’t through the editing phase as yet.  It will be just a couple more days before it’s ready for publication.  I just received some looks for the cover from SM Reine and she has done her magic once again.  I am working through the last bit of editing for the book and striving to have it out by Christmas.  Once again, I apologize to all who were looking for the book to be out by now but I want to make sure it’s ready.

I’ll make this short as there’s a lot to get finished.  I wish everyone a very happy Tuesday!

John

A New World: Sanctuary Finished!

Okay, it’s only the draft that is finished and now begins the process of editing.  Oh, fun times in store with that.  I’m pretty excited to be finished with this part of the story of Jack and the group.  It was a little harder to write as the arena opened up somewhat with them landing and having to find and build a place of haven.  It was still fun to write although there were times I had to pound my head on the keyboard.

The plan is to have the editing finished and the cover finished by the 18th of this month and publish it that night.  That means is should show up on Amazon by midnight of the 19th/20th.  I also released the first two books in print to Amazon and they should be showing up within the next few days.  I received the proof copies and I have to admit they look pretty good.

I have received a few nice reviews lately and I want to thank each and every one of you for making this series a success.  Like I’ve said in previous posts, the series has far exceeded any expectations I had.  I enjoy writing the books and it thrills me that they are being enjoyed.  Thank you everyone!

Enjoy your day!

John

It’s Been A Little While!

I haven’t posted in a little while and I apologize to everyone for that.  Had a bit of a bug come visit for a while and am glad to see it out of the door.  It truly overstayed its welcome.    And so, with that now on its way elsewhere, the writing is picking up once again.  I have been able to put a word here and there throughout and even string a sentence together from time to time.  The third book is coming along although quite slowly but I’m getting pretty close to finishing the draft.

When I first started the book, I didn’t think I would have enough with the story and plot continuation to fill the book.  Now I’m finding that I have had to move a part of the story to the fourth book.  That’s a good thing I think.  I would say this third book is about 80% complete.  I was hoping to have it finished by the end of the month but, unless the words just pour out today, that’s just not going to happen.  I do hope to have it finished by this coming weekend.

As a side note, the print proof of the second book, A New World: Return, came in the mail yesterday and I’m hoping the Chaos book shows up today.  The proof looks good so far and, if the same is true with the other, then both books should be out in print within the next week.  They look pretty sharp and I want to thank SM Reine once again for the fantastic covers.

The flow of writing with this third book hasn’t been the 5,000 to 8,000 words a day that the first books had.  There have been a lot of things that have had to happen in different areas and it was a little slow pulling them together into a cohesive fashion.  With the first two, the track was fairly linear – go here and this happens, then continue – but with this third book, the scope has broadened to an extent.  Plus the aspect of trying to build a sanctuary and keep it exciting without making it seem like watching paint dry.

Well, off to the story!  I wish everyone a wonderful and fun day!

Progress – Slow but progress nonetheless!

Haven’t posted here is a little while and my apologies for that.  I have been immersing myself in the writing of the third book “A New World: Sanctuary.”  Had a more difficult time organizing and progressing with this one, mainly due to the expansion of the characters and events.  Jack and the merry band of survivors have arrived back and are in the process of setting up shop – finding and building a haven from the night runners.  Hit the 40,000 word mark last night meaning the draft is almost half way there.  I hope to hit that point sometime today – we’ll see how far I get with that goal.

I am looking to have the draft finished and the editing to begin by the end of the month.  That may be pushing it but the story has started to flow somewhat.  Today, another rescue attempt.

I just want to give a hearty thank you for all of the nice messages, reviews, and for those that have made the series so successful so far – far beyond my wildest dreams or any expectations I had.  Thank you!!!!  You truly rock!

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

A New World Epiphany!

So, there was little rest involved last night as my mind came alive with the actual ending – or possible ending – for the New World series.  I know the story and have that plotted for the most part but the ending has always eluded me until my mind exploded with ideas just as I was heading off into dreamland.

The problem I was having with the ending is that most stories resolved themselves back to the status quo for a resolution of some kind.  With a post-apocalyptic story, that is difficult to do as there is really never an ending to the story.  The sheer nature of a post-apocalyptic world involves a beginning of something entirely new where the status quo, or at least back to one, is impossible to achieve.  With that said, a possible ending book did materialize and I sat up for a lot of the night plotting out the story line for it.

I won’t give any spoilers and the actual writing of it is a while away.  There is a lot that happens with Jack, his kids, Lynn, and the rest between now and then.  The story must be told.  Hopefully my coffee won’t spill on my notes between now and then.  The third book, A New World: Sanctuary, is coming along slowly.  My goal of having the draft finished by the end of the month may not be achieved but the possibility still exists.  I am working on that story and getting A New World: Chaos ready for print publication as well.  I finished getting A New World: Return ready just today.  Those two book should be out in print by the end of the year but I am striving to complete that before then.

As I have said numerous times before and truly mean it, thank you all for your support in making the series a success beyond my wildest dreams.  I truly hope everyone who has read either one or both of the books have enjoyed it/them.  If you have, I ask that you take a spare moment, if you have one, and write up a review on Amazon.  That would be tremendously appreciated.

Have an awesome Wednesday all!

It’s a slow start, but a start nonetheless!

Rounded the 10,000 word mark on A New World: Sanctuary yesterday after staring at the screen endlessly for seeming days.  Not that I stared at an empty screen nor that I didn’t know where the book should head next, it was just like my fingers didn’t want to type it.  But, yesterday it seemed to roll.  I was thinking back and both of the other books seemed to go that way as well so I am hoping the roll and flow is coming.  I don’t know whether to set a deadline of the end of the month to finish the rough draft of this book or not.  It worked for book two but then I felt in a rush to get it out once I finished.  Maybe the bright flash of light will come.

So far, Jack and his group are back home and the new day has dawned – I know, pretty exciting stuff huh?  A couple of twists emerged making it a pretty busy and exciting day – like the alien spaceship landing and taking Jack away.  Okay, totally kidding here and needing more caffeine apparently.  Or perhaps too much!  There are a few crucial scenes coming up and I am still undecided on which way to go on one of them.  Not that it affects the overall story line much, but more in how things are going to happen.  I am rambling on now.

I do want to give a thank you for the great support regarding the first two books.  It has truly been amazing and I hope that those that are reading them are enjoying them.  Feel free to drop by and leave a review on Amazon or message me.

I am not sure whether to keep the name of this third book A New World: Sanctuary or A New World: Haven.  If you have an opinion one way or the other, drop me a line or two and throw your thoughts in.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday and hope the weekend has been good to you!

 

John