A great adventure begins

Okay, maybe not a great adventure...and not really a unique one, since a lot of you out there have done it already. But I've finally broken into e-publishing. I didn't start with Sleepwalkers because I didn't think that would be fair, considering that it still isn't complete here or on the EMCSA. Plus, I could tell from the e-publishing thread on the MC Forum that it would take a lot of fiddling around before I felt comfortable with the process. I decided to start by publishing a shorter story.

I settled on "Love In a Silver Socket" because it seemed to be a good length, and it's more accessible than most of my stuff. So I spent yesterday creating an account at Smashwords [Edit: I'm now up on Amazon, too] and polishing LIASS yet again. It surprised me to realize I'd originally published it back in 2002. I decided it was in good shape, but it needed some buffing up; so as usual I put way too much time into refining every little phrase to my satisfaction. Then I spent this morning buying some stock artwork, making a book cover, and publishing the whole thing on Smashwords. That last part turned out to be just about as frustrating as you might expect, though not for the reasons you might expect. It wasn't the so-called "meat grinder" that gave me problems; it was the book cover and the Smashwords dashboard. But many thanks to dreamsofcontrol on the MC Forum for marking the route so carefully.

I won't try to shove book sales down your throat, but I will invite you to at least take a look at what I've done here and tell me what you think. And yeah, of course, I have to say that if you do buy it, you'll get a nice, fresh take on the story. ;-P

A Peek Beneath the Duct Tape: Sleepwalkers, Chapter 10

So. We've almost reached the end of of Sleepwalkers. Paul's been reduced to a rat in a cage, waiting to see who unlocks it; and Wizard and and Shara are trying to out-fake a bunch of killers.

Everything has been leading up to this, right from Chapter 1. Even before I created the character of Wizard, I knew Paul and Co. would need somebody in Mount Weather who was in a position to help them - and to risk her own neck in the process. And even as I re-created Shara's character to make her Paul's nemesis, I knew she'd be the one who finally got a shot at General Hawthorne. The question is whether Shara can actually take her down. She hasn't put enough thought into her plan; that's obvious already, and you don't know the half of it yet. But who can blame her for rushing? Every moment she delayed put Wizard in more danger; and even though Paul seemed to be safe, Shara couldn't guarantee he'd stay that way. So she tried to balance the risk to her loved ones against her need for a viable plan. She just didn't get the mix quite right.

Originally, I meant for her showdown with Hawthorne (and Wizard's run from the Peacekeepers) to pass more quickly: Sleepwalkers would have finished with ten chapters instead of eleven. But the more I wrote, the more I realized I still needed to write, in order to do justice to this part of the story. So I split it in two. That's why Wizard's cliffhanger is kind of weak: "Yikes! She's running into an unknown room!" But haven't I given you enough big cliffhangers already? ;-) Especially the one I wrote for Shara at the end of the chapter. Of course, she'd have an easier time if she wasn't so damn moral, but she won't let those sleepwalkers die if she can save them. And let's face it: even if she was alone in the office with Hawthorne, she'd still be unarmed, un-armored, and half-dead. How could she hope to compete against an able-bodied raving paranoiac with a gun?

But on a lighter note, here's a story I've been looking forward to telling you. While I was writing Chapter 10, Wizard and Shara's resourcefulness rubbed off on me. I had accidentally locked myself out of my bathroom, and I didn't know how to get the door open without taking it off its hinges (That's something I know is possible, but I could never do on my own, and I'd have been really embarrassed to call a certain someone to come lend a hand).

The doorknob has a little hole in the center that leads to the locking mechanism, and when I was a kid, I was able to pick that sort of lock with a bent coat hanger; so I tried that again. Unfortunately, either I've lost the knack or else this lock is set up differently than the ones I picked as a kid. The coat hanger got me nowhere. Then I tried the old credit card trick you read about and see in movies. It doesn't work.

I thought again about calling that certain someone and braving the inevitable embarrassment, but Wizard and Shara were fresh in my mind. I knew they'd be able to solve the problem on their own; and since I'd created them, I should be able to solve this problem on my own. So first I studied the locking mechanism on my bedroom door (being careful not to actually lock that), and I saw that I'd need to squeeze something in between the latch and the jamb in order to push the latch back. Then I looked around myself and asked the same question Wizard did: "What do I have in here that I can use?" My eyes lit on a pair of curved fingernail scissors. The blades were thin enough to fit between the latch and the jamb, and the the sharp edges were hard enough to dig into the latch and give me some purchase. Well, folks, I used those damn fingernail scissors to force the latch back and open that bathroom door by myself! It might seem like a minor accomplishment to you, but it made me proud as hell. I'd lived up to Wizard and Shara's standards of resourcefulness.

One further note, and then I'm done for the day. I researched elevator shafts in preparation for writing Wizard's escape, just to make sure they had ladders she could use. They do. However, I didn't try very hard to make her entrance and exit from the shaft believable. That was on purpose. I realize there are plenty of people dumb enough to try a stunt like that in real life, but I'm not in the business of helping them.


*The photo at the top of this post is a still from Kill Bill, Part 1 - which is incidentally another story that was meant to be a one-off but eventually got split in two.

Here's your sneak peek at "Sleepwalkers," Chapter 10

Strap in!

A Peek Beneath the Duct Tape on Sleepwalkers, Chapter 9

I was probably just as relieved as you were when Shara when came back to life. After all, I built my original fantasy around her. She's a completely different person in this version of the story, but that doesn't make her any less important to me. I hated killing her. I just felt like I had to do it.

Here's how the decision came about.

Almost exactly a year ago, Callidus and his wife came to visit me. I hadn't yet begun to write Sleepwalkers, but I was pretty far along in the brainstorming. My main dilemma, at that point, was figuring out what to do with Shara. I knew that Paul would be wracked by guilt because he'd imprinted her, and that when Shara Awoke she'd forgive him; but it couldn't be that easy. Callidus was the first to realize Shara had to feel guilt of her own. Justice is her driving force, and she's done some horribly unjust things (not least to Wizard). Now she'll have a chance to try and make them right.

I probably already knew, when I met Callidus in person, that Shara would guess Paul was Awake; but I didn't know how she would confront him. That came much later. I bounced a lot of ideas off Callidus via email, and gradually I homed in on the idea of her testing Paul's loyalty by making him kill her. It was such a shocking idea, and such an impossible thing for him to do if he were Awake, that I knew it would work perfectly. I just had to figure out how to revive Shara afterwards. I toyed with the idea of faking her death; but in the end I decided, just as she and Hawthorne did, that the test wouldn't prove anything unless it demonstrably killed her (BTW, this is a good place to clarify that Shara didn't expect to be revived). But since she had to come back to life afterwards, that let out a gory death. Thus I settled on a lethal injection. Paul's test of the ingredients proved to him, and to my readers, that it really worked. But then (You see what a complicated thought process this was?) I had to figure out how Shara could be revived after the lethal injection. The magic ingredient in the saline is what the fine folks over on io9 call "handwavium."

So anyway, Shara's alive, Awake, and in a better position than anyone else to bring down Hawthorne. That's not to say she'll succeed, or whether anyone else will come along for the attempt. But at least you get to see the real Shara again after a long, dark stretch with her evil twin.

Here's your sneak peek at "Sleepwalkers," Chapter 9

It's a little shorter than the other chapters, but I think it will more than satisfy. ;-)

A Peek Beneath the Duct Tape: Sleepwalkers, Chapter 8

A lot of people are reading the "Sleepwalkers" chapters on my blog and commenting on them below the posts; but just as many start over at the EMCSA and then follow the links to the "Peeks." I'm saying this up front because readers who came here from the EMCSA really should check out the comment section below the Chapter 8 post. You'll find some great notes and ideas about what happened in Chapter 8 and about what might happen next. For the sake of those commenters, I'll try not to repeat myself too much in this Peek.

First, of course everyone knew Paul and Shara would have some kind of confrontation. But anticipating that and wondering how it would play out is part of the excitement with this kind of story. Yes, of course it was painful; but you probably guessed that too, even if you didn't realize Shara would sacrifice her life. This is the chapter I was referring to when I said during a previous Peek that you still hadn't read the scene which was hardest for me to write. Toward the end, I could hardly bring myself to type those words - but what was worse, even if I didn't type them, they would still be in my head. I was literally depressed for days about Shara's death.

Does that make sense to you? If it doesn't, think about it this way. Some actors play a role on the set, then leave it behind when they go home at the end of the day. Others carry that role with them for the length of the production. Even when they're not in front of the camera, they stay in character until the director calls "cut" for the final time. Well, if I were an actor, I'd be Daniel Day-Lewis - and I don't even want to be! It's just the way my mind works.

But enough bitching and moaning, from me anyway. I have no idea what people will say in the comments section (They'll probably call me a hypocrite since I wrote the scene on purpose ;-p). Here are some other random notes.

I didn't want to keep Hawthorne offstage for so long, but the story wouldn't work if she had any doubts at all about Paul. She never even thought of checking up on him because as far as she knew, sleepwalkers couldn't Wake Up. It hadn't happened in 27 years, and the people who accomplished it died without sharing their formula. Plus, Hawthorne wanted to punish Paul because of those very people. Now her hubris has come back to bite her.

I really didn't expect people to guess that Paul would be re-imprinted (probably because I devised the Charlotte scene much later than the confrontation scene), but good on those of you who did guess. I'm always pleased when I figure out a joke or puzzle some other author has hidden in a story, and I like to give my readers that sensation. If any of you guess where chapters Nine through Eleven are headed, I hope you'll be pleased when you find out you're right. Think of the story as a rollercoaster. Seeing its overall shape isn't the same as riding it. I want to give you a good ride.

Paul has bought himself a little breathing room, but Wizard is in the shit. It's tempting (for me, at least, and maybe for you) to think she's Wonder Woman, but she isn't invincible. She sacrificed herself for Paul just as intentionally and almost as thoroughly as Shara sacrificed herself for Hawthorne. The spies are closing in on Wizard now, and they will pin her down. That's not so much a spoiler as a warning.

Here's your sneak peek at Sleepwalkers, Chapter 8

I have to say I'm nervous about sharing this one. So far my blog readers have been very perceptive about where the story is heading, and I sincerely hope that will continue. I also hope that after the chapter goes live on the EMCSA, if readers on the forums are less perceptive, one or more of you will take the time to respond to them on there.

I'll say no more for the moment. I hope I won't have to.

Here you go.