Post Mortem

No, I haven't given up yet. There will be more.

You realize that some of this was pretty dire, right?

Definitely. Some wise guy once said that every wanna-be author has a few thousand bad pages that they just have to get out of their system before they can start writing the good stuff. I think that wise guy was right.

For what it's worth, I think the plotting, characterizations, and setting turned out the way I wanted. The problems I have are mostly technical issues with composition and pacing. The obvious conclusion is that I should plow ahead and start the next story arc. In the meantime, I've started to adapt what I've written thus far into a second draft in the form of a graphic novel script.

A big thank you to Jeremy Rizza for helping me get to the end of this story. Your encouragement made a big difference, and your criticism improved my prose.

(And, in case anyone was wondering what the deal was with the shopping mall security guard in "Beating the Odds", please have a look at the Shrine of the Mall Ninja. It's hilarious and horrifying.)

So, stay tuned. More picaresque adventures of dysfunctional heroes in a universe made of deconstructed pop sci-fi tropes are coming up, this time featuring Jack Kirby, "Inferno", and women and the refrigerators who love them.