Come Apart: My New Novel

I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to share about my newest novel Come Apart, slated for a February release, and I suppose now is as good a time as any.

I have always loved books, films and television programs that keep the reader or viewer guessing, surprising them with strange twists and turns, throws buckets of red herrings in their path, and then leaves them with a desire to watch or read the story again to see where they went wrong in guessing the ending.  I decided about a year ago to do just that.

Come Apart is a fiction novel in the vein of Lost or Pines by Blake Crouch.  I began writing the novel by writing the final chapter where everything that is happening in the novel is explained.  Scrivener allowed me to do this with ease, and then I was able to outline the rest of the novel around the ending.  It is a novel where the main characters are living in a place that is indeed a fantasy, but at the same time it looks enough like the reality that they know that at first they are completely fooled into thinking everything is normal.

Beyond this, the plot of the novel is top secret.  You will have to get a copy of it when it releases.

My influences on this novel are many.  It has the feel of a Twilight Zone episode, it reads much like a Steven King novel without all of the profanity, has tender moments that will reach the romantic in all of us, and some of the most horrifying nightmare scenes I have ever put to text.  I was heavily influenced by the work of Robert Heinlein, Harlan Ellison and Phillip K. Dick.  It feels like they were looking over my shoulder as I wrote it, as I was reading many of their works while penning it.

I will first release the book in paperback form on CreateSpace, followed closely by a Kindle edition which will be offered for free for a few days, then at $2.99.  I will do a couple of .99 cent promotions after this.  I am doing a print edition through CreateSpace of my last novel This Broken Earth for those who want a print edition.

I’m still working on the cover, consulting an artist for ideas (they are so much better at this than me).  She will read the book first and then we will sit down and plan.  Hopefully I can debut a cover by late January.  The rough draft is nearing completion, and it is some of the best writing I’ve ever done.  I had much success with some analogous writing as well as some references to pop culture that will be recognized by my more fanboy leaning fans.

I have a good feeling about this one.  Wish me luck!