Saturday Updates

Time and circumstances conspired to keep us away from the gym for most of the week. We may stay away for a while. Our body is sore and fatigued. We did get plenty of walking in though, and intend to get in plenty more. Deep down, we wonder if walking is the healthiest thing we can do and the gym is superfluous. 

We weigh between 17.8-18.2 stone seemingly no matter what we do, or don't do. We do know a lot of our clothes are looser than they once were. 

The things.

Sales of The Great Nuclear War of 1975 remain stubbornly strong after two months. Here's the KU reads chart. The blue line is 75:

Bear in mind we run no ads, no nothing. The damn book just sells. The rest of those colours are the WW1990 series and Israel Strikes. 

We slogged our way through The New American Order all week. It was tough going, but the reestablishing sovereignty chapter is coming along. We wrote up a special planning task force to set up operations (My Looking Glass guys are coming back). We've written a weird and wacky cast of hippies, Indians, Nazis and New Jersey beachfront real estate lawyers who think they're the mayor of this, and lord protector of that. Feel free to post ideas in comments. Swamp people, we need swamp people. Overall, The New American Order is 27,000 words. Not bad. 

Our editor finished a content readthrough of The Great Salvation of 1976. A few comments, edited as to avoid spoilers:

First, I really enjoyed the book. It held my interest until the end. Since it was set in ’75-76, I could really identify with it.

I liked the way the Matt story line was woven through the book. It also was a good juxtaposition to the geopolitical situations. If anything, I would add a bit more about the “common people” who survived – how and why.

One section that did not seem to follow the “flow” of the book was the North/South Korean battles. It seemed to be an add-on. I suspect that your readers like the military battle detail, but this book is about the recovery in the U.S. I think a few paragraphs describing the tension in the administration caused by the Korean situation would suffice. That’s just a personal viewpoint.

I think you did a great job of covering so many aspects of life after a nuclear attack – things I had never thought about. It made me wonder how there was any noncontaminated potable water for survivors. The lack of gas also affected every aspect of life.

One suggestion – I would add some reference to the date of each chapter or section, e.g., Casper, Wyoming, January 1976; Chattanooga, Spring 1976. It might give a better frame of reference for the passage of time.

We don't think there's anything more we can do, right? Right. Or not. Who knows? We did a print readthrough  weeks ago and no cracks into which the creative water could flow were apparent.  Exit question, is it a mistake to release The Weser before we release 76?

We've gone through The Weser's British and Confederate chapters. There is nothing more we can do. It's possible we can write another scene for the conclusion. This weekend we'll be going over the American chapter with notes given to us by an army guy. Next week we're giving the MS to another army guy. That's it. [You keep saying that-Ed]

From there it's a matter of what we want to do next. In a few weeks a decision must needs be made, because the summer sneak in begins in June if it begins at all. Do we start a new novel from scratch? And if so which novel? Probably Battle of the GIUK Gap, right? When was the last time we looked at The Final Storm?...Going on ten weeks. This is good, actually. It means we'll be able to take a fresh look. But do we want to do that this summer? Also, we think there should be a Kremlin Guards POV character when the SAS does you know what. JFC, The Final Storm is 74,000 words. There's an awful lot of setup in there for post war novels, Esercito Italiano, Saddam's War, Maggie's War...

It's all scheduling at this point.