EXTREMES: LONE WOLVES

If you’ve been playing along at home, you might already be aware that the latest volume in the Extremes series has just come out. If you haven’t, well this is the post to announce its arrival.

For the first time since kicking off the series of collections, I’ve managed to release two of the Extremes books in one year. Following on from the March release of Extremes: No Safety in Numbers, comes Extremes: Lone Wolves, which essentially concludes the second set of three books instigated by Couples (currently still the book which accounts for the majority of my page reads). For the moment, Lone Wolves is available in Kindle only, but I aim to have the paperback edition out very shortly.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that the three books of this set were all going to follow the same template established by Couples, which of course was being comprised of six longer tales rather than the eight stories found in the first trio. However, guess what? That isn’t the case for Lone Wolves.

Because, after all, what do Lone Wolves do? They don’t conform, they walk their own path, they choose what they’re going to do rather than be bound by rules and regulations. They’re the misfits, the oddballs, those who prefer solitude and their own company, and being restrained by some prior template certainly isn’t for them.

So, with that being said, Lone Wolves throws that six-story notion out the window, instead being made up of no less than ten pieces. They range from the painfully short (a 100-word piece) to, of course, the very long. Again, these longer tales could almost have been put out as standalone novellas or stories, but given they were specifically written for Lone Wolves, that’s where they ended up.

Like the books that came before it, not all of the stories that ended up in Lone Wolves were meant to, and there are numerous stories that were supposed to be included, but haven’t been. Technically I almost have enough unused tales of each set (Couples, No Safety, Wolves) to continue with those same themes for the ensuing threesome of books. Will I do that? We will wait and see. I actually have a handful of ideas that are going in a few different directions, but not outside the realms of the Extremes universe.

I was intending on getting Extremes: All Hallow’s Eve out in time for Halloween, but given I didn’t want to prioritize that over completing the Extremes set I was working on, time is a little short to achieve that. Possibly next year. Or who knows, maybe I’ll just randomly drop it around Christmas or some shit just for the hell of it.

Anyway, back to Lone Wolves itself. If you’ve kept up to date with the previous two books of this lot, then you have a fair idea what path this one follows. We’ve thrown couples of all varieties into bloody mayhem, we’ve pushed groups out into worlds of nightmares, so now, finally, it’s time to let solo protagonists (or antagonists, as the case may be) out into the darkness. Don’t expect to find too many kinds of stereotypical lone wolf characters here; these ones are a little off the wall, possibly unexpected. Their reasons for walking their own path, whether by choice or by life’s design or circumstances, aren’t always honourable. In fact, there’s some decidedly nefarious souls in here amongst others, and in some instances there’s several lone wolves walking separate paths within the same story.

In any case, rather than being some sort of in-depth analysis of the book, this is meant to merely be the announcement that Extremes: Lone Wolves is out now in Kindle, with paperback to follow shortly thereafter. So, if you’ve been waiting for it, then wait no more. That shit is out now. Go and check it out.

Creeping out of deep pockets of gloom and lunacy is the latest blood-soaked slab from the Extremes universe, stalking with relentless intent on the heels of those that lurked prior.
Now it’s time for the lone wolves. Those who have been cast out of the pack, or those who’ve elected to walk their path alone. The solitary souls, the isolated, the people, who for whatever reason, are left all by themselves. Whether it’s by choice, or they’ve been forced by circumstances to go it alone, all these individuals have nobody to rely on but themselves.
Their motives for doing so aren’t always honourable. There aren’t just lost souls, independent wanderers, or single entities driven to strike out on their own here, there are monstrous minds at work too, using their solitude as a nefarious device to unleash horrendous misdeeds.
Whatever the case, all these mavericks, these free spirits, even those enfant terribles among them, are about to be dropped deep into a dark pit of extremity, forced to go to Extremes all by themselves.
These are works of the dark and demented, of the grotesque and the gory, the horrified and the horrifying.
If you opt to face things as a solitary soul, or life makes that decision for you, be warned. Having to go to Extremes all alone means there’s nobody else there to save you.