HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is now available! Bring on the bad guys, Part 2
Second week of releasing my weird book baby out into the world, and nobody told me how I'm supposed to feel. But that doesn't mean I can't share something cool with you...
History is a Haunted House is out in the world. In the last week, I’ve sold 10% of the total copies I sold of Cities On Fire. That’s a nice feeling. I don’t know how KDP managed it, but orders reached readers within a handful of days, and here’s me, thinking it would take more than that before my pride and joy would be in the hands of my friends.
As with Cities On Fire, you can buy the book by clicking here. Amazon’s KDP print-on-demand service is the quickest and easiest way to get my work in your hands in a physical form, and I’m excited to see what you think of it.
In last week’s update I said:
I’ll be talking plenty about History is a Haunted House in the coming weeks and months, whilst also looking back at twelve months of Cities On Fire and perhaps talking in-depth about the process and thought that went into writing of the book, but right now, I want to introduce you to one of the faces that debuts in my new novel.
With that, I introduced you to The Void. He’s one of the men responsible for keeping the world dangerous, keeping it scary. But what about the men and women who have been working toward that goal for a whole lot longer?
If History is a Haunted House, then Black Death is the ghost of the 20th century, haunting the 21st by virtue of their ongoing existence. Black Death shouldn’t be alive in the 2033 setting of the book. Black Death shouldn’t have been allowed to live this long. But for whatever reasons, here they remain, creeping at the edges of the narrative, causing all kinds of trouble.
Clad from head-to-toe in intimidating, black body armour, the assassin might have been an enigma if not for what he wore on his head.
That’s what sealed it for Jonathan.
The only identifying feature on this person was his horrific mask. Minus the jawbone, he wore what might have been an actual, bleached skull-- minus the jawbone, over his face. Beneath that bony exterior, some sort of black cowl hid the assassin’s features, but upon closer inspection, yes, it was a mask-- but not just that. Under the skull, beneath the top row of gnarled, uneven teeth, was a gruesome spread of rancid, necrotic buboes, with Jonathan uncertain as to whether or not the infected sores were real-- and threatening to burst with a pestilent, creeping ooze-- or simply some monstrous façade to disguise his face.
Black Death. An assassin who gained their name once the death toll at their hands became clear. History lesson: Between 1346-1353, the bubonic plague took the lives of 75-200 million people. To the operative who took on that same name during World War 2, that number was a dare. And they spent every waking moment seeking to fulfil it.
So, who are they? What secrets do they hold? You’ll learn a lot as they wend their way through the timeline of the novel, and their presence always portends something sinister. They have ties to various characters who appeared in Cities On Fire, and the question should be: How much does that compromise the members of Aleph?
Black Death is mean. They first appear in Chapter 1, and when writing, refused to stay out the spotlight for long. Theirs is the long game, played from the Second World War all the way to the present day. We drop in on them across the decades, a near century worth of trouble, with them always at the centre, with a cast of villainous supporting characters in their orbit.
From an authorial perspective, Black Death was a late addition to the novel. They were reverse engineered into the narrative as a result of splitting the original first draft into what became the first two instalments in the series, and that driving a need to fill in some newly revealed gaps. It also allowed to introduce themes that I had originally planned in for later books.
As I write in my own universe, I am constantly wondering how long I can keep going. I recently came across this quote by Gerry Duggan, current writer of Uncanny Avengers, X-Men, and so much more:
Why hold back ideas? Why delay my own gratification? I should treat every opportunity that someone is going to read my words as an opportunity to blow their mind, and yet I’m telling this serialised adventure that is building to that crescendo, and isn’t, itself, the crescendo. But then again…
History is a Haunted House is the second book of my “ALEPH Verse” series. The next two books are written and just need editing. I’ve written a short story collection based in the same universe, and I intend to write another. I’ve planned at least three spinoffs, with two started. I should give them codenames like all the best writers do… even though I’ve mentioned them in various previous updates:
Project Hitch: I’ll start working on this after the events of the third and fourth books. It’s pretty massive, with major repercussions for the mainline title. But it also doesn’t make sense to come out before those books.
Project Origin: The Meridian’s first adventure. Plotted thoroughly, just waiting for the right time to be expanded upon. My writing laptop (yeah, yeah, yeah) is in the shop, so I haven’t been able to commit to it yet.
Project Morningstar: A full spin-off / prequel, featuring a brand new cast of cosmic characters, with ties to the present day. This is actually written in a different form, I just need to go through it with a new set of eyes.
I’m in it. I’m fully in it. Juggling a lot, with work and my studies and everything else going on in my life, but this is my passion and I hope you find some joy in it too. You’re my audience, you’re my people, and as much as I do this for me, I do this for you, too.
Before I sign off, a big thank you to my collaborator, Michael Ibarra, who really helped me out once again with the teaser art of the Black Death.
Please consider picking up History is a Haunted House today by clicking here. Physical release first, and the eBook coming in the next few weeks, but I’d love for you to pick up my latest work!
To Be Continued…