Yesterday I talked a bit about my second book. Right now that one is off with my editor Jenn, and she’s working her magic to turn it into a real boy. Today I want to talk to you about my third book, and to be honest, the book I’m most excited about.
I watched an interview with Stephen King where he referred to one of his stories as an old story; a story he had been thinking about for years. Book 3 is an old story for me. I’ve always asked myself, “What happens to a twin when the other one commits suicide?” I try to put myself into that mindset, and for the longest time I couldn’t.
This book is that story. But it’s more than just tea and crumpets fiction. It’s got a dark twist to it.
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From a young age, Aaron and Aimee knew they were different. Two colored eyes. Their grandma, a woman from the old world, told them that meant they were special. They were marked by a wandering god. They see the truth of it when they find the Kingdom– a place hidden behind the old growth of the woods of Tennessee. A place that appears to be both real and imaginary at the same time. Here, they are the rulers. The Prince and Princess. Here, they can escape from the terrible life they have at home. But as time goes on, that fantasy life isn’t enough for Aaron anymore. He wants something real. He wants something they can hold onto outside of childish imaginings. When he leaves to find a better life for them, Aimee kills herself.
Aaron lives in the wake of this tragedy, unable to escape it. His life spirals out of control over the next ten years. After a failed intervention, after all his friends have left him one by one, Aaron again finds the Kingdom. But this isn’t the magical place he remembers, it’s a nightmare. A place where the sky is always black, and the shadows are alive with the eyes of the damned. As he travels deeper into the land that he and Aimee once called their own, he begins to realize that she might be there, or at least some part of her– waiting for him in the only happy place they’d ever know.
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It’s a story about how the things that happen to children can affect their whole lives. It’s about how our dreams become nightmares when we can’t accept the world around us, and how the decisions we make influence who we become. To be frank, it’s the best damn thing I’ve ever written. The story has been bouncing around in my head in one form or another for years now, and it was amazing to finally get it out. I’m working on my fourth book, and I’m editing my second, but I’m also just counting the days until I can go back and get this one ready to be seen by the world.
Look forward to it folks. When the time comes, I think you’ll get as much out of reading it as I did out of writing it.
