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New Serial Release: Dead Men 2

20/7/2014

I’ve got nothing to add to the title of the post. There’s a new release, and it is Dead Men 2.

Having a different kind of tale set in the same world as Isaac’s Story: London is pretty cool. I get to play with all the same toys if I want (tanks, Realmware and FeelyGear, PDAs and robots, etc.) but in a whole different world and almost a different genre.

There’s an urgency to the serial format that novels don’t have. In a novel you can spend time gazing longingly at your navel, assuming you can do it with a fine turn of phrase. In a serial you barely begin describing the contours of the navel, getting into what makes it the best, or worst, navel it can be, and the story is done. No more navels for you, see you next time.

That’s not to say the characters don’t have to be as complex and interesting as those in a novel. They do, but you spread all that three dimensional goodness across multiple stories. They grow, or don’t grow, as people over the course of a season, while getting into adventures and shooting people. Well, that’s what they do in my serial anyway. Dirty, hands-on adventures and lots of shooting people.

I’m making Dead Men exclusive to Amazon, at least for the rest of the year. I wasn’t getting any traction anywhere else anyway, and Amazon just announced Kindle Unlimited. I’d like to see what that’s like, but initial indications point to it being the best thing for literature in the history of words, or the worst thing. Definitely one of those two. There can be no middle ground when discussing Amazon.

Go. Read. Enjoy.

New Serial Release: Dead Men 1

5/7/2014

This last month kicked my ass.

I had every intention of finishing up book two of Isaac's Story: London before moving on to start this serial. But various real world things conspired to steal my attention, meaning I didn't get the novel finished in a satisfactory amount of time.

But I still had to write. I needed to get the voices out of my head before they started feeding on my brain, munching on the grey matter to satisfy their mad hunger. And I've had this urge to give writing a serial a try.

Some people serialize their novels, chopping the book up in semi-sensible places and publishing them in chunks. This has worked out swimmingly for them, and I wish them all the best (they don't need my well-wishes, but now they have them, and I hope they choke on them. Choke on my nice sentiment. Choke on it!).

Sorry. The voices. They come out sometimes. Mostly at night. Mostly.

A serial should be like a TV show, I think. A series of stories, each release with its own plot and climax, but all building toward a larger ending. This ending would be something teased at and maybe even dealt with to some degree during the series, but with things only coming to a head at the end. Otherwise, the show goes on and the characters try to live their lives.

A common thing serials do is finish the story and then release it as a complete book. This makes sense, as some of them are chopped up books to begin with. Mine won't be, but I'll think about doing a season one boxed set or something. I'll see how I feel when I get there.

For now I'm just having fun with it. Like, a lot.

Here's the elevator pitch: The A-Team, but they're actually pretty bad people, and it's a cable show, not network. When they go around, taking jobs, fixing problems, it's for whoever pays the best, and they have no qualms with killing. Or much of anything else.

I've had a blast writing about these people. I wouldn't want to be friends with them, but they're fun to watch. I'm biased though. They're my little psychopaths, and I love them. You'll have to make up your own mind.

So go, buy this. Make it yours. Invite the voices into your head and let them feed on your brain like idea-zombies.

Dead Men is set in the same world as Isaac's Story: London, though they're down in Africa, hiding. Some of the larger events of the main series will have an effect on their lives, but this is their own thing. I don't know how long it'll go on for, but I know where the first season ends and I know how the series ends. Anything else is gravy.

Remember: Buy early and buy often.

New Serial Release: Dead Men 2

New Serial Release: Dead Men 1

C.L. Walker

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