Companion Is Here!
Back in college in the late 90s, I came up with a sci-fi story idea. An android comes to consciousness in a burning building after a botched memory wipe, with knowledge of a horrible crime still floating around their memory banks. I shelved it, mostly because I felt like writing a full-length novel was too daunting a task.
In the early ’00s, I dug up the idea and shifted it to a fantasy universe, writing a proposal for an author search that never went anywhere. I’m not surprised; When I go back and read that submission, it’s… not great.
The idea kept jangling around in my head for the next decade, bouncing to the surface occasionally and forcing me to put some of the ideas down in notes. The notes were a haphazard mess, but at least they were written down.
In the early ’10s, I broke out my notes and brainstormed for a week straight, and the bones of an actual story started to take shape. So I decided to start writing it. I got about three chapters in, and life took over, so I set it aside.
I started to take notice of all my friends taking part in NaNoWriMo, and my thoughts naturally strayed back to this started-but-stalled novel I had on the backburner. I knew the overall story was going to be longer than NaNo’s 50k words, but I resolved to use NaNoWriMo to force me to draft. I added over 48,000 words to the manuscript in November 2012, and committed myself to finishing the book.
A massive shake up at my job left me disillusioned, and I wanted a change. After a lot of gnashing of teeth, I left my career in the video game industry to write full time on the angelic good graces of my wife in early 2013.
By the end of 2013, I’d finished the first draft of Construct. The editing and publication process took about 10 months, and it was published in late 2014.
This is a series that’s been in my head, in some form, since about 1997. And now, after a much longer wait than I would’ve liked, the first sequel in the Chronicler Saga series is finally out in the wild.
I’m very proud of Companion. While I still absolutely adore Construct, I feel I’ve leveled up my craft in the last several years, and I think I’ve succeeded in bringing my ambitious vision for Companion to life. The initial reviews are very good, which is validating to some degree, and I genuinely hope fans of Construct enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it (even when it was hard).
If you’re a fan of Construct and have been waiting since 2014 (or whenever you read it), thank you for sticking around, and I hope you’ll find the wait rewarded. If you’re new to the series, there’s no better time to jump in. Both Construct and Companion are discounted right now to $2.99 each, so you can start the series for just six bucks. The sale ends Sunday, March 7th, though, so don’t sleep on it.
If you’re interested in reading either, please add them to your To-Read shelf on GoodReads. If you like them, please leave reviews on GoodReads and Amazon. Here are all the links and info you need:
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