Sam T Willis's Blog

I went to bed on Halloween with a headache.  Not a normal headache, though. It was the kind that made me wonder if bashing my head into the wall a few times might help.  It didn’t, and neither did painkillers. Or alcohol.  So I went to bed early on Halloween.  
But then I woke up again, almost exactly at midnight, and the pain was worse if anything.  I tried to fight it for a while, but it only got worse. Eventually I gave up, I got up, and I sat down at my computer and I started writing.  What the hell, right?  It was November, after all, it just seemed to make sense.  It even, almost, made me feel a little better.  So I just kept typing and typing, and the story just rolled out. I could tell right away it was going to be a big one.

Priorities have changed…

“Ladies
and gentlemen, give yourselves a round of applause.  You are pioneers.  The next generation
of American defense, and the reason we are going to stay at the forefront of
power in this world.  In the age of nanotechnology, laser guidance, and
artificial intelligence, one thing has slowed our progress more than any
other.  The human mind.  All of this
technology has been limited by the people who operate it.  For years,
scientists, engineers, and what-have-you have striven to automate.

“They’re trying to take you out of every task that they can.  Remove fatigue, impatience, attention spans, and reaction time from the equation completely.  The human mind is a liability to them.  I want to change all that.  There was a time when the human, not the technology, was the driving force behind our success.  I’m going to make you all stronger, faster and smarter.  You will be the first in an army of supermen, revered by your people and feared by the enemy.  You will be the very hammer of democracy.” – Director Patrick Hall

The Primer, Book 5

In
2002, in a remote US Army outpost in Paktia province, Afghanistan, the first
human trials of the Rattenfanger program began. 
The next great advancement in military technology—delivered directly
into the minds of two platoons of highly-trained soldiers, deep in hostile
territory.  Lieutenant Harris Hayes was
left in charge of the operation, and completely in the dark.

He had orders, sure.  Top Secret ones on official letterhead, coming directly from the Pentagon.  But there were no specifics.  Hold the base, wait for the experiment to run its course, and stay out of the way.  They were easy enough to follow, until the changes began.  The new technology brought forth a new chain of command, and a new idea of who the enemy actually was.

Oh well. On to 2019. It feels like a good one.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been active on here. Lots has gone on. The grand finale of The Night Dragon(s) is coming up. I haven’t written it yet, but I know what’s going to happen. There might be some more People Are Dolphins Too in the pipeline. It’s not all going to be the funny stuff, though. It’s time to finish The Primer.

I’ve got KillSwitch just about ready to go–just need to pick a final date for it and give it one last coat of polish. We Sit in the Dark is following fast behind. Then, The Rattenfanger Files…and then the end. A novella, a novel, a kind of collection piece, and then we finish it off with a monster of a novel. I’m still neck deep in the first draft of that last one, and I really want to stick the landing, but it’s coming. I’m not saying it all gets done in 2019. That’s almost certainly not the case. But there will be a book in 2019. Probably two. Probably two more in 2020.

And then it’s on to the next project. I’ve got a few different things in the pipeline. A novel I might try to shop the traditional way. A comic strip with a little more to it than PRD2. I’ve got a couple other drafts collecting dust that probably deserve another look, and even more outlines. I’ve got some ideas bouncing around in my head about a podcast. We’ll see what happens. 2019 feels like a year for making some changes. Oh, and there’s one last thing. Don’t tell anyone, but Sam T Willis is writing the longest novel in the world.

You may have noticed that it’s not Spring 2018 anymore.  And that Killswitch has not been published.  And that I’ve basically been on radio silence on the subject.  Not sure what happened there.  I blame zombies and also my fickle, inconstant mind.

So here’s the deal as it stands now:  KillSwitch isn’t quite done.  It needs that final round with sandpaper, and then a nice coat of wax.  I feel like it’s right there, but you never know with these things.  The book after KillSwitch is hot on its heels.  Still needs at least a few sandings, and I want to be extra sure I get that one right because the grand finale hinges upon it so thoroughly.  The book after that, which is going to be an assemblage of bits-and-pieces that pull a whole bunch of story threads together in anticipation of said finale is written as well.  It’s going to need all manner of editing, but the core of the thing is sitting there, in a Word doc, waiting for me to face it.  And then there’s the finale.  I’ve got it outlined.  I’ve got many entire scenes in my head.  I think I’m ready–and irresponsible enough–to start writing it.  It’s going to be big, and it’s going to be ambitious, and I have no idea when it’s going to be done.  Ideally, the whole series is written and in various stages of waiting when November rolls around and I start working on the annual secret project of doom.

I think, at this point, that my plan is something like this:

I doubt I’ll make those deadlines, but I’d be pretty happy with myself if I did.  I’ll be pretty happy with myself just to have this whole story down on paper, and subsequently out in the world, even if all of ya’ll hate it. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, give yourselves a round of applause.  You are pioneers.  The next generation of American defense, and the reason we are going to stay at the forefront of power in this world.  In the age of nanotechnology, AI, and laser guidance, one thing has slowed our progress more than any other: the human mind.  All of this new technology is limited by the people who operate it.  For years, scientists, engineers, and what-have-you have striven to automate.

“They’re trying to take you out of every task that they can.  Remove fatigue, impatience, attention spans, and reaction time from the equation completely.  The human mind is a liability to them.  I want to change all that.  There was a time when the human—not the technology—was the driving force behind our success.  I’m going to make you all stronger, faster, and smarter.  You will be the first in an army of supermen, revered by your people and feared by the enemy.  You will be the very hammer of democracy.

“This is big news.  You may feel unequal to the task.  You were, however, selected for a reason.  Out screening process is extremely thorough.  I designed the program myself.  I know that you will be able to do just as well as anyone else, if not better.  I very much doubt that you, or any of your fine compatriots, will be killed.  That is largely the point.”

– Director Patrick Hall

Hello.

I’m not dead.  I’m just terrible at blogging.

I’m still hard at work, though.

Announcements are coming.

Extra line breaks make this post look longer, right?

In the meantime, check out Dark and Bitter.  Burn things to stay warm.  Rescue feral cats and then clean up the horrible things they do to your basement.  Make vegan sausages.  You know, normal stuff.

Howdy!  It’s sale time again.  In honor of the holiday season, for the very first time, you can get The Volunteer for only $0.99!  In addition, Beaten just happens to be free right now, so you can get the entirety of The Primer for under a dollar for the weekend…just in the for Christmas or the last couple nights of Hanukkah.  And, in my best Billy Mays voice….but wait, there’s more!  If you head over ReneePawlish.com/promo, you’ll find fifteen mysteries and nineteen thrillers (including The Volunteer), all for $0.99 each.  It’s truly a Festivus miracle.

So…I just threw a whole bunch of statements at you.  You know what’s better than statements?  A bulleted list of links.

And that’s it.  Check ’em out. Hopefully the next time you hear from me, I’ll actually be finished with NaNoWriMo (sitting at 87.5% right now) and progress will have resumed on The Primer book 5.  Hopefully, that doesn’t involve not hearing from me in a month.

Howdy.  I wrote a short story.  It’s called “The Intruder.”  It’s dark.  It’s strange.  It’s also available now, for the very first time, in an anthology from 518 Publishing called Dark & Bitter.  It’s kind of a big deal.

Click that cover, and you’ll be transported to Amazon, where you can find the whole book in eBook and Paperback format.  I’m a terrible salesman, but check it out anyways.  Amazon says it’ll arrive by Christmas if you order now.  :Þ

I haven’t had a chance to read the whole thing yet, but it’s right at the top of my list.  Just waiting for my paperback copy.  Paperbacks > eBooks.  I’ll fight you.

It’s just about over.  Officially, anyways.  Let’s see now….

And the new lifetime number:

I’m not going to lie, that one feels pretty good.  I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo for thirteen years now (though I skipped 2006 because that was the dark time), and I’ve won every year I’ve done it.  Makes the whole thing feel pretty massive to have logged more than a cool million in the process, even if it’s been more than a decade.

My plan, right now, is to retire from NaNoWriMo in 2020.  That’s when I plan to be finished with the story I started way back in 2005.  There’ll be lots more about that later, if I ever get around to editing this beast.  Suffice it to say, those million words aren’t all I’ve got sitting on the hard drive.  By now, I’ve established how terrible I am at keeping to plans, so chances are, when 2021 rolls around, I’m going to still be plugging away at the same old story.  2031, too.

In the meantime, where do we go from here?  In an ideal world, I would have accomplished everything I wanted to in November.  I didn’t make it.  The section I’ve been working on is 64 chapters, and I’ve only got 48 in the can.  I’m going to keep plugging away (probably at a slower pace) until I finish the final 25%.  Hopefully well before the holidays.

After that, I’m going hardcore on edits for The Primer books 5 and 6.  They’re both written.  They both need a bunch of work.  I’ll have  lots to say about them soon enough.  I’ve got an outline for the end of the series, which is going to be a massive tome compared to everything I’ve put out so far, and a framework for book 7, which is probably the most amorphous thing left in The Primer.  2018 is going to be a busy year.  I’m excited.  I’m also tired.

I’m done.

Just kidding.

I got the number they say to get.  Now I just need to get it two more times.  In the meantime, kittens!