Yes, you read that blog post title correctly! Bloodlines, which has admittedly been a long, LONG time coming, is finally completed, proofread, formatted, and up for preorder on all the major retailers in ebook format!

For a few notes on the process, feel free to keep reading!

Bloodlines seriously felt like it was eternally in progress. The original draft for it was begun all the way back in 2016. Yes, that’s how long Bloodlines has been stirring around in my brain, much to my personal annoyance. (I don’t even want to imagine how you guys felt about the repeated delays.) Granted, to be at least a little fair to myself, I wasn’t working on the book straight through since then—I had two degrees to finish, plus a business that I later started focusing on in earnest, and life in general, along with other books, got in the way. But whenever I was working on it over those years, it felt like I was pulling teeth.

That’s because, I think, I wasn’t telling the story the way the characters wanted it to be told.

I also discovered that I had the setting completely wrong for the book. Originally, I’d intended for it to take place closer to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In fact, the opening scenes in the book originally were written as taking place off of I-20/59 outside Tuscaloosa. And it wouldn’t have been the first time I’d used Tuscaloosa in a book I’d written—that honor goes to Hellforged, the second in The Unnaturals Series—but writing those first few scenes made me realize that the location just didn’t work. So I let the book sit and languish for a while as I instead focused on problems that I felt were “easier” to tackle and solve. At least, much easier than figuring out the quandary I was in when it came to that book.

Fortunately, as fate would have it, one day in 2021, I was driving through the downtown area of my hometown on the way to the post office and had a sudden revelation as I sat at the redlight at Walnut and Capitol: this little spot would make a great setting for a zombie apocalypse story.

And thus the spark of the idea to set the next book in The Becoming Series in my hometown was born.

Granted, I took a lot of liberties with the setting. I wasn’t exactly trying to draw a detailed, down-to-the-nails-and-screws map of downtown Demopolis and the buildings there. I’m a writer, after all, not an architect. I basically used the external layout of the area I wanted to depict and then played with the interior of the buildings referenced to achieve the effect I wanted. In essence, I took creative license. As most writers do.

And I finally figured out what this book was even supposed to be about: a man struggling with his sense of self, all while the world throws problems at him that are difficult—if not impossible—to solve. Once I zeroed in on that, the story finally, finally let go and let me write it, and that’s when I was finally able to complete it.

And as an aside to people who are actually from Demopolis: no, the residents of the Demopolis community depicted in the book are not based on anyone real. So I don’t want people thinking I’m badmouthing specific people in town or that the people in the book are inspired by or modeled off of real people who live in our town. They’re not, I promise. So any “reading into” that you do on that front is wholly on you.

All that said, you can check out the book and what it’s about right here. Be sure to preorder your copy from the retailer you prefer! And if you haven’t read the rest of the series, you’ll definitely need to before you dive into this one, because there’s a good bit that might not make sense, especially since it’s a follow-on from the books before it. Fortunately, you can pick up the first book in the series for the low, low price of FREE at all the major retailers—you can check that out right here!

I’d also highly recommend reading the short story “The Night the Moon Died” before you proceed into Bloodlines, as a major plot point from that storyline begins to be explored in Bloodlines and serves as a catalyst for what will happen later on in the series!