Race to the Finish Read online

  Metamorphosis Alpha – Chronicles from the Warden Vol 2 (with James M. Ward, edited by Craig Martelle) (Dec 2017)

  Author Notes: Scott Moon

  Okay, this was the episode I vlogged about on-line; Josh Hayes and I plotted the beats on the white board in his office. Please checkout Outlining Darklanding w/ Josh & Scott on YouTube. (We do this live writer-interview show that is a lot of fun.)

  This was one of the most fun projects I’ve written for a long time. Outlines can tangle me up, but this one did everything it was supposed to and more. Kept me on track, opened up important and exciting details, and controlled the pacing. In short, it was easy to write. The story lived in my head before I started.

  Which is good and bad.

  I feel very strongly about protecting people from natural predators. LeClerc is a bad guy, fundamentally flawed, wronged by his upbringing, victimized by unfair attention, or whatever. He’s bad, how he became bad doesn’t really matter to his victims. Sheriff Fry thinks the man’s a menace and must stop him.

  But is the Sheriff being honest? Are there jealousy issues? Is he distorting the truth? These were the types of things that came up during the writing. Made for a good story, I hope.

  We all know LeClerc is a classic villain that must pay full price for his crimes. Were you satisfied with what happened to him? Do you fear he will show up in the future to cause problems.

  Ah…hmmm. That might be straying into spoiler territory.

  What I would do to LeClerc and what the character would do may or may not be different things. In the end, the Sheriff does his job—with a little help from Mast, Maximus, and a few others of course. My non-writing career, law enforcement, has always been about protecting individuals from the worst bullies out there whenever I can find them. It’s great when it works, less great when you can’t solve everyone’s problems. So writing this story put me in touch with things I’d rather not think about, all the victims who can’t (or sometimes, won’t) get free of whatever their demon is.

  And perhaps this is why I write fiction…absolute, cosmic power!

  I hope you are loving the series so far. In case you’re wondering, I never get tired of hearing people rave about how much fun it is. Kind of amazes me how excited people get. If you’re still reading these wild yarns in episode seven, please share some love in a review. Invite more readers to the party! Let’s have a ball.

  Thanks for everything,

  Scott

  Author Notes: Craig Martelle

  Written on 3/11/18

  Look at you (if you’re reading this, I’m looking at you) and I’m thanking you for still reading! Not only did you read this episode of Darklanding, you are still reading! That makes you my all-time favorite human being.

  If you’ve read any of my stuff, you know that this isn’t about me, but you. I want to make sure that you’ve had a great experience reading the installments of the Darklanding serials.

  I’m writing this on a plane. I’ve been traveling a bit this year – Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Wisconsin, all of them redeye flights because it doesn’t seem like we have anything else out of Alaska. It’s the price we have to pay to get anywhere from there.

  When Scott and I talked about this episode, I recommended a Quiet Man style race bringing the various parties of the town into direct conflict, while at the same time bringing them closer together. Scott is bringing these characters more and more to life with each new episode. This one also sets up a few future episodes. I’m looking forward to seeing how those turn out. Scott keeps me up to speed as he goes as I also keep him informed.

  I’m up again pretty soon. What will episode nine look like? A mostly off-planet story with Thaddeus Fry front and center as they go back to Centauri Prime for some unfinished business.

  When will spring arrive? We set our clocks ahead this weekend. That doesn’t mean anything except that it’ll still be dark for a long time in the morning. Alaska is so different when it comes to sunlight that daylight savings time is completely meaningless.

  Pretty soon the sun will make loops in the northern sky, not bothering to set. Have a nice day. Two months’ worth of a single day. But it’s daylight at 3 am when I take Phyllis the Arctic Dog for a walk. The mosquitoes are usually fairly light at that time of day, too, although I will wear long sleeves, gloves, and a head net. Wear shorts in the summer at your risk! You will get eaten alive.

  Or carried off. Yes, Alaskan mosquitoes are that big.

  I’ve decided to punt. It’s only third down, but we’re not going to try and push it. We will plant herbs and kale in our garden this year. I’m not even going to attempt anything else. After the hover-bunny apocalypse of 2017 where they ate everything off at the ground without leaving a footprint, I throw in the towel. The herbs will be great. We have an Instant Pot and that thing is the total bomb!

  Fresh herbs will carry us for many days. This is also the third year for my rhubarb plant which means I can harvest some of my own. Hooray for rhubarb! And kale. We eat it by choice.

  We also have enjoyed some incredible wild game thanks to some good people in the Fairbanks area who take mercy on us.

  There’s some fairly mindless rambling, but that’s me freewheeling it. I’ve been working on so many books, a few simultaneously, I think I have a few screws coming loose. But we won’t let that hold us back. Onward and upward.

  Peace fellow humans.

  Copyright © 2018 Craig Martelle & Scott Moon

  All rights reserved.

  ASIN:

  Cover art by Kevin McLaughlin

  Editing services provided by Mia Darien – miadarien.com

  Based on a concept by Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, and Kat Lind who also provide developmental editing for the series

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  ***

  We’d like to thank the following beta readers who make sure that this story goes to you as error free as humanly possible. They also keep us on track with the stories. What a great group of people we have helping us to tell better stories.

  Micky Cocker

  Kelly O’Donnell

  James Caplan

  Diane Velasquez

  Dorene Johnson

  Scott and I would both like to thank our families for putting up with us as we share the stories in our heads. We type slowly and it takes time to capture the words. Thank you for taking care of us while we’re doing our thing.