Hello, Fellow Goner,
Dave here to talk about our second Kindle Serial for 47North.
When 47North approached us to do a serial for them, we pitched them four or five stories. They surprised us by signing us for two. The first was Z 2134, which we’d already started as an indie project. The second was Monstrous, which might be our darkest story yet. Given our catalog, that’s saying a lot.
Our inspirations for this story are a bit less obvious than Z 2134′s, but they’re there, if you’re looking. With Monstrous, we wanted to tell a dark heroic journey. A story of a man who has lost everything. With nods to the 80s TV show, Beauty and the Beast (not the remake), Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and another comic, The Punisher, Monstrous weaves its own dark tale of a man wrestling with his past and his future.
Here’s the pitch:
Would you go through Hell to save your family?
Henry Black’s life ends in one horrifying moment when three intruders force their way into his home. He wakes in purgatory, where he’s met by two men — one who offers the possibility of an afterlife in heaven, and the other, who offers Henry a chance to go back and find out what happened to his family.
The deal has a few strings, of course…
Get Monstrous here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XJBHHO
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
While Monstrous has lots of action, the characters are what made this story so fun to write. These are some of our most complex and angst-ridden characters yet. While Henry is the star of the show, the demon, Boothe, steals it in many ways.
Boothe is calm, smooth-talking, witty, and capable of some dark stuff. But what makes him a curiosity to me is that he never curses. A demon that has no problem killing, yet doesn’t curse.
I’m not sure how many readers would pick up on that, especially when Henry has a comedian’s vocabulary, but I think it’s an interesting facet to Boothe.
ONE POINT OF VIEW
Another interesting thing to note, this is the first serial we’ve done which has one POV. The entire story is told via Henry’s experience. Limiting it to one POV, I think makes the story a bit more personal, but also forces us to be creative in how we tell the story and deliver the killer cliffhangers.
I’m pretty sure we pulled it off, though I suppose that’s up to you.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
The bad news:
The book, like all Kindle Serials, is a timed exclusive to Amazon’s U.S. store. HOWEVER, it WILL BE available worldwide, as a full book, in six weeks. Kindle Serials are currently only available in the U.S. I’m not sure why, whether it’s a trial thing Amazon is testing before rolling it out worldwide or if there’s some other reason. My hope is that the Kindle Serials do so well, and that enough readers demand them, that Amazon offers them everywhere at the same time so our international readers don’t have to wait.
However, it’s only a temporary wait, and everyone will be able to buy the book.
The good news:
This serial will run for the next six weeks in a row! Pay once, just $1.99, and get all six episodes as they’re released every Tuesday!
Speaking of waiting. The wait is now over for Z 2134′s international publication.
Z 2134 IS NOW AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE…
Our first 47North Kindle Serial, Z 2134 is finally available worldwide! And, at the moment, it’s pretty cheap, compared to the full book version in the U.S. Store. I don’t know if this is the permanent price or if Amazon has it on sale for a bit, but if you’re thinking about getting Z 2134, now’s a great time to pick it up.
Thank you for your patience. We hope you enjoy the ride!
UK version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009KTA8YA
AND IN PRINT FOR PRE-ORDER
On December 7, Z 2134 is slated to be published in print. Amazon has it available for pre-sale now if you wanna pick it up. Or you can get the e-book, if you’ve not already bought it when it was a Kindle Serial.
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009KTA8YA/
OTHER NEWS
FREE YESTERDAY’S GONE
This week marks the first time (I think) that we’ve made Yesterday’s Gone: Season One free. You can pick it up Monday Nov. 26 – Thursday Nov. 29 at Amazon. If you already have Season One, we’d love it if you could tell a friend who might enjoy the book to check it out!
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005REXCKE/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005REXCKE/
AVAILABLE DARKNESS
Sean and I are working on Available Darkness: Season Two. While we’d intended to publish Episode One by now, we slowed things down a bit to make sure we write this book right the first time (unlike the first version of Season One)!
We’re looking at a mid to late December release date for Episode One now.
We apologize to those who are waiting patiently. But Available Darkness has come to have a special place in our hearts, and we want to make sure we do Season Two justice, and to make this season worth the wait!
EVERYTHING ELSE…
2013 is gonna be an awesome year for the Inkwell. We’ve got a lot of series out now, and we’ll be hitting new seasons for all of them! That means new WhiteSpace, ForNevermore, Yesterday’s Gone, and depending on how well our 47North titles do, maybe even Z2134 and Monstrous!
You’d think with all these different series, we’d slow down.
But we’re insane.
We’re also working on some new Dark Crossings short stories, which, depending on your response, could become pilots for new series. More on that in the coming weeks.
See you next week!
As always, thank you for reading,
David Wright
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This post published at: www.collectiveinkwell.com
