As you know if you’ve been following for a while, I’ve been trying to take this story legit for a long time, but all I did was make a mess of things – sequels and prequels, some books, very sloppily released from a badly-chosen publisher, and so on. It’s a big, confusing story, and half of it isn’t available. And it still isn’t finished.The good news is that I’ve learned a lot working on this story, and I’m going to fix it. You will get Elizabeth Belle’s complete story in its final, most evolved state. You’ll get it in the form of a simple series of novels in chronological order. It'll start at the beginning, and it'll end when the story is done. No prequels, no funny business.
The bad news is that it’s going to take time. I’ve said that before, and I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me. All I can offer as proof of my sincerity is my major league debut, which should show you that I’m doing work and making progress. It’s not Elizabeth Belle, but it’s an important step on the road of getting Elizabeth Belle onto bookstore shelves. I’m totally committed to seeing her story finished, and done right.
This is it for regular weekly serials, at least for now. To go legit I have to get away from anything copyrighted, so there’s no point adding more to the canon as it is on this blog. Don’t worry, the legitimized adventures of Elizabeth Belle, Velvet Valmont, Frank the Biker, and Ever will be very familiar. They’ll deliver what you want, but they’ll deliver it without directly touching Tarkovsky, the Strugatskiys, or GSC.That said, I still have some ideas for this blog, so it’s not shutting down. This is not the end – I say this with a completely straight face – it’s the beginning. Those three hundred chapters, and all those books that aren't for sale anymore? Think of them as practice, and I won't leave you hanging on the story forever.
If you’re the sentimental type and you’ve been following for a while, you might remember that I always considered this song to be the theme for the Zone. I still do, and it fits the next iteration just as well. You can listen to that song and pour one out for fanfiction Elizabeth if you want, but she’s not really gone, she’s just going to the next level.
My author site is evagard.com, and I’m active on Twitter – so if you have what it takes to make it all the way to the other end of the meat grinder, keep an eye on those for the latest. I’ll also shamelessly ask you to consider reading my non-Elizabeth Belle stuff once it’s available.
I wanted to keep the walls of text from getting out of hand, so I tried not to go into too much detail about exactly how I’m handling the next step. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.
Thanks for reading.
5 comments:
This almost seems like the end of an era, like graduating from Collage, or getting some big promotion.
I, as to the best of my knowledge, own all of the books you've released, excluding the children's novel, and a collection of short stories. Pulling the novels off of my shelf (where I keep authors such as Shakespeare, Faulkner, and Tolkien) I count seven books. Those books are God Morgen, Evangeline, Atrophy, Carrier, Harbinger, Biome, and Merry Christmas, Frank. I looked forward to purchasing every one of these novel. And I have looked forwards to every weekly release that you have produced. I think that I speak for all of your fans when I say that you what you produce produce unique, something that calls to those of us who love the weird and, if I may say so, those of us who love a serious examination of the human condition.
Mr. Danker-Smith, I know that you must feel very frustrated right now. You've spent years working on something that you don't quite feel is up to your own standards. But I want you to know that you're not alone. Tolkien spent decades of his life reworking his story, and he is considered one of the greatest writers in the English language. I've been following you, and your work, for a very long time. If I didn't think you were worth it, I would not have bothered to read anything you wrote. There are many like me, who want nothing but the best for you, and your writing. I'm more than a little drunk, so I beg forgiveness if this is a rambling message.
I guess TL;DR, is that your writing is worth waiting for, and I look forwards to whatever comes next.
Up to this point I had thought that the only book of yours I hadn't bought was Merry Chirstmas, Frank and that was because of certain financial difficulties at the time but after reading Voba's comment I apparently missed Biome too(or it's out of sight on my bookshelf) and I'm really sorry for that though I've still got the pdf you put out it's still a shame to miss Biome, I also don't have Godfrey was Hungry(assuming that wasn't another writer with the same name) because I sent that to my brother while he was in Afghanistan as a joke but the postal service was terrible and it never arrived.
I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for us even if I was pretty late to the party(A little after Atrophy started) but I'll always hold a special feeling for fanfiction.net if only for the fact that it allowed me to find the Zone and through that this.
I'll see you next time.
Thanks, guys. If you bought the paperbacks, you've got some sick collector's items that you should hang onto. If you missed them, that's okay - they'll be back, and this time they'll be better.
The publishing industry is slow, but I'll be as transparent as I possibly can with everything relating to Elizabeth's future.
I won't let you down.
Argh, looks like I lost my copy of "Merry Christmas, Frank" in a HDD crash :-(, didn't even manage to read it. As the word goes: "Real men don't take backup, they cry". At least I have the other books on Kindle.
Can only agree with Voba and thanks Wish for the link to your author site. Will keep an eye on it.
Keep up the good work, patiently waiting for what comes next. It's been interesting seeing you developing as an author, keep up the good work.
I've read almost all of your writing, starting with Elizabeth. I've even enjoyed silver bay. Alas due to financial reasons i never purchased a book :( was actually trying to find the Atrophy series. trying to re-read it. hopefully we will be able to enjoy it again soon. thanks for the amazing story.
Post a Comment