Nightmarescape book 2 update

So some of you have already read Nightmarescape and are already asking about the next book. Well it's gonna be a minute.
I have written a LOT of material for the second book, but after sitting down and reviewing it, I have made the decision to rewrite a large portion of it. A little hint of things to come: the second book is split point of view between Curse and Banshee, but it is primarily Banshee's story. I really didn't feel like the material I had created did justice to her character nor did the parallel time of their stories flow well.

There's a pretty good reason for this. I have been chipping away at this book since 2010 when I finished the first Nightmarescape. When I began my position as a detective, most of my time went out the window. It still is. In addition to working that day job (which often stretches into a night job and sometimes a 24 hour job), I'm trying to get the word out about the first book. Marketing, taxes, sales records, etc, all get in the way of creative time.

This led me to write book 2 in chapters. This is not something I normally do. I wrote the first book as a single narrative and broke it up later. I think I need to go back to that. Everything moved better. Along with that, I have had numerous great ideas for scenes that occur later in the book and have written them only to find that they then seem to be out of context at that actual point in the story, have inconsistencies, etc. So a lot of what has been written is getting scrapped.

Ultimately, it will delay book 2's arrival, but as the creator of this series, I feel like I have to do right by my characters and the small following of fans I have gained. I don't want to put out something half-assed, so I'll fix what's broken.

Sometimes, you have to burn something down for a phoenix to rise. In the meantime, grab a copy of Nightmarescape and in February, you'll be able to get 100 Reasons.

The Ritual Abuse Tarot Deck

Holy fucking fuckshit roflmaocopter in the name of Pastor Nox, this is absolutely amazing. A brief introduction is due. If you were a kid in the 80s or 90s, chances are you remember a series of books called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. They were a "children's" collection of stories collected from folklore and retold in short story form by Alvin Schwartz. The stories were mostly meh, but EVERYONE and his brother who saw the books remembers Stephen Gammell's otherworldly illustrations. I loved these books as a kid. They were absolutely horrifying, but in a strange cathartic way...and me being me...well, I thought the illustrations were some of the most beautiful things I ever laid eyes on (up to and including having a crush on the ghost chick from The Haunted House in volume 1).

(my Valentine's date circa 1994)

 Flash forward to 2004, I began writing Nightmarescape after having a series of night terrors reminiscent Gammell's illustrations. I took that world and made it my own. Instead of the smoky abstract haunts that populated Gammell's illustrations, mine were more concrete and aesthetically inspired. Combine those illustrations with black and white photographs of World War I, II, and Vietnam, and we're getting there. Yeah...take those ghostly creatures...and give them weapons...Brutal Disorder Logos helped bring those characters to life with the character sketches you have seen of Curse, Larry Spectre, Banshee, and Pastor Nox. They owe their existence to Stephen Gammell.

 Throughout the years however, I've never seen anyone faithfully recreate that same spirit and aesthetic of artwork...until now. Enter artist Ryan Sheffield of Grapevine, Texas and his Ritual Abuse Tarot Deck. I caught wind of it's existence just a few days ago and have never had any interest in tarot or anything of the sort, but the artwork was too beautiful to pass up. Initially missing out on the Kickstarter, I danced my happy ass on over to his Etsy page like Larry Spectre with a fiddle and purchased a deck. Said deck arrived in the mail today in all its glory in a card protecting tin box with a tarot instruction manual. None of these disappoint in any way whatsoever. Utterly amazing and a job well done. If this guy does custom stuff, I'll be harassing him for a book cover, character pics, or something in the near future. Job well well done.

This is from his Etsy page where you can buy the deck as well as original artwork. His website is at http://ryansheffieldart.com/index.html

Book 2 progress

So, book to is shaping up to be an absolute monster. It will definitely be longer than the first one,share a split point of view, have just as much if not more shootin, and 40% more rootin' tootin'. Ok so I stole that last part from the Simpsons. If you grew up in the 90s, what life lesson didn't you learn from the Simpsons though? Here are a few things to look forward to in the next book: plague flagellants, amazon warriors, gladiatorial contests, psychic powers, blood (not just nightmareplasm),swamps, ship raiding, Larry Spectre's color commentary, more sad and profound truths about the Nightmarescape, and leading it all, a badass dreadlocked chick with barbed wire wrapped around her arms. Expect all this sometime in 2015 hopefully. It will depend on how long it takes to finish the first draft and get it edited. Don't worry though...I have some things to fill that gap...100 Reasons is on the horizon....