Brian Clopper's Blog

Recently, I sort of let writing first chapters consume my life. That was never the plan. I set forth to pen just twenty, but I had such fun that I couldn’t stop. The first volume debuted on February 21, 2024. Volume Ten hit the shelves on February 1, 2026. In two years, I wrote and published ten volumes of 20 First Chapters and two omnibuses collecting the series. This project contains multitudes. I spun these wondrous tales using 318,807 words. It took about four hours for each entry. That’s 808 hours on the writing end alone. 39 different genres can be found within.

The project is a case study in worldbuilding and character generation. Just the sheer number of names I had to conjure up alone is a real accomplishment. I truly think there are very few, if any, repetitions of names. Each entry drops readers into new and unique scenarios. It was thrilling to switch mental gears with every chapter explored. The result is that all ten volumes feature such wide-ranging diversity.

The last fifty years of pop culture inspired this project. Readers will find entries reminiscent of: Dawson’s Creek, eighties and nineties rom-coms, Back to the Future, Wonder, Traitors, Survivor, 80s werewolf movies, John Hughes films, the decade of the eighties, The Micronauts, Marvel and DC Comics, Hellboy, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, The Maze Runner, Weekend at Bernie’s, Tim Burton, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Gremlins, classic vending machines, R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps, Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Hellboy, Dante’s Inferno, religion, Greek myths, Alien, Predator, Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, Buffy and the gang, Scooby Doo, Poltergeist, Lovecraftian monstrosities, summer camps, Shrek, Lost, and so many others.

Each first chapter plays with verb tense and point of view to keep the readers on their toes. I

I’ll miss my weekly writing sessions with this project. It still stuns me that I was able to come up with a daring, new concept every time I sat down.

The types of stories I seemed to write the most about were: General Fantasy, Superheroes, Dragons, and Ghosts. General Fantasy bowed in with the most at 28 thrilling tales. Here is a complete list of the many genres that can be found in the series:

General Fantasy

Urban Fantasy

Rural Fantasy

Strange Towns and Stranger Mysteries

Time Travel

Multiversal Multiples Team Up

Invasion/End of the World

Superheroes

Staying With Relative/Having a Magic Adventure

Occult Investigator

Quirky Teens Battling the Supernatural

Ghosts, Demons, and the Undead

Post-Apocalyptic

Outer Space Adventure/Stranded On a Planet

Dragons

Magic School

Deities

Magical Familiars

Animal Tagalongs and Talking Animals

Trapped Someplace Strange

Meta-Fiction

Seeing the Future

Fairy Tales

Clones and Synthetic Life Stories

War Between Afterlife Factions

Lovecraftian Doomsday Behemoths

LitRPG

Robots

Stranger In a Strange Land

Scary Story

Post-Apocalyptic Magic Worlds

General Science Fiction

Mad Science

Realistic Fiction

Invisibility

Evil Artificial Intelligence

Alien Hunter

Switching Bodies

Real Life Romance

20 First Chapters is a testament to the creative spirit and how a creator can harness their boundless imagination. It’s gushing entertainment as well as a teaching tool for those who’ve caught the bug to pen their own stories. It’s being used in high schools to inspire budding writers.

I plan to really promote the heck out of this series! It’s a true gem. I sincerely hope you’ll hop on board. They can be read in any order. Buying the omnibuses gets you two bonus first chapters, but snatching up all the individual volumes gives you the covers, which served as the inspiration for the final first chapter in each.

Worlds of wonder await you. Embark at your own risk.

These two books will be available starting tomorrow. I'm so proud of this project, I'll have a longer post soon about this unique series!

Releasing in February!


Releasing in March!


Releasing in September!


Releasing in December!


Releasing in December!

Book 1 is available now! Book 2 will drop in March! This series has been a huge creative milestone for me.

I tried my hand at the arrow ads that seem to be all the rage.

Looking back, it's exciting to see that I released a record number of books this year. Thirteen in all!

-five volumes of 20 First Chapters (5-9)

-101 First Chapters (omnibus collection of 1-5 of 20 First Chapters)

-Apparatum Omnibus

-print versions of Go-For-It Gopher, We Three Meet, and Decisive Magic

-Eric Can't Spell

-When Death Came For Ernst Wilco

-Welcome to the Multiverse, Steve

I think even bigger benchmarks are on the horizon! I now have 54 published books under my belt.

Head over to Amazon and snatch up my two latest books:

20 First Chapters Volume Nine and Welcome to the Multiverse, Steve

Lots of new titles coming in January! Details soon.

November will see the release of Eric Can't Spell. This little book started as a first chapter in my 20 First Chapters series and grew into a full novel.





Here's the summary:

Classes at Evoke Academy are days away from starting, and Eric Chambers has already made a major mess of things with his reckless magic -- by accidentally killing his roommate.

Now he and best friend Charlotte must find a way to bring Dillon back from the dead before they’re expelled for using magic in the dorms.

Aided by a colorful cast of the living and the not-so-living, Eric delves into his faulty spellcasting and buried memories to unearth a horrible evil.

In order to save the school and the people he cares about, the guarded young mage must learn to trust himself and others . . . or risk losing everything!

And here's an advance review from a fan:

"Brian Clopper’s latest release expands one of his 20 First Chapters entries into a full-length novel -- and it’s a transformation worth celebrating, especially for fans of the series.

The residents of Evoke Academy crackle with imaginative flair, forming a cast as unpredictable as Eric’s spellwork. His magic is messy, his confidence shaky, and his guilt palpable. But it’s precisely this vulnerability that makes him so compelling. As he struggles to fix his broken magic and make sense of his past, the story becomes a powerful journey of trust, healing, and change. It’s about learning to forgive yourself, lean on others, and face the darkness within. Eric’s path from guarded guilt to hard-won growth is both fantastical and deeply human.

Eric Can’t Spell is perfect for readers who love magical school settings and flawed heroes. It’s not just about spells gone wrong -- it’s about friendship, redemption, and finding the courage to believe in yourself when everything’s falling apart. Clopper’s writing is imaginative and full of heart, making this a standout entry in the genre -- and hopefully the first of many more complete stories from the 20 First Chapters series!”

This weekend sees the debut of 20 First Chapters Volume Eight. This series will run for ten volumes. I am having the most fun ever writing these opening scenes.

Grab any volume and feast on brainstorming beyond compare!

Volume Eight will be published in November. Nine and Ten will see print in early 2026! So excited!