Dark Gaia wrote a novel!, Maybe you can read it One Night (see what I did there?) Options

[Dark Gaia]

Hey there, RMers! Those who follow what I do (what am I kidding -- I'm not famous around here) will probably have noticed that I haven't been very active at all for the last few months, except for popping in and putting Legionwood 2 on hiatus. So, who wants to know why?

It's because I've been busy launching my first novel. Sun Bleached Winter is a post-apocalyptic psychological horror story about a protagonist who slowly descends into madness after having to do horrible things to survive in a violent, eternally frozen wasteland. It is published by Damnation Books LLC, a small horror press in California, and was released on December 1st in ebook and paperback editions.

If you're interested, please check it out. You can read the first 1000 words for free at my website! I appreciate your support. You've all helped a lot over the years with my games, and hopefully this project will do well also.

For those who don't want to click the links, you can read the book's intro here. Please note that like my One Night games, this book is quite dark and there is a lot of violence and some obscene language. It's definitely for mature audiences only.

[Show/Hide] The Prologue

If they see me, I’m dead. What meager possessions I have left will be taken, and I’ll be discarded on the side of the path, shot like an animal. That much is certain.

I’m lying prone in the shadow of a fallen log, hoping that the armed men in the clearing ahead don’t see me. As they come closer, I catch snatches of their conversation. They argue over the bag of supplies their leader carries in his left hand. Then they laugh when their conversation turns to the person they took it from, reminiscing about murdering a man as if it were just day-to-day business.

I watch them come closer, wondering if any of them will spot the small lump by the log in the shadowy twilight and have the initiative to investigate. All three of them are armed with rifles that hang casually over their shoulders. If they saw me, it would only take them seconds to raise their weapons and fire. I have no doubt that they are experienced hunters. If their bullet doesn’t kill me, I’ll be left, paralyzed and bleeding, in the snow to die. My hand slowly moves to my belt and I grasp the hilt of the survival knife tucked into it, but I know it won’t be enough to save me.

I can only hope that the coming darkness is enough to hide me. It’s easy to stay out of sight at this time of the day – the blackening sky above blankets the entire world in shadow and this, combined with the endless expanse of ashy snow and dead trees around me seems to reduce everything to abstract shapes and unknowns. As long as I don’t move, I should be safe. If the men stay away, if nobody comes close enough to make me out, I should be just another random piece of debris on the side of the road.

They’re getting closer now, only meters away. I can just discern their faces – savage and bestial- on the very edge of my vision. Their skin pales with sickness and their eyes are bloodshot with fatigue. They’re desperate, broken men. They’re fighting to stay alive, and I know from experience that they’ll think nothing of killing me just to stave off their own inevitable deaths a while longer.

Their voices break the silence of the falling night like a death knoll.

“What a waste. How are we meant to last the week on half a can of soup? Not to mention that everything in that first aid kit we got’s expired.”
“Don’t worry, stop screwing around and keep your eyes open. We’ll find someone soon. We always do. Just make sure you aim properly this time and we’ll be just fine.”

I have to stop myself shaking from the cold, and maybe from fear as well. This isn’t the first time I’ve come close to death in the months past, but it’s an experience that you never really grow accustomed to.

The men are passing me now, their heavy footfalls making crunching noises on the snow. Any second now, they’ll find me and then it’s all over. The leader’s gaze begins to linger on the edges of the road. He’s checking for anyone like me who’s stupid enough to think the darkness alone is enough to conceal them. Somehow, I’m certain that he’ll find me. All it will take is a shiver of fear, an involuntary spasm for him to glimpse or a single, drawn out breath, lingering on the air, for him to hear. My heart is beating loudly in my ears. I’m going to slip up; I’m deathly still, but it’s cold and I can’t stay still for much longer. I’m about to die.

The gunman’s boot presses into the snow, inches away from my nose. It stops for a second. I hear its owner take a deep, sighing breath and stop to stretch. I hear him yawn and then I listen to his deep breathing as he scans the trail one last time for anyone hidden. He coughs, and in spite of myself, I flinch from the sound. The boot swivels on the spot to face me, as if somehow it’s witnessed my tiny movement, and there it lingers, staring at me, daring me to move again. I curse myself silently. Don’t see me! Please don’t see me!

“Screw it, nobody’s here,” his gruff voice says bitterly. “We’d better find some place to camp for the night before we freeze to death out here. Nobody’s stupid enough to be out in this cold, and if they are, they’re just as hungry as we are.”

The footfalls recede into the distance, and relief surges through me as I watch the men slowly become silhouettes, then disappear into the darkness. I’m still alive. For now.

I wait until the only thing I can hear is the wind, to be sure that I’m alone once again. Still not quite sure that a bullet won’t fly out from the shroud and splatter my brain matter all over the ground the moment I move, I stand up. I take a second to make sure I still have what I came out here for, what I risked my life to retrieve. I swing my backpack around to my chest and tear it open, fishing out what’s inside: a blank, leather-bound book, a journal of some kind, just waiting to be written in, and a black fountain pen. I went through a lot to get them, but it’s worth it.

I’ll start writing everything down tonight. As soon I get back to shelter.

I carefully zip up the backpack and return it to its place on my shoulder. I shudder from the cold. It’s freezing. I shouldn’t be out during the night, not if I want to stay alive. I take a moment to orient myself and determine which way leads back to the safe house I’ve decided to hole up in for tonight. It’s only forty minutes away. If I’m lucky, I can make it back in time. I grab the edges of my coat, pull it tighter around myself to block out the cold, and set off at a run into the blackness.

The book is available from Amazon, the Kindle Store, Barnes and Noble and available to order in your local bookstore if they don't already carry it

[kaz]

Hey there, RMers! Those who follow what I do (what am I kidding -- I'm not famous around here) will probably have noticed that I haven't been very active at all for the last few months, except for popping in and putting Legionwood 2 on hiatus. So, who wants to know why?

It's because I've been busy launching my first novel. Sun Bleached Winter is a post-apocalyptic psychological horror story about a protagonist who slowly descends into madness after having to do horrible things to survive in a violent, eternally frozen wasteland. It is published by Damnation Books LLC, a small horror press in California, and was released on December 1st in ebook and paperback editions.

If you're interested, please check it out. You can read the first 1000 words for free at my website! I appreciate your support. You've all helped a lot over the years with my games, and hopefully this project will do well also.

For those who don't want to click the links, you can read the book's intro here. Please note that like my One Night games, this book is quite dark and there is a lot of violence and some obscene language. It's definitely for mature audiences only.

[Show/Hide] The Prologue

If they see me, I’m dead. What meager possessions I have left will be taken, and I’ll be discarded on the side of the path, shot like an animal. That much is certain.

I’m lying prone in the shadow of a fallen log, hoping that the armed men in the clearing ahead don’t see me. As they come closer, I catch snatches of their conversation. They argue over the bag of supplies their leader carries in his left hand. Then they laugh when their conversation turns to the person they took it from, reminiscing about murdering a man as if it were just day-to-day business.

I watch them come closer, wondering if any of them will spot the small lump by the log in the shadowy twilight and have the initiative to investigate. All three of them are armed with rifles that hang casually over their shoulders. If they saw me, it would only take them seconds to raise their weapons and fire. I have no doubt that they are experienced hunters. If their bullet doesn’t kill me, I’ll be left, paralyzed and bleeding, in the snow to die. My hand slowly moves to my belt and I grasp the hilt of the survival knife tucked into it, but I know it won’t be enough to save me.

I can only hope that the coming darkness is enough to hide me. It’s easy to stay out of sight at this time of the day – the blackening sky above blankets the entire world in shadow and this, combined with the endless expanse of ashy snow and dead trees around me seems to reduce everything to abstract shapes and unknowns. As long as I don’t move, I should be safe. If the men stay away, if nobody comes close enough to make me out, I should be just another random piece of debris on the side of the road.

They’re getting closer now, only meters away. I can just discern their faces – savage and bestial- on the very edge of my vision. Their skin pales with sickness and their eyes are bloodshot with fatigue. They’re desperate, broken men. They’re fighting to stay alive, and I know from experience that they’ll think nothing of killing me just to stave off their own inevitable deaths a while longer.

Their voices break the silence of the falling night like a death knoll.

“What a waste. How are we meant to last the week on half a can of soup? Not to mention that everything in that first aid kit we got’s expired.”
“Don’t worry, stop screwing around and keep your eyes open. We’ll find someone soon. We always do. Just make sure you aim properly this time and we’ll be just fine.”

I have to stop myself shaking from the cold, and maybe from fear as well. This isn’t the first time I’ve come close to death in the months past, but it’s an experience that you never really grow accustomed to.

The men are passing me now, their heavy footfalls making crunching noises on the snow. Any second now, they’ll find me and then it’s all over. The leader’s gaze begins to linger on the edges of the road. He’s checking for anyone like me who’s stupid enough to think the darkness alone is enough to conceal them. Somehow, I’m certain that he’ll find me. All it will take is a shiver of fear, an involuntary spasm for him to glimpse or a single, drawn out breath, lingering on the air, for him to hear. My heart is beating loudly in my ears. I’m going to slip up; I’m deathly still, but it’s cold and I can’t stay still for much longer. I’m about to die.

The gunman’s boot presses into the snow, inches away from my nose. It stops for a second. I hear its owner take a deep, sighing breath and stop to stretch. I hear him yawn and then I listen to his deep breathing as he scans the trail one last time for anyone hidden. He coughs, and in spite of myself, I flinch from the sound. The boot swivels on the spot to face me, as if somehow it’s witnessed my tiny movement, and there it lingers, staring at me, daring me to move again. I curse myself silently. Don’t see me! Please don’t see me!

“Screw it, nobody’s here,” his gruff voice says bitterly. “We’d better find some place to camp for the night before we freeze to death out here. Nobody’s stupid enough to be out in this cold, and if they are, they’re just as hungry as we are.”

The footfalls recede into the distance, and relief surges through me as I watch the men slowly become silhouettes, then disappear into the darkness. I’m still alive. For now.

I wait until the only thing I can hear is the wind, to be sure that I’m alone once again. Still not quite sure that a bullet won’t fly out from the shroud and splatter my brain matter all over the ground the moment I move, I stand up. I take a second to make sure I still have what I came out here for, what I risked my life to retrieve. I swing my backpack around to my chest and tear it open, fishing out what’s inside: a blank, leather-bound book, a journal of some kind, just waiting to be written in, and a black fountain pen. I went through a lot to get them, but it’s worth it.

I’ll start writing everything down tonight. As soon I get back to shelter.

I carefully zip up the backpack and return it to its place on my shoulder. I shudder from the cold. It’s freezing. I shouldn’t be out during the night, not if I want to stay alive. I take a moment to orient myself and determine which way leads back to the safe house I’ve decided to hole up in for tonight. It’s only forty minutes away. If I’m lucky, I can make it back in time. I grab the edges of my coat, pull it tighter around myself to block out the cold, and set off at a run into the blackness.

The book is available from Amazon, the Kindle Store, Barnes and Noble and available to order in your local bookstore if they don't already carry it

Well done DG- annoyingly I can only get it on Kindle in the UK - and I have to have paperbacks.

Have to try the bookstores

[Shaddow]

Impressive, this has kind of ignited my desire to start writing again! I'm very interested in your book, and will likely find myself a copy!

[zacheatscrackers]

Wow, great work, broski. You had a pretty good reason for being off for a while. I hope this book becomes a tremendous success.

[Dark Gaia]

Hi again everyone! Thanks for the support!

@kaz: my publisher assures me it'll be on Amazon UK eventually, but it may not be available yet. Australians are able to purchase books from Amazon US, but annoyingly people in the UK can't (I'm not sure about whether Barnes and Noble will let you purchase it though). I don't think any bookstores in the UK would carry it on the shelves, but the book is in all distributor channels, and they should be able to search for and order in a copy for you! If all else fails, I'd be glad to pass out some free PDFs!

@shaddowval: the main problem with writing, I find, is staying motivated long enough to actually complete something. In terms of novels, this is pretty short at only 40,000 words (roughly the same length as Casino Royale by Ian Fleming). My friend told me to start a habit where I wrote 1000 words a day and although it was hard to stick to it at first, by the time I ingrained it into myself to do it, I made progress really quickly!

@zacheatscrackers: Thanks! I just hope it does as well as my games. The fact that one or two people out there are reading it already blows my mind!

[zacheatscrackers]

I'm sure it'll do just as well as your games, my friend. I'm sure of it.

[Dark Gaia]

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Anyway, I'm planning on running some giveaways soon, so that some of the RRR people who've followed me for a while may have a chance to get free copies, so stay tuned!

[Dark Gaia]

Hi again everyone!

To celebrate the paperback edition of Sun Bleached Winter now being available internationally, I've decided to run a little giveaway promotion. I'm going to give two lucky RRR members the chance to get their own digital copy of the book, for free!

Anybody who has a valid Goodreads or Amazon account is eligible to receive the free copy. All you have to do is provide an honest review and rating of the novel on either of those two sites after you are finished reading, so that you may indirectly encourage others who are interested to take a look. All reviews should be tagged with the line "I received a free review copy from the author in exchange for an honest review" after the conclusion.

If you'd like to snap up your copy, send me a PM. If I get more than two people who are interested, the winners will be decided through a random draw. Thanks for your support!

Note: yes, this is a very commercial minded/advertising post. I'm not sure if this post is against RRR's rules as I've never seen anyone do anything similar, but if this post is inappropriate, I advise mods/admins to delete it with my apologies.

[Dark Gaia]

Update:

My publisher has given me the go-ahead to sell autographed copies of Sun Bleached Winter through my website! You can now order them and pay through Paypal if you want one. My advice: they're pretty expensive though, because I have to pay for the postage and ordering myself, so only get one if you really want to brag!

In other news, the book is now available on Amazon UK and the other European Amazon networks. I know some people like Kaz were waiting for this, so there it is!

Hurrah!

[X-M-O]

Oh cool, it's great to finally see this!
Congratulations Dark Gaia! ^^

[amerk]

Somehow I missed this announcement, but I'm going to pick up a copy ASAP.

DG, you should really consider turning some of your game ideas into novels, as well. With some updates, I think the One Night series could be the next big thing, and just think if Hollywood catches on?

Scratch that, HW would just screw it up, so go with an indie movie company.