It’s nearly here. I’m wrapping up the final touches on MS10 Reckoning and I’m almost as nervous as I was when my very first was published.
This is the end of an era. As I’ve said before, these characters needed closure. The readers needed closure as well. And to be honest, so did I.
I hope this final chapter does us all justice.
Here’s the cover art by Jeffrey Kosh. Once again, he knocks it out of the park!
And yes, dear readers…the Good Guys wear black.
I stayed up last night to write. This is normal. I do it most nights. But as the sun came up this morning and I continued, I knew that I was close. I had to keep pushing. I had to finish.
Monster Squad is done.
MS10 will be the last we see of our military heroes. The story arc is finished. And I have this sense of…well, almost regret.
Here’s my author’s note that I penned between the final two chapters. I guess my emotions were getting the better of me.
As I come to the end of this chapter, I find myself feeling more than a bit melancholy. For these past six plus years, the characters I created in the Monster Squad stories have been a pretty big part of my life. It’s staggering to realize that this whole journey started in early 2012. Had it not been for a challenge thrown down by my wife, none of this would have happened. None of the other stories that followed would have ever been shared with you the readers, either.
I know that I took a lot of time off and almost walked away from this series completely, however the characters wouldn’t let me. They kept whispering in the back of my mind, telling me that I needed to FINISH their stories. They needed that closure even more than I did.
Those voices called to me repeatedly and demanded that they be heard. So, I set my other, newer projects aside and decided to give them what they wanted. Closure.
As this final offering in the series came into being, it literally took on a life of its own. Dangling threads that I had forgotten about entirely began to be stitched into the final fabric and the story took off in a way that I never could have imagined or even dared hope for.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with this final offering to you, the readers. I feel that the characters have found their closure in a satisfying way and the story arcs have come to fruition in such a manner that you won’t feel cheated.
I hope I didn’t fall short.
Either way, keep the faith, dear reader. And don’t forget to check under your bed.
Monsters are real.
Some of you are either chomping at the bit wanting to get your hands on this newest, and lastest, in the series. Others are probably shocked that you hadn’t heard anything about this since I am the world’s worst secret keeper. Usually by now you’ve at least seen the cover or gotten hints about the story.
No. The cover isn’t even in production yet. I’m sure I’ll share it once it is, though.
No, this one is special. It’s the ending of an era for me. I want it to be RIGHT before I hand it off to you, the readers. This one will go through the toughest beta I have first (my missus) and then I’ll hand it off for editing and polishing.
Am I sad? Yeah…in a lot of ways I am.
Am I happy? You betcha! Now I can concentrate on those other projects that I’ve really wanted to dive into.
Will I ever revisit the series…or the characters?
Hmm. That one I can’t really say. Part of me hopes so. Another part of me says ‘never look back’.
Onward and upward.
Here’s wishing all of you Love, Peace and Bacon!
Heath
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