I was thinking of putting up the timeline of the Dying Years from the Prologue in a “present” and “past” format for people to reference easily on the site, and later, the Wiki.
I was also thinking, for that matter, of making an excerpt available that excludes the prologue and just jumps straight to the story. It would still contain part of The Hospital and all of Guests, so …
Thoughts?
Going to be doing a lot here real soon — I’m going to make The Emissary, the next part of the Guests arc available on the Excerpts page.
In the meanwhile, you can see the first excerpt here! If you want to know a little more about the books, visit any of the pages above, and as always, donations are appreciated!
More news coming soon…
In addition to the PDF download you can get here , I’ve embedded a Scribd document here that will let you read it in your browser! Just click on “Continue Reading” to access the excerpt there. You can pop it into full screen by clicking the first button on the left. Enjoy!
I have a lot more to say on this matter, and I will probably update this post or write another on the subject … but in the short time I have before heading off to work, I felt it would be good to share a little bit of the why behind the what of my books.
It goes like this. I see what goes on in the world every day, as do you — resource-based warfare and political treachery, exploitation of all classes and races, and systems of the world that are too rooted in antiquated governmental bureaucracy to get anything effectively done for the people they are supposed to represent and lead.
All of us are capable of doing things that change the world. Some people do good things, some people do bad things. People help each other and they hurt each other. I’ve learned a good deal from experiences in my own life about how people operate, and the actions of individuals are telling with regard to humanity as a whole. For every oppressive or misguided leader, great or small, be they policy maker or priest, there are a thousand people willing to stand up and do their part to work together for the greater good. This is my contribution to our species, at present — sharing that understanding. I want you to know what we are truly capable of, and I’m prepared to be blunt about it, because you need to realize that your limits – our limits — are self-imposed. This isn’t a text that will make you happy about what future generations may face if we keep heading in this direction, but hopefully it will help you to see that, as much as our species is chaotic and emotional and selfish, we are also capable of cooperation, change, and ultimately success on a global level. We can change our direction.
We’ve committed great and awful deeds in our history as a species, and as we move forward we will continue to be faced with harsh choices. We can choose to deal with these pressing issues together, to strengthen our collective human well-being, or we can fall apart until there are none of us left.
Well, I’m very excited to have come to the point where I can launch this site for all to see and use! I am going to be using this site as a way of keeping in touch with updates in the writing process, but I will also be reachable through all the other traditional channels (Facebook, Twitter, so on and so forth) so please, provide feedback! I’m always happy to hear from readers — especially when it’s criticism!
All that being said, I’ve got a treat for anyone visiting! If you haven’t already been emailed a copy of the current excerpt, click here! It contains the prologue / timeline, a sneak peek at part 2 of Chapter 4, and the first two parts of Chapter 1. With the complete timeline et al, it clocks in at about 40 pages, but it’s easy to read in chunks. Let me know what you think!
For those who are wondering about the current publishing plan, I’m waiting to hear back from some folks… right now the plan is to go the self-printing route while I let agents go over the manuscript, and I’ll be getting a Kickstarter going soon for the printing process. In the meanwhile, I’ll be following a similar route with donations that are done with PayPal!
What that means is that supporting me directly with a PayPal donation will also act as a reservation for content! Because I’m still awaiting final numbers before announcing any sorta pricing, I can’t commit to specifics yet, but it will be something like this:
$10 or more — copy of the e-book when it’s ready
$20 or more — copy of the e-book and the printed book
$30 or more — copies of the book, signed printed edition!
$50 or more — copies of the book (signed) and ‘membership’ to future printings*
$100 or more — copies of the book and ‘multimedia’ membership**
- *If I get picked up by a big publisher / when I’ve got enough money to do it myself, I’ll be printing a version of the book complete with maps, diagrams, all the random things Dakk would have put in his journal over the course of his writing. When this and other editions come out, I’ll have a list of “Gold” members who get new copies for free.
- **Kinda like above, but for everything related to the core books — so vidjeo games, movies, TV, what have you … I have a lot planned, and I’m not giving up on making all of it happen.
