A Book

With barely audible footsteps, a lone wolf cautiously padded up to an unmoving creature reeking of fresh death and lying in the grass nearby. The thing seemed to have dropped right out of the sky, as there were no tracks or signs of it being dragged to its current location.  Around the perimeter were dozens of bodies of various insects burned into little black statues.  He could still see tribal markings on their backs and various weapons dropped in battle nearby.  “Groundkeepers”, he muttered to himself with distaste.  Something important happened here recently, and he was interested in learning the details.

With that begins the first paragraph of my first novel (hesitantly) named “The Council of the Seven Skins”.  I’ve always had an interest in fantasy-based fiction, and have really wanted to write a book of my own.  In fact, I’ve carried around the same story in my head for nearly five years with the intent of doing something real with it, but have always just been too busy to do anything about it.

Recently, at a Halloween party (which was excellent), the generous and handsome vampire host (I’ll call him “Doug”), wanted to know when I was going to do a book of my own (“demanded” is likely a more accurate term, but I’ll presume some of the insistence was simply the liquor possessing him like a spirit.  Tie that in with the fact that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is November and you have a recipe for motivation.  The need to get this done now seems greater than ever.  Before, I only liked the idea of writing a book.  Now, I need to write it, just because it’s a part of my life that is still unfinished.

The premise of the story isn’t so radically unique and has likely been written about before in some way, I’m just looking to put my own spin in the mix.  Imagine a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where humans are all but a myth carried on by generations of those who have inherited the Earth.  Oddly enough, evolution has taken a radical skip forward and given the gift of self-awareness to many plants, animals, and even groups of insects who become tribalistic in nature.  I’m really looking forward to brining this story to you soon.  Hell, I can’t wait to read it myself, it sounds so cool!

What makes this unique for me is that I intend on not only writing the story, but illustrating it as well.  It could be a greater challenge than I can face, but it’s something that just has to be done.  I have no choice but to complete my dream.