The purpose of all writing is to give the reader something to think about. So, if you’d be willing to stop watching cat videos for a moment, I have a few things for you to ponder.
A few months ago, I stopped writing a book (at 75K words, no less) called Natural Hypnotic. It was intended to be another book in my series entitled: Entropy. The fourth book in this series (in homage to StarWars) is already out. It is entitled: In a Hotel Room in Chillicothe. If you have not read this book, you should…immediately. No other book with the word Chillicothe (pronounced – Chill-OH-Coth-EE) has sold better. In addition to that, reading the novella will make you a better person AND give you something to think about.
Natural Hypnotic was supposed to be a followup (prequel) to this novella. (Un?)Fortunately, things change. My main reason for discontinuing this work was that it was obvious. Also, it lacked quality. Frankly, the self-published world has a quality control problem as it stands. I don’t want to add to it. So, I took a step back.
Then, I took a giant leap forward. I’m the sort of author that needs a bit of inspiration to hit them. And eureka, it did. Unlike Archimedes, however, I did not run through the streets naked after it happened. I should have, but I didn’t. No, my epiphany manifested itself in other ways. Including, but not limited to, hours of walking through my house and writing down ideas I was surprised to find myself having.
There were two catalysts that prompted these manic episodes of creativity. The SPFBO and SPSFC are self-published writing competitions that evaluate literature in both Science Fiction and Science Fiction Fantasy. When I finally looked them up, with the encouragement of Mark Lawrence, I thought, hey, I might like to try that. Thus, prompting both furious scribblings on yellow legal pads and my wife’s frustration at conversation delays when discussing reality on earth.
So, there you have it. I have been writing individual books for each of these competitions respectively. Between the two, in the last month, I have logged 90k words. Working titles (read: subject to change) for these novels are Glitch and Special.
If I’m being honest with myself, I doubt I’ll win either. It would be nice to make the finals, but that also seems like a challenging task. The competition is tough and I’m not sure I have the writing chops to pull it off. However, I won’t know until I throw my hat in the ring. That said, I’d like to share the opening paragraphs of both novels.
Special (Book 1: The Barrier)
It was like Bennem always said, the key to killing someone that wishes to stay alive is prediction. Of course, Bennem didn’t say it like that. Bennem said it more like, fuckers be easier to kill when you know what they gonna do. He had such a way words, Bennem.
Glitch (Book 1: Entropy)
It is 1998, the last year I was a human.
It is my great hope that these openings might encourage you to read more of both novels. If not, at least I suckered you into reading them that far.