At the End of Everything - A Primer

The day the Vaahuk Kal armada arrived, the world assumed that the superheroes would save them.

They were wrong.

Thirty years later, the Earth is a ruined backwater, a forgotten outpost in an ancient galactic empire.

Jaya Adlahka, the Bloody Red Rabbit, spends her days defending a small settlement of humanity not just from the occupying forces of the Vaahuk Kal Commonwealth, but from former supervillains now turned bandits, and even the occasional kaiju rampage.

But when Olivia Bennet, the long-thought dead superhero known as Fearless, suddenly arrives from the distant past, things change. Soon, Jaya, Olivia, and a disparate group of the last superheroes on the planet, are on a quest across the face of broken world...

One last chance to save everything.

That little back-cover blurb, like the title of this blog says, is a work in progress. The same goes for the title of the book it’s summarizing, which is also the same as the title of the blog.

As I pointed out in the 400th post, these things are all connected.

They’re close to being right, to being "finished." Not quite, but close. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. We’ll see. Either way, the point is, while they're definitely not the final product, they're very close… I think.

Except for the book.

The book itself is definitely not close. I’m still working on the book, and it’s got a long ways to go still. A long ways. As I said in the 400th post, I’m working on these things at my own pace, and at the moment, that pace is slow. (Gestures around at the world) I’ve been a bit distracted as of late.

It’s been hard to write fiction as the world burns. It feels extra silly, and so I haven't been working on it as much lately. This blog has been a nice way to keep the juices flowing somewhat, but not an entirely satisfying one. In the meantime, despite not getting much done recently, I've still kept the pot simmering. The good news is, I think that pot is ready gain, so now I'd like to get back to the real work.

Fingers crossed.

I've been keeping notes. I’ve been harvesting ideas. And I've been making sure to write them all down too, and to keep them organized, so I don’t forget any of them, which... as far as I can recall, I haven't. I'm still feeling pretty confident that I know both where the book is going, and also, know how it ends. That last part especially is important. You gotta at least know what direction you’re heading in, right? All this means that it feels like the story is still living in my brain, which is good.

Plus, cobbling together these little Influence Collages I’ve posted here was fun too. They helped remind me that I like this story, and that I miss it. Now, I just have to start following the only Rules of Writing that really matter...

1. Sit down
2. Shut up
3. Pen to paper
4. Repeat
5. Finish

There's a few other Rules, of course, like the classic "Kill your darlings" or the always right, "Fix it later, just keep going" or the often needed reassurance of "If it works, it works, but seriously... does it actually work?" or the absolute trueism of "Nobody thinks that your characters' banter is as funny or endearing as you do. No one." There's also probably the best Rule for approaching constructive critique: "If one person says you're a horse, ignore it. If two people say you're a horse, consider it. But if three people say you're a horse... buy a fucking saddle."

Your mileage may vary as far as other important Rules of Writing go, but if you ask me, that list of five I posted above are the only ones that really matter in the end, and I need to get back to following them.

So, this book is basically inspired by a lifetime of my interests. It’s a stew of movies, tv shows, and comic books, as well as a ton of novels and books. It’s the result of a bunch of notebooks filled with random scribbled-down ideas. It’s from things I liked, and some things I wish had turned out differently, and more than a few things that I only half-remember from who knows where and from who knows when. It is a veritable smorgasbord of my various and sundry ideas, a potpourri of parables, a mixed bag of miscellanea, a salmagundi of serials and sagas, if you will.

All of it having a small part in putting this story together...

As I say on the About Page, this book is a time traveling, post-apocalyptic, alien invasion, superhero, sci-fi/fantasy adventure tale. A mix of cavemen, aliens, men of mystery, superheroes, super-scientists, gods, magicians, and some robot teddy bears, it's all about a long shot save, and going on one last ride, all while set in a crumbling world at the broken-down back end of a glorious golden era.

And it's all told in a narrative framework that is similar to Epic Fantasy Quest stories, mashed up with the sprawling reach of an all-encompassing, status quo-wrecking comic book crossover. It's also intended to be a tour of the classic tropes and archetypes that are commonly found in superhero comics, a historical allusion of sorts to where things like this started, and how they ended up where they did, as well as providing some commentary on the inherent social issues that underscore the typical power dynamics that are often found in superhero comics.

At least... I hope that's what it turns out to be.

Like I said, it’s not done. It’s still in progress. I'm working on it. I'm, oh... let’s say, halfway done? Maybe a little less? I really want to have a first draft done this year, but we’ll see what the next few months hold. But like I said above, I can feel those simmering ideas starting to come to a boil again, so I think I’m about ready to dive back into the part that has been stymying me for a little while now, and hopefully write my way out of it. And once that's done, onward to the end.

Fingers crossed…

I‘ve been thinking about posting parts of this story for almost two years now. As I mentioned, this is the entire reason why I created this blog in the first place. And now, in a couple of days, I’ll finally do it…

See you then.