Concerning Space Ghosts, Miracle Drugs, and Vampires

Here we are again! But if you're just joining me that's fine too. Here's a brief catch-up from last time:

Last post, I gave a special teaser for my recently released full-length fantasy, Nameless! At the end, I also promised I'd give a teaser for my brand-new sci-fi, Dark Around the Stars. Well, today's the day!

But first... (I know, it's like trying to read an online recipe)

One of the many things I do as a creative is consult with other people. Typically, I enjoy helping others. Usually, it's all fine and dandy, smiles-had-by-all. But sometimes things go wrong. Now, I would like to say I've learned a thing or two over the years, some by painful trial and error, and some by listening to others who have gone on before. A while back, I decided to try my hand at ghostwriting (That's where you're essentially writing someone else's story for them). We had our agreement all signed and payment arranged. We established the range of creative freedom I had. We even established regular check-ins to ensure we were on the same page. For a year, everything was going great!

Until...

I finished the rough draft and even presented it to the client on their birthday. They rejected the entire story. They complained that it was nothing like what they had actually wanted (despite 12 months of faithful check-ins). The whole relationship soured and the deal was off. In the end, though, I was able to keep the story after changing it.

When I was finally able to release Dark Around the Stars a few months back I wanted people to hate it with me (in solidarity, of course). I wanted to be able to have a whole cheer section of people vigorously shaking their heads and crossing their arms sternly with me. But then, to my shock, horror, and amusement it started selling.

Ugh. Success. I hate it.

So, here's to an originally ghost-written, heavily-redone near-future sci-fi with miracle drugs gone horribly wrong. And no, I'm not ghostwriting for anyone ever again. Enjoy the teaser (or something):

Chapter One

“Ugh… no GPS signal out here!”

“You know no one uses GPS anymore, right? – it’s archaic stuff our parents used to play around with…”

“Hey, the 2010’s are coming back, just you wait!”

Lindsey shook her head, “Just because you keep saying that doesn’t exactly make it true, you know.”