Preface: The Hussar

Hey, kids. Thus ends The Neighbors are Zombies. Are you thoroughly surprised it didn't win the contest for which it was written? Are you all clamoring now to have a pilot made? Yeah, I'll keep holding my breath for that campaign to get started.

Anyway, I'll be honest with you: I don't know what road to take for the future. Don't worry, this site won't go away anytime soon. I have plenty of more manuscripts to burn. The only thing is, the manuscripts I am knee jerk ready to post up here read a lot like the ones I've already posted, and follow a lot of the same themes. I guess I was a bit of a one-note writer in my younger days. I was all ready to start posting this very day a script for a zombie-themed Western. Then I thought to myself, "Damn, son, you just posted a script about zombies."

It was much the same when I was going to post The Neighbors Are Zombies right after TTROTBM!!! A tongue-in-cheek horror script immediately following a tongue-in-cheek horror script? Booooring. Variety is the spice of life, right?

The other thing I'm contemplating posting is very similar in it's themes to Eternity Burning, and I kind of feel like some of the things I wrote in those days came from a very dark place. "Hate," the centerpiece of EB, well, I can't believe I wrote that once. And I'm reluctant to dive back into that side of the pool.

Anyway, as I said, I feel like I'm at a crossroads with no clear direction. There is always the option to totally revamp what this site is about. Go into a more standard, "I'm a struggling unpublished author and here are my thoughts on the Kindle" mode. Or is the Kindle passe already?

So, for right now, I'm going to do what all great men do at times such as these: stall. I ransacked my files for a nice little delaying tactic, and, wouldn't you know it, I found a pretty good one. Here's a nice little relic from the past, and the very first appearance of the character who would one day become French leaper driver and general cock o' the walk Jacques de Ris. Jacques' initial appearance was as a Napoleonic hussar, and he had his own antagonist and everything. You may note some similarities between this story and a similar showdown that eventually made it's way into The Last War. Unless you're a moron. Or you just don't care. But, yes, I plagiarized myself. A LOT.

So, enjoy THE HUSSAR. It should kill a week at least. Then I think I may put the next manuscript up to a popular vote, although if the past is any indication of audience participation, I may have to decide on the next manuscript by fiat anyway. Let me know in the comments or via e-mail if you have a preference based on the manuscripts I described above, or if you think the blog should just go in a different direction altogether. Meanwhile, starting Wednesday and for a few precious updates, enjoy THE HUSSAR.