Subject: Review is created! (Edited to be more general of course.)
Author:
Posted on: 2021-08-23 22:20:06 UTC
My desktop has died, so I'm still working out to get the token system going, but I'm definitely going to read the rest eventually!
—doctorlit
Hello, all! Very long time no see, but Saphie alerted me there was a reunion (months ago), and I had an announcement to make.
See, Kindle has a new web novel platform, and my brain decided it just HAD to write a PPCish story: two tough female agents who fight invading genre tropes. Specifically, they work Horror. The story's called “Surviving in Horror," and the standalone full first assignment plus report (aka the first three episodes) are FREE. You can see them here: https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-in-Horror/dp/B0933KWH9J/
But I’m not actually just here to advertise. See, for years, I’ve owned Catherine Butzen’s Thief of Midnight. She’s a PPC agent, and the book is also about a secret agency, although in their case it battles supernatural creatures. It’s very good: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VD2K186/
So now I want to know: has anyone else written one of these? Or could you share your other original fiction? Because I’d like to buy and read it. I want to support members of this community. Y'all made me a much better writer. Besides, you're awesome.
I mean, the title basically says it all. But some people were confused, because the genre isn't horror; it's fantasy adventure. So the aforementioned is now The Midnight Files. https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0933KWH9J It also now has 15 episodes, averaging over 3k words. I'm rather proud of that -- I've managed to get up 2 episodes a month. Yay! ~Deborah
(Just read the three free parts, I'll look into this "token" system when work allows me the time.)
Okay, this is cool. Like, it's fun seeing so many facets of the PPC translated over, but I also love this purely as a standalone canon. There's just so much intriguing about the setting. Is this taking place on Earth? How are stories coming to life this way? Did people already have access to magic, or did it come from the story infections? I'm looking forward to hearing more of this setting's history! I also really like the visual of magical threads tying the story elements to the real world. (Plot threads?) it makes for a more unique visual for magic than the standard, D&D-style of shooting fireballs. I also like that the zombies are dispatched with actual weapons, rather than with the magic, as it separates what's real from what's pure story.
Lawrence and Allen are interesting protagonists. At first, they seem like the classic PPC jaded-veteran-plus-hyper-newbie combo. But by the end of part three, I see that Lawrence has some unhealthy coping mechanisms against her trust issues and asocial demeanor, and Allen is frighteningly manipulative, and doesn't handle lack of control well. I'm interested in seeing where their relationship goes, and whether they can get a better handle on their mental states.
One minor note, I also liked your frequent use of capital letters for what we see as common nouns. It shows that some elements of the job are official procedure, but so commonplace to the actual agents that they don't warrant much conscious thought.
One typo I found in assignment 1, part 2:
"More enemies rustled into the room, and the agents pressed onward, killing had long been dead and venturing ever deeper."
I think you were wanting "Killing what had long been dead."
Thank you for coming to share this with us!
—doctorlit, ready to read
Wow, thank you for reading it! From a fellow PPCer, that means . . . well, rather a lot, a lot. Repetition intended.
As for the typo . . . I had this proofread so many times! Well, that's how it goes, isn't it? :) It's now fixed.
Since this is a serial, expect a slow unraveling of the setting and universe. But there is more world building. Lot's more. I even already know some of it, since I have a lot more written, just not yet finalized. (Also, any chance you'd please put your review on Amazon also? Just because, you know. Authors. Desperate for reviews and Amazonian visibility.)
Honestly, I'm having fun deconstructing genre tropes, and not just of horror. It's always a, hmm, "good?" sign when the author cackles to herself while writing. My hope is that you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
(sorry for the late response! I had trouble getting account setup to work, so it ended up with one of my less-viewed email addresses)
My desktop has died, so I'm still working out to get the token system going, but I'm definitely going to read the rest eventually!
—doctorlit
Thank you! As I -- did I say it or mean to say it? Now I can't see my earlier posts. But it deserves saying again, that it means more to me that folks in this community read than elsewhere. I mean, I actually care about you guys rather more than the random public. :) And thank you so much for leaving a review! I hope to never disappoint with new episodes.
This thread is the most recent collection of links: https://www.plotprotectors.org/posts/162632 (Sorry to delegate to an existing post, but I am approaching an airport and don't have much time to type.)
I'll definitely look into figuring out Kindle, though I hope there are plans to publish your series to paper someday? In either case, major congratulations on getting your work out there!
— doctorlit, New York-bound
I do have a few books out in paperback, but since this one's serialized, it's not yet at that state. In part because I'm hoping to get readers so I can convince a big publisher to take it up, and in part because I only have about 40,000 words pre-written. But hopefully, one day -- !
In any case, thank you for the link. It's hard to dig through and find them, so I'll go browse over in that area. :)