Saying Goodbye To Young Adult Fiction

I've been wrestling with something for quite some time now. For the past few years, I've had two running novel series - Black Earth and Expired Reality. The Expired Reality series has actually been around since I was a mere eleven years old because it was the capsule for some of my very first writing. It has also been marketed this entire time as Young Adult. The Black Earth series, on the other hand, began a few years ago and just recently came to a close at four novels. Black Earth was an experiment on mixing genres, finding my writing style, and thumbing my nose at convention. Okay, maybe those weren't the intended purposes of writing the series, but more like side effects of writing outside the lines of convention.

Over the course of this last decade, the Expired Reality series has been self-published, rewritten, self-published again, rewritten again, self-published again, put on hiatus - it all makes my head spin. Trying to find my voice in what I sought to form into an epic young adult series actually turned out to be a lesson in smacking my head against a wall until it bled.

And now I know why.

It's become increasingly difficult for me to put attention and passion into the Expired Reality series these past few years because I've wanted so bad for it to follow in the footsteps of my Black Earth series. Black Earth encompasses Christian themes with edgy content and speculative fiction. It's raised some controversy, it's received fairly good reviews, and it has helped me find my voice as a writer. And why shouldn't my Expired Reality series follow in its footsteps? The Expired Reality series takes place in the same universe, only 100 years later, with some of the same characters. But if you read through both series, you'll find that they each have a unique voice, and one is definitely edgier than the other.

A good friend of mine asked just the right question the last time I visited him. He asked me what my writing goals were now that I had finished the Black Earth series. And I answered by telling him that now it would be the Expired Reality series all the way. At least twelve novels, countless short stories and novellas, and even some side series. Of course, I have some plans to sketch out some side stories for the Black Earth series, but overall, my Expired Reality series is where the majority of my efforts will be put toward from here on out.

Then my friend asked me about the challenges I am going to face marketing the Expired Reality series as edgy Christian young adult fiction. To market something as edgy and Christian has been a bit of a challenge itself, but the Black Earth series has proven that it is a unique genre in its own right. But to label something as edgy, Christian, and young adult brings along some unwanted hurdles. Out of all fictional genres, I believe young adult has the most boundaries/rules/expectations surrounding it. Certainly every genre comes with reader expectations - when you pick up a mystery, you expect to dive into a whodunnit. When you pick up science fiction, you expect to travel to other worlds or encounter sentient life in far reaches of the galaxy.

When you pick up young adult fiction, the elements within it are only 'supposed' to reach a certain limit. Violence, sexual situations, language - all these things have caps on them in young adult fiction, and for good reason. Young adult fiction is targeted at just that - young adults. And we really don't want to be filling their head with all sorts of crap. That being said, I am well aware that there are young adult series - many of them - that center around edgy content, most particularly sex. But there's still a certain expectation as to what boundaries an author is to cross when penning in a young adult novel.

Tie 'Christian' to the young adult genre, to those expectations, and things become even more restricted.

One important question came to me through this discussion I had with my friend: Where was I going to be able to go with my ER series if I kept it under the young adult title? My friend then pointed out that he didn't think I really wanted to write young adult anymore. And he was the first of two people - different instances - who stated the same observation.

It's a hard fact to swallow, that I don't want to write young adult anymore. It's the genre I started out in, it's the genre I figured I'd be writing in throughout the majority of my life. But alas, I know it's time to turn away from the young adult title. Time to strip off the tag, break the chains, and move forward in the direction my Black Earth series set the foundation for.

In this regard, my Expired Reality series will no longer be marketed under the YA heading. Instead, I will collect it - all of it - under my edgy Christian speculative fiction label. The first two novels in the series, Endangered Memories and Lost Birth, will not be rewritten, neither will Picture Perfect, the first novella in the series. The stories and characters are exactly how I want them to be moving forward in the Expired Reality series. And as the series moves along, my readers can expect it to take on a slightly Black Earth feel in regards to edgy content. My Expired Reality series will still hold its own feel - I do want the Black Earth and Expired Reality series to stand separate from each other to some degree - but you'll be able to sense the Black Earth styling as the Expired Reality series moves forward.

Pulling away from the YA label and moving forward under the umbrella of edgy Christian speculative fiction brings about another change to the Expired Reality series - cover design. In the next week, you'll see the cover designs change for the Expired Reality books that are already on the market. Moving forward, every book in the series will hold a common design structure, but each will differ slightly from each other in color and other small details. I want to thank Jelani Parham - my good friend and writing buddy - for creating the covers that I've been using, and the fact that the cover art is going to be changed up in no way implies I have been unhappy with his work, simply that the look and feel of the books needs to not be specifically aimed at young adults.

I am really excited about these changes, and I hope you as my readers are as well. Collecting all of my writing under one common genre frees me up to make the characters, story lines, and themes more consistent with each other, and will allow me to experiment a bit more than I would have been able to having stayed under the young adult label.

NaNoWriMo Year 5 - 2009

My fifth year doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) had me penning the drafts of two different novellas, neither of which have seen the light of day. Yet. They will be polished and published once the Expired Reality series gets up and running again after the Black Earth series comes to a close this winter.

Expired Reality: The Dark Past was split into two parts, each of which told a 25,000 word backstory to Veronica Amorou and Turquoise - both protagonists from my young adult series.

Veronica's story went into detail as to how she met Simper Creed and was trained to use her powers to manipulate rhodenine - a gift of hers that is revealed in the first novel in the series, Endangered Memories.

The second half of the manuscript gave background to Turquoise, a Wedge special agent in my series, and detailed how her powers revealed themselves once she hit puberty, how she was welcomed into the Wedge organization, and also gives a bit of story regarding her parents and her past as an adolescent. 

That year I ended up finishing the NaNoWriMo challenge with 50,132 words, and only finished a day ahead of schedule.

NaNoWriMo Year 3 - 2007

The third year in a row that I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) brought about The Expired Reality Anthology Volume 1. This was meant to be a collection of short stories that took place in my young adult series, Expired Reality. But The Expired Reality Anthology has proved to be so much more than just a short story anthology.

For starters, one of the stories - Black Earth - sparked off my entire Black Earth novel series. When NaNo was over with that year, I took another look at Black Earth and I realized there was enough material to make an entire series. The final book in this series is due out this Winter.

Another story found in the collection - Eden's Folly - introduced Eden Ambersay, a character who will be appearing in the Expired Reality series in the near future. Eden is a female archaeologist on the hunt for the shards of an ancient sword that can save humanity, and is also in the midst of performing experiments on Legion.

Yet another story in the collection - Parallel Dance - told of the dance that David and Carrie (from the Expired Reality series) attended in David's flashbacks in Endangered Memories, but from the point of view of an entirely new set of characters - one of which actually has connections to Eden Ambersay. Parallel Dance has been renamed Parallel Extreme (for the moment) and is planned to be released as a novella (or possibly a short story series) in the near future.

Another nugget of fictional shenanigan that took place in The Expired Reality Anthology was a scene I ended up writing that details the death of Carrie Green. Now, I'm revealing this not to confirm whether or not Carrie will die in the Expired Reality series, but to point out what I felt compelled to write for NaNo that year. The scene takes place in an abandoned hospital and Carrie's body is wasting away while her soul is kept within a necklace David Corbin wears. Not sure how much of that - if any - will make it into the Expired Reality series as canon. Time will tell, though.

It worth mentioning that this was the year I finished NaNo in 9 days. The Expired Reality Anthology came to 50,108 words, contained some great starting points to other writing projects, and was finished - at least the NaNo version - in only 9 days. I believe that was the year I was working two jobs as well.

Just goes to show that anyone can do NaNo.

NaNoWriMo Year 2 - 2006

The second year of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) found me penning the fourth book in my young adult series, Expired Reality. This manuscript was tentatively titled Hidden Sanctuary, yet almost none of the story has seen the light of day. One reason for this is that the third book in the Expired Reality series (talked about a bit in yesterday's NaNo post) hasn't been finished/published yet. The other reason that Hidden Sanctuary hasn't wound up in book format yet is because of the fact that the story doesn't coincide with where the rewrites of Books 1 and 2 in the series venture.

Most of Hidden Sanctuary takes place within Carrie Green's memories. Carrie is the main protagonist's love interest in my young adult series, and at the time of penning Hidden Sanctuary, Carrie had fallen comatose due to Legion possessing her mind. At least half of the novel is dedicated to Carrie's journey through her own spirit where she battles her inner demons and overcomes many of her darkest memories in order to purge herself of Legion's presence.

The concept was something new I decided to try out, and I may very well use some of the manuscript in upcoming novels in the series, but for the most part, it was a NaNo novel that may never see the light of day. Hidden Sanctuary won me the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2006 with a total word count of 50,135.

NaNoWriMo Year 1 - 2005

Most people don't know what I mean when I say NaNoWriMo. Sounds like I'm greeting people who've watched Mork and Mindy in the past, but what it stands for is National Novel Writing Month. Each November, thousands of people from around the world participate in a challenge to write out 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. I have done this for the past 7 years now (2012 will be my 8th) and have succeeded each year.

I figured I'd do a little countdown to NaNo by giving a little bit of info on each year I participated.

My first year of NaNo was the craziest. My wife and I had just gotten married June 30th of that year, and I was still working in a typical 9-5 job as opposed to writing full time like I do now. I felt insane and a little messed up in the head to attempt to write 50,000 words in a month, but I went for it not really sure what to expect. My project that year was Expired Reality: Betrayal in Crystal City - the third novel in my young adult series. Betrayal in Crystal City has yet to be published (it is the next project on my docket after this year's NaNo novel), and it has gone through many revisions since its initial write-up. In fact, the name has changed now to Crystal City, but I'm almost pretty sure that will change before the book is officially published.

That year, I remember spreading out my NaNo writing according to the traditional formula: 50,000 words / 30 days in November = 1666.666666666667 words per day. If I remember right, I forgot to factor in that I don't write or do any type of work on Sundays, and I forgot to factor in days when we had extra plans in the evenings, like dinner with friends or date nights. It was a challenge that first year, but victory tasted sweet when I was able to print out my winner's certificate at the end of the month. My final word count at the end of that November was 50,094.

Lost Birth: an Expired Reality novel is Now Available For Your Ereader!

I am more than happy to announce that Lost Birth, the second volume in my Expired Reality series (young adult sci-fi/fantasy) is available in ebook format for only $2.99. In the next month or so I'll be working on having it converted to paperback as well, but for now you can enjoy reading it on almost any Ereader device. And if you haven't read the first book in the series, Endangered Memories, you can grab a copy here. Have a great weekend everyone!

Lost Birth: an Expired Reality novel

The Swallower of Worlds—better known as Legion, a mysterious alien race that was responsible for destroying Earth long ago—has arrived on the planet of Anaisha. At least this is what Carrie Green is led to believe after awakening in an underground structure known as the Complex. Unsure if the information being fed to her is true or not, or why she is being worshiped as a deity by fanatical cult followers of the flame element, Carrie makes it her priority to escape the Complex and the clutches of a madman from her past.

David Corbin, the only man who may be able to save Anaisha from the cold grip of Legion, is on his way to Galtaia Penitentiary as a prisoner, escorted by the maniacal Agent Parks. Housing many of Anaisha’s most dangerous criminals, most of whom David helped put away, the prison, it seems, will become David’s crypt. But as allies and enemies continue to scramble to find the timepiece—an ancient artifact with unknown origins and powers—one person believes David to be the hero he was in the past and seeks to rescue him from his living nightmare to help save Anaisha from its own.

Available through:
Amazon Kindle
Barnes and Noble Nook
Smashwords (for other ereading devices)

A Little Bit of Restructure

I know I've been MIA for a while and that's mainly because of the holidays, my 3 1/2 month old son, and other personal matters. But even though I haven't been writing or marketing much, I have been thinking, long and hard, about where I want this writing career to go in 2012. After carefully watching the success of other self-published authors, reading plenty of tips and tricks from social marketing gurus, and doing some intense soul-searching in regards to my own direction as a published author, I've come up a restructuring plan to implement in the new year -

- Price changes to some of my books, ebook and paperback. This means if you have been wanting to grab a copy of some of my 99 cent ebooks or $10 paperbacks, you best do it now before the prices are raised. My reason for raising the prices on these will be explained in an upcoming blog, but you can expect the dollar amount on some of my currently cheaper books to go up shortly after the new year. (Head over to my website, www.davidnalderman.com, to snag my books at their lower prices now.)

- The five hundredth reincarnation of my email newsletter. For reasons known and unknown to me, my attempts to run an email newsletter in the past have failed miserably, but it will be back on track and ready to leave the station in January.

- The end of the Black Earth series. During National Novel Writing Month this year I managed to crank out two, 50,000 word drafts, for the third and fourth (final) book in the series. Expect them both to be available for purchase this Summer.

- The release of Lost Birth, the second novel in my young adult series. Lost Birth has taken me months to get the editing, cover design, and other details right and it will finally be released in ebook format in January, with paperback to follow shortly after.

- Swag. I've been meaning to update my Zazzle storefront and create some new products that tie in with my Black Earth and Expired Reality series, but I haven't had a whole lot of time lately. This is something that will definitely be snowballing as soon as we cross over the New Year's weekend.

- New writing projects. Once the Black Earth series is tied up, I will be focusing a majority of my writing prowess on the Expired Reality series, including the third novel in the series and the shorty story episode series - the LZR Project - which I wanted to release more than a year ago.

There will be other changes as well, some to streamline my business practices and others to help me write more, interact with my fans/audience more, and read more. (On a side note, I had a goal to read 71 books this last year and I'm just about to finish number 5. I kind of fell short on that.)

As far as the holidays go, I will be taking next week off for some rest and relaxation. I do my best to take a little time off of writing toward the end of the year to give me time to reflect on what I did right/wrong with my writing career over the last year and prepare myself for what I want to do great in the coming year. It also gives me time to spend with my family, now that I have a little one to share Christmas/New Years with.

I'll see you all on the other side. Once New Year's weekend is over with, I'll be crawling out of my hole to bring this list of changes to fruition. Have a safe and merry Christmas and a happy New Years!

Lost Birth Cover Peek

I am finally on the right track to finishing Lost Birth, the second book in my Expired Reality young adult series. Here's a sneak peek at some of the cover art for the book, illustrated by my good friend, Jelani Parham - www.akinink.com.

And here is an image of the timepiece from the books to be used for the back cover art when the paperback cover spread is done -

My goal is to finish the ebook edition of the book by Christmas and release it right after the start of the new year. After that, I'll work on the paperback edition, which always takes a little longer to format.

Month of 100 Books

Here we are at the beginning of December. The air is crisp and cool, the season for giving is coming into full swing, and I am feeling a bit...I don't know...feisty.

I'm not sure what happened, but as soon as I hit the 100,000 word NaNoWriMo goal I set for myself last month, I've been feeling a bit amped up. Almost as if I can do anything. I'm invincible, ready to break down walls, ready to take down the sky.

It's definitely a strange feeling. I guess reaching that ginormous goal really got my blood going and taught me that I can do anything if I put a little more effort into my goals. I say that because I have a very bad habit of procrastinating on things, or worse, falling victim to thoughts that my projects won't really pan out the way I imagine they will. This causes me to give up in the middle of projects, throwing away the beginnings of great things. Well, potentially great things.

Yesterday I finally sat down and updated all of my sales records, a task I've been procrastinating on for the last - oh since July. Really bad, I know. But looking at my numbers yesterday really opened my eyes to the fact that I'm not even close to where I want to be as a published writer. I want to sell a million books. I want to be able to pay some bills with money my own writing brings in each month. I'm not even close to being there. But then again, I'm not really doing my best to get there either.

Before you say how much great work I really do accomplish - including the 100,000 word goal for November - I have to stop you and point out that even if you think I'm doing great, doesn't mean I feel like I'm doing my best. There's more potential in me, way more, and it needs to be unleashed. If you think the 100,000 word goal was amazing...just wait.

To help prompt the little writer's flame that is still burning within me, starting this month I'm going to be setting sales goals for myself. I've always despised the salesman mindset, but I figure if I can set outrageous word count goals for myself and reach them in half the time, I think I can set some easy sales goals and achieve them without issue. Well, too much issue anyway.

In December I want to sell 100 books, a mix of both paperback and ebook. For almost eight months now I've sold an average of fifty to sixty books total for each month, most of those being Kindle ebooks. That's spread across the five ebooks I have available. I want to break that fifty threshold and reach a higher level though, and continue reaching new levels each month.

I'm asking all of my readers and followers to help me reach this goal. Help spread the word by telling your friends and family and others in your social networking circles about my stories. If you've enjoyed something of mine, please make sure you have posted a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc, etc, etc. Reviews are much more valuable than I think people know.

If you haven't read any of my work yet, please head over to my website - www.davidnalderman.com - where you can pick up my novella, Picture Perfect, for free through the month of December. A little treat to whet your appetite for my bigger literary pieces. There you will find the rest of my works as well, including my Christian spec fiction series, Black Earth, and my young adult series, Expired Reality.

This month my goal is 100. Next month it will be 200. And each month I will continue to push myself harder and do my best to reach my goal of a million sales overall. I will of course keep everyone updated, and I'll post a counter on my website in the next few days so everyone can check my status in regards to each of my monthly goals.

Welcome to December people, the month of a hundred books!

As Worlds Collide

When I was twelve years old and first decided I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, I was just beginning work on the characters who would later show up in Endangered Memories, my latest young adult science fiction/fantasy novel. And when I first started the Expired Reality series - which Endangered Memories is pulled from - I pictured the series running at least a dozen books.

I still picture the series running at least a dozen novels, in addition to some shorts stories and novellas I plan on throwing in there every now and then. But when I started my Black Earth series - a sort of prequel to the events that occur in the Expired Reality series - I planned on the series running about four or five books. And then the fifth book would bump up against the first book in the Expired Reality series and the novels would continue down the line.

But something changed the other day. Something happened which was a bit unexpected and I guess all the blame can fall on my characters.

That's right - my characters.

As long as I've been writing, I've come to realize that my characters have a mind of their own. I can do my best to try and kill them, but if they want to live badly enough, they'll find a way to live. The reverse is true as well, and nothing saddens me more than to watch a beloved character die. I'll admit that it does scare me a bit that my characters can have such a mind of their own.

This brings me to my main point of this blog post. The other day I was working on Dark Horizons, the third installment of my Expired Reality series, and a couple characters showed up unexpectedly. Both are from my Black Earth series. Both are unique in that they were able to survive and live through the 100 year gap between the events of Black Earth and the events that serve as the beginning to Endangered Memories.

These characters, for those who have read the books in my Black Earth series, are Griffin and Pearl.

I originally planned on having Pearl show up in the Expired Reality series, but much later down the line - like maybe the fifth or sixth book. But she just strolled on the page while I was writing Dark Horizons and revealed herself to me and some of my other characters. "Hi," she said as she waved to the rest of the cast. "Just dropped by to make my presence known."

Griffin on the other hand wasn't a character I planned on revealing in the Expired Reality series...ever. The scenes I have been working on in Dark Horizons have a young man who paired up with one of the heroes - Veronica Amorou - as she attempts to escape the police. Throughout the scenes I wrote, he's only mentioned as a young man. I had no name for him, figuring I'd come up with one by the time the second draft came along. But it seems my characters got sick and tired of him not having a solid identity and finally pressed him to reveal his name.

"My name is Griffin," he said.

So there you have it. Two worlds, two unique novel series, thrust together, joined with a bond that cannot be broken. All because of my characters. Characters who refuse to die, who refuse to remain in the shadows of the past and strive to remain immortal.

Endangered Memories Ebook Edition Now Available!

It's Tuesday, and that means the release of the ebook edition of Endangered Memories, the first volume in my Expired Reality series! It's available for only 99 cents on your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, etc, and will be available in paperback through Createspace very soon.

To celebrate the release, those of you who follow this blog can grab a free copy of Endangered Memories today in whatever ebook format suites your fancy. Just head to Smashwords via this link - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65576 - and enter code - MK55C - during checkout to get your free copy. This code is valid for today only, so grab the book while you can.

On top of the free copy of Endangered Memories, I'm also revealing my new website facelift today. Head over to - www.davidnalderman.com - and let me know what you think!

And so, without further ado, here is Endangered Memories, the first novel in the Expired Reality series....

When ex-hero David Corbin receives an unexpected wedding invitation from the girl he once loved, he sets out on a journey to South Ryshard to crash the event and proclaim his true feelings to her. With help from his close friend, Veronica, and a girl named Kimberly, David battles his way through crooked agents, a crazed farmer and a demon hybrid to reach the wedding on time. Only when he runs into Turquoise, a mysterious woman on her own mission to stop the wedding and procure an enchanted timepiece, does he realize that the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

Carrie Green is days away from marrying Jerad Montlier, one of the richest men in the world. Lacking any memory of her past, and displaying a peculiar spiral birthmark on her shoulder blade, Carrie is spun into further confusion when a diary with her name on it falls into her possession. Reading the entries inside sparks a recollection of her past and reveals the horrifying trap that’s been set.

As heroes’ paths collide, the beginning of the end launches in this epic first volume of the Expired Reality series.

Endangered Memories Sample

Well, it's Friday. Made it to the end of the week without too many issues. Got the cover design for Endangered Memories done. Finishing up a new website layout today. Just getting everything ready for the official ebook release on June 14th.

With that, I decided to post a sample of Endangered Memories today to give all of you something to read this weekend.

Enjoy!








Endangered Memories
an Expired Reality novel
Copyright 2011 David N. Alderman

Chapter 1
Chaos

Tuesday, November 10, 1998

The icy wind rushed against Kimberly Sebastien’s face, sweeping through her long blonde hair as she bounded through the vacant dirt field. The blue crescent moon lit up the ground just enough for her to see her way across the damp surface. The chilly air induced a burning sensation in the mark on her right cheek, causing it to sting more than when she received it only an hour ago.

The cell phone jostled in her hand, the blue screen illuminating her beaten face. The time on it read 6:34 p.m. She hit the redial button on the keypad, her heart wishing that this time someone would pick up on the other end. Holding the phone to her ear, she heard a steady busy signal, just as she had the last three attempts. This can’t be happening. She closed the phone and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans, glancing behind her briefly to make sure the monster wasn’t closing in on her. No one. Well, no one she could see anyway. That didn’t mean he—it—wasn’t there.

She scanned the tops of the giant trees in front of her, making out a small orange spire glowing on top of the roof of the stalus beyond. The stalus—a building designated by the government for weddings and funerals—was the only building she could hide in for miles, and she hoped it would, by some miracle, be open. Her body relentlessly quarreled with her, scolding her for pushing so hard, pleading with her to stop and rest. But she couldn’t rest, not yet, not when her life was at stake.

Plowing through the trees, thick leaves that hung from crooked branches slapped Kimberly, each one a stranger’s hand reaching out to snatch her and carry her off somewhere dark and dangerous, somewhere she would never be able to escape. She fought through them and stumbled into a parking lot, her knees meeting the asphalt with a flash of pain.

Kimberly stood to her feet, ignoring the pain swelling through her kneecaps, and pressed on across the lot, finally slamming herself into the glass doors of the building. Inhaling a deep breath, she grabbed the door handle. Locked. Panic seized her as she tried the next door and the next, all of them locked as well. She pounded madly on the glass. “Help! Somebody, help me! Open up!” Her voice came out hoarse, and she suddenly realized that wasting her breath would do no good if nobody was in there to hear her pleas.

She turned and leaned her back up against the door, clutching the burning cramp in her side. Gazing into the distance, she saw nothing but the trees reaching into the wind. Her heart throbbed, threatening to leap out of her chest while she fearfully waited for something to lunge at her. Don’t be scared, she thought. Keep moving! Get away from him! A gust of frosty air slipped through her white sweater, chilling the sweaty mess that spread itself under her tattered clothes. The chills warned her to run.

She peered through the glass at the dark lobby inside. She could see the desk where the receptionist who handled the wedding and funeral parties sat during operating hours. Stacks of flyers covered the counter, accompanied by mysterious shadows that seemed to dance around as if a party was going on in the desk owner’s absence.

Kimberly had nowhere else to go. Only orchards and farms stood between her and the city. The closest house was too far to run to, unless she wanted to backtrack, which was impossible without risking running into him.
Turning back toward the lot, she pulled out her cell phone and hit redial. Her heart skipped a beat with the brief silence that ensued, but then the busy signal droned in her ear and she sighed loudly, despair covering her like a dark blanket.

She shoved the phone back in her pocket and watched with fright as the tree branches shook vigorously in the distance. Her eyes narrowed, trying to make out the figure stumbling through the barrage of giant leaves. A face peered out, red eyes glowing in the night.

Kimberly’s voice caught in her throat.

Swinging around, she tugged at the handle again. This time the door swung open, almost knocking her off balance. A bit confused, she passed into the stalus, not stopping to ask herself questions. She pulled the door shut and turned the latch, locking it. She swung back around toward the desk to try and make out what little she could from the light that shone in from the parking lot lamps.

The large round government seal hung on the wall in the foyer. The symbol of the Enera Government—three triangles overlapping each other at different points—was etched into the stone slab surrounded by the words “SECURITY, EFFICIENCY and CONFIDENCE.” The first time she had seen the seal was when her parents died and she had been forced to come to a stalus for the funeral.

She shook the thought away and peered to the left and right of the desk, where double doors stood tall and erect—doorways to other dark places. Farther to the left and right, hallways swarmed in shadows. I should be able to hide in the main sanctuary until daylight. She approached the left set of double doors and made her way through them.

She couldn’t see anything in the sanctuary except for the red glowing EXIT signs and the doors they perched above on each side of the room. Kimberly stepped forward and bumped her leg on something hard. Reaching down, she felt the glossed wood of a bench. She knelt down and crawled underneath, creeping through the sanctuary until she figured she was in the center of the room. Lying still, her back to the floor, she closed her eyes.

The quiet stillness invited her mind to wander. Thoughts flew at her at lightning speed: Where is he? Why did this have to happen to me? I can’t believe he’s dead! It’s all a dream, just a nightmare. Tears broke from her eyes and streamed down her cheeks as her gut convulsed with torment. She wanted her family back. She wanted this man—this creature—to stop chasing her. Events rushed through her mind: the man with the dark eyes at her doorstep; the chunk of cold crystal her uncle gave her from the freezer; her uncle being broken like a toothpick in the jaws of a giant.

The vision of her uncle’s face blurred into view each time she remembered him begging her to “take this and keep it safe.” He handed her that piece of crystal, wanting her to flee with it. But the man with the dark eyes had just as quickly slapped her to the floor, knocking the crystal from her hands, taking it for himself.
Kimberly remembered getting to her feet and running from the house, the man yelling for her to come back. His face couldn’t be placed exactly, just dark and round, with an evil, hollow gaze peering out from under his bald head. He had an uncanny familiarity about him, something that seemed to have escaped from the nightmares Kimberly had when she was younger.

Only a miracle can save me now.

Her thoughts diminished and fatigue kicked in. She slipped in and out of consciousness. It was hours to daybreak, and there was no way for him to get into the stalus without her hearing him first. At least that’s what she told herself. She needed to drown everything out long enough to regain her strength for her journey to the city in the morning.

A clicking sound echoed through the sanctuary, waking her senses. Her eyes shot open as a door creaked slowly and then thudded shut. She knew it was him by the dark presence she suddenly felt seeping into the room. Kimberly held her breath. His squeaky footsteps passed the aisle she hid in. She followed that sound to the other side of the room and then back near the door he entered the sanctuary through.

She quietly bent her arms and legs, rolling onto her stomach, and shuffled out from under the bench. Moving to her knees, she glanced up at the red EXIT sign over the hallway door. That was her only escape, and there had to be only a few rows of benches in the space between.

The footsteps stopped and silence thickened. Her heart thrashed in her chest like a caged animal. She took a few quick breaths and sprung up, rushing for the door. She maneuvered and stumbled around the benches, relying on all of her instincts to get her through the maze of wood and darkness. Her body plowed into the door, and she grabbed the cold metal handle to open it.

“Kimberly.”

She turned around slowly and found herself staring at two glowing red wedges that seemed to float in the air. Her voice caught in her throat again, like she was trying to vomit up an apple. Her nails clawed frantically at the surface behind her, scraping against the hard wood, peeling away part of her fingertips.

“Kimberly Sebastien.” The man’s raspy voice released a foul smell into her nostrils as he came under the red light, the crimson eyes matching the EXIT sign’s glow. The repugnant scent turned her stomach in knots.

“Wh…wh…wh…,” her lips quivered. She turned her face to the side, attempting to avoid the stench that permeated the air between them.

“Your sssoul, Kimberly. That issss what I want.”

She closed her eyes as he moved in closer. She could feel the sensation of his breath floating across her skin. His hand touched her cheek, turning her wound cold and sending vibrations through her whole face. The wound stung and then burned like fire. She let out a yelp, and the hand retracted for a moment. She started shuffling across the wall toward the front of the sanctuary.

“Go where you want. You can’t essscape me. I am everywhere and in everything.” He moved in front of her, like an ethereal arrow, so quick. The red eyes dangled in front of her like demonic puppets suspended by shadowed strings.

She felt tears crawling into her eyes. “What do you want with me? Why can’t you leave me alone?” The tears broke out and she cupped her hands over her mouth, terror engulfing her. “Why can’t you leave me alone? You killed my uncle. You killed my uncle! What more do you want with me?”

“I need you. I need your sssoul, your ssspirit. Then I will leave. Then you can rest in peace, without the nightmares, within the darkness.”

She shook her head and fell to her knees, her face covered in a moist film. She had a boding feeling that she wasn’t going to make it out of the building alive. The doors to escape seemed so far away. This is where I’m going to die.

He reached his hand out to her again, the silence in the stalus falling on her like a ton of bricks, allowing her to experience the dreadful sound of her sobbing. The thought of her life ending here, in this place, was violent and yet comforting to her. She could be with her uncle soon…

“Stop!”

The man retracted his reach and spun around. Kimberly looked up through her blurry vision at two silhouettes in the open doorway at the back of the room. One was tall with the chiseled build of a man. The other had the thin, hourglass shape of a woman.

“You?” the evil stranger squealed.

They stepped into the stalus and allowed the doors to shut behind them, darkness swallowing everyone in the room.

“Let her go,” a female voice demanded.

Kimberly wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly started to her feet, her mind racing to figure out who these people were. Probably Anaishan Sentries. If that’s the case, they’re no match for whatever he is.

The man grabbed Kimberly from behind, wrapping his arm around her neck. His fingers moved across her throat, and she felt the cold tip of his long, sharp fingernails begin to etch their way through the tender surface of her skin.

“Show yourssselves!”

Kimberly’s neck burned, and her body drooped in his arms like a sack of manure.

The two strangers said nothing, yet their shuffling movements could be heard throughout the room.

Kimberly, a female voice whispered in her mind. We are here to help you. When he releases you, leave this stalus and go to the city of Lysallis. Wait for us there. We will catch up with you. Her eyes struggled to stay open as she tried to put together the words floating through her thoughts.

The dark man’s fingernails pressed harder into her neck, carving through the skin. She felt a small amount of blood trickle down.

“I told you two to show yourssselves. I will ssspill her blood all over thisss place!”

“Not tonight!” the female shouted. A strong force slammed into Kimberly and the dark stranger, knocking them back to the floor. Kimberly rolled to her side, her strength rapidly coming back to her, allowing her to scramble to her feet. The creature reached out and tried to grab her, but only managed to rip the bottom edge of her sweater as she escaped from his clutch and reached the exit. She grabbed the handle and swung the door open to the dark hallway.

“Go, Kimberly. We will meet again.” The confidence in the male’s voice filled her with ease. She darted out into the hallway.

Kimberly made her way to the front doors of the stalus and retreated outside. She stood in the lot for a moment, taking deep breaths and staring at the line of trees, picturing the field that stretched behind them. Across that field stood the housing community she had escaped from. I can’t go back. There’s nothing left for me there. The only place to go now was Lysallis and hope these strangers were true to their word. Doesn’t really matter. As long as they’re keeping him occupied, I have a chance to escape.

She cautiously made her way around the stalus and headed into the orchards that stood between her and the city.

***Check out more of Endangered Memories in ebook format June 14th. Paperback coming soon.***

Endangered Memories Cover Art Sneak Peek

I've been off the radar for a while now, but I'm back with some goodies in regards to Endangered Memories. I'm happy to announce the cover art is finished - thanks to my good friend Jelani Akin Parham, the back cover copy is finished, most of the formatting for ebook editions is finished, and now I'll be spending the next few days getting the website ready for the book's release the beginning of next week. My official release date is Tuesday, June 14th, and on that day I'll be giving away ebook copies of Endangered Memories so stay tuned to the blog for more details on that.

The first piece of cover art I want to give everyone a glimpse of is Carrie Green, one of the main characters of the book -

I am more than happy with the job he did with her character design. I wanted to give the cover a young adult feel but nothing too juvenile. I think his artwork captures the balance between the two perfectly.

Next in line is the background, which Jelani did as well -

The city is South Ryshard, where Carrie is living at the beginning of the book. I almost cried when I saw how beautiful the cityscape was and the coloring he implemented in the scenery.

The third element that comes into play with the cover design is the font. I spent many hours trying to find the right fit for the book. When I self-published Picture Perfect, I ended up changing the cover font later because it didn't fit the feel of the book. I'm happy to say I found the perfect fit for Endangered Memories though. The font is called Chocolate Box and you can grab it for free at dafont.com.

I'll be spending most of today putting all of these elements together into a coherent cover design. This Friday I will be posting a sample of Endangered Memories to get everyone geared up for the release next week! And next Tuesday I will officially release the first novel in a series that has been near and dear to my heart since my youth.

An Introduction to David Corbin

With the debut of Endangered Memories, the first novel in my upcoming young adult series, less than a month away, I wanted to take an opportunity to introduce some of the characters of my series. Weeks ago I introduced Carrie Green, and this week I'd like to introduce everyone to the main protagonist of the series, David Corbin.

David Corbin, once shy and a bit of an introvert, became a reluctant hero of sorts in the later years of junior high. When his sister, Cybil, was abducted by the criminal mastermind, Mr. Big, David flew into action, saving his sister and stopping Big's attempt to murder a crowd of people.

That single event put David and Mr. Big at odds against each other for the rest of their lives.

With the taste of heroism still fresh on his tongue, David devoted his adolescent life to putting a stop to Mr. Big's criminal actions. With the help of some of his classmates -  Carrie Green, Veronica Amorou and Veronica's brother, Sean - David managed to continually foil Mr. Big's nefarious plans, eventually putting the crime boss away for good in the Galtaia Penitentiary years later.

During his escapades, David quickly and easily fell in love with Carrie Green. Despite the fact that Carrie fell for him in return, the two neglected to tell each other how they felt for fear of the consequences that would result. When David finally did decide to reveal his feelings for her during the shut down of the government initiated program known as The LZR Project, she fled without explanation to South Ryshard, not to be seen again.

At the beginning of Endangered Memories, David is in a somewhat tumultuous relationship with Amber Setterson. Ties with his sister are strained, his finances are in dire straits, and he wonders if life will ever be the same as it once was before Mr. Big was locked up and Carrie ran. A strange wedding invitation from Carrie changes all that though, awakening David's feelings for her and pulling him back into the adventures he thought he left behind.

Look for more of David in Endangered Memories this coming June. You can also check out my introduction to Carrie Green at http://abrokenreality.blogspot.com/2011/05/introduction-to-carrie-green.html.

New Cover Design For Picture Perfect

As my friend Jelani continues work on the cover for Endangered Memories - the first book in my upcoming young adult series - I have been busy messing with the cover to Picture Perfect, a novella in the same series. Picture Perfect's cover is made entirely from scratch by yours truly using Gimp. When I showed the original design to Jelani, he gave me a few pointers on what needed to be fixed with it. After a trip to the drawing board, I am very happy to reveal the new cover.

First off, here's the old one for those who haven't seen it or don't remember what it looks like -

And here is the new cover design -

Notice the purple font for the title in the first version? First off, I really started second guessing that font as soon as I published the cover. It just doesn't fit the series very well - it has more of a magic, fantasy feel to it when the series itself is a bit more science fiction/fantasy. The original font was Gartentika in case anyone was curious. I get the majority of my fonts at dafont.com because you can find free ones for commercial use there. The new font is called Chocolate Box. Great font. Also, the purple color for the title in the first cover is real bad - makes it blend in with the rest of the cover. White is much easier to read.

See how the spiral symbol is positioned in the original version? My friend suggested I have all ends of the symbol run completely off the page. It was mentioned that when I have the ends of the symbol showing up in different areas on the page, then people's eyes are going to run to those spots instead of elsewhere on the cover.

And notice how my name is in two different colors and at an odd angle in the original? I thought I was being clever with that. But the new version is soooooo much easier to make out after it was suggested my name just be one color. The reader should be able to make out my name without having to stop and figure out what the different colored words are at the bottom of the cover.

For a final touch, I switched up the color scheme. The purple was great, but I want to use purple for another character's side story. I think the teal/blue looks a lot better for this cover and is much more pleasing to the eye.

I'd love to hear what you all think of the change. I'll more than likely keep doing the novella covers myself while I have my friend illustrate the young adult novel covers. I can't wait to show you all what he has come up with. Soon. Very soon!

What Is Going On?!

As hard as I've tried over the last week to get back on track with my projects, I have failed miserably. Most of last week - and even the week before - was taken up with personal matters, and my half-hearted attempt this last weekend to catch up with my writing and self-publishing agenda didn't pan out so well. Distractions just keep coming and I keep giving in to them, disappearing off the map to take care of things that aren't going to move me forward in my writing career.

No more. I have cordoned off this week to get myself back in the game and back in line with my projects and all of their deadlines.Here are a few updates -

As I write this, my good friend, Jelani Parham, is sketching out the cover design for Endangered Memories - the first book in my upcoming young adult series - which I still plan on releasing in June. I have seen his initial sketches and I dropped my jaw on the table I was so impressed. He has truly captured the heart of my story in his illustrations and I cannot wait to reveal more to all of you in the next week or so.

Lost Birth - the second volume in my young adult series - is in the middle of being professionally edited. I plan to release the final product in July sometime.

I am getting back into writing Dark Horizons - the third book in my upcoming series - and hope to have the initial draft finished in the next few weeks. I am setting a personal goal of 7,000 words per day, which I plan to meet at any cost.

For those of you signed up with my email newsletter, I apologize that it's been months since I sent one out, but my goal is to have another issue out the door by the end of this month. If you want to sign up for my free email newsletter, head to http://www.davidnalderman.com/contact.htm.

On another note, I know that some of you started following this blog because I used to post about the incredible journey of faith that my wife and I have been on since I was fired from my job as a data entry specialist almost two years ago. I haven't posted much about that in this blog because I know a good portion of my crowd now comes to read about writing or self-publishing. So I've decided to create an entirely separate blog where I will be detailing much of what has been going on over the last couple years. The blog will be very personal and candid and something I hope to turn into a non-fiction book sometime in the future. For those who want to follow, you can check it out at  - http://www.ofdreamsandfaith.blogspot.com. I haven't posted anything there yet, but I do plan to by next week.

Now, sorry to shut the door in your face, but I have to get back to work.;)

Outlining With Reluctance

As I write my novels, I'm really not one to outline. I don't really care for the structure, nor do I like trying to guess what my characters are going to end up doing. We all know they do whatever they want regardless of our own intentions as their writer, and trying to outline their actions ahead of time just feels like a wasted effort.

Usually I just plow through a story, writing as my muse - and my characters - direct me. The only thing I ever nail down before a book is barely started is the ending. That's right, I usually have the ending to the book already figured out before I even get part way into the manuscript.

Not this time though. While working on Dark Horizons - the third volume in my upcoming young adult series - the other day,  I realized I have absolutely no clue where this story is going. I know where I want to be a few books down the road in this series, but I have no idea how this book is going to end or how I'm even going to get to that endpoint.

Because of this quandary, I've taken it upon myself to sit down and start sketching out the chapters, trying to figure out what characters I need to cover - there are a lot - and what plot points I need and want to write through. As this series is set to run at the very least twelve volumes, I need to have a bit more structure in regards to the direction I'm heading in.

When it came to the first book in this series, it was easy to run rampant and let the story go wherever I wanted it to. When the second book came through the pipeline, I found it a bit more challenging to just write whatever I felt like writing at the time, but I still managed to fit all the pieces together. Now that I'm in the third volume in this series, I don't have a choice but to map out the direction I'm heading in, especially since most of the story is pulling from the direction I started in during the first two volumes.

And, since I have only given myself about four more weeks to finish this manuscript, I decided I'm going to apply the NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) technique to my writing regime. I'm setting a personal goal of 7,000 fresh words that need to be written per day, seeing how most of this draft which started out as a 50,000 word NanoWrimo manuscript needs to be rewritten anyway.

An Introduction to Carrie Green

With the first three novels in my upcoming young adult series, Expired Reality, debuting this summer, I figured I'd start introducing everyone to some of the characters from the series. Some of these characters have been near and dear to my heart since I was twelve, when I just started writing fiction. Some of them are inspired by people who were great friends of mine and some of them came from the deepest nooks of my imagination.

I'll start out the introductions with Carrie Green, one of the main characters of my series, and one of my favorite.

Childhood friend of Veronica Amorou, and the on again, off again object of David Corbin's affection,Carrie is a strong-willed advocate of environmental soundness, and non-violent means of stopping crime. In junior high, she voluntarily recruited herself to join David in his epic quest to stop the criminals of Anaisha, helping form the heroic group known as the Lazerblades, which Veronica and Veronica's brother, Sean, ultimately joined as well.

During the adventures Carrie shared with her friends, she quickly developed feelings for David Corbin. However, any time she attempted to reveal those feelings toward him, unfortunate circumstances would play out. Over the years, Carrie learned to confide about her love for David in Veronica, and to hold out patiently for the day that her and David would be able to be together as a couple.

Taking on the task of saving the world, Carrie always had issues juggling her adventurous feats, schoolwork, and the turbulent relationship with her mother. Carrie’s mother became increasingly persistent in voicing her desires for Carrie to make something of her life - something more than running around the world with David and her friends to do what the police were fully capable of doing. Her mother's hatred for David came out in constant tongue lashings and violent argumentative explosions.

As soon as high school was over with, and most of the major criminals of the world were stopped, Carrie found herself  in a final fiery dispute with her mother about the direction her life was going. This, along with David's poor timing in finally telling her that he loved her, prompted Carrie to vanish without a word of where she was going. All that was left behind was a note telling her friends she needed some time to herself.

At the beginning of Endangered Memories, the first book in the Expired Reality series, Carrie is living in South Ryshard, about to marry Jerad Montlier, one of the richest men in Anaisha. The only problem is Carrie has no memory of her past, and when a mysterious diary crosses her path, she's forced to dig up the memories she thought lost forever and battle against those who wish she'd never remember.

Look for more of Carrie in Endangered Memories this coming June. I also have a post I wrote detailing how I came about creating Carrie's wedding dress for the book. You can check it out here - http://abrokenreality.blogspot.com/2011/02/carrie-greens-wedding-dress.html.

Progress

Well, progress on the Expired Reality novels - my upcoming young adult sci-fi/fantasy series - is coming along nicely. The first novel, Endangered Memories, is in the final edits and should be finished and ready for formatting by the middle of next week. The second book, Lost Birth, is in my editor's hands as I write this. And I'll be starting work on the third, but not final book, Dark Horizon, next week.

With the series debuting this summer, and Endangered Memories set for a June release, I am going to start introducing everyone to the characters of the series starting next week via my blog. I'll share magazine clippings and other artwork that served as inspiration, and give a glimpse into the backgrounds of my characters so you can get a feel for where they're at when the series starts off.

Also today, the Indie Book Blog gave me an opportunity to share a little bit about my series - http://indiebookblogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/young-adult-series-expired-reality.html. Check it out if you get a chance - the post has a Smashwords coupon for a free ebook of Picture Perfect, a novella that gives some background into Drather, a mercenary character from the upcoming series.

Have a great weekend everyone, and I'll see you all on Monday!

Learning To Delegate

For the longest time now, I've been a self-published author. And while being a self-published author has its challenges, the thing I've loved the most about it is that I'm in control of every aspect of my publishing journey - cover design, formatting, story, characters, marketing, etc., etc., etc. Some may even say I'm a control freak when it comes to my content. But can you blame a writer for being a control freak over the world and characters they have created? I think not.

However, I am slowly and painfully learning to delegate.

Case in point? My cover designs. For a while now I've been going back and forth on what I want the covers for my upcoming young adult series - Expired Reality - to look like. When I released the first two books in the series a few years ago, I tried to go simplistic with the design - a symbol which had to do with content within the story.

Not my best work, but I figured it was helping me work toward branding.

Yesterday I had a great writing meeting with my good friend Jelani Parham. He's an illustrator and fellow writer, and when I opened up a discussion on what fonts I should use for the new covers, the conversation turned into me asking him to draw some of my characters from the series and help me with the cover design.

This wasn't easy for me to do. To give control to someone else to draw my characters? Even though he's a good friend of mine, it's hard for me to let go. But I've always liked Jelani's art style and he's read the first two books in the series, so he knows what would be most appropriate for the covers. Having his help will also give me more time to write and work on marketing - two things that take up the majority of my time anyway.

As soon as he's gotten some sketches done and we have a good idea what direction the covers are going in, I'll post some images here. In the meantime, if you want to check out some of what he does, head over to his deviantART page - http://j-rok.deviantart.com/gallery.