CORRIDOR OF CRUELTY | MR. PLEASURE
“Pain’s the only thing that makes you know you’re alive … may you find comfort in that, for your life will be painless compared to this.”
Oblus ina’ti Sepan Eti.
A lot’s happened on the backend this month, and not all of it good. The hard part’s just getting started. We’re past the point of mercy, so let’s stay on target.
Town Herald:
Live Events: These are about to start back up, now that Substack seems to have fixed their gremlins, but they’ll be moving back to Friday nights at 7:30.
Volume IV:
This book is now in a delayed status. More about it below in Editor Hunt.
Volume IV cover:
Speaking of Volume IV, the cover is complete, and here’s the first look for your viewing pleasure. On this book, Xenomene is finally getting her spotlight. It’s been a long time coming, and she almost made it on the cover of book 2, but I went another direction. Two things to point out, one obvious, and the other subtle. I wanted to make sure the bloodlust was in her eye on the shadow side of the picture, and her faint scar sat on the right side of her cheek. It was important to mark these two distinctions. Without further ado…
House Cleaning:
I culled our ranks in August to shed folks who were not opening emails or participating. For those who have been here for a while, you know I don’t like to spam the inbox, and I do a systematic approach on a schedule. I detest it when others bombard my inbox, and it’s usually white noise. I mentioned last month that I will start purging the rolls routinely, and I’m about to do it again. I’d rather have 20 followers who open at a rate of 80% than 100 followers at 20%. I want an active community. You’re here either to read my books or to hear what I have to say in my posts about my stories or the craft of writing.
Post Recommendations/ Ask Me Anything:
I want everyone to sound off down in the comments. What is something you want to read about? Give your opinion down below, and I’ll give you my take. Or if you have a specific question for me that you’d like to hear me address, the floor is open. If we get enough questions, I might do one post where I answer each of them.
Battle Formations:
Audiobooks:
I was making progress, but I realized I had to gut chapter four and start over. There were too many mistakes/ lines that needed to be rerecorded to salvage. Call me crazy, but I try not to do pickups. I might do one or two to save a whole chapter, but when I hear 5+ in the first sixteen minutes, that’s a sign to start over. A good thing, though, I won’t have to rerecord some characters’ dialogue. I was able to extract that from the old recording and pull it into the new one.
That said, I have moved forward in the book, and I think the last chapter I recorded was chapter 7. Now, I just need to bite the bullet and start editing. It’s very time-consuming, and it does get monotonous at times, but I’ve got to put myself in the right headspace to do it. I have learned tricks along the way to cut down a lot of time, and I’m editing much faster, but it’s not as simple as typing out a story. And unlike a story, you don’t get multiple drafts. It’s one shot, one kill. Oorah, Marine Corps.
Pipeline:
The next two projects I’m working on is draft four for Maro 4 and Vol. V. I just started both. A lesson I learned from doing the final draft of Vol. IV is that the burnout is real, and the 5th draft is too grueling of a process. Since the fourth round of revisions is usually light, I’m going to start incorporating more line editing into the draft to make the final draft less intensive. So, hopefully, these two stories will be quick excursions.
Editor Hunt:
At the beginning of the month, I received an email from my editor that she’s closing up shop, effective October 1st. That was the day Volume IV was slated to go to her. I don’t know all the details, but it’s sad to see. I really enjoyed working with her, and she gained my trust with her sharp eye. We worked on four projects together. The first book she worked on was Decimation Protocol, followed by Maro 3, then books 1 & 2 of that series: Red Creek and Bloodbane. Yes, I went back and had her re-edit them.
One thing I really like about KT was that she preserved my voice. She wasn’t out to change how I wrote, and even when she suggested changes, she told me what needed correction, not necessarily how to carry it out. And as a writer, I appreciate that. I’ve had editors in the past who tried to change the taste of what I was saying, and it was evident. They wanted to put more frills on my words, and I don’t write that way.
When I posted on X and Substack about the search, a lot of folks came out of the woodwork claiming to be an editor. When I followed up with them, requesting a website, portfolio, or titles they’ve worked on, magically, everyone’s website was down. One even had the audacity to respond to me with an AI-generated email, accidentally leaving the AI response to the generated text in the email.
Since that email at the beginning of the month, I’ve been hunting for a copy editor / proofreader. I’ve checked out a few, and I’ve seen quotes as high as $6,000. That’s three+ mortgage payments! Look, I’m not a copy editor or a proofreader, and even if someone wanted to pay me to critique their novel as in developmental edits, there’s no way I’d charge that much. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t cost that much.
I digress.
Others were closer to my dollar amount, but still out of my range. One team I spoke with was trying to herd me to a “package deal,” 60% of which wouldn’t have helped me, would’ve been redundant, or was a service I didn’t request. I was also told that I should cut the novel in half. Honestly, if I did that, you would feel it in the final product. Plus, let’s face it. This is an eight-book series. That’s what I planned for, and the number eight is integral inside the series and out. Eight books, eight brimstones.
So, as of writing this, I’m still in the hunt for a copy editor / proofreader. I’ve done a scrape of X looking for an editor, and only a few managed to meet the criteria I was looking for. Time will tell. But if KT ever comes back, she’s got my trust and my business.
Vol. IV: Draft 5
Alright, this behemoth took a solid three months to get through. I feel like I got in the ring with prime Mike Tyson (the GOAT) and got my shit destroyed. I’m lying in a pool of my own piss and drool in the middle of the ring. There were a few times I thought about crawling into the fetal position and crying a little bit.
Okay, it might’ve not been that bad, but it did take the wind out of my sails. Since finishing it, I really haven’t worked on anything at all. I’m in recovery mode. So, what’s the final count? Let’s take a look.
Start Date: 6/8/26
Finish Date: 9/3/26
Editor Due Date: TBD
Prologue: 1/1
Chapters: 56/56
Epilogues: 9/9
Starting Word Count: 265,407 (story only)
Target Word Count: 250,000
Final Word Count: 239,057
Mood: Eye twitching activated.
If you’re interest is piqued about in this series, or other series I write, check out this Atramentous Archive post. I discuss all three: the Warmaster Series, the Maro Prakk Novella Series, and the Dark Legacy Series.
The Atramentous Archive | #14 | Books Series of Outpost Dire
This post is for all newcomers, those who have recently joined, and those yet to come. It’ll be pinned for ease of access. We’re discussing exactly what I write, and who I write for. It’s revealing the architecture beneath, the things that move me, and the themes that resonate.
Well, this final draft culled 26,350 words from the product, and it’s better for it. I’m certainly proud of this novel as it’s the turn in the series and everything accelerates from here. Over the years, my views have changed regarding the series. Originally, I thought of it in duologies: book one is cause, book two is effect; book three is cause, book four is effect. Book five of the series is a standalone, but it’s a load-bearing pillar. And that still holds true, to an extent. Now, with the larger picture fully fleshed out on my end, I look at it like this: Books one and two are the prologue, books three and four set the stage with the final chess pieces, and books five through eight are the culmination.
The latter books won’t feel like a different series, but the pace is relentless, and you, dear reader, will be like, “WTF is happening!” For those of you who have been with me since The Bearer of Secrets, Harold’s prophecy starts being fulfilled in Vol. IV, and as prophecies go, it’s never in the way you think. Don’t want to say too much, but I think now’s a great time to share the back jacket blurb, and I’ll let it do the talking for me.
Callum Godfrey is dead, but not the war he started.
For the first time in history, the Krey split their forces. Xenomene lays siege to Godfrey’s homeland, the Forgotten Isles, and conquest becomes a war for survival.
Norek hunts the man who murdered his father: Krurik, Xilor’s elusive apprentice, but vengeance might bring closure or ruin.
Starriace seeks to bargain with Apocalypse, Lord of the Underworld. The price is surrendering her body to the demon. The risk is her soul.
A sleeping god wakes, and the brimstones answer to him.The Black Tide is the fourth installment in the Dark Legacy Series.
The war horn’s sounded. Let’s go hunt those bastards down. That’s all I have for this round—short, sharp, and sweet. I shall return…
Oblus ina’ti Sepan Eti.
For a deeper dive, become a Member. For full lore breakdown, join the ranks of the Ko-dons.