It is with great personal pride – and some degree of amazement – that I hereby announce that I have finally finished (minus a few tidbits here and there) the rewriting of the 676 handwritten pages of “The Chasm and the Collision.”  It turns out to be about 240,000 words long.  That’s a lot of chicken scratching!  It’s the second of the novels I wrote while in Florida State Prison (West Unit), and is certainly my longest novel so far.  Itt still will be, even after I trim it down during the upcoming editing (which is going to be no mean task).  So look forward to a story with some meat on its bones.

I’m thoroughly excited about this.  Even more than all the other books I’ve written, this was a labor of love, dedicated to and inspired by my kids.  They were in middle school, or near middle school, when I started writing it, and the main characters of the story are middle school students.  Of course, now my kids are both in high school, but hopefully they’ll still appreciate the story.  Actually, it’s probably a book that’s better for young adults and adults, anyway.  It’s long, obviously, but that’s a well-precedented fact for fantasy adventures.  It is also, at times, somewhat dark (as are all my stories, though by no means is it too dark for the average reader…anyone who can tolerate Harry Potter will certainly not be put off).  It does, however, have not one single instance of profanity, despite several occasions in which it would certainly be called for and excusable for the characters.  Now that took restraint on my part, as anyone who’s read my other works would know.  It was, however, the recommendation of my late father, and it was a good one.

Of course, I will be delivering further bulletins as events warrant (though why bulletins need their livers removed I don’t know), and I will take the time to post some of my musings and meanderings on unrelated subjects when I need a break.

TTFN!